STANDARDS IN EDUCATION .w^""^^^ WITH SOME CONSIDERATION OF THEIR RELATION TO INDUSTRIAL TRAINING / BY ARTHUR HENRY [CHAMBERLAIN, B.S., A.M. DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION THROOP POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE NEW YORK : CINCINNATI : CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY ARTHUR HENRY CHAMBERLAIN ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON W. P. i Ed. /Psych, Library L5 C.3S54 INTRODUCTION THE following pages contain a brief discussion of the crucial factors in modern, particularly in modern elemen- tary education. Not only do the aims of education in general and the special elements in good character, re- ceive attention ; but the curriculum in the Elementary School, the method of its presentation, the method of training teachers, and the duties of parents toward school work, are also all included for discussion. Possibly the main criticism of the work is the fact that it undertakes altogether too much. Yet, that there is much need of good books of this kind on Education is not to be ques- tioned. The point of view represented by the author is very advantageous. While quite familiar with Elementary Ed- ucation in all its phases, he has received the training of the specialist in Industrial and Technical Education. He has made an advanced study of Educational problems at Columbia University, and has for some years been engaged in the training of teachers, and in administrative work in a school of technology. The problems here dis- cussed are, therefore, handled in a concrete way, and fully in the spirit of modern times. Inasmuch as the author frequently presents the views 3 1593837 of prominent authorities, in addition to his own, the book possesses the important advantage of real breadth of treatment. The theses, summarizing the substance of each chapter, are of much value, and the fact that they are placed at the close of each chapter, rather than at the beginning, is a detail of merit. The " Topics for Study " that in each case follow the theses, are extremely sug- gestive, and the definite references to works of recog- nized authority for a further study of these topics, map out the way for the student to post himself quite thoroughly on modern educational problems. FRANK M. McMuRRY. Teachers College, Columbia University. AUTHOR'S PREFACE FOR some years past the writer has been privileged to instruct in normal classes students preparing for the teaching profession, as well as those of experience in one or another field of educational service, and with him, as with others having to do with this particular problem, the question has frequently arisen : What text shall we use as the general basis for and guide in our work ? With the passing of the old pyschology pass also many of the books in this line. While with beginners, texts may be selected that will present the subject of psychol- ogy in such manner as to fit the student to study the facts of human nature, many of the texts on education attempt to cover such a broad field of psychology, peda- gogy and method as entirely to bewilder. Then, too, the more mature normal or training school student stands in need of a text that shall set forth certain of the great educational principles (or the principle of education, if you will), and lead to a consideration of the present needs of the school. The books on general pedagogy will not accomplish this, and the philosophic treatise touches one main issue simply, or is too technical for class use. In many of the books dealing with educational prob- 5 6 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION lems, the terms, references and phraseology used, imply a broader knowledge than that possessed by most teach- ers. Many of the books are written by specialists for specialists, and this fact alone carries them beyond the range of the majority of teachers. The present volume has been prepared for the parent and the general reader as well as for the pedagogue and the student. It is in- tended to have a relation to life as well as to lessons, and to show how the life at school and the life outside of school may be conducted in harmony toward a common end. It seems to be clear that the student needs not so much an exposition of theories or a philosophic or historic treatise, as the" knowledge of a few fundamental facts and principles regarding his profession and his relation to it ; an understanding of the purpose of education and the reasons for the establishment of the curriculum he uses. In discussing the value of educational systems, we must look not merely to the number and character of school buildings, to libraries and equipments, to the amount of moneys expended, and to the material results of the student's work. The true value or worth of any system of education is to be found within the individuals themselves, the product of the school. We must apply a dynamic, rather than an external test, when we at- tempt to formulate standards. In the pages that follow the endeavor has been made to meet these requirements. The book is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive, the author making no claim to completeness. He has to ask himself many of AUTHOR'S PREFACE 7 the questions herein asked the student. Education in its formative period many times falls short of exact defini- tions, and education at its best is hardly a matter of statistics. The aim, too, has been to avoid the use of terms that in themselves need defining, the thought being that a simple form of expression would best suit the purpose of the book, whether used as a text, as a basis for study and discussion in class, as a reference book, or as a work for the general reader. While cer- tain of the principles touched upon apply equally to all fields of school instruction, the book is intended mainly for those interested in the problems of elementary education. In the attempt to make the pages readable, illustra- tion has been resorted to frequently. At the close of each chapter a general summary is given as a recapitu- lation. The " Topics for Study " following each chap- ter will be found particularly helpful as suggestive of the various important questions and issues that may be taken up in detail, or of which implication is made in the text. The student will be able to amplify this list. It has not seemed wise to burden the text with foot-note references which the reader will never look up, but under the head " Consult " will be found a list of the more important books and references on a given topic. Whatever is said of the school of the past is said not in the spirit of carping criticism, but that the demand for something broader and more rational in our schools may be made clear. This demand for a purposeful curriculum 8 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION has made necessary many times a repetition in form of expression or in statement, which it has not always seemed wise to eliminate. The author finds great difficulty in making the usual statement of obligation and indebtedness to those who have given him help and inspiration, the number being almost as large as the great body of teachers with whom he has come in contact. Not only is he indebted to those whose words are quoted in these pages and to many other writers and teachers, but to that large number of sincere, zealous, noble-hearted men and women, called the com- mon school teachers, without whom the great work of education would be impossible. The writer cannot refrain, however, from expressing his special indebtedness to one who not only with his pen, but by voice and presence gave to him, as he gave to hundreds of others, his first clear conception of the real meaning of teaching. He consulted with Colonel Francis W. Parker, upon the content of the present volume, only a few days before the latter's untimely death and feels that he cannot do better than here repeat what he then wrote. " No other name has been so closely interwoven with edu- cational thought and practice as has his. The measures that the Colonel advocated three decades past, and for which he was then derided and ridiculed, are to-day prac- tised in every good school in the land. Look as we may for the cause of the better and more common sense methods in the primary education of to-day, and we find it was the changes and reforms that the Colonel advo- AUTHOR'S PREFACE g cated and used years ago in the schools at Quincy and at the Cook County Normal School. " What sympathy he had for the struggling teacher, what love for the child, what reverence for the Infinite, what hatred for selfishness and wrong, what hope for humanity. To see him was an inspiration, to hear him speak was a mental and spiritual uplift, to work with him a revelation. Through his efforts the work of the teacher has been elevated from a vocation to the chiefest of pro- fessions. The study of pedagogy has through his teach- ing been made real and tangible. He has proven to all the world that the school should exist for the child, that in it the child should find his fullest expression and be led to expand and grow into his perfect self." He wishes also to acknowledge the assistance given by his friend and teacher, Doctor Frank M. McMurry of Teachers College, Columbia University, who has been kind enough to read these pages and to write an intro- duction for the book ; and to express his gratitude to Miss Kathrine Lois Scobey of the University School, Chicago, for her careful criticism and helpful suggestion, and to his brother, Professor James Franklin Chamber- lain of the State Normal School, Los Angeles, who has worked through every page of the manuscript. He is indebted to Mr. James C. Miller of the Provincial Nor- mal School, Calgary, Canada, for valuable assistance, and to Professor Charles Emory Barber of Throop Poly- technic Institute, who has read the proof and made the analytical table of contents. io STANDARDS IN EDUCATION His hope is that those who study these pages may be led to a fuller realization than that commonly held of the meaning of the school and of education. A. H. C. Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, California. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE AIM OF EDUCATION 19 Universal recognition of the necessity for education The at- tempts to establish an ideal in education Lack of harmony between the Real and the Ideal Notwithstanding the fail- ure to realize the Ideal, every age has developed great men Difficulty of evaluating the Ideal of another Plato and the Practical Aristotle and the Ideal The problem of Edu- cation Dual nature of this problem: how to develop the individual and to preserve his subserviency to society This duality not antagonistic; society and the individual insep- arable from each other The modern school weak on the sociological side The standard is defective; it does not give due emphasis to social obligation Relation of culture, dis- cipline and knowledge Differentiation of matter and method Education builds for the future: hence cannot be exclusively "practical" Psycho-sociological elements of self-control, responsibility, leadership Development of originality and individuality that is initiative. CHAPTER II THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM: ITS MOTIVE AND CONTENT 37 The educational unrest Unrest first noticeable in secondary schools Practice not in harmony with standards In prac- tice the school is arranged for the few rather than for the many The elementary school most important because 12 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION PAGE fundamental Elementary curriculum out of adjustment Curriculum does not square with life Causes of discontin- uance in school The knowledge of most worth The broadening of programs has frequently shallowed results Necessity for adjustment as seen in the teaching of arithme- tic In the teaching of language In the teaching of geography In the industrial arts Expression as essential as impression The thought side in industrial processes should have more emphasis Industrial training a most valuable element in development The old Psychology out- grown The hand and the brain should act in unison Complexity of society such that present industrial bias reaches every member of it The metamorphic period in Education; Dr. Hall's characterization Personality of the teacher a vital factor in readjustment Readjustment nec- essary because of new interpretation of life and new stand- ards School not apart from life but a part of life Cur- riculum must be actually in accord with the spirit of the age Relation of school life to civic life must be clear to teacher and pupil. CHAPTER III INDUSTRIAL TRAINING: ITS AIM AND SCOPE ... 68 The traditional subjects and their development The intro- duction of "manual training" Inadequacy of the term "manual training" Reasons for manual training in the curriculum essentially the same as reasons for the other sub- jects Special reasons advanced Appreciation of the dig- nity of labor Satisfaction of creative activity of the child Development of understanding of our industrial life Recreation resulting from a change of occupation Promo- tion of physical development Elevates moral standards Develops manual dexterity May serve as a foundation TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 PAGE for trades Reenforces and clarifies the traditional "book subjects" Typical systems of manual training The exercise system as developed in Russia The completed- model system: Sloydin Sweden The rigid systematizing of sloyd in America devitalizes it Manual training may degenerate into lessons rather than life Many teachers fail to appreciate the underlying principles Others fail to ad- just these principles to a growing child in a changing en- vironment An illustration from the Philippines Shall boys and girls have the same work ? Shall the occupation be fitted to the child, or the child to the occupation ? Tech- nique not the end of work Danger of too great freedom in self-expression and initiative Great value of industrial art is its assistance to the child in the conquest of his en- vironment. CHAPTER IV THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 102 Correlation, concentration, coordination require definition Concentration as defined by Herbart Meaning of inter- relation The group-idea in correlation; coordinate groups The individual subject of study as a center; concentration The child as the real center toward which effort is di- rected Humanistic and formal studies Development means conformity to law Self-activity a governing force Distinction between correlation and concentration In- definiteness of pedagogical nomenclature Distinction be- tween coordination and concentration Unification and isolation Coordination and the group-idea Correlation in coordinate groups Unification and relative values Reasons for unity found in the individual Correlation not possible at every point Correlation finds greatest op- portunity in lower grades Correlation only the " logical 14 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION PAGE balance" Social and industrial conditions of to-day re- quires a unifying of the elementary curriculum. CHAPTER V THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 118 Increasing necessity for moral training in a nation so strongly filled with the spirit of indiyidualism The school, being life in minature, is the natural teacher of morals Early moral instruction not separable from religious instruction The fundamental purposes of the school Formal moral instruction lacking in vitality The child should see that ethics must appear in the concrete as conduct Character a part of, not apart from, daily life. (a) Interest: Interest is vital in any instruction The child interested in things before symbols School too often ut- terly unlike life Some reasons for the study of that which does not interest The fighting impulse, the desire for mastery must be aroused The easy task not necessarily interesting The difficult task not necessarily uninteresting The knowledge of a dominant interest the teacher's ally. (b) Attention: Voluntary and involuntary attention Atten- tion without effort Involuntary attention develops into voluntary attention Overtaxing may lead to instability in mental attitude. (c) Discipline: Close relation of interest and attention to discipline Outward sign of discipline The discovery of the dominant interest may turn a refractory boy Obe- dience must become choice Actual cooperation difficult to secure Obedience and character Rules underlying dis- cipline: regularity, punctuality, silence, industry Interre- lation of society and the individual Morality not inherent; it must be developed Moral education not knowledge but life Example and experience better than precept School TABLE OF CONTENTS 15 PAGE the chief agency in the teaching of morals Morals and re- ligion Difficulty of separating religion from sectarian teaching Religious element essential to true morality Morals and the emotions He who jeels the right has the advantage of him who merely knows the right. CHAPTER VI THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT 149 Habit a vital element in character An act done tends to de- velop a desire to repeat the act The blazed trail; the line of least resistance The parallel between the mental and the physical habit Building and breaking habits not reverse processes Habit is acquired only through doing: repeti- tion Difficulty of breaking old habits The readiest way is to substitute the new In acquiring habits the mind and body must be kept occupied. CHAPTER VII THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 158 Formal discipline and mental development Impossibility of grasping all knowledge The ideals of school and of life identical The old and the "new" education A unified course of seven groups correlated. (a) Physical Training and Its Place: Necessity for physical training Need of supervision and systematization Sug- gestions for schools without special equipment Danger of overstrain Athletics: some arguments in their favor Competition and specialization Professionalism and its dangers Some data in track and field athletics, football and baseball Athletics should be for all, and should in- crease standards of efficiency in scholarship Physical con- dition in the schoolroom The teacher and the games. (b) The Industrial Arts and Their Place: Clay-modeling, 1 6 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION PAGE tiles, pottery Basketry and weaving Paper and card- board Metal- work, bent iron, copper, brass, etc. Wood- work. CHAPTER VIII STUDY AND PREPARATION 189 (a) At Home: Why home study has seemed necessary The danger of overburdening young children The lack of di- rection in study at home Responsibility rests upon both teacher and parent Much of the danger avoided if home work be made chiefly along industrial lines. (b) At School: School rather than the home the place for formal study Necessity of learning how to study The advantage of the study -recitation. CHAPTER IX THE RECITATION PROCESS 199 (a) Selection oj Material: No method without matter Local conditions determine the subjects to be studied The curriculum should be both interesting and serviceable Text -books as guides Teachers should have much liberty of choice in selecting material, as they are responsible for results Text-books, and subsidiary study from reading, conversation, observation and experience. (b) Development oj the Plan: A lesson worth giving is worth planning Circumstances may alter the routine of the plan The plan lessens danger of haphazard work. (c) Assignment of Lesson: The topic The value of definite assignment The pupil a judge of his own ability He is not to be deprived of his privilege of effort. (d) Flow to Study: Concentration Clear thinking and exact expression Individual thought to be encouraged Kindergarten methods in the upper grades. TABLE OF CONTENTS 17 PAGE (e) Hearing the Lesson vs. Teaching: The question and answer method The teacher's contribution The study- recitation The art of questioning The pupil as teacher Encouragement as necessary as adverse criticism Exam- inations: their value and their danger. CHAPTER X TRAINING, PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND RECOMPENSE OF THE TEACHER 219 (A) INITIAL PREPARATION (a) Knowledge of Sub ject-M alter: High School requirements for admission to Normal Schools Subject-matter and method. (b) Value of Psychology: Psychology the interpretation of human nature Its difficulties Laws vs. the application of laws A misfit in text-books Vague terminology in psy- chology The value of experience. (c) Attitude of Prospective Teacher: Reasons for entering the profession Attitude of the High School is academic At- titude of the Normal School is professional The teacher is a stimulator of thought. (d) Ability to Teach: Selective province of the Training School. (B) THE TEACHER'S READING The value of books Discrimination in reading Reading and discussion Read and criticise, compare, and judge (C) THE TEACHER'S ASSOCIATES Benefits of association The teacher's place in society. (D) CONTACT WITH THE ISSUES OF LIFE (a) Standards of Morality: Advantage of a wide range of in- terests Elevation of moral standards. Standards 2 i8 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION (b) Material and Industrial Development: The teacher in touch with commercial and industrial interests The va- rious problems of daily life have a relation to school life. (c) ^Esthetic Feeling: Culture and the Arts. (E) READING CIRCLES, EXTENSION COURSES, CORRE- SPONDENCE AND SUMMER SCHOOLS (F) TEACHERS' MEETINGS, INSTITUTES, AND CONVENTIONS (G) QUALITIES ESSENTIAL TO GROWTH Honesty Open-mindedness Spirit of responsibility Fear- lessness Simplicity Tactfulness Willingness and the gospel of work Order and system Discrimination, con- centration, judgment. (H) THE RECOMPENSE Not to be measured in terms of dollars or honors, but in terms of value of service. STANDARDS IN EDUCATION CHAPTER I THE AIM OF EDUCATION MORE than a century past, our fathers, single minded to the best interests of education, essayed to enunciate what to us still seems to be a fundamental principle, that "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall ever be en- Necessity couraged." At all times and in all places for Educa- 1-1 education of one kind or another has been held to be a necessity, looking toward the best and fullest development of the individuals in a tribe, community or nation. The question has never been, " Shall we educate ? " The query rather has been, " What shall we study, and how ? " But a hundred years in the study of educational thought and achieve- ment is as yesterday. The dweller in early Egypt, in Babylon, in Assyria, and in Phoenicia, the Persian and the Roman, the Greek and the Hindu, the Jew and the Japanese, each has endeavored in his own way to work out his individual problems, and consciously or uncon- sciously to follow Paul's admonition : " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." 19 20 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Education has long been defined, but as we to-day glance back over the centuries we find it difficult to true the definition of any particular people to the practice of their educational doctrine, much less are we able to square the practice of yesterday with the theory of to- morrow. And whatever may be said of the needs and necessities of those who have so worthily andcontent preceded us, or of the broad strides educa- notinHar- tion has taken, there can be no doubt that to-day, as never before, we are looking for the prophet to lead us, and more than ever before are realizing that the mighty dynamic changes in our indus- trial and social atmosphere demand that a deeper and more significant interpretation be placed upon our defini- tion of education, and that the practices thereof be laid in accordance with such interpretation. Here and there the worth of a system is exemplified in the life and achievement of a great soul, produces' More than four centuries before Christ and Great upon the plains a short call from Rome, a Leaders product of the education of the day left his plow in the furrow and with the sword of the soldier and the robe of the dictator, between sunset and sunset, saved the Roman army from defeat. Then, leaving power, and glory, and the acclaim of the multitude, Cin- cinnatus returned to the occupation of his fathers. Al- fred, gathering his Saxons to drive out the invading hosts, Columbus, seeking a new world through uncharted seas, Luther, thundering for reforms in church administration, THE AIM OF EDUCATION 21 Washington, upholding a nation's courage at Valley Forge, " dumb for himself unless it were to God, but for his barefoot soldiers eloquent," Lincoln, striking the shackles from millions of slaves, the work of these as teachers of men is clearly traced upon the pages of his- tory and reflected in the lives of their fellows. Often enough do we listen to the words of the philoso- pher on the meaning of school, to the ideal utterances of the theorist, to the academic statements of the narrow- minded and conservative, and often enough do we con- demn the results achieved in the past as spiritless and formal. What call, however, have we to criticise the work of an Aristotle or a Herbart, a Bacon Applying or an E rasmus ? jr or h as ft no t been written Personal standards to as much for the educationalist as for the "Work of An- , , T1 , , , , . other money changers, " Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" And the answer: Not the rich, necessarily, nor the powerful nor the gifted, but "he that hath clean hands and a pure heart." How difficult then to analyze the word or work of another. For Plato, education must make only for spir- itual growth and with him spiritual development had nothing in common with the material world. To think of the present was not to be tolerated, for he tells us in the Republic that "practical arts are degrading." Hence, all training must be of that ideal character that shall consider only a future state. The philosophy of Plato here seems to be narrowing ; but as Putnam points out, it was after all Plato whose writings seem to have 22 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION forecast the modern kindergarten and the doctrine of "learning to do by doing."* Aristotle, on the other hand, seems to be the warm humanist who plans to meet the requirements of every- day life and who insists that perfect citizenship is the goal toward which education should tend. We gather from Aristotle's Politics, that if a man prove virtuous in character, no further concern need be felt for his future. Nevertheless, the so-called practical does not cover the whole of the Aristotelian philosophy. Note what he says : " To be always in quest of what is useful is not becoming to high minded men and freemen." And in a study of other great minds, Socrates and Seneca, Agric- ola and Sturm, Ascham, Rabelais, Bacon, Comenius, Francke, Rousseau, Froebel, Spencer, Locke and Mann, it is found that all have agreed and disagreed, and that as yet no one has entirely erected the superstructure of the education needed to-day. It is held by some that education is the reconstruction of experience. They believe that neither preparation for life, nor information, is the goal, but hold with Aristotle that to work toward an ultimate moral character simply, is to stop short of the desired end. It is always neces- sary, I believe, in such an undertaking as the one in which we are now engaged, to pause, and, following the lead of Daniel Webster, to return to the original point of de- parture that we may be sure of having an established premise. * A Manual of Pedagogics, p. 17. THE AIM OF EDUCATION 23 The question then is : For what does the school stand ? What is education ? Education, say some, is Question,- training for life. To which answer is made The Aim of that it is more than a training for life ; it is Education . life itself. To meet such a requirement edu- cation should bring into action all the abilities of the pupil, or, as O'Shea puts it, "the ideal attributes that exist in potentia in the human spirit." * It should develop in him all essential qualities and virtues, should make him master of himself mentally, physically, and morally, should help him to appreciate and value only the good and to dis- card the relatively bad, should prepare him for more com- plete living ; should in short, be the means by which he shall be enabled to take his place in the great world of life and action as a unit in a complete social order. If the lesson to be learned is that of mutual helpfulness, then education should look toward teaching men how best to perform this service. It seems to be plain that any education worthy the name, considers the present as well as the future of the individual, or to put it another way, considers the present and hence the future of the individual. Characters must be formed, not alone that ultimate good may be accom- plished, but that the standards of society may be raised here and now. This brings us at once to the dual nature of our prob- lem the individual upon the one hand, and society upon the other ; and hence, the psychological and the * Education as Adjustment, p. 62. 24 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION sociological elements are both to be considered. The individual relation of the individual to society gives us vs. society ; the sociological view, while the psychological icaTandfo- aspects are determined by the relation of cioiogicai tne individual to himself. Elements Society is made up of a group of individu- als. The individual lives in society, is a part of society, is responsible to society, and helps to determine and mold the tone or character of the social atmosphere. Society, however, sets the standards, and the individual must con- form, in great measure, to these standards as set. On the other hand, while being responsible and owing du- ties to society, the individual must demand something of himself as well. But while these two sets of duties, of in- dividual to society, and of individual to self, are distinct and may be segregated, the one from the other, there is no sharp line of demarcation between the two. That is, the one cannot be considered, practically, without the other, for what is best for the individual is best for society ; and conversely, what is for the best interests of society will prove of greatest value to the individual. Professor MacVannel points out* that just as the in- dividual is a unity whose life is in the proc- ess * ma king, of organization, so is he also the interest a unity in, or an intrinsic part of, a larger unity viduai of society which is in the process of organi- zation as well. If society is to perpetuate "The Philosophy of Education," Teachers College Record, vol. 5, no. 4, sec. 5. THE AIM OF EDUCATION 25 and strengthen itself, and if the individual is to exist and prosper, the latter must, many times, merge his desires in the will of society, and to a greater or less degree for- sake personal or selfish ends for the common well-being. In the material world this duality of psychological and sociological elements is noted. Society demands an article, a brick, it may be, or a dynamo, or a bucket. Society needs the article and thereby sets the standard. The What is the social phase of our problem. How to produce the article, to carry it over in the various proc- esses of manufacture from the raw material to the com- pleted state, to transport from place to place, the cheap- est and most effective methods of advertising, these have to do with the psychological phase. That raw materials of the average present day cur- riculum are not designed to touch deeply the sociological element in experience can readily sociological be shown. The evolutionary process, the un- foldment of the child's powers, presupposes a widening of the child's experience, a growth from within, through the presentation of certain study mate- rials. But the boy or the girl, the product of the school, has little opportunity to react upon society. Or per- haps one might better say the individual has not gained that which will enable him to react with profit upon so- ciety. Knowledge is not power, unless knowledge can be transformed into terms of power producing energy. The mere knowing a thing is not always significant in itself. The thing known must have some relation to the 26 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION conditions, the needs, the desires, the life, of the society of which the individual is only one of the component parts. The facts of knowledge must be capable of ap- plication looking towards the satisfying of needs and the raising of standards, and the training of the individual must be such as to make possible the interpretation of such application. But the question is here raised : How does it happen that the raw materials of which we have been speaking, the school studies, have not been such as to meet the sociological and the psychological demands ? Have the school men of the past been blind to the interests of society ? Has too little thought been used in consider- ing the best development of the individual ? It may be answered, I submit, that the standard of the school has sprung from the belief that knowledge is power, that facts educate, that mental gymnastics produce the man. The standard of the real school must be found in actual life. It must be based upon the natural tendencies of the individual ; it must grow standards out of a knowledge of the child as a social should be ... , Found being ; it must recognize the home, the com- munity, the factory, the shop, the farm ; it must consider civil, industrial, social and moral institu- tions. Any curriculum worthy a place in our schools must be built upon a clear conception that reason stands superior to fact, that expression is worth more than technique, that human sympathy transcends in value the printed pages of a book. THE AIM OF EDUCATION 27 According as we hold one or another view of the un- derlying principles of education and of the d 8 " rCal P r0vince f the scno l, do w e trans- Information late the school studies into terms of value and attribute to them relative worths. To some the school stands for culture, and the curriculum should be so ordered as to promote this culture side of the child's life. Some think rather in terms of disci- pline and insist that school studies should make for this end. Others again would place information as the chief element to be considered. Shall the value of school studies, however, be found to exist within the studies themselves and is it to be determined by the nature of such studies ? If society sets the standard, how can there be several possible values ? With several standards set up, there is, as Dr. Dewey says, "no conception of any sin- gle unifying principle the extent and way in which a study brings the pupil to consciousness of his social en- vironment, and confers upon him the ability to interpret his own powers from the standpoint of their possibilities in social use, is the ultimate and unified standard." * It is, of course, unsafe to say that mathematics and the languages make for discipline chiefly, that the study of English brings culture, that history lends itself to the informational side of development. The fact is that under the best conditions, mathematics is cultural and informational as well as disciplinary in value ; the Eng- lish group of studies may be made to cover as wide a * Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 1 8. 28 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION field as mathematics and Latin, while history may bring as complete a development as any school subject. To say that one study makes for culture and another for discipline means simply that the standard for culture or for discipline comes from the individual, not from society. Culture, in the terms of our discussion, means possibili- ties for development, open mindedness, honesty, the sense of service awakened, not merely varnish and veneer. Information implies knowledge, to be sure, but knowledge that not only can be used, but that is carried over and made a part of the lives of others to the end that all are advantaged thereby. Discipline suggests not only the analytic mind and the trained muscle, but the sympathetic soul and the teachable spirit as well. In this connection, notice how broad is the definition of culture as given by Bosenquet. " Culture," he says, " is the habit of mind instinct with purpose, conscious of the continuity and connection of human events, able and industrious ; capable of discriminating the great from the trivial." Method, too, is a determining element in the value of studies, for the. comparative worth of any given body of subject-matter to the individual, or to society, is deter- mined in no small degree by the manner of presentation. While it is true that subject- subject- matter and method are not distinct, but ex- Matter and . . . Method ist as two sides of experience, the psycholog- ical and the social, it remains to be said, however, that for the practical purposes of the teacher THE AIM OF EDUCATION 29 and the school, it is eminently necessary that they be clearly distinguished, the one from the other. It has long been insisted by some, and assumed by others, that in a course of training, for example, the method was of chief concern : that if the teacher in embryo could secure a knowledge of method, an understanding of how to do the given thing, that a knowledge of subject-matter itself, of the definite facts connected with the particular line of work, could be somehow grasped at a later time. The fallacy of this view is apparent to all who consent for a moment to consider seriously the issues involved. How utterly inconsistent to endeavor to formulate a method, or to act intelligently under one, until a knowl- edge is had of that upon which method is based. Many of our normal schools have this lesson yet to learn, and educational institutions the country over, not only of ele- mentary and secondary, but of collegiate grade, would do well to select the subject-matter of the curriculum with more care than has been manifest in the past. Indeed the necessity for a knowledge of subject-matter be- fore training or method work is attempted, is one of the strongest possible arguments in favor of normal and professional schools admitting as students only those who have had a previous thorough, academic training. Once subject-matter has been selected in any school, the work should be made more intensive than we now find it more intensive from the stand- point of thought values, and also from that of exe- cution. 3 o STANDARDS IN EDUCATION All this does not in any manner whatsoever contradict what has been said previously regarding weiiasVa- thought and expression being paramount, ture Needs It means that a knowledge at first hand sidered n f things that have a valid place in society, not only for the future but in the present, is to be the first essential. It means, as Dr. Dewey tells us, that " The present has its claims. It is in edu- cation, if anywhere, that the claims of the present should be controlling," and this is in accord with the words of President Butler, " Education is the adjust- ment of the individual to the spiritual possessions of the race." It means what Browning means, when he says : "Let things be not seem, I counsel rather, do and' nowise dream! Earth's young significance is all to learn; The dead Greek lore lies buried in the Urn, Where he who seeks fire finds ashes." And self-control, leadership, responsibility is it the duty of the school to undertake the task of Self-Control, . -11 i Leadership, inculcating in its pupils these elements so Mfm 6 ? 011 " essential to success? Must the time be sibility in the school placed, and the thought of education be cen- tered, upon these factors, when it might be troubling itself with the real facts of knowledge ? The question is put only to have one answer returned. What of the city where the members of the police number as many as the teachers engaged in the schools ? What of houses of correction, of the institutions of reform, the THE AIM OF EDUCATION 31 prisons, the courts of justice, and to a lesser extent of the hospitals, asylums, and homes for the unfortunate and distressed ? In the lack of self-control, in the inability to interpret properly the demands of society or to perform its duties, having learned them, in unstableness of char- acter, to the end that the right is lost sight of and the stronger powers of leadership in others prevail, is found the cause of much of the weakness underlying our social organization. Could the school teach effectively the lesson of self-control, we need have little fear of results when the product of the system is thrown among the currents of the world. " What now is the most impor- tant attribute of man as a moral being ? May we not answer, the faculty of self-control ? This it is which forms a chief distinction between the human being and the brute. It is in virtue of this that man is defined as a creature ' looking before and after.' It is in their larger endowment of this that the civilized races are superior to the savage. In supremacy of this consists one of the perfections of the ideal man." * And here the tact and ability of the teacher shows itself. It is the teacher who, at his best, stands between the child and the various ex- periences that await him. The teacher, from his larger store of knowledge, directs the child toward, and intro- duces him to, these forms of experience, which are es- pecially adapted to bring out and develop the element of control, pointing the way that the pupil may in the shortest possible time and with the least expendi- * Spencer : Social Statics, " The Rights of Children," p. 86. 32 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION ture of misdirected energy, adjust himself to his environ- ment. Rigid adherence to tradition, extreme rulings, and deeply furrowed acceptances of the past do Traditional- .... ism does not not lend themselves to initiative, to open- make for in- m indedness, to leadership, to self-control. itiative What would have been the achievements of a Michael Angelo or a Raphael, a Wagner or a Beetho- ven, a Goethe or an Emerson, a Franklin or a Newton, a Gladstone or a Lincoln, had these minds not felt free to reach forth in any direction, free to accept all the in- spiration that came to them from the past, free to ignore all the narrowing influences so apparent in the life and work of most of us, free to express themselves naturally, and clearly, and without restraint ? William Wallace gives us as clear a statement as could well be formulated, of the ideal of an education that will educate. " Mental health and wealth," he says, "do not depend upon a mere accumulation of single facts, but upon solid ideas of what life is and ought to be, and what the world around us really means ; it does not lie in confinement to a fragmentary life, limited in its range of view, and moving forever in the same monoto- nous routine, but in a large and free scope of experience ; nor does it lie in the degree of variety and intensity to which we can bring our sensations and aspirations, but in acquiring the proper estimate of values, in calming the turmoil of temper and gaining at once sweetness and light, that gentle reasonableness which, though not THE AIM OF EDUCATION 33 less free to receive impressions than in the beginning of life, is at the same time matured by experience to a wiser judgment of their comparative worth. The true idea of a fully developed personality does not consist merely in a keen intellectual acumen, nor in an intense but inactive susceptibility to the moods of happy feeling, nor in a perpetual unresting activity ; it involves a bal- ance of all these elements."* And this experience, these forces that play backward and forward, in school and out, touching the pupil in his every occupation, that have direct bearing upon his present and that can be appreciated by him, shall we not consider these rather than attempt to introduce him to vague and indefinite elements ? As I stood, some time since, beside the rude dwellings of a simple people in a western desert and watched the natives as they worked at rug weaving or in fashioning a basket, I recalled the question put to one of these people by an eastern woman : " Isn't it too bad," said she, " that you live so far away ? " And the native woman, re- turning a wondering glance, replied, " I don't live far away, I live right here." While the work of the school must be such as to fit those who form the school community to adjust themselves to the society in which they individually may find themselves, it must not be forgotten that the child can interpret only in the light of present experiences. * Lectures and Essays on Natural Theology and Ethics, p. 297. Standards 3 34 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION THESES 1. The value of education has been recognized by all peoples, but from various standpoints. 2. The aim of education is the matter of chief con- cern at present. 3. The consideration of the relation of the individual to society involves the study of two elements, the psy- chological and the sociological. 4. In determining standards, culture, discipline and information values are variously considered as basic. 5. Method and subject-matter are separate and dis- tinct factors. 6. The school should inculcate in its members self- control, leadership, and responsibility, and thus develop initiative. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. What were the educational ideals in early Egypt, India, China ? Compare with our present standards. 2. What important features of our present day educa- tion seem tc have had their foundations in the civiliza- tion of Greece and of Rome ? 3. What are the main facts to be considered in en- deavoring to determine the aims of education ? 4. Show that the acceptance of a common standard does not presuppose similar methods, or identical applica- tion of principles, in the working out of the problems in- volved. THE AIM OF EDUCATION 35 5. Show how a knowledge of the past in history and achievement is of value in present-day development. 6. When society " demands an article," does the de- mand originate with society or with an individual, one of the units of which society is composed ? Is this de- mand ever custom or fashion, and where do these origi- nate ? 7. Consider the source of the tendency to retain the useful and to eliminate the superficial. Does the prin- ciple of the Biological Conception have any bearing or application here ? 8. Discuss fully the value of pure knowledge; of knowing for the sake of knowing without regard to ap- plication of facts of knowledge. 9. Make a list of subjects that seem to lend them- selves chiefly to culture giving ; to information ; to dis- cipline. 10. How are we to determine what subjects should be taught and the relative value of each ? n. Discuss the extent to which the school would be handicapped by the elimination of any one of the several subjects now taught. 12. Compare the courses of study of the more im- portant normal schools of the country as to relative time spent upon the various educational courses, psy- chology, pedagogy, history of education, school law, methods, school economy, school management, school administration and the like. Can you reconcile the dis- crepancy between the time spent upon psychology and STANDARDS IN EDUCATION that given to consideration of the problems of school management ? BAGLEY BUTLER DEWEY GORDY GREENWOOD HANUS HERBART HINSDALE HORNE McMURRY MONROE MOORE O'SHEA PAINTER PARKER PUTNAM SEELEY THORNDIKE CONSULT The Educative Process. Meaning of Education, pp. 3-36. School and Society. A Broader Elementary Education, chaps, i to 8, inc. Successful Teaching, pp. 11-19. Educational Aims and Educational Values, chap. i. Science of Education, pp. 1-121. Art of Study, chap. 5. Psychological Principles of Education, pp. 1-79. Elements of General Method, chaps, i & 2, pp. 1-84. Text-Book in the History of Education, pp. 1-220. Science of Study, chaps. 3, 4, & 5. Education as Adjustment, chaps. 4, 5, & 15. Great Pedagogical Essays: "Laws" of Plato, pp. 9-32. Politics of Aristotle, pp. 34-60. Horace Mann, pp. 385-398. Talks on Pedagogics, chaps, i & 16. Manual of Pedagogics, chaps, i & 13. Elementary Pedagogy, chaps, i, 2, & 3. Foundation of Education, chaps. 20 & 21. History of Education, pp. 1-88. Principles of Teaching, chaps, i, 15, & 16. Selections from CHAPTER II THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM: ITS MOTIVE AND CONTENT THE thoughts laid down in the following pages are centered around certain ideas which, less than a dec- ade ago, began to take definite shape in many minds. These ideas, while even now somewhat vague, were in the earlier days chaotic. Beginning about the time I have indicated, the student of education could not have failed to notice a certain unrest in matters educational ; an un- rest voicing and manifesting itself in somewhat different manner and with more positive expression than formerly. I am likely to be reminded that this unrest took shape full three decades past and that a constant An Educa- change and steady advancement have been tional Unrest Noticeable noticeable ever since. Some are perhaps willing to go further and to say that since the times of John Locke and Comenius, of Rousseau and Pestalozzi, of Froebel and Herbart, educational thought and practice have ever been moving toward a higher level. More than this, we should probably all agree that certain fundamental principles laid down in Aris- totle's Ethics or in Plato's Republic, are not outgrown at the present day. 37 38 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Granting this, however, we must admit that the past few years have wrought an additional change on the face of educational affairs. True, many do not see this; or seeing, will not admit. They must, however, eventually concede it. For a long time past it has been the secondary school that has first received the attention of educators, when a new order of things seems imminent or desirable in the public school. So in England, in Germany, in America, has the secondary condition been discussed. The full force and significance of these discussions is now being felt by what is far the most important and vital part of the whole educational organization of the present the elementary public school of America. Mr. Michael E. Sadler, a thorough English education- alist, has thrown much light upon the problem in his re- port on " The Unrest in Secondary Education in Ger- many and Elsewhere." * Other prominent German, English, and French school men have agitated the prob- lem, while with us, as exponents of a broader elemen- tary school curriculum, may be mentioned, Dr. William T. Harris, Professor John Fiske, Colonel Francis W. Parker, President Nicholas Murray Butler, President Charles W. Eliot, Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Professor William James, Dr. Frank M. McMurry, Professor John Dewey, not to speak of a host of others. These men have, each in his own way, been insistent in demanding in our school work something that shall be real rather than artificial, * Special Reports on Educational Subjects, vol. 9, pp. 1-191. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 39 vital rather than indifferent. They have pleaded for an education such as has been aimed at, but is as yet far short of realization. Upon certain of the most important and fundamental principles underlying our educational fabric, Lack of Ap- there is and has been an almost unanimous plication of Principle agreement. It is only when we as individ- uals come to the practice of these princi- ples, only when an application is made, that a serious disagreement is noticeable. Indeed, it is only too fre- quently the case that no application is attempted. How clearly in the past has the purpose of the school been stated, and how almost universal has been the acceptance of the definition. In actual practice the work has not been in harmony with the stated purpose of the school. There is little contention as to the function the child is to serve when he becomes part of the world in which he shall eventually find himself. Our methods as practised, however, would be hardly recognizable as having any foundation in the thought for future citizenship. Theory and practice are at variance, and as a result violence has been done the child ; the past has kept its hold upon the school and we have held to old courses of study, dusty with layers of tradition, or mildewed by decades of bigotry. In some instances, to be sure, the better in the old ed- ucation has been displaced by the less valuable in the so- called new. Subject has been added to subject, scheme to scheme, creed to creed, until pupils and teachers alike 40 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION find themselves in an educational maze, from which only the freedom of the outside world can extricate them. This unrest then, of which I have been speaking, is felt from the kindergarten through the uni- versity. From what was at first a feeling, m the inter- there has developed a conviction that our Few schools have too long existed for the benefit of the few. The upper grades are adminis- tered in the interest of the six per cent,* who pass from the primary years ; high school courses of study are carried on with the view of meeting the requirements of a fortunate one per cent which is graduated from them ; while college and university curricula take into account only a meager number, who through circumstance or by birth are enabled to avail themselves of the advantages of a higher education. What our elementary schools should furnish above all else, is the elements of such culture and thought-bearing subjects as shall the better introduce the pupil into the social, the industrial, the moral life of the day. In this regard the school of ele- mentary grade is at present a long call from squaring with its avowed mission. The importance of our subject is apparent, for, with due regard to all kinds and grades of school work, we must recognize that the elementary is the most important school department. Why ? First, because it furnishes the foundation upon which the future educational super- structure must rest and has to do with the child at his * Report, Commissioner of Education, 1903, vol. I, p. xvi. 41 most impressionable period, and second, because the great mass of children obtain all the school education they ever receive in the elementary school. We may therefore ask ourselves the following ques- tions : First, How does the elementary school of the pres- ent meet the demands imposed here and now ? Second, At what points in the curriculum is adjustment necessary ? Third, How may the proper conditions be brought about ? That our elementary schools are superior to those of the past there can be no question. It is just as true that they do not meet the present notAde- day conditions and necessities. So strongly quate has the tide set in favor of something of a more rational nature, and so evidently has a feeling of unrest been sweeping over the country that many pro- gressive localities have already instituted radical changes ; and literature setting forth the real state of affairs and offering valuable suggestions as to the subject-matter of the curriculum has not been wanting. It is Emerson who says, "Is it possible that I who get indefinite quan- tities of sugar, hominy, cotton, buckets, crockery ware and letter paper, by simply signing my name to a check in favor of John Smith & Co., traders, get the fair share of exercise to my faculties by that act which nature in- tended for me, in making all these farfetched matters im- portant to my comfort ? It is Smith himself, and his carriers, and dealers and manufacturers ; it is the sailor, the hydrographer, the butcher, the negro, the hunter and the planter who intercepted the sugar of the sugar and 42 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION the cotton of the cotton. They have got the education, I only the commodity." The great masses of boys and girls who are early compelled to take up the problems of actual life should find in the sch o1 that which has the Needs of been prepared expressly for them and which best meets their needs. They find instead, work better suited to those who, whether they will or not, enter and take advantage of upper school work. With the proper adjustment of elementary school courses, all that great mass of pupils who leave below high school age would go out better prepared to take part in the life before them, and many who now leave school at an early age, would continue their work into and beyond the high school. To reach the great mass of boys and girls, and not only to reach them but to keep them in school for a somewhat longer period, is then our problem. The tend- ency of educational thought is to this end. His time in school is much too short for the boy to acquire those elements that make for moral uplift, industrial knowl- edge, social ideas and the faculty of leadership. The reader will appreciate, I am sure, that I have in mind the unnumbered many who progress no further than the ele- mentary school. Various are the causes of noncontinuance at school : poverty, sickness, overcrowding, poor enforcement of attendance laws, inability to keep pace with a given class, indifference, the monotonous grind of the ordinary re- THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 43 view all conspire to lessen the tuition in school. More than all else, however, and deeper and more So?onun- fundamental than these, is the fact that af- uance in ter the pupil enters the school, the latter does not furnish that which is demanded in actual life. The supposition has been that the school is the medium through which the pupil is enabled to determine the line of work, occupation or profession he is best fitted to enter, after first bestowing upon him a general culture, universally essential. Should this be the correct view, which it probably is in part only, the present courses of study would not work to the desired end. In his masterful address before the Department of Superintendence at Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Frank M. Mc- Murry charges that the common school curriculum is seriously overcrowded, but questions whether there is pressure from without. He says : " When we get be- yond the three R's, spelling, and a modicum of geog- raphy, and grammar, there is no public pressure brought to bear upon teachers compelling them to cover any recorded amount." * Is there pressure then from within ? Just as pressure is being brought to bear upon the high school by the university above it, so is the elementary school being unduly influenced by the school of secondary grade. As an example of this, our high schools all over the country have added to their courses advanced or university algebra. Mathematics teachers themselves admit that with the exception of a * Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence, 1904, p. 31. 44 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION very few of those who pass on to the higher institutions of learning, the students will make little or no use of this study. It is exceedingly abstract and difficult ; and the time would better be spent upon some subject that is in fact of high school grade. In the same way the grammar grades are being afflicted with elementary al- gebra, with technical English, complicated grammatical forms and with a quantity of material that has no place below the high school. " To teach men how they may learn to grow independ- ently and for themselves is perhaps the greatest service that one man can do for another,"* says one; but this cannot be done through the use of our present curricu- lum. " That knowledge is of most worth," says Presi- dent Jordan, " which can be most directly wrought into the fabric of our lives. That discipline of most value- which will best serve us in quietly unfolding our own individualities." With a more serviceable curriculum, Ruskin would have had less cause to declare that " Modern Education for the most part signifies giving people the faculty of thinking wrongly on every conceiv- able subject of importance to them." No wonder the old song ran : "There's a lot of things that never go by rule; There's an awful lot of knowledge That you never get at college, There's a lot of things you never learn at school." * Jowett, in a letter to Palgrave : Life and Letters, Abbott and Camp- bell, vol. i, p. 414. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 45 To speak further of the unfitness of the present day curriculum to meet present needs would be to deal with platitudes. Let us consider at aii school what points adjustment may be made. To say where such adjustment should begin would be an almost hopeless task. In arithmetic and language, in history and geography, in reading, and even in more progressive schools, where such work is given as nature study, manual training and art subjects, the husk is too often mistaken for the kernel. The form rather than the content is made the chief issue ; the symbol is made to stand for the thing. The spirit is lost, the letter is the goal. It is not my purpose to suggest an addition of subjects to an already overfull curriculum. I suggest rather an enrichment of the school work through a process of elimination, and by intensifying at many points. In the schools of the past the work was usually well done, and if the curriculum was narrow, meager and unin- viting, it was conscientious and thorough. Little by little, while our schools have increased in efficiency, they seem many times to have lost the thoroughgoing char- acter and sincerity so noticeable in those of former times. With an accumulation of subjects we must guard against superficiality and shallowness. It is now gener- ally admitted that we do not so much need additions to the curriculum in the form of new subjects, as a filtering out of subjects so that we shall teach and teach better only the essentials. 46 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION In the elementary school it is perhaps in arithmetic and language, including reading, that the most pressing need of adjustment is seen. The object teaching in these subjects furnished an ad- vanced step over the older methods. But Arithmetic what do we find ? In arithmetic, for exam- ple, to use a crude illustration, the 2 + 2 = 4 problem, typi- cal of the abstract, lifeless form of work so long adhered to, was changed to the so-called concrete form, and read, two apples and two apples are four apples. A moment's thought, however, will convince us that the latter form of the problem lies nearly or quite as far from the con- crete as did the former. Here, too, it grows out of a mere statement of fact and not of the life interests of the pupil. It should find its application in an immediate need. " A thing is concrete when it is in the midst of its meanings ; a word to be concrete must not be disso- ciated from the idea for which it stands, but should ap- pear in its context, in the midst of its settings." * Much of the arithmetic now taught in the schools would come naturally to the pupil without the aid of school or teacher, if we could but be patient. On the other hand, it is not safe to say what portion of the en- tire arithmetic work would better be eliminated from the curriculum ; certainly a large part of it. I find children of sixth and seventh grade ability doing whole pages of problems under the heading time. After the table of measures has been committed, there are scores of prob- * Borrowed from Professor Frank M. McMurry. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 47 lems of which this is a type : Multiply i hour, 14 min- utes and 25 seconds by 13. When questioned as to what they are' doing, these pupils, as bright and well taught as the vast majority, answer that they are multi- plying. If questioned further as to why they are doing this particular thing, they say, " to get the answer." Ella Calista Wilson, in her recent book, Pedagogues and Parents, tells us that when a child she determined, as she put it, " to make a decent arithmetic " when she should be " big." What a commentary upon arithmetics and our use of them ! Look at it from whatever side you will, the idea is forced upon you that the curriculum of the elementary school is not calculated to meet the demands of the boy or girl. The child may be able to tell you the least common multiple of 4, 8 and 1 6, or the greatest common divisor of 3, 6 and 9, but it is doubtful if he can tell you why in New York City the market price per dozen of oranges is greater than that of apples, or why in certain parts of the country railroad engines use wood rather than coal for fuel. And the saddest part of the whole matter is that after he closes his arithmetic, the pupil will probably never have need for the facts he has learned re- garding the least common multiple or the greatest com- mon divisor. It may not be going too far to say that the newsboy upon the street, rough and unkempt, has a completer knowledge of arithmetic that fits for life than have his fellows in the school. It is recorded that a New Hamp- 48 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION shire schoolboy, with the mountains for playmates, studied geology from a text-book, but was unable to say if he had ever seen an igneous rock. Thinking fathers and mothers are expressing a preference for the arithmetic given in the well-ordered commercial school, to that taught in the grades of the public school, and this for the simple rea- son that they find the former to be of actual value in the life work of the individual. At many points the arithmetic should be simplified and reduced. What necessity is there for spending so much time and energy upon such topics as Longitude and Time, Partial Payments, Involution, Evolution, Pro- gression, Least Common Multiple, Greatest Common Di- visor, complicated problems in Stocks and Bonds, and so on and so on ? Aside from something spoken of vaguely as mental discipline and development, the pupil gains lit- tle other than a bad conscience, an abhorrence for arith- metic and a dislike for school. Teachers constantly complain that students come to them lacking in knowledge of arithmetical processes and in ability to apply principles they are supposed to have learned. Surely this inability is not due to lack of time spent upon the subject of arithmetic, as in most schools it is upon the program continuously for the first eight years of school life. I have suggested that in language and reading adjust- ment is needed. One of the chief functions Language of the elementary school should be to give the child a love for reading and an appreciation for good THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 49 literature. To train in the use of simple, direct and cor- rect language is indeed a necessary part of the work. But above all else the child or the man who is not at home with books, who does not make friends with the finest in literature, who does not read and from his read- ing draw inspiration and enthusiasm and power for good, has been cheated of the best that the school should give. It is the book, many times, which keeps the boy from being idle. Idleness breeds crime ; and thous- ands of boys are idle because, as they say, there is nothing to do ; no place to go. Consequently they are often in the company of those from whom they learn only evil. In language work the child may be able to supply the missing words in the text, but does he contribute a read- able paper in the history class, or speak intelligently when giving an explanation ? In reading, the words may be spoken, but is the selection one having any connec- tion with the child's needs ? Will it broaden and deepen his sympathies, extend his knowledge of things worth while, and force him to feel, and be and live his better self ? The reading matter offered the grammar-school boy or girl should be carefully selected and the pupil guided in his reading. The short stories of which the news- papers and magazines are now full are doing much to create fragmentary and unorganized reading. To inter- pret the printed page and to give meaning and life to the sentence is an art indeed. It is an uncommon experi- Standards 4 50 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION ence to find a student of high school age who can gather from his reading the thought therein contained and give it clearly and easily to his listeners. In fact, the average pupil finds difficulty in reading properly his problem in arithmetic ; and failure in chemistry and physics is often due to faulty interpretation of the text. The subject of geography furnishes a further illustra- tion of the necessity for an adjustment of the Geography elementary curriculum. Few teachers there are indeed, who have not, in some measure at least, swung away from the lifeless method of teaching geography from the text-book a method that assumes that geog- raphy teaching means the locating of cities, the bound- ing of states, and the tracing of water courses. For the most part, however, we find as yet very little of real ge- ography taught in the schools. Memory is relied upon ; thought is not developed. In a recent examination of text-books in geography, looking toward the adoption of a text for school use, ten books were chosen for examination and from these the five best were selected. As one test of the relative merits of these several texts, the following method was employed. Beginning in each text at the portion deal- ing with the United States, the first one hundred ques- tions were chosen. Out of these one hundred questions one book contained not a single question involving any element of thought ; a second book contained three ques- tions of thought value ; a third, eleven such questions ; a fourth, thirty-two ; and the fifth book, forty-seven. In THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 51 other words, our best texts in geography upon the market to-day, if we may judge upon the basis of this examination, consider memory work of more importance than thought processes. More value is placed upon the ability to lo- cate a mountain system upon the map or to name the three longest rivers in a given area, than to know why Chicago is situated advantageously as to commerce and manufacture, or why there is more rainfall in the Con- necticut valley than in southwestern New Mexico. No more, however, may the pupil's time be spent upon vague, indefinite things or upon those of little value : mere facts and figures, dates and places, locations, boundaries and battles. Each of these has a place, but to the grade pupil so much can be given that is rich and vitalizing that great care must be exercised in the choosing. It is no longer a question of what is good in education ; it is a question rather of what is best. Geography in its commercial, its industrial and social phases, may be made to appeal wonderfully to the pupil's interest and bring him into close touch with everyday experiences of life. Problems with a geographical setting should be substituted for isolated processes. Instead of abstract, arithmetical facts, problems regarding the actual tonnage of vessels, the quantity of turpentine, copper or codfish produced in a given locality, computation of the cost of transportation and of the turning of the raw mate- rial into the finished product, and consideration of the vari- ous mathematical processes involved, these may well have a place in the school work and will serve to illus- 52 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION irate the point under discussion, that arithmetic is as necessary to a proper understanding of geogra- phy as is reading and language to an appreciation of number. One more illustration will suffice. That branch of school knowledge that may properly fall un- ^ ^ nea( j Q f ^ manual or industrial arts also offers a field for adjustment. The so- called traditional subjects are thought subjects mainly. We have said, and truly, that book lessons only do not meet the demands of the developing child, as little ex- pression accompanies the learning process. There is ample impression ; there is slight expression. In order to get the most from our history or arithmetic or lan- guage, the motor element must come in. While the introduction of hand work in school has done much good, we have here swung as far Bothlmpres- . . sion and EX- to the opposite side, and while expression is not lackin g' the thought element plays all too any School small a part in our manual training courses. Neither in work at the bench, in sewing, in the cooking room, in the various hand work processes, nor in the art subjects, is the power to make or construct necessarily supplemented by the power to think. This last is due in large measure to the fact that for the most part the child is not allowed to put himself into the work. He follows arbitrarily some set of exercises or a fixed cur- riculum and performs in a more or less mechanical man- ner a prescribed course of work, and this without par- THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 53 ticular reference to its fitness for his own individual needs. " You can teach a man," says Ruskin, " to draw a straight line and to cut one, to strike a curved line and to carve it, and to cut and carve any number of given lines with admirable speed and perfect precision, and you find his work perfect of its kind ; but if you ask him to think about any of these forms, to consider if he cannot find any better in his own head, he stops ; his execution becomes hesitating, he thinks, and, ten to one he thinks wrong ; ten to one he makes a mistake in the first touch he gives his work as a thinking being. But you have made a man of him for all that. He was only a ma- chine before, an animated tool." If it is true that a lesson in history is really valuable only when, out of the data and lists of facts, Thought in the pupils draw conclusions and reason from p^s* cause to effect and from effect to cause, seeking an explanation of laws and princi- ples in the life of the day, so may we believe that in the manual processes the thought side must be emphasized by reasoning out the why, and by seeking to develop new or independent methods of procedure. May not work of a constructive nature, the industrial processes, properly carried on, furnish one contractive * tne f oun dation stones of the future pri- work in mary school curriculum ? Dr. Dewey says that the curriculum should be " so selected and organized as to provide the material for affording 54 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION the child a consciousness of the world in which he has to play a part, and the relations he has to meet."* Ac- cepting this, are not the media of the shop, the labora- tory, the studio, the garden, best suited to bring about the desired results ? In an address before the Department of Superintend- ence at Cincinnati, in February, 1903, President Eliot said : " I believe there is as much mental training in manual work as in any book whatsoever " ; and again, " I believe there is more value in manual work than in nine- tenths of the arithmetic in the schools." Teachers generally seem to be recognizing the fact that in no way can we so well form a school that shall be paralleled with, rather than angular to, the actual, everyday life of the child and the adult, as by adjusting our programs to the industrial and social forms that go to make up our everyday existence. How long shall we allow a false psychology to hamper us and to shape our school work a psychology Psychology 7 which is largely responsible for the stereo- typed form that hand work has taken in the past ? This psychology, true enough, has in a measure recognized the child as the most vital element to be con- sidered, but being based upon false assumptions, the practices growing out of the application of this psychol- ogy have left the child largely out of the educational equation. This so-called faculty psychology has insisted that the mind is cut up into divisions, each division being * Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 26. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 55 devoted to a given mental faculty or process. These faculties or attributes of the mind are parceled out and labeled as memory, judgment, imagination, reason, and the like, each faculty being trained through the presen- tation and assimilation of certain study material. Not only is this held to be true, but more ; it is conceived that such habits as neatness, exactness, precision, hon- esty and accuracy, are developed through the perform- ance of certain tasks, or by engaging in various motor exercises. In other words, a particular faculty or habit is trained, not so much in a general way along with other tendencies, but in a special sense, by a special method, or through a particular medium. One conclusion to be drawn from this is that the student, careful, accurate and discriminating in his manual work, will exemplify these qualities in all other school departments. That this is not the case in its broadest conception, there seems little room for doubt. " Acute powers of observation and memory might be developed by studying Chinese characters. Acuteness in reasoning might be got by discussion of the scholastic subtleties of the Mid- dle Ages. The simple fact is that there is no isolated faculty of observation, or memory, or reasoning, any more than there is an original faculty of blacksmithing, car- pentering or steam engineering. These faculties simply mean that particular impulses and habits have been co- ordinated and framed with reference to accomplishing certain definite kinds of work. Precisely the same thing holds for the so-called mental faculties. They are 56 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION not powers in themselves but such only with reference to the ends to which they are put, the services which they have to perform. Hence, they cannot be located or discussed as powers upon a theoretical, but only upon a practical, basis. We need to know the social situation with reference to which the individual will have to use ability to observe, recollect, imagine and reason, before we can get any intelligent and concrete basis for telling what a training of mental powers actually means, either in the general principles or in its working details." * To be sure a boy made careful in the shop has a ten- dency to be careful in the recitation room. Helps In'ttfe This is one of the strong arguments in favor Formation of o f manual training in the school. Since the Right Habits manual processes are transparent, so far as teacher and pupil are concerned, and since in dealing with them slight opportunity is offered for deception, we have in the arts a mighty power for good, making for the establishment of right habits. While certain so- called " faculties " may not be trained, it is perhaps true that the individual will here form habits of mind that will render him more efficient than he would other- wise be. The change in present day thought does not mini- mize the value of handwork. It will appeal to many who can be reached through no other channel. Out- ward form, technique, system and sequence, while hav- Dewey: Ethical Principles Underlying Edttcation, p. 13. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 57 ing a legitimate place, must be subordinated to thought, to values, and to utility. We must realize, too, that the truly utilitarian is not far removed from the truly educa- tional, and that the essence of the one is the essential in the other. In discussing the motive and content of the curriculum, we shall have to consider the complexity of of society 7 our industrial life and the deep significance of the industrial processes to every member of society. In an ever increasing ratio, we are, through these changes, becoming creatures of interdependence. The coat I wear, the bread and the fruit and the sugar that contributed to my last meal, the telephone that calls me from my task, the stove that makes it possible for me to warm my room, and the roof that now shelters me, the bicycle that conveys me to town, and the paper upon which is written the welcome letter I receive, are necessities and comforts and luxuries, and for which I am indebted to my fellows in this and the farthest lands of the sea. No longer do we supply ourselves with our daily needs, but through an industrial and economic reci- procity, each one in turn becomes, in fact, " his brother's keeper." The industrial argument is not external as might seem to be the case at first blush. It is dynamic, rather. Be- cause the nation is rapidly developing a manufacturing and industrial bias, it does not follow that there is only a passing significance here to the schools. The demand for changed conditions is psychologic, expressing itself 58 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION through the commercial spirit ; it comes from within ; and more and more are we beginning to see that work to be educational must be purposeful. As Professor Jackman puts it, " The first demand of the mind is for motive." * It is not necessary to elaborate further. Enough has been said to show that in each school subject there is ample need of adjustment, of cutting down and of en- richment of the subject-matter. In his article, Experiments upon Children, Dr. G. Stan- ley Hall speaks of the present as a " metamorphic pe- riod " in education and then goes on to say : " A mere list of fads now in practice in various places would make a long article. Idiotic busy work in the lower grades ; learning to read without knowing the alphabet, so that occasionally children old enough to use the dictionary have to make up their arrears of knowledge to do so; blob drawing ; typewriting and shorthand in high school ; four foreign languages for boys and girls in the early teens who have almost nothing in their minds to express in the vernacular ; Latin and algebra in the grammar school ; wood and iron work in manual training courses that are wooden in intelligence and iron in their inflexi- bility ; sharply demarcated schools and theories of physi- cal training which will not harmonize and give the chil- dren the best in all ; metaphysics of the effete German school for kindergartners, who ought to know something of nursing as taught to high school graduates and to * Elementary School Teacher, vol. 5, p. 60. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 59 know the child's body which at that age most needs care ; interest in the finished product, which is used for show, rather than in educational values ; everywhere and perhaps especially in English, content and substance sub- ordinated to form ; method whipped up to a sillabub that suggests an analogy between the graduates of certain nor- mal schools and the mediaeval barber's apprentice, who could set up for himself only when he could whip two ounces of soap into barrels of lather ; the mechanism of marks and hearing lessons, instead of teaching ; the college dominating the high school, which is really the people's college, with its excessive entrance exam- inations ; distraction among the multiplicity of differ- ent topics, these are some of the dangers, of which some are universal, and others dominant in certain places." * While we may not subscribe to all that Dr. Hall says, we should at least be in accord with the spirit of his mes- sage. The curriculum has indeed been broadened, while at the same time it has not been made sufficiently deep. In just the same degree that school work does not furnish power, does not put the pupil in possession of himself, in just so far is it failing in its mission. There is one factor, however, that must not be over- looked in our discussion ; a factor that rises as a Factor* above system, or curriculum, a factor that is greater than means or methods or courses of study : a factor without which our schools are poor * Good Housekeeping, vol. 37, no. 4, p. 338. 60 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION indeed : the personality of the teacher. It is the teacher who must work out and frame the curricu- lum to suit the needs of his particular boys and girls ; and it is the influence of the teacher that will shape and mold the habits and lives of his pupils. It is the teacher of energy, of spirit, of will, of moral stamina and intensity of purpose who will impress himself upon those under his care. The teacher who will be content only with the best is the teacher we want. The story is told of the bugler who played the advance that sent the men into battle. But the commanding officer, feeling hedged about and doubtful of success, ordered that a retreat be played. " Captain," replied the bugler, " I never learned to play a retreat." We want no retreats, we want only advances. There is an ever increasing place for the teacher of purpose and of power ; there should be no place for the one. of doubt and dishonesty. How then shall the proper adjustment of the elemen- tary school curriculum be brought about ? The answer may be given readily ; but the actual work of adjustment is difficult to carry on, mainly, because, as before stated, the standard of the school has sprung from the belief that knowledge is power. Not until men are sufficiently broad-minded to realize that the life of the present, so different from that of their own early days, so much more intricate and complex than was that of our fathers, demands a new interpretation ; not until they see clearly that " new times demand new measures and new men," and are able to apply the life standards to the processes THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 6l of the six-hour school day ; not until they can give rea- son based upon common sense for such practices, shall we be able to see how the curriculum is to be adjusted and shall we be active in accomplishing this adjustment. "The works of God are all for naught, Unless our eyes in seeing, See underneath the thing, the thought That animates its being." We shall see to it then, in shaping our curriculum, that abstract principle be thrown into the background, and that live, vital issues, those more in accord with the Zeit Geist the spirit of the age, be in evidence. Con- tent must be substituted for form, and the real must take the place of the symbol, the thing done rather than the thing said, must stand ; the deed, the act, the accom- plishment, not mere feeling or emotion, must hold sway. No longer can the school be considered as a thing of and by itself. It must rise or fall as a part of the great so- cial life of the child's existence. In the institutional life of the day, the school is recognized as one of the instru- ments through which expression manifests itself. It is a link in the chain made by the home, the school, the church, the state, the outside world. The school can no longer be regarded as a separate element, an existence, per se, where the child is to receive instruction that he may later live. He must live at school as he should live at home, or on the street, or in the shop, or at the forge. He must step from the school into the work of life, whereas now, preparation for his life's work must be 62 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION made after leaving the superficial atmosphere of the school. I have tried to show the necessity of shaping the cur- riculum of the elementary school to meet the demands of the progressive spirit of our day, and I have endeav- ored to indicate certain points at which adjustment should be made and to suggest how the changes may be brought about ; for the curriculum must be developed from within, not built up from without ; it must be fitted to the child, not the child fitted to it. I would not be understood as saying that every ele- ment in our present day courses should be stricken out. Indeed, I have attempted to show that many times the older, more conservative thought, stands superior to a modern whim or tendency. We shall find the truth of Disraeli's saying that " It is easier to criticise than to correct." And we must remember that "the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life." Three points, it seems to me, have been determined, looking toward the betterment of the elementary school curriculum. First, the arrangement of the courses of study must be such as to fit the needs and conditions of the individual student : in other words, the work given shall have some reference to the pupil's capacity and to his life after leaving school. Second, there must be a rational coming together of home, school and outside world, so that the child may see the necessity for and ap- preciate the underlying principles animating the whole. Third, teachers must come to their work not only pre- THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 63 pared as to subject-matter, but possessing enthusiasm, sympathy, high ideals, and the ability to obtain the co- operation of parents and patrons. Finally, is it not easy to see that we have been making, through our primary school curricula, a different sort of life in the schoolroom from that actually existing outside of it ; a life not at all real and certainly not ideal ? The lack of interest has been mainly on account of this. So different is the atmosphere of the school from that of real life that the pupil does not recognize the school ele- ments as having vital bearing or application outside the school. In the school he works for show, for standing, and while ready with the facts, loses or never finds their true meaning or application. With a program that shall fit the child's needs will come an increased desire to continue in school, a live in- terest in its many problems, an increased student attitude. Then, too, will the child see more clearly his relations to his fellows, his individual duties and responsibilities, and while recognizing his own worth, will at the same time appreciate the meaning and significance of the commu- nity, the society, the social whole of which he is only one of the units. THESES 1. An unrest in educational matters is apparent, which, beginning in the secondary school, now shows clearly in the school of elementary grade. 2. There is general agreement upon underlying educa- 64 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION tional principles, but little unity in application of the same. 3. The school is planned to meet the needs of the few ; school courses should appeal to the mass. 4. Since past and present standards in education differ, and since the school must be in harmony with the real life of the individual, adjustment in school courses must be made all along the line and in all subjects. 5 . In too great a degree the elementary school is domi- nated by the institutions of secondary grade. 6. Arithmetic, Language, Geography and Industrial Arts are used as illustrations of the necessity for adjust- ment throughout the school. 7. As so-called thought subjects in the past contained little of the expressive element, so the present work in industrial lines touches too lightly the thought side. 8. Constructive work built upon a sane foundation is invaluable. The best in both the early and present day education is necessary to a proper adjustment of the curriculum, that the pupil may find his place in society. 9. The personality of the teacher is, in the last analy- sis, the main factor to be considered. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. What is the meaning of a socialized curriculum? 2. Is further unity in school subjects desirable? Con- sider the question as to whether we can have unity with- out uniformity. 3. The elementary school as a social center. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 65 4. The elementary school as a neighborhood or com- munity center. 5. What part should imitation play in the work of the various grades? Originality? Are imitation and origi- nality antagonistic elements, or is one the foundation of the other? 6. Consider fully as to whether the school, as a community, finds its standards in the individual or in society. Does the mass or the reformer mold public opinion ? 7. Are school hours too long ? Why should the school year not extend over the full twelve months? 8. Are school duties too absorbing? 9. The average recitation time in the elementary school is increasing. Discuss the advantages of increasing the time of recitation, and of the study period. 10. Outside preparation for elementary pupils. 1 1 . To what extent should the teacher assume care of pupils after school hours or at such times as the school is not in session ? 1 2. Management of games and sports by the teacher. 13. Show to what extent the school makes for and suppresses leadership. 14. Consider the relation of the pupil, the parent and the teacher in the actual making of the course of study. 15. The statement is made frequently that the envi- ronment must be considered when constructing the course of study. Show how this is true, and discuss the relation of environment to curriculum. Standards 5 66 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 1 6. Should there be a closer union between the ele- mentary and the secondary school ? Study the problem of a closer articulation of school courses. 1 7. Make a list of all topics in arithmetic that could well be dropped. Do the same for each of the other subjects. What could be done in the time that is gained by such elimination ? 1 8. Show whether the subject, the method, or the teacher, is the matter of chief importance. What part does the text-book and administration play? Is your answer the same in all cases ? CONSULT BALDWIN Industrial Social Education. BRYAN The Basis of Practical Teaching. BUTLER The Meaning of Education. DEWEY My Educational Creed. Psychology and Social Practice, Psychologi- cal Review, vol. 7, no. 2. Psychological Aspects of the School Curricu- lum, Educational Review, April, 1897, vol. 13. PP- 35 6 ~3 6 9- The Child and the Curriculum. The School and Society. Ethical Principles Underlying Education. DOPP The Place of Industries in Elementary Education. BUTTON, The Curriculum of the Elementary School, PEARSON, AND in Teachers College Record, vol. 5, RICHARDS no. 2. THE ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM 67 ELIOT Educational Reform, chaps. 7, 8, n; see also addresses in proceedings of Cincin- nati meeting of the Department of Super- intendence, 1903. FROEBEL Education of Man. GORDY A Broader Elementary Education. HALL Experiments upon Children, in Good House- keeping, Oct., 1903. HANUS Attempted Improvements in the Course of Study, in Educational Review, Dec., 1896, vol. 12, pp. 435-45 2 - HARRIS Psychological Foundations of Education. The Correlation of Studies, Report of Com- mittee of Fifteen on Elementary Educa- tion. HENDERSON A New Program in Education. Education and the Larger Life. McMuRRY, C. Elements of General Method. McMuRRY The Curriculum of the Speyer School, in AND BURKS Teachers College Record, vol. 4, no. i. O'SHEA Education as Adjustment. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics. PAYNE Public Elementary School Curricula. SADLER The Unrest in Secondary Education. SPENCER Education. WILSON Pedagogues and Parents. CHAPTER III INDUSTRIAL TRAINING: ITS AIM AND SCOPE IT is because that branch of school knowledge usually spoken of as industrial training is being so generally in- troduced into our courses of study and because so few parents or teachers, aside from the specialist, claim ade- quate acquaintance with its deeper educational value, that the subject is here considered. From their compara- tively new position as special subjects, given in a few localities only, manual training, domestic science and other industrial processes are becoming so general through- out certain districts that patrons and educational folk the country over are discussing their many phases; and the regular grade teacher is being forced to the consideration of problems of method, of material, and of forms of work. Some years ago I was asked by one of our leading school men why I advocated the introduction of manual train- ing into the curriculum. Said he, "I have repeatedly asked teachers of manual training this question and have received no satisfactory reply to my query. They suggest always some impossible result to be accomplished or some vague form of development to be reached. What then," he insisted, ''is the educational value of the sub- ject?" My reply was that should he give me his reasons 68 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 69 for advocating history and science as school subjects, I would probably in like terms return him the answer he desired. Laying aside the consideration of relative values, the same principles underlie the one that are at the base of the other. It is safe to say that many are now willing to accept this view of the matter. To speak of the development, during the past three decades, of any school subject, is obviously a task of no mean proportions. Even the traditional studies of the curriculum, reading, grammar, history, mathematics, have undergone radical change and modification, though in their foundations they have been more or less fixed for a considerable length of time. Using geography as a type of this change, we find the content and method, hi many quarters at least, almost totally different from that of a few years past. While hand work is a comparatively new subject and need not be considered as existing, for school purposes at least, prior to thirty years ago, the more modern and generally accepted practices in this field have little in common with those of the earlier date, or of twenty or of even a half score years past. To what are these changes due and what is their significance in the educational life of the day ? It will not be necessary to consider at length the history of the manual training movement, or to trace totheintro- ' m detail its growth to the present time. auction of This has been done again and again, and Hand Work has, perhaps, been necessary to make clear the educational demands for hand work. Discussions 70 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION have been brought forward and arguments made upon the principles underlying the manual occupations; the psychological point of view has been exploited; the growth of brain areas and brain tracts resulting from action of motor centers has been dwelt upon; the threefold de- velopment of the individual, that of the mental, moral and physical natures has been declared impossible with- out the aid of manual training; education of a so-called all around character, of head, hand and heart, has had able advocates. But while these ideas have been put forward in perfectly good faith and while certain of the principles involved are considered sound at the present day, it is nevertheless true that delightful theory and vain imaginings have prompted many of them and upon these have been constructed courses of study that cannot last or that have entirely passed away. Manual training, hand work, motor activity, construct- ive work, industrial education : these arc some The Name of the terms suggested to indicate the work and the Purpose proposed to satisfy the creative tendency in the individual. The term manual training is the one most commonly in use, but it is now being ar- gued by many that it does not convey fully, nor correctly, the idea or significance of the processes in question. Manual training implies training of a manual nature only; and at the present time, this is but one of the ob- jects to be sought through industrial processes. Hence, the suggestion of the term, manual or industrial arts. Of the various reasons advanced for the introduction INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 71 of hand work into the curriculum, the following may be taken as being of chief importance. It must not be sup- posed that any individual advocate would advance all of the several reasons here given, because the particular exponent generally has in mind a specific purpose which he hopes to see realized through the introduction of the hand work processes. First. Manual training, properly directed and carried on, will create in the mind of the individual a love for work, and an appreciation of the dignity of honest labor, such as can be had in no other way. Second. The natural activity of the pupil, an activity that is native and that must find expression, is given freer play in the hand work processes than elsewhere in school. Third. The industrial side of our work-a-day existence, calling to us as it does from every hand, gams an added clearness in the minds of those boys and girls who engage in manual work in school. Fourth. The immature mind of the pupil demands rest and recreation from the continuous application to book studies. The introduction of hand work relieves the ten- sion and returns the pupil to his other tasks, quickened and refreshed in body and mind. Fifth. The physical development of the pupil is pro- moted by doing such work as calls for bodily strength and action. He stands rather than sits and is enabled to assume healthful positions. Sixth. The subject being rather concrete than other- wise, and something in which deception cannot readily 72 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION find a place, the moral standards of the pupil are raised. Any defect is readily observed by both pupil and teacher, the transparency of the work making it comparatively difficult for sham to be substituted for honest endeavor. Seventh. Those who pursue work of a constructive na- ture are likely to possess a general dexterity or handi- ness, a deftness of hand in execution. The dexterity or ability to use one's hands, to handle materials and master tools is to be considered from the educative side only. In this connection it is not thought of as reaching over into the field of bread-winning. Eighth. Work in the manual training room, of what- ever nature it may be or whatever form it may assume, will lay the foundation of a trade that may finally be carried to a more complete development. Ninth. Since the concrete and the objective appeal to the untrained mind, as the abstract, abstruse conception cannot, the books or traditional subjects are made clear where reinforced by the more tangible productions of the manual training room. Let us examine each of these several propositions in turn and endeavor to discover the strength in each. The necessity for a tolerant spirit on the part of those who do not engage in physical labor toward Labor* 701 those whose support comes through toil and struggle, is increasingly evident. In these days of strife between capital and labor, of combination of money and union of men, of industrial competition and narrow margins, the dignity of hand labor should be ap- INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 73 predated by every thinking man and woman. According to the last census of the United States, the number of those following some gainful occupation was something over twenty-nine millions, of which in round numbers, thirty- five per cent were engaged in agriculture, twenty-four per cent in mechanical and manufacturing lines, nineteen per cent hi domestic and personal service, sixteen per cent in trade and transportation, and four per cent in professional pursuits. It will thus be seen that much of the work ac- complished is carried on through the physical energies of our people. Those who have examined this question most closely, affirm that in schools where manual training work is carried on, the sons of the wealthy and the sons of the poor stand side by side at the bench or the forge. The dust of labor covers each alike. The same problems con- front one as do the other; and each in turn has these prob- lems to work out and solve. They sympathize, one with the other, in disappointments and failures; and each re- joices with his fellow when success attends him. They touch elbows, and there grows up between them a kin- ship that poverty upon the one hand and wealth upon the other cannot dispel. There can be no doubt, that, more and more, these conditions are being realized, and that people from all walks of life are being advantaged thereby. All present day education insists upon the necessity for activity on the part of the child. The philosophy of Plato, the theories of Pestaloazi, and the utterances of Froebel cried out for something in school work that should 74 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION keep the child free and active and allow him to expand and grow in a normal manner. The ne- cessity for activity in development has, in- Activity deed, been appreciated and understood since early times. The developing mind is an active mind. The immature body is a growing body. Building, making, creating, destroying, these are inherent traits in the child and are recognized by the exponents of any ra- tional educational plan. Says Colonel Francis W. Parker, when speaking of manual training as being one of the many modes of expression: "Making, or manual training, has done more for the human race than the exercise of any if not all, of the other modes of expression. It is abso- lutely indispensable to normal, physical development; it has had a mighty influence upon brain building." * In doors and out, at school or at home, the normal child expresses himself in terms of movement, of activity. The industrial arts will bring to the child through the various media, opportunity for such activity. The complexity and the deep significance of the in- dustrial processes to every member of so- industrial , . . ,. . . Demands cietv are considerations worthy our attention. The industrial spirit of the day continually demands translation and interpretation at the hands of the child. The "what is it?" and "why?" form of ques- tion is ever being put. Contact with the materials of the manual training room, a study of the raw products, and participation in the various processes will assist * Talks on Pedagogics, p. 253. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 75 toward a more complete understanding of our industrial life. "An education which cultivates the industrial spirit is the best education the school can give; it is the only all round education; it is the only human education; it is the only education based on the self activity of the pupil and is therefore the only education which will satisfy the de- mands of our day and generation; potent beyond any- thing we have yet tried, it diminishes pauperism and crime, which are increasing out of all proportion to the growth of population, in spite of our present methods of training." * It is then, perhaps not too much to say that contact with the actual materials of the shop and the laboratory, the kitchen and the garden, will awaken the individual to a consciousness of the value and significance of the many industrial phases that touch him on every side and help to shape his very existence. No parent or teacher, no one who has studied child nature, but knows how impossible it is for TheNeces- the mind to hold itself to any set task for change more than a short time. To realize this difficulty, let the adult, the reader, indeed, endeavor to hold himself to the consideration of a given topic to the exclusion of all else. Only as the mind is concentrated upon the subject in hand, only as the at- tention is directed toward the desired end is the particular * W. S. Mack, 26th Annual Report, Moline, 111., Public Schools, 1899, P-33- 76 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION lesson or task truly considered. After a short period of such attention, the mind will wander and adjust itself to other things, returning, perhaps, to take up again the desired problem. This means that as much may be ac- complished in a short period with concentrated effort, as by endeavoring to hold the mind for prolonged reaches of time, only to find the attention wandering and desultory and the ideas vague. Change, with the mind as with the body, is rest; and if the pupil, when wearied, can take up some manual occupation he will return later to his books, fresh and ready to engage again in the more purely mental processes. Says Dr. Albert Shaw: "Seek in every subject of study, especially in the lower grades, to provide motor activity, at least as an accompaniment of study and recitation. If possible, however, invent means which shall use up the motor tendencies and at the same time make a contribut- ing part of the more purely thought work required of the child. In short, let some doing accompany all the child's efforts to learn." In schools where such forms of work are provided, that the pupil may readily change from the one to the other, much improvement has been found. The pupil looks forward to his manual work with pleasure, and attacks with vigor and energy the problems of his daily recitations. There can be no question of the desirability of the strong body. The time has long since passed when to be a student means to be an invalid and a weakling. The INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 77 pale student of the monastery with his book for com- panion is no longer the symbol for educa- tion. It is, perhaps, the duty of the school to make for physical and bodily growth, fully as much as it is to minister to the mental side of the pupil's nature. Many schoolrooms are admirably suited to pre- vent physical growth. In a close fitting seat, leaning over upon a desk several sizes too small, or reaching up to one as much too large, with shoulders stooped and chest com- pressed, many a boy and girl is, through the long hours of the day, assuming harmful and dangerous bodily positions. Instead of being free and unhampered, pupils are many times cramped and warped. Muscular action and exercise of the larger organs of movement are provided for in any rational form of the industrial arts. If the child sits, he may usually be in a healthful position; if he stands or walks about, his move- ments are free. He works with materials that offer re- sistance to his efforts and with tools that demand strength in their mastery. The effects of certain necessary harmful bodily attitudes are counteracted and undeveloped muscles are strengthened. The more concrete the work in hand, the less likely is doubt and uncertainty to play a part. In mld^Difa grammar or history, a mistake upon the cuit pupil's part may easily pass unchallenged. The student glides over an error consciously or without intent; and even the teacher may not detect the fault. In a word, both teacher and pupil may be de- 78 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION ceived. In the shop or in the cooking room it is quite different. Be the box too long or too short, the metal too thick or too thin, the joint too loose, the basket askew, the stitches uneven, or the ingredients improper in pro- portion, little doubt need enter the pupil's mind as to the Tightness of his work. He can see and have pointed out to him the fault or defect, and can himself usually tell when the same is remedied. How often do we find the pupil in his book lesson, be- lieving thoroughly that he understands the subject, when later it becomes apparent that he does not! Simply re- peating something, memorizing a statement, or working through an abstract problem, does not prove that there is an understanding of the same. There has been no lack of manual training advocates, especially among the parents themselves, to Dexterity P u ^ forward the claims for a general dex- terity of hand. Work of a constructive na- ture, when taken up by the boy in school, will, they affirm, render him handy at making and repairing things, and these people will tell you that this is the chief benefit to be derived from a study of the manual arts. Certain it is that many friends of manual training consider the ability to use a knowledge gained, toward useful and purposeful ends, a desideratum. As a rule, however, they do not think in terms of its industrial, or economic, or commercial value, but rather in terms of its so-called educational worth. In other words, while desiring that industrial work be directed in useful channels, they look upon it in INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 79 the light of an added tool that will assist in further de- velopment, rather than as a factor bringing immediate results. A sharp line is drawn by most advocates between the teaching of the industrial arts for the pur- P se f learning a trade upon the one hand, and for what is spoken of as the purely forma- tive side, upon the other; there have all along been those who have ably put forward the idea that hand work in schools should not only aim at, but should prepare di- rectly for, some one of the many trades in which the pupil might engage. Many persons, a majority no doubt, do not discriminate between manual training for general purposes and the work carried on in the regular trade school; and since the elements of so many trades are of necessity found to exist in the work done in the various school shops, the chief value attaching to hand work is conceived to be in furnishing the foundations for some one or more of these several trades. That the province of the real trade school is distinct from the field of the manual arts in the regular school, and that the two must not be confused, need not be con- sidered at length here. Since, however, to earn one's livelihood is quite legitimate, rather than degrading, and since the making of things without the application of knowledge gained is no longer thought of as being edu- cational, the trade and educational phases are, in the last analysis, not in conflict. True it is that the boy or the girl, having intelligently pursued work in manual train- 8o STANDARDS IN EDUCATION ing, is enabled to take up and carry forward not only the plans worked out by others, but is capable of originating problems. His ability in self-expression and his power of individual initiative is quickened. The writer was told recently by the manager of a large furniture factory, that the most difficult undertaking con- nected with his business was the securing of efficient men to plan and direct new enterprises; that more than else- where, in the graduates of the manual training high school, were they finding the men they desired. I could give so many instances in line with the above that individual cases would lose their worth. Objective teaching in the school has long been looked upon as being of extreme value. In the man- ua ^ training the pupil approaches more nearly clarifies the tangible product than elsewhere in school Mental . . concepts work. When the industrial processes are used, not so much as an end in themselves, nor merely from the standpoint of a school subject, but as a medium of expression, the other subjects are illumi- nated. The shadows are thrown into relief, so to speak. It is claimed that the problem in mathematics or the ex- periment in science, which heretofore has proved only so many words to the pupil, is readily understood when the model or bit of apparatus made by the student, is used for illustration. When carried to its final analysis, this point brings one to the idea of the correlation of manual processes with other school work. Some declare that when thus con- INDUSTRIAL TRAINING Si sidered, manual training will be the "handmaid" of the other subjects and will thus become degraded. Those who hold this view are, of course, making the subject, rather than the child, the object of chief concern. Any rational unifying of subjects can result only in benefit to all. With this brief consideration of the more important claims made for the introduction of hand work into the school, we may now turn to a somewhat general discus- sion of the field of the industrial arts. The so-called exercise system of manual training is that first put into actual practice in Russia an< ^ * s s Pken of usually as the Russian system. It is very probably true that work of the nature indicated was actually begun in France. The exercise system, worked out largely hi the secondary and technical schools, and at a date earlier than the in- troduction of hand work into the grades, comprised as the term implies, a series of abstract exercises. Using wood as the material to illustrate the thought, certain typical tool processes would be considered, such as cross or rip- sawing, chiseling, the construction of various joints, and so on. In sewing, to illustrate further, various stitches were practised upon a bit of fabric prepared for such work; buttonholes were made and buttons fastened, sample pieces of cloth being used. Later on in the course, indeed, these abstract exercises frequently found ex- pression in a completed article. These exercises, whether in wood, Iron, cloth or other Standards 6 82 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION material, were based upon supposed difficulty in tool manipulation, the simple movements being followed in regular order by the more difficult. Under this system, as a general rule, and in most places, the exercises or articles made became the property of the school, to be disposed of as desired. Teaching was carried on in the mass, little use being made of the individual form of instruction. The ex- ercises, too, were given in direct order and in some in- stances, as pertains in certain Danish schools to-day, the class worked as a unit, until someone dropped behind or forged ahead of his fellows, when the class would pause that all might again start at a given signal and proceed in harmony as before. The exercise system, under which the abstract task was performed, was the forerunner of the model system* 6 system, which comprehended the making of complete objects. This in itself was a long step forward, the models being thought of as articles of use. What is known as the Swedish Sloyd or Slojd em- phasizes more clearly than anything else this model scheme of hand work. Again taking wood as the illus- trative material, although at first paper, rushes, iron and other materials were used, a number of objects were pre- sented, carefully arranged and graded as to difficulty of construction, considered chiefly with reference to tool manipulation. It was therefore necessary to determine what tool, or what particular exercise with a given tool, presented the least difficulty. As before stated, this same INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 83 principle was applied to other forms of hand work; sew- ing, for example, to use the illustration before given. In this manner the pupil was carried along by regular steps, from the simple to the complex, from the known to the unknown, from the concrete to the abstract. Here, as under the exercise system, the sequence was arranged mainly upon the basis of difficulty in tool ma- nipulation, without consideration of necessity or choice, or varying ability in the pupils. The models were made in both rectilinear and curvilinear form to be tested not only with measuring tools, but also with the eye and sense of touch. They became the property of the student by whom they were constructed. While those advocating such a scheme as is here men- tioned, realized that the abstract would not what is satisfy, they failed many times to under- Demanded J ' J stand that the model could be nearly or quite as far removed from the concrete as the exercise itself. Here again, as under the exercise system, the thing is made because it is the next object in the series or course, and not necessarily because any particular need or desire on the part of the child calls for the making of such an object. No demand may arise from the pupil himself for a flower stick or a keyboard, a hammock or an apron. He makes the board or stick, in some instances putting it to use or perhaps giving it away; frequently it is left at school, or if carried home it is stored in the attic or laid aside in the bureau drawer to be exhibited to visitors. We cannot write the history of the past by writing 84 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION simply the history of the savage in the jungle. We can write the history of the past only by coming from the past into the present, by tracing the development of past acts into present achievement and present needs. So, too, with education. It is not enough to stop with the past, to trace certain culture epochs, and to do primitive things in a primitive fashion. The school life and the later life of the pupil as well, must be consulted and the work laid in accordance with life's demands, consistent, of course, with the best development of the child. Tradition and habit are stubborn enemies if misdi- rected. Says the author of a recent bit of Misdirected fiction: "It is wonderful what a fund of use- less information some people assimilate and cling to with persistent determination worthy of a better cause." This might well furnish the text for what I shall say regarding the industrial phases of the subject. It is not an extravagant statement to make, that many of the principles supposed to be at the foundation of our manual courses, principles borrowed in a sense from the Swedes, the Russians, or the French, have never been considered by them as being principles at all. Or to put it another way, while with Europeans, from whom certain of our ideas in manual training were originally bor- rowed, the application of the principles has been chang- ing, we have kept too closely to traditional lines. More- over, many of the ideas put forward by these people in years past, as fundamental, have been discarded for more rational ones, while we who copy from our neigh- INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 85 bors have not informed ourselves of their advance and still continue to worship the old. As an example of this, take the course of study idea as exemplified in the sloyd, of which we have been speaking. Sloyd has in many places fallen into disrepute. To make plant labels and flower sticks and hammer handles is not, say some, necessarily educational or industrial. It is, to be sure, manual, and tradition forces many to adhere to the practices of course work. Many of those who sup- pose they are following the principles as laid down by Dr. Salomon himself, the original exponent of the sloyd system, are as far from the reality as they could well be; and many others, perhaps the larger number of manual training teachers in our own country to-day, are una- ware that Salomon did not, in his later years for his own country even, advocate the same principles and methods to which he adhered in an earlier day. Could he see the work as carried on by many who insist they are teaching sloyd, he would cry out against the practices as being narrow and mean and spiritless. Most of those, too, who have abandoned the term sloyd and attached another horse to their cart, will, if they analyze fully their work, find it is as far from the indus- trial and the actual as is the product of the old school. I know school men of broad education, open minded and scholarly, who still refuse to believe that the manual training of to-day has a place of importance hi the school. For these men I have no word of criticism. They are, I fear, in a measure, justified in their attitude, their belief 86 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION being based upon their knowledge of manual training as they see it in the cities and towns with which they are familiar. What they have seen is work in one or another material, articles produced by certain tool manipula- tions articles supposed, indeed, to be of actual use. The results, however, even though of superior technical quality and produced under the guidance of a teacher of mechanical attainments, are not educational. They do not touch deeply and thoroughly the interests and needs and environment of the people. They have to do, not with life, but with lessons. This matter of the real as opposed to the artificial in manual training was brought home to me Keai vs. most forcibly in two ways at the St. Louis Artificial J J exposition. It was remarkable that while in high school work some little attention was given to what might be considered the thought processes, in almost every elementary school course shown, a traditional sameness was apparent, the flower sticks and the plant labels being always in evidence. What a welcome change, however, when one visited the exhibits from the country of the mar- velous little Filipino. Those who saw this exhibit will recall what a vast array of native hand work was shown, rugs, baskets, articles of furniture, utensils for house- hold use, tools, decorative materials, these and a host of other things were exhibited, all work calling for con- structive ability and appreciation of design. It was with a feeling of delight that I observed some of the specimens of handicraft of the children of these islands, so useful, so INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 87 beautiful, and made from the materials with which the makers were surrounded. As I examined these products, a young man, an American teacher in the Islands, asked if he might show me the best work in manual training done by the school children, something that would point clearly to the fact that they were being educated. I was dragged to a sacred part of the exhibit and shown a glass case, with a "Do not handle" sign, containing some of the most uselessly useful objects, from the stand- point of the makers, that could be conceived. There were bits of cloth with sample stitches, pin bowls, flower sticks again, corner shelves for bric-a-brac and more of like char- acter made of wood (much of it being American wood) by American tools, under American teachers, and containing elements neither of utility nor beauty. I left the exhibit more saddened than disgusted. In- stead of directing the native abilities and natural artistic tendencies along channels making for thought and power and for advancement mentally, commercially and in- dustrially, we are trying to cast them in a mold that has been fashioned to fit a race decades in advance, and, withal, a mold that is man made and too often, from the standpoint of utility and beauty, defective. This incident I have used as an illustration. Have I made the case too strong? I am simply putting the mat- ter at its utmost point to illustrate more clearly the great principle under discussion. There are many intermediate stations, I grant you; but those who are familiar only with the work in their immediate neighborhood or in a 88 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION particular school, would marvel at some of the wonders to be seen in the educational world. It is remarkable how slight consideration is given locality and environ- ment in the make-up of a course of study. How much more important that the child in any given locality should learn to make the best possible use of the materials which nature has provided at hand than that he should deal with the product of the distant place and follow the work laid down for his foreign brother, in order that at a given moment every pupil in the universe may be working upon exactly the same thing. Even though the plea of utility may sometimes be made, one usually finds that little mental energy in construction is demanded. Let us have a real, live, industrial form of work in this day when the topic which overshadows in public interest is "the industrial and commercial development of this country, and the training which should be given our youth in the public schools, colleges, universities, and special schools to best fit them for the changing conditions which the twen- tieth century is bringing to them." * This is a wholesome sentiment and is in accord with what has already been said. There remains, however, one side of the question of industrial education yet to be emphasized, able for'oiris t ^ iat * ^and wor ^ ^ or S^ 8 ' More and more, attention is being given such work in the schools, but too frequently it is from the sentimental stand- point. The boys have manual training, consequently we must provide some work with which the girls may occupy * Convocation Council, State of New York, 1905. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 89 their time during such periods. Such an argument is no argument at all. The time has passed when any thinking man or woman will advocate the same kind or type of work for boys and girls alike. In the early grades all may engage in similar occupations, but differentiation should not be long de- layed and work suitable to the aptitudes, desires and needs of girls should be offered and required. At present, aside from art training and physical cul- ture, no industrial work is given the girls save sewing and cooking, and these in the upper grammar grades and a few special high schools. It is unnecessary to enter here into a discussion as to why these arts cannot or are not taught in the home. Such economic and sociological questions are involved as seem to be a barrier to home teaching, although the value of home instruction is un- questioned. Continuous courses through the grades, the high school and the college should be offered. Not only sewing and cooking in the narrower aspects, but a study of the chemistry of foods, simple analysis, marketing in its economic aspects; house sanitation, plumbing, heat, light, ventilation, fuel, disinfectants; proper methods of sweeping, dusting, laundering and care of the home; hygiene, emergency aid and nursing; a knowledge of ac- counts and business forms, domestic architecture and planning of the house and grounds; gardening and tree and floral culture and much more that in the Swiss schools is included under the term "female hand work" and which is both practical and cultural. 90 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Teachers have in the past held tenaciously to the idea that accuracy and precision in execution are Accuracy the paramount issues. This thought has had Bather than ... , Thought much influence m shaping the courses m hand work. Exercises have been arranged chiefly to meet this demand. The exercises, carefully thought out, have been based upon principles that seem fixed. We have failed to see, however, that while a prin- ciple may be unchanging, the applications will be chang- ing constantly when the developing, growing, expanding mind of the child is in question. There are planned elab- orate schemes of models and accurately arranged sequences of manipulations, attempting to fit the demands of the boy or girl to these exercises, rather than following the reverse order, that of fitting the occupation to the individual boy or girl. In this manner certain set forms, progressive sequences, particular materials have somehow been considered by teachers, supervisors, and superintendents as the sine qua non in hand work. Systems rather than system, methods instead of method, have been the thought before us. Since a somewhat broader and more rational view has be- gun to animate most of our other school work, the same spirit is being applied in our manual training courses. Technique ? Yes. The value of technique, of accuracy, hni ^ P r ducing something exact in every de- tail is unquestioned. To me there is some- thing grand, almost humanly moral, in a piece of work perfect in construction. But is technique the end and aim INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 91 of a course in manual training or in any other school sub- ject? Is it the end of life? "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God." I see greater technique in the petals of a flower, no two of which are counterparts in size, form or color, than in twenty-seven match brackets, each made from one-fourth inch stock, the backs regular in outline and of exact and unchanging dimensions. Is there no technique in the coloring of the birds; and are they all alike? Must we have uniformity to get technique, even though there are no two Japanese prints exactly similar? Let us have technique, but if it must be gained at the expense of producing pupils with in- dividuality gone, with independence .dwarfed and power of leadership undeveloped, then bury technique and look for soul. But, you say, individuality later. The child must not be allowed to choose at first. He must learn his alphabet, his multiplication table, his notes in music, and thus lay the foundation. Technique and the tools of knowledge must be had in the beginning. Whatever gram of truth there may be hi this philosophy, the husks will come soon enough at the best. Give the child the fruit. Give him work that will make him happy and contented and willing to remain in school. Remember with Eugene Field that, " It's the songs ye sing And the smiles ye wear, That's a makin' the sun shine everywhere Whatever the weather may be." The wholesome unrest in the past few years and the 92 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION change in the outward form of the work are welcome signs. To borrow the thought of another, A Broader we find the reason for Plato's relation to sentiai *~ so many thinking men and women to-day, to be his willingness to give them all standing room in his conception. The present in industrial training owes its being largely to our willingness to allow, in ever increasing ratio, standing room to those who think dif- ferently from ourselves. It owes it also to the fact that a tradition may not be accepted unless based upon the philosophy of common sense. I take it as a healthful sign, that a conservative spirit has been manifest in this subject of hand work. Many have been slow to modify old tionaicon- ideas, seeing as they did, the extreme to servatism ,.,, , . . , which the enthusiastic advocates of the newer thought were wont to go. Naturally enough, some of these latter have discarded entirely, course, or planned out, work. Method has too often been cast aside, and the terms self-expression, interest, individual initiative, have been warped out of perspective. In such instances the nature and content of the instruction have been left too exclusively to the whims of the child. The demands of the social and industrial phases of life have been construed to mean, what the child wants to do. The desires of the pupil are frequently only passing whims against which the greater experience of the teacher should surely count for something. We shall, therefore, consider the larger demands of society as a whole in shaping our work. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 93 We are coming in this subject of hand work, to have a broad, tolerant, truly educational view. Let US ^ to ' lt tnat we sna11 not > as m tne Past, over -CUT- defeat the very ends set for manual training ricularized " t . by over "curncularizing" it, as we have other subjects. Only are real, actual, educational ends served when the work is related to the child, to the other school occupations, to the home life, and hence to the life after leaving the school. Perhaps the industrial arts can, in greater measure than most subjects, help the child to interpret tne ^ acts anc * forces that play about him, strengthen those habits that shall render him capable of being depended upon to perform a task at an appointed season and in the proper manner, put him hi sympathy with his environment, enable him to appreciate those elements that shape his life and the lives of his fellows, render him capable of seeing his relations to so- ciety as a whole and the part he is to play therein, take from yesterday and to-day all that is good, and true, and noble, and work toward a to-morrow whose Industrial, social, intellectual, and moral phases shall point ever progressward. Let us remember that in manual training, as elsewhere in school work, it is the man-made course of study that often fails to find its true place and that the child himself may frequently suggest the element of greatest value. The natural is more than the artificial. Some months since, I stood upon a mountain-top and 94 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION saw far below into the wonderful valley where spire, and stream, and tree, stood out silent and beautiful. A companion turned to me after some moments of silence and said, "Man works upon a grand scale. See this valley, once barren and dreary and unpeopled, now a garden spot of peace with its thousands of happy homes and its prosperous towns." "Yes," I replied, "man does work upon a grand scale; but God works upon a grander. See what nature has done," and there, stretching away as far as the eye could pierce, range upon range, and peak upon peak arose, one beyond another, canyon and scarred mountain side and snow-capped crest, without which no peaceful valley would have been possible. THESES 1. The widespread introduction of the industrial arts necessitates the study of them by the regular teacher. 2. The past few years have brought about many changes in the teaching of the subject. 3. Many of the arguments put forward in favor of manual training were sound; others were fallacious and visionary. 4. The term manual training is not sufficiently com- prehensive. 5. Of the various motives prompting the introduction of hand work into the curriculum, we have as the most important : a. Love for and appreciation of labor. b. Satisfies the child's demand for creative activity. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 95 c. Understanding of our industrial life. d. Valuable as recreative work. e. Develops the physical powers. f. Deception cannot readily be practised in dealing with the arts. g. Gives general dexterity of hand. h. Lays foundation for one of several trades. i. Lends clearness to the other less concrete subjects. 6. Two typical systems compared: a. The exercise system, or the making of abstract pieces exemplified by the Russian System. b. The model system, or the constructing of complete objects. The Swedish sloyd typifies this idea. 7. While we have too often been guided by tradition alone, we have also adhered to old principles long ago forsaken by those who first put them forward. 8. In order to break loose from the artificial tendency, environment and utility must be considered. 9. Accuracy and technique are to be considered, but hi connection with the thought values only. Systems and methods in hand work must give place to processes touch- ing closely the actual life of the pupil. Individual initia- tive, however, must not be construed to mean the mere whim of the individual. 10. A broad and tolerant outlook and a rational con- servatism are necessary elements. n. Over "curricularization" will stultify and weaken hand work as it has other school subjects. Properly pre- sented, the industrial arts possess great educational value. 96 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Is manual training to be taught as a regular subject as are arithmetic and geography, or is it to become an illus- trative or expressive element in each of the other school subjects ? 2. If the former, is the instruction to be given by special teachers, and are they being adequately trained ? 3. If the latter, are we to have special teachers, or are the grade teachers to instruct in the arts? 4. How may the class teacher acquire a technical knowledge of processes and a realizing sense of the ne- cessity for such work ? 5. Will the teaching then be conducted in the regular class room with special equipment ? 6. Shall older boys and girls engage in like occupations, and if not, where shall differentiation for work between boys and girls begin, and what forms shall be given each? 7. If the regular teacher carries the manual courses as well, shall we insist upon men for the upper grades; or if as under the present system of special instruction, are we to increase the force of male teachers; and in any event, how can we obtain them at the present salary rate ? 8. At present, in most towns and cities where boys in the grades have from two to three years' instruction deal- ing chiefly with wood, is their interest in working with this material so weakened as to render them half-hearted in the woodwork courses of the high school ? INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 97 9. Discuss in detail the likelihood that too much stress is laid upon technique and finish in the work accomplished, without sufficient attention to the thought side. 10. Consider fully as to whether there is a false stand- ard underlying our interpretation of the term educational as applied to the arts, and whether the processes should touch more closely the actual demands of real life, that which we are pleased to term the utilitarian as opposed to the educational view. 11. Should individual or communal work characterize the spirit of the grades or of the high school ? 12. How is the beautiful in form, hi construction, and in decoration to become a part of the work ? Should both design and construction be taught by the same teacher? 13. Consider the advantages and the disadvantages of following a rigidly defined course, as against allowing the pupil to do largely as he will. What is the rational ground to take here? 14. How may the equipment provided for work along manual lines find a more complete use through evening or Saturday classes? 15. What has the kindergarten to offer as an index of the trend that manual training should take? 1 6. Discuss the main reasons advanced for not mak- ing hand work a part of the course of study in every school. 17. Under conditions as they now exist, deter- mine whether the general normal school can give all the Standards 7 98 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION training necessary to equip special teachers of the arts. 1 8. Make a list of the forms of work that can be taught in the various grades with small outlay and little equipment. 19. Estimate the cost of equipping for hand work a room to accommodate classes of twenty pupils each. Do the same for a room to accommodate twenty girls in Do- mestic Science (cooking) and a like number in Domestic Art (sewing). 20. Give the arguments in favor of teaching sewing or cooking, or both, to girls in the grades. Should the sew- ing be done in the regular class room? 21. Consider the opportunities and limitations, in the several grades, of the following processes: a. Clay modeling. b. Pottery. c. Paper work. d. Cardboard construction. e. Bent iron. f. Metal spinning. g. Copper and brass work, h. Work in thin wood. i. Whittling, j. Bench work in wood, k. Weaving, and textiles. 1. Basketry, m. Bookbinding. n. Domestic Science. o, Domestic Art. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 99 22. Make a list of the larger cities in the United States where some form of industrial training is taught. 23. What cities or towns having once introduced man- ual training have discontinued its use as a school subject ? What were the reasons given for such procedure ? 24. Shall sewing, cooking, and the household sciences be classed as industrial training subjects? 25. Wherein is the term manual training inadequate? Suggest the term you consider most hi keeping with the spirit of the work as now carried on. CONSULT BALLIET Manual Training: Its Educational Value. 59th Annual Report, Mass. Board of Edu- cation, p. 483. BALDWIN Industrial-Social Education for the Primary and Grammar School Grades. Proceed- ings Eastern Manual Training Association, 1904, p. 104. BENNETT Russian System of Manual Training. Art Education, vol. 2, pp. 75, 148. CHAMBERLAIN Technical Education in Germany, sec. II. The Manual Element in the Schools of Germany. Manual Training Magazine, vol. i, p. 124. The Problems that Perplex. Proceedings Na- tional Educational Association, 1905, p. 558. DOPP The Place of Industries in Elementary Educa- tion. DEWEY The School and Society. ioo STANDARDS IN EDUCATION GILBERT Manual Training High Schools or Manual Training in High Schools. Proceedings Na- tional Educational Association, 1904, p. 614. HAM Mind and Hand. HANEY The Arts in Theory: A Statement of Ideals. Education, vol. 26, p. 161. HARVEY Manual Training in the Grades. Proceedings National Educational Association, 1905, p. 121. HENDERSON The Manual Training Outlook. Manual Training Magazine, vol. 2, p. 65. HILL The Manual Training Idea. Manual Train- ing Magazine, vol. i, p. i. JACKMAN The Constructive Idea in Education. Pro- ceedings National Educational Associa- tion, 1904, p. 594. KEYES True Test of Educational Manual Training. Proceedings, Eastern Manual Training Association, 1898, p. 7. LARSSON The Origin and History of the Sloyd in Sweden, etc. Proceedings Eastern Manual Training Association, 1899, p. 5. MANEY Industrial Training as a Social Factor. Man- ual Training Magazine, vol. 2, p. 129. McMuRRY How can Class Teachers be Educated to the Value of Manual Training? Proceedings National Educational Association, 1905, P- 563- MONROE The Educational Bearings of Manual Train- ing. Proceedings Eastern Manual Train- ing Association, 1903, p. 70. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 101 O'SHEA Dynamic Factors in Education, chaps. 4*5. PABST Manual Training in Germany. Report of the Conference of Manual Training Teachers, London, 1903, p. 78. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics. RICHARDS Some Practical Problems in Manual Training. Manual Training Magazine, vol. 4, p. 142. How Early may Hand Work be made a part of the School Work? Proceedings National Educational Association, 1901, p. 100. SALOMON Theory of Sloyd. Hand Book of Sloyd. The Naas System and the Naas Models. Re- port of the Conference of Manual Training Teachers, London, 1903, p. 73. SCRIPTURE Manual Training and Mental Development. Manual Training Magazine, vol. i, p. 16. SEIDEL Industrial Instruction. WARE The Educational Foundations of Trade and Industry. WOODWARD Rise and Progress of Manual Training. Re- port of the Commissioner of Education, 1893-94, pp. 877-950. Manual Training in Education. WARNER Teaching Trades in Connection with the Pub- lic Schools. Proceedings National Educa- tional Association, 1900, p. 492. CHAPTER IV THE MEANING OF CORRELATION CORRELATION of school studies, concentration, interre- lation, coordination, and the later term, unification, carry with them varying shades of content, while at the same time we find them frequently interpreted as meaning one and the same thing. Each term in the abstract means substantially nothing. Used thus the interpretation of its meaning is either so limited that its value is slight, or so broad and extensive that only a vague indefinite- ness attaches to it. To use one or another of these terms in the sense indicated would be as illogical as to say that a certain study made for mental development, since the term mental development may cover almost any- thing desired in the field of education. The subject of correlation is widely considered. Dur- ing the past two decades hardly a writer upon educational topics has failed to devote more or less space to a discus- sion of the genesis of correlation and to its application to school studies. The most discouraging feature of the whole matter is that many of the early exponents espe- cially, knew almost nothing about the subject. They simply restated in a new phraseology the utterance of some educational philosopher. 102 THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 103 One fallacy may also be said to have existed in most of the arguments advanced in substantiation of the various theories ; they evidently were not sound. That there are, however, certain fundamental principles underlying the doctrine of correlation cannot well be de- nied. What are these principles, what gives rise to them, and what are the educational implications of the doctrine ? Of the several basic facts as enunciated by Herbart in his educational philosophy, the doctrine of ies isolated concentration may claim a prominent place. To the mind of Herbart, the school life of the child is too scattered ; the school studies too isolated, one from another. Just as the several members of a door-frame, or the parts of a machine have a certain defi- nite connection or interrelation, so should the various por- tions of a given subject be connected, and the different school studies associated together. Then instead of iso- lation we should have a thread of unity running through the entire school course. As an illustration of this thought, take the subject of literature. We cannot get at the true meaning of the literature of a people without at the same time coming into intimate touch with their history, their manners, their customs. Here again we find that geography, lo- cation, environment, physical conditions, cli- reiation mate, soil, are not only part and parcel of, but in reality are at the very base of, his- torical study, thus relating back to the literature. Hence, 104 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION geography, history and literature are seen to have a di- rect connection, not superficially, but in fact. It is there- fore quite clear that history, mathematics or botany cannot be studied to the best advantage as a subject isolated, but must be thrown into certain interrela- tions. The doctrine of Herbart was taken up and enunciated in Germany by such men as Ziller, Stoy, and Rein and has had considerable support in our own country. To the idea as advanced by Herbart regarding the natural unified nature of the school subjects, must be added Froebel's thought of the unity of the human being. In the application of the correlation principle, two theories at once arise, these growing out of a difference of opinion as to the social basis of correla- ^ e e a Group tion. It has been held by some, that certain groups of school subjects naturally lend them- selves as centers for study, and around these centers the other school subjects should be arranged. For example, history and literature form one central group, the biologi- cal sciences another, while geography, geology and min- eralogy constitute a third group, and so on, each subject in these special groups being of equal value, one with another. Here we have several coordinate groups of studies. Again, a second theory places The Individ- eac ^ su bject in turn as the central one ; that ual Subject . J aa center is, the subject under consideration is the thing of concern. As the main element all other subjects must, for the time, be subsidiary to it and THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 105 flow in to enrich its content. In this instance concen- tration plays the leading part. Since, however, the child is to be considered as the real center for study, and for correlation as well, it seems to be generally admitted that the so-called humanistic studies, as opposed to the formal, or those that seem to relate themselves most intimately to the actual social ex- istence of the child, should claim attention as central sub- jects. Mathematics, spelling and writing are Humanistic typical of the formal studies. Those ranking and Formal studies as humanistic would seem to include geogra- phy, history and the natural sciences, while to these may be added the industrial arts, including con- struction in any material whatsoever. This last classifi- cation is justified since the desire for expression on the part of the child is a controlling motive. It is further insisted that in the beginning, all else in school is seen in the light of self-expression and motor activity. To re- peat, the child is the center as the hub is the center of a wheel, the various activities and studies radiating as do the spokes. This makes the matter of correlation something from within, something intrinsic, something The child as vital, instead of being added or tacked on to Center the outside. In this sense the necessity for correlation will be seen to exist not in the subject-matter itself, but in the very nature of the individual. Dr. Charles McMurry in his General Method says : " The center for concentrating effort in education is not so much the knowledge given in any school course as io6 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION the child's mind itself. We do not desire to find in the school studies a new center for a child's life, so much as the means for fortifying that original stronghold of char- acter which rests upon native mental characteristics and early home influences. We have in mind not the objec- tive unity of different studies considered as complete and related sciences, nor any general model to which each mind is to be conformed, but the practical union of all the experiences and knowledge that find entrance into a particular mind." * The one who first in our country put this idea of con- centration into definite form was Colonel Francis W. Parker. In his Talks on Pedagogics we find the follow- ing : " The center of all movement in education is the child. We must grant that human beings are absolutely governed by immutable, ever-acting, all-efficient laws of growth and development, and that all devel- ment means opment means conformity to the laws of Conformity being \ nonconformity is decay, degradation, and death." In the same volume the au- thor says: "The present trend of study, investigation, and discovery in the science of education is toward the correlation and unification of educative sub- seif-Actiyity j e cts, and their concentration upon human a Governing Force development. All subjects, means, and modes of study are concentrated under this doctrine upon economization of educative effort. In the unification and correlation of subjects of thought and * Chas. McMurry : Elements of General Method, First Edition, p. 98. THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 107 expression, each subject, means, mode, and method finds its absolute and relative educational value, its definite place in the conditions for self-activity and self-effort." Here, then, would seem to be the main point of differ- ence between correlation and concentration, in so far as those who do not consider the terms as synonymous are concerned. Correlation has to do largely with school studies, while concentration covers not only correlation t h e field of the former term but goes further, vs. Concen- . tration penetrating the home life of the pupil ; pro- jecting itself into his sports, his social expe- riences ; in fact, having to do with the most fundamental problems of his nature. Once a correlation exists, then concentration may step in to relate the study, means, and modes to life interests. We have alluded to the term unification in an inciden- tal way only. What is the force, the application, and the value of the unification of studies, and wherein does it differ from the correlation idea ? In continuing the discussion upon the Report of the Committee of Fifteen, Doctor Emerson E. White, under the title Isolation and Unification as Bases of Courses of Study, speaks thus regarding the indefiniteness of our educational terminology : " One of the first conditions of the intelligent reading of a work on psy- taSSto* 7 chology is the determining of the definite meaning of the terms used by the author. A common source of disagreement is the use of words by one party with a larger or smaller content than the other, io8 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION and this is true even when these contents contain a considerable common element." * " We have an instructive example of this difficulty in the discussion of the past year over the place and value of correlation, coordination, and concentration in school instruction. The discussion has been a Babel of ideas, if not of tongues, and well-meant attempts to settle the pedagogical meaning of these terms have only added to the confusion. After all that has been said, several writ- ers for the educational journals are using the incongruous terms coordination and concentration as synonymous. One of the surprises of the profession was the expressed ex- pectation that a recent report on the ' correlation of stud- ies ' would be devoted to a discussion of the theory of concentration." f Doctor White then goes on to say that his desire to avoid misunderstanding has led him to use the terms isolation, and unification, as denoting opposite processes and results. As Dr. White's discussion is based upon reports dealing with the correlation of studies, it would seem that he intends the term unification to carry the same content as the former term correlation. Studies are unified when two, three, or a half dozen are so brought together as to form a common branch of study, the facts being so connected as to produce a rational trend of thought and the end or purpose to be attained, being a common end. * Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1895-96, p. 929; also Pro- ceedings Department of Superintendence, N. E. A., 1896. t Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1895-96, p. 930. THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 109 Here the thought of the precedence of one subject over another has no place, it being possible for instance, for any one of several studies to be ranked equally, in their connection. The point is that there is such a fusion of subject-matter as to unify into a common whole. " The unification of subjects," says Parker, " takes for its hypotheses, first, the unity of the human being in de- sign ; second, the unity of the Creator and His creations ; and third, that approximating unity of the human being to his Creator is the sublime destiny of man. ' For He made man in His own image.' ' He has crowned him with glory and honor.' Unity of body, mind and soul, unity of educative effort, unity of action, unity of thought, and unity of thought and expression are the aims of the theory of Concentration." * Here, again we come from the unifying thought, considered from the point of view of its genesis, to the application of such thought in the principle of concentration. It would appear that the terms are really subjective and objective phases, respec- tively, of our whole educational fabric. The question of coordination is bound up in that of unity. In the unifying of studies, it is conceived by some, notably by Dr. Harris, that there are certain coor- dinate groups of studies, as mentioned pre- Coordination viously under correlation. The groups may and the J J Group idea number five, six, or seven, according as this or that classification appeals to the indi- vidual. But being coordinate groups, they are of equal * Talks on Pedagogics, p. 26. no merit one with another. These groups have certain common features and can be brought into definite rela- tionships, but never upon the basis of precedence of one group over another. This, of course, is due to the fact that they differ in their genesis and in their very nature. Herein lies the chief difference between coordination and concentration. Again, the particular subjects going to make up a coor- dinate group may within themselves have a correlation correlative relationship. If history, language, in Coordi- nate Groups and art are contained in one group, language and art may, for the time being, be subordi- nated to history ; that is, a correlation may exist among the three subjects. There can be, however, nothing but an equal relationship existing between the history group and that formed by the mathematical studies. " Complete unification is the blending of all subjects and branches of study into one whole and the teach- ing of the same in successive sections." " When this union is effected by making one group or branch of study in the course the center or core, and subordinating all other subjects to it, the process is properly called con- centration of studies." The unifying idea touches so closely the thought of the relative value of studies that our problem ls complicated at this point. No present day and Relative educator speaks more strongly of a unified Values . . _ curriculum than does Dr. John Dewey, but the unity is coupled with the relative values and both have THE MEANING OF CORRELATION in their roots in the thought of the child as a social being. I shall quote from Dr. Dewey to illuminate still further this unification principle and also to point to the social basis of correlation. In his Ethical Principles Underlying Education he says : " A casual glance at pedagogical lit- erature will show that we are much in need of an ultimate criterion for the values of studies, and for deciding what is meant by content value and by form value. At pres- ent we are apt to have two, three, or even four different standards set up by which different values as disciplinary, culture, and information values are measured."* " There is no conception of any unifying principle. The point here made is that the extent and way in which a study brings the pupil to consciousness of his social environ- ment, and confers upon him the ability to interpret his own powers from the standpoint of their possibilities in social use, is this ultimate and unified standard." f There is nothing within the facts themselves, accord- ing to Dr. Dewey, to determine that they shall be classed as history, science, literature and the like. All subjects have the same office, namely, " the conscious experience of man." " It is only because we have different interests or dif- ferent ends, that we sort out the material and label part of it science, part history, part geography, and so on. Each of these subjects represent an arrangement of * Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 18. ''(Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 1 8. Quoted on p. 27, this volume. 112 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION materials with reference to some one dominant or typical aim or process of the social life." * Present methods of school work give an entirely wrong idea of the relation of studies to each other. The unit y existm g in the various divisions of geography, is due, not to some external fact, vidu&l but rather to an intrinsic, vital principle, an "attitude of interest in the human mind toward them." All this does not mean that the various school studies must be unified and correlated at every point. It indi- cates simply the value and necessity for so doing where the proper conditions exist, the philosophy for such pro- cedure being found in the life, the activities, the social phases, the very nature of the child himself. " We should not seek to make a correlation where none exists," says Mr. James Chamberlain. A forced unity is not unity at all. And right here is where the teacher, anxious to be abreast of the times, desirous of doing for his Dangers and pu pii s the best possible service, here it is Opportuni- ties that the teacher so often makes a mistake. Enough has been said to show that subjects cannot be correlated simply by trying to teach several of them at one and the same time. Results under these conditions are simply absolute failures. When on the other hand the subject-matter is so closely classified as to permit the form only of any given study to be taught, the work is narrow and barren. * Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 19. THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 113 In the grades where a teacher must instruct in several subjects, there is much greater opportunity for correlation than exists in the upper school where departmental work is carried on and a specialist is responsible for each par- ticular subject. If the mathematics teacher looks only to the form of his work, if mathematical data are the Alpha and Omega of his teaching, he may have a class well drilled in mathematics ; but if he fails to demand a high standard of excellence when the pupil is called upon to express himself, if he receives written papers and exercises careless in execution and bristling with incorrect forms, if the papers give evidence of careless or slovenly work, if he permits this simply because the answer is there, and his is not the English or the Ethics class, he is missing one of the best opportunities the school affords for teach- ing the relation of studies, one to another, and of show- ing the practical application of the language arts to other subjects. In the cooking room we find too frequently no correla- tion of science with the actual mechanical process in- volved ; we find cooking only, not domestic science. Here the student should learn not simply to prepare the food properly, for this can be learned frequently at home. She should learn something of the chemistry of foods, the composition of the raw materials, the physiology of diges- tion, the effect upon the body of certain foods. And a score of other lessons should be taught along with that of how to prepare properly a given dish. These are only illustrations of the broad truth and Standards 8 H4 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION serve to show that so-called correlation is the only logi- cal, natural method. It is not desirable, however, nor would the process be one of correlation, if matter not germane be dragged in and forced to a place in the study being pursued. If this were done, we should not sim- plify, but only obscure from the pupil, the lesson or task. The philosophy of correlation and unification of studies is therefore seen to lie in the social side of the child's life, and the necessity for such unity exists to-day as never before. The spirit is spreading, industrialism is vastly more far-reaching than formerly, competition is keener, specialization is the order of the day, and the ap- plication of the arts and sciences to the affairs of every- day life is extremely differentiated. In the early days the school taught the so-called fun- damentals. A good general knowledge of conditions a arithmetic, the ability to express one's self in strong AT- speech and with the pen in a passable man- gument for . .... . . , , , ., , Correlation ner > the skill to write clearly and legibly, a general understanding of the geography of the earth, and the possession of a few of the more im- portant historical facts, these were the essentials of school education. In those days there was less necessity for the unifying of the curriculum than there is now. With the increase of subjects and the marked tendency to overcrowd and to make shallow, every effort must be sought to simplify and unify. In the evolution of society, children are taken out of touch with things and people. They should have brought to them in this particular the THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 115 opportunities possessed by the children of a half-century ago. Society, properly considered, sets the standards for social existence. The child himself is the center ; all true study has a moral basis, and is concerned with the mani- festation of Divine thought in the universe and in man. The child, to come to a realization of self, must see and appreciate the relation of the various school subjects one to another. He must see also the relation of school to home, and be able to connect the whole with the great throbbing, pulsating life about him. The realization of this condition will be reached through the proper social- izing or unifying of the curriculum. THESES 1. The terms correlation, concentration, etc., must not be used in the abstract, else vague concepts result. 2. Herbart considered school work too scattered, and advocated a uniform course. 3. Two theories (a) the group idea, and (b) the indi- vidual subject, as centers. 4. The child is the real center ; the humanistic rather than the formal studies should be given the chief emphasis. 5. Concentration is more fundamental than correlation ; unification used by Doctor White in sense of correla- tion; Parker's thought that unity is the aim of concentra- tion. 6. A unified course means coordinate groups of stud- ies and correlation may exist between the various coor- dinate groups. Ii6 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 7. The relative value of studies is closely related to unification and both relate to the child as a social being. 8. The individual furnishes the cause for, and aim in, correlation, and our present day conditions, social, indus- trial and otherwise, demand a unifying of the curriculum. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. What school studies lend themselves most readily to correlation ? 2. Is it possible to get the most from the study of a subject, unless it is pursued distinctly as a subject in itself ? 3. Is the correlation idea successfully carried out in the elementary school of to-day ? 4. Can time be saved by bringing two or more sub- jects together for study ? 5. If the child is the real center, how may we deter- mine whether teacher, child, or subject-matter shall point to the method of correlation at any given time ? 6. When arithmetic or science is the subject to be taught, and hand work is to be correlated, what large questions must the teacher determine in laying out the work ? 7. The value of concentration to the business or pro- fessional man. 8. Outline a lesson in United States history, on the origin and work of the Hudson Bay Company, with no consideration for the correlative principle. THE MEANING OF CORRELATION 117 9. What should furnish the basis for determining the relative value of studies ? Would this standard be the same for every individual ? 10. Does society consider the facts of everyday life in an associated sense, or separately ? Are the associa- tions made after individual study, or vice versa ? CONSULT DEWEY Ethical Principles Underlying Education. School and Society. GORDY A Broader Elementary Education, chap. 17. HARRIS Psychologic Foundations. HERBART Science of Education, p. 123. HANUS Educational Aims and Educational Values, chap. i. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics. McMuRRY Elements of General Method, p. 98. WHITE Report of Commissioner of Education, 1895-96, p. 29. CHAPTER V THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING PERHAPS no question has been more fully discussed in the educational world during the past few years than that of the moral training it should be the duty of the school to impart. The matter has been taken up by those representing all fields of educational activity, and press and platform have agitated, at least, even though they have not settled the question. As the thought of the value and the purpose of educa- tion has grown and expanded, it has become more and more apparent that moral training should hold a broader and more permanent place in any plan or scheme of school instruction, than it has done in the past. With the rapid commercial and industrial growth in our own country, a growth unparalleled in the history of forty centuries, with increased mental requirements and with the broad- ening and deepening of our social obligations, there comes also, as a logical result of our many- Necessity sided development, an increased demand for for Moral \ Training finer ethical sensibilities, a necessity for higher standards in the moral tone of indi- vidual and community, a thoroughly appreciated need for clean, honest, respectful, right-minded, reverent boys 1x8 THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 119 and girls; for tolerant, straightforward, fearless men and women. Never, I say, has the necessity for this been so apparent as now, when minds are absorbed by the am- bition to become possessed of material wealth, when the struggle for industrial supremacy takes the not always imaginative shape of a hand to hand encounter, when, in the hurry and jostle of the never ceasing onward march of civilization, man is likely to forget the common courte- sies and civilities he owes his brother and which it is his duty and privilege to observe. The possibilities for ad- vancement both from the mental and from the material side, the freedom for thought and expression in the po- litical arena and in the religious world, the chances open for the poorest, least opportunitied boy to become the master of millions or the leader of a people, these con- ditions, while giving to us the sturdiest of nations and the most strenuous men and women, tend too often to pro- duce citizens less mindful of the rights of others, less careful of giving the harsh word or of bestowing the un- kindly act, less considerate for their fellows than for themselves, less sensitive to loyalty to high ideals and observance of moral virtues than could be desired. And while this is true, no one, more than the teacher, appreciates to the full this too frequent lack The school on f-he part O f t he boy or girl. Aside from should Teach J Morals the home influences, nowhere can right les- sons be taught so well as in the school. Here the intercourse of pupil with pupil reflects in small the great throbbing, pulsating world without. Here the 120 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION boy has duties and obligations; he meets others in friendly rivalry or in honest cooperation; he must be serious and sad, happy and cheerful; he is to give and take, to ask and receive, to compete and assist, to accept and reject; he must create and destroy, analyze and compare, investigate and decide, learn and unlearn, and everywhere and always, in school and out, unless all that is learned, unless all that the boy becomes is based upon a sound appreciation of ethical and moral life and responsibility, the real work of the school is not accomplished, and failure, not success, is the reward of the individual and the achievement of education. A study of the history of education shows that with early peoples, and folio whig down even to our own time, what moral instruction was given had a special place in the program of the school. Among certain peoples this instruction was purely religious, as in Israel, and comprehended in fact the education of the day. At other times and in other places where moral and religious training received less attention, they were, however, taught as subjects in themselves, without regard to their connection with other school subjects, or with the actual life of the pupil. In trying to determine the place moral instruction should occupy in the school, we must again return to the question: For what does the school stand? What is education? Since we have already determined that education is actual, not seeming, participation in life, that it keeps continually be- fore the mind the thought of mutual helpfulness and THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 121 mutual sympathy, that it deals with dynamic, not static, forces, then we must see, if this indeed be education, that there is a deep and vital connection between intellectual and moral training, and that the latter is at the base of any true and sufficient system of school instruction. This question then presents itself: How shall we pro- ceed that we may bring about the proper balance of results in the moral and ethical life of the pupil? Can this best be done by setting aside a special time and place in school work for such teaching, that is, by so arranging the program that a study of morals will find an intrinsic place in the cur- riculum ? Let us examine the question. This plan has been and is being thoroughly tried. It can no longer be called an experiment. In parochial schools and in many private institutions in our country and quite commonly in the schools of England and the continent, moral instruction, under one or another name, is included as a regular branch of study. No doubt much good is accomplished in this way, but the results are any- thing but satisfactory. The query as to whether a better plan cannot be proposed finds answer, I believe, in the native good sense of the vast number of teachers as well as in the results as shown here and there. The school courses should be so constructed as to place the desired principle in the very foundation of all work. While each lesson shall be a lesson in truth, in morals, the process is, so far as the pupil is concerned, an uncon- scious one. He need not be told at the close of each reci- 122 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION tation that this or that moral point should be carried away, as was formerly the case when, in a given lesson, the moral had to be "drawn" at its close. Where the mind is re- quired to dwell for a considerable period upon the re- sults of wrongdoing, or upon the rewards and prizes achieved from the observance of the right, the imma- ture student is too prone to treat the whole matter as "preaching," and to think less seriously than he otherwise would. Good books have been prepared and excellent sugges- tions made for the training of the ethical self in this formal manner, but book instruction here, as in some other fields of education, seems not to have accomplished its purpose. The idea has somehow been held that the ethical life is something apart from the workaday ex- istence of men, that character and morals appear in the abstract, that their more subtle development is carried on, not in connection with, but aside from, that of the mental and physical life. In this sense character is conceived as a veneer. Karl Schmitz says: "The proof of any method or not system is found in the character of the people Apart from, using it." Character is developed in the be- Everyday . . i Life ginning, not so much through conscious effort on the part of the pupil, as in following day by day, the good example set by teacher and associate. "Scarcely any connection exists," says Spencer, "be- tween morality and the discipline of ordinary teaching. Mere culture of the intellect (and education as usually THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 123 conducted amounts to little more) is hardly at all opera- tive upon conduct. Creeds pasted upon the mind, good principles learnt by rote, lessons in right and wrong, will not eradicate vicious propensities; though people in spite of their experience as parents and citizens, persist in hoping they will." * Moral and ethical training, viewed in the light of what has already been said, assumes a vastly different aspect than that usually pertaining to it. Looking therefore toward the desired end, and keeping in mind the conclu- sions already drawn, the following argument is offered, an argument not frequently used in this connection. The moral training of the pupil cannot be brought about without a thorough regard for discipline; it is not possible to obtain discipline without attention, and the latter in turn cannot be had unless there is a deep and satisfying interest on the part of the pupil, in the subject in hand. (a) INTEREST Ideas are many and varied regarding the part played by interest in education. The Herbartian conception of the nature of interest differs widely from that of many. Herbart asserts that interest is not of a secondary nature, but fundamental. It is not hi the service of instruction. We do not have an interest in order that we may learn; we learn that an interest may be excited. With Herbart, interest comes after, not before instruction. An interest * Social Statics, National Education, p. 1 73. 124 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION not only in the school, but one that shall carry over into all the work of later life is the aim of the school; and this interest is gained through instruction. Another view of the nature of interest places it as a fundamental. Interest is basic. Given the proper con- ditions, environment, and subject-matter, the pupil will become interested. Once interest is excited, the mind is in a condition to receive instruction. Whatever views we may as individuals hold regarding the precedence of interest, we must all admit its value. Many sided interest should be aimed at, an interest that shall cover not only one phase of the subject, but such as shall be broad in its scope. This means at the very beginning the study of concrete things, rather than the presentation of pure or abstract problems. Abstrt r The dead materials of the text-book alone are not sufficient. Doctor William T. Har- ris in the Report of the Committee oj Fifteen says: "The printed page is the chief means by which the pupil shall add to his own observation and reflection what has been observed and thought by men especially gifted in these things. The pupil shall learn by mastering the text-book how to master all books, how to use that greatest of in- struments of culture, the library. In the presence of the book he can take the sentences, one by one, and reflect carefully upon the meaning of each word and each sen- tence." These statements may be true regarding comparatively mature minds, they may hold with some degree of exact- THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 125 ness in the adult world, but Doctor Harris has outlined an ideal condition. Before the child can run, he must learn to walk. Before he can fully appreciate and master the printed page and ponder wisely upon the meaning of each word and each sentence, he must first be interested in those things for which the words of the printed page are but symbols. With an interest firmly established, the pupil may go for- ward to more abstruse ideas and conceptions. The child is interested naturally hi that which makes for his welfare, hi his food, shelter, clothing, playmates. He is interested hi his surroundings, in those portions of his environment that touch and affect him at his work and play. Until the child goes to school, he is intensely interested in the great world of nature. The situations are real; the man, the animals, the rocks, the fields and the trees, water and sunshine, marbles and leapfrog, the swim- ming hole and the toboggan slide, to the child all these are actual. He finds a use for each and, in a greater or less degree, appropriates all of them to his own advantage. He sells papers upon the street and makes the correct change, although he has never been taught the principles underlying the fundamental operations or struggled with fractions. He performs the operations without even ask- ing himself the reason for the fact, or tracing hi logical order each step in the operation. He plays marbles "for keeps," and the necessary mathematical processes are carried on without any wrenching of the mathematical laws. He wishes to construct a pool sufficiently deep and 126 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION wide to sail his boat. He scrapes out the soil and throws a dam across the stream. In all these undertakings he is interested. How different, however, when he takes him- self to school! Shakespeare pictures it thus: Eeaisitua- "The whining school boy with his satchel, tions Differ- . , . . , 11 -i ent from and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school." Here is the atmos- phere likely to be artificial. He must learn that three and four are seven. No natural desire springs up within him for this knowledge. Not only must he learn that three and four are seven, but he must know why this is so, just as Dodd was expected to tell what it meant to "lean agin a tree." * No matter if he should discover a short cut or simplified method of reaching the answer, he must still trace the never ending sequence in the steps that have been so carefully thought out for him. In these things he is likely to find little to attract, and here lies the suggestion as to the child's natural interests. See that the proper environment for growth is furnished and lead the child to grapple with it. Not necessarily something easy; on the contrary, it maybe difficult indeed. In the beginning, let the situations be real; the needs, actual, not fancied ; the desires, healthy. Do not understand me to say that nothing to which he is not at once attracted can be learned by the pupil. Lessons may be learned, but are not so readily under- stood or retained in memory. The mind of the child is not likely to work so understandingly without interest as * William Hawley Smith : Evolution of Dodd. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 127 with it; and unless there is a clear understanding, the im- ages, if they do not entirely fade from the mind, will be dim or uncertain at best. It is insisted by some that the child should be led to do, from time to time, those things in which ^ e mav not ^ mtercste d, or in which he study of the may think he has no interest. While it is Uninterest- 11- ing the unusual that is sometimes necessary to catch the eye, it is a mistake to continue to resort to the unusual. In the everyday walks of life the individual has to do with everyday things; hence, say they, he must learn to be content with the monotony of the common place. This he can best learn to do by drilling while in school, upon what may at the time seem dull and uninteresting. These school men further as- sert that if, as some believe, the school is, or should be, a model society where children are trained for life, or where life in its many forms actually exists, then it is equally true that the pupils should be trained to do tasks hi the same way, or after the same manner or pattern as that followed by their elders. When the pupils take then- places in the grown up world, they will find constantly that their own good and the good of society demands that tasks be performed by them, tasks in which they have no considerable degree of interest. Never to deviate from the principle that the child may do those things and those only in which he thinks himself interested, is to do him an injustice. Hence, they conclude, he grows selfish, narrow and conceited. He may finally lose con- 128 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION fidence in himself and in his teacher, and come into dis- honest habits. A rational view of the subject of interest is taken by Professor James when he says: "We have of late been learning much of the philosophy of tenderness in educa- tion; 'interest' must be assiduously awakened in every- thing, difficulties must be smoothed away. Soft peda- gogics have taken the place of the old steep and rocky paths to learning. But from this lukewarm air the brac- ing oxygen of effort is left out. It is nonsense to suppose that every step in education can be interesting. The fighting impulse must often be appealed to. Make the pupil feel ashamed of being scared at fractions, or being 'downed' by the law of falling bodies; rouse his pugnacity and pride and he will rush at difficult places with a sort of inner wrath at himself that is one of his best moral faculties. A victory scored under such conditions becomes a turning-point and crisis of his character." * Many insist that the play spirit is entirely too common to-day in education. The claim is made that TheEasy m orc | er t o interest our pupils more readily, Task not 4 * ' Necessarily we are making play of all the more serious ing one* 6 duties of the school. If this be true, and I doubt not it may be in some quarters, no sympathy is expressed here for such existing condition. To interest the pupil does not at all mean that tasks are to be made simple and easy. True interest, however, where the child mind is con- * Talks to Teachers, pp. 54-55. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING cerned, does not lie in the direction of the hidden mean- ing, the abstract symbol, the artificial catch word; it finds its source in things at hand, in the facts and forces of the environment which can be used, appropriated, and modified to serve useful ends; in the circumstances, the people, the events, the materials which find a response in the life of the individual, and which hi turn help the in- dividual to find himself. This does not mean The Teacher fa^ we must re l y wholly upon the child to is not ignored determine his actual interests. He is to be carefully watched and guarded, the lines of his dominant interests must be studied, and in turn di- rected, as seems for his best development. From time to time these dominant interests change and these changes the teacher must carefully note and study, for through them will he be enabled to approach close to the child, to gain his confidence, learn his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, his traits of char- acter ; throu g h them he must help him to interest the learn how to overcome acquired evil tend- Teacher's . , . e it Au y encies, to counteract wrong teaching of the home or street, or to supplement the benefi- cial home training. By study and understanding and by allowing for the pupil's interests, we have one of the best avenues open for moral training. By ignoring this fact we drive from school many who would otherwise remain. (&) ATTENTION The second point to be noted is that of attention. At- Standards 9 130 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION tention may be discussed under a variety of forms and in a varied terminology. For our purpose, however, only two forms may be noted: voluntary attention, or that form gained through an effort of the will, and involuntary attention, or that gained through little or no will action. These two types would conform to the effort vs. the in- terest phases as discussed by Doctor Dewey. With a many-sided interest in any lesson or task, comes a spon- taneous or involuntary form of attention. The untrained mind of the child is not sufficiently strong to give attention through the centering of the will. The study matter must be so arranged as to claim the attention without excessive volition or will power. The close relation that interest bears to involuntary, or spontaneous, attention is at once under- maybegtven stood - A11 those who have to do with children without know how necessary it is that the attention Effort be directed to the subject or lesson, if results are to be achieved. They know, too, how difficult it is to secure for more than a short period at most, the close, undivided attention of the pupil, and that the more im- mature the pupil the greater the necessity that his interest be awakened, in order to claim better the attention. Let the teacher note how spontaneous and natural is the at- tention of the pupil while at play. In his games, no ar- tificial means are necessary to concentrate the attention. In the various activities, in building up and in tearing down, in carrying on in small the occupations of the real life about him, in these the child has complete interest. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 131 When, however, the teacher finds she must call upon the class to attend, when she must beg and entreat, threaten and command, then must the fault lie without, not within the pupil, and then will the attention, given under such circumstances, be superficial rather than actual. Here the course of study steps hi to play its part. Our chief concern must be so to shape the work that it shall appeal to the individual mind. The danger lies hi two directions. The work must not be over difficult, else the pupil, unable to grasp and comprehend, will find no mag- net to draw the attention. Neither must the lessons be so simple as to call for no mental reaction, for then will there appear no necessity for attention. At this point the principle of apperception comes to our aid, for with a previous knowledge of some or all of the points involved, the mind at once reaches out, attends. The known in the old seeks to lay hold of the knowable in the new; likenesses and differences are noted and the pupil has won the battle for himself. It is not claimed by all, however, that this form of at- tention is the highest in the scale of mental development, and it should only be used, they affirm, as a stepping-stone to the deeper and more vital form of volun- tar Y attention. The purpose should be so thevoiun- to train the mind that unconsciously the will is more and more brought into play; otherwise, the mental machinery becomes as flabby as an unused muscle and the entire mind attitude will be a succession of indecisions. 132 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION An excellent illustration of this view is given in Mr. Westcott's David Harum, where Mr. Carling, having found to his dismay that he has dressed with one russet shoe and one black one, proceeds to argue the question. "First he was in favor of the black shoes as being thicker in the sole, and then he reflected that they hadn't been blackened since coming on board. It seemed to him that the russets were more appropriate any way, but the blacks were easier to lace. Had I noticed whether the men on board were wearing russet or black, as a rule, and did Alice remember whether it was one of the russets or one of the blacks that he was saying the other day pinched his toe? He didn't quite like the looks of the russet shoe with dark trousers, and called us to witness that those he had on were dark; but he thought he remembered that it was the black shoe which pinched him. He sup- posed he could change his trousers and so on, and so on." There is one danger, too, of exacting the attention when, with the young pupils, the subject or metn cl of presentation is beyond them, or instability uninteresting. A habit of desultory oscilla- of Mind J Attitude tion, of wavering backward and forward, a dreamy, half-hearted attention is encouraged, and thus makes more difficult the securing of the volun- tary form. In other words, the teacher should train, de- velop, and educate into the latter. Voluntary attention suggests at once the idea of concentration. Much has been written upon the importance of concentration to the learner, yet the last word has not been said. Prop- THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 133 eriy to attend, the mind must be directed toward, and tied fast to, the object, the thing, the lesson. The wander- ing mind becomes a vagabond. If the work is not such as to compel the mind to concentrate, to give attention, then it becomes sluggish and lazy. To be voluntarily alive leads to alertness, to spontaneity and development. Then not only are positive lessons learned through the giving of attention, but the mind being centered upon the lesson or task, is not engaged in some less profitable occupation, is not concerned with those things that work contrary to the moral well-being. (c) DISCIPLINE Granted now that interest and attention are gained, the third point, that of discipline, will take care of itself. It will certainly be present if the proper mental attitude has been assumed by the pupils. The matter of disci- pline is, in itself, a serious problem. Among a number of teachers each holding the same view as to its vrlue hi school work, there may be a wide difference of opinion as to what constitutes good discipline. It is a mistake to suppose that adherence to military rule denotes a high standard of discipline. The calmest and quietest pupils, may, in fact, be giving the minimum of attention. What I wish to say is this: the outward appearance and attitude of the pupil usually is, but may not always be, indicative of attention to the work in hand or of adherence to discipline. Frequently are pupils found who, through physical disability, perhaps, are unable to 134 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION hold themselves to the outward forms of attention, but will upon examination show themselves thoroughly alive to the lesson or the task. On the other hand, the teacher will many times find that those who appear to be giving marked attention are really wool gathering, and must be recalled to the present. One illustration will suffice, as parallels will be found in the experience of every teacher. The outward writer recalls that hi a certain class, one boy Discipline m particular seemingly gave the closest of attention, his attitude at all times being above question. Almost invariably, however, was his mind upon something other than his lesson. Seldom were his thoughts centered, as would seem to be the case judging from his bodily attitude. In the same class a boy of nervous temperament and apparently undisciplined, and one who would have been picked out as of a mind-wandering, care- less, inattentive disposition, was one of the ready pupils in the group. Of a sensitive and nervous disposition, he would leave his seat, stand, and face around in the aisle, but when a question or a request for an expression came to him, he was seldom found wanting. Aristophanes in his Clouds says: "I prepare myself to speak Of manners primitive and that good time Which I have seen, when discipline prevailed, And modesty was sanctioned by the laws. No babbling then was suffered in the school; The scholar's text was silence. The whole group In orderly procession sallied forth Right onward without straggling THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 135 To attend their teacher in harmonics. Though the snow fell on them thick as meal, the hardy brood Breasted the storm uncloaked. Their harps were strung Not to ignoble strains, for they were taught A loftier key, whether to chant the name Of Pallas terrible amid the blaze Of cities overthrown; or wide and far to spread, As custom was, the echoing peal." From our modern educational standpoint, the quotation indicates another and perhaps a more extreme view. We find too frequently such a lack of discipline and obedience as leads to entire irreverence for right or for the welfare of others. Too often, I say, do we find the pupil's educa- tion hi this direction such as to run counter to the laws of society. It happens not infrequently that one pupil in a class is the cause of more anxiety and thought on the Refractory P ar * ^ * ne teacher, than are all other mem- Pupiionthe bers of the class combined. The insistence Eight Side of the one upon doing as he pleases without consideration for his associates, or regard for suggestion from the teacher, tends to produce a school lacking hi the best kind of discipline and leads the individual on to an utter disregard for moral obligation and right living. It is here that the tact of the teacher must be shown. Moralizing, imploring or threatening will seldom be sufficient to conquer the difficulty, and in all likelihood will do harm rather than good. Neither should the teacher resort to that method so frequently advocated, of striving to have the pupil do right for the teacher's sake, or to please the latter. Let the teacher find some 136 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION dominant interest of the refractory pupil; let him study this and invent some means of directing this interest into proper channels. There is no pupil so careless, so in- attentive, so disobedient, as not to be amenable to dis- cipline, if he is thoroughly understood and properly handled. In this connection Spencer says, "Do but gain a boy's trust; convince him by your behavior that you have his happiness at heart; let him discover that you are the wiser of the two; let him experience the benefits of following your advice and the evils that arise from disregarding it; and fear not you will readily enough guide him." * Obedience must be had; and this obedience should be carried over into the realm of choice. Care- Obedience lessness and dishonesty follow disobedience: must become J Choice truthfulness and self-reliance will grow out of obedience. The child must be guided to that point where choice shall determine that he will be on the side of honesty, of right, and of justice. To accomplish this in the school is certainly no mean task. Shall the child be obedient simply because the teacher says he must? Shall obstacles be thrown in the way and the educational path filled with underbrush in order that the pupil may select the right and thus gain strength of character ? He must learn to do right for the sake of right; he must choose the best because he can be content with nothing less; he must look upon honest ac- tion and straightforward dealing, not as a namby-pamby * Social Statics, " The Rights of Children," pp. 85-86. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 137 conception, but as the only avenue through which he can keep his own self-respect, or merit the appreciation of others. He must be willing to be right at the expense of standing alone. That discipline and obedience are often lacking, is forcefully portrayed by Mr. Elbert Hubbard. operation" He says: "No man has endeavored to carry Difficult to out an enterprise where many hands were Enlist needed, but has been well-nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slipshod assistance, foolish Inattention, dowdy indiffer- ence, and half-hearted work seem to rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in his Goodness, performs a miracle, and sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office six clerks are within call. Summon any one and make this request: ' Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memo- randum for me concerning the life of Correggio.' Will the clerk quietly say, ' Yes, sir,' and go and do the task ? " On your life he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye, and ask one or more of the following questions: "'Who was he? " 'Which encyclopedia? " 'Where is the encyclopedia? "'Was I hired for that? " ' Don't you mean Bismarck ? 138 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION " 'What's the matter with Charlie doing it? "'Is he dead? " 'Is there any hurry? " 'Shan't I bring the book and let you look it up your- self? " ' What do you want to know for ? ' "And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him to try to find Garcia and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not." * One would rarely speak in too forceful terms of the bearing of obedience upon moral character. He who has himself learned to obey can lead others to learn the same lesson. "Servants, obey your masters," is a wise adage. Before one can be a good leader he must first learn to serve. Disobedience in little things leads finally to acute difficulties. The teacher must use judgment and suggest nothing to be done that is not entirely just and reasonable, and within the T com 1 * 67 ran S e f possibility. Having made a sugges- piied with tion, which under ordinary conditions should be all that is necessary (and under ordinary conditions also, the suggestion should be made only once), he must see to it that it is followed to the letter. "Pre- cepts often heard and little regarded, lose by repetition the * A Message to Garcia. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 139 small influence they had." * A ready and cheerful re- sponse on the part of the pupils, to rational suggestions and requirements will go far toward training in right habits of obedience and in laying the foundation of moral character. It is quite clear that there is not only a close relation existing between school discipline and moral education, but in certain of their phases they touch and overlap, becoming one and the same principle. "There are four cardinal rules which relate directly to school discipline," says Doctor Harris. Rules under- "The child must be regular and punctual, lying Disci- pline silent and industrious." Moral training is character training, and discipline has a great part to perform in the formation of character. "Char- acter," says Novalis, "is the completely rounded will." The moral status of the individual must be such as to fit him to perform willingly and cheerfully two classes of duties: those relating to his own welfare and those touch- ing the well-being of others. Broadly speaking, there is no clash between these two sets of duties. What is really best for the individual is best for society; and Eolation of conversely, what is for the best interests of Individual to * ' society society is most fitting for the individual. This must be so since society places the standard for moral action, f In learning the twofold les- son of self-reliance and mutual helpfulness, an altruistic Spencer: The Study of Sociology, chap. 15, p. 366. t See this volume, p. 24. 140 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION spirit is developed in the pupil. He gains that character which is "in general uniformity and fixedness of the whole of will." Herbart says: "Children have at first no real moral character. It arises gradually and begins Moral char- w hen here and there single moral volitions acter of the . .... . child arise from the union of similar acts of will. These more general determinations of will action, which through the apperception begin to accept or reject the new will actions, form the beginning of the sub- jective side or subjective foundations of character; over against this stands the objective past, or the single will act which results from a manifold of desires. The sub- jective part of character is that which determines; the ob- jective part is that which is determined." Moral education, like all other education deserving the name, is not a certain knowledge; but it is Meaning of a training in the moral life the practice of Moral Edu- morality; it is the entering upon a good, up- right and useful life. "Moral education be- gins in infancy; and is affected, influenced, continued by everything that the eyes see, that the ears hear, that the hands touch and handle and by all the thoughts that are awakened in the child's mind by what is seen by it, or said or done in its presence. Therefore moral education is effected chiefly through the child's most constant asso- ciations. Those with whom the child spends most time, have most to do with his moral training, whether it is the pupils in the school, the workmen who are building the THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 141 house next door, the men who take care of the horses in the stable, the teacher in the school, or the family in the home." "I count it as one of the most hurtful delusions upon this subject of moral training to sup- pose that any great effect can be produced by what is said to the child, or what the child studies out of a book, in regard to the prin- ciples of morality. These methods are useful and have their place no doubt; but the great effect is produced by the sum total of the associations of the developing mind. What is done in the presence of pupils hi school will stand for more than what is said to them, or what the book or page says to them." Says Doctor Dewey hi speaking of the school, "The de- mand is for social intelligence, social power, The school social interests. Our resources are, (i) the as a Moral Agent life of the school as a social institution in itself; (2) methods of learning and doing work, and (3) the school studies or curriculum. In so far as the school represents, in its own spirit, a genuine community life; in so far as what are called school discipline, gov- ernment, order, etc., are the expressions of this inherent social spirit; in so far as the methods used are those which appeal to the active and constructive powers, permitting the child to give out, and thus to serve; in so far as the curriculum is so selected and organized as to provide the material for affording the child a consciousness of the world in which he has to play a part, and the relations he has to meet; in so far as these ends are met, the school is 142 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION organized on an ethical basis. So far as general princi- ples are concerned, all the basic ethical requirements are met. The rest remains between the individual teacher and the individual child." * But after all there is an abnormal tendency to eliminate from the school any suggestion of religious instruction. In many localities the use of the Bible is prohibited to the schools, legislation having been enacted to forbid reading of the Scriptures. Discrimination is not made between religious and moral instruction upon the one hand, and sectarian teaching upon the other. No teacher should be denied the use of any book, the teachings of which go to strengthen the moral fiber of the individual. If religion is necessary to develop the moral tone of the school, no hand should be laid upon the teacher who brings to his aid the Bible. Denominational and doctrinal teachings should, of course, have no place. The words of President Butler are significant; he says: "The religious element may not be permitted to pass wholly out of education, unless we are to cripple it and render it hopelessly incomplete. . . . It is enough to point out that the religious element of human culture is essential; and that, by some effective agency, it must be presented to every child whose education aims at com- pleteness or proportion." f Strange it is indeed that in the evolution of the school * Ethical Principles Underlying Education, p. 26 ; quoted in part on p. 54. t The Meaning of Education, pp. 30-31. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 143 we should pass from a time in which the teaching of so- called religion was the principal excuse for its existence, to the present, when the very word religion is eliminated from the phraseology of the teacher. Even as a book of literary worth we are fast doing away with the Bible in school, and we seem fearful of drawing upon its pages for lessons in moral and religious instruction. Are we to lose sight of the lessons to be drawn from the life of the Great Teacher? Other great lives we study for the in- spiration, and enthusiasm, and moral strength they give us. Shall that life be ignored which, simple in its sim- plicity and human in its humanity, gives us out of a few short years such experiences, parables and moral lessons as to cause Him to be remembered through nineteen cen- turies of war and turmoil and change and development? The strong words of Professor Jackman are in point: "Unless," he says, "we can pursuade ourselves that present day graft is an allegory, we need the Bible chiefly for neither its fables nor its myths, but for its straight- out-from-the-shoulder teachings that Jesus and the prophets leveled toward the evils of their day. There- fore, along with the piety of the heathen philosopher, I would see practically worked into every year of school life, and all the years thereafter, the plain and simple, the beautiful and understandable, teachings of Christ. If that means teaching religion, then teach it; if it means bringing the Bible into the public school, bring it in; with all sincerity, candor, and earnestness, fetch it in." * * Elementary School Teacher, vol. vi, pp. 435-436. 144 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION The part that the emotions play in moral instruction should ever be kept before the mind. A moral attitude can- not be driven or drilled into the child; the ground must be prepared and the mind receptive. It is not the intellectual, but the emotional, side of human nature that causes us to start and thrill at the sound of the national anthem. Herbert Spencer, in discussing national education, has this to say: "Whatever moral benefit can be effected by education, must be effected by an education which is emotional rather than intellectual. If in the place of making a child understand that this thing is right and the other wrong, you make it feel that they are so if you make virtue loved and vice loathed if you arouse a noble desire, and make torpid an inferior one if you bring into life a previously dormant sentiment if you cause a sympathetic impulse to get the better of one that is selfish if, in short, you produce a state of mind to which proper behavior is natural, spontaneous, instinctive, you do some good. But no drilling in catechisms, no teaching of moral codes, can effect this." * Finally, the purpose of our school work in the cultiva- tion of moral standards on the part of the pupil is to help each one to see and appreciate his duty to himself and to see and appreciate the place he should occupy as regards his fellows. * Social Statics, pp. 175-176. THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 145 THESES 1. There is great need for an advance in moral stand- ards, both public and private. 2. Moral training in the early schools and under for- mer systems took the form of religious instruction. 3. "Education is life." The purpose of the school is to train all the powers; the pupil must become master of himself on his physical, mental, and moral sides. 4. Moral training can best be brought about through a thorough regard for discipline, which is based largely upon and determined by the degree of attention given. Attention can be secured only as there is a deep and satisfying interest promoting it. 5. Interest must be "many sided." The study of the concrete form is essential. The unusual should not be resorted to, and pupils must be led to do those things in which they may have little interest; otherwise they may become one-sided, selfish, and unmindful of the rights of others. 6. Voluntary attention should grow out of the invol- untary form; and this may be accomplished largely by means of properly graded subject-matter. 7. Discipline as a problem will be minimized if atten- tion and interest are secured. The suggestion of the teacher must be implicitly followed. The pupil who is not taught to obey cannot be expected to claim obedience from others. Obedience should in time be carried over into the realm of choice. Standards 10 146 . STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 8. Since it is so largely upon obedience that the moral life of the individual depends, regularity, punctuality and courtesy should be insisted upon. The principles of morality are not gained from a book or from the spoken word simply, but from the unconscious influences; the sum total of the associations of the developing mind. What is done stands for more than what is said. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. The school as a moral institution. 2. The use of the Bible in the school; shall it be used for its literary and historic values only ? 3. Has the church or parochial school a higher moral standard than the public school ? Does it succeed better than the public school in living up to its ideal ? 4. Consider fully the tests of moral standards in edu- cation. 5. Are some school studies more ethical in their char- acter than are others? 6. Is it more difficult to interest pupils in a study of morals than in other subjects ? 7. How may the study of strong moral characters, such as Lincoln and Garrison, be made most valuable ? 8. Are girls, or boys, the more amenable to discipline ? 9. Is the moral tone of the community where the study of morals has a place in the school, higher than it is else- where ? 10. The school surroundings and moral training. Which plays the greater part, environment or heredity? THE BASIS OF ETHICAL TRAINING 147 11. The relation of teacher to parent in matters of morals and of discipline. 12. Devotional exercises in the school. Should the pupils take active part and if so, how? What is the value of responsive reading? Discuss the advisability of having the whole school assemble together for general exercises. 13. Study the question of discipline in the several grades of the elementary school. Are teachers agreed that there are certain years or grades in which the problem is a particularly troublesome one? 14. Recall a number of groups of children of various ages and determine whether the attention generally given is of a voluntary or involuntary nature, or whether with any given individual the attention is now of one form and now of another. 15. Make a list of those studies or subjects in which you now have most interest. Were you interested chiefly in these subjects hi your elementary school days? Can you recall what were the causes that tended to make a given study interesting ? Was there a change in this respect, the interesting study of a given year becoming the uninteresting one of a suc- ceeding year and vice versa? Account for this. Apply the same tests as above suggested for school studies, to matters or subjects entirely without the range of the school. 148 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION CONSULT ADAMS Relation of the School Studies to Moral Train- ing. Third Yearbook, National Herbart So- ciety, p. 73. BRUMBAUGH The Making of a Teacher, pp. 25-37; 250-261. BUTLER Meaning of Education, particularly pp. 28-31. COOLEY Human Nature and the Social Order, chaps. 2 & 12. DE GARMO Social Aspects of Moral Education. Third Yearbook, National Herbart Society, p. 35. DEWEY Ethical Principles Underlying Education. Third Yearbook, National Herbart Society, p. 75. School and Society. HALL Moral Education and Will Training, Pedagog- ical Seminary, vol. n, pp. 72-89. HARRIS Report of the Committee of Fifteen The Re- lation of School Discipline to Moral Educa- tion. Third Yearbook, National Herbart Society, p. 58. HERBART Science of Education, pp. 110-120; 200-252. JACKMAN Elementary School Teacher, vol. 6, pp. 431-437. CALL Present Notions about Ethical Instruction in our Public Schools, 75th Annual Proceedings, American Institute of Instruction, pp. 61-88. MACCUNN The Making of Character, chap. 6. McMuRRY Elements of General Method, chap. 3. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics, chaps. 6 & 14. SADLER Report on Moral Education in American Schools with Special Reference to the For- mation of Character. THORNDIKE Notes on Child Study, chap. 16. CHAPTER VI THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT HABIT may be defined in terms of character. Cul- ture comes through character, and when true culture is developed in the schoolroom, Element in character is being formed. But this culture Character or character is to come as right habits are rooted and mirrored in action. Habits, good or bad, are being formed continually. It is a commonplace, but one of which we need constantly to remind ourselves, that a thing Acquiring O nce done, an act once accomplished, tends Habits . . always to develop a desire to repeat that ac- tivity. The act or deed accompanied by painful sensa- tions may be more readily inhibited than the one followed by feelings of pleasure or joy. The sensation that ac- companies the placing of the fingers in the cogs of a wheel may be such as to prevent a repetition of the act and the formation of the habit of tampering with cogs; and thus a restraining habit may be formed. In a more purely mental connection, the field and force of habit is easily appreciated. The thing once done tends to be repeated, and whether physical or mental, the attempt is made to explain this from the pathological standpoint. 149 150 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION The doing of the thing, the thought process, or the framing of an idea, has as its resultant in consciousness ^/Thetry tne wearin g of a P ath or the blazing of a trail through the brain. Just as a pioneer, thread- ing his way through the forest, blazes the trees, that he may leave a path by which to retrace his steps, or as the vanguard of the engineering corps marks the landscape, so are paths made in the brain. When an act is performed for the first time, sign posts are set up, which invite and impel a repetition. The line of least resistance is over a traveled path rather than through an undiscovered region. All recent authorities on the psychology of habit are wont to ascribe to the mental phase a physi- Tne Mental ca j counterpart, and to show the relation be- and Physical A A Parallel tween habit in the material world and in the realm of mentality. Every schoolboy knows how disagreeable it is to have a shoe " run over." For some reason one side of the shoe is subjected to more pressure than the other, and before the indi- vidual is aware, he is walking upon the side Physical rather than the bottom of the shoe. The turning habit in the shoe has been formed, subsequent wrinkles and creases appearing in the same spots where they first occurred. No end of trouble and annoyance is thus occasioned before a normal condition is reached ; and perhaps the fault is never remedied. Another common illustration of the same principle : as you drive, you perceive that a rein has become twisted. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT 151 This may have been brought about by twisting or doubling the rein when removing the harness on a previous occa- sion. Being now used again, it tenaciously holds to the twist, that is, the habit has developed, it being easier for the leather to fall into an improper shape than to act the part expected of it. The acquiring of a habit may be likened to the making of a chain. The links are made separately, joined to- gether one by one, until the complete chain is formed. Each repetition of an act is a link in the chain of habit and soon will become part of the life of the individual. But while habit is thus built up gradually and logic- ally, release from a habit does not come Building up readily through the reverse process. The vs. Tearing ' down sure way is not to break the links one by one, to stop by degrees, to "taper off." In rare instances this method may bring results, but the way to stop is to stop. Under the great law governing education, the little by little process must, perforce, be used in acquiring knowledge. To break successfully with a habit, however, we must break now, here, at once and completely. You want your pupils to acquire the habit of standing straight, of holding the bodies erect ; you want them to enunciate clearly and 10 write legibly ; you Acquired desire that they should be clean and neat in Through personal appearance and methodical in their manner of doing things ; you demand that equity and helpfulness prevail among the classes ; you 152 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION see the necessity for punctuality and regularity in at- tendance ; and you insist that nature as well as books be studied. To get into the habit of standing erect, the pupil must stand erect ; distinct speech comes habitually through clear enunciation ; a legible hand is the result of practice that has formed the habit ; to be always neat and tidy means constant care in this regard ; proper methods, appreciation of the rights of others, the virtue of being on time and the love of nature and of books, these all come through habits formed and made a part of our mental machinery. Consider now the reverse order of things, the draw- ing away from harmful practices and wrong attitudes. Here again habit has played its part. The Relation of word or deed you deprecate belongs more and the Difficulty J in Breaking more to the individual as the practice goes on. SiSiuency Habit is becoming stronger and stronger, and Length The more frequent the performance of the of Perform- ance act the more secure becomes the grip of the habit Looked at from the standpoint of the school, the teacher now has a double task. With a free field a desirable habit may be inculcated with com- parative ease ; but when a new habit must take the ,, _. place of an old one, then the latter must be More Diffi- culty to given battle and routed before the former old Habits can occu py tne ground. Thus the difficulties than to ES- are increased. This helping: to break up old tabliah New habits and to establish new ones is by no means the least duty that falls to the teacher. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT 153 If, then, a pernicious habit is to be eradicated, if the pupil does not use grammatical forms or indulges in un- becoming language, if he is selfish or stubborn or lazy, if he reads harmful literature or is being injured by his fondness for tobacco, if he " cuts " school or cheats in his lesson or is otherwise untruthful, he has these habits to wipe out before those representing opposite tendencies can be substituted. He must eradicate the evil by sub- stituting the good. Perhaps the greatest aid to one endeavoring to cure himself of a bad habit is to keep free from that which prompts it. The tendency toward subsequent action be- ing so strong, as already shown, it is unwise to stand in the way of temptation. The longer time that can elapse before the subsequent repetition of a wrong habit, the greater likelihood of its complete inhibition. On the other hand, a habit to be fixed demands repetition many times in one form or another. To repeat, to review, to recapitulate, to turn again to the question, all these un- der proper conditions, will tend toward habit formation. Professor James,* in discussing Professor Bain's max- ims on "The Moral Habits," deduces two principles of chief importance. Briefly stated they are, first > the reater the impetus and determina- tion with which we throw ourselves into the current, the more readily will we acquire a new habit or divorce ourselves from the old ; and second, be cer- * Psychology, Briefer Course, p. 145; Principles of Psychology, vol. I, p. 122. 154 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION tain the habit is a part of you before you allow a chance exception to come upon the stage. To these maxims Professor James adds the suggestion that a resolution once made, no opportunity should be allowed to pass or any emotion to die, without acting toward the desired end, that the habit may be established. Action in one or another direction is always essential, and particularly when a habit is to be broken, or when one looks for a means to keep the mind from dwelling upon the undesirable. If the pupil is so interested and occupied as to rivet his attention upon that for Keeping which is best and highest, he may soon be occupied ^ ent i re ty to forego former practices or tendencies. If the mind is allowed to dwell, or focus itself, upon the old habit, it will be an almost hopeless task to break away from a fixed tendency. Care must be exercised that the pupil is never idle. Mind and body should be kept occupied ; and in the fulfillment of this necessity is to be seen one of the great benefits of industrial education. The mind is occupied with the work that the hands are doing, and every reformatory as well as every school of industry stands as an example of the value of concentrated em- ployment. Teach the lesson of the significance of habit. En- deavor to inculcate in your pupils the desire for right habits and the inhibition of bad ones ; and do this even at the expense of skipping & few pages in the book. Lead them to understand that in business or pleasure, in school THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT 155 or out, in whatever rank or station, trade or profession, he only is successful who has subdued or kept down un- desirable habits and who has in large measure acquired habits of worth. THESES 1. Character is formed and determined by the num- ber and quality of one's habits. 2. The mind is acquiring habits constantly, and the more frequently an act is performed the greater likeli- hood of its repetition and of a fixed habit resulting. 3. The pathological, or line of least resistance theory, and its parallel in the material world. 4. Habit-forming vs. habit-breaking, easier to make than to mend. 5. To acquire a desirable habit, launch yourself with energy and determination, beware of imitations or excep- tions, and take advantage of every opportunity offered to clinch the habit. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Before the child enters school, certain character- istic habits are partially or wholly formed. What are the chief ones that the teacher must endeavor to have eliminated ? 2. Should the business of the school be the presenting of material such as to form new habits, break bad ones, or develop those already maturing ? 3. Give illustrations of the force and tenacity of habit 156 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION as shown in the lives and work of those beyond middle life. 4. There are dangers that may arise from carrying a wholesome and useful habit too far. What are they, and under what conditions does the statement hold ? 5. Make a list of injurious habits (of which the follow- ing are typical), such as the teacher has usually to con- tend with in school. Do these same habits exhibit them- selves in adults in later life ? Whispering, inattention, absence, tardiness, lying, stealing, smoking ; how would you proceed in your crusade against these obstacles to educational growth ? 6. Consider the place of corporal punishment in habit- breaking. 7. Compare the value of the use of high moral stand- ards as object lessons to be copied, and of illustrations drawn from the lower levels of life, the failures, to be avoided. 8. What relation does the term habit bear to automatic action and to second nature ? 9. Under what conditions, if ever, should a trouble- some habit be lopped off by degrees instead of being broken with instantly ? 10. The great value of proper habit-forming and the dangers from evil habits should be put before school chil- dren. Just how far should such discussion go and what form should this instruction take ? 1 1. Compare habit-forming in man with instinct-form- ing in animals. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HABIT 157 12. At what age do you find children most likely to inhibit bad habits and form good ones ? 1 3. Read the chapter on habit in James's Psychology and write a page on the meaning of habit in education. 14. Investigate the biological view of habit and write a clear statement of this conception. CONSULT ANGEL Psychology, pp. 51-63. BOWNE Introduction to Psychological Theory, pp. 301- 306. BRYAN The Basis of Practical Teaching, chap. 5. HALLECK Education of the Central Nervous System, pp. 222-237. HAMILTON Mental Science, pp. 191-194. HORNE Psychological Principles of Education, chap. 26. JAMES Psychology, Briefer Course, chap. 10. Principles of Psychology. Talks to Teachers. ROWE Physical Nature of the Child, chaps. 10 & u. ROYCE Outlines of Psychology, chaps. 3, 8, 9 & 10. SEELEY Elementary Pedagogy, chap. 10. STOUT Manual of Psychology, pp. 99-101. SULLY The Human Mind, vol. n, pp. 224-233. THORNDIKE Elements of Psychology, chap. 13. Principles of Teaching, chap. 8. CHAPTER VII THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION SOME years ago I visited Stratford, the home of the Master Poet, that I might receive at first hand the in- spiration and enthusiasm breathed from that historic environment. I chanced to arrive on market day and had no difficulty in finding upon the street a young lad who volunteered to show me about. In the course of our conversation I said to him: "How old are you?" He replied, "Fourteen years, sir." "Have you ever visited London?" I asked. "No, sir." "Ever visited Manchester?" "No, sir." "Leamington?" (eight miles distant) "No, sir." "Do you ever expect to go?" "I don't know, sir." "How much did you make last year showing people about?" "I took four pounds, sir." Some will tell you that the fourteen year old boy who had never been beyond the borders of his own village and whose outlook was thus circumscribed, was not being *58 THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 159 truly educated, even though he was familiar with his Caesar and could recite the terms of the Magna Charta; that a knowledge of people and things, of places and events, of methods employed in carrying on the complex existence of to-day is essential and cannot be had within such a narrow world as that which the boy occupied. Only recently I chanced to be so seated in a railway car as to overhear a conversation between two ladies. One traveler remarked proudly to her companion that a certain boy had neither missed a day at school nor been tardy in two years. As I pondered the matter, I questioned if after all this was something of which to be proud; if the education of this American boy, with broader knowledge, perhaps, than that possessed by the young English lad was such as to warrant one hi taking particular pride that no absent or tardy marks had been recorded against his name hi two years. And then I fell to thinking of the statement made by one of our most eminent school men, extreme though it be, that he thanks his lucky stars his own attendance at school was for a period not exceeding one year all told. For those who hold to the doctrine of formal discipline, it matters not so much what one is taught. %S%* Whatever is studied tends to develop the MindDevei- mind, to so discipline the self, the individual, opment . . as to render him able to grapple successfully with the problems that confront him hi later life. Then, too, according to another view, the child must pur- sue all branches of school knowledge since he is to be 160 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION developed in an all-around manner. Especially must he taste of all courses in the curriculum, it Danger in Early spe- being impossible to tell, at an early age, cializatioii i i , p ../ i Demands what trade, vocation, or profession he is to fol- Trainingm } ow> While this is an age of specialization, the all Subjects _ ,. real specialist must first be a good generalist; hence, to avoid narrow and superficial specialization, and to be prepared for any emergency that may present itself, each child while in school must go through the same mill. That the child cannot pursue all lines of study, cannot make himself master of, or even taste of, all view^at branches of knowledge in one lifetime is child can evident. No doubt there are certain things Knowledge taught in schools that should be taught to all. But as it has been so aptly put by another, "First things first." Perhaps there are many things not taught in schools to-day that should have a place on the program. Give first consideration to the essentials. Colonel Parker says: "Knowledge is boundless, and your pupils can get but a drop of the ocean. What knowl- edge shall you present them in the years you have them under your care and guidance? What knowledge shall govern you in the selection? The answers are not far to seek. Your selection can be entirely governed by what each pupil needs for his personal development. He needs that knowledge which will enable him best to serve the school and the world. The two answers are one; the needs of the school and the needs of the world are the needs of the individual. A course of study is a means to THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 161 an end. From this course of study the teacher selects the material immediately necessary for the advancement of personal, mental and moral power." The curriculum must be such that the character, the form, the ideals of the life at school shall not differ from, nor run counter to, those of actual life, and unless the school is recognized as being in accord with the broader truths of existence, as a part of real life and not a prepara- tion merely for something that is vague and indefinite; unless it deals with the actual rather than with the arti- ficial, then is the pupil being cheated of his heritage and dwarfed and warped in his growth. The school of fifty years ago considered in too narrow a sense, perhaps, the so-called practical side f education. To teach the pupil to read, the New; a to write, and to cipher, was then considered Contrast -,*, to be the chief duty of the school from the intellectual side. Minor emphasis, was, to be sure, placed upon a study of the main facts in history, of the geography of the earth, of spelling. The pupil was taught also to parse and conjugate. While with the glamour attaching to the school of our fathers there is much of sentiment, as seen through the hazy atmosphere of a lifetime, and while we are apt to magnify the value of work given hi "the good old days," we admit the worth of the educa- tion of the past and the part it has played in helping to shape the lives of those who have built the nation. We must admit also that in the earlier days much energy was wasted by the pupils, energy that might have been turned Standards 1 1 162 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION to good advantage. Certain it is that if the school of the past was born of earlier ideals and was suited to the earlier day, the civilization of the present demands an entirely different type of school. Subjects have from time to time crept in to enrich, or at least to help fill, the program. Spelling is now taught both as an oral and as a written exercise, geography and history are studied with regard to effect as well as to cause; and the elements of the sciences and of nature study, music, elocution, drawing, clay modeling, physical culture, and the many forms of hand work, have, one after another, been added to the curriculum. In arranging our courses of study we must have in mind the needs and conditions of the individual student, so plan- ning the work that there shall be constant reference to the pupil's capacity and to his life after leaving the school. The curriculum must grow out of experience and since cir- cumstances and the individual teacher must largely deter- mine details, what follows should be used as suggestive only. In enumerating the subjects that may properly be com- prised in the elementary school curriculum, sevenfold* " ^ not nave m rnind the correlation of ciassiflca- studies, in the loose sense of the common tion of studies usage of that term. I am thinking rather of those particular subjects, considered in a broad sense, that go to make up the everyday life of the child of primary grade. I am thinking of a group of sub- jects that should compel his attention because of their constant action and interaction about him, subjects that THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 163 furnish the material for his everyday experiences, and by and through which he is constantly expressing him- self, subjects that assist him to interpret the great world of life and action and through which he In turn interprets to others. The classification is: 1. Physical Training. 2. Oral and Written Expression, Reading, Language and Literature. 3. History. 4. The Industrial Arts. 5. Geography and Nature Study. 6. Music. 7. Numbers. This classification does not carry with it the complete breaking up of the curriculum into seven distinct and clear-cut bodies of subject-matter. Indeed all subjects may finally be reduced to one, the study of life itself. The subjects of instruction, as presented hi this seven- fold classification, should comprehend all that it is essential to teach the pupil of primary grade. The subjects are not divided sharply, the one from the other, since physical training, for instance, may find a place hi the class hi music; and expression, whether oral or written, properly should be taught throughout the entire group. Then, too, subjects frequently given a special place in the program, spelling, for example, will be taught where and under such circumstances as may seem most fitting, according to the necessities of a given situation. The working out of an elementary school curriculum 1 64 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION is a matter to be treated in a subsequent volume. In the present chapter will be found suggestions on teaching only two of the seven school subjects, physical training and the industrial arts. It has been deemed wise to make brief reference to these subjects here, not only on account of their great worth and because they are indispensable to the complete growth of the pupil, but also, owing to the very nature and newness of the subjects themselves, because few teachers are so conversant with them as to be able to present them to classes. (a) PHYSICAL TRAINING By physical training I mean all forms of bodily activity that look toward healthful exercise, whether workcfom carried on under the name of gymnastics, prehended calisthenics, physical culture, Delsarte, ath- letics, recreation exercises, or any other title; whether the work be Swedish system or German system; whether given in a gymnasium under a special teacher, or in the grade room by the grade teacher; whether listed in the program as a regular subject, or introduced by the teacher at a point where relaxation and change of occu- pation and position are necessary. I am convinced that physical training and athletics are of vital import in both elementary and sec- ondary schools. Had I the temerity to clas- s ify t ne school studies upon a relative value Schools J basis, I am not sure but that the development of the body toward healthy, vigorous, physical activity, THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 165 would stand out as occupying first place. Even the in- culcation of moral standards depends in no small measure upon the physical nature, and certainly when dealing with grade pupils, physical training must take its place side by side with those essential humanities, typified by music and oral expression. The time has long since past when to be educated implies frail physique and scant health. Time was when pale cheeks and stooped shoulders were synonymous with culture and learning. To become educated was to for- swear the vulgar occupations of life. A peculiar con- struction indeed was placed upon those lines "For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich." We are coming to see, more and more, that the sound mind in the sound body is a condition more to be sought than that of the sound mind in the unsound body, and that the first-named condition is much more easily realized than the second. We shall agree, I think, upon the necessity for, and the value of, physical training in school. If such fecessityfor training is to perform in any adequate man- zation ner its full function, it must be systematized. Systematization implies supervision. By sys- tematization I do not mean uniformity or over-curriculari- zation. Physical training in school must be worked out upon the basis of relative values,, and taught, not as busy work, but as a well-defined subject. The work must not appear as abstract exercises but as concrete problems. In schools where the pupils have the advantage afforded by a well-equipped gymnasium, and what is of more 1 66 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION importance, a well-equipped teacher, the problem is not so difficult. It is, however, in the grade Problems school where there is no gymnasium, no Confronting . OJ theun- special room to which the pupils may be school* 3 * 1 taken for physical training, that we find our serious problem. The nature of the course of study, the pressure of other tasks, the unprepared condition of the teacher, and too often, a lack of sympathy in the work, all conspire to render the physical training a neglected subject. The aisles between the seats, while narrow, are usually of such width as to allow for certain free movements of the arms and head and even carrying on o f the legs, so far as bending the knees is the Work concerned. In comparatively small classes, the pupils may be so arranged as not to hamper one another in their movements. The prime object of the exercises during study time, is to counteract the evil effects resulting from unhealthful bodily positions, from stooping of the shoulders and cramping of the chest. The mere fact of allowing pupils to straighten up is in itself essential and is a rest. Elaborate groups of exer- cises are not so important as that the pupils be permitted a supply of fresh air, and be taught to breathe properly so that the lungs may be filled. Movements of the hands, the arms, the head, the trunk, the legs and feet may be carried on in the aisles. Other exercises may be taken in halls or passageways, prefer- ably in the open air, if the weather will permit and the THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 167 distance be not too great. If a hall or passageway is at the disposal of the class, wands, dumb-bells and Indian clubs may be used. Walking and running exercises are particularly good; and the proper breathing exercises should always accompany them. The time for change and recreation will of course vary. Since, however, it is well-nigh impossible to Questions of ~j ve o ther than class instruction, the teacher Administra- tion must have a specific time in the day, both forenoon and afternoon, perhaps, to give to physical training. This is particularly true when dealing with primary pupils. If a special time is given on the program for such drill, care must be exercised that it be sufficiently long before or after the lunch or intermission hour. If one room or hallway is used by several grades, each class making use of the same equipment, then the program must be so adjusted as to prevent conflicts. Loose, comfortable clothing and full deep breathing must be carefully looked to by the teacher, conditions High collars and tight belts are a hindrance to breathing. A few moments of well-planned work is all that is necessary at any one time. The teacher himself must be master of all the work he attempts to give. He must not ask the pupils to per- The Teacher form exercises that he cannot himself accom- to be Master of the work plish. He must study the subject as he would study the history or English lessons, that he may have at his command such exercises as are needed at a particular time. This statement bears out what was 1 68 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION said earlier regarding the systematizing of the work. It must not be haphazard. I am, of course, alive to the objection that will be raised by some at this point. In dealing with young pupils, it will be affirmed, physical exercise tionare w i\\ come spontaneously. Furnish the im- Necessary petus or rather the proper conditions for exer- cise and the pupils will naturally engage in the correct bodily movements. This is doubtless true within certain limits, but as well say, however, that a child can be taught to study by placing a book in his hand and enjoining him to study. Undirected effort on the part of the pupils results, in this instance, in what we find every day, girls and boys in high schools, yes, and the majority of those around us in the grown-up world, who have never learned the real art of study. Direction and supervision must be given physical training and athletics to make them effective. If apparatus be used, whether in the school or in the gymnasium, the lighter forms or work are Overstrain preferable. Pupils should be given a thorough Avoided physical examination, to ascertain their needs and weaknesses, before they are permitted to engage in heavy work calling for exertion or strain. It happens frequently that the discovery is made too late, that a certain form of exercise indulged in has had the effect of tearing down rather than of building up the con- stitution. This brings us to the athletic side of our sub- ject, athletics being included under the heading, physical training. In athletics and heavy gymnastic work, super- THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 169 vision is especially necessary and such supervision should be scientific, close and careful. The athletic side of physical training may be classified under two heads. Under one of these will Athletics : a f a ^ most o f fae work now being given in the Double Clas- sification grades, and some of that given in the high school as well, both in and out of doors, and in the gymnasium, if one is provided. Such work is likely to be of a general nature, and we may call it general athletics. Over against this we find certain grade work and practically all of that given in the high school at the present time falling in a class which we shall speak of as competitive or professional athletics. The work spoken of as general should be general in the sense that all students participate in one or Argument another phase of exercise. It is not enough for General Athletics that certain select students take part. All must have the advantage of the training of- fered. Here we have one of the strong arguments against competitive forms of athletics in the grades. Even in the elementary school the games that are competitive in char- acter are put upon such a professional basis, and so very few take part in them, that the true element of sport is eliminated. The fact that only a small number can ever hope to qualify for or serve upon any team ( tnat i > be permitted to play in con- Means spe- tests), owing to the vast amount of practice cialization and technique necessary, excludes the great mass of boys; and they suffer in consequence. This goes 1 70 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION to prove the necessity for some form of supervision that shall make it possible for all to be benefited. As a matter of fact, the very ones who are by nature and training fitted to enter competitive feats are those who least need athletic work in the school. The moral effects of the pro- fessionalizing of athletics is peculiarly bad. In general forms of work, such as track and field athletics, the re- sults are much less objectionable. The other school work suffers when the pupil engages in competitive or professional forms of athletics; and what- Professionai- ever effect this may have upon college boys, it is not to be desired in the elementary or high school student. Not only is a disproportionate amount of time necessary in such training, to the end that the other school work suffers unduly in consequence, but the mind of the student is so continuously upon his game as to render him incapable of concentrating upon anything outside of it. Then, too, so much stress is laid upon winning, that trickery and dishonesty are, in some quar- ters, the rule rather than the exception. In order to bring out more clearly this matter of the danger of over-emphasizing in competitive athletics, and the necessity for careful supervision, note the following facts. The data were not gathered through the use of a set of brass instruments, but come directly through the teachers who have had to do with the students in question. The data cover the entire school year, and the boys whose cases are cited were under a consid- erable degree of supervision, so that those situated THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 171 less fortunately would not appear to as good advan- tage. The records of sixty-two high school boys are shown. Twenty-one of the sixty-two engaged in some form of track athletics; twenty-five in football; Track and an( j nineteen in baseball. There are three Field Ath- letics, Base- duplicates. Upon these pupils eleven teach- FcwtbaLi ers re P ort > being an average of five and five- tenths reports for each student. As symbols indicative of the quality of work done, the sign + (plus) means high; G, signifies good; M, medium, and (minus), low or failed. I count all signs after a letter, such as M , at the full value of the letter, thus giving the pupil the advantage. There are four chances to one that a given student will be M or G rather than M+ or G+. In percentages, M is 75; G 75 to 85; and + in- cludes all markings above 85; while a student is low or fails, according as his record varies below 75. The three following tables show the standing of the entire sixty-two: Scholarship and Deportment Records Combined Percentage of students Record 9-74% + 39.87% G 28.70% M 22.52% - Scholarship Record Only rcentage of students Record 6.07% + 26.52% G 38-00% M 29-39% - 172 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Deportment Record Only Percentage 0} students Record 20.47% + 3-9S% + G 26 . 66% + M 21-76% - Note that the chances are nearly i to 4 that a student will be in class standing or deportment, when the two are taken together, and 3 to 10 that he will be in class standing alone. Note also that the + record in class standing is lowered when the deportment is not included. The two following tables show the standing of the twenty-one boys who engaged hi Track and Field Athletics Scholarship: 11.60% + (Approximately one in 45 . 53% G nine are high.) 29.46% M 13.39% ~~ (Approximately one in seven are low or have failed.) Deportment: 19.29% + (i to 5) 6 2 . 2 8%....G 12.28% M 6.14%....- (i to 16) Notice here that the class record for - - students is 13.39% f r track, as against 29.38% for all athletics. THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 173 The odds are twice as great that a failure will result when considering football or baseball, as when considering field work alone. The chances are 3^ to i in favor of track boys as against the combined work, that a failure will be made. Baseball Scholarship: 2.53% + (ito 40) 17.94%.. ..G 37.97%.. ..M 40.50%....- (2 to 5) Deportment: 7 .31% + (i to 14) 51.21%.. ..G 18.29%.. ..M 23.17% (i to 4) It will be seen that the record of for track students was 13.39%; f r baseball, it was 40.50%, or a probability of 3 to i that the baseball student ranges lower than the field student. The chances of deportment are i to 16 in track, and i to 4 hi baseball. The figures show 29.46% M hi track, and 45.53% G; as against 18.29% M in baseball, and 51.21% G. Football Scholarship: 3 .05% + (i to 33) 13.94% G 43 .5o%....M 39.69%....- (2 to 5) 174 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Deportment: 9-37% + (i to 10) 44.53%.... G 26.55%. ...M 19.53%....- (i to 5) The probability of in scholarship for football and baseball boys is the same, 2 to 5 ; in track events it is i to 7, meaning that nearly three chances exist for work among football as against track boys. In deportment there is practically no difference. There is only one chance in four in favor of a + mark with football, as compared with track students. In football only one boy out of every four is M in de- portment, and less than half are G. In baseball, one out of every five is M and every other one G, while in field events one out of every seven is M and three-fourths are G. The standards of scholarship are lower in football, there being only one-third of the number of good students that are found in track athletics and only seven-ninths as many as in baseball. An added significance is given these statistics when it is understood that the records of the majority of the base- ball and football students was considerably higher during the months preceding and immediately following their extensive practice than while under training. What has all this to do with supervision ? It has every- thing to do with it. No one will contend that athletics are not essential to the best development of the elementary and high school lad. The showing I have made, how- THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 175 ever, is probably much better than would be found the country over. Our athletics must be so supervised that we shall: First, provide some form of physical training for each pupil in the school, and, second, present work that shall increase rather than dimmish the standards of effi- ciency in scholarship, and raise instead of lower moral ideals. While investigating this topic in England, some years ago, I was told by competent authority that competitive athletics, particularly football, was the life of Oxford and Cambridge. That to exclude football, as some suggested, would result in the certain decline of these universities. Be that as it may, there are those of us who believe that the business of our American elementary and high schools is to produce men and women of mental efficiency and moral stability, as well as those of strong physique, and we propose to do our part, though professionalism be barred from our schools; and we insist upon conscien- tious supervision of athletics by those who know the dangers into which young students are easily led. It is the business of the teacher then to see that the best possible conditions are present, looking toward the physical welfare of the pupils. for Good The following suggestions are offered : First, the size and height of the seat must be adjusted to the pupil that he may not be cramped in his work. Second, side and cross lights must be excluded from 176 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION the room; the light should enter from above or fall over the left shoulder. Third, an abundance of pure air (cold air is not neces- sarily pure), especially when the pupils are engaging in physical exercise, is an essential. Fourth, to counteract bad bodily positions and give change and rest to the student, a carefully planned and worked-out series of light gymnastic exercises is desirable, attention being given to proper breathing. Out of door gymnastics or games will result most bene- ficially to the student and to the conduct of influence of ^ sc h oo i if the teacher enters heartily into the Teacher intheGamea the spirit of the exercise. He need not, nor should he, dominate or dictate in the sports, but the personality of the teacher is as necessary out of doors as it is in the class room. He can suggest such sports and exercises as he thinks most beneficial at a | given time, being cautious lest he rob the pupils of the power of initiative; he can offer advice in case of dis- putes, lend judgment where a decision is needed, or serve as arbitrator where serious factional differences arise. Moreover, upon the playground as nowhere else, may the teacher find his opportunity to study each individual pupil, to learn his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, and in no place better than in games de- manding physical endurance and manual skill, can the lessons of honor, of equity, and of kindness be inculcated. Much more attention should be given physical training than it is receiving in the schools to-day; and not only THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 177 should it occupy more of the school time, but more serious consideration must be given to the kinds of work undertaken. (&) THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS Having dealt in a previous chapter with the theory and purpose of the industrial arts, it will only be necessary to suggest here some of the ways in which the various materials of the manual training room may be used throughout the elementary school. Clay Modeling, Tiles, Pottery It is not at all likely that the average teacher will over- emphasize the value of clay work. The clay, though easily handled, at the same time offers sufficient resistance to bring into use the more fundamental muscles. It makes for freedom of expression in a variety of ways; it lends itself to form appreciation (the three dimensions), and it develops an appreciation of lines of beauty and correct conceptions of space relations. The study of animal and plant forms, topography, history, customs, occupations, the development of art, ideas of building construction all are made more effective through the use of clay modeling and pottery. Many industries may be taken up in a simple way in connection with the work, thus bringing the pupils nearer to the life of the primitive peoples and leading to an appreciation of the advances that have been made. In clay work the process involved is mainly that of build- ing up and is thus constructive rather than destructive. Standards 12 178 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION In order to prepare clay properly for use in the class room, some sort of a trough or a tub is necessary. One can be made readily; a heavy packing box of convenient size and shape can be obtained; or a small fiber or gal- vanized iron tub may be purchased. If a wooden box is used, it should be zinc lined. The clay may be had dry from the potters' works or from a kindergarten supply house. Place the clay in a tub with about one-third its volume of water. After standing thus for several hours, it should be thoroughly mixed with the hands, squeezing out all lumps. If, when well mixed, it is found to be too dry to work easily, that is, if the surface cracks when being molded in the hands, add a little water, remix and mold into balls of convenient size. If too wet when mixed, a little new, dry clay may be added, and thor- oughly worked into the mass until it sticks but slightly to the hands. The great objection raised to the use of clay is that it must be handled again and again and is thus rendered uncleanly. Where practicable, it would be well to have the clay used once only, although there is scant proof that clay, properly treated, is injurious to the skin. Its greatest point of disadvantage has been the tendency to soil desk and books, and the difficulty hi keeping and preparing it for use. Basketry and Weaving Weaving and textile work is well adapted to the ele- mentary grades. The materials are large, and detail is not THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 179 demanded in simple forms. Opportunity is furnished for the construction of a crude loom, thus making possible not only the weaving of rugs or blankets, but the study of more complex machinery adapted to the same purpose. Because it is a material used, cotton fiber or wool should be studied and its development traced from the raw state through the various processes to the completed article. A splendid basis of comparison between old and new methods is furnished the pupil. Through the study of weaving, whether in dealing with a basket or a blanket, the child is enabled to reach back into the past, note the progress that has been made, and appreciate to some extent his position in the present. Rushes, flags, willows, coarse yarns, rags, raffia, reeds, splints, all are well suited for elementary work. Where they can be obtained, the sweet grasses used by the In- dians are very desirable. Through the making of useful forms the pupil's initiative is developed, and almost all phases of school work can be touched upon, and thus many industries and occupations become understandable. Children should be encouraged to collect such native material as may be found in the vicinity of the home or school, care being taken not to confine the processes too closely to the making of baskets, as many other articles of use may be produced. In this work is found a good basis for the teaching of design, as here the more fundamental principles may be learned and applied. Space breaking and filling; the meaning of balance, harmony and rhythm as applied to i8o STANDARDS IN EDUCATION line, form and tone; composition and space and form relations, all may be taken up and made clear. Paper and Cardboard These materials, in whatever form, are easily obtain- able and quite inexpensive. If properly handled there is very little waste. They, too, are easy of manipulation, although the work may be made such as to tax the physical abilities sufficiently. Paper and cardboard may be put to a variety of uses in the making of useful articles. Their character renders them clean and tidy, and hence applicable for use in any schoolroom or at home. They may be manipulated, also, in a greater or less degree, by any grade teacher. In the use of these materials graphic art has a strong place. Objects must be thought out, planned and de- signed, thus bringing in the constructional side of drawing as well as free sketching. Through the study of form, of ornamental design, a feeling for the artistic is developed. Color blending and harmony, so essential and attractive to young pupils, is largely assisted through the selection and arrangement of materials. In the first and second grades, the folding, cutting and pasting, should as formerly have a place, but to my mind a less important one. Weaving with paper need not be so prominent, since we have other and more natural media for this purpose. Folding of flat forms to produce geo- metrical shapes, square, oblong, etc.; cutting and pasting of designs; color blending; free cutting from manila or THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 181 detail papers, of forms such as animals, natural objects, fruits, and doll's clothing; cutting, folding and pasting to produce play- or doll-house furniture, chairs, table, cra- dle, bed; making of envelopes, valentines, boxes, tags and labels; these are some of the ways in which the work may be carried on in the lower grades. In the second year more difficult pieces of furniture may be constructed from heavy manila paper, and light- weight cover stock may in some cases be used to produce special individual projects for use at home or at school, wall-pockets, cornucopias, clock faces, note-paper covers, calendar backs, seed envelopes, weather charts and flags, wind gauges, etc. It will be seen, then, that the field offered in these grades is -mainly that of illustration or representation, such processes being given attention as will assist hi the social phases of the child's existence. The opportunities are greater and the limitations are less when dealing with third and fourth grades, than else- where in school, perhaps. Here we have an extended field for the making of typical objects of beauty and of use. The pupils can deal with the more substantial cover papers and the light-weight bristol boards or tag stocks, while the age and ability of the boys and girls here represented, would, for the most part, prohibit them from engaging in some of the more heroic hand-work processes. In these grades, also, the work may be illustrative when opportunity offers; house construction, parts of utensils, small apparatus and machines for nature study. In schools where a somewhat varied equipment is found, a i82 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION variety of work may be done, cutting, mounting and filing of pictures for class work, making trays for speci- mens, boxes for the pupil's belongings at home or at school, picture frames of various forms and decoration, napkin rings, calendar backs and supports, memorandum and program cards, portfolios for school exercises, en- velopes, note-box covers, handkerchief cases, etc. These are a few in the multiplicity of objects that offer them- selves and afford almost endless variety in design. Here there is a constant opportunity for the study of color blending in the selection of materials, for representation through drawings, for the conservation of material, and for appreciation of the artistic in form and proportion. In grades above the fourth, the work may be in ad- vance of that already spoken of. In addition, heavier cover and bristol stocks, and rice, straw and pulp boards of various weights can be introduced. The rice or straw boards are perhaps better suited to some work than is the pulp board, as they do not soil readily. These materials are quite substantial, many objects constructed from them serving their purpose as fully as though made from wood. Here again simple and cheap apparatus to be used in connection with the natural science work and mathematics can be designed and made. Useful and artistic objects, if presenting a dull and uninteresting surface, may be covered with lithograph, embossed or fancy paper, thus producing a finished effect. In the selection of these papers, which are of a variety of design, a considerable degree of taste is developed. Heavier and THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 183 more serviceable articles, some of them of the same nature as those made in previous grades, may be mentioned: picture and mirror frames; boxes with hinged covers and permanent fastenings for paper, envelopes, gloves, etc.; note- and text-book covers; bill, letter and picture files; scrapbooks and card cases; portfolios for drawings, writ- ten exercises and photographs. This work will lead to elementary book binding, which will not be touched upon here. Metal Work: Bent Iron, Metal Spinning, Copper and Brass Work The' metal processes should find a place hi the upper grades only. Bent ironwork offers large opportunities for design, although from an industrial or commercial standpoint it has little value. Candlesticks, picture frames, knife rests and lamp shades are suggestive of the use to which bent iron may be put. In dealing with the metal crafts, the way is open for the application of art principles. Boxes, caskets, cups, bowls, vases; the de- signing, shaping and making of locks, fastenings and hinges; articles made in combination with wood or leather: these processes may well find a place in the higher grades. Wood In a previous chapter (Purpose of the Industrial Arts), suggestions were made as to the woodwork processes applicable in the elementary school. Simple and useful articles may be made with few tools in the regular grade 184 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION room, the desk tops being provided with some sort of cover, such as is desirable for cardboard work. Cutting in thin wood and whittling with the knife may be carried on to some extent, while rough construction, such as the making of utensils, tools, furniture and illustrative ma- terial may have a place in the lower grades under the regular teacher. Bench work proper should not be given below the fifth grade. It is properly confined in most localities to the seventh and eighth grades. In general it may be said that the thoroughly qualified teacher will prepare a course of work, adapted as nearly as may be to the needs of his students. He will then make this course so elastic as to meet the requirements of the individual pupil, allowing full play for initiative and for the designing and construction of such articles as may be for the best interests of the individual. THESES 1. It is a fallacious doctrine that holds that the child should be expected to master or even taste of all branches of knowledge. 2. Much sentiment attaches to the education of time past; it had points of vantage over that of the present day, but would not at all fit present needs and conditions. 3. The basis for a rational course of study would seem to include (1) Physical Training. (2) Oral and Written Expression, Reading, Language and Literature. THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 185 (3) History. (4) The Industrial Arts. (5) Geography and Nature Study. (6) Music. (7) Numbers. 4. A strong body is one of the chief elements of a com- plete education, and all schools should give attention to physical training. 5. The problems of the equipped and of the unequipped school, and suggestions made on meeting and solving them. 6. Absolute necessity for careful supervision and ad- ministration of the work. 7. A comparison drawn between athletics for general purposes and the more restricted competitive or pro- fessional form. 8. Comparative data as to scholarship of students en- gaging in football, baseball, and field and track athletics. 9. Practical suggestions on the place of the Industrial Arts and the application of the various media, clay, textiles, weaving materials, paper and cardboard, metal, wood. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Apply the familiar phrase, "Good old days," to the schools of our grandfathers and determine its force and significance in this connection. 2. Trace the growth of the curriculum in the United States during the last fifty years. 186 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 3. Total up the advantages offered in school to the city bred boy and the country boy; the opportunities offered outside the school. 4. Study the curricula of ten typical school systems in cities of 25,000 to 100,000 population, taking each of the eight grades in turn, and determine the amount of time given each of the seven divisions of study as listed on page 163. Show: (1) Number of minutes per week devoted to each subject in each grade. (Same for each city chosen.) (2) Total number of minutes per week devoted hi all grades, to each separate subject. (3) Total number of minutes in all grades in ten cities combined, and arrange seven subjects in order of amount of time given. 5. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of hav- ing special teachers in physical training, manual training, music, drawing, domestic science, domestic art. The advantages and disadvantages of having this work done by the regular teachers. 6. Should the competitive idea as applied to school studies and activities have an increasing or a decreasing place as the child progresses in school ? Compare our own schools in this regard with those of England, Germany and France. 7. What is the relation between a closer supervision of school tasks on the part of the teacher and the elimination of personality on the part of the student ? THE CURRICULUM IN OPERATION 187 CONSULT BARRY The Hygiene of the School Room, chap. 14. CHAMBERLAIN, Course of Study in Geography. J. F. How We Are Clothed. How We Are Fed. How We Are Sheltered. How We Travel. CRAPSY Some Phases of the Curriculum of the Ele- mentary School. Proceedings N. E. A., 1905. PP- 374-38o. GORDY A Broader Elementary Education, pp. 212- 289. HALLECK Education of the Central Nervous System, chap. n. JACKMAN The Curriculum. Elementary School Teacher, vol. 5, pp. 597-665. KERN Industrial Training Most Practical and Best Suited to the Country Child. Proceed- ings, Department Superintendence, N. E. A., 1906, pp. 174-178. Among Country Schools. KEYES Industrial Training best Adapted to City Children. Proceedings, Department Su- perintendence, N. E. A., 1906, pp. 179- 183- KLEMM European Schools. Industrial Education in Rural Schools, Re- port of Committee, N. E. A., 1905. McMuRRY, Elements of General Method, chaps. 2 CHARLES & 4. 1 88 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION McMuRRY, FRANK PAYNE PARKER RICE ROUILLION ROWE STONEHEAD TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD THORNDIKE WILSON Omissions Advisable in the Present Course of Study and Basis for the Same. Proceedings, Dept. Superin- tendence, N. E. A., 1904, pp. 26-34. Public Elementary School Curricula. Talks on Pedagogics. American History in the Elemen- tary Schools. Elementary School Teacher, vol. 5, pp. 449-461. History in the University Elementary School. Elementary School Teacher, vol. 5, pp. 521-555. Economics of Manual Training. Physical Nature of the Child. Physical Training in Grammar Schools. Proceedings, N. E. A., 1905, pp. 768-772. Vol. i, no. 5. Vol. 7, no. i. Elementary School Curriculum, first year. The Study of Children. Teachers College Record, vol. 2, no. 3. Pedagogues and Parents, chaps. 4 & 10. CHAPTER VIII STUDY AND PREPARATION (a) AT HOME WHATEVER may be said upon the subject of home study, and of preparation of lessons out of school, will not find sympathy in the minds of all teachers; much less will all parents agree to the statements that follow. I am at the outset reminded that should I insist upon home work for the child, that is, preparation at home of his school work for the following day, I should be falling into line with the demands of most teachers, of practi- cally all courses of study, and, in fact, should voice the views of the majority of parents. If, on the other hand, I turn heretic to the extent of saying that children under a certain age or ability in school should have little or no preparation work outside the schoolroom, that they should be expected to prepare no book lessons or exercises at home, I stand in danger of being frowned upon by a vast number of my fellow teachers, and of being termed a theorist by both teacher and parent. While many of my readers will at once agree with the general proposition herein made, some will either forget it to-morrow, or say that while the principle is sound, nothing can be done at the present to modify or change the course of events. 189 igo STANDARDS IN EDUCATION A moment's consideration will show that the situation is a serious one. It has been forced upon us stud ^las 6 ky slow degrees ; and few there are outside seemed the school fully awake to the conditions as Necessary . _, , ... . , . they exist. The child in the elementary school must prepare just so many pages of history, so many problems in number work, and so many chap- ters in his language book before the third day of February at four o'clock P. M. He must accomplish this or he will not pass. He must accomplish it or he will not be ready to take his mid-year examina- tions. He must accomplish it or he will not be pro- moted to the fifth grade in June. He must accomplish it ; and here the argument ceases, because the course of study so dictates. If the teacher does not bring the pupil to the point suggested in the course of study, she is a poor teacher, and would, perhaps, better look for another position. Each grade makes strenuous de- mands upon the one next below it ; the high school is imposing a straight jacket upon the eighth school year ; high school boys and girls are having their work planned for them too largely upon the basis of de- mands from above. This, then, is the condition: infants of seven, eight and nine years of age are trudging along the streets, their arms filled with books of sufficient weight to destroy their equilibrium ; and this seems necessary because there are not sufficient hours in the school day in which properly to prepare and recite all the lessons the pupils are ex- STUDY AND PREPARATION 191 pected to learn. This existing condition is not merely an evil ; it is a crime. Pupils in the first four years of school should have little or no outside school work to perform, little preparation of lessons found in books, or les- Burdening sons that require close application in memo- P^JSf rizing and writing. It should be unnecessary to suggest that the child of six to nine years of age needs to be much in the open air ; needs to have abundant freedom and exercise ; needs to have room for his body to grow or his mind will be cramped. The sev- eral hours that the child spends at school, are, if prop- erly spent, sufficient for mental work. Many children, below the age I have indicated, carry home a long list of words, that they may be able to spell them correctly next day ; they must write a certain number of sentences containing various classes of words for the language lesson ; they must bring to school the home work in number : several pages of problems neatly written, and each step of the analysis in its exact order ; they must learn by heart the definitions of cape, bay and isthmus, and be able to recite the lesson in geography. Hour after hour is spent at this home work, the results, many times, being no better than could be secured at school under proper conditions in a comparatively short time. Not knowing how to study and being unfit for study, time and temper are lost, and the child made miserable. Only in rare instances is the work prepared at home 192 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION given any direction. Only memory processes are in- volved. There is no background of thought, Direction t ^ ie ^sw 61 " being the end in view; and Given study aside from this there is no seeming neces- sity to accomplish the task. The pupil does it because he must. The cause of this unnatural condition, how the pres- sure has been brought to bear upon the Placing of child's mind to make of it, before maturity theKespon- is reached, an adult m mental gymnastics and memory training need not be further discussed. The situation confronts us. The teachers of to-day are not entirely responsible ; neither school people nor parents can be wholly blamed ; we should, so far as possible, however, attempt to set right the wrong condi- tion. So long as the teacher of the primary school has to deal with more than thirty, forty, or even sixty pupils, we cannot expect the proper amount of time to be de- voted to each pupil while in school. It is considerable if they have been amused, much less taught. The child does not know how to study, and with the small share of attention he gets in school, it is unlikely that he will ever learn. This crowded condition means too much work with the mass and not enough with individuals ; and at once improper and dangerous habits are con- tracted. Instead of entering heartily into the work, a listless form of attention is engendered ; and an hour is required to accomplish what should be done in one-third the time. At home, too often, the parent makes no ob- STUDY AND PREPARATION 193 jection if the pupil worries and frets over the figures and words, facts and definitions, provided he keeps away from, and does not trouble, his elders. And it is so much easier to answer the child's questions directly than it is to lead him to an understanding of the work in hand. But aside from the lessons of the book there are many things, largely along motor lines, that may be profitably done at home by the pupils of the first school years. Drawing and con- struction, representation and the making of things, il- lustrating and making clear the book lessons, in fact all work of an art or a manual nature may well occupy the time out of school. Instead of engaging in work or play of an aimless character, the pupil will, if the proper in- centives are provided, derive much benefit from his out- of-school handiwork. Much of the manual work could be planned at school and carried on at home, for in this age of advanced method and modern practice in education, many parents would find it easier to assist in constructive work than in the arithmetic or language exercises. If a little en- couragement is offered, the life interests of the child would show themselves. There would be little need of curfew laws and police regulations of youthful misde- meanors, if at home and at school ample facilities were provided for industrial training. It is a commonplace that the reform school is leading the way in educational theory and practice through the work it offers in indus- trial lines. Standards 13 194 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION Here is a matter in which the parents may assist. The school should begin, and the parents insist upon, the introduction of manual training throughout the school. The school people stand ready to do what the taxpayers demand and if, as home work, the pupils have their reg- ular tasks to perform along the lines of design, construc- tion and decoration, the home may greatly aid the school. (&) AT SCHOOL What has been said of the evils resulting from prepa- ration of lessons at home by young pupils, has been said not as a plea for idleness either at home or at school. Much more time should be devoted, while at school, to actual study and preparation of lessons than is now given, but it should be under the direction of the teacher. Too often the pupil comes to his recitation with only a vague idea of the lesson or subject. More will be said in another chapter upon the manner of study ; but it is at school, where the pupil Derived** 68 nas tne advantage of the teacher's assistance fromDi- and counsel, that he can best prepare his reeled Study . work. With the least loss of time he can be directed to the main features in a given lesson, or be led to select the topics demanding most earnest considera- tion ; he has access to books and materials other than his text from which he may derive assistance and informa- tion ; he is inspired by the enthusiasm of numbers doing the same or similar tasks as those upon which he is him- STUDY AND PREPARATION 195 self engaged ; he can have the watchful eye of the teacher upon him, to call him to his work if necessary and to guard him against this or that circumstance which may offer a side attraction. If puzzled or perplexed, the teacher may by a word or question set the pupil's feet in the right path, or perhaps, through his knowledge of the child, and his skill as a teacher, he may do him the great- est possible service by throwing him entirely upon his own resources. Then, too, realizing clearly the difficulties in the various lessons, and knowing the pupil's capacity in the several lines of work, he is enabled to suggest the proportionate length of time that should be put upon a topic. If the lesson is not prepared, he must know the reason therefor and suggest remedies. That the home people frequently are unable to give the pupil the assistance he needs in his work Difficulty^ 16 f preparation, is accounted for, in part, by the fact that the methods of to-day differ materially from those of the school days of our fathers, and that our text-books present their subject-matter in entirely new ways. When assistance is asked in the so- lution of a problem, the parent is told : " That is not the way the teacher wants us to do it," and the former has to admit that the new form of analysis or construction is beyond him. As the parent's way is frequently that of life, while the method of the book is the method of the lesson only, sad it is, indeed, that the former is not more frequently substituted for the latter. But after all, when considering the pupils of the first 196 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION four years, the study-recitation is about all that should be expected of them. They should have the assistance of the teacher during the study time as they do in their recitations, and should be largely free from books when out of school. THESES 1. Teachers and parents generally believe in study and preparation of lessons out of school by pupils of the first school years. 2. Such outside preparation seems a necessity be- cause of the ground to be covered in the elementary school ; classes are large and courses of study must be upheld. 3. Children, immature in years and development, are in danger of being overcrowded ; they should have much freedom when out of school. 4. Home work is unsatisfactory because : (a) The child does not know how to study ; (b) Parents are able to give but little direction. 5. Neither teacher nor parent can be held entirely re- sponsible for existing conditions. 6. Industrial or constructive work may profitably have a place at home, being planned at the school. 7. The school offers the best advantages for the prepa- ration of book lessons because : (a) Books and apparatus are at hand ; (b) The pupil has the advantage of the teacher's knowledge and suggestion. STUDY AND PREPARATION 197 TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Is too much or too little direction usually given the pupil in his study periods ? Is the teacher or the parent inclined to offer the more assistance to the pupils ? 2. Suggest the lines of work that can be carried on as profitably at home as at school. Compare the length of time given to actual preparation at school in the various grades with that given at home. 3. Do pupils of the first four years in school over study ? Do they choose to prepare lessons at home ? 4. Consider the feasibility of allowing the pupils to as- sist one another in their study at school. What are the dangers and advantages on each side ? 5. Suggest a plan for home work in those lines that tax mainly the physical side of the pupil. 6. Consider the plan of the older children's giving as- sistance to the younger children hi home preparation. Would, then, the graded school or the unclassified coun- try school be best adapted to this end ? CONSULT BAGLEY The Educative Process, chaps. 19-22. BRYAN The Basis of Practical Teaching, chap. 14. DEWEY The School and Society. Elementary School Curriculum in Teachers College Record, vol. 7, pp. 1-12. GORDY A Broader Elementary Education, chaps. 15 & 16. HINSDALE The Art of Study, chaps. 6-n. 198 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION MOORE Science of Study. O'SHEA Dynamic Factors in Education, chap. 18. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics. THORNDIKE Notes on Child Study, chaps. 15, 17, 19 & 20. WILSON Pedagogues and Parents, chaps. 13 & 14. CHAPTER IX THE RECITATION PROCESS (a) SELECTION OF MATERIAL As already stated, there can be no method without subject-matter. Method must presuppose a knowledge of subject-matter. The studies must be selected and the curriculum arranged before method can be ap- seiection of plied to the teaching of the various branches. Material the First step In the recitation process, the selection of the material follows immediately the decision as to the subject or branch of instruction to be pursued. Subjects are so varied and their number so extensive that the selection of study material must be largely a matter of elimination. Much that the selective m itself is valuable must be pushed aside to Process . make place for things of greater importance. The question of relative values must here receive grave consideration. Local conditions will determine largely the selection of the study material. The surroundings of the school and the home will play no small part. The conditions pertaining to the down town portions of a crowded city differ widely from those of the town or village; and the isolated country district presents a series of problems 199 200 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION similar to neither. In each instance the study material must be chosen with locality as a determining factor. The nationality of pupils, the financial condition of par- ents, the moral and ethical life of the homes, these are elements of prime importance. In no small degree will the selection of material, especially in its details, be determined by the industry or craft pertaining among the patrons, whether that of manufacture, shipping, farming, milling, lumbering, mining; the curriculum in a community en- gaged in commercial lines must surely vary from that in a community where literary pursuits prevail. These and scores of other problems must be met and weighed by the individual teacher. In certain city or country districts, boys particularly, leave school at an early age. In localities wnere this condition is apparent, extraordi- both inter- nai y care must be exercised in the planning eutingand * . serviceable of the curnculum, not alone to present the interesting, that the pupil may be held for the longest possible time, but that those who must leave early may have the advantage of the most serviceable course of study that it is possible to arrange for that class of stu- dents. All of this assumes that the individual teacher is- bound down by no course of study planned for all alike. In lower classes, and when dealing with certain school subjects, it may be wise to follow no text- Book a Guide book, but teachers in general will find it ad- vantageous t& have such a guide. This will tend to do away with the danger of flying wide of the mark. THE RECITATION PROCESS 201 The text-book, in whatever subject the choice is to be made, should be the very best that can be secured. No influence should be allowed to enter into the Text-Books' selection, save merit alone. No book con- Based upon cern, no county or city board, no "influential upon Graft member," no author friend should count in this matter, only as such influence stands for the best. The public schools are administered by public servants and supported by public funds; and no teacher or text-book, no equipment, no school comfort or conven- ience is too good for those who seek an education in our institutions of learning. But you who are working under a city or county course of study may say that here the argument closes. The course of study is blocked out. You must teach what the outline dictates and from the books furnished or required. It is possible some teachers are less compe- Teache'r will tent to select the study material than are the be allowed board members by whom they are engaged. Latitude if J . Results If so, such teachers should be required to seek occupation in other fields. Incompe- tency among board members is not a license for inability on the part of teachers; and those who have most to do with the schools know most about their make-up. Teach- ers who are competent to study conditions so as to know what is best for a given student or class should be allowed not only to suggest, but to choose with large freedom as well. They should then be held responsible for results. The teacher who is working under an unwieldy system 202 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION where much machinery is necessary must recognize a central authority. He must "follow copy." In the lower grades, however, if tact and judgment are used, the best books may be secured, even though they are not listed in the course of study or included in the State Series. Such a teacher will usually be permitted to perform his work in his own way. No violence will be done to rules or regu- lations, and the teacher's chances for reelection will not be endangered. One thing he must do, and to good purpose. He must accomplish results. But the securing of a good text is not all. The proper material as contained in the book must be selected. The best material for a given lesson may not always be found upon the page following yesterday's recitation. It may be elsewhere in the text-book or it may be in several places. It will do no harm to draw upon a lesson already covered or to levy upon a chapter in advance, if there be found the material needed and providing that the work is understood. The text-book should be used as a guide only. It is the compass to point the way and to keep m hi s course - Any available au- auide thority whatsoever may be used, all sources Merely contnbuting. Nor is the lesson material to be selected from books alone. In most subjects abundant material offers itself for use. This may be selected from maps, charts, newspapers and magazines; from natural objects, business interests, play and work; from the vo- cations, interests and achievements of men and of the THE RECITATION PROCESS 203 students themselves; from incidents of street life, the asso- ciation of student with student; from con- versation and observation; from excursions to woods and fields and streams; from visits to museums, quarries, mills, manufacturing plants, buildings in course of construction and produce markets; from in- vestigation of shipping by land and sea; and from the planting, tending and harvesting of crops; in fact every interest and every activity of life will furnish study mate- rial for one or another recitation. (6) DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN Each lesson or series of lessons should be carefully planned and worked out before being pre- sented to the class. Having taught a given Planned by subject for a period of years should not be an the Teacher excuse for the nonpreparation of each day s lesson. Just as each pupil in a class demands a treatment differing from that extended to each other member, so each class should be studied, and each lesson to be pre- sented prepared beforehand. In planning lessons various methods are employed. Some teachers find it convenient and beneficial to arrange each lesson or topic upon paper or in a notebook, fol- lowing much the same order as that used in some normal schools. For instance, they would determine, First, the aim, purpose or object of the lesson, what it is purposed to bring out and the results it is hoped to reach; Second, the material to be 204 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION used, whether found in text-book or in other illustrative matter, giving sources of information; Third, the method of the lesson or manner of procedure, showing how the various steps are to be taken and why. Those who do not use the written scheme should for- mulate their plan in some other way. No teacher should attempt to present a topic to a class without having first decided why he selects this rather than some other lesson, why he is to present it in one rather than in another form, or whether he is using the most desirable media and illus- trative material there is at hand. This does not mean that the teacher is to proceed in the class step by step as he has worked out the Circum- . , , . . stances may lesson in preparation. Indeed, the exact Kratine'of conditions he hopes for or expects may not theEecita- be present. Outward circumstances, the mental or physical attitude of the pupils, or other conditions may vary. Some unthought-of direction may be given the trend of lesson or discussion by an un- expected query or an answer unlocked for. All such circumstances only make it the more imperative that the teacher be fully prepared, the better to cope with any or all emergencies. With a thorough preparation he is the more likely to be able to answer any question that may arise, or to keep the class or individual from drifting, or himself from being thrown off the main track of the lesson. If lessons are planned ahead, the teacher has opportunity to build up, to change, or to modify the plan. He should THE RECITATION PROCESS 205 reduce the matter to its lowest terms, cutting away any unnecessary underbrush, yet at the same time relieving the pupil of nothing that will assist his growth. By de- veloping the plan of a lesson, the teacher minimizes the danger of haphazard work and of being taken unawares and thus compelled to acknowledge himself unprepared. He is the more able to proceed in a logical manner, hav- ing in mind what has gone before, and looking forward to what is to come. (c) ASSIGNMENT OF LESSON With a well thought-out and analyzed plan of pro- cedure the teacher may readily and with Assignment some degree of understanding make an assignment for the following day. The statement, "take the next ten pages," or "to the middle of the next chapter," or "the next lesson" will do oc- casionally, but good pedagogy demands that it be carried not too far. Lessons are frequently disconnected, and irrelevant one to another or to any other interest of the school or home. The topical assignment will usually bring the test results. If the pages of the text-book contain all the information to which it is de- sired the pupils have access, well and good. When the lessons are grouped topically, assignments may be made both for individual and class work; and the pupil may be referred to outside sources, or required to discover for himself material bearing upon the topic in hand. 206 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION An assignment should be definite. Care must be ex- ercised to the end that every pupil understands clearly what is expected of him in preparing for his recitation. It is ofttimes best to assign work at the be- vaiue of ginning of a lesson. If this task be left until Definite Assignments the close of the recitation, the assignment is sometimes hurried and unsatisfactory, the ground to be covered being only partially made clear. If the hoped-for ground be not covered in the recitation, a different assignment from the one planned may be necessary. Even in the lower grades it is sometimes best to assign special topics or various phases of a given topic to in- dividual pupils, making each responsible for the lesson in general, and at the same time seeking to awaken an in- terest through individual responsibility. By varying the common plan the pupils themselves may be asked how much they can cover in a given lesson. Some pupils, particularly anxious to please the His own teacher, will suggest an overlong lesson. Ability Others may either underestimate their own capacity or suggest a short lesson as a means of gaining more time for something else. By noting carefully the desires of each pupil the teacher may the better study their characteristics. While the assignments must be definite, it is not always wise to give every reference or designate every source of prospective information. Something should be left to the ingenuity of the pupil. Encourage the habit of THE RECITATION PROCESS 207 bringing in information gained from outside sources. Great care must be exercised lest work either too easy or too difficult be assigned; Bobbed of then once having requested a pupil to per- form a task only the best of reasons should be accepted for noncompliance. (d) HOW TO STUDY The next step after the lesson or topic has been assigned is its preparation by the class members. Children do not know how to study. They read their lessons and give time to them, but seldom study them. One of the first requisites after becoming interested is the ability to concentrate. The mind adrift The value of canno t study; it can only dream. Unless Concentra- J ' J tion the mind can be riveted upon the desired problem hi such a way as to shut out every- thing of a foreign nature, the lesson in hand cannot really be studied. Until the pupil is able to do this he would best not attempt to prepare his school work in a room where conversation and social intercourse are being carried on. The pupil may at times with profit, read the lesson through from the beginning, whether it be a problem in arithmetic, a statement in history, or a paragraph in lit- erature. By miscalling a word or a figure, the whole meaning or sense of a statement or question may be lost. A few moments of close application, of uninterrupted study will accomplish more than several hours of sporadic, 2o8 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION intermittent, or mind-wandering attempts. If the pupil has a study hour at school, the teacher will be able to note the points at which he needs assistance and offer suggestions accordingly. Encourage the pupil to ask himself what he is about to do, as in a geometry lesson he is taught to determine and state at the outset what he has given and what he is to prove. If the pupil has acquired the proper habits of study, he will not inform the teacher so frequently Clear State- n J mentaBe- that he is "all mixed up." Proper habits of Proper 1 study lead to clear thought and exact ex- Modes of pression, and thus to rational action. Fre- Study . quently on attempting to answer a question, a student will be unable to state the question to which he seeks answer. He has not learned to think nor has he formed habits of study. As has been suggested, material other than that found in the text-book may be of value to the pupil. An illus- tration is in point. A grammar grade class hi United States history had been studying the causes of the Revolu- tionary War, and had prepared papers to be read in class. One of the girls in the class, through discussion at home, had learned something of one of the Individual- . i , i it more remote causes not mentioned in the Dwarfed; text. When she presented this in her paper An Illustra- tion she was reprimanded by the teacher. It de- veloped subsequently in conversation with the teacher that she did not desire information other than that of the text, lest the pupils gain ideas faulty or er- THE RECITATION PROCESS 209 roncous. This teacher, instead of stimulating in the child the spirit of individual initiative, was closing one of the avenues of greatest culture. Some place interest as the only key to right habits of study. Some insist that the kindergarten offers a sug- gestion as to methods desirable in the upper schools. Many grade teachers complain of the pupils who come to them from the kindergarten, and insist that the play at- titude has been so strong hi early training, that serious habits of study are difficult to form. In a recent number of the North American Review,* Professor Barrett Wen- dell of Harvard says that nothing has done more to break down serious habits among the young than the use of kindergarten methods beyond the kinder- la the Kin- * dergarten garten age. In other words, that the dressing U P f ever y duty hi the costume of play de- Habits of prives the boy or girl of that training which alone comes from the performance of duty at whatever cost. Professor Wendell pleads for the cul- tivation of the conscience and the will hi a child as in a man, and insists that the greatest injury we can do a de- veloping soul is to teach it that all duty should be sugar- coated. There comes a time when the wise teacher lays aside the ribbons and tells the boy to put on his overalls. Whatever view may be taken regarding this matter, there can be no question that proper habits of study go far toward producing a desirable intellectual and moral atmosphere. *Vol. 179, p. 396 (Sept., 1904). Standards 14 210 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION (e) HEARING THE RECITATION VS. TEACHING The final stage in the recitation process, so far as teacher or school is concerned, is that generally spoken of as the recitation. This is the time when teacher and pupils are actually together. The custom is common of devoting this period to hearing the lesson. Questions are asked, for the most part by the teacher, the answers TheQues- coming from the class. These questions, in tion and An- swer Method exact phraseology or in substance, are taken, many times, from the book, in the order hi which they occur. Thus the lesson takes the form of a quiz. Too little information is imparted by the teacher. Simply to hear pupils recite is not teaching. Teaching is more than hearing a recitation. The teacher who hears the recitation is keeping school. Caution must be used that the pupil is not weakened by having his work done for him. Out of his larger store of knowl- iSt T con her ec *& e ' h wever > an d tne preparation he has tribute made, the teacher should be enabled to add greatly to the child's fund of information, information the child cannot acquire from books or at home. Too much talking is a dangerous thing. If the teacher talks much the class will, more and more, lose interest and will hesitate to give expression to their ideas. This may finally lead to lack of preparation. The incident is related of the boy, who, on returning from school, was asked by his father what he had learned that day. THE RECITA TION PROCESS 2 1 1 "Nothing," replied the boy; "the teacher talked all the time." What may be called the study-recitation, is, if properly conducted, of great value. Instead of assigning a lesson to be prepared, the lesson is first taken up in class for analysis. The teacher goes over the work, Solution suggesting methods of approach, and ques- tioning the pupils on the problems to be met and conquered. At the same time care is exercised that the difficulties the pupil should meet and overcome are not laid out before him. By suggesting additional sources of information bearing upon the lesson, and by adding to the interest in such manner as the teacher's own knowl- edge makes possible and his mind prompts, the class may be stimulated to effort and may begin their task, not groping blindly, but with understanding of how and what to study. This study-recitation or study-preparation lesson is then a forerunner of a development lesson. Not only is the pupil's knowledge of facts tested, but he is helped to in- formation at once useful and educational. The art of questioning is extremely valuable in the recitation. Quick, well-directed questions, relative to the matter in hand stimulate interest. Judgment must determine whether a question, unanswered Questioning ^y Qne pupj^ j s to j^ passed on to another. Sometimes this method brings best results. Again, when a student fails to answer satisfactorily, he may be asked another question on a different phase of 212 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION the lesson, or the original question modified, the better to be comprehended. Many teachers make the mistake of repeating an answer given. For example, the teacher says, "Charles, what is the case?" "Nominative case," says Charles, to which the teacher replies, "Yes, nominative case." This mode of repeating an answer has the effect some- Danger in times of impressing the point upon the pupil's of^swers mind. With the habit established by the teacher so that the pupil expects his answer to be repeated, the effectiveness is lost. Time also is con- sumed with no corresponding benefit resulting. The class members, knowing that the question may be answered twice, give attention to neither answer. It is generally best to ask the question before calling upon any particular pupil by name, thus throwing equal responsibility for the answer upon all members of the class. One of the gravest and most common dangers of the recitation is that of being led astray by a query or dis- cussion not germane to the lesson. The pupil who is un- prepared may assume deep interest and ask a question entirely foreign to the subject comes the under discussion, in order to draw the Teacher , teacher away from the recitation. Irrelevant questions may, of course, be asked in all fairness at any time. The teacher must guard against making the lesson so broad as to include any question asked. It is, as a rule, better to hold the discussion within fairly well-defined limits. While rapid questions and answers bring good results, THE RECITATION PROCESS 213 it is not always best to pass the question along if the reply is not forthcoming at once. Permit the pupil to think it out. Too great hurry may rob him of the very training he needs. Leaving a pupil hi doubt as to the correctness of an answer will ofttimes stimulate thought. Ask the same question of several, receiving the answers without com- ment. This allows for freedom and variety hi expression and a fuller consideration of the topic than might other- wise be possible. It will also tend to make a student sure of his position and to hold it against argument. If the teacher has thoroughly and conscientiously pre- pared for his lesson, he need not then worry about fol- lowing a cut-and-dried line of action. In his Talks to Teachers,* Professor James says, "The advice I would give to most teachers would be hi the words of one who is herself an admirable teacher 'Prepare yourself in the subject so well that it will be always on tap; then in the class room trust your spontaneity and fling away all further care.' " Encouragement of a dull or poorly prepared student is sometimes essential. Sarcasm should seldom be resorted to; and spite and irritation have absolutely Encourage- no pl ace j n the school. A pupil should rarely ment aa Necessary be humiliated or threatened. Just as en- Briticism 86 couragement and a "well done" bring good results, so does sharp and just criticism have its place. Fairness is the one thing that must be looked * Page 222. 214 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION to. No favoritism should ever be shown. The teacher, be he ever so strict, will be admired if he has a reputa- tion for square dealing. Many pupils are sensitive to a fault; and with them harshness or nagging is very injurious. It is human nature even for adults to want praise and favorable com- ment when some task has been done creditably. Teachers are too apt to forget that the sympathetic nature of the child demands recognition on the part of those whom it seeks to emulate. When it is deserved, the teacher should not withhold the favorable criticism even though it be given merely in a look or word. As little as possible should the teacher use the book in class, or ask questions in a direct order as given in the text. Neither should the pupils be questioned hi any regular order. In some classes where this method is pursued, each pupil picks out the question he knows will come to him, prepares on that and ignores the remainder of the lesson. If a question is asked of the one least ex- pecting it, all will soon learn to attend. Practise the method of calling upon a class member to ask a question that will clear up a vague point, and you will be surprised at the good work that may be done. While individuality is to be desired, mutual helpfulness and team work are of great value. Avoid a set attitude or position before the class, just as you avoid using the same phrases time after time, or of employing only one mode of questioning. Do not feel that there is any reason why you should always sit or THE RECITATION PROCESS 215 always stand in class. Be alert in movement, ready in action, but calm and forceful withal. The test or examination has its place, but must not be abused. A recapitulation may often prove best at the beginning of a recitation. It is a question with many whether a pupil who fails continually in his daily recita- tions but who comes through on a final examination should be credited with an adequate knowledge of the subject. By "cramming" for a short time before an ex- amination, a pupil may be able to pass creditably, but the knowledge he has gained will likely leave him as readily as it was acquired. On the other hand, the student whose class work has been beyond reproach for a period of weeks or months, may fail in an examination. The excitement of the moment renders the student incompe- tent; and a grave injustice may be done him if he is kept back or required to go over the same ground again. Here, as elsewhere, the mental dimensions of the stu- dent must be taken, and each case decided on its own merits. Too much stress must not be placed upon examinations, but both oral and written tests, not at stated times nec- essarily, but when least expected, will tend to stimulate interest and increase standards of efficiency. THESES i. Great care must be exercised in planning the cur- riculum, that it may not only be interesting, but that it 216 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION may make the pupils more efficient and their life work more effective. 2. The best books should be used as texts, and these only as suggestive. All available sources of informa- tion should be drawn upon, thus widening the pupil's vision. 3. It is essential that the teacher plan each lesson he is to present. 4. In assigning lesson or topic to class members, the method should be varied. Assignment must be definite and clear, but not such as to rob the pupil of effort. 5. Pupils should be taught how to study. Concentra- tion of mind and effort is essential. 6. In the recitation the teacher must himself contribute. The art of questioning must be developed, and stereo- typed methods avoided. 7. Favorable as well as adverse criticism has a place. 8. Tests and examinations have great value, but they must be used with discrimination. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Give the arguments for and against a teacher of a given grade selecting the study material for such grade. 2. Suppose the curriculum of a country school to be made up of such study material as bears a close relation to city conditions. What are the benefits from such a plan? 3. Is the average age of pupils in the eighth school year greater in the city or in the country? Is the tendency THE RECITATION PROCESS 217 greater in rural or urban communities for boys to leave school before the eighth grade? 4. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of a "State Series" of text-books. 5. Consider the relative merits for class use of the present texts hi history and geography, and such books as are classed as supplementary readers treating of travel, manners and customs, etc. 6. Should books and other school equipment be fur- nished the pupil, the same to remain school property, or should the pupil purchase them ? 7. Suggest how pupils may be interested in gathering material outside the regular text used. What are the best methods of securing and using materials for museums, collections, scrapbooks, filing cases, etc.? 8. Secure information from your fellow students or your teacher as to the value of note taking and the use of notebooks. Should the pupil take notes hi permanent form, or with the idea hi mind of transcribing them later? 9. Ask a class of grade pupils how they prepare a lesson. Suppose that you have charge of a class during study hour or that you take them to the library: how will you assist them in their preparation ? 10. How does the kindergarten assist hi or detract from the work of the next grades above? 11. Where is there least danger: in over-encouragement, or in adverse criticism of pupils? 12. Discuss fully the value of, and danger in, exami- nations, tests, reports, marks, prizes, medals, etc. 2l8 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION CONSULT BAGLEY The Educative Process, chaps. 16-22. BRUMBAUGH The Making of a Teacher, chap. 20. BRYAN The Basis of Practical Teaching, chap. 10. DEWEY School and Society, chap. 3. GIFFIN School Days of the Fifties, chaps. 3, 5, 9 & n. GREENWOOD Successful Teaching, pp. 75-81; 97-106. HINSDALE The Art of Study, pp. 7-89. McMuRRY Suggestions for the Improvement of the Study Period. Proceedings, Department Superin- tendence, N. E. A., 1906, pp. 78-84. PAGE Theory and Practice of Teaching, chaps. 8 & 9. PUTNAM Manual of Pedagogy, chap. 9. SEELEY The Foundations of Education, chap. 18. THORNDIKE Principles of Teaching, pp. 257-264. WHITE School Management, pp. 21-30; 130-166. CHAPTER X TRAINING, PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND RECOMPENSE OF THE TEACHER A. INITIAL PREPARATION (a) Knowledge of Subject-Matter IF the normal or training school that prepares for gen- eral teaching is on a high-schcol basis, that is, if it ad- mits only those who have had the equivalent of a sec- ondary education, then its students should possess a knowledge of subject-matter sufficient to Grammar warrant their teaching without a technical School Be- study of subjects in the normal school. In quirement for Normal other words, the years spent in training should be applied professionally-wise. If, on the other hand, the normal school ad- mits from the eighth school year or takes those with less than an academic education, subject-matter, as such, must be pursued along with the professional work. In any event, as suggested in a former chap- subject- ter,* a knowledge of subject-matter is ab- Matter vs. Method solutely essential to a teacher and should precede the work hi method. No one can be expected to teach that which he does not himself * See page 28. 219 220 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION know, and he should be expected to know much more than he is required to teach. This is a point upon which too much emphasis cannot be laid. (b) The Value of Psychology Psychology is the interpretation of human nature. There is nothing strange or wonderful about it. We talk of physiological psychology, or of descriptive psy- chology, or of empirical or experimental or Psychology, faculty psychology ; but we mean only human the Interpre- J r J OJ tationof nature. Some years ago a mother said of Nature ^ er daughter, who, at the year's beginning, was being classified for psychology, " I sup- pose she is to take up the study of the soul." We study human nature and the laws governing human nature, that we may develop common sense, the rarest of all senses. But our study of psychology usually is involved. It is bound up with philosophy, and pedagogy, and metaphysics the study of and method ; and so intricate is it, and so Psychology mixed and confused the terminology, that in most cases not only are the students bewildered, but the teachers themselves, when they pause to analyze their work, find that they are all but as confused as the students. Psychology is studied in the normal school and by students in training generally, but possessing a knowl- edge of the principles of the science will not produce a teacher. THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 221 Only when the facts or laws of psychology are applied in pedagogy, pedagogy being applied psy- Law vs. AP- chology, only then is the latter of direct plication of Law value to the teacher. But the laws cannot be applied rationally or understandingly until they are grasped and comprehended. As Dr. Emerson E. White says, " The method of teaching a human mind knowledge involves the process by which the mind acquires such knowledge, and for this we must go to psychology." * In beginning his work as a teacher of normal students, the author chose for a text in one of his classes a volume he had read and thought he had studied, a volume enti- tled an Introduction to the subject. When the year was half-spent, he began to realize that the large Text'Books number of students possessed only vague, indefinite ideas of the subject in hand. A few weeks later he awoke to the fact that the bool: was to him a blank ; and at the close of the year he was driven to the conclusion that the psychologist had mis- taken his calling. Instead of an Introduction to psychol- ogy, the book endeavored to cover the most obscure fields of mentality ; its writer had floundered beyond his depth and ours, had used terms understood neither by himself nor by us, to the end that he had succeeded admirably in beclouding our minds as well as his own. It is then this vagueness, this obscure phraseology used by too many of our writers on psychology, that * The Art of Teaching, p. 10. 222 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION renders the subject dense. This is one reason for the feeling on the part of many who study psy- chology, and this feeling is shared by many causes Dis- teachers who, without a professional train- taste for the , , , , r i , i subject ln g have been reasonably successful in their work, that psychology is pure theory and cannot be applied, that the only way to learn to teach is to teach. Experience, they say, is not merely the best, it is the only teacher, and the teacher moreover is born, not made. The fallacy of this view when carried to the ultimate is apparent. It is controverted by the presence of the thousands who are in our normal schools. It is not nec- essary for us in this day to go back to the beginning and to work our way through experience. Experience on our parts is undoubtedly the best teacher, but Experience** tne experiences of others are of great value for us also. Again, it is said that psychol- ogy cannot tell us exactly what to do, or what method to employ ; that, depending upon circumstances, one may use this method or that ; any one of several may apply with equal force. There is a measure of truth in this statement, but education comes through the process of elimination as well as that of accretion. Psychology, when applied, teaches us many times what not to do, and if unable in a given instance to suggest what method, or scheme or plan should be operative, it may point with certainty to that which should not be done. The contention is sometimes advanced that he who THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 223 would be a teacher needs no training in practice or in pedagogic lines, because, having the experience of many teachers as a guide, he can readily say what should be imitated and what avoided. " It would be as reasonable to assert," says Oscar Browning, " that an invalid who has passed through the hands of many physicians would make an excellent doctor." If the study of psychology and normal school work is to be effective and to throw light upon educational problems, theory and practice must go together. (c) Attitude of the Prospective Teacher Most of those who enter the normal school or pro- fessional course come fresh from secondary or other in- stitutions of learning that they may prepare for teach- ing. What has inspired them to look in this direction ? What has inspired you ? A brother or sister or parent or friend has taught, or is teaching, and why not you ; you must earn a livelihood to support either yourself or family members ; you think you love children, or enjoy instructing, or glory in power, or believe you Reasons for h ave ability as a disciplinarian, or consider Entering the * Profession the work easy or clean or dignified or above reproach, or the hours short ; you desire to tide over the period between graduation and matrimony ; you are making it a stepping-stone to the occupation or profession you expect to follow through life ; you see in teaching opportunity to accomplish great good and to be of service to mankind ; you come for one or more or all 224 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION or none of these reasons, but if asked why you are in the training school or are teaching to-day, you might be un- able to return a satisfactory reply. The student who enters the normal school comes from an academic atmosphere an atmosphere of stud Y> of P la y> of companionship. But how nigh school different the atmosphere of the high school is Academic .. , r ..... _ from that of the professional institution. In the former there was work to be done, so many prob- lems in algebra, so many pages in history, a certain set of experiments in physics or chemistry. In a general sense the student knows when he has accomplished his task. Many times he works for the answer and if the answer be wrong, either the book or the teacher so in- forms him. In the high school the student has duties and obligations to be sure, but the processes are aca- demic. In the normal school there are two, three or four years of work before him, and still further in the future lies actual participation in his chosen profession. That it is difficult to dissociate these academic standards from the professional attitude it is necessary to assume, all will agree ; and yet how essential that the latter be made a part of the very life of the teacher, SooiAttf- though not that the view should be less op- tudeisPro- timistic, or the life be less full, less joyous fessional _, . . than before. There is now a motive, a pur- pose, because the teacher should have a distinct, clear- cut aim. With a definite motive comes a somewhat changed THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 225 method, a new attitude. In the academic atmosphere there is much of this, that, or the other before the stu- dent, with a more or less definite answer in each case. In the normal school you study psychology or pedagogy or method as applied to the various subjects with which you are supposed to be familiar, and if you are not cau- tious you lose or do not gain the very student attitude you seek. No longer is it possible to clear the way with a Yes or No. More and more must the student do his own thinking. It is not enough to know that the book says so and so, though too often in the elementary and second- ary schools is this considered sufficient ; the question is, " What do you think about it ? " An illustration is in point. A group of boys fresh from a recitation in the fourth year of the high school were talking over the recent lesson. It was evident that one of the young men had thought himself prepared be- fore attending the class; and, because he Thought h a( j devoted more time to this particular les- Values an . - niustration son than he had to any other, he was sur- prised that the teacher should have shown dissatisfaction. One of his fellows remarked that time put upon a lesson was not the only factor to be consid- ered. He assured his classmate that in the recitations of Mr. A. one must be able to answer the questions, to be sure, but he must read between the lines as well ; he must look up the implications and prepare upon any pos- sible issues growing out of the lesson. As I heard these comments, serious and to the point, I said to myself, Standards 15 226 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION " This satisfies me ; Mr. A. is a good teacher and will succeed." (d) Ability to Teach The individual who seeks training in a professional school that he may qualify for teaching should have a real desire to enter the profession, and if Province of possible should possess the natural qualities the Training most essential to the teacher. In any event School . , . . he must be assured, and must assure his in- structors before he is allowed to be graduated, that he has the ability to teach. No normal school should grad- uate as a teacher one who does not give ample evidence of superior ability in his chosen field ; and those, who, after a reasonable time spent in a training school do not promise well, should be advised to pursue some other oc- cupation. One does himself great injustice to enter the profession unless he is in every way, by nature and train- ing, adapted thereto. A still greater injustice he does those who are so unfortunate as to come under his in- struction. B. THE TEACHER'S READING Every teacher and every student, as well as everyone who pretends to interest himself in educational affairs, should begin early to accumulate such books as are best adapted to his needs. Discretion should be exercised in the choosing of a book, as a teacher can afford to read only the best ; and THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 227 he should purchase only those that will go to make up a working library. They must be selected with more care than was shown by the man, less literary than wealthy, who in furnishing his home requested the dealer to send him some books. On being questioned as to what par- ticular line of reading would best suit him, the purchaser replied that books with blue, green and brown covers, and with gilt lettering on the backs, such as he had been accustomed to see in the homes of his friends, were of the kind he wished. The teacher must not look upon the book as an article of furniture or a bit of decoration. He must use the book as a companion and should treat it as a friend and counselor. It is better to read a good book thoroughly and to reread it, than to plunge through the pages of many volumes of weak, superficial matter. A book should never be mutilated, but no crimination volume is too good to be used : and the per- in Reading Essential to son who is tempted to mark the passages Good Results , , ~ ~ . t and make notes and comments upon the margins is the one who is likely to get the most from his book. No teacher can afford to read a book simply because it is for the moment popular or because some one else has read it. Many people read books as they see an art gal- lery, or as they do Europe. In their desire to see every- thing, they observe little, comprehend less, and remember almost nothing at all. Each book should be selected with a purpose, and so read that the mind may retain 228 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION for use the most valuable thoughts and ideas contained therein. It is an admirable plan for the teacher to discuss his book with a friend. Sometimes it is best to consult with a member of the profession or with a fellow student ; and again suggestions of much value may come by talking with those engaged in other lines of work, interchange whose thoughts are directed upon other pur- Book e vaiues suits. The eye of the critic should not dim itself by looking for fallacies or by searching out the mistakes, because the aim should be to get from the book the greatest possible good it can give, selecting for afterthought and consideration the portions of great- est value, then holding them in readiness for instant use, just as the finer, more thoroughly ground material is held in suspension in a rapidly flowing stream. Books of a reference nature and those not likely to be in frequent demand may be secured from the public library. The number and completeness of our public libra- ries have made unnecessary the purchase, by the individ- ual teacher, of such volumes. A borrowed book should be treated with the utmost care and returned at the reader's earliest convenience to private owner or public library without injury. Read much, read thoroughly, read the best, read with a purpose, read to remember ; be critical within reason, judge with caution, compare without haste and conclude with a willingness to revise your opinion, for the light of to-morrow may dispel the ignorance of to-day. THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 229 C. THE TEACHER'S ASSOCIATES If the effect of example upon the pupils is such as to make for higher or lower standards of moral- ity, so is the effect upon the teacher's life of worthy a higher or a lower grade according as his Associates associates are selected from this or that body of individuals. The opportunities of the teacher are unexcelled in the matter of choice of society. The best is open to him. Not only should he choose to be a part of the best and highest, but he should make it his province, his privilege and his duty, to help mold and shape the social atmos- phere, and to do his part in perfecting and uplifting the lives of the individuals with whom he may be placed. While not seeking to shun responsibilities that may be his in dealing with the less desirable elements of society, and while looking down upon or ignoring none, it is well to look upward rather than downward, forward instead of backward ; better it is to touch elbows with those who in intellectual attainment and strength of character are his superiors than to lower his own standards by sub- tracting from himself that which marks the man. D. CONTACT WITH THE ISSUES OF LIFE (a) Standards of Morality No teacher can do the best of which he is capable, or be in the community the element of strength he should become, unless his interests extend beyond the confines 230 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION of the schoolroom. The needs of his pupils should have first place in his thoughts and he should not use the pro- fession as a stepping-stone to something else, but ne c 3- nn t be of the greatest value to his terestsDe- pupils unless his horizon is broader than sirable mere teaching, as the term is generally un- derstood. He must so live and so teach that on going into a far country the talents which he has given his pupils will not be hid in the earth, but will be used by them so as to be a source of additional gain. To do this he must constantly keep before himself and his students high stand- ards of morality. True education lies not merely in facts accumulated, or in the making of intellectual misers, but rather hi an income investment on the facts learned and the turning of them into intellectual capital. The unit of measurement is that of moral worth. Let the teacher see to it that his contact with life is first and foremost of that wholesome, health- Lookingup frd character which makes for moral growth to Moral an( j strength. It is only when the teacher is Standards closely in touch with the issues of life, with the business and pleasure, the goings and comings, the ups and downs of actual living, that he is in a position to realize fully the increasing need of advanced standards of morality; and it is only under such conditions that he is in a position to appreciate the mighty advances that have been made and are being made in the moral tone of the people everywhere. And these increased moral standards are to be realized THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 231 only as there is constantly before the mind the lofty purpose and high ideal as suggested in such lines as: " My child, choose well the colors Which thou wilt use to-day In adding to the painting of thy life; And ere thy brush shall trace a single line, Be sure that in thy soul there reigns supreme The image of that which thou dost long to be." (b) Material and Industrial Development In the second place, the teacher should keep in touch with the growth of our commercial interests. The ma- terial development and Industrial progress of our country should interest every member of the body politic. What- ever may be one's rank, station, financial condition or profession, it is incumbent upon him not only to take an interest in, but to have a share in the great onward movement which makes for changed conditions in the material world, the better to understand fully the effect produced upon the individual and upon society. It is needless for school people longer to ignore these vast industrial movements; indeed it is all but criminal to keep apart from these stupendous forces that, whether we approve or not, must go forward and help to shape the moral thought and mental warp and woof of all human understanding. The attitude, the tendencies, the achievements of the individual, in whatever field he may labor, are largely influenced and shaped by this industrial feeling; and our lives, as the days come and go, are shot through and through by the achievements in the 232 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION industrial world. The teacher must keep thoroughly in touch with the movements and forces that mean so much to the progress of a people. Problems of heating, lighting and ventilation, of trans- portation by land and water, of the distribu- ti n f wa ter supply, are constantly to be met be consid- an( j solved. The postal, telegraph, cable and telephone service, sanitary conditions, labor- saving devices and instruments and machines that do the work of many men hi so short a time as to make it unbelievable; these must be perfected. Improvement is the order of the day in printing, in making articles of clothing, and of shelter, in converting raw materials into usable products; in manufacture, agriculture, mining, lumbering; in machinery and appliances everywhere. The cause and progress of war and the reasons for the establishment and reign of peace must be understood. No teacher can expect to hold himself apart from the resistless movement industrial-wise and still retain his hold upon the normal boy in this modern age. (c) ^Esthetic Feeling By aesthetic feeling, the third element going to make up the contact with life's issues, I mean appreciation of and actual participation in the best and noblest and love- liest which the world has to give in song and story and conversation, in color and harmony, in landscape and animal and plant. Sunlight and shade, bird song and word picture, towering cathedral and mountain torrent, all are THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 233 inspiring and uplifting; and it is contact with these that the teacher needs to strengthen his love for the beautiful and to help him to keep the ears and eyes and sensibili- ties of his pupils ever attuned to those sights and sounds that go to make up the beautiful life. The thing aesthetic is the thing cultural; the true and the right, if useful, are cultural. Each day Elements * ne teacher should renew and reinspire him- self by drinking in the beauties of nature or of art or music that he may keep fresh and optimistic. These things make for culture, which is the capacity for nobler thinking, for higher ideals, for keener sensibilities, for deeper sympathies. Culture is exemplified in a grow- ing spirit of tolerance for the less opportunitied or more unfortunate than ourselves; it aims at an increased ap- preciation of inspiring music, uplifting art, ennobling literature, strengthening oratory. Abhorrence of wrong and love of right are its trainbearers and without it cannot be had that true, strong, helpful character which makes for success and joy and peace. E. READING CIRCLES, EXTENSION COURSES, CORRESPOND- ENCE AND SUMMER SCHOOLS To grow and keep abreast of the times the teacher must read and study and investigate. He can do much by him- self, but in company with others working along similar lines he may accomplish more. As an institution of culture and learning, the reading circle, if properly conducted, is of value. If a book or syllabus is to be studied, much 234 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION profitable work may be done in the reading circle, but having chosen the book for study, the problem of organ- ization must be carefully considered, or the work will be aimless and lacking in results. It is always best to select a leader, one who will hold argument or discussion within bounds, and who will keep the members from drifting away from the point under consideration. To obtain the greatest good trivial detail must be eliminated, and each member must contribute. The extension course is sometimes of the "get rich quick" character and is amusing and entertaining only. Again, the well-selected extension course for which one prepares and submits reports, is an element of intrinsic worth, and one to be reckoned with educationally. If the teacher finds opportunity, he may with slight ex- penditure of time and money gain benefit and inspira- tion. The correspondence school has long since passed the experimental stage. Thousands of people the country over have registered and pursued courses in one or another of our correspondence schools. For those who have not had the advantage of adequate school training or who find themselves delinquent in a particular field, the ad- vantages of correspondence work are many. Care must be exercised, however, in the choosing of the suitable for subject to be studied, as certain lines of Correspond- work lend themselves to correspondence in- enceWork . struction while others do not. A course in manual training by correspondence is one of the an- THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 235 nouncements recently made and would be almost as ridicu- lous as to attempt to teach morals and ethics in this secondhand manner. History, civics, mechanical draw- ing, bookkeeping and certain other subjects may be pur- sued with profit under the direction of the well-conducted correspondence school. The summer school is more of a problem to the teacher, although it presents greater opportunities than does the reading circle or the extension course. The assumption is that the teacher needs rest and quiet during the vaca- tion period; and then it is that the summer The summer school is active. It is nevertheless the fact Advantages tnat tne summer school may offer the work of which the teacher stands in need, and at the same time furnish the opportunity for the change which is itself recreation. Especially is the summer school valuable to the out-of-town teacher, the one who needs contact with people and books, music and activity. To such a student or teacher, the four or six weeks of the summer school may be of inestimable value, and to those who cannot afford the advantage of advanced study during the school year, it supplies that which they would otherwise remain without. The sum- Dangers mer sc hool student must be cautious lest he from Over- work in the overestimate his powers of accomplishment. Should he overwork during his summer course he will not return to his classes with the vigor and enthusiasm they have a right to expect of him. 236 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION F. TEACHERS' MEETINGS, INSTITUTES AND CONVENTIONS The teachers' meeting of twenty years ago is rapidly passing, although in counties and towns of the isolated districts will still be found the traditional tife e New and institute. Where the meeting or conven- tion occurs at a stated time, and all the teachers in a town or district are compelled by law to at- tend each session of the entire meeting, which covers a period of several days or a week, it loses its power for good. The teacher who has just completed a term of work needs rest rather than enforced attendance upon lectures, where he listens perhaps to one who knows less about the subject that he is presenting than does the listener himself. On the other hand, no factor lends itself better to the improvement of teaching, or is better suited to keep the teachers happy and contented or to make them progressive and enthusiastic, than the well- ordered teachers' convention. Those who complain that attendance at an institute is a complete loss of time have been unhappy in their selection of lecture or speaker, or have gone in the spirit of criticism. We get from a thing largely in proportion as we carry to it; and no one is so well informed but that he may get some word of help or encouragement from the lesson or sermon or lecture to which he listens. An element not to be disregarded is that of friendships formed, of companionships, of associations, and of the renewed spirit which comes from the large number THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 237 gathered for one purpose. While it is the individual who must do his own work, nevertheless the Numbers 6 teacher who, failing to see results and doubt- ing in his own mind the outcome of his ef- forts, sees hi the great body of those who engage hi the same great undertaking, the forecast of final achieve- ment; and he carries with him to his work the hope and faith in humankind that was slipping from him. It is often best for the teacher to listen to the exposition of those subjects which he himself does not teach, or for which he is not responsible, the better to see the rela- tion of other subjects to his own, and to appreciate the value and worth of such subjects and note the applica- tion of method. More and more, as the purely theoret- ical attitude of the institute is being displaced by work of an eminently practical nature, by a setting forth of the real problems and the results of experience and investi- gation, the teachers' meeting is coming to be of great value. G. QUALITIES ESSENTIAL TO GROWTH (a) Honesty It is, in a sense, well-nigh impossible to designate this or that particular individual characteristic as the one necessary to success in that mental workshop, the school. Among what I shall call the essential qualities in the teacher's make up, however, honesty, integrity and truth stand out as being of first importance. I have not in 238 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION mind the from-time-to-time honesty, practised by many, the kind that works under certain conditions and lapses at intervals, a variety of Sunday honesty, if you please. No doubt we are all more or less inclined to reach our high watermark of absolute truthfulness at rare intervals, just as our mental or physical selves attain their maximum efficiency only from time to time, sweeping back to the ordi- nary standards of everyday life. What I have in mind is the clean-cut, out-in-the-open honesty that is active ever and always, not simply when a great point is at issue. " This above all : to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." Most of us will be honest and truthful in matters of serious import, though we do not stick to the truth so readily in word or deed, when the trifling circumstances or in- significant matter is in question. There are few who defraud a neighbor of a large bill; but it is thought to be a matter of equity to defraud the street car company out of the five cent fare which the conductor thinks he has collected. Especially among teachers should an absolutely strict standard of honesty be adhered to; and no teacher who works under less than this absolute standard could create in the mind of his pupils the ideals they should possess. It ought not to be a matter of extraordinary comment that this or that individual be spoken of as strictly honest. Indeed, the rare thing and the one to draw comment THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 239 should be the statement that a given man was not abso- lutely dependable. If each human being were as honest and truthful and reliable as he would wish his fellow to be when dealing with him, how mightily improved would we find our standards. But on the part of the teacher particularly, this atti- tude of truthfulness must be real, not sugar coated. If there is pretense or sham, the first to become aware of it will be the pupil; and the effect upon him is anything but good, as he loses confidence in the one who should be his model. Alice Gary says: "True worth is in being, not seeming, In doing each day that goes by Some little good, not in dreaming Of great things to do, bye and bye For whatever men say in their blindness And spite of the fancies of youth There's nothing so kingly as kindness And nothing so royal as iruth." (b) Open-Mindcdness A quality absolutely essential to the teacher, if growth is to keep pace with experience, is that of open-minded- ness. The attitude exemplified by the statement, "I am willing to be convinced, but you will impossible to convince me," does vs. i Know no t militate in the direction of develop- It All ment and growth. The teacher must be stable, to be sure; he must not be turned by every theory and statement that confronts him, but he must ever be 240 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION ready and willing to know more; and to do this, no idea or whim of his should be too sacred to be displaced by one containing a larger measure of truth. "If I were to frame a text," said Colonel Parker, "it would be, ' O God, preserve me from the foregone conclu- sion.' " What the Colonel styled the suspended judgment, a mind attitude that shows a will- scant Evi- ingness to believe in oneself, but reserves, dence . . . ; , at the same time, cntical judgment until the evidence is all in, this helps to constitute the open mind. No mind can be great that draws its conclusions only to meet those already formed. The teacher who is honest and sincere need have no fear of of being looked upon as lacking in strength the Great o f character, if he is ever ready to receive Mind 3 and give consideration to advice and counsel from any source whatsoever. Only a small mind can be self-centered and self-satisfied. The great mind is always open to catch the ray that flashes out in word or act or accomplishment, and so to focus it as to increase its brilliancy and power. (c) Spirit of Absolute Responsibility The matter of responsibility has its roots firmly in what has already been discussed under honesty and open-mindedness. The strictly honest, absolutely truth- ful man is the responsible man, responsible in so far as his knowledge and capacity are concerned. The man who, knowing the right or the line of action that should THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 241 be pursued, deviates from or ignores it, can in no measure be considered as possessing the spirit of responsibility. Dr. Andrew S. Draper sets forth admirably the dis- tinction between the responsible character and the man lacking in this respect. He says : "In the winter of 1891-92, a train, for some trivial reason, came to an unusual stop near the village of Hastings on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, at perhaps the most beautiful and historic part of the Hudson River Valley. The unusual stoppage of the train created the occasion for the exercise of unusual care. The rules of the company were explicit. It be- came the immediate duty of the trainman who had charge of the rear platform, to take his lantern and go back and warn any approaching train. Mere stick that he proved himself to be, if he had only followed his orders all would have been well. It was dark, but not stormy. There was no excuse. If he had possessed any of the spirit which the public has the right to expect of a trainman, he would have met the occasion and pro- tected his train, orders or no orders. He had no spirit ; he disobeyed his orders ; the through express crashed through the rear of the standing train, a score of people were killed, and as many more maimed and mangled for life. " Late in the afternoon of the next day after this unfor- tunate occurrence, I left Albany to come West, in the last car of the second section of the southwestern limited express. The two trains, making more than forty miles Standards 16 242 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION an hour, were less than ten minutes apart. The weather had become very cold, the wind was blowing a gale, and the snow was so thick that one could not see the length of a car. When in the snow belt between Utica and Syracuse, the engineer whistled so sharply and the air brakes were set so suddenly, and with such terrific effect, that it was evident there was serious occasion for an abrupt stop. As the train slowed up and stopped, the cries of a man were heard outside. Opening the rear door the figure of a man with unlighted lamps, climbed up into the vestibule and fell upon the platform ex- hausted. His emotions were uncontrollable, and he con- tinually murmured, ' I stopped her, he saw me ; I brought her down.' Assisting him inside the car, we slowly gathered the facts. This was the rear trainman on the first section of our double train. His train had over- hauled a freight wreck and had been obliged to stop. The circumstances were appalling, the danger was immi- nent, but the man who was responsible proved equal to the emergency. He buttoned up his coat, took his lamps and ran up the track into the darkness and the blinding storm. If he had obeyed his orders in a per- functory way only, it would have been of no avail. His lamps were blown out, and he exhausted his last match in vain efforts to relight them in the wind. Only unu- sual resources would now distinguish him from any tramp, in the mind of the engineer. But his spirit rose to the occasion. Removing his coat and taking that in one hand and his lightless lamps in the other, he ran on up THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 243 the track. Soon our train came in sight. He followed the track ; he got within the glare of the headlight ; he frantically swung his lamps and his coat and hallooed with all his might to the monarch in the cab ; he heard the whistle of the engine and heard the brakes take hold, got off the track as the train was close upon him, and, as it stopped, was helped into the last car. That was spirit. It had saved his train ; perhaps ours also."* An illustration in line with the above and emphasizing the necessity for a more universally recognized spirit of responsibility, is fresh in my mind. On the night of the New Year, 1905, I left Chicago, traveling southward on the Illinois Central Railroad. Late in the evening, and after most of the occupants of the car had retired, our engine whistled sharply and the train soon stopped. After a few minutes delay, I left my seat and stepped out upon the track. As a lamp burned away up toward the en- gine, I made my way forward and saw a half dozen men standing on either side of a dark object. Pushing my way within the circle I asked, " Is he dead ? " As no one seemed to know, I endeavored to ascertain. Inquiry as to the location of the nearest station sent a trainman back to search. The unfortunate tramp ' was carried to the small station close by, but our engine had done its work. Lingering to the last I stepped upon the train with one of the brakemen ; and there were tears in his eyes as he turned to me and said : " The third man this train has killed this week." * Proceedings California Teachers Association, 1897, pp. 75~7^- 244 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION This then is lack of the sense of responsibility, or of spirit, if you please, lack on the part of the Responsi- man w h o governs the engine it may be : lack bility Lack- ' ing AII on the part of the company that requires or permits too many consecutive hours of duty without sufficient rest, or failure on the part of the employee to refuse duties for which he is unfitted ; lack exemplified in a time schedule fitted for speed rather than for safety, and brought about by the demands of the public, or the intense desire for the "almighty dollar " by the railroad stockholders ; lack shown in toleration of a system that permits a man to purchase the liquor that renders him oblivious to the oncoming train ; somewhere there is a lack, a sad, criminal, inexcusable lack of respon- sibility ; and until the teacher, having learned to practise this virtue, shall thus be enabled, little by little, to incul- cate in the pupils the same spirit, we may not expect the day to dawn when in practice as well as in theory, re- sponsibility will be the watchword of our everyday ex- istence. (d) Fearlessness Simplicity As I write, the realization is forced upon me that while it is a simple thing to talk of fearlessness ancl its value in tne make - u P of tne teacher, the Doctrine it is at the same time a difficult task to prac- ne8 tise this fearlessness and this simplicity. Here again, only the absolutely honest, open- minded, responsible person can be absolutely fearless in THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 245 matters of principle; able to stand against criticism and slander and censure and wrong; willing to be on the "losing side" to maintain the right. To be fearless means that one must practise simplicity, live the simple life, and if this be the aim of the teacher, he must be himselj, and not merely an imitator. It is no easy matter to be fearless, to be simple, to be oneself. Each personality is the person- Sute^ioi* 1 alit y of the one to wnom it; belongs. This conditions personality cannot be defined; it is the you as you. "Human imagination has never fathomed the depth of human possibility; " but only as a teacher is fearless, lives his own life, is himself in sim- plicity and truth, can he be other than an imitator. "By thine own soul's law learn to live; And if men thwart thee, take no heed; And if men hate thee, take no care; Sing thine own song and do thy deed." Be not conventional, live your own life, act your own part, be fearless for the right and in what you believe for the best welfare of those for whom you are respon- sible; stand for something and for a principle and for yourself. This story is told of Dor, the famous painter, when at one time he was in the Swiss Alps. As he stood one day upon a mountain crest, seeking a spot from which to sketch his picture, he was approached by a keeper of the mountains and told that he could not remain. "But," said Dore", "I mean no harm. I am an artist." "You 246 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION must move on," said the keeper. "I am Dore," replied the artist; "see, here is my easel, these are my brushes and palette; I would paint this scene." "No," replied the keeper, "you are not Dore". You must away. If you are Dore, paint for me this view." Then Dore took his brush, and with a few strokes of his master hand there lived upon the canvas, mountain and valley, tree and sky, so real as to leave no room for doubt. Rapt with wonder and admiration the keeper said: "You are Dore. No one but Dore could do that. You may stay." (e) Tactfulness The teacher without tact is not a teacher. Seem- ingly insurmountable difficulties may be conquered if the teacher possesses what we speak of as a tactful disposition. By tact is meant not simply the ability to say and do those things that please the hearer, but the Quick Action ability, natural or acquired, to say and do and Eight the right thing on a given occasion. In Action ' . conversation, in business, in society, in the professional world, everywhere is there trouble and dis- cord and discontent and misunderstanding because of lack of tact on the part of this or that individual. While tact is necessary in successful dealing with men, it is much more essential in successful dealing with pupils; and if the teacher does not possess the intuitive, tactful sense, he must endeavor to cultivate it. Children are oftentimes quick to resent a seeming THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 247 wrong when no wrong is intended; they are not always amenable to the same line of argument or to the same kind and character of discipline or educational method; the home life, the street and playground existence and the school atmosphere differ widely one from the other; the parent deals with the pupil in a different manner than does the teacher; all these reasons combine to make it essential that the teacher use reason and judgment and tact in his work, else there will likely be open revolt or secret discontent, or progress be less rapid than could be desired. Lack of tact on the teacher's part results frequently in lack of cooperation between parent and school author- ities. The pupil will often report to his teacher that father or mother was taught so and so, Right word" anc ^ that their experience dictates a method in Dealing verv unlike the one advised by text or teacher. with Parents . If the teacher under such conditions uses tact and judgment, he may avoid any attempt at contro- versy, leave the pupil with confidence in parents and school methods alike, and gam, rather than lose, the support of the home. Often, too, the pupil is in a disturbed mental and phys- ical condition, unknown to himself perhaps. The ordi- nary manner of dealing with him will not bring results, and the teacher must be quick to grasp the situation and ready to meet the emergency of the moment. Letters from parents or oral communications sent by pupils are often of the nature to bring quick, impulsive 248 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION retorts from the teacher. It is seldom wise to reply in a spirit of retaliation, as the tactful thing said in the right way may gain rather than lose the parent as an ally of the school. The writer calls to mind an incident which illustrates the extremity in which a teacher may find himself if he is less than tactful. A village graded school, tion l in which he was associated with several other teachers, was built with chimneys lower than the gable of the roof, and as a result on windy days, the smoke was drawn down the chimney, and one or another room was uncomfortable in consequence. Frequent appeals to the Board seemed to be of no avail; and one day, before the intermission, the smoke so filled certain rooms that it was decided to dismiss school should the trouble not abate. When the session began, how- ever, the wind had so changed that little indication of smoke remained, and the pupils under the writer's im- mediate charge were allowed to determine whether this condition should be endured or the windows opened to relieve immediately the situation. The weather being ex- tremely cold, the former alternative was chosen and all went well until some one began a slight cough. This was soon taken up by another and another until the whole room was engaged in a violent fit of coughing. Realizing the futility of an attempt to put an end to a cough, as such a demonstration is as legitimate as is winking or swallowing, the question of what was to be done was of chief concern. If the pupils gained their THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 249 point, viz., were able to draw the teacher into a threat or entreaty, the power of the latter would be weakened. Suddenly the teacher found it necessary to cough, lightly at first, but soon more and more, until he with difficulty announced the raising of a window a necessity. The smoke continued to affect him; and the windows, one after another, were raised until pupil after pupil asked permission to procure coat or wrap; their requests were granted, of course. It is needless to say that long ere this, all coughing on the pupils' part had ceased; but the teacher, still continuing to be irritated by the smoke, kept up the play until warned by the shivering pupils it would be unsafe to do so longer. Later, at the noon hour, a group of interested pupils were heard discussing the matter. Some insisted the presence of the smoke made necessary the coughing by the teacher, but others were just as certain there was another reason for his action. Discipline in the room was a simple matter thereafter. (f) Willingness to Practise the Gospel of Work People may be classed, first, as those always willing to help, and second, those just as willing to receive assist- ance. Those of the first class are workers. They are the men and women who accomplish things, who approach a task, not in a half-hearted way, but who enter with their full strength and energy into its accomplishment. To-day I rode down street with a busy professional man. He inquired from house to house for a family of whom he was in search, that he might give them 250 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION books and magazines of which they were in need. A man who resided next door to this almost destitute family could give us no infor- otnerscom- mation. From the carriage I watched this menda/ble man as he walked to his business. Seeing a morning paper upon a lawn, he made his way to it and scanned the headlines; and starting on, he took from his pocket a pair of scissors and clipped roses from the bushes of private owners as he passed along. Here were the two types, the professional man wn > out of a busy day, found time to help the less fortunate than himself, and the man unacquainted with his neighbor, willing to read the morning paper of another and to pick flowers not intended for him. Work is the secret of success. The teacher who has an "easy time" will not succeed; and the one who returns home at night care free and without weariness may be envied, but has certainly not been accomplishing the most of which he is capable. Work, too, is the secret of happiness. None is so miserable as he without work. Optimism Work, not j i t ^ _. Leisure, Con- anc * happiness come from active partici- pation in life's battles. It will do every Happiness teacher good to feel that work " .... is the shape forever set between The thought and form, the vision and the deed; The hidden light, the glory all unseen, I bring to mortal senses, mortal need. THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 251 " Who loves me not, my sorrowing slave shall be, Bent with a burden, knowing oft the rod; But he who loves me shall my Master be, And use me with the joyance of a God. " Man's lord or servant, still I am his friend; Desire for me is simple as his breath; Yea, waiting old and toilless for the end, He prays that he may find me after death." But after all, the best work can be done by the teacher who has learned the art of play and who practises the Periods of gospel of work as well. It is the halfway Eeiaxation measures that do not lead to success. Pe- GreatAc- riods of absolute change and relaxation are essential to successful accomplishment. Spen- ment r . cer says: "Hereafter, when this age of active material progress has yielded mankind its benefits, there will, I think, come a better adjustment of labor and en- joyment. Among reasons for thinking this, there is the reason that the progress of evolution throughout the or- ganic world at large, brings an increasing surplus of ener- gies that are not absorbed in fulfilling material needs, and points to a still larger surplus for the humanity of the future ... In brief, I may say that we have had somewhat too much of 'the gospel of work.' It is time to preach the gospel of relaxation." * This "gospel of relaxation" of which Spencer speaks, should be heeded more particularly by the workers. It is practised altogether too strenuously by the majority of the others. Keeping at it steadily, continuous work * Essays, " The Americans." 252 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION with sufficient relaxation, a determination to stick to the thing, will bring success. This success will come, not in overburdening the mind or in consuming the time with useless details, but in carefully selecting the main issues and hi looking after the little things of impor- tance. You recall that story of the man, who in the morn- ing of life set out to win success. With face toward the mountain top and a determination to reach the sum- mit, where to his mind, success awaited him, he traveled on. Small duties were successes;- pushed aside, trivial obligations were ig- niustration ... , nored as he journeyed. The meridian of life was passed and the declining sun bespoke the even- ing of his earthly span, but still he pushed on, and an old man now, weary and white with years, he saw at last before him the mountain peak of his desire. And as by a final effort he reached the crest, and worn and spent he paused to rest, a form approached him and said, "What seek ye?" And the man replied, "I have toiled and climbed that I might win success. Day by day and year after year have I labored and at last the heights are gained. Tell me, where may success be found?" "Alas," came the answer, "in your great desire for success you have missed her. Ignoring all that goes to make life great and successful and worth while, you have cast aside the gems that when assembled would form the crown; see yonder along the path by which you came;" and looking far, far below, through THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 253 the evening light to the valley, success could be seen shining from a thousand hills. (g) Order and System Our one great cry is lack 0} time. There is so much to do and so little time in which to accomplish it. Teachers are constantly deploring the fact that they lack time in which to perform properly necessary The value tasks, or to teach adequately even the ele- ments of a given subject. It is true that we may expect too much of a pupil or a teacher, and it is just as true that waste of time should be considered as is waste of energy in a machine. The maximum of work for a minimum of energy expended is always of first consideration to the man at the governor. The max- imum of accomplishment, with understanding, in the shortest space of time and with the best results to the individual should be the aim. Method is a mighty time saver. The teacher who proceeds methodically, who is orderly and systematic and who plans his lessons with the same ^ty as the engineer plans his project, or the architect his house, and who tries to find a reason for each step he takes, will accomplish much more than he who is unsystematic and relies upon circumstances to point him his method of procedure. The teacher who is careless and haphazard will al- ways be behind time. No one doubts for a moment the ability of a great corporation to carry on a business 254 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION successfully; and no one doubts that it is in the great corporation that most use is made of labor an< ^ time-saving devices, and that every ef- fort militates in the direction of the largest output. It would be an object lesson to the careless, unsystematic teacher to visit a large, successful man- ufacturing plant and note how each workman has his allotted task to perform. His tools are sharp and of the best pattern, the equipment he uses is placed in posi- tions of the greatest advantage, and every implement or piece of material he manipulates has its own particular place. The thing done quickest is not necessarily that which saves most time; so each tool, after use, is returned to its respective place, that it may be found without delay when again required. Regularity and punctuality are essential to large accom- plishment. Begin on time and close promptly. Have a time for everything. Have a plan and work to it. A few minutes given regularly to a task will soon bring returns. An education may be secured by utilizing the time that is absolutely wasted. f One of the most successful business men of the country told me recently that it is the policy of one of his busi- ness acquaintances to excuse no associate or employee who "misses a train." There is, he says, no excuse for missing a train. An accident may delay a train upon which one is riding, but to miss a train when in full knowledge of the time of departure is something not to be excused, THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 255 Do not let your work crowd you; crowd your work. Don't get behind. "Do it now" is a good maxim to fol- low. If several interests are being pursued at a given time, one main issue should always be kept in view. Be thorough, be exact, be orderly and save time by having a carefully tried plan; thus you will accomplish much. (h) Discrimination, Concentration, Judgment Not because it is the least important of the several qualities mentioned is that of discrimination placed last in the list. An analytic, discriminating mind is indis- pensable to the most successful teaching. An ability to see things in their proper perspective, to place fair esti- mates, to calculate just proportions, in fact to have that delicate poise and balance without which the elusive thing called judgment is impossible, these are of the utmost value, and indispensable to large success in any field of human activity. What has been spoken of as open-mindedness, and an appreciation of order and system, go far toward building up the sense of discrimination. Truly the discriminating mind is apt to be the broad mind. To dis- criminate one must lose sight of the petty port should things of life, he must pick out the great from Hold the stage the trivial, he must accept circumstances as they are thrust upon him, not in the spirit of helplessness, but only to conquer and free himself from the bondage of annoyance and grievances; he must rise superior to difficulties, and gain that calm repose of spirit 256 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION that carries with it the power of achievement and of conviction among his fellows. Strength of purpose is rec- ognized in such a mind, and its possessor gains the con- fidence, love and loyalty of his pupils. Unless the teacher is discriminating, has good judgment and uses ^> ne cannot hope to appreciate the viewpoint thy Essential o f th e pupil. He must keep fresh and sympa- in a Teacher , J , thetic and be ever ready to receive the best. If the teacher is happy and hopeful, his pupils will be so. The pessimist casts a gloom upon all about him, and the pupils under such a teacher long for the freedom of the active world. "The pessimist, all steeped in woe, Sits down and mourns, Because no fragrant rose can blow Without its thorns. The optimist shouts gleefully Because he knows That where the thorns are growing, he May find the rose." By judgment I mean not only quick judgment but clear judgment. That weighing of values, that clear, un- biased discrimination, or rather lack of it, was admirably illustrated in a recent convention of teachers. An Example An able paper, touching the possible elimina- tions from the curricula of the grammar and high schools, had been presented; and able men and women had been chosen to lead the discussion. The first speaker agreed with the general tenor of the paper; he would eliminate much of the work as now taken THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 257 up, but there was one school subject that must not be given a shorter time allowance on the program; in fact, he favored an increase of time, and as he proceeded in his argument we learned he was a specialist in the line he sought to magnify. Another speaker held views of similar character regarding the curriculum in general, but stoutly held for an increased time allowance in one subject, this finally proving to be the one he was teaching; and still others followed, all specialists, and fearful lest too little time be devoted to their respective specialities while ignor- ing the value and claims of allied work. This appreciation of values, this tendency toward dis- crimination, and clearness and readiness in judgment, these traits of character have not come by accident; and however much we may owe to heredity, education is made up of several parts Growing . . J ' r Minds training, and the power of concentration, if not acquired, can be developed and trained. Ability to concentrate, to hold the mind and body to the completion of a task, carries with it the power of accom- plishment. Concentration, followed by a wise discrimina- tion and a judgment unhampered by prejudice, is what produces the great mind whether it be that of the master merchant, the deep philosopher, the wise philanthropist, the trusted workman or the skillful teacher. Such are the elements that enter into the training of the teacher and that constitute his professional growth. Edu- cation is the best life insurance policy that can be secured, and a true education is dependent upon these elements as Standards 17 258 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION a foundation. If a teacher builds upon these essentials of growth, he will be progressive, not like the Scotchman, one of a company gathered to discuss the ditching of a certain moor that it might be converted into tillable land. After many reasons had been advanced in favor of the movement, a member of the meeting arose and at the close of his speech offered the following argument as conclusive evidence against the project: "This moor," said he, "has been here since time immemorial." Education comes sometimes hi spite of the school. We may each think differently as to education, but when the evidence is all in and the various may be vie- opinions analyzed, they will be found pretty much the same after all. It is the best edu- cated man who can use all he has, in whatever that all may consist; it is he who has judgment, who has grasped his subjects, and has poise and breadth. The best edu- cated man is he who with discernment and with his appreciative quality of mind makes opportunity, or sees the opportunity offered, and uses it to worthy ends. The thought is expressed in these lines entitled Opportunity, by John J. Ingalls. "Master of human destinies am I! Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait, Cities and fields I walk : I penetrate Deserts and seas remote, and passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate! If feasting, rise; if sleeping, wake before I turn away. It is the hour of fate, And they who follow me reach every state THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 259 Mortals desire, and conquer every foe Save death. But those who doubt or hesitate, Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain and ceaselessly implore; I answer not and I return no more." H. THE RECOMPENSE And what of the rewards of the teacher? Is his recom- pense to be reckoned hi terms of dollars and cents? The laborer is worthy of his hire, and it is quite legitimate indeed that a teacher consider financial remuneration. No one thoroughly acquainted with the teacher's work and what is expected of him and what accomplished by him, would for a moment question the inadequacy of salaries paid. But material gain is only one and certainly not the chief element to be considered, for if salary was the item of prime concern, the great mass of our teachers would soon engage in more lucrative undertakings. Kipling gives the lie to the belief that all teachers are in the work for what they get out of it financially, when he says in his characteristic manner: "If teaching was what teaching seems And not the teaching of our dreams, But only putty, brass, and paint, How quick we'd drop her! But she ain't!" Honor and position are considerations worthy our attention, but while these are desirable, the teacher cannot be fully paid in coin of such standard. While respected always and usually considered a leader, there are those who still look upon the teacher as a servant 260 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION . . merely, a workman with his books for tools and his mis- sion to deal out facts, to correct errors and to enforce discipline. Honor and position certainly do not call our best teachers to the work, or keep them in the educa- tional arena, and can furnish no adequate recompense for labors performed. The teacher's recompense must . lie elsewhere. It must lie in a knowledge of things at- tempted and a hope of results achieved. These results may not seem to be as far-reaching as could be desired or as apparent as would be the case in the world of in- dustry or commerce or finance, but the knowledge of things attempted and the faith in final success should prove to every teacher the value of his efforts and warrant him in being steadfast hi the belief that he who molds the man is greater than he who plans and builds and achieves in the material world, and that his work is the more enduring. In casting up his accounts, the true teacher will be able to say: "My struggling soul may never gain the prize It covets so; It may not reach the gates of Paradise At sunset's glow; But I have faith that in the shadows blue At set of sun, I shall be judged by what I've tried to do, Not what I've done." Is the future of our schools in the hands of the teachers ? Perhaps not. But the teacher will receive his recompense if the life he lives is an example to his pupils and to the world. And what is it to be a teacher that the recompense THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 261 may be his? To be rich in book knowledge ? To be able to impart information to others? It means this and it means more. To be honest, to be helpful, to be happy; to love books and nature, play and work; to be sympa- thetic in spirit, wise in counsel, calm in judgment; to be teachable and tolerant, firm and impartial; to be grateful for the past, hopeful for the future and reverent toward all that is; to have ideas and to reach out toward the best; to take counsel of the wise whether young or old, rich or poor, high or low; to help rather than hinder, and to encourage not dishearten; to dare nothing selfish, or vicious, or unworthy; to be joyous and optimistic always, and to practise that freshness of disposition and exemplify that strength of purpose that makes each feel that his own life is beating in unison with the heart throbs of a uni- verse; this it means. To approach the ideal our views must be broad and tolerant, our patience without limit, our energy great and our interest in the work and love for the child deep and abiding. THESES 1. Psychology is of value in teaching when its laws are known and applied. 2. Experience is necessary, but it is not the only teacher. 3. The academic atmosphere of the secondary school and the professional atmosphere of the normal school contrasted. 4. To grow, the teacher must read good books, and choose worthy associates. 262 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 5. The teacher must cultivate high moral standards, keep in touch with industrial progress, and educate his finer sensibilities. 6. The value of "outside" school courses. 7. Honesty, open-mindedness, responsibility, fearless- ness and simplicity, tactfulness, willingness to work, order and system, discrimination, concentration and judgment, these are qualities that make for growth. 8. The recompense of the teacher is not to be measured in terms of dollars and cents or in social or civic or pro- fessional preferment, but in a knowledge of good ac- complished. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Consider the relative merits of a two years' profes- sional course for high school graduates, and a four years' course including high school work. 2. What are the advantages of dividing the normal school year into two terms? Three terms? 3. When a teacher possesses both college and pro- fessional training, which should precede? 4. Classify the various educational texts upon the basis of treatment of subject-matter or method. 5. Make a classification of the five most helpful books on psychology; on pedagogy, on general education. 6. Analyze the programs of five typical normal schools and list the relative number of hours given to psychology, pedagogy, history of education, school management, prac- tise-teaching, observation and criticism. THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 263 7. Make a list of the ten books other than those of a ped- agogic character, that you would recommend for teachers. 8. Discuss fully the danger to a teacher who devotes much time to outside interests. Consider in the same way the teacher who centers his whole attention upon his school work. 9. How may the teacher best lead the pupils to an appreciation of the necessity for moral, industrial and aesthetic understanding ? 10. Study carefully the courses offered in a correspond- ence school. Gather statistics as to numbers enrolled in these courses. 11. What is your experience and observation of the dan- ger of overwork on the part of both teachers and pupils ? 12. Are teachers as a rule open to conviction, or are they disinclined to receive new light ? 13. Is the prevailing tendency toward simplicity of life or the reverse? What are the contributing causes? 14. Show how the school may help to inculcate the idea of the necessity for responsibility. 15. Discriminate clearly between tact, and methods that may be questionable and open to adverse criticism. 1 6. In what particulars may the teacher and parent work together for mutual benefit ? 17. Make a list of those who have accomplished great good in various fields of human activity. What of their periods of work and relaxation? Have they been broad in their interests or has the particular speciality been prominent in every case ? 264 STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 1 8. Go over your own work and habits to determine how and where you can with profit be more accurate, methodical and systematic. 19. Are we inclined to overemphasize the value of punctuality and attendance at school? 20. Arrange a program of studies for each grade with time allotment, giving attention to relative value of sub- jects. 21. Many of the world's great men have become so without the help of the school. Present both sides of the question suggested. 22. Study the salary question and compare with wages received by men and women in other lines of work. 23. Given that the teacher's services are not recog- nized as they should be, from a financial point of view, in what estimation is the profession held by the world at large ? CONSULT BARR Reasons why Men are Leaving School Work, etc. Council of Education, California Teachers Association, 1906. BRUMBAUGH The Making of a Teacher, chap. 17. GIFFIN School Days of the Fifties, chap. 12. GORDY New Psychology, chaps, i, 2. GREENWOOD Successful Teaching, pp. 27-51. HINSDALE The Art of Study, chaps. 21, 22. The Training of Teachers Monograph 8, on Education in the United States. JAMES Talks to Teachers, chap, i, also pp. 191-301. THE TEACHER: TRAINING AND GROWTH 265 KENTLAND The Teacher and the State. Proceedings, Con- ference for Education in the South, 1903, pp. 168-176. MOORE Science of Study, pp. 153-232. O'SHEA Value of Psychology for Teachers. Elementary School Teacher, vol. 5, pp. 129-141. PAGE Theory and Practice. PARKER Talks on Pedagogics, especially pp. 445-451. PUTNAM Manual of Pedagogy, chap. 12. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SALARIES, etc., of Teachers, N. E. A., 1905. ROYCE Outlines of Psychology, chap. i. SEELEY Educational Foundations, chaps, i, 2, 3 & 12. SMALL Should Teachers be Required to Present Evi- dences of Increased Scholarship? Proceed- ings, Department Superintendence, N. E. A., 1904, pp. 158-164. STOUT Manual of Psychology, chaps, i, 2. THORNDIKE Principles of Teaching, chap. i. VANCE Best Means and Methods of Improving Teach- ers. Proceedings, Department Superintend- ence, N. E. A., 1906, pp. 102-108. VAN SICKLE Basis for Promotion of Teachers. Proceedings, Department Superintendence, N. E. A., 1906, pp. 153-159- VINCENT Summer Schools and University Extension Monograph 16, on Education in the United States. WHITE Elements of Pedagogy, pp. 210-215. School Management, pp. 0-43. WILSON Pedagogues and Parents, chap. 14. BOOKS FOR TEACHERS By RURICK N. ROARK, Ph.D., President Eastern Kentucky State Normal School, Richmond, Kentucky Psychology in Education . $1.00 Method in Education . . $1.00 Economy in Education . . $1.00 ROARK'S PSYCHOLOGY IN EDUCATION pre- sents such a clear exposition of the elementary princi- ples of psychology and their practical applications in methods of education as to furnish a logical and scientific basis for the daily work in the class room. Intended for the average teacher, it gives a full and logical outline by which the teacher may guide his study and lays constant emphasis upon the necessity and the means of carrying psychology into the schoolroom. ^1 In METHOD IN EDUCATION the author develops in detail the applications of psychology in the work of teaching. He discusses the principles upon which good teaching must be based, and also the means of making the subjects in the curriculum produce the best educational results. Each branch of study usually taught in elementary schools is taken up and considered separately, and much hopeful advice is given, supplemented by suggestive outlines, lesson plans, and topics. Tf ECONOMY IN EDUCATION deals with the prob- lems confronting the individual teacher in the successful ad- ministration of his school, and also the larger problems of the school as a part of the institutional life and growth of modern society. It discusses the problems of the administration of school systems and such matters as taxation, boards of education, courses of study, and the distinctive work of the different schools. The latest movements in the econom- ical correlation of the home, libraries, museums, and art galleries with the school are taken up at some length. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 099) THE ART OF STUDY By B. A. HINSDALE, Ph. D., LL. D., late Professor of the Science and the Art of Teaching, University of Michigan. $I.OO THIS book for teachers aims at a definite end : To teach pupils how to study rather than to store their minds with any particular stock of knowledge. ^[ It demonstrates in a clear and logical manner the true relations which should exist between the teacher and the pupil in the schoolroom, and presents practical methods by which such relations may be established and maintained. As learning is the primary act, and teaching but secondary, it proposes a partial readjustment of the existing relations between the teacher and the pupil, by which the pupil will become the distinct and proper center of the school system, and everything else teacher, studies, and apparatus sub- ordinate to him. *[[ The art of study is much misunderstood and neglected, and there are current today in schools many conditions which result in serious defects and weaknesses among pupils. Many pupils fail in their studies, due chiefly, first to their ignorance of how properly to attack a lesson; and, secondly, to their inability to sustain the attack when once begun. It too often happens that teachers and pupils do not work together in the true spirit; that pupils make too little effort to learn, while teachers try, apparently, to save them that trouble. To overcome these errors and attain the end sought, the author demonstrates the proper relations that should exist between them, and then presents methods in establishing and maintaining these relations. In illustration of these ideas, a series of typical study-recitations is given in the book. ^J The book is rich in practical suggestions for the guidance of the teacher, and devotes several chapters to rules and hints which will be of great assistance to the pupil as well. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (*4) HISTORY OF EDUCATION By LEVI SEELEY, Ph.D., Professor of Pedagogy New Jersey State Normal School SEELEY'S History of Education is a working book, clear, comprehensive, and accurate, and sufficient in itself to furnish all the material on the subject that is required by any examining board, or that may be demanded in a normal or college course. ^[ Each educational system that has influenced the world is taken up and summarized in turn, its development shown, and its important lesson pointed out. The fullest information obtainable is presented in simple form and expressed in con- cise language. The topics are arranged on a well defined plan, everything being practical, useful, and directly to the point. ^| In addition, the book includes biographical sketches of the great educators with an illuminating account of their systems of pedagogy. It also provides a general outline of the educational history of ancient countries, and affords com- parisons of the educational systems of the leading countries down to the present time. In short, the volume gives the student an accurate view in perspective of the educational progress of the world. Extensive bibliographies of works for reference are provided. ^[ The work presents for study many of the great pedagogical problems that have interested thoughtful men in every age. It shows how some of these have been solved in the past and points out the way to the solution of others of no less importance in the near future. ^[ It should form an indispensable volume in every teacher's library, for it not only is inspiring, but furnishes valuable information. Every well informed teacher must know how the past has taught in order to cope intelligently with the educational problems of today. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW SERIES OF THE NATURAL GEOGRAPHIES REDWAY AND HINMAN TWO BOOK OR FOUR BOOK. EDITION Introductory Geography . $0.60 School Geography . . . $1.25 In two parts, each . . .40 In two parts, each . .75 IN the new series of these sterling geographies emphasis is laid on industrial, commercial, and political geography, with just enough physiography to bring out the causal relations. ^j The text is clear, simple, interesting, and explicit. The pictures are distinguished for their aptness and perfect illus- trative character. Two sets of maps are provided, one for reference, and the other for study, the latter having corre- sponding maps drawn to the same scale. T[ The INTRODUCTORY GEOGRAPHY develops the subject in accordance with the child's comprehension, each lesson paving the way for the next. In the treatment of the United States the physiographic, historical, political, industrial, and commercial conditions are taken up in their respective order, the chief industries and the localities devoted largely to each receiving more than usual consideration. The country is regarded as being divided into five industrial sections. ^| In the SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY a special feature is the presentation of the basal principles of physical and general geography in simple, untechnical language, arranged in num- bered paragraphs. In subsequent pages constant reference is made to these principles, but in each case accompanied by the paragraph number. This greatly simplifies the work, and makes it possible to take up the formal study of these introductory lessons after the remainder of the book has been completed. With a view to enriching the course, numerous specific references are given to selected geographical reading. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Cm) MILNE'S PROGRESSIVE ARITHMETICS By WILLIAM J. MILNE, Ph.D., LL.D., President of New York State Normal College, Albany, N. Y. THREE BOOK. SERIES First Book $o. 3 5 Second Book 40 Third Book 45 TWO BOOK. SERIES First Book $-35 Complete Book . . . .65 IN these series the best modern methods of instruction have been combined with those older features which gave the author's previous arithmetics such marvelous popularity. ^j Built upon a definite pedagogical ' plan, these books teach the processes of arithmetic in such a way as to develop the reasoning faculties, and to train the power of rapid, accurate, and skillful manipulation of numbers. The inductive method is applied, leading the pupils to discover truths for them- selves ; but it is supplemented by model solutions and careful explanations of each step. ^[ Each new topic is first carefully developed, and then en- forced by sufficient practice to fix it thoroughly in the mind. The problems, which have been framed with the greatest care, relate to a wide range of subjects drawn from modern life and industries. Reviews in various forms are a marked feature. Usefulness is the keynote. ^j In the First and Second Books the amount of work that may be accomplished in a half year is taken as the unit of classification, and the various subjects are treated topically, each being preceded by a brief resume of the concepts already acquired. In the Third Book the purely topical method is used in order to give the pupil a coherent knowledge of each subject. The Complete Book covers the work usually given to pupils during the last four years of school. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (57) STEPS IN ENGLISH By A. C. McLEAN, A.M., Principal of Luckey School, Pittsburg; THOMAS C. BLAISDELL, A.M., Pro- fessor of English, Fifth Avenue Normal High School, Pittsburg; and JOHN MORROW, Superintendent of Schools, Allegheny, Pa. Book One. For third, fourth, and fifth years $0.40 Book Two. For sixth, seventh, and eighth years 60 THIS series presents a new method of teaching language which is in marked contrast with the antiquated systems in vogue a generation ago. The books meet modern conditions in every respect, and teach the child how to ex- press his thoughts in language rather than furnish an undue amount of grammar and rules. ^[ From the start the attempt has been made to base the work on subjects in which the child is genuinely interested. Lessons in writing language are employed simultaneously with those in conversation, while picture-study, the study of literary selec- tions, and letter-writing are presented at frequent intervals. The lessons are of a proper length, well arranged, and well graded. The books mark out the daily work for the teacher in a clearly defined manner by telling him what to do, and when to do it. Many unique mechanical devices, e. g., a labor-saving method of correcting papers, a graphic system of diagramming, etc., form a valuable feature of the work. ^[ These books are unlike any other series now on the market. They do not shoot over the heads of the pupils, nor do they show a marked effort in writing down to the supposed level of young minds. They do not contain too much technical grammar, nor are they filled with what is sentimental and meaningless. No exaggerated attention is given to analyzing by diagramming, and to exceptions to ordi- nary rules, which have proved so unsatisfactory. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-10m-9,'69(N187088)4939A 8, 59 UCLA-ED/PSYCH Library LB 1025 C355s L 005 586 1157