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Title: Introduction to the scientific study of education Author: Charles Hubbard Judd Release Date: April 2, 2018 [EBook #56903] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EDUCATION *** Produced by MWS, Adrian Mastronardi, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EDUCATION BY CHARLES HUBBARD JUDD PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GINN AND COMPANY BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON ATLANTA · DALLAS · COLUMBUS · SAN FRANCISCO COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY CHARLES HUBBARD JUDD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 219.9 The Athenæum Press GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS · BOSTON · U.S.A. PREFACE This book is the result of eight years of experimentation. In 1909 the Department of Education of The University of Chicago abandoned the practice of requiring courses in the History of Education and Psychology as introductory courses for students preparing to become teachers. For these courses it substituted one in Introduction to Education and one in Methods of Teaching. This move was due to the conviction that students need to be introduced to the problems of the school in a direct, concrete way, and that the first courses should constantly keep in mind the lack of perspective which characterizes the teacher-in-training. In the years that have elapsed since 1909 the conviction has gained almost universal acceptance in normal schools and colleges of education that the History of Education is not a suitable introductory course. Psychology has grown in the direction of a scientific discussion of methodology, and the demand for a general introductory discussion of educational problems from a scientific point of view has often been expressed by teachers in normal schools and colleges. In this period the writer has had frequent opportunity to try out various methods of presenting such an introductory course. The results of this experience are presented in this volume, which is designed as a textbook for students in normal schools and colleges in the first stages of their professional study. The teacher who uses this book can expand the course to double the length here outlined by introducing schoolroom observation and supplementary reading. The questions and references offered at the end of each chapter and the references in the footnotes are intended to facilitate such further work. A set of questions is given in the Appendix as a guide to classroom observation. The obligations which the author has incurred in the preparation of the book are numerous. Almost every member of the Department of Education of The University of Chicago has at some time or other given the course to a division of students, and all have contributed suggestions and criticisms with regard to the organization of material. Special obligations should be noted in this connection to Professors J. F. Bobbitt, S. C. Parker, F. N. Freeman, H. O. Rugg, and W. S. Gray. To Professor E. H. Cameron the author is under obligation for suggestions made after reading the manuscript. To the authors and publishers whose works have been drawn upon for extensive and numerous quotations, special thanks are due for courteous permission to use their material. Finally, it is to the students who have from year to year passed through this course that the largest obligation should be acknowledged because of the suggestions which their reactions have given to the writer. C. H. J. Chicago, Illinois iii iv CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. EXTENDING THE PUPIL’S VIEW OF THE SCHOOL 1 The pupil’s view limited. Conservatism in the community as a natural consequence. Demand for a broad scientific study. Beginnings of the science of education. Effectiveness of studies of retardation. A study of high-school courses. An experimental analysis of a fundamental subject. A study of the relation of education to general social life. The scientific study of educational problems. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER II. SCHOOLS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND OF OTHER TIMES 14 The comparative and historical methods. The American textbook method of teaching. Independence of thought based on reading. European schools caste schools, American schools truly public. Influence of European schools on the educational system of this country. Report of the visiting committee of Taunton in 1801. Adoption of the German model. Results of the adoption of the German example. The reorganization of American schools. Origin of the high school. Education of girls. Higher education free. American public schools secular. The school system and its domination of the teacher. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER III. EDUCATION AS A PUBLIC NECESSITY 32 The primitive attitude one of neglect. Compulsory education. Compulsion of communities. Later stages of compulsory legislation. American education to 1850. Compulsory attendance. Obstacles to enforcement of compulsory attendance. Newer legislation recognizing complexity of problems of attendance. Supervision a necessary corollary to compulsion. Higher education and public control. Public control adequate only when directed by science. Fiscal problem typical. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER IV. INVESTING PUBLIC MONEY IN A NEW GENERATION 46 The cost of educating an individual. Total school expenditures in the United States. Cost a determining consideration in school organization. Relation of school expenditures to other public expenses. Urgent demands for economy and efficiency. Expenditures in relation to wealth. Costs of different levels of education. Costs of different subjects of instruction. Costs of classes of different sizes. Salaries. Books and supplies. The meaning of financial organization and educational accounting. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER V. DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY FOR CARRYING ON SCHOOLS 63 Class instruction given over to the teacher. Supervision. Sketch of development of a school system. The community slow to delegate school control. Limits of authority and responsibility not clear. Statement by a public educating association. What is a representative board of education? The functions of a board of education. How a good board gets the work done. Making the machine work smoothly. Report of committee of superintendents. Obsolete administration system. Status of superintendency varies. District control discarded system of school administration. An effective substitute to be discovered. Dangers of this period of adjustment. Organization under scientific principles. Control of school work through tests. A study of the building needs of a city. The errors of democracy. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER VI. THE SCHOOL BUILDING 78 The building as an evidence of a community’s educational views. Contrasts in plans of rural schools. Contrasts in urban elementary schools. A high-school building of the early type. The hygiene of lighting. The hygiene of ventilation and heating. Hygienic equipment. Relation of equipment to the course of study. Modern school construction and costs. The Gary plan for distributing pupils and enlarging the scope of school work. Requirements to be met when the Gary plan is adopted. The construction of consolidated schools. Comparative statistics. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER VII. GROUPING PUPILS IN CLASSES 96 Transition to problems of internal organization. Economy a first motive for grouping. Social influence an important motive. Grouping in the one-room school. Courses of instruction in relation to the problem of grouping. New problems of grouping in large schools. Fundamentally different views on the curriculum. The ungraded class in graded schools. Cases where failures show the urgency of the grading problem. Efforts to adjust instruction to pupils. Readjustments of the curriculum. Problems of grouping in high school. Illegitimate reasons for promoting pupils. Experiments and studies which aim to supply both individual instruction and class instruction. Arrangement of the materials of instruction. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER VIII. THE TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM AND ITS REORGANIZATION 113 Importance of a study of the curriculum. The specialized curriculum of higher schools. Problems of generalizing a specialized curriculum. Traditional character of mathematics courses in high schools. Suggestions of new subjects. Present-day social demands. Traditional neglect of industrial education on the part of the public. The demand for revision of the curriculum. Summary. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER IX. SPECIALIZED EDUCATION VERSUS GENERAL EDUCATION 127 Present-day wavering between specialized and general training. The theory of separate schools for different classes of people. Statement of principles. Public demand for a new curriculum. Commercial courses in high schools. Agricultural high schools. Part-time courses. Various types of trade schools. The Manhattan Trade School, New York City. Practical applications as parts of academic courses. Studies of social activities. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER X. EXTENSION OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES 141 A general social movement. Credit for home activities. Bulletin for teachers: home credits. Relation of home work to traditional school work. After-school classes and vacation classes. Continuation classes for adults. Demonstrations as means of economic and social improvement. Entertainment as part of the educational program. Associations aimed directly at the improvement of schools. Correspondence schools. Principles required to systematize educational activities. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XI. PRINCIPLES INFLUENCING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CURRICULUM 156 v vi vii Necessity of practical decisions in spite of confusion. The doctrine of discipline. The doctrine of natural education in the form of the doctrine of freedom. Concentration and interest. Popular attitude toward discipline. Examples of discipline and freedom. Natural education and recognition of individual differences. Natural education as training for life. Training in the methods of knowledge and general training. Examples of views on formal training. Prominence of curriculum in determining quality of instruction. Bases for judging curriculum and syllabi. Formal discipline and transfer of training. Relation of subjects to maturity of pupils. Summary. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XII. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 170 Adaptation of curriculum to individual pupils. Low grades of intelligence. Differentiated courses. Tests of general intelligence. Exceptionally bright pupils. Sex differences. Differences in industrial opportunity for the sexes and corresponding demands for training. Household arts as extras. Demand for new courses for girls. Individual differences which appear during training. Democratic recognition of individual differences. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XIII. PERIODICITY IN THE PUPIL’S DEVELOPMENT 184 Recognition of periodicity in present organization. The meaning of infancy. The period before entering school. The primary period one of social imitation. The period of individualism. Early adolescence as a period of social consciousness. The new school adapted to adolescence. Later adolescence a period of specialization. The reorganized school system. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XIV. SYSTEMATIC STUDIES OF THE CURRICULUM 197 The curriculum based on authority versus the living curriculum. Older subjects products of long selection. Social needs and the curriculum. Systematic studies as devices for facilitating evolution of the curriculum. A study of representative adults. A study of current references. A study of the mistakes of pupils. Prerequisites for higher courses. Administrative studies. Need of broad, coöperative studies. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XV. STANDARDIZATION 212 Tests and measurements of products. Earlier standards based on opinion. Objective and exact standards. Beginnings of the movement. Handwriting scales. Speed as a correlate of quality. Standards, personal and impersonal. Social standards versus imposed standards. Comparison through exact measurement. Records as a basis of standardization. Studies of oral reading. Studies dealing with other subjects. Mechanical aspects the first to be standardized. Standardization and the science of education. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XVI. METHODS 229 Meaning of the term “method.” Meaning of the term “device.” Personal methods and devices. Supposed conflict between methods and subject-matter. Two examples of modern methods. Object teaching. Laboratory method in physics. Spread of the laboratory idea. Reaction against the question and answer method. Inefficient methods of study. Organizing a school for supervised study. Organizing subject-matter for supervised study. Experiments in method. Method as a subject of scientific tests. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XVII. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 242 Intellectual progress and social conditions. Social training general. Types of social organization. Social control through anticipation. Organization of routine. Punishments and rewards. Larger social organization. Attempts to classify unruly members of the social group. Impersonal discipline. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XVIII. SELECTED ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS 254 Programs and marks. The total school day. The class period. Physiological fatigue. Conditions like fatigue. Practical precepts based on study of fatigue. Administrative considerations controlling length of the class period. Adjustment of work within the period. Adjustment of credits. The problem of grading. Experiments with grading systems. The study of marks as an introduction to a study of the school system. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XIX. PLAY 266 Motives for cultivation of physical powers. Earlier attitude toward play. Play as natural behavior. Periods in the development of play. Play as natural education. Social necessity of recreation. Play as physical education. The school and play. Surveys of children’s play in cities. Systematizing instruction in play. Survey of recreational facilities. Play as part of the regular school program. Slow spread of modern attitude toward play. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XX. HEALTH SUPERVISION 279 The relation of health to school work. Treatment of pathological cases. School luncheons. Control of home feeding. Public attention to nutrition of children. Control of contagion. The school health department. Difficulties of introducing health instruction. Health as a subject of instruction and as a mode of life. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XXI. SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION 289 Evolution of the demand for supervision. The principal. Other supervisory officers. Lack of public appreciation of central problems. Managerial training in relation to democracy. The purpose of the present discussion. Studies of the community. Selection and management of teachers. Standardization by measurement of results. An example of public recognition of the need of efficiency measurements. Scientific studies and central supervision. Scientific supervision. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XXII. THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 299 Scientific methods of studying schools. Definition through enumeration of methods. The history of educational theory and practice. Courses in psychology. Educational psychology. Statistical studies. The experimental method. Extension of use of psychological methods. Studies of retardation. School experiments and laboratory studies. Examples throughout earlier chapters. Studies of administrative problems. Method of comparison. Records necessary to scientific study. Subdivisions of the science of education. Rapid expansion of the science of education. Definition of the science of education. Exercises and readings. CHAPTER XXIII. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS 308 viii ix x Increasing demand for professional training. American normal schools. American demands on secondary-school teachers. German training of secondary-school teachers. New courses in colleges and universities for secondary-school teachers. The requirements of a standardizing association. The California requirements the most advanced in the United States. Continuation training of school officers. Specialized training for administration. Contributions to the science of education. Exercises and readings. APPENDIX 321 INDEX 327 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE PAGE 1. Average number of high-school units in the approved schools of the various states of the North Central Association 6 2A. Pauses made in silent reading 8 2B. Pauses made in oral reading 9 3. Diagram showing the organization of German schools and American schools 18 4. Proportion of public money spent for public schools and other items 50 5. Distribution in the various grades of each thousand dollars expended for instruction 59 6. Floor plan of a typical school building of the old style 79 7. Floor plan of a well-arranged one-teacher rural school of minimum cost 80 8. An old and a new rural school 81 9A. Ground plan of Alabama School 83 9B. Exterior of Alabama School 83 10A. Ground plan of Empire School 84 10B. Exterior of Empire School 84 11. Record of nonpromotions and failures in Cleveland, 1914 103 12. Enrollment in private vocational schools and in public high schools of Chicago 133 13. Individual differences in the number of lines read in a minute by pupils in the fifth grades of two schools 181 14. Average quality and average speed of handwriting of pupils of the four upper grades in ten schools 218 15. Speed and quality of handwriting 223 16. Distribution of grades in various Harvard classes 263 xi LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools compared for a period of years, including also a comparison of population for the same periods 48 II. Per cent of total governmental cost payments devoted to various city departments 51 III. Cost per pupil in elementary schools and high schools in selected cities 55 IV. Cost, per thousand student hours, of instruction in high schools in the various subjects of the curriculum 57 V. The portion of each thousand dollars spent for instruction in each subject in each of the first six elementary grades 58 VI. Percentages of failures in the chief subjects of instruction in the five high schools of Denver in June, 1915 107 xii THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EDUCATION CHAPTER I EXTENDING THE PUPIL’S VIEW OF THE SCHOOL THE PUPIL’S VIEW LIMITED Most people think of school matters from the pupil’s point of view. When they learned arithmetic and grammar, or later when they studied algebra and Latin, each course was presented to them as though it were a perfect system. The teacher did not confide in them that arithmetic probably ought to be revised by the omission of many of its topics, that formal grammar is a very doubtful subject, and that both algebra and Latin are on the point of losing their places as required subjects. The pupil sees the front of the school scenery; the machinery behind is known only to those who conduct the performance. It would be possible to multiply indefinitely examples which show that the pupil’s view of the school is very limited. What pupil understands the duties of the principal or the superintendent, or of the still more remote and mysterious board of education? Where does the daily program come from? Who decides about textbooks? Why are school buildings commonly planned with large study-rooms? Most of these questions are never thought of by pupils. Everything in school life seems to have a kind of inevitableness which raises it above question or even consideration. CONSERVATISM IN THE COMMUNITY AS A NATURAL CONSEQUENCE The narrowness of the pupil’s view would have less serious consequences if it were not for the fact that the pupil becomes in mature life a member of a board of education or adopts teaching as his profession. Then trouble results, because there is machinery which must be kept running if schools are to be efficient, and this machinery suffers if intrusted to the hands of those who do not understand its complexities. One school superintendent, who encountered vigorous opposition to the introduction of changes in the course of study, wrote as follows: The average American citizen whose schooling was limited to the primary and grammar grades looks with reverence upon the subjects there taught, and refuses to concur in a change of the course of study for the elementary school. Associated with the average citizen is a heavy percentage of the teaching faculty of both elementary and high schools throughout the country.1 Another superintendent, who was more successful in bringing about reforms, makes this statement: People are more conservative in their attitude towards educational innovations than toward new adjustments to meet the demands of changing modern life in any other field of activity. Each adult is inclined to overvalue the particular type of training he received and to regard with suspicion any change which will tend to discredit this sort of training received at such an expenditure of time and money. The schools are, therefore, the last institution to respond to the changing demands of modern life.2 DEMAND FOR A BROAD SCIENTIFIC STUDY If schools are to be progressive and efficient, they must be studied very much more broadly and comprehensively than they can be from the pupil’s point of view. The suggestion naturally arises that this broader study is a part of the professional duty of the teacher. So it is; but it will not be enough merely to exhibit the intricacies of education to teachers. The whole community must be shown by scientific methods that the school is a complex social institution, and that its conduct, like the conduct of every other social institution, requires constant study and expert supervision. In this movement of opening the eyes of the community to the needs and nature of education, the school officers must be leaders; but their methods must be impersonal and exact. BEGINNINGS OF THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION During recent years the demand for a thorough and comprehensive study of schools by scientific methods has led to a number of investigations which can be offered as an optimistic beginning of a science of education. It would, indeed, be far beyond the truth to assert that science has settled all the problems of teaching and of school organization. There is, however, a very respectable body of fact which has been clearly enough defined so that it can in no wise be set aside. In certain details the requirements of a scientifically valid educational scheme are known and can be described. The method of studying schools can safely be said to be established. It is the work of the future to take up, now this problem, now that, and by progressive stages to work out a complete science of school management and classroom 1 2 3 organization. It will be the purpose of subsequent chapters to define fully certain of the leading problems with which the science of education deals. The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a brief statement of certain typical studies, which will make more concrete and definite the contention that the pupil’s view of schools is narrow and that the teacher’s view must be extended, as must also that of the community at large, if educational conditions are to be improved. EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDIES OF RETARDATION First, we may refer to investigations which have been made of the rate of promotion of pupils through the grades. Whenever a pupil fails to complete the work of a grade in the appointed time, it is evident that there is some kind of maladjustment. The pupil may be incompetent to do the work required of him because he is mentally deficient. On the other hand, it may be that the work is ill chosen and in need of revision. The following statement from one of the leading students of education in the United States describes with clearness the problem and the progress made in meeting it. Just ten years ago the distinguished superintendent of schools of New York called attention to the fact that 39 per cent of the children in the schools of that city were above the normal ages for their grades. This aroused widespread investigation, which showed that similar conditions obtained in other cities throughout the country. Soon studies of this phase of educational efficiency showed that the same conditions which resulted in our schools being crowded with retarded children also prevented a large proportion of these children from ever completing the elementary grades. About seven years ago this became one of the most widely studied problems of educational administration, and in the past four it has been one of the prominent parts of the school surveys. During the entire period hundreds of superintendents throughout the country have been readjusting their schools to better the conditions disclosed. In these seven years the number of children graduating each year from the elementary schools of America has doubled. The number now is three quarters of a million greater annually than it was then. The only great organized industry in America that has increased the output of its finished product as rapidly as the public schools during the past seven years is the automobile industry. It is probable that no other one thing so fundamentally important to the future of America as this accomplishment of our public schools has taken place in recent years. There is every evidence that this is the direct result of applying measurements to education. If the school survey movement now under way can produce other results at all comparable with this one, we need have no fear for the outcome.3 The quotation does not tell us how the reform has been worked out. That is a long story. In some cities better teachers were needed and have been employed. In a great number of cases the course of study has been revised. Sometimes smaller classes have been provided. So on through a long list of details, one might enumerate the reforms which have resulted from a careful study of the one fact that pupils in the schools were older than they normally should be. A STUDY OF HIGH-SCHOOL COURSES A second type of study can be borrowed from the reports of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. This Association has as its practical purpose the inspection of the secondary schools and colleges of the northern states from Ohio to Colorado. The inspectors of high schools in seventeen states brought together in the report of 1916 a number of exact statistics regarding 1128 approved schools.4 One set of these facts may be selected for special comment. FIG. 1. Average number of high-school units in the approved schools of the various states of the North Central Association The full-drawn lines are proportional in length to the number of units offered in academic subjects; the dotted lines, to technical subjects The number of units, or courses, offered in high schools has increased rapidly in recent years. Especially marked is the addition to the school program of technical subjects, such as home economics, manual training, and commercial courses. The report here under discussion states that in all the approved schools of the association there is an average of 21.13 academic units, that is, units in such subjects as languages, history, mathematics, science, and English; and an average of 9.41 units in technical or vocational subjects. When we examine the individual states, we find that Minnesota, which has a large state fund, much progressive legislation on high schools, and a vigorous state department of education, shows averages of 23.87 academic units and 12.65 units of vocational subjects. South Dakota, where the school system is new and economic conditions are much less favorable, has averages of 17.62 academic units and 6.46 vocational units. The more striking differences are those which arise not from economic conditions but from clearly indicated differences in educational policy. Ohio has an average of 22.24 academic units, which is high, and an average of only 7.26 vocational units, which is low. On the other 4 5 6 7 hand, Kansas has 22.9 academic units, or just about the same as Ohio, and 10.13 units in vocational subjects. Finally, if we carry the comparison into still further detail by examining the schools in a single state, we find in Ohio one city with a high school of 870 students offering 18 academic units and 5 vocational units, while in another city, where the student body numbers 710 students, the school offers 24 academic units and 22 vocational units. The comparisons are illuminating in several respects. It is probable that most communities are ignorant of the fact that their own high schools differ from others. The publication of definite facts with regard to the practices of schools would stimulate wholesome thinking on school problems. The whole life of a school depends in very large measure on the course of study. When there are such wide divergences as are here indicated, there is clear evidence of differences in educational policies in different states and communities. At the present time the accepted policies are often the products of tradition or accident. They should be made subjects of careful study and either confirmed or revised. FIG. 2 A. Pauses made in silent reading The vertical lines, Figs. 2 A, 2 B, show where the eyes of an adult reader paused during the reading. The numbers above the vertical lines in the two figures indicate the order of the fixations FIG. 2 B. Pauses made in oral reading AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF A FUNDAMENTAL SUBJECT As a third type of scientific study we may take certain recent laboratory investigations of reading. Reading is the most important subject taught in the schools; yet there are the widest differences in the results secured with different pupils. It is the duty of the schools to find out what constitutes the difference between good readers and bad readers, in order that both classes may be improved. The method of these studies consists in photographing the reader’s eyes as they travel along printed lines. The number and length of the pauses are thus determined. It is found in general that competent readers see more at a glance than do poor readers. Furthermore, it is found that different types of reading are radically different; thus there is a marked difference between oral and silent reading. The importance of distinguishing these two types of reading lies in the fact that most of the teaching of reading in the elementary schools is by means of the oral method. Most of the demands of later life, and all of the demands made upon pupils when they study textbooks in geography and history and the other subjects of the school course, call for ability in silent reading. The results of investigations can be briefly stated in the following averages: the average numbers of pauses per line in oral reading for adults, high-school pupils, and elementary-school pupils, reading passages of different grades of difficulty, are 8.2, 8.6, and 8.1, while the corresponding averages for silent reading are 6.5, 7, and 6.3. These figures mean that the eye makes more pauses along a printed line when the reader is reading orally than when he is reading silently. Oral reading is therefore a more laborious, difficult form of reading. Furthermore, the time spent in each pause is greater in oral reading. The averages in thousandths of a second for oral reading for the three classes of readers are 380.8, 372.9, 398, while the corresponding figures for silent reading are 308.2, 311.1, and 314.5 These figures show that oral reading is slow as well as laborious. It would require more discussion than is appropriate at this point to bring out the full meaning of such facts as these. Enough appears on the surface of the results, however, to make it quite evident that the school ought not to emphasize oral reading in the upper grades as it does to-day. The daily oral-reading drill in the seventh and eighth grades imposes on the pupils a slow, clumsy form of reading at a time when they ought to be cultivating the power of rapid silent reading. It is by means of investigations of this kind that each of the subjects of instruction is being examined, and as a result schoolwork is increasingly developing effective methods of cultivating children’s intellectual powers. The work of analyzing each of the subjects will be slow and will require the coöperation of many investigators, but in several subjects, especially in the elementary schools, an encouraging beginning has been made. A STUDY OF THE RELATION OF EDUCATION TO GENERAL SOCIAL LIFE A fourth and final example can be borrowed from studies made in the city of Minneapolis of the opportunities for trade training in that city, of the number of workmen needed in each of the trades, and of the kind of preparation required for efficiency in each branch of labor. An industrial and educational survey of the community was undertaken for the specific purpose of adapting educational organization to the practical needs of the community.6 Such a study recognizes the fact that the school is but one among many social institutions and that the school must find its proper place in community life through a thorough scientific study of other more general social activities. THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS Here, again, it is by no means asserted that the solution of the problem of training workers for the industries has been found. It can, however, be stated with complete assurance that both the school and the community will proceed with 8 9 10 11 greater intelligence if the facts are carefully canvassed in advance. The spirit of patient, detailed scientific study is more and more dominating the schools. There are some who, impatient at the labor involved in such studies, would rush forward to radical experimentation. Fortunately, even such rash reformers are becoming convinced that they need to keep records of their results in order to prove the success of the changes which they have made. As a result, they too are taking on some of the forms of science, though they do not adopt the full program of patient study of conditions. The result of a scientific movement such as is under way in education will be the cultivation of a broader conception than was ever possible from any individual point of view. The pupil’s view is narrow because he comes in contact with the school only at the point of application of educational methods to his own life. The scientific view of education is broad because it places the school in its proper relations to other social activities, because it defines the relation of the pupils and teachers to one another and to the material used for instruction, and because it opens up all the results of school work to full inspection and evaluation. This broad scientific view is the one which the teacher and the community at large should adopt. EXERCISES AND READINGS In every school certain changes are introduced from time to time in spite of the conservatism of the community. Let the student find examples of (1) new courses of study, (2) new methods of appointing or promoting teachers, or (3) new forms of organization, such as the junior high school or departmental teaching. After discovering innovations, let him find how they were brought about. What are the usual forms of school records and reports known to the student? How could records be made of more value? Suggest methods of presenting the facts of daily attendance so that they can be readily interpreted by a community. What are some of the interpretations that ought to be put on failures and nonpromotions in different kinds of cases? Is repetition of a course desirable for a pupil who has failed? Are failures more common in required courses than in elective courses? When a required course is described as essential to the education of everyone, what is meant? Let the student test his own rates of reading. How should a college class differ from a high-school class in ability to read? Go to a library or study-room and watch the people read. Report the differences between individuals. The readings which are most stimulating to students who have never faced the problems of school organization are those which call in question present school practices. Dewey, John. The School and Society. The University of Chicago Press. This is one of the most stimulating demands for a reorganization of the school which has ever been written. Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Émile. D. Appleton and Company. This is a book of great historical significance. It is an indictment of formalism in education and a vigorous advocacy of naturalism. Spencer, Herbert. Essays on Education. D. Appleton and Company. This is a demand for a thorough reform of the school curriculum. It is now nearly sixty years old, but it is modern in its spirit. 12 13 CHAPTER II SCHOOLS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND OF OTHER TIMES THE COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL METHODS The scientific methods of studying school problems, which were illustrated in the last chapter, can be supported and supplemented by a comparison of the schools of the present with the institutions of earlier times, and by a comparison of the schools of different countries with one another. Such comparisons seldom serve as an adequate basis for the reorganization of school practices, because the conditions in one generation and in one country are so unlike those of others that direct transfer of methods of procedure is dangerous. Comparison serves, however, to set in clear perspective the characteristics which distinguish each situation from every other. If an American wishes to see the school system with which he is familiar from a new point of view, the comparative method furnishes a kind of outside station from which he may look back and see facts which were by no means clear in their meaning when viewed from near at hand. THE AMERICAN TEXTBOOK METHOD OF TEACHING One very impressive difference between the schools of the United States and the schools of Europe is to be found in the fact that class exercises in our schools are commonly based on assignments in textbooks, while in Europe the chief method of instruction is oral exposition by the teacher. The word “recitation,” which is often employed in describing a classroom exercise, is an American term. It originated at the period when devotion to the textbook was even greater than it is now,—when the pupil was expected to repeat verbatim the passage from the text. In British books on education the word “recitation” appears only when referring to American practices, and usually takes the form “the American recitation.” In the German educational vocabulary the word has no equivalent. The unique American method of reciting lessons learned out of a book can be contrasted with the European method by taking a concrete case. If one goes into a geography class in a German school, one finds in the hands of the pupils no book, except that in the schools for the richer classes there may be an atlas; commonly the wall map serves. The teacher lectures on some section of the country, and follows the lecture by questions which the pupils answer. The advantages of the European method are that the pupils become trained, attentive listeners, and are able in answering questions to talk coherently for long periods, imitating the continuous discourse of the teacher. The disadvantages are that the information supplied is limited by the individual teacher’s training, and the pupils cultivate little or no independence in the collection and sifting of information. The influence of the teacher is always dominant—often oppressively so. INDEPENDENCE OF THOUGHT BASED ON READING The contrast here pointed out is one of fundamental importance. It can be adequately understood by a study of the history of American schools. When the colonists came to New England they were bent on securing for every individual independent personal contact with the truth. They had left their European homes because there dominating authority always stood between the individual and the sources of truth. One of the first acts of the colonists, therefore, was to provide for the training of every boy and girl in that power which would make him or her independent, especially in religion. The early legislation shows unequivocally this motive. Thus in 1650 Connecticut passed a law which had a preamble very much like that of the Massachusetts law of 1647. The preamble is as follows: It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from a knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times, keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times, by persuading them from the use of tongues, so that at least, the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and that learning may not be buried in the grave of our forefathers [the court decreed that whenever a township increased to fifty householders they should employ someone] to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read. So strictly did the early schools devote themselves to reading that arithmetic and, in some cases, even writing were neglected in the exclusive cultivation of the one art of reading. Later generations of American teachers and pupils have experienced a great expansion of the content of the course of study, but the method of instruction has always been predominantly the reading method. The large number of supplementary readers used in history, in geography, and in nature study keep up the traditions of a school which was from the first a reading school. The social consequences of this emphasis on reading can be seen in the fact that public opinion in America is controlled largely by an appeal to the people through reading matter. The importance of this kind of public opinion can hardly be overemphasized. In a democracy there must be ability to form independent opinions, and this is possible only where there is the widest training in reading. EUROPEAN SCHOOLS CASTE SCHOOLS, AMERICAN SCHOOLS TRULY PUBLIC A second characteristic of the school system of the United States which distinguishes it from the systems of Europe is 14 15 16 17 described by the phrase, coined in England, “the educational ladder.” There is no limit in the American system to the possibility offered the individual pupil of going on to higher institutions. The boy or girl who has completed the elementary course can go on to the high school and from the high school to the college and university. This is not true anywhere in Europe. There the school systems are sharply divided into two wholly different and distinct lines of advancement. The children of the common people go to one school; the children of the aristocracy and richer classes go to a different school. The school for the common people is limited in time and opportunity, and does not lead into the universities. Thus the Volksschule of Germany, which gave instruction before the war to 92 per cent of the total school population, is an eight-year school, teaching only the common branches. The pupil who enters the Volksschule cannot look forward to entering any one of the professions or any civil-service position. He cannot be transferred from the upper grades of this common school into the secondary school. The common school of Germany is a social instrument for the perpetuation of a caste system. The common people know their place because they learn it when they enter school. FIG. 3. Diagram showing the organization of German schools and American schools The subdivisions of the lines indicate a year in each case. Certain of the important items of the curriculum are set down under the years in which they are first introduced The European school for the aristocracy, on the other hand, is organized from its earliest years with a view to preparing its pupils for the higher callings. It is difficult for the American to understand how distinct this school is from the common school. The term “secondary school” is sometimes applied in educational writings to both the high school of the United States and the aristocratic schools of Europe. But the secondary school of Europe is entirely different from our high school. It takes little children in the lower grades and carries them through. Thus the German Gymnasium takes boys of the age of six. These are received into what is called a Vorschule, or preliminary school. After three years in the preliminary school the pupil begins his nine-year course in preparation for the university. In some of the states of the German Empire the pupil may be transferred into the Gymnasium from the earliest grades of the common school, but from this point on there is no commerce whatsoever, in teaching staff, in course of study, or in pupil constituency, between the common school and the school of the aristocracy. The division in France is quite as strict. In England transfer in the later years of the common-school course can be made, but only on the basis of examinations. The social consequences of such a division within the school system need no detailed exposition. The hard-and-fast lines of caste are drawn very deep in any country where the boys and girls are marked from the beginning of their training by separation in opportunity. INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN SCHOOLS ON THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF THIS COUNTRY It is not enough that we should see this contrast, however; we must learn its fuller meaning by looking into the history of our own school system. The fact is that we have not broken entirely away from the traditions of Europe. Our elementary school was borrowed directly from the Volksschule of Germany, and many of the readjustments which we are making to-day are nothing less than efforts to shake ourselves free from that disjointed scheme of education. The time of this borrowing of the German Volksschule is clearly marked in our history. In the first three decades of the nineteenth century American schools were at a low level of development. A vivid picture of conditions in 1801 can be given by quoting from one of the earliest school reports that we have. The superintendent of the city of Taunton, Massachusetts, in a recent report reproduced this interesting historical document, of which we may quote certain sections in order to show the kind of school organization which prevailed at that date. REPORT OF THE VISITING COMMITTEE OF TAUNTON IN 1801 The committee chosen by the town to inspect the schools beg leave to report their situation and examination.... January 6th, 1801. Your committee visited a school kept in Rueben Richmond’s house instructed by Mrs. Nabby Williams of 32 scholars. This school appeared in an uncultivated state the greater part of the scholars. On the 26 of Feb., visited Mrs. Nabby Williams’ school the second time and found that the scholars had made great proficiency in reading, spelling, writing and some in the grammar of the English language. Nov. 10th, the committee visited and examined two Schools just opened; one kept in a school house, near Baylies works, of the number of 40 scholars, instructed by Mr. Philip Lee. This School we found to have made but small proficiency in reading, spelling and writing, and to be kept only six or seven weeks; upon inquiry why it should be taught no longer, we were informed that the ratio of school money for this School was and had been usually expended in paying the Master both for his service and board, and in purchasing the fire wood which is contrary to the usual custom of the town. The other School, visited the same day, was kept near John Reed’s consisting of the number of between 30 and 40 Scholars instructed by Mr. William Reed; This School, being formed into regular classes, appeared to have made a good and pleasing proficiency in reading, spelling, writing, some in 18 19 20 21 arithmetic and others in the Grammar of the English language. This School’s share of school money is expended to pay the Master for his service only, so that the School will be continued three months. On the 8th day of December they visited a School kept in a School house near Seth Hodges, in number 30 Scholars instructed by Mr. John Dunbar. This School appeared in a good way of learning, and to be kept four months. On the 22nd of December your Committee visited two more Schools just opened, one in a School house near Samuel Pett’s of the number of 40 scholars instructed by Mr. Rufus Dean, and to be kept three months. This School appeared to be in a promising way of learning in reading spelling and writing and to be regularly taught. The other School is kept in the home of Mr. Paul Chase and taught by Mr. Nicolas Stephens, consisting of 30 Scholars, and appears quite in a good way of learning especially in Spelling for scarcely a word passed a scholar misspelle...