High school education

Introduction

The American high school is our most interesting educational institution, more democratic than the college and more selective than the elementary school. Manhood and womanhood are visibly budding. This fullness of life bewilders both the teachers and the students. Extravagant administrative and pedagogical wastes and misdirections cannot, however, prevent this fertile soil from producing educational fruitage. The high school as an institution enjoys, despite itself, a fair measure of success. With a sort of blind acceptance of mediaeval formulae it has stubbornly administered the same dose to all its students for a long time. Latin, Greek, and mathematics formerly killed or cured all. More recently the "mathematics and any foreign language" requirement, "the trunk of the curriculum," has constituted a modern "unescapable minimum." More have braved this treatment, and fewer have been killed. The scientific basis for this common treatment for all has of late been called into question. Is a foreign language, or is mathematics, or is any single subject, in itself necessary for all types of persons and all varieties of purposes ? The school's process of elimination has been a rule-of-thumb ministration. It should be based upon intelligent diagnosis and should represent more varied forms of treatment.

There is no such thing as a high school pedagogy. It is time all students of secondary education should recognize that we must rather speak of high school pedagogies.

V vi INTRODUCTION

There is already a fair pedagogy of language, something of a distinctive mathematical method, and, since Spencer, some think, a science procedure. Yet new subjects and even new functions for old subjects call for new pedagogies. Doubtless under modern high school conditions all our pedagogies must be remodelled. This is particularly evident in the cases of history, physics, English, biology, high school music, and all the so-called incoming subjects. Industrial education or agricultural education, for example, of a genuinely vocational character will bring into existence a pedagogy of school practice totally different from traditional text-bookish routine. So may modern physics and industrial chemistry, and so even may English. We have not discovered, again, the school avenue of approach to civic, or moral, or social enlightenment, nor are we likely to do so with traditional pedagogy.

This book attempts to do some pioneering in this promising experimental field. The first five chapters seek to suggest a characteristic setting for a broader and more variable institutional functioning, leaving a wideopen development possible. The following chapters represent conscious attempts to differentiate the distinguishable elements and pedagogical features one encounters in adapting to boys and girls of high school age the educational possibilities inherent in our twentieth century programme of studies. All the authors have assumed this multiplicity of pedagogies. The editor does not, in every case, agree with the convictions expressed, nor with the points chosen for greatest emphasis, nor can he intelligently disagree in many cases. It is hoped that the reader may find himself in the same dilemma frequently. Our urgent problem has been to

INTRODUCTION vii

present squarely and to define as concisely as possible genuine issues, and to collate educational theories of values viewed from intimacy of acquaintance with the further boundaries of the subject-matter as well as with desirable working high school conditions.

We tend to put our educational theory into text-books on educational psychology, principles of education, philosophy of education, general pedagogy, or theory and practice of teaching, and casually to refer to the differentiated disciplines within courses of study themselves. This book changes the emphasis and adopts something of the English custom or the German custom of reading whatever of scientific or established pedagogy we have definitely and specifically into the instruction matter we must in any case dispense. These treatments may in a sense be viewed as attempts at distinctions and co-ordinations of specific disciplines, rather than as moulds fashioned beforehand for a formal general discipline, a predetermined type of educational psychology, or as deductions from some favorite but remotely related philosophical system.

High school didactics offers then a promising field for investigation. Every prospective and actual teacher and every school administrator should have a conception of certain distinguishing functions of whatever subject-matter our high school programmes of study embrace, without as well as within the range of a particular branch of study. This book represents a co-operative attempt to put on record in a single usable volume an authoritative consensus of scholarly conviction as to what high school instruction may accomplish. The American high school is a socializing agency of our democracy also, and has still other aims in addition to the instructional one, which viii INTRODUCTION

must be treated in a subsequent volume. But it will always be a distinguishing function of an educational institution of secondary grade to realize itself chiefly through the spirit and matter of what it transmits systematically. The greatest obstacle to effective high school teaching is that the teachers teach mathematics with no clear notion why, and Latin or history or science, assuming likewise that in some mysterious way a result — not specified — will come about of itself.

This book attempts to treat from every angle possible the best approaches, theoretical and practical, to the genuine problems of high school programmes of study and curriculums, and of all the special courses of study which a high school may hope to administer and teach.

The contributors of the first five and the last chapters have had a free field within the limitations of their subject. Beginning with Chapter VI the writers have all consciously followed a common scheme of treatment. The following topics where feasible have been in some way incorporated in the separate discussions, and should be kept in mind by the critical reader as a sort of key to the plan of the book, as well as to the meaning of the chapters.

i. A simple statement of the broader aspects of this distinctive field of education, indicating the philosophical and logical background in such a way as to broaden the reader's comprehension of the deeper educational significance of the subject.

2. A specific adjustment of the moral, aesthetic, social, and practical disciplines to be reasonably expected from a study of this subject.

3. A brief sketch of the actual history of the subject in the school curriculum.

INTRODUCTION ix

4. The gradual change and improvement in the textbook presentations of the subject.

5. The gradual improvements in other apparatus than text-books, adopted for use in teaching it.

6. The gradual change in the conception of its educational value.

7. The degree and nature of correlation with other subjects, particularly since the report of the Committee of Ten of the National Education Association.

8. The growing refinement of methods for presenting the subject.

9. The grade preparation to be presupposed at present.

10. Its present status and the grounds for it as seen from a comparison of typical high school curriculums. The future possible developments and the grounds for this (growing, steady, or losing position?).

11. The social, psychological, and practical obstacles to its attaining its ideal educational aim.

12. The necessary, and also the more ideal preparation, academic and professional, called for in the teacher.

13. Appended bibliography, (a) additional references to books and special monographs dealing with the topics incorporated in the discussion, (b) a suggested list of books desirable for reference for high school libraries.

The contributors are men invited to co-operate in this undertaking because of their combined interest in the high school point of view and in the development of the subject-matter of their discussions. All writers have constantly kept in mind the original purpose of the book, that the life purposes of high school students constitute the ultimate objects of reference — not college admission x INTRODUCTION

standards, if these seem seriously to conflict with the broader aim. The work is intended primarily to appeal to all serious students of our modern high school, including State, county, and city superintendents, high school principals of all grades, and high school teachers in service. It may serve as a text in secondary education for prospective teachers in schools of education, departments of education, and normal schools.

The comprehensive plan of the undertaking makes of the volume something totally different from the common one-man solution of all these problems. No author could have written any other than his own chapter, yet all authors accepted the conditions of uniformity in treatment, so that there is that measure of unity which expert knowledge and serious co-operation will allow. No reader should expect final solutions of these problems. Such a unity for our book's conclusions would have been spurious. Instead the reader may here find honest and well-known scholars struggling to make plain and simple the reasons why we do or should not do these simple teaching operations which, without such articulate conviction, will deaden the greater part of our professional service.

The editor has found easily a place for instruction of classes in education in the subject-matter of this volume. The plan has evolved from class-room experience. Education departments, teachers' colleges, and many normal schools offer courses in "secondary education," "the American high school," "high school problems," "history and principles of secondary education," or "the high school course of study." In such courses as these the doctrine described above of specialized pedagogies applies. The contents of this type of course well illus-

INTRODUCTION xi

trate the truth that college courses also call for a variety of pedagogies. From the editor's experience with students of this subject at Dartmouth College, and for three years and three summer terms at the University of Michigan with a large proportion of practical experienced school administrators in the classes, and from a similar experience at the University of Kansas, the following method of treatment is suggested where the volume is adopted as a text. Limit the class to twenty or twenty-five members. Conduct somewhat as a seminary. Spend the first third of the term in class discussions of the problems of the first five chapters. Insist upon a good bit of reference work, as references are abundant and easily accessible. Emphasize the applicability and desirability of adoption of the principles advocated to the particular State or States represented by the members of the class. Then assign, by student's choice where possible, the topics of the succeeding chapters. Have the students in the preparation of their individual reports follow pretty closely, but in no particular order, the topics suggested in this introduction. Allow each student one-half the hour of a class meeting to make his report, and then conduct the class discussion in an attempt to compare the book treatment with the independent student's report upon the topic. Many students will have had some experience; many will have had a teachers' course in some subject, and all will have some preferred subject which they expect to teach. There is small likelihood that root questions, new developments, and a wide outlook on their professional participation in educational service will be overlooked. Throughout one ideal of the course should be to have prospective high school teachers realize the necessity that they understand xii INTRODUCTION

those high school courses of study which differ radically in function from their own.

In the near future also we may expect that these questions will occupy some of the time of our high school faculty meetings. High school principals will eventually actually administer and supervise in clear and mutual co-operation with their faculties these near problems of the actual instruction itself of the school. Some modification of the plan for class use suggested above will be found adaptable to these meetings when they become real meetings of educators.

There has been a concerted and thorough-going attempt by the authors to make the bibliography feature of the book up-to-date, reliable, and useful. High school principals, those directing the purchase of books for high school libraries, those directing reading circles, and particularly those who desire to pursue the questions raised by the different topics as treated, are urged to consult the references chapter by chapter. To insure the usefulness of these select and authorized lists of books and monographs, prices and publishers are in most cases given.

The book is dedicated to the high school teachers and principals of the country in whose awakening and encouragement it hopes to play some part.

Charles Hughes Johnston, Editor.

University of Kansas.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction v

Chapter I — Current Demands upon the Programme of Studies . .< 3

By Charles Hughes Johnston, Ph.D. (Harvard), Dean of the School of Education, University of Kansas.

1. A modern problem. 2. Co-operative relationship of school and college. 3. Multiplying kinds of education and their social significance. 4. The public interest in courses of study. 5. Leading issues that are eventuating. 6. Typical modern criticism. 7. Wholesale curriculum experimentation. 8. Technical curriculum problems. 9. A basis for reconstruction. 10. The future of the American high school.

Chapter II — The Disciplinary Basis of Courses of Study 31

By Charles Hughes Johnston.

1. Disciplinary contrasted with utilitarian basis. 2. A broadep conception of educational discipline. 3. Conflicting conceptions. 4. Sidis and James vs. Babbitt. 5. The theory of formal discipline. 6. Its historical status. 7. Its scientific status. 8. The teacher's concern with the theory.

Chapter III — History of Secondary Curricu- LUMS SINCE THE RENAISSANCE .... 45

By G. L. Jackson, Ph.D. (Columbia), Assistant Professor of the History of Education, University of Michigan.

1. Aim of chapter. 2. Greek education. 3. Roman education. 4. Medieval education. 5. The Renaissance. 6. The sixteenth century 7. Sturn's curriculum. 8. Predominance xiv CONTENTS

PAGE

of Latin in the secondary school. 9. Secondary schools of the seventeenth century. 10. Reaction from the Reformation, Puritanism, Pietism, Jansenism. 11. Reaction results in three types of secondary schools, Ritter-Akademien, Real-Schule, Academy. 12. Study of classics urged upon psychological grounds. 13. Influence of Rousseau upon secondary education. 14. German secondary education. 15. English secondary education. 16. French secondary education. 17. The American academy of the nineteenth century. 18. The development of the high school. 19. High school course of study. 20. Relation between the high school and the college. 21. Different types of high schools.

Chapter IV — Principles and Plans for Reorganizing Secondary Education ... 67

By Calvin Olin Davis, Ph.D. (Harvard), Assistant Professor of Education, University of Michigan.

1. The irrational and wasteful methods of present-day organization and administration historically, psychologically, and logically considered. 2. Recent attempts at improvement. 3. The "bill of indictment." 4. The plexus of evils in the seventh and eighth grades. 5. Plans for reorganizing the system. 6. The six and six division. 7. The five groups of pupils to be considered. 8. The resulting five fundamental courses of study. 9. The four general plans for organizing and administering the six-year high school. 10. Advantages of the new plan. 11. The six-year curriculum. 12. A suggested course of study. 13. Concluding arguments.

Chapter V — Instruction: Its Organization

and Control 106

By Edward C. Elliott, Ph.D. (Columbia), Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin.

1. The meaning and nature of control. 2. The function of school control. 3. The forms of external control; (a) legislative, (b) administrative, (c) supervisory, (d) inspectorial. 4. Three aims of subject-matter; the programme of studies; the curriculum; the course of study; relation of aims f o the forms of control. 5. Plans and specifications of instruction ; the function of

CONTENTS xv

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control. 6. Inspectorial control of instruction; State school systems and higher institutions. 7. Internal control of instruction; relation of principals and superintendents thereto. 8. Teachers, their preparation and selection. 9. Material equipment for instruction. 10. Text-books; selection; free. n. Supervisory control of instruction; efficiency of instruction. 12. Pupils; preparation; curriculums and courses of study for; tests of attainment.

Note. — Each of the following chapters treat their respective subjects in such a way as to furnish some information and many suggestions. They are primarily for teachers in service and for prospective teachers in normal schools, colleges, and educational departments of universities. The life purposes of high school students constitute the ultimate objects of reference — not college admission standards.

Chapter VI — Mathematics 128

By L. C. Karpinski, Ph.D. (Strassburg), Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of Michigan.

1. Historical treatment of the place of mathematics in instruction. 2. The present practical bearing. 3. The natural appeal of mathematics. 4. Its intimate connection with many fields of human activity. 5. A plea for closer correlation among the various branches of mathematics. 6. More adequate preparation on the part of teachers, in subject matter and methods of presentation. 7. Suggested changes mainly along the lines of simplification and correlation of material now employed.

Chapter VII — Physics 146

By Frederick Edward Kester, Ph.D. (Cornell), Head of Department of Physics, University of Kansas.

1. Physics, its elements of interest. 2. Its fundamental processes. 3. Its practical and pedagogical values. 4. History of the physics course in the high school. 5. Some recent definitions of the proper content of the course. 6. Criticisms, pro and con, of these definitions. 7. Probable future of the course. 8. The training of physics teachers.

xvi CONTENTS

Chapter VIII — Chemistry 183

By J. E. Mills, Ph.D. (North Carolina), formerly Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina.

1. Should chemistry be taught in the high schools? 2. The past and present status of chemistry in the high schools.

3. Difficulties in the way of successful teaching of chemistry.

4. Suggestions as to the teaching of chemistry. 5. Suggestions as to the laboratory equipment. 6. Suggestions as to the laboratory work. 7. Time and position to be allotted to the course in chemistry. 8. The equipment of the teacher. 9. Text-books and reference books.

Chapter IX — Biology ......... 198

By Arthur S. Pearse, Ph.D. (Harvard), formerly Assistant Professor of Zoology, University of Michigan; Associate Professor of Biology, St. Louis University School of Medicine.

1. Importance of biology. 2. Its history in the high schools of the United States. 3. Present status of biology in the high school. 4. Obstacles to successful teaching.

Chapter X — Physiography 212

By William J. Sutherland, A.M. (Wisconsin), President State Normal School, Platteville, Wisconsin.

1. Physiography defined. 2. Scientific character of physiography. 3. New method in physiography. 4. Applied science in secondary schools. 5. Summary of geographical characters and function of physiography. 6. Practical value and social phase of geographical knowledge. 7. Physiographic texts, changes, old and new contrasted. 8. Geographical laboratories. 9. Educational value of physiography. 10. Physiography in curriculum; justification as pure or applied science.

11. Introductory and correlative functions of physiography.

12. Physiography and physical geography, distinction. 13. Theoretical value of earth science. 14. A better method in physiography. 15. Need of well-prepared teachers in physiography. 16. Physiography, promise of future.

CONTENTS xvii

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Chapter XI — English 226

By Joseph Villiers Denney, A.M. (Michigan), Dean of the College of Arts, Philosophy, and Science, and Professor of English, Ohio State University.

1. The purpose of English study. 2. Fundamental principle of method. 3. The training of the imagination. 4. Ideals of English study. 5. Present pedagogical beliefs. 6. Text-book presentation of composition. 7. Teaching the English classics. 8. The use of the class-hour. 9. Preparation of the teacher. 10. General scheme of the English course. 11. Selection of reading.

Chapter XII — Public Speaking and Voice Training 244

By Dwight E. Watkins, A.M. (Michigan), Department of Public Speaking, Knox College.

1. Practical value of public speaking. 2. When it should be taught. 3. Relation to study for the professions. 4. Relation to civics. 5. Cultivation of leadership. 6. Oral interpretation of literature. 7. Vocal atrophy. 8. Training of the emotions. 9. Training of the will. 10. General improvement in instruction. 11. The debate. 12. The oratorical contest. 13. The dramatic club. 14. General tendencies. 15. Lack of uniformity in instruction. 16. Resolutions of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. 17. Preparation of the teacher. 18. Outlook for the future.

Chapter XIII — Latin 257

By Arthur Tappan Walker, Ph.D. (Chicago), Head of Latin Department, University of Kansas.

1. Aims of Latin study. 2. Ability to read Latin. 3. Disciplinary value. 4. Value for pupils' English. 5. Literary and historical value. 6. The course of study. 7. Report of commission on entrance requirements. 8. Translation at sight. 9. Choice of reading material. 10. Latin composition. 11. Formal grammar study. 12. Training of the teacher. 13. Minimum preparation. 14. Adequate preparation.

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Chapter XIV — Modern Languages . . . .277

By W. H. Carruth, Ph.D. (Harvard), Head of Department of German, University of Kansas.

1. Time for beginning. 2. Inductive method. 3. Natural method. 4. Reform method. 5. Text-books. 6. Illustrative material. 7. Preparation of teacher. 8. Outlined courses.

Chapter XV — History, Civil Government, and Political Economy 2I

By Wayland J. Chase, A.M. (Brown), Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin.

1. Importance of the study of history, civil government, and political economy. 2. The general recognition of the value of these studies. 3. The place of history in the high school curriculum. 4. Methods of teaching history. 5. Aids in the teaching of history. 6. Special aspects of the teaching of civil government. 7. Special aspects in the teaching of political economy. 8. The qualifications demanded of the teacher of history. 9. The preparation of the teacher of history.

Chapter XVI — Drawing, Free-hand and Mechanical ..... 304

By Walter Sargent, Professor of Fine and Industrial Art in Relation to Education, Chicago University.

1. Educational and industrial significance of art. 2. Value of mechanical drawing. 3. History of art in American schools. 4. Educational values of free-hand drawing, of mechanical drawing, and of design. 5. Courses and reasonable standards of attainment. 6. Preparation to be expected in elementary schools. 7. Time and credits allowed to drawing. 8. Importance of drawing in mechanical pursuits and in developing public taste. 9. The training of the teacher of drawing.

CONTENTS xix

Chapter XVII — Music in the High School . 317

By Charles Hubert Farnsworth, Professor of Music, Teachers College, Columbia University.

1. What music courses in high schools should be. 2. Music compared with other art subjects. 3. The spirit of modern teaching wrong. 4. How teaching of music may be improved. 5. Estimate of aesthetics as a study. 6. Standards of music preparation. 7. Plan for chorus work. 8. Justification for sight-singing discipline. 9. Appreciation courses. 10. Plan for appreciation courses. Credits, n. Courses in harmony, composition, and voice. 12. Musical clubs. 13. Utilization and recognition of private study outside of school. 14. Temperament and training of teachers.

Chapter XVIII — Moral Education and Training with a Suggested Course of Study 332

By W. B. Arbaugh, A.M. (Michigan), Superintendent of Schools, Ypsilanti, Michigan.

1. Need of moral culture in the schools. 2. Importance of moral training in modern life. 3. Moral element in education needs emphasizing. 4. Some aspects of the general problem. 5. Methods of instruction. 6. Programme of study.

Chapter XIX — Physiology and Hygiene . . . 346

By Charles Scott Berry, Ph.D. (Harvard), Assistant Professor of Education, University of Michigan.

1. Present-day interest in physical education. 2. Physiology and hygiene in the high school curriculum. 3. Beginning of movement. 4. Reasons for failure. 5. Present status of subject. 6. Medical inspection. 7. Revival of interest in physical education. 8. Present methods of organization. 9. Nature course. 10. Training of teacher.

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Chapter XX — Sex Pedagogy in the High School 361

By Aldred Scott Warthin, Ph.D., M.D. (Michigan), Professor of Pathology and Director of the Pathological Laboratories in the University of Michigan.

1. Sex problem. 2. Attitude of modern society toward the reproductive function. 3. Failure of parents to teach their children the most important things of life. 4. Results of ignorance concerning sexual matters as shown in the increase of the social evil and venereal diseases. 5. Awakening demand for a change of attitude. 6. American parents beginning to look to the schools for help. 7. Methods of attacking the sex problem. 8. What should be taught. 9. Methods of teaching. 10. By whom should it be taught. 11. Constructive teaching. 12. The teaching of anatomic and physiologic facts. 13. Utilization of courses in botany and zoology. 14. Idealization of the sex relationships. 15. Self-abuse. 16. Chastity and health. 17. Significance of puberty. 18. Preventive teaching. 19. Results of sexual promiscuity. 20. Venereal diseases. 21. Common-sense recognition of cause and effect. 22. Physical evils of sexual promiscuity. 23. General character of such teaching. 24. Significance of prostitution. 25. Degenerative effects of unrestrained lust. 26. High school problems.

Chapter XXI — Agriculture 381

By C. H. Robison, Ph.D. (Columbia), State Normal School, Upper Montclair, N. J.

1. Agriculture in the educational system. 2. Aims and methods. 3. Disciplinary values. 4. Relation to grade work. 5. Present status. 6. College entrance. 7. Agriculture in the curriculum. 8. The one-year course. 9. The longer course. 10. Its differentiation. 11. Correlation. 12. Texts. 13. Apparatus. 14. Time. 15. Teachers.

Note. — In the chapter on agriculture an attempt has been made to give some idea of its growth in the high school, and to state some of its problems and the differing opinions regarding their solution. To some extent these are problems of general education, of science instruction, and to a large extent, of industrial and vocational education — for of course these two terms

CONTENTS xxi are not synonymous. Even the very brief treatment of these phases has not permitted any attention to the interesting economic and sociological questions so intimately connected in the public mind with the introduction of agriculture into the curriculum.

Chapter XXII — Commercial Education . . . 396

By Selby A. Moran, B.L. (Michigan), Teacher of Commercial Subjects, Ann Arbor High School, and Principal of Stenographic Institute, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1. Introductory. 2. Aims. 3. Character and success of commercial education. 4. Subjects in the course. 5. Importance of stenography. 6. Text-books. 7. Office exhibits. 8. Preliminary preparation. 9. Obstacles to be overcome.

Chapter XXIII — Vocational Training in the High School, and Its Relation to Manual Training 409

By E. C. Warriner, A.B. (Michigan), Superintendent of Schools, Saginaw, Michigan.

1. Demand for vocational training. 2. Present-day tendencies. 3. Need for vocational training. 4. Duty of the State. 5. Vocational training in the high school. 6. Practical difficulties. 7. Co-operation between high school and factory. 8. Technical arts high schools. 9. Three lines of tendency. 10. Result of vocational trend in education, n. Vocational guidance.

Chapter XXIV — Practical Arts for Girls . 428

By Charlotte Joy Farnsworth, A.B. (Wellesley), Preceptress of Teachers College, Columbia University.

1. Theoretical and practical subjects in the high school. 2. Need for new valuation. 3. A course of study. 4. Economics of clothing. 5. Planning an allowance. 6. The Study of textile materials. 7. How to shop to advantage. 8. Household sanitation and management. 9. Fundamental principles. 10. Home care of sick. 11. Emergency work. 12. House furnishing. 13. Principles underlying good taste and economy.

xxii CONTENTS

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14. Social relations and conduct. 15. How to increase effectiveness and pleasure when individuals meet. 16. Recreation and enjoyment. 17. Value of plan versus drift in our leisure time.

Chapter XXV — Psychology in the High School Curriculum 441

By Irving Miller, Ph.D. (Chicago), Professor of the Science of Education, State Teachers' College, Greeley, Colorado.

1. Present-day interest in psychology. 2. A central science. 3. Varied relations to life illustrated on both theoretical and practical sides. 4. Newer trend in psychology — its independence of philosophy. 5. Its scientific character. 6. Biological and functional point of view. 7. Early recognition in secondary education. 8. Present status in high schools. 9. Value of non-professional basis, cultural, moral, and religious, in relation to mental control. 10. Text-books and other aids to study; current improvements, choice of books, n. Suggestions on methods. 12. Future of subject in high schools.

Chapter XXVI — The High School Library . 460

By Theodore Koch, A.M. (Harvard), Librarian, University of Michigan.

1. Importance of problem. 2. Growth of high school libraries. 3. Library work vs. teaching. 4. Difference between school library and public library. 5. Duties of the librarian. 6. Assistance for the librarian. 7. Purposes of a school library. 8. Teaching the use of the library. 9. Ignorance of average pupil concerning books. 10. Library instruction.

11. Specimen questions concerning books and 'their use.

12. Some things a teacher should know about books and libraries. 13. Library courses. 14. Value of library instruction.

15. Importance of early acquaintance with books as tools.

Index 547

Chapter I Current Demands Upon The Programme Of Studies '

Charles Hughes Johnston, Ph.D. dean of school of education, university of kansas

The High School Programme. — A modicum of educational theory, half articulate, but disentangled from the great mass of historical tradition and social prejudice, doubtless functions feebly in the minds of those who select and organize programmes of studies for high schools. The needs of high schools, their relations to the college, the professions, and the vocations figure increasingly in this educational frameworking of the last decade. Technical skill, constructive professional ideals, and cultural and moral demands are conspicuously emphasized in various types of discussions of the curriculum content and the social function of secondary education. Wide-spread and often adversely critical public concern in this question of the content of the course makes more urgent the necessity of co-operation among those who can effectively and comprehensively survey and take inventory of the available resources. The public high school is in a critically vital stage of its evolution. Historic forces in our educational development have forced upon this comparatively young institution ideals remote from the common man. Even the most respectable of

1 Consult chapter V for the officially adopted usage of "programme of studies," "curriculum," and "course of study."

its courses seem to this aroused and thoughtful public to represent undue and irrationally difficult peculiarities, to be ineffective in attainments which pass counter in the actual moral or industrial world, and to be bent upon enforcing unattainable scholastic standards. These standards are thought indeed to smack of intellectual luxury, to be narrow, stereotyped, and undemocratic. There is no considerable prejudice against "unescapable conditions of scholarship and intellectual living." There is, however, coming into vigorous existence a social conscience which will soon brook no dallying with the likewise unescapable school functions of insuring economic efficiency, sounder moral integrity, and perhaps a measure of aesthetic development. The rise and fall of the curve which indicates graphically the popularity and predominance of certain high school studies correlates too closely with changing college admission requirements for us to point historically to any healthy, self-orienting characteristics within the high school organizations themselves. This is past history, however. The high school will henceforth make history. It is clambering to its feet. Its leaders are organizing the resources for combined or at least co-operative attack upon the varied community issues. The multiplicity and complexity of the problems furnish a magnificent, urgent, and inspiriting challenge. Co-operation between High School and College. — It is said that the typical college man preserves history and tradition; that the typical school man makes history and tradition; and that their sympathies as well as their functions are diverse and antagonistic.

This has apparently been so; it is not so now. Because of a great social pressure we all note the growing spirit of co-operation between the schools and the colleges — a new brotherhood of educational workers. "Time was when the college was a kind of Olympus and the public school a lower region. Once each college went on its own way without consultation with school authorities and without regard to school conditions, but the continual advance in scholarship and in professional insight among public-school teachers has wrought a change of attitude." ' Now very many of our secondary teachers are scholars and have done a considerable amount of graduate work. There is no longer a great gulf fixed between the college and the high school. This growth into a closer, more cordial relationship enables us to say that the school and the college are directing different parts of the same process. It enables President Pritchett, of the Carnegie Foundation, to say that the policyof higher educational institutions is now marked by two important facts: (i) Freedom for the school in the choice of studies and methods, so that it may make its work adaptable to all who resort to it, most of whom do not enter college; (2) insistence by the college that the student in the school attain an adequate intellectual training irrespective of the detailsof how it maybe procured. In short, we may look forward to the day when the school shall have gained such efficiency and strength that it can stand alone in its curriculum making and not have to swim with the cork of supervision and college examination. This will mark the establishment of an honor system between schools and colleges, and is clearly foreshadowed in the most recent modifications of college admission requirements by even Harvard, the University of Chicago, and the University of Pennsylvania.