American i Geacher 


Democracy im Education: E ducation for Democracy. 


“NEW YORK, JUNE, 1913 50 CENTS A YEAR 





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FACTS VERSUS OPINION IN EFFICIENT 
SCHOOL WORK 


FRANK P. BACHMAN, Ph.D., 


Assistant Superintendent 


Scientific Management in School Work 


THE TERM “scientific management” 
has come into prominence within the last 
few years. “Scientific management” as 
employed in current literature has to do 
with business. In the field of affairs 
where efficiency and economy were sup- 
posed to exist, need has been found of 
radical reformation in methods. Serious 
study of what is involved in a given 
product, of how to inspire workmen to 
do their best, and of how to select men 
for given tasks, is bringing about a revo- 
lution in the business world. 

Workmen in quite every line of ac- 
tivity are subjected to definite measures 
of efficiency. This is true whether in 
handling pig iron, or in the production of 
articles involving skill, intelligence and 
taste. But school people, as a rule, have 
resented the thought that their efficiency 
can be measured by any of the criteria or 
checks of business, or by any definite 
standards. The teacher attempts to 
measure the efficiency of the child, but 
she demurs at the idea that her efficiency 
may at least be relatively determined by 
the regularity of the attendance of her 
pupils, by the amount of absence, or by 
the number of withdrawals, failures in 
studies or non-promotions. 

In a word, both superintendents and 
teachers have to a large degree held 
themselves aloof from any definite tests, 
and from-any measures of efficiency. 
The day is however near at hand when 
school administrators and teachers must 
come to appreciate that they are not a 
chosen class of workers, but that their 
work, like the work of all others, must 
be judged in view of relative standards. 
We must come to accept the fact that 
the school is a machine organized 
and supported by society to do a specific 
type of work, and that as a machine or 
tool it is subject to definite tests of ef- 
ficiency. We must come to appreciate 
that the spirit of scientific management 


of Schools, Cleveland 


as now applied to business must be car- 
ried over into the field of education to 
do for the school what it is now doing 
for business. 
Present Place of Opinion in Sc 
V’ork 


Not only have superintendents 
teachers been more or less free f 
the exacting tests of other activities, | 
administrators have been guided in t 
work by opinion rather than by facts 
no other field does personal opinion 
sO prominent a part. The busines 
the school is carried on in a given 
to-day because this was the practise 
terday; the school year is of a g 
length because this was its length ; 
cade ago; given methods of prom: 
are continued because these were 
methods of the past; classes are organ- 
ized in a given way because they 
organized the same way one hun: 
years ago; our attitude toward for 
languages, toward science, toward fo 
mal grammar, toward the time and lace 
given to arithmetic; our ideas of wv 
to begin the teaching of formal spe« 
or of writing or of geography, of 
much to require in a given grade 
not upon facts, but upon opinions- 
ions which in turn are determined to a 
considerable extent by education and 
temperament. 

Not only in the work of admin 
tion are our policies a reflection 
greater or less extent of personal biz 
but even in similar matters—if they may 
be so called—the personal point of view 
dominates. We all arbitrarily a--ume 
that the elementary school and the high 
school are doing all they shoul: for 
their pupils; that pupils are efficicnt i 
reading ; that this style and type of wrt 
ing is preferable; that our children are 
good or poor in spelling; that the work 
in history and geography is effective; 
that the proper emphasis is placed upon 


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82 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 


each of the studies, and that these are 
given their proper time value and their 
proper emphasis in the advancement of 
children thru the school. Seldom 
if ever, in the past have school men 
proved by systematic investigation any 
of the above assumptions. 

lf the public school is to be scientifi- 
cally managed; if school administration 
is to be elevated above the plane of per- 
sonal opinion; if the work of the super- 
intendent as well as of the teacher is to 
be measured by definite criteria; if our 
theories are to be given foundation; if 
our assumptions with reference to lines 
of work, methods of instruction, mastery 
of subject matter and skill in manipula- 
tion are to be displaced by positive 
knowledge, scientific and systematic 
study must be made of school methods 
and of school results. For only as facts 
take the place of opinion, assumption 
gives way to definite knowledge, mere 
personal opinion yields to established 
principles will the administration of our 
schools and the instruction in them be 
placed upon a firm footing and become 
efficient. 

Facts Versus Opinion in Determining 

Methods of Instruction 


An illustration or two will make clear 
the mode of procedure, as we take it, 
which must be pursued at least in spirit 
if the management of our schools is to 
become scientific. 

The objective purpose of teaching 
reading in the primary grades is to en- 
able the child to master the mechanics 
of reading. There are a number of well 
known methods: The natural method, 
the sentence method, the word method, 
and the Ward method. What is the or- 
dinary way of determining which of 
these methods is preferable? The fol- 
lowing method of selection is more or 
less representative. 

_ A given primary teacher may be us- 
ing, tor example, the “natural method.” 
She attends a summer session in some 
repuiahle college and takes a course in 
the ‘sentence method.” At the begin- 
ning of the new year she discards the 
method previously used, the “natural 


method,” and teaches primary reading 
according to the sentence method. The 
following summer she again attends 
summer school, this time taking a course 
in the “Ward method.” In turn the 
“sentence method” is discarded and the 
Ward method introduced. No attempt 
whatever is made to test the efficiency 
of the methods adopted. Indeed, the 
average teacher feels under no constraint 
to measure results. If the given method 
of instruction appeals to her fancy, if 
the children seem to be happy and there 
is no objection from above, the teacher 
as a rule is content. Methods of teach- 
ing in general are thus adopted and re- 
jected much like spring fashions. So 
long, however, as the acceptance and 
rejection of methods of instruction rest 
upon mere personal preference, so long 
as no test is made of the results derived 
therefrom, so long will school teaching 
be school keeping, and the work of the 
school more or less haphazard. Only as 
methods of teaching are subjected to 
severe quantitative measurements, will! 
teachers be in a position to determine 
the worth of given methods of instruc- 
tion, and the school thereby rendered 
efficient. 


Facts Versus Opinion in Standardizing 
Subjects, Departments and Schools 


The value of studies is fixed by the 
time allotted in the daily program. 
Study requirements and practise seem- 
ingly have little relation to the value 
ascribed. Reading, for example, was 
given in the time schedule of the Cleve- 
land Public Schools in 1909 and Ig10, 
25 per cent. of the total time of the ele- 
mentary schools, language and gram- 
mar 15 per cent., arithmetic 16 per cent. 
and history 4 per cent. In the first year 
of the Cleveland High Schools an equal 
allotment of time is provided for in 
Latin, English, algebra and natural his- 
tory. Nevertheless, the failures in lan- 
guage and grammar at the end of the 
year 1910 were, in view of. the time 
value ascribed, almost four times as 
many as in reading, those in arithmetic 
three times larger than in reading, while 
those in history were six times larger. 





84 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


In the high schools 26 per cent. of the 
children drop out or fail in Latin, 15 
per cent. in English, 13 per cent. in al- 
gebra and 22 per cent. in natural his- 
tory. In one elementary school the fail- 
ures in arithmetic amounted to 25 per 
cent. In another doing the same work 
there were no failures. In the high 
schools those dropping out and failing 
in first year Latin, ranged in the several 
schools from 26 per cent to 41 per cent., 
in algebra from 26 per cent. to 46 per 
cent., in geometry (second year study) 
from 23 per cent. to 45 per cent. 

Such variations in failures in studies 
reveal a need for _ standardization. 
Standards for completing a sttidy of 
great value should be such as actually to 
put the emphasis on that study, rather 
than, as is now the case that the pres- 
sure on a study of small worth when 
measured by the time allotted, should be 
from two to twenty times greater than 
the pressure upon a study of great im- 
portance. Yet until positive data are 
collected with reference to failures by 
studies in the various grades, and these 
data made the basis of administrative 
action, little can be accomplished in 
equalizing and standardizing study re- 
quirements. 

There is a similar need with regard to 
standardizing individual schools. That 
schools should be rightly judged with re- 


gard to their work and that there should 
be reasonable uniformity in the require. 
ments of different schools working un- 
der similar conditions, there can be li'tle 
doubt. Yet, before this can be done data 
must be collected with reference to fuil- 
ures by studies, non-promotions in <if- 
ferent schools; city-wide standards fixed 
upon the basis of these data and the re. 
quirements of individual schools equal- 
ized. 


Conclusion 


The above will suffice to illustrate liow 
facts may be gathered and employed 
In the collection and use of such dataa 
mere beginning has been made. Yet if 
the spirit of scientific management is to 
pervade the school, and if the effective- 
ness of the school as an institution is to 
be definitely measured, if the work of 
the teacher, as well as that of the ad- 
ministrator, is to be subjected to fixed 
tests, if personal bias and mere unsub- 
stantiated opinion are to give way to 
positive knowledge and the school rené- 
ered effective, data similar to the above 
with reference to all problems of instruc: 
tion and administration must be collected 
and employed in directing educational 
activities, to the end that the modem 
school may be made to serve all the chil- 
dren and all the people of the com. 
munity. 


STANDARDS IN EDUCATION 


[In commenting on the results of the 
School Inquiry in New York City, City Su- 
perintendent William H. Maxwell observed 
among other things that the “standards by 
which we are tested are new and untried.” 


In reply to this criticism papers were writ- 
ten by educators-in various parts oi the 


country. The following are selected {rom 
among a large number—Ed.] 


Guy e. WILSON 


Director, State Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa 


THE STANDARDs for judging instruction, 
as formulated by Dr. McMurry, are not 
new and untried except in their definite- 
ness and order. The lack of such stand- 
ards definitely stated is. chiefly respon- 
sible for the desultory and haphazard 
work in the schools of the past. 


1. It has been clearly shown in ever) 
department of human endeavor that bet 
ter progress is made if the energy ¢x 
pended is directed toward the accor 
plishment of a definite and desired ent. 

2. In all growth involving the use o 
material (whether mental or physica) 





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THE AMERICAN TEACHER 85 


there is need for the organization of that 
material. 

2. This organization is naturally im- 
possible without a consideration of rela- 
tive values. 

Relative values must be considered 
from the viewpoint of the individual con- 
cerned, as they apply to individual ap- 
perceptive needs. Hence the necessity 


in all real education, whether within 
school or without, of provision for the 
development of individuality. 

:. In all affairs of life, if we are to 
profit by the experience of the race, we 


must be able to interpret the experience 
of others in terms of our own needs; 
hence the need of providing means for 
supplementing with the thots of others. 

6. Nothing is definitely known to be 
true until it is tried and found to “make 
good”; hence the need of provision for 
use. 

While these standards in this form 
are to some extent “new and untried,” 
experience in every phase of life em- 
phasizes their necessity ; hence it is quite 
right to apply them to instruction, even 
tho there they are “new and untried.” 


CLINTON EMMETT ROSE 


Principal High 

(hese standards for judging instruc- 
tion are not new and untried. They aim 
to accomplish in instruction the very 
tnings that society demands of the pro- 
duct of the school. 

Specific purpose. When the boy or 
girl leaves the school and enters “prac- 
tical” life, nearly every action and every 
thot will be called forth by a specific pur- 
pose. The banker is controlled in every 
action during his working day by the in- 
terests of his institution, and those in- 
terests demand careful adjustment of 
means to ends. In no line of work is 
it conceivable that the individual should 
proceed in his thot and action without a 
controlling motive. Specific purpose 
merely means motive; and motive con- 
trols action and the quality of action all 
thru life. 

Relative values. Success in life de- 
pends upon the ability to select the things 
worth while and to discard all others. 
The successful lawyer or doctor owes 
his suecess to this very ability. The time 
when it was thot possible for any indi- 
vidual to: get all knowledge is past; the 
time is past when one kind of know!l- 
edge was considered as good as any 
other. This is an age of specialization. 
It is therefore one of the principal func- 
tions of the school to train in the distinc- 
of relative worths. 

Organization. Success depends more- 
over upon ability to organize the knowl- 


tion 


School, 


Boise, Idaho 
edge that one has around the problem 
one needs to solve. It means “thinking” 
or “reasoning power,” rather than the 
old idea of cramming the mind with un- 
related facts, hoping that they will re- 
sult in power. The ability to organize or 
to think or reason is the factor that sep- 
arates the professional man, the banker, 
the merchant, the successful salesman 
from the ditch digger, the machine ten- 
der and so forth. The ability to organ- 
ize is rightfully demanded of the school. 
Use. This leads directly to that stand- 
ard of instruction which calls for the im- 
mediate using of the knowledge. Proper 
organization in all lines of business de- 
mands a conservation of energies. This 
means a provision for the use of pro- 
ducts rather than’ their storing away. 
The only sure way to provide for the 
right use of the knowledge ac- 
quired is to make such knowledge a 
part of self by practise. The new psy- 
chology hits hard at the ideo-motor 
activity. The surest way to have a thing 
done right is in repetition of a thing once 
done right with pleasurable after effects. 
Individuality. There are two kinds of 
occupations: the energizing and the en- 
ervating. Society demands efficient 
citizens, and it is the business of the 
school to prepare only for the energizing 
occupations, those that demand more 
than a machine-like activity. In other 
words, the world is demanding more and 





86 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


more that the school turn out men and 
women who are able to do things on 
their own initiative. Therefore, the kind 
of instruction which does not provide 
for the individuality of the child is vio- 
lating the greatest demand of society. 
In fact, the only way in which we can 
be sure of any development at all is 


thru applying the elements of an cn- 
vironment to the individual. 

Thus we may see that these standards 
meet the greatest demands which |! 
must admit that society makes upon the 
individual; they are therefore both «ld 
and “tried.” 





ABSTRACT OF REPORT OF NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL INQUIRY 


THE QUALITY OF CLASS ROOM INSTRUCTION 


Professor FRANK M. McMurry 
Teachers’ College, Columbia University 


IN INVESTIGATING the quality of class- 
room. instruction in the elementary 
schools, Prof. McMurry set up four 
standards: (1) the purpose inculcated 
in pupils; (2) the consideration of 
values; (3) the attention to organiza- 
tion; and (4) the exercise of initiative 
by the pupils. The first standard (mo- 
tivation) requires that all teaching be 
related to life. Pupils should be led to 
know, to do and to be; and this is only 
possible when the pupils feel that their 


studies are helping them to satisfy a. 


need, or to overcome a difficulty, or to 
solve a problem. The second standard 
(judgment of values) calls for the con- 
stant use of discrimination and com- 
parison on the part of the pupils. In all 
lessons, pupils should be led to select 
the most important items, the most beau- 
tiful passages and the most significant 
facts. In this way a proper appreciation 
of relative values may be developed. 
The third standard (organization) 
demands that the facts and ideas pre- 
sented in a lesson should be so organized 
by the pupils that they will form a com- 
plete unity. They must learn to select 
the central idea, and bring all the sub- 
ordinate facts into close relation to it; 
otherwise there is danger that they will 
fail “to see the forest for the trees.” 
The fourth standard (initiative) in- 
sists on the development of the power 
of self-direction in the pupils. In all 
school tasks it is wrong for the teacher 
to assume full leadership:. but from the 


kindergarten class pupils should be c- 
customed to share the responsibility in 
planning and executing work. In this 
way a spirit of independence and self- 
reliance may be fostered. 

These standards are also valuable fro 
the point of view of habit formati: 
Instruction may easily accustom young 
people to work in a listless way, with- 
out reference to the relative values of 
ideas, on scattered facts entirely, and in 
helpless dependence upon the teacher. Or 
it may habituate them to the opposite 
way of working, and lead to the forma- 
tion of the leading habits of thinking. 
particularly those touching motive, value 
system and independence. 

Again, the first ideal of instruction is 
thoroness of knowledge, and the secon! 
is the ability to use the knowledge. Thoes: 
four standards make it possible to ap- 
proximate these ideals. The weighing of 
values and the organization of facts lead 
to thoroness, while motivation and trai?- 
ing in initiative lead to the ability to use 
the knowledge gained. 

From these remarks it may therefore 
be concluded that these four standards 
are valuable in judging the quality of 
teaching. Where the comprehension and 
retention of facts and mechanical skil 
are the acknowledged goal rather than 
certain effects upon the more important 
habits of the pupil, instruction is on 2 
low plane. But where efficiency on the 
part of the pupil is the goal, where {acts 
are selected and presented with the ob- 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 87 


iect of making the pupils energetic, hig’- 
minded, judicious, forceful and _ self- 
reliant, instruction is on a high plane. 
\fter a thoro investigation of the 
teaching in the elementary schools, in 
which not less than three hundred class- 
rooms were visited, Prof. McMurry con- 
cludes that— 
according to the standards proposed for 
iudging instruction, that now given in the 
York City clementary schools is—in 
of many exceptions—on a low plane, 
in quality, and discouraging for the 


‘artly accountable for these adverse 
findings are the following principle; 
which constitute the educational theory 
of the elementary schools: 

(a) On account of the size of the sys- 
tem there is scarcely a limit to the extent 
to which uniformity is necessary. 

b) The principal subject matter of in- 
struction is what is automatically usable 

(c) The leading element in schoalr-- 
ship is accuracy in details. 

d) The time for the pupil to use his 
knowledge acquired in school is the dis- 
tant future—not now. 

\nother reason for the low plane of 
instruction is found in the unsatisfactory 
attitude of the teachers. This is due to 
the fact that they have no authority 

(1) to punish unusually troublesom : 
children, 

(2) no voice in the administration of 
the school, and 

(3) no persons of inspiring leadershi; 
in authority over them. 

\ third and perhaps the most impor- 
tant reason for the poor results found 
everywhere is the curriculum and syllai 
adopted by the Board of Superintend- 
ents 

(a) With the exception of the course 


in literature and cooking there is no pro- 
vision for motive. Geography is not or- 
ganized about human problems; nature 
study, science and grammar are ap- 
proached from a scientific point of view. 
English history has no connection with 
present life, and most of the other sub- 
jects emphasize technical efficiency. 

(b) As for attention to relative 
values, many topics that have little worth 
are included, especially in geography, 
composition, arithmetic, English history 
and drawing; and many others that are 
a very source of life are omitted. 

(c) There is a great lack of organi- 
zation. There is practically no attempt 
to correlate the different subjects of 
study, nor to interrelate the ideas withia 
each study. 

(d) No provision is made for pre- 
serving and developing the individuality 
of the children; in fact the influence of 
the curriculum and the syllabi tends 
somewhat in the opposite direction. 

A fourth item which must be con- 
sidered in accounting for the poor qual- 
ity of instruction is the supervision of 
schools by the principals. This is gener- 
ally of a low type. On account of the 
overemphasis of administrative duties, 
the great size of many schools, the 
want of authority among principals, the 
prominence of examination of teachers, 
together with the poor basis on which 
they are conducted, and the lack of 
theory as to method of supervising the 
supervision by the principals is by no 
means helpful to the teacher. In most 
schools, therefore, the principal as wn 
educational leader is a failure. 

For all these reasons the actual work 
of the schools, in large part, both in its 
spirit and its details, cannot be com- 
mended. 





THE COURSE OF STUDY IN HIGH SCHOOLS 


Professor Catvin O. Davis 
University of Michigan 


Tuts section of the School Inquiry 
Report is given over to the discussion of 
the organization and the administration 


of the “general” and certain “special” 
courses of study in the New York City 
high schools. 





88 THE 


In order to arrive at some notion of 
whether educational practise in New 
York City high schools is in harmony 
with modern tendencies in the United 
States, comparisons are made with cor- 
responding features in the educational 
systems of ten representative cities in the 
nation. They are: Boston, Chicago, Cin- 
cinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, 
Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark and 
St. Louis. 

The scope or range of the work of- 
fered in the general courses of the gen- 
eral high schools of the cities compared 
varies appreciably. Each provides the 
conventional academic branches—Eng- 
lish, foreign languages, history, civics, 
economics, mathematics, and natural 
science. There are also found in practi- 
cally all of the ten cities considered many 
new subjects taught in general schools 
side by side with the older subjects. 


Among these are, manual training, cook- 
ing, sewing, applied art, various commer- 
cial branches, industrial and commercial 
aspects of history and geography. and 
differentiated courses in English, science, 


and mathematics. 

In comparison with the offerings in 
the ten cities analyzed the general cours: 
in New York City is decidedly narrow. 
The statement is made that in respect to 
the newer and more practical subjects, 
the course in New York City is in the 
state of organization which is already 
outgrown by most other cities. 

A comparison of the number of peri- 
ods given to the subjects in all the cities 
brings out the fact that New York offers 
fewer periods of work in English than 
do seven of the cities, but more than 
three. In foreign languages New York 
is at the head of the iist in the number 
of periods offered. In history, mathe- 
matics, commercial subjects and indus- 
trial subjects New York offers fewer 
periods per week than do most of the 
other cities. The conclusion on that point 
is that the work of the New York City 
high schools is pursued with less inten- 
siveness than is common in the other 
cities. 

+ Only one city, St. Louis, prescribes a 
higher percentage of the studies offered 


AMERICAN TEACHER 


than does New York. St. Louis pre- 
scribes 75 per cent. of the total amount 
of work required for graduation. New 
York prescribes 70 per cent. This is taken 
to mean that New York administers ‘he 
general course with less regard to the 
special interests and aptitudes of the 
students than any other of the ten cities 
except St. Louis. 

The first vear of the general cours: 
must be taken in its entirety by every 
pupil. The option of Latin, German or 
French is not regarded by Prof. Davis 
as a real opportunity for a choice, since 
all are foreign languages. In practise in 
many New York high schools custom ha: 
decided that Latin must be taken any- 
way. Thus even the appearance of op- 
tion disappears. No other of the eleven 
cities presents a similar situation. In 
the second year New York City stands 
second to Cincinnati in the percentage >{ 
second year subjects prescribed; in the 
third year, third; and in the fourth year 
ties with Cleveland for second place 

The material at the disposal of the 
School Inquiry Committee did not en- 
able it to determine the manner in which 
the published courses in the ten other 
cities were administered in practise. In 
New York City, however, numerous an] 
in some instances very great divergences 
from the published courses were (is- 
covered. The divergences are all with- 
in the restricted fields laid out; in some 
cases they mean minimized work, but 
not work differentiated to meet special 
needs of pupils. 

In Prof. Davis’ study of the offerings 
of special and technical courses in the 
eleven cities he finds that New York: is 
far from being abreast of the times. 

Considering the size of the city, the vari- 
ous nationalities represented, and the differ- 
ent intellectual, artistic and vocational ap- 
titudes among the students, the provisions 
for special courses or special schools of 
other types in New York City fall far short 
of what is being undertaken in several other 
places 

In nearly every one of the ten cities 
many special courses are available to the 
boys and girls in the general high 
schools. This arrangement makes it /o:- 
sible for the pupils to test their interest 

(Continued on page 91) 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 89 


The 
American Ceacher 


Education for Denecray 


‘ublished monthly, except July and August, by 
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De ocracy in Education ; 








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Entered at the Post Office of New York 
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No. 6 





Vo. 

T his paper seeks to olvaien ae status 
of the teacher to the dignity and the in- 
fluence of a profession, by advocating 
high standards of admission to the call- 
ing; by urging an extension of the op- 
portunities for the participation of teach- 
ers in the direction of educational affairs ; 
and by supporting the organization of 
teachers for all legitimate professional 
purposes. 





UNASHAMED 


WE HAVE BEEN TOLD that school 
teachers, when among strangers, make 
fre: wuently desperate efforts to conceal 
the fact that they are school teachers. 
There are undoubtedly reasons for be- 
ing ashamed of some of our colleagues; 
yet that would be equally true if we were 
lawyers or merchants or senators. But 
being ashamed of some of our colleagues 


is no reason for being ashamed of our 
calling. We have among us very many 
who do not earn what they receive; but 
we have also a large number who earn 
more than they can ever expect to re- 
ceive. We have not, on the whole, the 
social recognition that some of us think 
we should have; but perhaps we shall get 
more as fast as we succeed in bringing 
up a generation of young men and 
women with a new standard of values. 
It will hardly do to rail at the public’s 
lack of appreciation; the public has been 
influenced by its teachers, and we must 
be prepared to accept the consequences. 
We do not need to match our garments 
and jewels against those worn by mem- 
bers of the leisure class, nor need we be 
ashamed that our equipages are not in 
the style of those displayed by the ex- 
ploiting classes. We do not, on the 
whole, occupy so large a space on the 
front page of the newspaper as we think 
we should; but that is not a serious 
grievance, nor is it anything to be 
ashamed of—and perhaps the remedy is 
in our own hands after all. 

If we do our work as well as we can 
day by day, if we look forward to im- 
proving the condition of the work for 
ourselves and for our less energetic col- 
leagues, we do worthily. If we do these 
things conscientiously, we know too well 
how far short we come of doing what 
should be done. But we know also that 
none serve more faithfully; and in 
all due modesty we may look the 
salesman and the banker in the face— 
UNASHAMED. 

When you go on your vacation this 
summer, do not try to hide your place 
in society, or in the history of modern 
man. You have made many blunders, 
as have all of us, but you are resolved 
to avoid similar blunders in the future. 
You have submitted to many indignities, 
as have all of us, but you are resolved 
to raise your work to a human plane 
next year. Think faith in your calling 
as the one best worth following; think 
faith in yourself as one worthy of the 
calling—-or get out of it. 

On board the ocean steamer, you can 
not hide your calling—unless you are 





90 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


I. Teachers’ Interests Committees 


exceptionally clever, in which case you 
1, Committee on Professional Impr. 


should not want to. You cannot hide 
your calling--we are marked for life. 
Make up your mind that the mark shall 
be not a Blot, but a Star. 


* * * 


THe AMERICAN TEACHER has been 
working from its inception in the pride 
of our profession. This is not a com- 
mercial enterprise—-on the contrary. 
We have asked our friends to subscribe; 
and we have urged our readers to renew 
their subscriptions. We believe that we 
have demonstrated the need for an or- 
gan devoted to the ideals and the prin- 
ciples for which this magazine strives. 
We find encouragement in the growing 
volume of opinion in harmony with the 
views which we have put forth. We ob- 
serve with great satisfaction the emer- 
gence of teachers in all parts of the 
country into the consciousness of the 
need for an improved status. We feel 
that we are contributing to this educa- 
tional and professional rebirth, while we 
realize that we are but part of a larger 
movement that is carrying us all along 
with it. Under these circumstances we 
no longer hesitate to call upon our read- 
ers to do what they can to assist in 
carrying forward the work we have un- 
dertaken. Get readers, even if they 
can’t afford to subscribe. Tall. Tre 
AMERICAN TEACHER every chance you 
find; get subscribers and send us the 
money. 


GOOD PLANS 


HERE IS a suggestion of constructive 
work undertaken by The Teachers’ 
League of New York. It is a good be- 
ginning. Now let the investigations be 
actually carried out. If that is done suc- 
cessfully, we shall not need to worry 
much about the professional spirit and 
understanding of this particular teachers’ 
organization. 

THE TEACHERS’ LEAGUE 
COMMITTEE BULLETIN 

The following is a brief outline of the 

work which the Teachers’ League of New 


York will undertake in the present school 
year and in the year 1913-14: 


II. 


. Committee 


ment 

a Free Courses 

b Opportunities for Visiting 
Sabbatical Years 
Constructive Supervision 
Pedagogical Experimentation 


. Committee on Ratings, Promotions 


Salaries 

on Pensions, Retirem 
and Compensation for Disability 
Committee on the Status of Mar: 
Women Teachers 


Pupils’ Interests Committees 


. Committee on the Course of Study 


a Elementary Schools 

b High Schools 
(Considered with reference to 
social efficiency of the school) 


. Committee on Textbooks and Supplies 
(Considered with reference to t eir 


usefulness for the purpose 
which intended, and with refer¢ 
to economy) 


. Committee on School Hygiene 
Organization and Efficiency Commit 


tees 


. Committee on School Organization 


Management 
a Teachers Initiative 
b Size of Schools 
c Size of Classes 
d Clerical Work 
e Programs 
f Provision for Exceptional Childrc: 


. Committee on Reports and Statistic 


(With the duty of inquiring 
accurate methods of systematizi: 
facts) 

Committee on Legislation 


(With the duty of keeping in touc! 
with legislation affecting education 
in this and other states, and with 
the duty of.making suggestions for 
laws needed to carry out the pur- 


poses of the League) 


. General Committees 


= 

3. Committee on Publications 
Committee) L 

Committee on Finance 


4. 
Teachers are 


. Committee on Membership | - 
(With the duty of informing sm: 


or large bodies of teachers throug! 
out the city about the purposes 
the work of the League) 


Committee on the Press 
(Libr 


invited to become 
of any one of these committees 


— 


N 


ing 


making yourself 


o, Gracie, Democracy does not mean 
disrespectful to the authorities. It m 
worthy of respect. 





mem)ers 


THE 


THE COURSE OF STUDY IN 
HIGH SCHOOLS 


(Continued from page 88) 


in other subjects than those available to 
the boys and girls of New York who 
happen to have cast their lots with the 
general schools. To the extent to which 

school system offers courses that mect 
the tastes and aptitudes of the pupils, 
they have “equal educational opportun- 
ities,” but equal opportunities cannot 
mean the same opportunities. 

Large numbers of children enter the 
high schools without knowing what they 
want to do. Some enter who think they 
know what they want to do, but some- 
times a short experience shows them 
that they were mistaken. Ideas of chil- 
dren change just as the ideas of adults 
change with experience. For those who 
do not know what they want, and for 
those who change their minds, the in- 
flexible course of study offers no hope. 
The school which provides for all has 
far more opportunity to keep them all. 
Proof is available that one of the most 
important causes for pupils leaving the 
high school in the first year is the re- 
pellent attitude which the inflexible 
course makes the school assume toward 
the children who do not happen to be 
adapted to the work as presented. 


The solution of the problem of how 
to find out what kind of courses would 
make the school more useful to the chil- 
dren and to the community, Prof. Davis 
thinks can best be worked out by the 
high school principal in conjunction with 
the teachers of the school. He recom- 
mends that every five years the school 
reanalyze the entire local situation anew. 
He says: 

Only by adopting some such procedure can 

urse of study be kept in touch with the 
ee of the community it is designed to 


and in harmony with contemporary edu- 
nal principles. 


'he Committee takes the ground that 


atever may be the intrinsic values of cer- 
prescribed subjects, those values are not 
zable to any satisfactory degree unless 
subjects can be made to relate themselves 
) the* past, the present, or the prospective 


AMERICAN TEACHER 91 


pupils 


individual 


of the 


future experiences 
pursuing them. 


The analysis offered by the Commit- 
tee of the factors of universal impor- 
tance in the lives of people establishes 
the basis for the choice of subjects that 
the schools may reasonably require of the 
pupils. The percentage of the subjects 
thus demanded is much less than re- 
quired now in New York City. More- 
over, many of the old subjects are of- 
fered as subcourses, to be taken up as 
taste for them develops, or as their con- 
nection with the future plans of the 
pupil can be demonstrated. 

The paragraph outlining the Commit- 
tee’s recommendations for a _ recon- 
structed course in so significant that it 
is presented here in complete form: 


In the light of practise elsewhere, and in 
keeping with current educational opinion, as 
voiced in associational resolutions, in maga- 
zine articles, and in public discussions, we feel 
justified in making the following recommenda- 
tions, namely: 

(1) In English, including language study, 
composition, literature, and oral expression, 
three years of work, with five recitation per- 
iods per week. 

(2) In the social sciences, two years of 
work, including a year’s work in introductory 
social science (based on municipal activities, 
civic, industrial, and commercial, and includ- 
ing vocational guidance), and a year’s work in 
American history and civics. The first course 
may be assigned (three or) four periods per 
week; the last should be assigned five periods 
per week. 

(3) In natural science, a year of work in 
introductory natural science, covering four 
(or five) periods per week, based on biology, 
and including much instruction in bacteri- 
ology, physiology, and hygiene. 

(4) In manual training for boys and do- 
mestic science and art for girls, four double 
periods per week thruout one year. 

(5) In physical training and games, two 
periods per week thruout four years, the work 
being conducted so as to give relaxation and 
pleasure, and to develop useful habits of exer- 
cise; and not so much as is often noticed at 
present to secure approximation to theoreti- 
cal ideals of grace and beauty of form. 

(6) In “Assembly” talks, readings, and 
addresses, one period per week during the en- 
tire four years, the material presented to call 
for pupil reactions in some definite form each 
week. 

(7) In music, one period per week for two 
years; and 

(8) In drawing, one period per week for 
two years. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


GENERAL § 


Professor EpwarRpD C. 


University 


In the prefatory statement, Prof. El- 
liott, after pointing out and defining the 
various kinds of school control—legis- 
lative, administrative, supervisory and 
inspectorial—comes to the conclusion 
that there seems to be nowhere, at least 
within the school system, a clear and 
conscious discrimination between those 
activities of control that are administra- 
tive in character, and those that are su- 
pervisory or inspectorial. The absence 
of this distinction in the minds of those 
charged with the main responsibility has 
been, it is believed, an important factor 
in retarding the progress and complicat- 
ing the development of the public school 
system. 

Under the heading The System of 
General Supervision the findings are that 
the schools are controlled too largely on 
the external administrative side, and too 
little by constructive and expert supervi- 
sion; that the major energies of all the 
supervising staff are consumed by the 
general administrative and routine cleri- 
cal duties. There is too little progres- 
sive leadership. The mechanical side of 
the educative process is emphasized. 

There is a striking lack of consciousness 
within the school system of the radical dif- 
ference between merely keeping the schools 
in operation, and keeping the schools in opera- 
tion so as to produce tangible results of high 
quality. The organization of the school sys- 
tem has been from the top down, rather than 
from the bottom up; a procedure as obstruc- 
tive to progress and real growth in education 
as it is in other human institutions. 

Prof. Elliott divides principals into 
two general classes: (a) those who are 
competent to act as supervisors and make 
a conscious effort to subordinate the rou- 
tine administrative tasks, and (b) those 
who are content to confine their activ- 
ities to the mechanics of school operation 
and control. 

Refore the elementary schools of the citv 
are individually properly supervised, there 
must be a considerable increase in the number 


of the first group, and the chief educational 
authorities must find a way of placing a prem- 


ITI 


UPERVISION 


ELLIOTT 
of Wisconsin 


ium on supervisory capacity by providing free- 
dom of action to every principal in accerd- 


ance with his competency. That supervi-\ 
is best which controls and is controlled | 


On the basis of the ratings given p: 
cipals during the year 1910-1911, tl 
was but one inferior principal in 
elementary schools of the city 
ninety-one per cent. of the principals pos- 
sessed meritorious competency. The i 
vestigator believes that an inflated val 
has been given to the judgment of prin- 
cipals and that the wide variation in rat- 
ings between the different supervisor; 
districts is due to the wide variability of 
standard. “The work of principals 1s 
not subjected to that cautious, ol 
jective examination that should c 
stitute the foundation of the atin; 
if the ratings are worth making at all. 
Vague general impressions should not be 


as they undoubtedly are, the chief « 


ments of these ratings. The rating 
principals seems to be generally regarde/ 
as a merely formal procedure. 
ings of one year are very often merely 
copied from the ratings of the pre- 
ceding year. On the whole “the 
tem of rating the efficiency of principals 
is not such as to distinguish the com 
tent from the incompetent.” 

Of The District Superintende 
Prof. Elliott says that they are noticea 
inert. There are no_ well-establis! 
standards of qualifications for nomina- 
tion of district superintendents. P: 
Elliott here suggests that the recently e 
tablished standard of “superior merit” 
would be more valid with reference 
the staff of district superintendents, «s 
a condition for appointment and ret 
tion. The district superintendents h: 


little or no freedom, initiative or respon- 


sibility. They have but slight influenc 
upon the determination of educati 
policies. As at present constituted, 
office of district superintendent can 
be an altogether satisfactory position ‘ 
the energetic, progressive, and cofistriic- 





The rat- 


Sy 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


tive individual, whose primary interests 
are in education and its adaptation to the 
needs of children. 

Under the heading The City Superin- 
tendent, The Board of Superintendents, 
and The Associate Superintendents, the 
Report states that criticisms of the schools 
have been discouraged and repressed by 
the authorities. None of the teachers 
wh» offered information were willing to 
permit their names to appear as wit- 
nesses of record. “The explanation for 
thi: disinclination invariably given was, 
that the expression of critical judgments 
militated seriously against their profes- 
sional standing and advancement.” This 
circumstance 
“relects a condition of affairs wholly detri- 
mental to the progressive development of the 
bes! interests of the schools. Those primarily 
responsible for the school organization and its 
operation appear, intentionally or uninten- 
tionally, to have discouraged competent criti- 
cism and to have permitted incompetent cri- 
ticism to undermine an intelligent public con- 
fidence.” 

Praise is given to the city superinten- 
dent for having during the past decade 
consolidated the school system into a co- 
herent whole. Prof. Elliott thinks, how- 
ever, that the policy of centralization has 
now gone far enough. 


Mechanical consolidation, with the resulting 
standardization of aims and values, has been 
effected. The next epoch of educational con- 
trol will need to be dominated by the idea of 
establishing a scheme of decentralized, co- 
_ ‘ative, expert supervision. Military stand- 

ds of authority and organization cannot be 
ie nanently adapted to the enterprise of edu- 
cation. Education, particularly public educa- 
a , is a great undertaking, and therefore, 

st make provision for the initiative, inde- 
- lence, and creative activity of every in- 
dividual charged with responsibility. The 
administrative efficiency of a great, complex 
ol system demands a high degree of cen- 
zation of administrative power. On the 
r hand, the supervisory efficiency of the 
ol system is conditioned by a degree of co- 
ration which has not yet been fully com- 
ended by the City Superintendent. Ma- 
linery stifles individuality; co-operative ef- 

t expands individuality. The teaching of 

dren and the direction of their education 

e dependent, ultimately, upon freedom, not 
epression. 


The Board 


of Examiners.—Prof. 
Elliott, on the whole, commends the work 


of the Board of Examiners. The ques- 


tions used in the recent examinations, he 
regards as fair tests of professional 
preparation. But he does not think the 
class-room tests are highly efficient. 
These tests are generally conducted un- 
der abnormal teaching conditions, and 
the standards of judgments applied are 
wholly unreliable. 

With regard to the regular oral tests, 
Prof. Elliott believes that the Board has 
been too lenient in passing persons of 
doubtful personal and linguistic qualiii- 
cations. On the whole, while the Board 
has made mistakes in individual cases, 
“it has exercised its functions in a singu- 
larly effective and progressive manner.” 

The Report recommends that the size 
of the Board of Examiners be increased 
to nine members and that a rotating plan 
of membership be adopted. A plan by 
which some of the Board would be en- 
gaged in active supervision would enable 
the Board as a whole to keep itself ‘n 
closer touch with the schools and their 
needs. 

Methods and Standards for Determin- 
ing Teaching Efficiency.—According to 
the ratings of teachers, there are very 
tew teachers who are regarded by prin- 
cipals and superintendents as rendering 
non-meritorious service. Only one ele- 
mentary school teacher out of 2217 was 
rated as wholly deficient in discipline in 
June, 1911. There is also a wide varia- 
tion between the ratings of principals and 
the ratings of district superintendents. 

The distinction between “instruction” and 
“discipline” is purely arbitrary and artificial. 
To an impartial judge the founding of a rating 
scheme for the teaching force of a metropoli- 
tan school system upon such a traditional 
convention as this is ample evidence that the 
supervisory authorities have not assumed a 
scientific attitude of mind toward the compli- 
cated teaching process. ' 

The general conclusions as to the existing 
methods and standards for determining “fit 
and meritorious” service are that there is no 
method other than that of the personal idio- 
syncrasy of supervisors, and that there are no 
standards that bear intimate and v alid rela- 
tion to the quality of service rendered. 

The recommendations for the reorgan- 
ization of the supervisory staff were dis- 
cussed by Prof. Elliott in the May num- 
ber of THe AMERICAN TEACHER. 








94 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


CORRESPONDENCE 








MARRIAGE VERSUS TEACHING 
Editor, THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 


In your children ye shall make amends 
for being your father’s children. Thus ye 
shall redeem all that is past.—Friedrich 
Nietzsche. 


oe + '@ 


Shall a woman school teacher 
marry and remain in her position in the 
schools? The answer, as I see it, is a clear 
and unqualified ° ‘No!” And this flat-footed 
opposition comes not as a result of a belief 
that sexual life is something unholy and to 
be shunned, or that the schools are for the 
purpose of offering a means of livelihood to 
refined spinsters, or that girls make better 
teachers, or that motherhood impairs the 
teaching ability of women. Nay, it results 
rather from the deepest conviction of the 
writer that motherhood (and hence by im- 
plication marriage) is of such profound 
significance to the welfare of the race, car 
ries with it such weighty duties and re- 
sponsibilities is so fraught with infinite pos- 
sibilities and failures equally infinite, is of al! 
things earthly so nearest God that the pro- 
fession of motherhood is once and for all 
time incompatible with, and inevitably an- 
tagonistic to, every other profession—be it 
teaching, or music, or art, or money making. 
She who looks forward to the divine event 
of being a mother is separated from all the 
ordinary pursuits of humanity, from ail the 
hurly-burly of the workaday world. 

* * * * The absurdity of these well mean- 
ing folk who advocate a leave of absence 
for two months, or four or six or a year 
even, thinking thus to have made a step in 
advance, would be provocative of the laugh- 
ter of the gods were it not so tragically con- 
ducive to danger for the future of the race. 
What a woman thus circumstanced needs 
really, is a leave of absence for twenty-five 
years, and then some, to use a vulgar 
locution. 

* * * * How can any woman who dares 
to assume the name of mother think that 
she is entitled to all the privileges of 
motherhood if she considers her duties 
satisfactorily completed by staying away 
from her work for a short period before an:l 
after the birth of her child? And those who 
prate so glibly about the wealth of rich and 
new experiences, that flood the mother soul, 
as a result of the .close communion that 
exists between the mother and child, lose 
sight of the fact that nature never meant 
this most wonderful efflorescence of the 
human heart should be coined into dollars 
and cents, or sold at so much per month. 

* * * * A woman who truly desires to be 
a mother, whose heart yearns for the mir- 
acle of motherhood, who has prepared her- 


self in a most thoro manner physically 
spiritually for the great mission of bearing 
and nurturing a new life, will never for 
moment entertain the idea that she want 
teach, or paint, or sing, or write as soon 
as she physically can. And she will never 
marry a man who does not esteem it the 
greatest privilege of his life to provide ior 
her and her children in every way he 
and to the best of his power and strenvth 
A woman who marries a man less than tat 
cone whom she supports partly or whcoll 
proclaims by this act to have excluded her 
self from the sanctified group of mothers 
and therefore as such has no right to con- 
sider herself specially qualified as a teac ier 
Kov: 
IF, THEN, the public school must 
be charged, as I believe it must, with 
the ethical as well as the intellectual 
training of the vast majority of Amer- 
ican youth; and if it is admitted, as it 
must be, that the welfare of society and 
the preservation of republican insti- 
tutions depend in very large measure 
on the intellectual and ethical training 
given in the schools,—surely it follows 
that it is the business of the state to 
see to it that the teacher’s life is lived 
under such conditions that he can ren- 
der society his most efficient service — 
William H. Maxwell, in 
“The American Teacher—A Code of 
Ethics.” Address delivered at the 
University of Chicago, December 16, 
1902. 





SOMETIMES in educational circles we 
hear the pessimist crying out, “We shall 
never have a chance to set things right 
until we can get rid of that tyrant off 
cial.” Then he seizes an easy opjx 
tunity to benefit the state by joi 
hands with some corrupt politician, 
never fails to add to the strength of his 
own “system” for every good turn 
does in improving some other “syste 





of the marks of the ineff- 
ciency of our present system of educa- 


It IS ONE 


tional management that the amici! 
transaction of necessary business for 

or several schools should be absolu'ely 
dependent on the state of one pers 
digestion. 

















y 


ELEVATOR SERVICE 
PORCHES 








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STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, 
\NAGEMENT, CIRCU LATION, etc., 

The American Teacher,” published 
onthly (except July and August) at New 
rk, N. Y., required by the Act of August 
ii, 1912. Name of Editor-in-Chief, Henry 

inville, Jamaica High School, Jamaica, 

: Managing Editor, Benj. C. Gruen- 
berz, Commercial High School, Brooklyn, 
N. \. Business Manager, J. Edward May- 
man, P. S. 84, Brooklyn, N. Y. Publishers, 
Benj. C. Gruenberg, Commercial High 
School, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Mark Hoffman, 
Stuyvesant High School, N. Y.; Henry R. 
Linville, Jamaica High School, Jamaica, 





N. Y.; Gabriel R. Mason, P. S. 62, Manhat- 
tan, N. Y.; J. Edward Mayman, P. S. 84, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Owners—as above. 
Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other 
security holders, holding 1 per cent. or more 
of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or 
other securities: None. . 
J. E. Mayman, 
Business Manager. 
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 
27th day of March, 1913. 
Louis P. Goldberg, Notary Public. 
Notary Public, Kings County. (My com- 
mission expires March 30, 1914.) 
(Seal) 





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96 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


CO-OPERATION FOR HEALTH 


THE PERSON who refrains from spit- 
ting indiscriminately because he has 
learned that spitting serves to dissemin- 
ate germs of. tuberculosis and of other 
diseases, is not likely to profit much 
from his precautions. In this matter 
we must “all hang together or hang 
separately.” The same may be said, 
kowever, of nearly all applications of 
scientific discoveries to the protection 
of health: the problems are essentially 
community or group problems, rather 
than individual problems. For this 
reason the teacher, as the community’s 
agent in molding the thot of the com- 
munity of tomorrow, has concerns with 
health problems different from the 
concern of the printer or the manufac- 
turer. In the last analysis the teacher 
will be responsible for the character and 
the amount of co-operation for health 
that the children will practise when they 
grow up. 

In the call for the Fourth Interna- 
tional Congress on School Hygiene, to 
be held in Buffalo August 25 to 30, the 
need for the widest kind of co-opera- 
tion is recognized. Invitations are is- 


sued not merely to representatives of 

the schools and of the health offici ls, 

but to those interested in home prob- 
lems, in the administration of ci ies 
and towns, and in the governments of 
states. Adequate co-operation may be 
expected to yield returns not for the 
agents—which is the characteristic test 
of efficient commerciai enterprise; 
but for such abstractions as the foll 
ing: 

For the cuitp: Increased comfort, greater 
happiness, larger school room success, mor 
safety, and greater certainty of future 
ciency. 

lor the scHooLt: Fewer absences from 
school room, fewer interruptions on acc 
of epidemics, and more satisfactory ed 
tional response to class room activitie 

For the HOME: Less anxiety, less apprelien- 
sion, fewer doctor bills, less work, mor 
health, happiness, and prosperity. : 

For the TAXPAYER: A saving by more efficient 
methods in school work, “and also a larger 
product of active, intelligent, capable indi- 
viduals, whose influence will be toward the 
improvement of every phase of comm 
life. 

Kor the community: Healthier and, th 
fore, more efficient and more prosperou 
citizens. 

For the NATION: Results measured in terms 
of the conservation of human life. 





Situated on a 
elevation, 


where a m 








HichView. 
New York 


Sullivan County ||... : 








bathing close at 
Swimming po 
shower baths now 
construction. Blooring- 
burgh Station an 
office are within 

utes walk. 





s for 
j ai 
lets and rate are ob ained 











New York Address: 
5 Beekman Street, Room 705. 


Telephone : 


from 
I. A. BENNEQUIT, Prop. 
7645 Courtland or 4985 Gramercy 





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