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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16987-8.txt b/16987-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78716d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/16987-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6325 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Craftsmanship in Teaching, by William +Chandler Bagley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Craftsmanship in Teaching + + +Author: William Chandler Bagley + + + +Release Date: November 2, 2005 [eBook #16987] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship, Bill Tozier, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING + +by + +WILLIAM CHANDLER BAGLEY + +Author Of "The Educative Process," "Classroom Management," "Educational +Values," Etc. + + + + + + + +New York +The MacMillan Company +1912 +All rights reserved +Copyright, 1911, by the MacMillan Company. +Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1911. Reprinted June, October, +1911; May, 1912. +Norwood Press +J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. +Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + + +TO MY PARENTS + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following papers are published chiefly because they treat in a +concrete and personal manner some of the principles which the writer has +developed in two previously published books, _The Educative Process_ and +_Classroom Management_, and in a forthcoming volume, _Educational +Values_. It is hoped that the more informal discussions presented in the +following pages will, in some slight measure, supplement the theoretical +and systematic treatment which necessarily characterizes the other +books. In this connection, it should be stated that the materials of the +first paper here presented were drawn upon in writing Chapter XVIII of +_Classroom Management_, and that the second paper simply states in a +different form the conclusions reached in Chapter I of _The Educative +Process_. + +The writer is indebted to his colleague, Professor L.F. Anderson, for +many criticisms and suggestions and to Miss Bernice Harrison for +invaluable aid in editing the papers for publication. But his heaviest +debt, here as elsewhere, is to his wife, to whose encouraging sympathy +and inspiration whatever may be valuable in this or in his other books +must be largely attributed. + + URBANA, ILLINOIS, + March 1, 1911 + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING 1 + + II. OPTIMISM IN TEACHING 23 + + III. HOW MAY WE PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TEACHING FORCE? 43 + + IV. THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SUPERVISION 63 + + V. THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER 77 + + VI. EDUCATION AND UTILITY 96 + + VII. THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN EDUCATION 123 + + VIII. THE POSSIBILITY OF TRAINING CHILDREN TO STUDY 144 + + IX. A PLEA FOR THE DEFINITE IN EDUCATION 164 + + X. SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE 191 + + XI. THE NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD DRILL 204 + + XII. THE IDEAL TEACHER 229 + + + + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING + +~I~ + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING[1] + +I + + "In the laboratory of life, each newcomer repeats the old + experiments, and laughs and weeps for himself. We will be + explorers, though all the highways have their guideposts and every + bypath is mapped. Helen of Troy will not deter us, nor the wounds + of Cæsar frighten, nor the voice of the king crying 'Vanity!' from + his throne dismay. What wonder that the stars that once sang for + joy are dumb and the constellations go down in + silence."--ARTHUR SHERBURNE HARDY: _The Wind of Destiny_. + + +We tend, I think, to look upon the advice that we give to young people +as something that shall disillusionize them. The cynic of forty sneers +at what he terms the platitudes of commencement addresses. He knows +life. He has been behind the curtains. He has looked upon the other side +of the scenery,--the side that is just framework and bare canvas. He has +seen the ugly machinery that shifts the stage setting--the stage setting +which appears so impressive when viewed from the front. He has seen the +rouge on the cheeks that seem to blush with the bloom of youth and +beauty and innocence, and has caught the cold glint in the eyes that, +from the distance, seem to languish with tenderness and love. Why, he +asks, should we create an illusion that must thus be rudely dispelled? +Why revamp and refurbish the old platitudes and dole them out each +succeeding year? Why not tell these young people the truth and let them +be prepared for the fate that must come sooner or later? + +But the cynic forgets that there are some people who never lose their +illusions,--some men and women who are always young,--and, whatever may +be the type of men and women that other callings and professions desire +to enroll in their service, this is the type that education needs. The +great problem of the teacher is to keep himself in this class, to keep +himself young, to preserve the very things that the cynic pleases to +call the illusions of his youth. And so much do I desire to impress +these novitiates into our calling with the necessity for preserving +their ideals that I shall ask them this evening to consider with me some +things which would, I fear, strike the cynic as most illusionary and +impractical. The initiation ceremonies that admitted the young man to +the privileges and duties of knighthood included the taking of certain +vows, the making of certain pledges of devotion and fidelity to the +fundamental principles for which chivalry stood. And I should like this +evening to imagine that these graduates are undergoing an analogous +initiation into the privileges and duties of schoolcraft, and that +these vows which I shall enumerate, embody some of the ideals that +govern the work of that craft. + + +II + +And the first of these vows I shall call, for want of a better term, the +vow of "artistry,"--the pledge that the initiate takes to do the work +that his hand finds to do in the best possible manner, without reference +to the effort that it may cost or to the reward that it may or may not +bring. + +I call this the vow of artistry because it represents the essential +attitude of the artist toward his work. The cynic tells us that ideals +are illusions of youth, and yet, the other day I saw expressed in a +middle-aged working-man a type of idealism that is not at all uncommon +in this world. He was a house painter; his task was simply the prosaic +job of painting a door; and yet, from the pains which he took with that +work, an observer would have concluded that it was, to the painter, the +most important task in the world. And that, after all, is the true test +of craft artistry: to the true craftsman the work that he is doing must +be the most important thing that can be done. One of the best teachers +that I know is that kind of a craftsman in education. A student was once +sent to observe his work. He was giving a lesson upon the "attribute +complement" to an eighth-grade grammar class. I asked the student +afterward what she had got from her visit. "Why," she replied, "that man +taught as if the very greatest achievement in life would be to get his +pupils to understand the attribute complement,--and when he had +finished, they did understand it." + +In a narrower sense, this vow of artistry carries with it an +appreciation of the value of technique. From the very fact of their +normal school training, these graduates already possess a certain +measure of skill, a certain mastery of the technique of their craft. +This initial mastery has been gained in actual contact with the problems +of school work in their practice teaching. They have learned some of the +rudiments; they have met and mastered some of the rougher, cruder +difficulties. The finer skill, the delicate and intangible points of +technique, they must acquire, as all beginners must acquire them, +through the strenuous processes of self-discipline in the actual work of +the years that are to come. This is a process that takes time, energy, +constant and persistent application. All that this school or any school +can do for its students in this respect is to start them upon the right +track in the acquisition of skill. But do not make the mistake of +assuming that this is a small and unimportant matter. If this school did +nothing more than this, it would still repay tenfold the cost of its +establishment and maintenance. Three fourths of the failures in a world +that sometimes seems full of failures are due to nothing more nor less +than a wrong start. In spite of the growth of professional training for +teachers within the past fifty years, many of our lower schools are +still filled with raw recruits, fresh from the high schools and even +from the grades, who must learn every practical lesson of teaching +through the medium of their own mistakes. Even if this were all, the +process would involve a tremendous and uncalled-for waste. But this is +not all; for, out of this multitude of untrained teachers, only a small +proportion ever recognize the mistakes that they make and try to correct +them. + +To you who are beginning the work of life, the mastery of technique may +seem a comparatively unimportant matter. You recognize its necessity, of +course, but you think of it as something of a mechanical nature,--an +integral part of the day's work, but uninviting in itself,--something to +be reduced as rapidly as possible to the plane of automatism and +dismissed from the mind. I believe that you will outgrow this notion. As +you go on with your work, as you increase in skill, ever and ever the +fascination of its technique will take a stronger and stronger hold upon +you. This is the great saving principle of our workaday life. This is +the factor that keeps the toiler free from the deadening effects of +mechanical routine. It is the factor that keeps the farmer at his plow, +the artisan at his bench, the lawyer at his desk, the artist at his +palette. + +I once worked for a man who had accumulated a large fortune. At the age +of seventy-five he divided this fortune among his children, intending to +retire; but he could find pleasure and comfort only in the routine of +business. In six months he was back in his office. He borrowed +twenty-five thousand dollars on his past reputation and started in to +have some fun. I was his only employee at the time, and I sat across the +big double desk from him, writing his letters and keeping his accounts. +He would sit for hours, planning for the establishment of some industry +or running out the lines that would entangle some old adversary. I did +not stay with him very long, but before I left, he had a half-dozen +thriving industries on his hands, and when he died three years later he +had accumulated another fortune of over a million dollars. + +That is an example of what I mean by the fascination that the technique +of one's craft may come to possess. It is the joy of doing well the work +that you know how to do. The finer points of technique,--those little +things that seem so trivial in themselves and yet which mean everything +to skill and efficiency,--what pride the competent artisan or the master +artist takes in these! How he delights to revel in the jargon of his +craft! How he prides himself in possessing the knowledge and the +technical skill that are denied the layman! + +I am aware that I am somewhat unorthodox in urging this view of your +work upon you. Teachers have been encouraged to believe that details are +not only unimportant but stultifying,--that teaching ability is a +function of personality, and not a product of a technique that must be +acquired through the strenuous discipline of experience. One of the most +skillful teachers of my acquaintance is a woman down in the grades. I +have watched her work for days at a time, striving to learn its secret. +I can find nothing there that is due to genius,--unless we accept George +Eliot's definition of genius as an infinite capacity for receiving +discipline. That teacher's success, by her own statement, is due to a +mastery of technique, gained through successive years of growth checked +by a rigid responsibility for results. She has found out by repeated +trial how to do her work in the best way; she has discovered the +attitude toward her pupils that will get the best work from them,--the +clearest methods of presenting subject matter; the most effective ways +in which to drill; how to use text-books and make study periods issue in +something besides mischief; and, more than all else, how to do these +things without losing sight of the true end of education. Very +frequently I have taken visiting school men to see this teacher's work. +Invariably after leaving her room they have turned to me with such +expressions as these: "A born teacher!" "What interest!" "What a +personality!" "What a voice!"--everything, in fact, except this,--which +would have been the truth: "What a tribute to years of effort and +struggle and self-discipline!" + +I have a theory which I have never exploited very seriously, but I will +give it to you for what it is worth. It is this: elementary education +especially needs a literary interpretation. It needs a literary artist +who will portray to the public in the form of fiction the real life of +the elementary school,--who will idealize the technique of teaching as +Kipling idealized the technique of the marine engineer, as Balzac +idealized the technique of the journalist, as Du Maurier and a hundred +other novelists have idealized the technique of the artist. We need some +one to exploit our shop-talk on the reading public, and to show up our +work as you and I know it, not as you and I have been told by laymen +that it ought to be,--a literature of the elementary school with the +cant and the platitudes and the goody-goodyism left out, and in their +place something of the virility, of the serious study, of the manful +effort to solve difficult problems, of the real and vital achievements +that are characteristic of thousands of elementary schools throughout +the country to-day. + +At first you will be fascinated by the novelty of your work. But that +soon passes away. Then comes the struggle,--then comes the period, be it +long or short, when you will work with your eyes upon the clock, when +you will count the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes that lie +between you and vacation time. Then will be the need for all the +strength and all the energy that you can summon to your aid. Fail here, +and your fate is decided once and for all. If, in your work, you never +get beyond this stage, you will never become the true craftsman. You +will never taste the joy that is vouchsafed the expert, the efficient +craftsman. + +The length of this period varies with different individuals. Some +teachers "find themselves" quickly. They seem to settle at once into the +teaching attitude. With others is a long, uphill fight. But it is safe +to say that if, at the end of three years, your eyes still habitually +seek the clock,--if, at the end of that time, your chief reward is the +check that comes at the end of every fourth week,--then your doom is +sealed. + + +III + +And the second vow that I should urge these graduates to take is the vow +of fidelity to the spirit of their calling. We have heard a great deal +in recent years about making education a profession. I do not like that +term myself. Education is not a profession in the sense that medicine +and law are professions. It is rather a craft, for its duty is to +produce, to mold, to fashion, to transform a certain raw material into a +useful product. And, like all crafts, education must possess the craft +spirit. It must have a certain code of craft ethics; it must have +certain standards of craft excellence and efficiency. And in these the +normal school must instruct its students, and to these it should secure +their pledge of loyalty and fidelity and devotion. + +A true conception of this craft spirit in education is one of the most +priceless possessions of the young teacher, for it will fortify him +against every criticism to which his calling is subjected. It is +revealing no secret to tell you that the teacher's work is not held in +the highest regard by the vast majority of men and women in other walks +of life. I shall not stop to inquire why this is so, but the fact cannot +be doubted, and every now and again some incident of life, trifling +perhaps in itself, will bring it to your notice; but most of all, +perhaps you will be vexed and incensed by the very thing that is meant +to put you at your ease--the patronizing attitude which your friends in +other walks of life will assume toward you and toward your work. + +When will the good public cease to insult the teacher's calling with +empty flattery? When will men who would never for a moment encourage +their own sons to enter the work of the public schools, cease to tell us +that education is the greatest and noblest of all human callings? +Education does not need these compliments. The teacher does not need +them. If he is a master of his craft, he knows what education means,--he +knows this far better than any layman can tell him. And what boots it to +him, if, with all this cant and hypocrisy about the dignity and worth of +his calling, he can sometimes hold his position only at the sacrifice of +his self-respect? + +But what is the relation of the craft spirit to these facts? Simply +this: the true craftsman, by the very fact that he is a true craftsman, +is immune to these influences. What does the true artist care for the +plaudits or the sneers of the crowd? True, he seeks commendation and +welcomes applause, for your real artist is usually extremely human; but +he seeks this commendation from another source--from a source that metes +it out less lavishly and yet with unconditioned candor. He seeks the +commendation of his fellow-workmen, the applause of "those who know, and +always will know, and always will understand." He plays to the pit and +not to the gallery, for he knows that when the pit really approves the +gallery will often echo and reëcho the applause, albeit it has not the +slightest conception of what the whole thing is about. + +What education stands in need of to-day is just this: a stimulating and +pervasive craft spirit. If a human calling would win the world's +respect, it must first respect itself; and the more thoroughly it +respects itself, the greater will be the measure of homage that the +world accords it. In one of the educational journals a few years ago, +the editors ran a series of articles under the general caption, "Why I +am a teacher." It reminded me of the spirited discussion that one of the +Sunday papers started some years since on the world-old query, "Is +marriage a failure?" And some of the articles were fully as sickening in +their harrowing details as were some of the whining matrimonial +confessions of the latter series. But the point that I wish to make is +this: your true craftsman in education never stops to ask himself such +questions. There are some men to whom schoolcraft is a mistress. They +love it, and their devotion is no make-believe, fashioned out of +sentiment, and donned for the purpose of hiding inefficiency or native +indolence. They love it as some men love Art, and others Business, and +others War. They do not stop to ask the reason why, to count the cost, +or to care a fig what people think. They are properly jealous of their +special knowledge, gained through years of special study; they are +justly jealous of their special skill gained through years of discipline +and training. They resent the interference of laymen in matters purely +professional. They resent such interference as would a reputable +physician, a reputable lawyer, a reputable engineer. They resent +officious patronage and "fussy" meddling. They resent all these things +manfully, vigorously. But your true craftsman will not whine. If the +conditions under which he works do not suit him, he will fight for their +betterment, but he will not whine. + + +IV + +And yet this vow of fidelity and devotion to the spirit of schoolcraft +would be an empty form without the two complementary vows that give it +worth and meaning. These are the vow of poverty and the vow of service. +It is through these that the true craft spirit must find its most +vigorous expression and its only justification. The very corner stone of +schoolcraft is service, and one fundamental lesson that the tyro in +schoolcraft must learn, especially in this materialistic age, is that +the value of service is not to be measured in dollars and cents. In this +respect, teaching resembles art, music, literature, discovery, +invention, and pure science; for, if all the workers in all of these +branches of human activity got together and demanded of the world the +real fruits of their self-sacrifice and labor,--if they demanded all the +riches and comforts and amenities of life that have flowed directly or +indirectly from their efforts,--there would be little left for the rest +of mankind. Each of these activities is represented by a craft spirit +that recognizes this great truth. The artist or the scientist who has an +itching palm, who prostitutes his craft for the sake of worldly gain, is +quickly relegated to the oblivion that he deserves. He loses caste, and +the caste of craft is more precious to your true craftsman than all the +gold of the modern Midas. + +You may think that this is all very well to talk about, but that it +bears little agreement to the real conditions. Let me tell you that you +are mistaken. Go ask Röntgen why he did not keep the X-rays a secret to +be exploited for his own personal gain. Ask the shade of the great +Helmholtz why he did not patent the ophthalmoscope. Go to the University +of Wisconsin and ask Professor Babcock why he gave to the world without +money and without price the Babcock test--an invention which is +estimated to mean more than one million dollars every year to the +farmers and dairymen of that state alone. Ask the men on the geological +survey who laid bare the great gold deposits of Alaska why they did not +leave a thankless and ill-paid service to acquire the wealth that lay at +their feet. Because commercialized ideals govern the world that we know, +we think that all men's eyes are jaundiced, and that all men's vision is +circumscribed by the milled rim of the almighty dollar. But we are +sadly, miserably mistaken. + +Do you think that these ideals of service from which every taint of +self-seeking and commercialism have been eliminated--do you think that +these are mere figments of the impractical imagination? Go ask Perry +Holden out in Iowa. Go ask Luther Burbank out in California. Go to any +agricultural college in this broad land and ask the scientists who are +doing more than all other forces combined to increase the wealth of the +people. Go to the scientific departments at Washington where men of +genius are toiling for a pittance. Ask them how much of the wealth for +which they are responsible they propose to put into their own pockets. +What will be their answer? They will tell you that all they ask is a +living wage, a chance to work, and the just recognition of their +services by those who know and appreciate and understand. + +But let me hasten to add that these men claim no especial merit for +their altruism and unselfishness. They do not pose before the world as +philanthropists. They do not strut about and preen themselves as who +would say: "See what a noble man am I! See how I sacrifice myself for +the welfare of society!" The attitude of cant and pose is entirely alien +to the spirit of true service. Their delight is in doing, in serving, in +producing. But beyond this, they have the faults and frailties of their +kind,--save one,--the sin of covetousness. And again, all that they ask +of the world is a living wage, and the privilege to serve. + +And that is all that the true craftsman in education asks. The man or +woman with the itching palm has no place in the schoolroom,--no place in +any craft whose keynote is service. It is true that the teacher does not +receive to-day, in all parts of our country, a living wage; and it is +equally true that society at large is the greatest sufferer because of +its penurious policy in this regard. I should applaud and support every +movement that has for its purpose the raising of teachers' salaries to +the level of those paid in other branches of professional service. +Society should do this for its own benefit and in its own defense, not +as a matter of charity to the men and women who, among all public +servants, should be the last to be accused of feeding gratuitously at +the public crib. I should approve all honest efforts of school men and +school women toward this much-desired end. But whenever men and women +enter schoolcraft because of the material rewards that it offers, the +virtue will have gone out of our calling,--just as the virtue went out +of the Church when, during the Middle Ages, the Church attracted men, +not because of the opportunities that it offered for social service, but +because of the opportunities that it offered for the acquisition of +wealth and temporal power,--just as the virtue has gone out of certain +other once-noble professions that have commercialized their standards +and tarnished their ideals. + +This is not to say that one condemns the man who devotes his life to the +accumulation of property. The tremendous strides that our country has +made in material civilization have been conditioned in part by this type +of genius. Creative genius must always compel our admiration and our +respect. It may create a world epic, a matchless symphony of tones or +pigments, a scientific theory of tremendous grasp and limitless scope; +or it may create a vast industrial system, a commercial enterprise of +gigantic proportions, a powerful organization of capital. Genius is +pretty much the same wherever we find it, and everywhere we of the +common clay must recognize its worth. + +The grave defect in our American life is not that we are hero +worshipers, but rather that we worship but one type of hero; we +recognize but one type of achievement; we see but one sort of genius. +For two generations our youth have been led to believe that there is +only one ambition that is worth while,--the ambition of property. +Success at any price is the ideal that has been held up before our boys +and girls. And to-day we are reaping the rewards of this distorted and +unjust view of life. + +I recently met a man who had lived for some years in the neighborhood of +St. Paul and Minneapolis,--a section that is peopled, as you know, very +largely by Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants. This man told +me that he had been particularly impressed by the high idealism of the +Norwegian people. His business brought him in contact with Norwegian +immigrants in what are called the lower walks of life,--with workingmen +and servant girls,--and he made it a point to ask each of these young +men and young women the same question. "Tell me," he would say, "who are +the great men of your country? Who are the men toward whom the youth of +your land are led to look for inspiration? Who are the men whom your +boys are led to imitate and emulate and admire?" And he said that he +almost always received the same answer to this question: the great names +of the Norwegian nation that had been burned upon the minds even of +these workingmen and servant girls were just four in number: Ole Bull, +Björnson, Ibsen, Nansen. Over and over again he asked that same +question; over and over again he received the same answer: Ole Bull, +Björnson, Ibsen, Nansen. A great musician, a great novelist, a great +dramatist, a great scientist. + +And I conjectured as I heard of this incident, What would be the answer +if the youth of our land were asked that question: "Who are the great +men of _your_ country? What type of achievement have you been led to +imitate and emulate and admire?" How many of our boys and girls have +even heard of our great men in the world of culture,--unless, indeed, +such men lived a half century ago and have got into the school readers +by this time? How many of our boys and girls have ever heard of +MacDowell, or James, or Whistler, or Sargent? + +I have said that the teacher must take the vow of service. What does +this imply except that the opportunity for service, the privilege of +serving, should be the opportunity that one seeks, and that the +achievements toward which one aspires should be the achievements of +serving? The keynote of service lies in self-sacrifice,--in +self-forgetfulness, rather,--in merging one's own life in the lives of +others. The attitude of the true teacher in this respect is very similar +to the attitude of the true parent. In so far as the parent feels +himself responsible for the character of his children, in so far as he +holds himself culpable for their shortcomings and instrumental in +shaping their virtues, he loses himself in his children. What we term +parental affection is, I believe, in part an outgrowth of this feeling +of responsibility. The situation is precisely the same with the +teacher. It is when the teacher begins to feel himself responsible for +the growth and development of his pupils that he begins to find himself +in the work of teaching. It is then that the effective devotion to his +pupils has its birth. The affection that comes prior to this is, I +think, very likely to be of the sentimental and transitory sort. + +In education, as in life, we play altogether too carelessly with the +word "love." The test of true devotion is self-forgetfulness. Until the +teacher reaches that point, he is conscious of two distinct elements in +his work,--himself and his pupils. When that time comes, his own _ego_ +drops from view, and he lives in and for his pupils. The young teacher's +tendency is always to ask himself, "Do my pupils like me?" Let me say +that this is beside the question. It is not, from his standpoint, a +matter of the pupils liking their teacher, but of the teacher liking his +pupils. That, I take it, must be constantly the point of view. If you +ask the other question first, you will be tempted to gain your end by +means that are almost certain to prove fatal,--to bribe and pet and +cajole and flatter, to resort to the dangerous expedient of playing to +the gallery; but the liking that you get in this way is not worth the +price that you pay for it. I should caution young teachers against the +short-sighted educational theories that are in the air to-day, and that +definitely recommend this attitude. They may sound sweet, but they are +soft and sticky in practice. Better be guided by instinct than by +"half-baked" theory. I have no disposition to criticize the attempts +that have been made to rationalize educational practice, but a great +deal of contemporary theory starts at the wrong end. It has failed to go +to the sources of actual experience for its data. I know a father and +mother who have brought up ten children successfully, and I may say that +you could learn more about managing boys and girls from observing their +methods than from a half-dozen prominent books on educational theory +that I could name. + +And so I repeat that the true test of the teacher's fidelity to this vow +of service is the degree in which he loses himself in his pupils,--the +degree in which he lives and toils and sacrifices for them just for the +pure joy that it brings him. Once you have tasted this joy, no carping +sneer of the cynic can cause you to lose faith in your calling. Material +rewards sink into insignificance. You no longer work with your eyes upon +the clock. The hours are all too short for the work that you would do. +You are as light-hearted and as happy as a child,--for you have lost +yourself to find yourself, and you have found yourself to lose yourself. + + + + +V + +And the final vow that I would have these graduates take is the vow of +idealism,--the pledge of fidelity and devotion to certain fundamental +principles of life which it is the business of education carefully to +cherish and nourish and transmit untarnished to each succeeding +generation. These but formulate in another way what the vows that I have +already discussed mean by implication. One is the ideal of social +service, upon which education must, in the last analysis, rest its case. +The second is the ideal of science,--the pledge of devotion to that +persistent unwearying search after truth, of loyalty to the great +principles of unbiased observation and unprejudiced experiment, of +willingness to accept the truth and be governed by it, no matter how +disagreeable it may be, no matter how roughly it may trample down our +pet doctrines and our preconceived theories. The nineteenth century left +us a glorious heritage in the great discoveries and inventions that +science has established. These must not be lost to posterity; but far +better lose them than lose the spirit of free inquiry, the spirit of +untrammeled investigation, the noble devotion to truth for its own sake +that made these discoveries and inventions possible. + +It is these ideals that education must perpetuate, and if education is +successfully to perpetuate them, the teacher must himself be filled with +a spirit of devotion to the things that they represent. Science has +triumphed over superstition and fraud and error. It is the teacher's +duty to see to it that this triumph is permanent, that mankind does not +again fall back into the black pit of ignorance and superstition. + +And so it is the teacher's province to hold aloft the torch, to stand +against the materialistic tendencies that would reduce all human +standards to the common denominator of the dollar, to insist at all +times and at all places that this nation of ours was founded upon +idealism, and that, whatever may be the prevailing tendencies of the +time, its children shall still learn to live "among the sunlit peaks." +And if the teacher is imbued with this idealism, although his work may +take him very close to Mother Earth, he may still lift his head above +the fog and look the morning sun squarely in the face. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New York, +State Normal School, February, 1907.] + + + + +~II~ + +OPTIMISM IN TEACHING[2] + + +Although the month is March and not November, it is never unseasonable +to count up the blessings for which it is well to be thankful. In fact, +from the standpoint of education, the spring is perhaps the appropriate +time to perform this very pleasant function. As if still further to +emphasize the fact that education, like civilization, is an artificial +thing, we have reversed the operations of Mother Nature: we sow our seed +in the fall and cultivate our crops during the winter and reap our +harvests in the spring. I may be pardoned, therefore, for making the +theme of my discussion a brief review of the elements of growth and +victory for which the educator of to-day may justly be grateful, with, +perhaps, a few suggestions of what the next few years may reasonably be +expected to bring forth. + +And this course is all the more necessary because, I believe, the +teaching profession is unduly prone to pessimism. One might think at +first glance that the contrary would be true. We are surrounded on every +side by youth. Youth is the material with which we constantly deal. +Youth is buoyant, hopeful, exuberant; and yet, with this material +constantly surrounding us, we frequently find the task wearisome and +apparently hopeless. The reason is not far to seek. Youth is not only +buoyant, it is unsophisticated, it is inexperienced, in many important +particulars it is crude. Some of its tastes must necessarily, in our +judgment, hark back to the primitive, to the barbaric. Ours is +continually the task to civilize, to sophisticate, to refine this raw +material. But, unfortunately for us, the effort that we put forth does +not always bring results that we can see and weigh and measure. The +hopefulness of our material is overshadowed not infrequently by its +crudeness. We take each generation as it comes to us. We strive to lift +it to the plane that civilized society has reached. We do our best and +pass it on, mindful of the many inadequacies, perhaps of the many +failures, in our work. We turn to the new generation that takes its +place. We hope for better materials, but we find no improvement. + +And so you and I reflect in our occasional moments of pessimism that +generic situation which inheres in the very work that we do. The +constantly accelerated progress of civilization lays constantly +increasing burdens upon us. In some way or another we must accomplish +the task. In some way or another we must lift the child to the level of +society, and, as society is reaching a continually higher and higher +level, so the distance through which the child must be raised is ever +increased. We would like to think that all this progress in the race +would come to mean that we should be able to take the child at a higher +level; but you who deal with children know from experience the principle +for which the biologist Weismann stands sponsor--the principle, namely, +that acquired characteristics are not inherited; that whatever changes +may be wrought during life in the brains and nerves and muscles of the +present generation cannot be passed on to its successor save through the +same laborious process of acquisition and training; that, however far +the civilization of the race may progress, education, whose duty it is +to conserve and transmit this civilization, must always begin with the +"same old child." + +This, I take it, is the deep-lying cause of the schoolmaster's +pessimism. In our work we are constantly struggling against that same +inertia which held the race in bondage for how many millenniums only the +evolutionist can approximate a guess,--that inertia of the primitive, +untutored mind which we to-day know as the mind of childhood, but which, +for thousands of generations, was the only kind of a mind that man +possessed. This inertia has been conquered at various times in the +course of recorded history,--in Egypt and China and India, in Chaldea +and Assyria, in Greece and Rome,--conquered only again to reassert +itself and drive man back into barbarism. Now we of the Western world +have conquered it, let us hope, for all time; for we of the Western +world have discovered an effective method of holding it in abeyance, and +this method is universal public education. + +Let Germany close her public schools, and in two generations she will +lapse back into the semi-darkness of medievalism; let her close both her +public schools and her universities, and three generations will fetch +her face to face with the Dark Ages; let her destroy her libraries and +break into ruin all of her works of art, all of her existing triumphs of +technical knowledge and skill, from which a few, self-tutored, might +glean the wisdom that is every one's to-day, and Germany will soon +become the home of a savage race, as it was in the days of Tacitus and +Cæsar. Let Italy close her public schools, and Italy will become the +same discordant jumble of petty states that it was a century ago,--again +to await, this time perhaps for centuries or millenniums, another +Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel to work her regeneration. Let Japan close +her public schools, and Japan in two generations will be a barbaric +kingdom of the Shoguns, shorn of every vestige of power and +prestige,--the easy victim of the machinations of Western diplomats. Let +our country cease in its work of education, and these United States must +needs pass through the reverse stages of their growth until another race +of savages shall roam through the unbroken forest, now and then to reach +the shores of ocean and gaze through the centuries, eastward, to catch +a glimpse of the new Columbus. Like the moving pictures of the +kinetoscope when the reels are reversed, is the picture that imagination +can unroll if we grant the possibility of a lapse from civilization to +savagery. + +And so when we take the broader view, we quickly see that, in spite of +our pessimism, we are doing something in the world. We are part of that +machine which civilization has invented and is slowly perfecting to +preserve itself. We may be a very small part, but, so long as the +responsibility for a single child rests upon us, we are not an +unimportant part. Society must reckon with you and me perhaps in an +infinitesimal degree, but it must reckon with the institution which we +represent as it reckons with no other institution that it has reared to +subserve its needs. + +In a certain sense these statements are platitudes. We have repeated +them over and over again until the words have lost their tremendous +significance. And it behooves us now and again to revive the old +substance in a new form,--to come afresh to a self-consciousness of our +function. It is not good for any man to hold a debased and inferior +opinion of himself or of his work, and in the field of schoolcraft it is +easy to fall into this self-depreciating habit of thought. We cannot +hope that the general public will ever come to view our work in the true +perspective that I have very briefly outlined. It would probably not be +wise to promulgate publicly so pronounced an affirmation of our +function and of our worth. The popular mind must think in concrete +details rather than in comprehensive principles, when the subject of +thought is a specialized vocation. You and I have crude ideas, no doubt, +of the lawyer's function, of the physician's function, of the +clergyman's function. Not less crude are their ideas of our function. +Even when they patronize us by saying that our work is the noblest that +any man or woman would engage in, they have but a vague and shadowy +perception of its real significance. I doubt not that, with the majority +of those who thus pat us verbally upon the back, the words that they use +are words only. They do not envy us our privileges,--unless it is our +summer vacations,--nor do they encourage their sons to enter service in +our craft. The popular mind--the nontechnical mind,--must work in the +concrete;--it must have visible evidences of power and influence before +it pays homage to a man or to an institution. + +Throughout the German empire the traveler is brought constantly face to +face with the memorials that have been erected by a grateful people to +the genius of the Iron Chancellor. Bismarck richly deserves the tribute +that is paid to his memory, but a man to be honored in this way must +exert a tangible and an obvious influence. + +And yet, in a broader sense, the preëminence of Germany is due in far +greater measure to two men whose names are not so frequently to be +found inscribed upon towers and monuments. In the very midst of the +havoc and devastation wrought by the Napoleon wars,--at the very moment +when the German people seemed hopelessly crushed and defeated,--an +intellect more penetrating than that of Bismarck grasped the logic of +the situation. With the inspiration that comes with true insight, the +philosopher Fichte issued his famous Addresses to the German people. +With clear-cut argument couched in white-hot words, he drove home the +great principle that lies at the basis of United Germany and upon the +results of which Bismarck and Von Moltke and the first Emperor erected +the splendid structure that to-day commands the admiration of the world. +Fichte told the German people that their only hope lay in universal, +public education. And the kingdom of Prussia--impoverished, bankrupt, +war-ridden, and war-devastated--heard the plea. A great scheme that +comprehended such an education was already at hand. It had fallen almost +stillborn from the only kind of a mind that could have produced it,--a +mind that was suffused with an overwhelming love for humanity and +incomparably rich with the practical experiences of a primary +schoolmaster. It had fallen from the mind of Pestalozzi, the Swiss +reformer, who thus stands with Fichte as one of the vital factors in the +development of Germany's educational supremacy. + +The people's schools of Prussia, imbued with the enthusiasm of Fichte +and Pestalozzi,[3] gave to Germany the tremendous advantage that enabled +it so easily to overcome its hereditary foe, when, two generations +later, the Franco-Prussian War was fought; for the _Volksschule_ gave to +Germany something that no other nation of that time possessed; namely, +an educated proletariat, an intelligent common people. Bismarck knew +this when he laid his cunning plans for the unification of German states +that was to crown the brilliant series of victories beginning at Sedan +and ending within the walls of Paris. William of Prussia knew it when, +in the royal palace at Versailles, he accepted the crown that made him +the first Emperor of United Germany. Von Moltke knew it when, at the +capitulation of Paris, he was asked to whom the credit of the victory +was due, and he replied, in the frank simplicity of the true soldier and +the true hero, "The schoolmaster did it." + +And yet Bismarck and Von Moltke and the Emperor are the heroes of +Germany, and if Fichte and Pestalozzi are not forgotten, at least their +memories are not cherished as are the memories of the more tangible and +obvious heroes. Instinct lies deeply embedded in human nature and it is +instinctive to think in the concrete. And so I repeat that we cannot +expect the general public to share in the respect and veneration which +you and I feel for our calling, for you and I are technicians in +education, and we can see the process as a comprehensive whole. But our +fellow men and women have their own interests and their own departments +of technical knowledge and skill; they see the schoolhouse and the +pupils' desks and the books and other various material symbols of our +work,--they see these things and call them education; just as we see a +freight train thundering across the viaduct or a steamer swinging out in +the lake and call these things commerce. In both cases, the nontechnical +mind associates the word with something concrete and tangible; in both +cases, the technical mind associates the same word with an abstract +process, comprehending a movement of vast proportions. + +To compress such a movement--whether it be commerce or government or +education--in a single conception requires a multitude of experiences +involving actual adjustments with the materials involved; involving +constant reflection upon hidden meanings, painful investigations into +hidden causes, and mastery of a vast body of specialized knowledge which +it takes years of study to digest and assimilate. + +It is not every stevedore upon the docks, nor every stoker upon the +steamers, nor every brakeman upon the railroads, who comprehends what +commerce really means. It is not every banker's clerk who knows the +meaning of business. It is not every petty holder of public office who +knows what government really means. But this, at least, is true: in +proportion as the worker knows the meaning of the work that he does,--in +proportion as he sees it in its largest relations to society and to +life,--his work is no longer the drudgery of routine toil. It becomes +instead an intelligent process directed toward a definite goal. It has +acquired that touch of artistry which, so far as human testimony goes, +is the only pure and uncontaminated source of human happiness. + +And the chief blessing for which you and I should be thankful to-day is +that this larger view of our calling has been vouchsafed to us as it has +been vouchsafed no former generation of teachers. Education as the +conventional prerogative of the rich,--as the garment which separated +the higher from the lower classes of society,--this could scarcely be +looked upon as a fascinating and uplifting ideal from which to derive +hope and inspiration in the day's work; and yet this was the commonly +accepted function of education for thousands of years, and the teachers +who did the actual work of instruction could not but reflect in their +attitude and bearing the servile character of the task that they +performed. Education to fit the child to earn a better living, to +command a higher wage,--this myopic view of the function of the school +could do but little to make the work of teaching anything but drudgery; +and yet it is this narrow and materialistic view that has dominated our +educational system to within a comparatively few years. + +So silently and yet so insistently have our craft ideals been +transformed in the last two decades that you and I are scarcely aware +that our point of view has been changed and that we are looking upon our +work from a much higher point of vantage and in a light entirely new. +And yet this is the change that has been wrought. That education, in its +widest meaning, is the sole conservator and transmitter of civilization +to successive generations found expression as far back as Aristotle and +Plato, and has been vaguely voiced at intervals down through the +centuries; but its complete establishment came only as an indirect issue +of the great scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century, and its +application to the problems of practical schoolcraft and its +dissemination through the rank and file of teachers awaited the dawn of +the twentieth century. To-day we see expressions and indications of the +new outlook upon every hand, in the greatly increased professional zeal +that animates the teacher's calling; in the widespread movement among +all civilized countries to raise the standards of teachers, to eliminate +those candidates for service who have not subjected themselves to the +discipline of special preparation; in the increased endowments and +appropriations for schools and seminaries that prepare teachers; and, +perhaps most strikingly at the present moment, in that concerted +movement to organize into institutions of formal education, all of those +branches of training which have, for years, been left to the chance +operation of economic needs working through the crude and unorganized +though often effective apprentice system. The contemporary fervor for +industrial education is only one expression of this new view that, in +the last analysis, the school must stand sponsor for the conservation +and transmission of every valuable item of experience, every usable fact +or principle, every tiniest perfected bit of technical skill, every +significant ideal or prejudice, that the race has acquired at the cost +of so much struggle and suffering and effort. + +I repeat that this new vantage point from which to gain a comprehensive +view of our calling has been attained only as an indirect result of the +scientific investigations of the nineteenth century. We are wont to +study the history of education from the work and writings of a few great +reformers, and it is true that much that is valuable in our present +educational system can be understood and appreciated only when viewed in +the perspective of such sources. Aristotle and Quintilian, Abelard and +St. Thomas Aquinas, Sturm and Philip Melanchthon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, +Rousseau, Herbart, and Froebel still live in the schools of to-day. +Their genius speaks to us through the organization of subject-matter, +through the art of questioning, through the developmental methods of +teaching, through the use of pictures, through objective instruction, +and in a thousand other forms. But this dominant ideal of education to +which I have referred and which is so rapidly transforming our outlook +and vitalizing our organization and inspiring us to new efforts, is not +to be drawn from these sources. The new histories of education must +account for this new ideal, and to do this they must turn to the masters +in science who made the middle part of the nineteenth century the period +of the most profound changes that the history of human thought +records.[4] + +With the illuminating principle of evolution came a new and generously +rich conception of human growth and development. The panorama of +evolution carried man back far beyond the limits of recorded human +history and indicated an origin as lowly as the succeeding uplift has +been sublime. The old depressing and fatalistic notion that the human +race was on the downward path, and that the march of civilization must +sooner or later end in a cul-de-sac (a view which found frequent +expression in the French writers of the eighteenth century and which +dominated the skepticism of the dark hours preceding the +Revolution)--this fatalistic view met its death-blow in the principle of +evolution. A vista of hope entirely undreamed of stretched out before +the race. If the tremendous leverage of the untold millenniums of brute +and savage ancestry could be overcome, even in slight measure, by a few +short centuries of intelligence and reason, what might not happen in a +few more centuries of constantly increasing light? In short, the +principle of evolution supplied the perspective that was necessary to an +adequate evaluation of human progress. + +But this inspiriting outlook which was perhaps the most comprehensive +result of Darwin's work had indirect consequences that were vitally +significant to education. It is with mental and not with physical +development that education is primarily concerned, and yet mental +development is now known to depend fundamentally upon physical forces. +The same decade that witnessed the publication of the _Origin of +Species_ also witnessed the birth of another great book, little known +except to the specialist, and yet destined to achieve immortality. This +book is the _Elements of Psychophysics_, the work of the German +scientist Fechner. The intimate relation between mental life and +physical and physiological forces was here first clearly demonstrated, +and the way was open for a science of psychology which should cast aside +the old and threadbare raiment of mystery and speculation and +metaphysic, and stand forth naked and unashamed. + +But all this was only preparatory to the epoch-making discoveries that +have had so much to do with our present attitude toward education. The +Darwinian hypothesis led to violent controversy, not only between the +opponents and supporters of the theory, but also among the various camps +of the evolutionists themselves. Among these controversies was that +which concerned itself with the inheritance of acquired characteristics, +and the outcome of that conflict has a direct significance to present +educational theory. The principle, now almost conclusively +established,[5] that the characteristics acquired by an organism during +its lifetime are not transmitted by physical heredity to its offspring, +must certainly stand as the basic principle of education; for everything +that we identify as human as contrasted with that which is brutal must +look to education for its preservation and support. It has been stated +by competent authorities that, during the past ten thousand years, there +has been no significant change in man's physical constitution. This +simply means that Nature finished her work as far as man is concerned +far beyond the remotest period that human history records; that, for all +that we can say to-day, there must have existed in the very distant past +human beings who were just as well adapted by nature to the lives that +we are leading as we are to-day adapted; that what they lacked and what +we possess is simply a mass of traditions, of habits, of ideals, and +prejudices which have been slowly accumulated through the ages and which +are passed on from generation to generation by imitation and instruction +and training and discipline; and that the child of to-day, left to his +own devices and operated upon in no way by the products of +civilization, would develop into a savage undistinguishable in all +significant qualities from other savages. + +The possibilities that follow from such a conception are almost +overwhelming even at first glance, and yet the theory is borne out by +adequate experiments. The transformation of the Japanese people through +two generations of education in Western civilization is a complete +upsetting of the old theory that as far as race is concerned, there is +anything significantly important in blood, and confirms the view that +all that is racially significant depends upon the influences that +surround the young of the race during the formative years. The complete +assimilation of foreign ingredients into our own national stock through +the instrumentality of the public school is another demonstration that +the factors which form the significant characteristics in the lower +animals possess but a minimum of significance to man,--that color, race, +stature, and even brain weight and the shape of the cranium, have very +little to do with human worth or human efficiency save in extremely +abnormal cases. + +And so we have at last a fundamental principle with which to illumine +the field of our work and from which to derive not only light but +inspiration. Unite this with John Fiske's penetrating induction that the +possibilities of progress through education are correlated directly with +the length of the period of growth or immaturity,--that is, that the +races having the longest growth before maturity are capable of the +highest degree of civilization,--and we have a pair of principles the +influence of which we see reflected all about us in the great activity +for education and especially in the increased sense of pride and +responsibility and respect for his calling that is animating the modern +teacher. + +And what will be the result of this new point of view? First and +foremost, an increased general respect for the work. Until a profession +respects itself, it cannot very well ask for the world's respect, and +until it can respect itself on the basis of scientific principles +indubitably established, its respect for itself will be little more than +the irritating self-esteem of the goody-goody order which is so often +associated with our craft. + +With our own respect for our calling, based upon this incontrovertible +principle, will come, sooner or later, increased compensation for the +work and increased prestige in the community. I repeat that these things +can only come after we have established a true craft spirit. If we are +ashamed of our calling, if we regret openly and publicly that we are not +lawyers or physicians or dentists or bricklayers or farmers or anything +rather than teachers, the public will have little respect for the +teacher's calling. As long as we criticize each other before laymen and +make light of each other's honest efforts, the public will question our +professional standing on the ground that we have no organized code of +professional ethics,--a prerequisite for any profession. + +I started out to tell you something that we ought to be thankful +for,--something that ought to counteract in a measure the inevitable +tendencies toward pessimism and discouragement. The hopeful thing about +our present status is that we have an established principle upon which +to work. A writer in a recent periodical stoutly maintained that +education was in the position just now that medicine was in during the +Middle Ages. The statement is hardly fair, either to medicine or to +education. If one were to attempt a parallel, one might say that +education stands to-day where medicine stood about the middle of the +nineteenth century. The analogy might be more closely drawn by comparing +our present conception of education with the conception of medicine just +prior to the application of the experimental method to a solution of its +problems. Education has still a long road to travel before it reaches +the point of development that medicine has to-day attained. It has still +to develop principles that are comparable to the doctrine of lymph +therapy or to that latest triumph of investigation in the field of +medicine,--the theory of opsonins,--which almost makes one believe that +in a few years violent accident and old age will be the only sources of +death in the human race. + +Education, we admit, has a long road to travel before it reaches so +advanced a point of development. But there is no immediate cause for +pessimism or despair. We need especially, now that the purpose of +education is adequately defined, an adequate doctrine of educational +values and a rich and vital infusion of the spirit of experimental +science. For efficiency in the work of instruction and training, we need +to know the influence of different types of experience in controlling +human conduct,--we need to know just what degree of efficiency is +exerted by our arithmetic and literature, our geography and history, our +drawing and manual training, our Latin and Greek, our ethics and +psychology. It is the lack of definite ideas and criteria in these +fields that constitutes the greatest single source of waste in our +educational system to-day. + +And yet even here the outlook is extremely hopeful. The new movement +toward industrial education is placing greater and greater emphasis upon +those subjects of instruction and those types of methods whose +efficiency can be tested and determined in an accurate fashion. The +intimate relation between the classroom, on the one hand, and the +machine shop, the experimental farm, the hospital ward and operating +room, and the practice school, on the other hand, indicates a source of +accurate knowledge with regard to the way in which our teachings really +affect the conduct and adjustment of our pupils that cannot fail within +a short time to serve as the basis for some illuminating principle of +educational values. This, I believe, will be the next great step in the +development of our profession. + +There has been no intention in what I have said to minimize the +disadvantages and discouragements under which we are to-day doing our +work. My only plea is for the hopeful and optimistic outlook which, I +maintain, is richly justified by the progress that has already been made +and by the virile character of the forces that are operating in the +present situation. + +On the whole, I can see no reason why I should not encourage young men +to enter the service of schoolcraft. I cannot say to them that they will +attain to great wealth, but I can safely promise them that, if they give +to the work of preparation the same attention and time that they would +give to their education and training for medicine or law or engineering, +their services will be in large demand and their rewards not to be +sneered at. Their incomes will not enable them to compete with the +captains of industry, but they will permit as full an enjoyment of the +comforts of life as it is good for any young man to command. But the +ambitious teacher must pay the price to reap these rewards,--the price +of time and energy and labor,--the price that he would have to pay for +success in any other human calling. What I cannot promise him in +education is the opportunity for wide popular adulation, but this, after +all, is a matter of taste. Some men crave it and they should go into +those vocations that will give it to them. Others are better satisfied +with the discriminating recognition and praise of their own +fellow-craftsmen. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: An address before the Oswego, New York, County Council of +Education, March 28, 1908.] + +[Footnote 3: It should be added that the movement toward universal +education in Germany owed much to the work of pre-Pestalozzian +reformers,--especially Francke and Basedow.] + +[Footnote 4: While the years from 1840 to 1870 mark the period of +intellectual revolution, it should not be inferred that the education of +this period reflected these fundamental changes of outlook. On the +contrary, these years were in general marked by educational stagnation.] + +[Footnote 5: The writer here accepts the conclusions of J.A. Thomson +(_Heredity_ New York, 1908, ch. vii).] + + + + +~III~ + +HOW MAY WE PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TEACHING FORCE?[6] + + +I + +Efficiency seems to be a word to conjure with in these days. Popular +speech has taken it in its present connotation from the technical +vocabulary of engineering, and the term has brought with it a very +refreshing sense of accuracy and practicality. It suggests blueprints +and T-squares and mathematical formulæ. A faint and rather pleasant odor +of lubricating oil and cotton waste seems to hover about it. The +efficiency of a steam engine or a dynamo is a definitely determinable +and measurable factor, and when we use the term "efficiency" in popular +speech we convey through the word somewhat of this quality of certainty +and exactitude. + +An efficient man, very obviously, is a man who "makes good," who +surmounts obstacles, overcomes difficulties, and "gets results." Rowan, +the man who achieved immortality on account of a certain message that he +carried to Garcia, is the contemporary standard of human efficiency. He +was given a task to do, and he did it. He did not stop to inquire +whether it was interesting, or whether it was easy, or whether it would +be remunerative, or whether Garcia was a pleasant man to meet. He simply +took the message and brought back the answer. Here we have efficiency in +human endeavor reduced to its lowest terms: to take a message and to +bring back an answer; to do the work that is laid out for one to do +without shirking or "soldiering" or whining; and to "make good," to get +results. + +Now if we are to improve the efficiency of the teacher, the first thing +to do is to see that the conditions of efficiency are fulfilled as far +as possible at the outset. In other words, efficiency is impossible +unless one is set a certain task to accomplish. Rowan was told to carry +a message to Garcia. He was to carry it to Garcia, not to Queen Victoria +or Li Hung Chang or J. Pierpont Morgan, or any one else whom he may have +felt inclined to choose as its recipient. And that is just where Rowan +had a decided advantage over many teachers who have every ambition to be +just as efficient as he was. To expect a young teacher not only to get +results, but also to determine the results that should be obtained, +multiplies his chances of failure, not by two, as one might assume at +first thought, but almost by infinity. + +Let me give an example of what I mean. A young man graduated from +college during the hard times of the middle nineties. It was imperative +that he secure some sort of a remunerative employment, but places were +very scarce and he had to seek a long time before he found anything to +which he could turn his hand. The position that he finally secured was +that of teacher in an ungraded school in a remote settlement. +School-teaching was far from his thoughts and still farther from his +ambitions, but forty dollars a month looked too good to be true, +especially as he had come to the point where his allowance of food +consisted of one plate of soup each day, with the small supply of +crackers that went with it. He accepted the position most gratefully. + +He taught this school for two years. He had no supervision. He read +various books on the science and art of teaching and upon a certain +subject that went by the name of psychology, but he could see no +connection between what these books told him and the tasks that he had +to face. Finally he bought a book that was advertised as indispensable +to young teachers. The first words of the opening paragraph were these: +"Teacher, if you know it all, don't read this book." The young man threw +the volume in the fire. He had no desire to profit by the teaching of an +author who began his instruction with an insult. From that time until he +left the school, he never opened a book on educational theory. + +His first year passed off with what appeared to be the most encouraging +success. He talked to his pupils on science and literature and history. +They were very good children, and they listened attentively. When he +tired of talking, he set the pupils to writing in their copy books, +while he thought of more things to talk about. He covered a great deal +of ground that first year. Scarcely a field of human knowledge was left +untouched. His pupils were duly informed about the plants and rocks and +trees, about the planets and constellations, about atoms and molecules +and the laws of motion, about digestion and respiration and the wonders +of the nervous system, about Shakespeare and Dickens and George Eliot. +And his pupils were very much interested in it all. Their faces had that +glow of interest, that look of wonderment and absorption, that you get +sometimes when you tell a little four-year-old the story of the three +bears. He never had any troubles of discipline, because he never asked +his pupils to do anything that they did not wish to do. There were six +pupils in his "chart class." They were anxious to learn to read, and +three of them did learn. Their mothers taught them at home. The other +three were still learning at the end of the second year. He concluded +that they had been "born short," but he liked them and they liked him. +He did not teach his pupils spelling or writing. If they learned these +things they learned them without his aid, and it is safe to say that +they did not learn them in any significant measure. He did not like +arithmetic, and so he just touched on it now and then for the sake of +appearances. + +This teacher was elected for the following year at a handsome increase +of salary. He took this to mean a hearty indorsement of his methods; +consequently he followed the same general plan the next year. He had +told his pupils about everything that he knew, so he started over again, +much to their delight. He left at the close of the year, amidst general +lamentation. School-teaching was a delightful occupation, but he had +mastered the art, and now he wished to attack something that was really +difficult. He would study law. It is no part of the story that he did +not. Neither is it part of the story that his successor had a very hard +time getting that school straightened out; in fact, I believe it +required three or four successive successors to make even an impression. + +Now that man's work was a failure, and the saddest kind of a failure, +for he did not realize that he had failed until years afterward. He +failed, not because he lacked ambition and enthusiasm; he had a large +measure of both these indispensable qualities. He failed, not because he +lacked education and a certain measure of what the world calls culture; +from the standpoint of education, he was better qualified than most +teachers in schools of that type. He failed, not because he lacked +social spirit and the ability to coöperate with the church and the home; +he mingled with the other members of the community, lived their life and +thought their thoughts and enjoyed their social diversions. The +community liked him and respected him. His pupils liked him and +respected him; and yet what he fears most of all to-day is that he may +come suddenly face to face with one of those pupils and be forced to +listen to a first-hand account of his sins of omission. + +This man failed simply because he did not do what the elementary teacher +must do if he is to be efficient as an elementary teacher. He did not +train his pupils in the habits that are essential to one who is to live +the social life. He gave them a miscellaneous lot of interesting +information which held their attention while it lasted, but which was +never mastered in any real sense of the term, and which could have but +the most superficial influence upon their future conduct. But, worst of +all, he permitted bad and inadequate habits to be developed at the most +critical and plastic period of life. His pupils had followed the lines +of least effort, just as he had followed the lines of least effort. The +result was a well-established prejudice against everything that was not +superficially attractive and intrinsically interesting. + +Now this man's teaching fell short simply because he did not know what +results he ought to obtain. He had been given a message to deliver, but +he did not know to whom he should deliver it. Consequently he brought +the answer, not from Garcia, but from a host of other personages with +whom he was better acquainted, whose language he could speak and +understand, and from whom he was certain of a warm welcome. In other +words, having no definite results for which he would be held +responsible, he did the kind of teaching that he liked to do. That +might, under certain conditions, have been the best kind of teaching +for his pupils. But these conditions did not happen to operate at that +time. The answer that he brought did not happen to be the answer that +was needed. That it pleased his employers does not in the least mitigate +the failure. That a teacher pleases the community in which he works is +not always evidence of his success. It is dangerous to make a statement +like this, for some are sure to jump to the opposite conclusion and +assume that one who is unpopular in the community is the most +successful. Needless to say, the reasoning is fallacious. The matter of +popularity is a secondary criterion, not a primary criterion of the +efficiency of teaching. One may be successful and popular or successful +and unpopular; unsuccessful and popular or unsuccessful and unpopular. +The question of popularity is beside the question of efficiency, +although it may enter into specific cases as a factor. + + +II + +And so the first step to take in getting more efficient work from young +teachers, and especially from inexperienced and untrained teachers fresh +from the high school or the college, is to make sure that they know what +is expected of them. Now this looks to be a very simple precaution that +no one would be unwise enough to omit. As a matter of fact, a great many +superintendents and principals are not explicit and definite about the +results that they desire. Very frequently all that is asked of a +teacher is that he or she keep things running smoothly, keep pupils and +parents good-natured. Let me assert again that this ought to be done, +but that it is no measure of a teacher's efficiency, simply because it +can be done and often is done by means that defeat the purpose of the +school. As a young principal in a city system, I learned some vital +lessons in supervision from a very skillful teacher. She would come to +me week after week with this statement: "Tell me what you want done, and +I will do it." It took me some time to realize that that was just what I +was being paid to do,--telling teachers what should be accomplished and +then seeing that they accomplished the task that was set. When I finally +awoke to my duties, I found myself utterly at a loss to make +prescriptions. I then learned that there was a certain document known as +the course of study, which mapped out the general line of work and +indicated the minimal requirements. I had seen this course of study, but +its function had never impressed itself upon me. I had thought that it +was one of those documents that officials publish as a matter of form +but which no one is ever expected to read. But I soon discovered that a +principal had something to do besides passing from room to room, looking +wisely at the work going on, and patting little boys and girls on the +head. + +Now a definite course of study is very hard to construct,--a course that +will tell explicitly what the pupils of each grade should acquire each +term or half-term in the way of habits, knowledge, ideals, attitudes, +and prejudices. But such a course of study is the first requisite to +efficiency in teaching. The system that goes by hit or miss, letting +each teacher work out his own salvation in any way that he may see fit, +is just an aggregation of such schools as that which I have described. + +It is true that reformers have very strenuously criticized the policy of +restricting teachers to a definite course of study. They have maintained +that it curtails individual initiative and crushes enthusiasm. It does +this in a certain measure. Every prescription is in a sense a +restriction. The fact that the steamship captain must head his ship for +Liverpool instead of wherever he may choose to go is a restriction, and +the captain's individuality is doubtless crushed and his initiative +limited. But this result seems to be inevitable and he generally manages +to survive the blow. The course of study must be to the teacher what the +sailing orders are to the captain of the ship, what the stated course is +to the wheelsman and the officer on the bridge, what the time-table is +to the locomotive engineer, what Garcia and the message and the answer +were to Rowan. One may decry organization and prescription in our +educational system. One may say that these things tend inevitably toward +mechanism and formalism and the stultifying of initiative. But the fact +remains that, whenever prescription is abandoned, efficiency in general +is at an end. + +And so I maintain that every teacher has a right to know what he is to +be held responsible for, what is expected of him, and that this +information be just as definite and unequivocal as it can be made. It is +under the stress of definite responsibility that growth is most rapid +and certain. The more uncertain and intangible the end to be gained, the +less keenly will one feel the responsibility for gaining that end. +Unhappily we cannot say to a teacher: "Here is a message. Take it to +Garcia. Bring the answer." But we may make our work far more definite +and tangible than it is now. The courses of study are becoming more and +more explicit each year. Vague and general prescriptions are giving +place to definite and specific prescriptions. The teachers know what +they are expected to do, and knowing this, they have some measure for +testing the efficiency of their own efforts. + + +III + +But to make more definite requirements is, after all, only the first +step in improving efficiency. It is not sufficient that one know what +results are wanted; one must also know how these results may be +obtained. Improvement in method means improvement in efficiency, and a +crying need in education to-day is a scientific investigation of methods +of teaching. Teachers should be made acquainted with the methods that +are most economical and efficient. As a matter of fact, whatever is done +in that direction at the present time must be almost entirely confined +to suggestions and hints. + +Our discussions of methods of teaching may be divided into three +classes: (1) Dogmatic assertions that such and such a method is right +and that all others are wrong--assertions based entirely upon _a priori_ +reasoning. For example, the assertion that children must never be +permitted to learn their lessons "by heart" is based upon the general +principle that words are only symbols of ideas and that, if one has +ideas, one can find words of his own in which to formulate them. (2) A +second class of discussions of method comprises descriptions of devices +that have proved successful in certain instances and with certain +teachers. (3) Of a third class of discussions there are very few +representative examples. I refer to methods that have been established +on the basis of experiments in which irrelevant factors have been +eliminated. In fact, I know of no clearly defined report or discussion +of this sort. An approach to a scientific solution of a definite problem +of method is to be found in Browne's monograph, _The Psychology of +Simple Arithmetical Processes_. Another example is represented by the +experiments of Miss Steffens, Marx Lobsien, and others, regarding the +best methods of memorizing, and proving beyond much doubt that the +complete repetition is more economical than the partial repetition. But +these conclusions have, of course, only a limited field of application +to practical teaching. We stand in great need of a definite experimental +investigation of the detailed problems of teaching upon which there is +wide divergence of opinion. A very good illustration is the controversy +between the how and the why in primary arithmetic. In this case, there +is a vast amount of "opinion," but there are no clearly defined +conclusions drawn from accurate tests. It would seem possible to do work +of this sort concerning the details of method in the teaching of +arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, and geography. + + +IV + +Lacking this accurate type of data regarding methods, the next recourse +is to the actual teaching of those teachers who are recognized as +efficient. Wherever such a teacher may be found, his or her work is well +worth the most careful sort of study. Success, of course, may be due to +other factors than the methods employed,--to personality, for example. +But, in every case of recognized efficiency in teaching that I have +observed, I have found that the methods employed have, in the main, been +productive of good results when used by others. The experienced teacher +comes, through a process of trial and error, to select, perhaps +unconsciously, the methods that work best. Sometimes these are not +always to be identified with the methods that theoretical pedagogy had +worked out from _a priori_ bases. For example, the type of lesson which +I call the "deductive development" lesson[7] is one that is not included +in the older discussions of method; yet it accurately describes one of +the methods employed by a very successful teacher whose work I +observed. + +One way, then, to improve the efficiency of young teachers, in so far as +improvement in methods leads to improved efficiency, is to encourage the +observation of expert teaching. The plan of giving teachers visiting +days often brings excellent results, especially if the teacher looks +upon the privilege in the proper light. The hyper-critical spirit is +fatal to growth under any condition. Whenever a teacher has come to the +conclusion that he or she has nothing to learn from studying the work of +others, anabolism has ceased and katabolism has set in. The +self-sufficiency of our craft is one of its weakest characteristics. It +is the factor that more than any other discounts it in the minds of +laymen. Fortunately it is less frequently a professional characteristic +than in former years, but it still persists in some quarters. I recently +met a "pedagogue" who impressed me as the most "knowing" individual that +it had ever been my privilege to become acquainted with. An enthusiastic +friend of his, in dilating upon this man's virtues, used these words: +"When you propose a subject of conversation in whatever field you may +choose, you will find that he has mastered it to bed rock. He will go +over it once and you think that he is wise. He starts at the beginning +and goes over it again, and you realize that he is deep. Once more he +traverses the same ground, but he is so far down now that you cannot +follow him, and then you are aware that he is profound." That sort of +profundity is still not rare in the field of general education. The +person who has all possible knowledge pigeonholed and classified is +still in our midst. The pedant still does the cause of education +incalculable injury. + +Of the use to which reading circles may be put in improving the +efficiency of teaching, it is necessary to say but little. Such +organizations, under wise leadership, may doubtless be made to serve a +good purpose in promoting professional enthusiasm. The difficulty with +using them to promote immediate and direct efficiency lies in the +paucity of the literature that is at our disposal. Most of our +present-day works upon education are very general in their nature. They +are not without their value, but this value is general and indirect +rather than immediate and specific. A book like Miss Winterburn's +_Methods of Teaching_, or Chubb's _Teaching of English_[8] is especially +valuable for young teachers who are looking for first-hand helps. But +books like this are all too rare in our literature. + +On the whole, I think that the improvement of teachers in the matter of +methods is the most unsatisfactory part of our problem.[9] All that one +can say is that the work of the best teachers should be observed +carefully and faithfully, that the methods upon which there is little or +no dispute should be given and accepted as standard, but that one should +be very careful about giving young teachers an idea that there is any +single form under which all teaching can be subsumed. I know of no term +that is more thoroughly a misnomer in our technical vocabulary than the +term "general method." I teach a subject that often goes by that name, +but I always take care to explain that the name does not mean, in my +class, what the words seem to signify. There are certain broad and +general principles which describe very crudely and roughly and +inadequately certain phases of certain processes that mind undergoes in +organizing experience--perception, apperception, conception, induction, +deduction, inference, generalization, and the like. But these terms have +only a vague and general connotation; or, if their connotation is +specific and definite, it has been made so by an artificial process of +definition in which counsel is darkened by words without meaning. The +only full-fledged law that I know of in the educative process is the law +of habit building--(1) focalization, (2) attentive repetition at +intervals of increasing length, (3) permitting no exception--and I am +often told that this "law" is fallacious. It has differed from some +other so-called laws, however, in this respect: it always works. +Whenever a complex habit is adduced that has not been formed through the +operation of this law, I am willing to give it up. + + +V + +A third general method of improving the efficiency of teaching is to +build up the notion of responsibility for results. The teacher must not +only take the message and deliver it to Garcia, or to some other +individual as definite and tangible, but he must also bring the answer. +So far as I know there is no other way to insure a maximum of efficiency +than to demand certain results and to hold the individual responsible +for gaining these results. The present standards of the teaching craft +are less rigorous than they should be in this respect. We need a craft +spirit that will judge every man impartially by his work, not by +secondary criteria. You remember Finlayson in Kipling's _Bridge +Builders_, and the agony with which he watched the waters of the Ganges +tearing away at the caissons of his new bridge. A vital question of +Finlayson's life was to be answered by the success or failure of those +caissons to resist the flood. If they should yield, it meant not only +the wreck of the bridge, but the wreck of his career; for, as Kipling +says, "Government might listen, perhaps, but his own kind would judge +him by his bridge as that stood or fell." + +President Hall has said that one of the last sentiments to be developed +in human nature is "the sense of responsibility, which is one of the +highest and most complex psychic qualities." How to develop this +sentiment of responsibility is one of the most pressing problems of +education. And the problem is especially pressing in those departments +of education that train for social service. To engender in the young +teacher an effective prejudice against scamped work, against the making +of excuses, against the seductive allurements of ease and comfort and +the lines of least resistance is one of the most important duties that +is laid upon the normal school, the training school, and the teachers' +college. To do well the work that has been set for him to do should be +the highest ambition of every worker, the ambition to which all other +ambitions and desires are secondary and subordinate. Pride in the +mastery of the technique of one's calling is the most wholesome and +helpful sort of pride that a man can indulge in. The joy of doing each +day's work in the best possible manner is the keenest joy of life. But +this pride and this joy do not come at the outset. Like all other good +things of life, they come only as the result of effort and struggle and +strenuous self-discipline and dogged perseverance. The emotional +coloring which gives these things their subjective worth is a matter +very largely of contrast. Success must stand out against a background of +struggle, or the chief virtue of success--the consciousness of +conquest--will be entirely missed. That sort of success means strength; +for strength of mind is nothing more than the ability to "hew to the +line," to follow a given course of effort to a successful conclusion, no +matter how long and how tedious be the road that one must travel, no +matter how disagreeable are the tasks involved, no matter how tempting +are the insidious siren songs of momentary fancy. + +What teachers need--what all workers need--is to be inspired with those +ideals and prejudices that will enable them to work steadfastly and +unremittingly toward the attainment of a stated end. What inspired Rowan +with those ideals of efficiency that enabled him to carry his message +and bring back the answer, I do not know, but if he was a soldier, I do +not hesitate to hazard an opinion. Our regular army stands as the +clearest type of efficient service which is available for our study and +emulation. The work of Colonel Goethals on the Panama Canal bids fair to +be the finest fruit of the training that we give to the officers of our +army. If we wish to learn the fundamental virtues of that training, it +is not sufficient to study the curriculum of the Military Academy. +Technical knowledge and skill are essential to such results, but they +are not the prime essentials. If you wish to know what the prime +essentials are, let me refer you to a series of papers, entitled _The +Spirit of Old West Point_, which ran through a recent volume of the +_Atlantic Monthly_ and which has since been published in book form. +They constitute, to my mind, one of the most important educational +documents of the present decade. The army service is efficient because +it is inspired with effective ideals of service,--ideals in which every +other desire and ambition is totally and completely subordinated to the +ideal of duty. To those who maintain that close organization and +definite prescription kill initiative and curtail efficiency, the record +of West Point and the army service should be a silencing argument. + +And yet education is more important than war; more important, even, than +the building of the Panama Canal. We believe, and rightly, that no +training is too good for our military and naval officers; that no +discipline which will produce the appropriate habits and ideals and +prejudices is too strenuous; that no individual sacrifice of comfort or +ease is too costly. Equal or even commensurable efficiency in education +can come only through a like process. From the times of the ancient +Egyptians to the present day, one vital truth has been revealed in every +forward movement; the homely truth that you cannot make bricks without +straw; you cannot win success without effort; you cannot attain +efficiency without undergoing the processes of discipline; and +discipline means only this: doing things that you do not want to do, for +the sake of reaching some end that ought to be attained. + +The normal schools and the training schools and the teachers' colleges +must be the nurseries of craft ideals and standards. The instruction +that they offer must be upon a plane that will command respect. The +intolerable pedantry and the hypocritical goody-goodyism must be +banished forever. The crass sentimentalism by which we attempt to cover +our paucity of craft ideals must also be eliminated. Those who are most +strongly imbued with ideals are not those who cheapen the value of +ideals by constant verbal reiteration. Ideals do not often come through +explicitly imparted precepts. They come through more impalpable and +hidden channels,--now through stately buildings with vine-covered towers +from which the past speaks in the silence of great halls and cloistered +retreats; now through the unwritten and scarcely spoken traditions that +are expressed in the very bearing and attitude of those to whom youth +looks for inspiration and guidance; now through a dominant and powerful +personality, sometimes rough and crude, sometimes warm-hearted and +lovable, but always sincere. Traditions and ideals are the most +priceless part of a school's equipment, and the school that can give +these things to its students in richest measure will have the greatest +influence on the succeeding generations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: A paper read before the Normal and Training Teachers' +Conference of the New York State Teachers' Association, December 27, +1907.] + +[Footnote 7: See _Educative Process_, New York, 1910, Chapter XX.] + +[Footnote 8: Rowe's _Habit Formation_ (New York, 1909), Briggs and +Coffman's _Reading in Public Schools_ (Chicago, 1908), Foght's _The +American Rural School_, Adams's _Exposition and Illustration in Class +Teaching_ (New York, 1910), and Perry's _Problems of Elementary +Education_ (New York, 1910) should certainly be added to this list.] + +[Footnote 9: "It seems to me one of the most pressing problems in +pedagogy to-day is that of method.... It is the subject in which +teachers of pedagogy in Colleges and Universities are weakest to-day. Of +what practical value is all our study of educational psychology or the +history of education, our child study, our experimental pedagogy, if it +does not finally result in the devising of better methods of teaching, +and make the teacher more skillful and effective in his work."--T.M. +BALLIET: "Undergraduate Instruction in Pedagogy," _Pedagogical +Seminary_, vol. xvii, 1910, p. 67.] + + + + +~IV~ + +THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SUPERVISION[10] + + +I + +I know of no way in which I can better introduce my subject than to +describe very briefly the work of a superintendent who once furnished me +with an example of a definite and effective method of supervision. This +man was a "long range" superintendent. It was impossible for him to +visit his schools very frequently, and so he did the next best thing: he +had the schools brought to him. When I first saw him he was poring over +a pile of papers that had just come in from one of his schools. I soon +discovered that these papers were arranged in sets, each set being made +up of samples taken each week from the work of the pupils in the schools +under his supervision. The papers of each pupil were arranged in +chronological order, and by looking through the set, he could note the +growth that the pupil in question had made since the beginning of the +term. Upon these papers, the superintendent recorded his judgment of the +amount of improvement shown both in form and in content. + +I was particularly impressed by the character of his criticisms. There +was nothing vague or intangible about them. Every annotation was clear +and definite. If penmanship happened to be the point at issue, he would +note that the lines were too close together; that the letters did not +have sufficient individuality; that the spaces between the words were +not sufficiently wide; that the indentation was inadequate; that the +writing was cramped, showing that the pen had not been held properly; +that the margin needed correction. If the papers were defective from the +standpoint of language, the criticisms were equally clear and definite. +One pupil had misspelled the same word in three successive papers. "Be +sure that this word appears in the next spelling list," was the comment +of the superintendent. Another pupil habitually used a bit of false +syntax: "Place this upon the list of errors to be taken up and +corrected." Still others were uncertain about paragraphing: "Devote a +language lesson to the paragraph before the next written exercise." On +the covers of each bundle of class papers, he wrote directions and +suggestions of a more general nature; for example: "Improvement is not +sufficiently marked; try for better results next time"; or: "I note that +the pupils draw rather than write; look out for free movement." Often, +too, there were words of well-merited praise: "I like the way in which +your pupils have responded to their drill. This is good. Keep it up." +And not infrequently suggestions were made as to content: "Tell this +story in greater detail next time, and have it reproduced again"; or: +"The form of these papers is good, but the nature study is poor; don't +sacrifice thought to form." + +In similar fashion, the other written work was gone over and annotated. +Every pupil in this system of schools had a sample of his written work +examined at regular and frequent intervals by the superintendent. Every +teacher knew just what her chief demanded in the way of results, and did +her best to gain the results demanded. I am not taking the position that +the results that were demanded represented the highest ideals of what +the elementary school should accomplish. Good penmanship and good +spelling and good language, in the light of contemporary educational +thought, seem to be something like happiness--you get them in larger +measure the less you think about getting them. But this possible +objection aside, the superintendent in question had developed a system +which kept him in very close touch with the work that was being done in +widely separated schools. + +He told me further that, on the infrequent occasions when he could visit +his classrooms, he gave most of his time and attention to the matters +that could not be supervised at "long range." He found out how the +pupils were improving in their reading, and especially in oral +expression, in its syntax, its freedom from errors of construction, its +clearness and fluency. He listed the common errors, directing his +teachers to take them up in a systematic manner and eradicate them, and +he did not fail to note at his next visit how much progress had been +made. He noted the condition of the blackboard work, and kept a list of +the improvements that he suggested. He tested for rapidity in +arithmetical processes, for the papers sent to his office gave him only +an index of accuracy. He noted the habits of personal cleanliness that +were being developed or neglected. In fact, he had a long list of +specific standards that he kept continually in mind, the progress toward +which he constantly watched. And last, but by no means least, he carried +with him wherever he went an atmosphere of breezy good nature and +cheerfulness, for he had mastered the first principle in the art of both +supervision and teaching; he had learned that the best way to promote +growth in either pupils or teachers is neither to let them do as they +please nor to force them to do as you please, but to get them to please +to do what you please to have them do. + +I instance this superintendent as one type of efficiency in supervision. +He was efficient, not simply because he had a system that scrutinized +every least detail of his pupils' growth, but because that scrutiny +really insured growth. He obtained the results that he desired, and he +obtained uniformly good results from a large number of young, untrained +teachers. We have all heard of the superintendent who boasted that he +could tell by looking at his watch just what any pupil in any classroom +was doing at just that moment. Surely here system was not lacking. But +the boast did not strike the vital point. It is not what the pupil is +doing that is fundamentally important, but what he is gaining from his +activity or inactivity; what he is gaining in the way of habits, in the +way of knowledge, in the way of standards and ideals and prejudices, all +of which are to govern his future conduct. The superintendent whom I +have described had the qualities of balance and perspective that enabled +him to see both the woods and the trees. And let me add that he taught +regularly in his own central high school, and that practically all of +his supervision was accomplished after school hours and on Saturdays. + +But my chief reason for choosing his work as a type is that it +represents a successful effort to supervise that part of school work +which is most difficult and irksome to supervise; namely, the formation +of habits. Whatever one's ideals of education may be, it still remains +true that habit building is the most important duty of the elementary +school, and that the efficiency of habit building can be tested in no +other way than by the means that he employed; namely, the careful +comparison of results at successive stages of the process. + + +II + +The essence of a true habit is its purely automatic character. Reaction +must follow upon the stimulus instantaneously, without thought, +reflection, or judgment. One has not taught spelling efficiently until +spelling is automatic, until the correct form flows from the pen without +the intervention of mind. The real test of the pupil's training in +spelling is his ability to spell the word correctly when he is thinking, +not about spelling, but about the content of the sentence that he is +writing. Consequently the test of efficiency in spelling is not an +examination in spelling, although this may be valuable as a means to an +end, but rather the infrequency with which misspelled words appear in +the composition work, letter writing, and other written work of the +pupil. Similarly in language and grammar, it is not sufficient to +instruct in rules of syntax. This is but the initial process. +Grammatical rules function effectively only when they function +automatically. So long as one must think and judge and reflect upon the +form of one's expression, the expression is necessarily awkward and +inadequate. + +The same rule holds in respect of the fundamental processes of +arithmetic. It holds in penmanship, in articulation and enunciation, in +word recognition, in moral conduct and good manners; in fact, in all of +the basic work for which the elementary school must stand sponsor. And +one source of danger in the newer methods of education lies in the +tendency to overlook the importance of carrying habit-building processes +through to a successful issue. The reaction against drill, against +formal work of all sorts, is a healthful reaction in many ways. It bids +fair to break up the mechanical lock step of the elementary grades, and +to introduce some welcome life, and vigor, and wholesomeness. But it +will sadly defeat its own purpose if it underrates the necessity of +habit building as the basic activity of early education. + +What is needed, now that we have got away from the lock step, now that +we are happily emancipated from the meaningless thralldom of mechanical +repetition and the worship of drill for its own sake--what is needed now +is not less drill, but better drill. And this should be the net result +of the recent reforms in elementary education. In our first enthusiasm, +we threw away the spelling book, poked fun at the multiplication tables, +decried basal reading, and relieved ourselves of much wit and sarcasm at +the expense of formal grammar. But now we are swinging back to the +adequate recognition of the true purpose of drill. And in the wake of +this newer conception, we are learning that its drudgery may be +lightened and its efficiency heightened by the introduction of a richer +content that shall provide a greater variety in the repetitions, insure +an adequate motive for effort, and relieve the dead monotony that +frequently rendered the older methods so futile. I look forward to the +time when to be an efficient drillmaster in this newer sense of the term +will be to have reached one of the pinnacles of professional skill. + + +III + +But there is another side of teaching that must be supervised. Although +habit is responsible for nine tenths of conduct, the remaining tenth +must not be neglected. In situations where habit is not adequate to +adjustment, judgment and reflection must come to the rescue, or should +come to the rescue. This means that, instead of acting without thought, +as in the case of habit, one analyzes the situation and tries to solve +it by the application of some fact or principle that has been gained +either from one's own experience or from the experience of others. This +is the field in which knowledge comes to its own; and a very important +task of education is to fix in the pupils' minds a number of facts and +principles that will be available for application to the situations of +later life. + +How, then, is the efficiency of instruction (as distinguished from +training or habit building) to be tested? Needless to say, an adequate +test is impossible from the very nature of the situation. The efficiency +of imparting knowledge can be tested only by the effect that this +knowledge has upon later conduct; and this, it will be agreed, cannot be +accurately determined until the pupil has left the school and is face to +face with the problems of real life. + +In practice, however, we adopt a more or less effective substitute for +the real test--the substitute called the examination. We all know that +the ultimate purpose of instruction is not primarily to enable pupils +successfully to pass examinations. And yet as long as we teach as though +this were the main purpose we might as well believe it to be. Now the +examination may be made a very valuable test of the efficiency of +instruction if its limitations are fully recognized and if it does not +obscure the true purpose of instruction. And if we remember that the +true purpose is to impart facts in such a manner that they may not only +"stick" in the pupil's mind, but that they may also be amenable to +recall and practical application, and if we set our examination +questions with some reference to this requirement, then I believe that +we shall find the examination a dependable test. + +One important point is likely to be overlooked in the consideration of +examinations,--the fact, namely, that the form and content of the +questions have a very powerful influence in determining the content and +methods of instruction. Is it not pertinent, then, to inquire whether +examination questions cannot be so framed as radically to improve +instruction rather than to encourage, as is often the case, methods that +are pedagogically unsound? Granted that it is well for the child to +memorize verbatim certain unrelated facts, even to memorize some facts +that have no immediate bearing upon his life, granted that this is +valuable (and I think that a little of it is), is it necessary that an +entire year or half-year be given over almost entirely to "cramming up" +on old questions? Would it not be possible so to frame examination +questions that the "cramming" process would be practically valueless? + +What the pupil should get from geography, for instance, is not only a +knowledge of geographical facts, but also, and more fundamentally, the +power to see the relation of these facts to his own life; in other +words, the ability to apply his knowledge to the improvement of +adjustment. Now this power is very closely associated with the ability +to grasp fundamental principles, to see the relation of cause and effect +working below the surface of diverse phenomena. Geography, to be +practical, must impress not only the fact, but also the principle that +rationalizes or explains the fact. It must emphasize the "why" as well +as the "what." For example: it is well for the pupil to know that New +York is the largest city in the United States; it is better that he +should know why New York has become the largest city in the United +States. It is well to know that South America extends very much farther +to the east than does North America, but it is better to know that this +fact has had an important bearing in determining the commercial +relations that exist between South America and Europe. Questions that +have reference to these larger relations of cause and effect may be so +framed that no amount of "cramming" will alone insure correct answers. +They may be so framed that the pupil will be forced to do some thinking +for himself, will be forced to solve an imaginary situation very much as +he would solve a real situation. + +Examination questions of this type would react beneficially upon the +methods of instruction. They would tend to place a premium upon that +type of instruction that develops initiative in solving problems, +instead of encouraging the memoriter methods that tend to crush whatever +germs of initiative the pupil may possess. This does not mean that the +memoriter work should be excluded. A solid basis of fact is essential to +the mastery of principles. Personally I believe that the work of the +intermediate grades should be planned to give the pupil this factual +basis. This would leave the upper grades free for the more rational +work. In any case, I believe that the efficiency of examinations may be +greatly increased by giving one or two questions that must be answered +by a reasoning process for every question that may be answered by verbal +memory alone. + + +IV + +Thus far it seems clear that an absolute standard is available for +testing the efficiency of training or habit building, and that a fairly +accurate standard may be developed for testing the efficiency of +instruction. Both training and instruction, however, are subject to the +modifying influence of a third factor of which too little account has +hitherto been taken in educational discussions. Training results in +habits, and yet a certain sort of training may not only result in a +certain type of habit, but it may also result in the development of +something which will quite negate the habit that has been developed. In +the process of developing habits of neatness, for example, one may +employ methods that result in prejudicing the child against neatness as +a general virtue. In this event, although the little specific habits of +neatness may function in the situations in which they have been +developed, the prejudice will effectually prevent their extension to +other fields. In other words, the general emotional effect of training +must be considered as well as the specific results of the training. The +same stricture applies with equal force to instruction. Instruction +imparts knowledge; but if a man knows and fails to feel, his knowledge +has little influence upon his conduct. + +This factor that controls conduct when habit fails, this factor that may +even negate an otherwise efficient habit, is the great indeterminate in +the work of teaching. To know that one has trained an effective habit or +imparted a practical principle is one thing; to know that in doing this, +one has not engendered in the pupil's mind a prejudice against the very +thing taught is quite another matter. + +That phase of teaching which is concerned with the development of these +intangible forces may be termed "inspiration"; and it is the lack of an +adequate test for the efficiency of inspiration that makes the task of +supervision so difficult and the results so often unsatisfactory. + +Nevertheless, even here the outlook is not entirely hopeless. One may be +tolerably certain of at least two things. In the first place, the great +"emotionalized prejudices" that must come predominantly from school +influences are the love of truth, the love of work, respect for law and +order, and a spirit of coöperation. These factors undoubtedly have their +basis in specific habits of honesty, industry, obedience, and regard for +the rights and feelings of others; and these habits may be developed and +tested just as thoroughly and just as accurately as habits of good +spelling and correct syntax. Without the solid basis of habit, ideals +and prejudices will be of but little service. The one caution must be +taken that the methods of training do not defeat their own purpose by +engendering prejudices and ideals that negate the habits. It is here +that the personality of the teacher becomes the all-important factor, +and the task of the supervisor is to determine whether the influence of +the personality is good or evil. Most supervisors come to judge of this +influence by an undefined factor that is best termed the "spirit of the +classroom." + +The second hopeful feature of the task of supervision in respect of +inspiration is that this "spirit" is an extremely contagious and +pervasive thing. In other words, the principal or the superintendent may +dominate every classroom under his supervision, almost without regard to +the limitations of the individual teachers. Typical schools in every +city system bear compelling testimony to this fact. The principal _is_ +the school. + +And if I were to sum up the essential characteristics of the ideal +supervisor, I could not neglect this point. After all, the two great +dangers that beset him are, first, the danger of sloth--the old Adam of +laziness--which will tempt him to avoid the details, to shirk the +drudgery, to escape the close and wearisome scrutiny of little things; +and, secondly, the sin of triviality--the inertia which holds him to +details and never permits him to take the broader view and see the true +ends toward which details are but the means. The proper combination of +these two factors is all too rare, but it is in this combination that +the ideal supervisor is to be found. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: A paper read before the fifty-second annual meeting of the +New York State Association of School Commissioners and Superintendents, +November 8, 1907.] + + + + +~V~ + +THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER + + +I + +It is difficult not to be depressed by the irrational radicalism of +contemporary educational theory. It would seem that the workers in the +higher ranges of educational activity should, of all men, preserve a +balanced judgment and a sane outlook, and yet there is probably no other +human calling that presents the strange phenomenon of men who are called +experts throwing overboard everything that the past has sanctioned, and +embarking without chart or compass upon any new venture that happens to +catch popular fancy. The non-professional character of education is +nowhere more painfully apparent than in the expression of this tendency. +The literature of teaching that is written directly out of +experience--out of actual adjustment to the teaching situation--is +almost laughed out of court in some educational circles. But if one +wishes to win the applause of the multitude one may do it easily enough +by proclaiming some new and untried plan. At our educational gatherings +you notice above everything else a straining for spectacular and bizarre +effects. It is the novel that catches attention; and it sometimes seems +to me that those who know the least about the educational situation in +the way of direct contact often receive the largest share of attention +and have the largest influence. + +It is in the attitude of the public and of a certain proportion of +school men toward elementary teaching and the elementary teacher that +this destructive criticism finds its most pronounced expression. +Throughout the length and breadth of the land, the efficiency of the +public school and the sincerity and intelligence of those who are giving +their lives to its work are being called into question. It is +discouraging to think that years of service in a calling do not qualify +one to speak authoritatively upon the problems of that calling, and +especially upon technique. And yet it is precisely upon that point of +technique that the criticisms of elementary education are most drastic. + +Our educational system is sometimes branded as a failure, and yet this +same educational system with all its weaknesses has accomplished the +task of assimilating to American institutions and ideals and standards +the most heterogeneous infusion of alien stocks that ever went to the +making of a united people. The elementary teacher is criticized for all +the sins of omission that the calendar enumerates, and yet this same +elementary teacher is daily lifting millions of children to a plane of +civilization and culture that no other people in history have even +thought possible. I am willing to admit the deficiencies of American +education, but I also maintain that the teachers of our lower schools do +not deserve the opprobrium that has been heaped upon them. I believe +that in education, as in business, it would be a good thing if we saw +more of the doughnut and less of the hole. When I hear a prominent +educator say that we must discard everything that we have produced thus +far and begin anew in the realm of educational materials and methods, I +confess that I am discouraged, especially when that same authority is +extremely obscure as to the materials and methods that we should +substitute for those that we are now employing. I heard that statement +at a recent meeting of the Department of Superintendence, and I heard +other things of like tenor,--for example, that normal schools were +perpetuating types of skill in teaching that were unworthy of +perpetuation, that the observation of teaching was valueless in the +training of teachers because there was nothing that was being done at +the present time that was worthy of imitation, that practice teaching in +the training of young teachers is a farce, a delusion, and a snare. +Those very words were employed by one man of high position to express +his opinion of contemporary practices. You cannot pick up an educational +journal of the better sort, nor open a new educational book, without +being brought face to face with this destructive criticism. + +I protest against this, not only in the name of justice, but in the name +of common sense. It cannot be possible that generations of dealing with +immature minds should have left no residuum of effective practice. The +very principle of progress by trial and error will inevitably mean that +certain practices that are possible and helpful and effective are +perpetuated, and that certain other processes that are ineffective and +wasteful are eliminated. To repudiate all this is the height of folly. +If the history of progress shows us anything, it shows us that progress +is not made by repudiating the lessons of experience. Theory is the last +word, not the first. Theory should explain: it should take successful +practice and find out what principles condition its efficiency; and if +these principles are inconsistent with those heretofore held, it is the +theory that should be modified to suit the facts, not the facts to suit +the theory. + +My opponents may point to medicine as a possible example of the opposite +procedure. And yet if there is anything that the history of medical +science demonstrates, it is that the first cues to new discoveries were +made in the field of practice. Lymph therapy, which is one of the +triumphs of modern medicine, was discovered empirically. It was an +accident of practice, a blind procedure of trial and success that led to +Jenner's discovery of the virtues of vaccination. A century passed +before theory adequately explained the phenomenon, and opened the way to +those wider applications of the principle that have done so much to +reduce the ravages of disease. + +The value of theory, I repeat, is to explain successful practice and to +generalize experience in broad and comprehensive principles which can be +easily held in mind, and from which inferences for further new and +effective practices may be derived. We have a small body of sound +principles in education to-day,--a body of principles that are +thoroughly consistent with successful practice. But the sort of +principles that are put forth as the last words of educational theory +are often far from sound. Personally I firmly believe that a vast amount +of damage is being done to children by the application of fallacious +principles which, because they emanate from high authority, obtain an +artificial validity in the minds of teachers in service. + +I cannot understand why, when an educational experiment fails +lamentably, it is not rejected as a failure. And yet you and I know a +number of instances where certain educational experiments that have +undeniably reversed the hypotheses of those who initiated them are +excused on the ground that conditions were not favorable. That, it seems +to me, should tell the whole story, for precisely what we need in +educational practice is a body of doctrine that will work where +conditions _are_ unfavorable. We are told that the successful +application of mooted theories depends upon the proper kind of teachers. +I maintain that the most effective sort of theory is the sort that +brings results with such teachers as we must employ in our work. It +would be a poor recommendation for a theory of medicine to say that it +worked all right when people are healthy but failed to help the sick. +Nor is it true that good teachers can get good results by following bad +theory. They often obtain the results by evading the theory, and when +they live up to it, the results faithfully reflect the theory, no matter +how skillful the teaching. + + +II + +Statements like these are very apt to be misconstrued or misinterpreted +unless one is very careful to define one's position; and, after what I +have said, I should do myself an injustice if I did not make certain +that my position is clear. I believe in experimentation in education. I +believe in experimental schools. But I should wish these schools to be +interpreted as experiments and not as models, and I should wish that the +failure of an experiment be accepted with good, scientific grace, and +not with the unscientific attitude of making excuses. The trouble with +an experimental school is that, in the eyes of the great mass of +teachers, it becomes a model school, and the principles that it +represents are applied _ad libitum_ by thousands of teachers who assume +that they have heard the last word in educational theory. + +No one is more favorably disposed toward the rights of children than I +am, and yet I am thoroughly convinced that soft-heartedness accompanied +by soft-headedness is weakening the mental and moral fiber of hundreds +of thousands of boys and girls throughout this country. No one admires +more than I admire the sagacity and far-sightedness of Judge Lindsey, +and yet when Judge Lindsey's methods are proposed as models for school +government, I cannot lose sight, as so many people seem to lose sight, +of the contingent factor; namely, that Judge Lindsey's leniency is based +upon authority, and that if Judge Lindsey or anybody else attempted to +be lenient when he had no power to be otherwise than lenient, his +"bluff" would be called in short order. If you will give to teachers and +principals the same power that you give to the police judge, you may +well expect them to be lenient. The great trouble in the school is +simply this: that just in the proportion that leniency is demanded, +authority is taken away from the teacher. + +And I should perhaps say a qualifying word with regard to my attitude +toward educational theory. I have every feeling of affection for the +science of psychology. I have every faith in the value of psychological +principles in the interpretation of educational phenomena. But I also +recognize that the science of psychology is a very young science, and +that its data are not yet so well organized that it is safe to draw from +them anything more than tentative hypotheses which must meet their final +test in the crucible of practice. Some day, if we work hard enough, +psychology will become a predictive science, just as mathematics and +physics and chemistry and, to a certain extent, biology, are predictive +sciences to-day. Meantime psychology is of inestimable value in giving +us a point of view, in clarifying our ideas, and in rationalizing the +truths that empirical practice discovers. A very few psychological +principles are strongly enough established even now to form the basis of +prediction. Among the most important of these are the laws of habit +building, some laws of memory, and the larger principles of attention. +Successful educational practice is and must be in accord with these +indisputable tenets. But the bane of education to-day is in the +pseudo-science, the "half-baked" psychology, that is lauded from the +house-tops by untrained enthusiasts, turned from the presses by +irresponsible publishing houses, and foisted upon the hungry teaching +public through the ever-present medium of the reading circle, the +teachers' institute, the summer school, and I am very sorry to admit +(for I think that I represent both institutions in a way) sometimes by +the normal schools and universities. + +Most of the doctrines that are turning our practice topsy-turvy have +absolutely no support from competent psychologists. The doctrine of +spontaneity and its attendant _laissez-faire_ dogma of school government +is thoroughly inconsistent with good psychology. The radical extreme to +which some educators would push the doctrine of interest when they +maintain that the child should never be asked to do anything for which +he fails to find a need in his own life,--this doctrine can find no +support in good psychology. The doctrine that the preadolescent child +should understand thoroughly every process that he is expected to reduce +to habit before that process is made automatic is utterly at variance +with long-established principles which were well understood by the +Greeks and the Hebrews twenty-five hundred years ago, and to which +Mother Nature herself gives the lie in the instincts of imitation and +repetition. It is conceivable that these radical doctrines were +justified as means of reform, especially in secondary and higher +education, but, even granting this, their function is fulfilled when the +reform that they exploited has been accomplished. That time has come +and, as palpable untruths, they should either be modified to meet the +facts, or be relegated to oblivion. + + +III + +It is safe to say that formalism is no longer a characteristic feature +of the typical American school. It is so long since I have heard any +rote learning in a schoolroom that I am wondering if it is not almost +time for some one to show that a little rote learning would not be at +all a bad thing in preadolescent education. We ridicule the memoriter +methods of Chinese education and yet we sometimes forget that Chinese +education has done something that no other system of education, however +well planned, has even begun to do in the same degree. It has kept the +Chinese empire a unit through a period of time compared with which the +entire history of Greece and Rome is but an episode. We may ridicule the +formalism of Hebrew education, and yet the schools of rabbis have +preserved intact the racial integrity of the Jewish people during the +two thousand years that have elapsed since their geographical unity was +destroyed. I am not justifying the methods of Chinese or Hebrew +education. I am quite willing to admit that, in China at any rate, the +game may not have been worth the candle; but I am still far from +convinced that it is not a good thing for children to reduce to verbal +form a good many things that are now never learned in such a way as to +make any lasting impression upon the memory; and our criticism of +oriental formalism is not so much concerned with the method of learning +as with the content of learning,--not so much with learning by heart as +with the character of the material that was thus memorized. + +But, although formalism is no longer a distinctive feature of American +education, formalism is the point from which education is most +frequently attacked,--and this is the chief source of my dissatisfaction +with the present-day critics of our elementary schools. In a great many +cases, they have set up a man of straw and demolished him completely. +And in demolishing him, they have incidentally knocked the props from +under the feet of many a good teacher, leaving him dazed and uncertain +of his bearings, stung with the conviction that what he has been doing +for his pupils is entirely without value, that his life of service has +been a failure, that the lessons of his own experience are not to be +trusted, nor the verdicts of his own intelligence respected. Go to any +of the great summer schools and you will meet, among the attending +teachers, hundreds of faithful, conscientious men and women who could +tell you if they would (and some of them will) of the muddle in which +their minds are left after some of the lectures to which they have +listened. Why should they fail to be depressed? The whole weight of +academic authority seems to be against them. The entire machinery of +educational administration is wheeling them with relentless force into +paths that seem to them hopelessly intricate and bewildering. If it is +true, as I think it is, that some of the proposals of modern education +are an attempt to square the circle, it is certainly true that the +classroom teacher is standing at the pressure points in this procedure. + +We hear expressed on every side a great deal of sympathy for the child +as the victim of our educational system. Sympathy for childhood is the +most natural thing in the world. It is one of the basic human instincts, +and its expressions are among the finest things in human life. But why +limit our sympathy to the child, especially to-day when he is about as +happy and as fortunate an individual as anybody has ever been in all +history. Why not let a little of it go out to the teacher of this child? +Why not plan a little for her comfort and welfare and encouragement? It +is her skill that is assimilating the children of our alien population. +It is her strength that is lifting bodily each generation to the +ever-advancing race levels. Her work must be the main source of the +inspiration that will impel the race to further advancement. And yet +when these half-million teachers who mean so much to this country gather +at their institutes, when they attend the summer schools, when they take +up their professional journals, what do they hear and read? Criticisms +of their work. Denunciations of their methods. Serious doubts of their +intelligence. Aspersions cast upon their sincerity, their patience, and +their loyalty to their superiors. This, mingled with some mawkish +sentimentalism that passes under the name of inspiration. Only +occasionally a word of downright commendation, a sign of honest and +heartfelt appreciation, a note of sympathy or encouragement. + +Carnegie gives fifteen million dollars to provide pensions for +superannuated college professors; but the elementary teacher who is not +fortunate enough to die in harness must look forward to the almshouse. +The people tax themselves for magnificent buildings and luxurious +furnishings, but not one cent do they offer for teachers' pensions. +What a blot upon Western civilization is this treatment of the teachers +in our lower schools. These people are doing the work that even the +savage races universally consider to be of the highest type. Benighted +China places her teachers second only to the literati themselves in the +place of honor. The Hindus made the teaching profession the highest +caste in the social scale. The Jews intrusted the education of their +children to their Rabbis, the most learned and the most honored of their +race. It is only Western civilization--it is almost only our much-lauded +Anglo-Saxon civilization--that denies to the teacher a station in life +befitting his importance as a social servant. + + +IV + +But what has all this to do with school supervision? As I view it, the +supervisor of schools as the overseer and director of the educational +process, is just now confronted with two great problems. The first of +these is to keep a clear head in the present muddled condition of +educational theory. From the very fact of his position, the supervisor +must be a leader, whether he will or not. It is a maxim of our +profession that the principal is the school. In our city systems the +supervising principal is given almost absolute authority over the school +of which he has charge. In him is vested the ultimate responsibility for +instruction, for discipline, for the care and condition of the material +property. He may be a despot if he wishes, benevolent or otherwise. +With this power goes a corresponding opportunity. His school can stand +for something,--perhaps for something new and strange which will bring +him into the limelight to-day, no matter what its character; perhaps for +something solid and enduring, something that will last long after his +own name has been forgotten. The temptation was never so strong as it is +to-day for the supervisor to seek the former kind of glory. The need was +never more acute than it is to-day for the supervisor who is content +with the impersonal glory of the latter type. + +I admit that it is a somewhat thankless task to do things in a +straightforward, effective way, without fuss or feathers, and I suppose +that the applause of the gallery may be easily mistaken for the applause +of the pit. But nevertheless the seeker for notoriety is doing the cause +of education a vast amount of harm. I know a principal who won ephemeral +fame by introducing into his school a form of the Japanese jiu-jitsu +physical exercises. When I visited that school, I was led to believe +that jiu-jitsu would be the salvation of the American people. Whole +classes of girls and boys were marched to the large basement to be put +through their paces for the delectation of visitors. The newspapers took +it up and heralded it as another indication that the formalism of the +public school was gradually breaking down. Visitors came by the +hundreds, and my friend basked in the limelight of public adulation +while his colleagues turned green with envy and set themselves to +devising some means for turning attention in their direction. + +And yet, there are some principals who move on in the even tenor of +their ways, year after year, while all these currents and +countercurrents are seething and eddying around them. They hold fast to +that which they know is good until that which they know is better can be +found. They believe in the things that they do, so the chances are +greatly increased that they will do them well. They refuse to be bullied +or sneered at or laughed out of court because they do not take up with +every fancy that catches the popular mind. They have their own +professional standards as to what constitutes competent +schoolmanship,--their own standards gained from their own specialized +experience. And somehow I cannot help thinking that just now that is the +type of supervisor that we need and the type that ought to be +encouraged. If I were talking to Chinese teachers, I might preach +another sort of gospel, but American education to-day needs less +turmoil, less distraction, fewer sweeping changes. It needs to settle +itself, and look around, and find out where it is and what it is trying +to do. And it needs, above all, to rise to a consciousness of itself as +an institution manned by intelligent individuals who are perfectly +competent themselves to set up craft standard and ideals. + + +IV + [Transcriber's note: This is a typographical error in + the original, and should read "V"] + +But in whatever way the supervisor may utilize the opportunity that his +position presents, his second great problem will come up for solution. +The supervisor is the captain of the teaching corps. Directly under his +control are the mainsprings of the school's life and activity,--the +classroom teachers. It is coming to be a maxim in the city systems that +the supervisor has not only the power to mold the school to the form of +his own ideals, but that he can, if he is skillful, turn weak teachers +into strong teachers and make out of most unpromising material, an +efficient, homogeneous school staff. I believe that this is coming to be +considered the prime criterion of effective school supervision,--not +what skill the supervisor may show in testing results, or in keeping his +pupils up to a given standard, or in choosing his teachers skillfully, +but rather the success with which he is able to take the teaching +material that is at his hand, and train it into efficiency. + +A former Commissioner of Education for one of our new insular +possessions once told me that he had come to divide supervisors into two +classes,--(1) those who knew good teaching when they saw it, and (2) +those who could make poor teachers into good teachers. Of these two +types, he said, the latter were infinitely more valuable to pioneer work +in education than the former, and he named two or three city systems +from which he had selected the supervisors who could do this sort of +thing,--for there is no limit to this process of training, and the +superintendent who can train supervisors is just as important as the +supervisor who can train teachers. + +It would take a volume adequately to treat the various problems that +this conception of the supervisor's function involves. I can do no more +at present than indicate what seems to me the most pressing present need +in this direction. I have found that sometimes the supervisors who +insist most strenuously that their teachers secure the coöperation of +their pupils are among the very last to secure for themselves the +coöperation of their teachers. + +And to this important end, it seems to me that we have an important +suggestion in the present condition of the classroom teacher as I have +attempted to describe it. As a type, the classroom teacher needs just +now some adequate appreciation and recognition of the work that she is +doing. If the lay public is unable adequately to judge the teacher's +work, there is all the more reason that she should look to her +supervisor for that recognition of technical skill, for that +commendation of good work, which can come only from a fellow-craftsman, +but which, when it does come, is worth more in the way of real +inspiration than the loudest applause of the crowd. + +Upon the whole, I believe that the outlook in this direction is +encouraging. While the teacher may miss in her institutes and in the +summer school that sort of encouragement, she is, I believe, finding it +in larger and larger measure in the local teachers' meetings and in her +consultations with her supervisors. And when all has been said, that is +the place from which she should look for inspiration. The teachers' +meeting must be the nursery of professional ideals. It must be a place +where the real first-hand workers in education get that sanity of +outlook, that professional point of view, which shall fortify them +effectively against the rising tide of unprofessional interference and +dictation which, as I have tried to indicate, constitutes the most +serious menace to our educational welfare. + +And it is in the encouragement of this craft spirit, in this lifting of +the teacher's calling to the plane of craft consciousness, it is in this +that the supervisor must, I believe, find the true and lasting reward +for his work. It is through this factor that he can, just now, work the +greatest good for the schools that he supervises and the community that +he serves. The most effective way to reach his pupils is through the +medium of their teachers, and he can help these pupils in no better way +than to give their teachers a justifiable pride in the work that they +are doing through his own recognition of its worth and its value, +through his own respect for the significance of the lessons that +experience teaches them, through his own suggestive help in making that +experience profitable and suggestive. And just at the present moment, he +can make no better start than by assuring them of the truth that Emerson +expresses when he defines the true scholar as the man who remains firm +in his belief that a popgun is only a popgun although the ancient and +honored of earth may solemnly affirm it to be the crack of doom. + + + + +~VI~ + +EDUCATION AND UTILITY[11] + +I + + +I wish to discuss with you some phases of the problem that is perhaps +foremost in the minds of the teaching public to-day: the problem, +namely, of making education bear more directly and more effectively upon +the work of practical, everyday life. I have no doubt that some of you +feel, when this problem is suggested, very much as I felt when I first +suggested to myself the possibility of discussing it with you. You have +doubtless heard some phases of this problem discussed at every meeting +of this association for the past ten years--if you have been a member so +long as that. Certain it is that we all grow weary of the reiteration of +even the best of truths, but certain it is also that some problems are +always before us, and until they are solved satisfactorily they will +always stimulate men to devise means for their solution. + +I should say at the outset, however, that I shall not attempt to justify +to this audience the introduction of vocational subjects into the +elementary and secondary curriculums. I shall take it for granted that +you have already made up your minds upon this matter. I shall not take +your time in an attempt to persuade you that agriculture ought to be +taught in the rural schools, or manual training and domestic science in +all schools. I am personally convinced of the value of such work and I +shall take it for granted that you are likewise convinced. + +My task to-day, then, is of another type. I wish to discuss with you +some of the implications of this matter of utility in respect of the +work that every elementary school is doing and always must do, no matter +how much hand work or vocational material it may introduce. My problem, +in other words, concerns the ordinary subject-matter of the +curriculum,--reading and writing and arithmetic, geography and grammar +and history,--those things which, like the poor, are always with us, but +which we seem a little ashamed to talk about in public. Truly, from +reading the educational journals and hearing educational discussion +to-day, the layman might well infer that what we term the "useful" +education and the education that is now offered by the average school +are as far apart as the two poles. We are all familiar with the +statement that the elementary curriculum is eminently adapted to produce +clerks and accountants, but very poorly adapted to furnish recruits for +any other department of life. The high school is criticized on the +ground that it prepares for college and consequently for the +professions, but that it is totally inadequate to the needs of the +average citizen. Now it would be futile to deny that there is some truth +in both these assertions, but I do not hesitate to affirm that both are +grossly exaggerated, and that the curriculum of to-day, with all its +imperfections, does not justify so sweeping a denunciation. I wish to +point out some of the respects in which these charges are fallacious, +and, in so doing, perhaps, to suggest some possible remedies for the +defects that every one will acknowledge. + + +II + +In the first place, let me make myself perfectly clear upon what I mean +by the word "useful." What, after all, is the "useful" study in our +schools? What do men find to be the useful thing in their lives? The +most natural answer to this question is that the useful things are those +that enable us to meet effectively the conditions of life,--or, to use a +phrase that is perfectly clear to us all, the things that help us in +getting a living. The vast majority of men and women in this world +measure all values by this standard, for most of us are, to use the +expressive slang of the day, "up against" this problem, and "up against" +it so hard and so constantly that we interpret everything in the greatly +foreshortened perspective of immediate necessity. Most of us in this +room are confronting this problem of making a living. At any rate, I am +confronting it, and consequently I may lay claim to some of the +authority that comes from experience. + +And since I have made this personal reference, may I violate the canons +of good taste and make still another? I was face to face with this +problem of getting a living a good many years ago, when the opportunity +came to me to take a college course. I could see nothing ahead after +that except another struggle with this same vital issue. So I decided to +take a college course which would, in all probability, help me to solve +the problem. Scientific agriculture was not developed in those days as +it has been since that time, but a start had been made, and the various +agricultural colleges were offering what seemed to be very practical +courses. I had had some early experience on the farm, and I decided to +become a scientific farmer. I took the course of four years and secured +my degree. The course was as useful from the standpoint of practical +agriculture as any that could have been devised at the time. But when I +graduated, what did I find? The same old problem of getting a living +still confronted me as I had expected that it would; and alas! I had got +my education in a profession that demanded capital. I was a landless +farmer. Times were hard and work of all kinds was very scarce. The +farmers of those days were inclined to scoff at scientific agriculture. +I could have worked for my board and a little more, and I should have +done so had I been able to find a job. But while I was looking for the +place, a chance came to teach school, and I took the opportunity as a +means of keeping the wolf from the door. I have been engaged in the work +of teaching ever since. When I was able to buy land, I did so, and I +have to-day a farm of which I am very proud. It does not pay large +dividends, but I keep it up for the fun I get out of it,--and I like to +think, also, that if I should lose my job as a teacher, I could go back +to the farm and show the natives how to make money. This is doubtless an +illusion, but it is a source of solid comfort just the same. + +Now the point of this experience is simply this: I secured an education +that seemed to me to promise the acme of utility. In one way, it has +fulfilled that promise far beyond my wildest expectations, but that way +was very different from the one that I had anticipated. The technical +knowledge that I gained during those four strenuous years, I apply now +only as a means of recreation. So far as enabling me directly to get a +living, this technical knowledge does not pay one per cent on the +investment of time and money. And yet I count the training that I got +from its mastery as, perhaps, the most useful product of my education. + +Now what was the secret of its utility? As I analyze my experience, I +find it summed up very largely in two factors. In the first place, I +studied a set of subjects for which I had at the outset very little +taste. In studying agriculture, I had to master a certain amount of +chemistry, physics, botany, and zoölogy, for each and every one of which +I felt, at the outset, a distinct aversion and dislike. A mastery of +these subjects was essential to a realization of the purpose that I had +in mind. I was sure that I should never like them, and yet, as I kept at +work, I gradually found myself losing that initial distaste. First one +and then another opened out its vista of truth and revelation before me, +and almost before I was aware of it, I was enthusiastic over science. It +was a long time before I generalized that experience and drew its +lesson, but the lesson, once learned, has helped me more even in the +specific task of getting a living than anything else that came out of my +school training. That experience taught me, not only the necessity for +doing disagreeable tasks,--for attacking them hopefully and +cheerfully,--but it also taught me that disagreeable tasks, if attacked +in the right way, and persisted in with patience, often become +attractive in themselves. Over and over again in meeting the situations +of real life, I have been confronted with tasks that were initially +distasteful. Sometimes I have surrendered before them; but sometimes, +too, that lesson has come back to me, and has inspired me to struggle +on, and at no time has it disappointed me by the outcome. I repeat that +there is no technical knowledge that I have gained that compares for a +moment with that ideal of patience and persistence. When it comes to +real, downright utility, measured by this inexorable standard of getting +a living, let me commend to you the ideal of persistent effort. All the +knowledge that we can learn or teach will come to very little if this +element is lacking. + +Now this is very far from saying that the pursuit of really useful +knowledge may not give this ideal just as effectively as the pursuit of +knowledge that will never be used. My point is simply this: that beyond +the immediate utility of the facts that we teach,--indeed, basic and +fundamental to this utility,--is the utility of the ideals and standards +that are derived from our school work. Whatever we teach, these +essential factors can be made to stand out in our work, and if our +pupils acquire these we shall have done the basic and important thing in +helping them to solve the problems of real life,--and if our pupils do +not acquire these, it will make little difference how intrinsically +valuable may be the content of our instruction. I feel like emphasizing +this matter to-day, because there is in the air a notion that utility +depends entirely upon the content of the curriculum. Certainly the +curriculum must be improved from this standpoint, but we are just now +losing sight of the other equally important factor,--that, after all, +while both are essential, it is the spirit of teaching rather than the +content of teaching that is basic and fundamental. + +Nor have I much sympathy with that extreme view of this matter which +asserts that we must go out of our way to provide distasteful tasks for +the pupil in order to develop this ideal of persistence. I believe that +such a policy will always tend to defeat its own purpose. I know a +teacher who holds this belief. He goes out of his way to make tasks +difficult. He refuses to help pupils over hard places. He does not +believe in careful assignments of lessons, because, he maintains, the +pupil ought to learn to overcome difficulties for himself, and how can +he learn unless real difficulties are presented? + +The great trouble with this teacher is that his policy does not work out +in practice. A small minority of his pupils are strengthened by it; the +majority are weakened. He is right when he says that a pupil gains +strength only by overcoming difficulties, but he neglects a very +important qualification of this rule, namely, that a pupil gains no +strength out of obstacles that he fails to overcome. It is the conquest +that comes after effort,--this is the factor that gives one strength and +confidence. But when defeat follows defeat and failure follows failure, +it is weakness that is being engendered--not strength. And that is the +trouble with this teacher's pupils. The majority leave him with all +confidence in their own ability shaken out of them and some of them +never recover from the experience. + +And so while I insist strenuously that the most useful lesson we can +teach our pupils is how to do disagreeable tasks cheerfully and +willingly, please do not understand me to mean that we should go out of +our way to provide disagreeable tasks. After all, I rejoice that my own +children are learning how to read and write and cipher much more easily, +much more quickly, and withal much more pleasantly than I learned those +useful arts. The more quickly they get to the plane that their elders +have reached, the more quickly they can get beyond this plane and on to +the next level. + +To argue against improved methods in teaching on the ground that they +make things too easy for the pupil is, to my mind, a grievous error. It +is as fallacious as to argue that the introduction of machinery is a +curse because it has diminished in some measure the necessity for human +drudgery. But if machinery left mankind to rest upon its oars, if it +discouraged further progress and further effortful achievement, it +_would_ be a curse: and if the easier and quicker methods of instruction +simply bring my children to my own level and then fail to stimulate them +to get beyond my level, then they are a curse and not a blessing. + +I do not decry that educational policy of to-day which insists that +school work should be made as simple and attractive as possible. I do +decry that misinterpretation of this policy which looks at the matter +from the other side, and asserts so vehemently that the child should +never be asked or urged to do something that is not easy and attractive. +It is only because there is so much in the world to be done that, for +the sake of economizing time and strength, we should raise the child as +quickly and as rapidly and as pleasantly as possible to the plane that +the race has reached. But among all the lessons of race experience that +we must teach him there is none so fundamental and important as the +lesson of achievement itself,--the supreme lesson wrung from human +experience,--the lesson, namely, that every advance that the world has +made, every step that it has taken forward, every increment that has +been added to the sum total of progress has been attained at the price +of self-sacrifice and effort and struggle,--at the price of doing things +that one does not want to do. And unless a man is willing to pay that +price, he is bound to be the worst kind of a social parasite, for he is +simply living on the experience of others, and adding to this capital +nothing of his own. + +It is sometimes said that universal education is essential in order that +the great mass of humanity may live in greater comfort and enjoy the +luxuries that in the past have been vouchsafed only to the few. +Personally I think that this is all right so far as it goes, but it +fails to reach an ultimate goal. Material comfort is justified only +because it enables mankind to live more effectively on the lower planes +of life and give greater strength and greater energy to the solution of +new problems upon the higher planes of life. The end of life can never +be adequately formulated in terms of comfort and ease, nor even in +terms of culture and intellectual enjoyment; the end of life is +achievement, and no matter how far we go, achievement is possible only +to those who are willing to pay the price. When the race stops investing +its capital of experience in further achievement, when it settles down +to take life easily, it will not take it very long to eat up its capital +and revert to the plane of the brute. + + +III + +But I am getting away, from my text. You will remember that I said that +the most useful thing that we can teach the child is to attack +strenuously and resolutely any problem that confronts him whether it +pleases him or not, and I wanted to be certain that you did not +misinterpret me to mean that we should, for this reason, make our school +tasks unnecessarily difficult and laborious. After all, while our +attitude should always be one of interesting our pupils, their attitude +should always be one of effortful attention,--of willingness to do the +task that we think it best for them to do. You see it is a sort of a +double-headed policy, and how to carry it out is a perplexing problem. +Of so much I am certain, however, at the outset: if the pupil takes the +attitude that we are there to interest and entertain him, we shall make +a sorry fiasco of the whole matter, and inasmuch as this very tendency +is in the air at the present time, I feel justified in at least +referring to its danger. + +Now if this ideal of persistent effort is the most useful thing that +can come out of education, what is the next most useful? Again, as I +analyze what I obtained from my own education, it seems to me that, next +to learning that disagreeable tasks are often well worth doing, the +factor that has helped me most in getting a living has been the method +of solving the situations that confronted me. After all, if we simply +have the ideal of resolute and aggressive and persistent attack, we may +struggle indefinitely without much result. All problems of life involve +certain common factors. The essential difference between the educated +and the uneducated man, if we grant each an equal measure of pluck, +persistence, and endurance, lies in the superior ability of the educated +man to analyze his problem effectively and to proceed intelligently +rather than blindly to its solution. I maintain that education should +give a man this ideal of attacking any problem; furthermore I maintain +that the education of the present day, in spite of the anathemas that +are hurled against it, is doing this in richer measure than it has ever +been done before. But there is no reason why we should not do it in +still greater measure. + +I once knew two men who were in the business of raising fruit for +commercial purposes. Each had a large orchard which he operated +according to conventional methods and which netted him a comfortable +income. One of these men was a man of narrow education: the other a man +of liberal education, although his training had not been directed in +any way toward the problems of horticulture. The orchards had borne +exceptionally well for several years, but one season, when the fruit +looked especially promising, a period of wet, muggy weather came along +just before the picking season, and one morning both these men went out +into their orchards, to find the fruit very badly "specked." Now the +conventional thing to do in such cases was well known to both men. Each +had picked up a good deal of technical information about caring for +fruit, and each did the same thing in meeting this situation. He got out +his spraying outfit, prepared some Bordeaux mixture, and set vigorously +at work with his pumps. So far as persistence and enterprise went, both +men stood on an equal footing. But it happened that this was an unusual +and not a conventional situation. The spraying did not alleviate the +condition. The corruption spread through the trees like wildfire, and +seemed to thrive on copper sulphate rather than succumb to its corrosive +influence. + +Now this was where the difference in training showed itself. The +orchardist who worked by rule of thumb, when he found that his rule did +not work, gave up the fight and spent his time sitting on his front +porch bemoaning his luck. The other set diligently at work to analyze +the situation. His education had not taught him anything about the +characteristics of parasitic fungi, for parasitic fungi were not very +well understood when he was in school. But his education had left with +him a general method of procedure for just such cases, and that method +he at once applied. It had taught him how to find the information that +he needed, provided that such information was available. It had taught +him that human experience is crystallized in books, and that, when a +discovery is made in any field of science,--no matter how specialized +the field and no matter how trivial the finding,--the discovery is +recorded in printer's ink and placed at the disposal of those who have +the intelligence to find it and apply it. And so he set out to read up +on the subject,--to see what other men had learned about this peculiar +kind of apple rot. He obtained all that had been written about it and +began to master it. He told his friend about this material and suggested +that the latter follow the same course, but the man of narrow education +soon found himself utterly at sea in a maze of technical terms. The +terms were new to the other too, but he took down his dictionary and +worked them out. He knew how to use indices and tables of contents and +various other devices that facilitate the gathering of information, and +while his uneducated friend was storming over the pedantry of men who +use big words, the other was making rapid progress through the material. +In a short time he learned everything that had been found out about this +specific disease. He learned that its spores are encased in a gelatinous +sac which resisted the entrance of the chemicals. He found how the +spores were reproduced, how they wintered, how they germinated in the +following season; and, although he did not save much of his crop that +year, he did better the next. Nor were the evidences of his superiority +limited to this very useful result. He found that, after all, very +little was known about this disease, so he set himself to find out more +about it. To do this, he started where other investigators had left off, +and then he applied a principle he had learned from his education; +namely, that the only valid methods of obtaining new truths are the +methods of close observation and controlled experiment. + +Now I maintain that the education which was given that man was effective +in a degree that ought to make his experience an object lesson for us +who teach. What he had found most useful at a very critical juncture of +his business life was, primarily, not the technical knowledge that he +had gained either in school or in actual experience. His superiority lay +in the fact that he knew how to get hold of knowledge when he needed it, +how to master it once he had obtained it, how to apply it once he had +mastered it, and finally how to go about to discover facts that had been +undetected by previous investigators. I care not whether he got this +knowledge in the elementary school or in the high school or in the +college. He might have secured it in any one of the three types of +institution, but he had to learn it somewhere, and I shall go further +and say that the average man has to learn it in some school and under an +explicit and conscious method of instruction. + + +IV + +But perhaps you would maintain that this statement of the case, while in +general true, does not help us out in practice. After all, how are we to +impress pupils with this ideal of persistence and with these ideals of +getting and applying information, and with this ideal of investigation? +I maintain that these important useful ideals may be effectively +impressed almost from the very outset of school life. The teaching of +every subject affords innumerable opportunities to force home their +lessons. In fact, it must be a very gradual process--a process in which +the concrete instances are numerous and rich and impressive. From these +concrete instances, the general truth may in time emerge. Certainly the +chances that it will emerge are greatly multiplied if we ourselves +recognize its worth and importance, and lead our pupils to see in each +concrete case the operation of the general principle. After all, the +chief reason why so much of our education miscarries, why so few pupils +gain the strength and the power that we expect all to gain, lies in the +inability of the average individual to draw a general conclusion from +concrete cases--to see the general in the particular. We have insisted +so strenuously upon concrete instruction that we have perhaps failed +also to insist that fact without law is blind, and that observation +without induction is stupidity gone to seed. + +Let me give a concrete instance of what I mean. Not long ago, I visited +an eighth-grade class during a geography period. It was at the time when +the discovery of the Pole had just set the whole civilized world by the +ears, and the teacher was doing something that many good teachers do on +occasions of this sort: she was turning the vivid interest of the moment +to educative purposes. The pupils had read Peary's account of his trip +and they were discussing its details in class. Now that exercise was +vastly more than an interesting information lesson, for Peary's +achievement became, under the skillful touch of that teacher, a type of +all human achievement. I wish that I could reproduce that lesson for +you--how vividly she pictured the situation that confronted the +explorer,--the bitter cold, the shifting ice, the treacherous open +leads, the lack of game or other sources of food supply, the long +marches on scant rations, the short hours and the uncomfortable +conditions of sleep; and how from these that fundamental lesson of pluck +and endurance and courage came forth naturally without preaching the +moral or indulging in sentimental "goody-goodyism." And then the other +and equally important part of the lesson,--how pluck and courage in +themselves could never have solved the problem; how knowledge was +essential, and how that knowledge had been gained: some of it from the +experience of early explorers,--how to avoid the dreaded scurvy, how to +build a ship that could withstand the tremendous pressure of the floes; +and some from the Eskimos,--how to live in that barren region, and how +to travel with dogs and sledges;--and some, too, from Peary's own early +experiences,--how he had struggled for twenty years to reach the goal, +and had added this experience to that until finally the prize was his. +We may differ as to the value of Peary's deed, but that it stands as a +type of what success in any undertaking means, no one can deny. And this +was the lesson that these eighth-grade pupils were absorbing,--the +world-old lesson before which all others fade into insignificance,--the +lesson, namely, that achievement can be gained only by those who are +willing to pay the price. + +And I imagine that when that class is studying the continent of Africa +in their geography work, they will learn something more than the names +of rivers and mountains and boundaries and products,--I imagine that +they will link these facts with the names and deeds of the men who gave +them to the world. And when they study history, it will be vastly more +than a bare recital of dates and events,--it will be alive with these +great lessons of struggle and triumph,--for history, after all, is only +the record of human achievement. And if those pupils do not find these +same lessons coming out of their own little conquests,--if the problems +of arithmetic do not furnish an opportunity to conquer the pressure +ridges of partial payments or the Polar night of bank discount, or if +the intricacies of formal grammar do not resolve themselves into the +North Pole of correct expression,--I have misjudged that teacher's +capacities; for the great triumph of teaching is to get our pupils to +see the fundamental and the eternal in things that are seemingly trivial +and transitory. We are fond of dividing school studies into the cultural +and the practical, into the humanities and the sciences. Believe me, +there is no study worth the teaching that is not practical at basis, and +there is no practical study that has not its human interest and its +humanizing influence--if only we go to some pains to search them out. + + +V + +I have said that the most useful thing that education can do is to imbue +the pupil with the ideal of effortful achievement which will lead him to +do cheerfully and effectively the disagreeable tasks that fall to his +lot. I have said that the next most useful thing that it can do is to +give him a general method of solving the problems that he meets. Is +there any other useful outcome of a general nature that we may rank in +importance with these two? I believe that there is, and I can perhaps +tell you what I mean by another reference to a concrete case. I know a +man who lacks this third factor, although he possesses the other two in +a very generous measure. He is full of ambition, persistence, and +courage. He is master of the rational method of solving the problems +that beset him. He does his work intelligently and effectively. And yet +he has failed to make a good living. Why? Simply because of his standard +of what constitutes a good living. Measured by my standard, he is doing +excellently well. Measured by his own standard, he is a miserable +failure. He is depressed and gloomy and out of harmony with the world, +simply because he has no other standard for a good living than a +financial one. He is by profession a civil engineer. His work is much +more remunerative than is that of many other callings. He has it in him +to attain to professional distinction in that work. But to this +opportunity he is blind. In the great industrial center in which he +works, he is constantly irritated by the evidences of wealth and luxury +beyond what he himself enjoys. The millionaire captain of industry is +his hero, and because he is not numbered among this class, he looks at +the world through the bluest kind of spectacles. + +Now, to my mind that man's education failed somewhere, and its failure +lay in the fact that it did not develop in him ideals of success that +would have made him immune to these irritating factors. We have often +heard it said that education should rid the mind of the incubus of +superstition, and one very important effect of universal education is +that it does offer to all men an explanation of the phenomena that +formerly weighted down the mind with fear and dread, and opened an easy +ingress to the forces of superstition and fraud and error. Education has +accomplished this function, I think, passably well with respect to the +more obvious sources of superstition. Necromancy and magic, demonism and +witchcraft, have long since been relegated to the limbo of exposed +fraud. Their conquest has been one of the most significant advances that +man has made above the savage. The truths of science have at last +triumphed, and, as education has diffused these truths among the masses, +the triumph has become almost universal. + +But there are other forms of superstition besides those I have +mentioned,--other instances of a false perspective, of distorted values, +of inadequate standards. If belief in witchcraft or in magic is bad +because it falls short of an adequate interpretation of nature,--if it +is false because it is inconsistent with human experience,--then the +worship of Mammon that my engineer friend represents is tenfold worse +than witchcraft, measured by the same standards. If there is any lesson +that human history teaches with compelling force, it is surely this: +Every race which has yielded to the demon of individualism and the lust +for gold and self-gratification has gone down the swift and certain road +to national decay. Every race that, through unusual material prosperity, +has lost its grip on the eternal verities of self-sacrifice and +self-denial has left the lesson of its downfall written large upon the +pages of history. I repeat that if superstition consists in believing +something that is inconsistent with rational human experience, then our +present worship of the golden calf is by far the most dangerous form of +superstition that has ever befuddled the human intellect. + +But, you ask, what can education do to alleviate a condition of this +sort? How may the weak influence of the school make itself felt in an +environment that has crystallized on every hand this unfortunate +standard? Individualism is in the air. It is the dominant spirit of the +times. It is reënforced upon every side by the unmistakable evidences of +national prosperity. It is easy to preach the simple life, but who will +live it unless he has to? It is easy to say that man should have social +and not individual standards of success and achievement, but what effect +will your puerile assertion have upon the situation that confronts us? + +Yes; it is easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. It is far easier +to lie back and let things run their course than it is to strike out +into midstream and make what must be for the pioneer a fatal effort to +stem the current. But is the situation absolutely hopeless? If the +forces of education can lift the Japanese people from barbarism to +enlightenment in two generations; if education can in a single century +transform Germany from the weakest to the strongest power on the +continent of Europe; if five short years of a certain type of education +can change the course of destiny in China;--are we warranted in our +assumption that we hold a weak weapon in this fight against Mammon? + +I have intimated that the attitude of my engineer friend toward life is +the result of twisted ideals. A good many young men are going out into +life with a similar defect in their education. They gain their ideals, +not from the great wellsprings of human experience as represented in +history and literature, in religion and art, but from the environment +around them, and consequently they become victims of this superstition +from the outset. As a trainer of teachers, I hold it to be one important +part of my duty to fortify my students as strongly as I can against this +false standard of which my engineer friend is the victim. It is just as +much a part of my duty to give my students effective and consistent +standards of what a good living consists in as it is to give them the +technical knowledge and skill that will enable them to make a good +living. If my students who are to become teachers have standards of +living and standards of success that are inconsistent with the great +ideal of social service for which teaching stands, then I have fallen +far short of success in my work. If they are constantly irritated by the +evidences of luxury beyond their means, if this irritation sours their +dispositions and checks their spontaneity, their efficiency as teachers +is greatly lessened or perhaps entirely negated. And if my engineer +friend places worldly emoluments upon a higher plane than professional +efficiency, I dread for the safety of the bridges that he builds. His +education as an engineer should have fortified him against just such a +contingency. It should have left him with the ideal of craftsmanship +supreme in his life. And if his technical education failed to do this, +his general education ought, at least, to have given him a bias in the +right direction. + +I believe that all forms of vocational and professional education are +not so strong in this respect as they should be. Again you say to me, +What can education do when the spirit of the times speaks so strongly on +the other side? But what is education for if it is not to preserve midst +the chaos and confusion of troublous times the great truths that the +race has wrung from its experience? How different might have been the +fate of Rome, if Rome had possessed an educational system touching every +child in the Empire, and if, during the years that witnessed her decay +and downfall, those schools could have kept steadily, persistently at +work, impressing upon every member of each successive generation the +virtues that made the old Romans strong and virile--the virtues that +enabled them to lay the foundations of an empire that crumbled in ruins +once these truths were forgotten. Is it not the specific task of +education to represent in each generation the human experiences that +have been tried and tested and found to work,--to represent these in the +face of opposition if need be,--to be faithful to the trusteeship of the +most priceless legacy that the past has left to the present and to the +future? If this is not our function in the scheme of things, then what +is our function? Is it to stand with bated breath to catch the first +whisper that will usher in the next change? Is it to surrender all +initiative and simply allow ourselves to be tossed hither and yon by the +waves and cross-waves of a fickle public opinion? Is it to cower in +dread of a criticism that is not only unjust but often ill-advised of +the real conditions under which we are doing our work? + +I take it that none of us is ready to answer these questions in the +affirmative. Deep down in our hearts we know that we have a useful work +to do, and we know that we are doing it passably well. We also know our +defects and shortcomings at least as well as one who has never faced our +problems and tried to solve them. And it is from this latter type that +most of the drastic criticism, especially of the elementary and +secondary school, emanates. I confess that my gorge rises within me when +I read or hear the invectives that are being hurled against teaching as +a profession (and against the work of the elementary and secondary +school in particular) by men who know nothing of this work at first +hand. This is the greatest handicap under which the profession of +teaching labors. In every other important field of human activity a man +must present his credentials before he takes his seat at the council +table, and even then he must sit and listen respectfully to his elders +for a while before he ventures a criticism or even a suggestion. This +plan may have its defects. It may keep things on too conservative a +basis; but it avoids the danger into which we as a profession have +fallen,--the danger of "half-baked" theories and unmatured policies. +To-day the only man that can get a respectable hearing at our great +national educational meetings is the man who has something new and +bizarre to propose. And the more startling the proposal, the greater is +the measure of adulation that he receives. The result of this is a +continual straining for effect, an enormous annual crop of fads and +fancies, which, though most of them are happily short-lived, keep us in +a state of continual turmoil and confusion. + + * * * * * + +Now, it goes without saying that there are many ways of making education +hit the mark of utility in addition to those that I have mentioned. The +teachers down in the lower grades who are teaching little children the +arts of reading and writing and computation are doing vastly more in a +practical direction than they are ever given credit for doing; for +reading and writing and the manipulation of numbers are, next to oral +speech itself, the prime necessities in the social and industrial world. +These arts are being taught to-day better than they have ever been +taught before,--and the technique of their teaching is undergoing +constant refinement and improvement. + +The school can do and is doing other useful things. Some schools are +training their pupils to be well mannered and courteous and considerate +of the rights of others. They are teaching children one of the most +basic and fundamental laws of human life; namely, that there are some +things that a gentleman cannot do and some things that society will not +stand. How many a painful experience in solving this very problem of +getting a living could be avoided if one had only learned this lesson +passing well! What a pity it is that some schools that stand to-day for +what we call educational progress are failing in just this +particular--are sending out into the world an annual crop of boys and +girls who must learn the great lesson of self-control and a proper +respect for the rights of others in the bitter school of experience,--a +school in which the rod will never be spared, but whose chastening +scourge comes sometimes, alas, too late! + +There is no feature of school life which has not its almost infinite +possibilities of utility. But after all, are not the basic and +fundamental things these ideals that I have named? And should not we who +teach stand for idealism in its widest sense? Should we not ourselves +subscribe an undying fidelity to those great ideals for which teaching +must stand,--to the ideal of social service which lies at the basis of +our craft, to the ideals of effort and discipline that make a nation +great and its children strong, to the ideal of science that dissipates +the black night of ignorance and superstition, to the ideal of culture +that humanizes mankind? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 11: An address before the Eastern Illinois Teachers' +Association, October 15, 1909. Published as a Bulletin of the Eastern +Illinois Normal School, October, 1909.] + + + + +~VII~ + +THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN EDUCATION[12] + +I + + +I know that I do not need to plead with this audience for a recognition +of the scientific spirit in the solution of educational problems. The +long life and the enviable record of this Society of Pedagogy testify in +themselves to that spirit of free inquiry, to the calm and dispassionate +search for the truth which lies at the basis of the scientific method. +You have gathered here, fortnight after fortnight, to discuss +educational problems in the light of your experience. You have reported +your experience and listened to the results that others have gleaned in +the course of their daily work. And experience is the corner stone of +science. + +Some of the most stimulating and clarifying discussions of educational +problems that I have ever heard have been made in the sessions of this +Society. You have been scientific in your attitude toward education, and +I may add that I first learned the lessons of the real science of +education in the St. Louis schools, and under the inspiration that was +furnished by the men who were members of this Society. What I knew of +the science of education before I came to this city ten years ago, was +gleaned largely from books. It was deductive, _a priori_, in its nature. +What I learned here was the induction from actual experience. + +My very first introduction to my colleagues among the school men of this +city was a lesson in the science of education. I had brought with me a +letter to one of your principals. He was in the office down on Locust +Street the first Saturday that I spent in the city. I presented my +letter to him, and, with that true Southern hospitality which has always +characterized your corps, he took me immediately under his wing and +carried me out to luncheon with him. + +We sat for hours in a little restaurant down on Sixth Street,--he was my +teacher and I was his pupil. And gradually, as the afternoon wore on, I +realized that I had met a master craftsman in the art of education. At +first I talked glibly enough of what I intended to do, and he listened +sympathetically and helpfully, with a little quizzical smile in his eyes +as I outlined my ambitious plans. And when I had run the gamut of my +dreams, he took his turn, and, in true Socratic fashion, yet without +making me feel in the least that I was only a dreamer after all, he +refashioned my theories. One by one the little card houses that I had +built up were deftly, smoothly, gently, but completely demolished. I did +not know the ABC of schoolcraft--but he did not tell me that I did not. +He went at the task of instruction from the positive point of view. He +proved to me, by reminiscence and example, how different are actual and +ideal conditions. And finally he wound up with a single question that +opened a new world to me. "What," he asked, "is the dominant +characteristic of the child's mind?" I thought at first that I was on +safe ground--for had I not taken a course in child study, and had I not +measured some hundreds of school children while working out a university +thesis? So I began with my list. But, at each characteristic that I +mentioned he shook his head. "No," he said, "no; that is not right." And +when finally I had exhausted my list, he said to me, "The dominant +characteristic of the child's mind is its _seriousness_. The child is +the most _serious_ creature in the world." + +The answer staggered me for a moment. Like ninety-nine per cent of the +adult population of this globe, the seriousness of the child had never +appealed to me. In spite of the theoretical basis of my training, that +single, dominant element of child life had escaped me. I had gained my +notion of the child from books, and, I also fear, from the Sunday +supplements. To me, deep down in my heart, the child was an animated +joke. I was immersed in unscientific preconceptions. But the master +craftsman had gained his conception of child life from intimate, +empirical acquaintance with the genus boy. He had gleaned from his +experience that fundamental truth: "The child is the most serious +creature in the world." + +Sometime I hope that I may make some fitting acknowledgment of the debt +of gratitude that I owe to that man. The opportunities that I had to +talk with him were all too few, but I did make a memorable visit to his +school, and studied at first hand the great work that he was doing for +the pupils of the Columbia district. He died the next year, and I shall +never forget the words that stood beneath his picture that night in one +of the daily papers: "Charles Howard: Architect of Character." + + +II + +The essence of the scientific spirit is to view experience without +prejudice, and that was the lesson that I learned from the school system +of St. Louis. + +The difference between the ideal child and the real child,--the +difference between what fancy pictures a schoolroom to be and what +actual first-hand acquaintance shows that it is, the difference between +a preconceived notion and an actual stubborn fact of experience,--these +were among the lessons that I learned in these schools. But, at the same +time, there was no crass materialism accompanying this teaching. There +was no loss of the broader point of view. A fact is a fact, and we +cannot get around it,--and this is what scientific method has insisted +upon from its inception. But always beyond the fact is its significance, +its meaning. That the St. Louis schools have for the last fifty years +stood for the larger view; that they have never, so far as I know, +exploited the new and the bizarre simply because it was new and +strange,--this is due, I believe, to the insight and inspiration of the +man[13] who first fashioned the framework of this system, and breathed +into it as a system the vitalizing element of idealism. Personally, I +have not always been in sympathy with the teachings of the Hegelian +philosophy,--I have not always understood them,--but no man could +witness the silent, steady, unchecked growth of the St. Louis schools +without being firmly and indelibly impressed with dynamic value of a +richly conceived and rigidly wrought system of fundamental principles. +The cause of education has suffered much from the failure of educators +to break loose from the shackles of the past. But it has, in some +places, suffered still more from the tendency of the human mind to +confuse fundamental principles with the shackles of tradition. The rage +for the new and the untried, simply because it is new and untried,--this +has been, and is to-day, the rock upon which real educational progress +is most likely to be wrecked. This is a rock, I believe, that St. Louis +has so far escaped, and I have no doubt that its escape has been due, in +large measure, to the careful, rigid, laborious, and yet illuminating +manner in which that great captain charted out its course. + + +III + +Fundamentally, there is, I believe, no discrepancy, no inconsistency, +between the scientific spirit in education and what may be called the +philosophical spirit. As I have suggested, there are always two dangers +that must be avoided: the danger, in the first place, of thinking of the +old as essentially bad; and, on the other hand, the danger of thinking +of the new and strange and unknown as essentially bad; the danger of +confusing a sound conservatism with a blind worship of established +custom; and the danger of confusing a sound radicalism with the blind +worship of the new and the bizarre. + +Let me give you an example of what I mean. There is a rather bitter +controversy at present between two factions of science teachers. One +faction insists that physics and chemistry and biology should be taught +in the high school from the economic point of view,--that the economic +applications of these sciences to great human arts, such as engineering +and agriculture, should be emphasized at every point,--that a great deal +of the material now taught in these sciences is both useless and +unattractive to the average high-school pupil. The other faction +maintains that such a course would mean the destruction of science as an +integral part of the secondary culture course,--that science to be +cultural must be pure science,--must be viewed apart from its economic +applications,--apart from its relations to the bread-and-butter problem. + +Now many of the advocates of the first point of view--many of the people +that would emphasize the economic side--are animated by the spirit of +change and unrest which dominates our latter-day civilization. They wish +to follow the popular demand. "Down with scholasticism!" is their cry; +"Down with this blind worship of custom and tradition! Let us do the +thing that gives the greatest immediate benefit to our pupils. Let us +discard the elements in our courses that are hard and dry and barren of +practical results." Now these men, I believe, are basing their argument +upon the fallacy of immediate expediency. The old is bad, the new is +good. That is their argument. They have no sheet anchor out to windward. +They are willing to drift with the gale. + +Many of the advocates of the second point of view--many of the people +who hold to the old line, pure-science teaching--are, on the other hand, +animated by a spirit of irrational conservatism. "Down with radicalism!" +they shout; "Down with the innovators! Things that are hard and dry are +good mental discipline. They made our fathers strong. They can make our +children strong. What was good enough for the great minds of the past is +good enough for us." + +Now these men, I believe, have gone to the other extreme. They have +confused custom and tradition with fundamental and eternal principles. +They have thought that, just because a thing is old, it is good, just as +their antagonists have thought that just because a thing is new it is +good. + +In both cases, obviously, the scientific spirit is lacking. The most +fundamental of all principles is the principle of truth. And yet these +men who are teachers of science are--both classes of them--ruled +themselves by dogma. And meantime the sciences are in danger of losing +their place in secondary education. The rich promise that was held out a +generation ago has not been fulfilled. Within the last decade, the +enrollment in the science courses has not increased in proportion to the +total enrollment, while the enrollment in Latin (which fifteen years ago +was about to be cast upon the educational scrap heap) has grown by leaps +and bounds. + +Now this is a type of a great many controversies in education. We talk +and theorize, but very seldom do we try to find out the actual facts in +the case by any adequate tests. + +It was the lack of such tests that led us at the University of Illinois +to enter upon a series of impartial investigations to see whether we +could not take some of these mooted questions out of the realm of +eternal controversy, and provide some definite solutions. We chose among +others this controversy between the economic scientists and the pure +scientists. We took a high-school class and divided it into two +sections. We tried to place in each section an equal number of bright +and mediocre and dull pupils, so that the conditions would be equalized. +Then we chose an excellent teacher, a man who could approach the problem +with an open mind, without prejudice or favor. During the present year +he has been teaching these parallel sections. In one section he has +emphasized economic applications; in the other he has taught the class +upon the customary pure-science basis. He has kept a careful record of +his work, and at stated intervals he has given both sections the same +tests. We propose to carry on this investigation year after year with +different classes, different teachers, and in different schools. We are +not in a hurry to reach conclusions. + +Now I said that the safeguard in all work of this sort is to keep our +grip firm and fast on the eternal truths. In this work that I mention we +are not trying to prove that either pure science or applied science +interests our pupils the more or helps them the more in meeting +immediate economic situations. We do not propose to measure the success +of either method by its effect upon the bread-winning power of the +pupil. What we believe that science teaching should insure, is a grip on +the scientific method and an illuminating insight into the forces of +nature, and we are simply attempting to see whether the economic +applications will make this grip firmer or weaker, and this insight +clearer or more obscure. I trust that this point is plain, for it +illustrates what I have just said regarding the danger of following a +popular demand. We need no experiment to prove that economic science is +more useful in the narrow sense than is pure science. What we wish to +determine is whether a judicious mixture of the two sorts of teaching +will or will not enable us to realize this rich cultural value much more +effectively than a traditional purely cultural course. + +Now that illustrates what I think is the real and important application +of the scientific spirit to the solution of educational problems. You +will readily see that it does not do away necessarily with our ideals. +It is not necessarily materialistic. It is not necessarily idealistic. +Either side may utilize it. It is a quite impersonal factor. But it does +promise to take some of our educational problems out of the field of +useless and wasteful controversy, and it does promise to get men of +conflicting views together,--for, in the case that I have just cited, if +we prove that the right admixture of methods may enable us to realize +both a cultural and a utilitarian value, there is no reason why the +culturists and the utilitarians should not get together, cease their +quarreling, take off their coats, and go to work. Few people will deny +that bread and butter is a rather essential thing in this life of ours; +very few will deny that material prosperity in temperate amounts is good +for all of us; and very few also will deny that far more fundamental +than bread and butter--far more important than material prosperity--are +the great fundamental and eternal truths which man has wrought out of +his experience and which are most effectively crystallized in the +creations of pure art, the masterpieces of pure literature, and the +discoveries of pure science. + +Certainly if we of the twentieth century can agree upon any one thing, +it is this: That life without toil is a crime, and that any one who +enjoys leisure and comfort and the luxuries of living without paying the +price of toil is a social parasite. I believe that it is an important +function of public education to impress upon each generation the highest +ideals of living as well as the arts that are essential to the making of +a livelihood, but I wish to protest against the doctrine that these two +factors stand over against one another as the positive and negative +poles of human existence. In other words, I protest against the notion, +that the study of the practical everyday problems of human life is +without what we are pleased to call a culture value,--that in the proper +study of those problems one is not able to see the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles. + +I shall readily agree that there is always a grave danger that the +trivial and temporary objects of everyday life may be viewed and studied +without reference to these fundamental principles. But this danger is +certainly no greater than that the permanent and eternal truths be +studied without reference to the actual, concrete, workaday world in +which we live. I have seen exercises in manual training that had for +their purpose the perfection of the pupil in some little art of joinery +for which he would, in all probability, have not the slightest use in +his later life. But even if he should find use for it, the process was +not being taught in the proper way. He was being made conscious only of +the little trivial thing, and no part of his instruction was directed +toward the much more important, fundamental lesson,--the lesson, namely, +that "a little thing may be perfect, but that perfection itself is not a +little thing." + +I say that I have witnessed such an exercise in the very practical field +of manual training. I may add that I went through several such exercises +myself, and emerged with a disgust that always recurs to me when I am +told that every boy will respond to the stimulus of the hammer and the +jack plane. But I should hasten to add that I have also seen what we +call the humanities so taught that the pupil has emerged from them with +a supreme contempt for the life of labor and a feeling of disgust at the +petty and trivial problems of human life which every one must face. I +have seen art and literature so taught as to leave their students not +with the high purpose to mold their lives in accordance with the high +ideals that art and literature represent, not the firm resolution to do +what they could to relieve the ugliness of the world where they found +it ugly, or to do what they could to ennoble life when they found it +vile; but rather with an attitude of calm superiority, as if they were +in some way privileged to the delights of æsthetic enjoyment, leaving +the baser born to do the world's drudgery. + +I have seen the principles of agriculture so taught as to leave with the +student the impression that he could raise more corn than his neighbor +and sell it at a higher price if he mastered the principles of +nitrification; and all without one single reference to the basic +principle of conservation upon which the welfare of the human race for +all time to come must inevitably depend,--without a single reference to +the moral iniquity of waste and sloth and ignorance. But I have also +seen men who have mastered the scientific method,--the method of +controlled observation, and unprejudiced induction and inference,--in +the laboratories of pure science; and who have gained so overweening and +hypertrophied a regard for this method that they have considered it too +holy to be contaminated by application to practical problems,--who have +sneered contemptuously when some adventurer has proposed, for example, +to subject the teaching of science itself to the searchlight of +scientific method. + +I trust that these examples have made my point clear, for it is +certainly simple enough. If vocational education means simply that the +arts and skills of industrial life are to be transmitted safely from +generation to generation, a minimum of educational machinery is all that +is necessary, and we do not need to worry much about it. If vocational +education means simply this, it need not trouble us much; for economic +conditions will sooner or later provide for an effective means of +transmission, just as economic conditions will sooner or later perfect, +through a blind and empirical process of elimination, the most effective +methods of agriculture, as in the case of China and other overpopulated +nations of the Orient. + +But I take it that we mean by vocational education something more than +this, just as we mean by cultural education something more than a veneer +of language, history, pure science, and the fine arts. In the former +case, the practical problems of life are to be lifted to the plane of +fundamental principles; in the latter case, fundamental principles are +to be brought down to the plane of present, everyday life. I can see no +discrepancy here. To my mind there is no cultural subject that has not +its practical outcome, and there is no practical subject that has not +its humanizing influence if only we go to some pains to seek it out. I +do not object to a subject of instruction that promises to put dollars +into the pockets of those that study it. I do object to the mode of +teaching that subject which fails to use this effective economic appeal +in stimulating a glimpse of the broader vision. I do not object to the +subject that appeals to the pupil's curiosity because it informs him of +the wonderful deeds that men have done in the past. I do object to that +mode of teaching this subject which simply arouses interest in a +spectacular deed, and then fails to use this interest in the +interpretation of present problems. I do not contend that in either case +there must be an explicit pointing of morals and drawing of lessons. But +I do contend that the teacher who is in charge of the process should +always have this purpose in the forefront of his consciousness, and--now +by direct comparison, now by indirection and suggestion--guide his +pupils to the goal desired. + +I hope that through careful tests, we shall some day be able to +demonstrate that there is much that is good and valuable on both sides +of every controverted educational question. After all, in this complex +and intricate task of teaching to which you and I are devoting our +lives, there is too much at stake to permit us for a moment to be +dogmatic,--to permit us for a moment to hold ourselves in any other +attitude save one of openness and reception to the truth when the truth +shall have been demonstrated. Neither your ideas nor mine, nor those of +any man or group of men, living or dead, are important enough to stand +in the way of the best possible accomplishment of that great task to +which we have set our hands. + + +IV + +But I did not propose this morning to talk to you about science as a +part of our educational curriculum, but rather about the scientific +spirit and the scientific method as effective instruments for the +solution of our own peculiar educational problems. I have tried to give +you reasons for believing that an adoption of this policy does not +necessarily commit us to materialism or to a narrowly economic point of +view. I have attempted to show that the scientific method may be applied +to the solution of our problems while we still retain our faith in +ideals; and that, unless we do retain that faith, our investigations +will be without point or meaning. + +This problem of vocational education to which I have just referred is +one that is likely to remain unsolved until we have made a searching +investigation of its factors in the light of scientific method. Some +people profess not to be worried by the difficulty of finding time in +our elementary and secondary schools for the introduction of the newer +subjects making for increased vocational efficiency. They would cut the +Gordian knot with one single operation by eliminating enough of the +older subjects to make room for the new. I confess that this solution +does not appeal to me. Fundamentally the core of the elementary +curriculum must, I believe, always be the arts that are essential to +every one who lives the social life. In other words, the language arts +and the number arts are, and always must be, the fundamentals of +elementary education. I do not believe that specialized vocational +education should ever be introduced at the expense of thorough training +in the subjects that already hold their place in the curriculum. And yet +we are confronted by the economic necessity of solving in some way this +vocational problem. How are we to do it? + +It is here that the scientific method may perhaps come to our aid. The +obvious avenue of attack upon this problem is to determine whether we +cannot save time and energy, not by the drastic operation of eliminating +old subjects, but rather by improving our technique of teaching, so that +the waste may be reduced, and the time thus saved given to these new +subjects that are so vociferously demanding admission. In Cleveland, for +example, the method of teaching spelling has been subjected to a rigid +scientific treatment, and, as a result, spelling is being taught to-day +vastly better than ever before and with a much smaller expenditure of +time and energy. It has been due, very largely, to the application of a +few well-known principles which the science of psychology has furnished. + +Now that is vastly better than saying that spelling is a subject that +takes too much time in our schools and consequently ought forthwith to +be eliminated. In all of our school work enough time is undoubtedly +wasted to provide ample opportunity for training the child thoroughly +in some vocation if we wish to vocationalize him, and I do not think +that this would hurt him, even if he does not follow the vocation in +later life. + +To-day we are attempting to detect these sources of waste in technique. +The problems of habit building or memorizing are already well on the way +to solution. Careful tests have shown the value of doing memory work in +a certain definite way--learning by unit wholes rather than by +fragments, for example. Experiments have been conducted to determine the +best length of time to give to drill processes, such as spelling, and +penmanship, and the fundamental tables of arithmetic. It is already +clearly demonstrated that brief periods of intense concentration are +more economical than longer periods during which the monotony of +repetition fags the mind to a point where it can no longer work +effectively. We are also beginning to see from these tests, that a +systematic method of attacking such a problem as the memorizing of the +tables will do much to save time and promote efficiency. We are finding +that it is extremely profitable to instruct children in the technique of +learning,--to start them out in the right way by careful example, so +that much of the time and energy that was formerly dissipated, may now +be conserved. + +And there is a suggestion, also, that in the average school, the vast +possibilities of the child's latent energy are only imperfectly +realized. A friend of mine stumbled accidentally upon this fact by +introducing a new method of grading. He divided his pupils into three +groups or streams. The group that progressed the fastest was made up of +those who averaged 85 per cent and over in their work. A middle group +averaged between 75 per cent and 85 per cent in their work, and a third, +slow group was made up of those who averaged below 75 per cent. At the +end of the first month, he found that a certain proportion of his +pupils, who had formerly hovered around the passing grade of 70, began +to forge ahead. Many of them easily went into the fastest stream, but +they were still satisfied with the minimum standing for that group. In +other words, whether we like to admit it or not, most men and women and +boys and girls are content with the passing grades, both in school and +in life. So common is the phenomenon that we think of the matter +fatalistically. But supply a stimulus, raise the standard, and you will +find some of these individuals forging up to the next level. + +Professor James's doctrine of latent energies bids fair to furnish the +solution of a vast number of perplexing educational problems. Certain it +is that our pupils of to-day are not overburdened with work. They are +sometimes irritated by too many tasks, sometimes dulled by dead routine, +sometimes exhilarated to the point of mental _ennui_ by spectacular +appeals to immediate interest. But they are seldom overworked, or even +worked to within a healthful degree of the fatigue point. + +Elementary education has often been accused of transacting its business +in small coin,--of dealing with and emphasizing trivialities,--and yet +every time that the scientific method touches the field of education, it +reveals the fundamental significance of little things. Whether the +third-grade pupil should memorize the multiplication tables in the form, +"8 times 9 equals 72" or simply "8-9's--72" seems a matter of +insignificance in contrast with the larger problems that beset us. And +yet scientific investigation tells us clearly and unequivocally that any +useless addition to a formula to be memorized increases the time for +reducing the formula to memory, and interferes significantly with its +recall and application. It may seem a matter of trivial importance +whether the pupil increases the subtrahend number or decreases the +minuend number when he subtracts digits that involve taking or +borrowing; and yet investigation proves that to increase the subtrahend +number is by far the simpler process, and eliminates both a source of +waste and a source of error, which, in the aggregate, may assume a +significance to mental economy that is well worth considering. + +In fact, if we are ever to solve the broader, bigger, more attractive +problems,--like the problem of vocational education, or the problem of +retardation,--we must first find a solution for some of the smaller and +seemingly trivial questions of the very existence of which the lay +public may be quite unaware, but which you and I know to mean an untold +total of waste and inefficiency in the work that we are trying to do. + +And one reason why the scientific attitude toward educational problems +appeals to me is simply because this attitude carries with it a respect +for these seemingly trivial and commonplace problems; for just as the +greatest triumph of the teaching art is to get our pupils to see in +those things of life that are fleeting and transitory the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles, so the glory of the scientific +method lies in its power to reveal the significance of the commonplace +and to teach us that no slightest detail of our daily work is +necessarily devoid of inspiration; that every slightest detail of school +method and school management has a meaning and a significance that it is +worth our while to ponder. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 12: An address delivered before the St. Louis Society of +Pedagogy, April 16, 1910.] + +[Footnote 13: Dr. W.T. Harris.] + + + + +~VIII~ + +THE POSSIBILITY OF TRAINING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY[14] + +I + + +In its widest aspects, the problem of teaching pupils how to study forms +a large part of the larger educational problem. It means, not only +teaching them how to read books, and to make the content of books part +of their own mental capital, but also, and perhaps far more +significantly, teaching them how to draw lessons from their own +experiences; not only how to observe and classify and draw conclusions, +but also how to evaluate their experience--how to judge whether certain +things that they do give adequate or inadequate results. + +In the narrower sense, however, the art of study may be said to consist +in the ability to assimilate the experiences of others, and it is in +this narrower sense that I shall discuss the problem to-day. It is not +only in books that human experience is recorded, and yet it is true that +the reading of books is the most economical means of gaining these +experiences; consequently, we may still further narrow our problem to +this: How may pupils be trained effectively to glean, through the medium +of the printed page, the great lessons of race experience? + +The word "study" is thus used in the sense in which most teachers employ +it. When we speak of a pupil's studying his lessons, we commonly mean +that he is bending over a text-book, attempting to assimilate the +contents of the text. Just what it means to study, even in this narrow +sense of the term,--just what it means, psychologically, to assimilate +even the simplest thoughts of others,--I cannot tell you, and I do not +know of any one who can answer this seemingly simple question +satisfactorily. We all study, but what happens in our minds when we do +study is a mystery. We all do some thinking, and yet the psychology of +thinking is the great undiscovered and unexplored region in the field of +mental science. Until we know something of the psychology of thinking, +we can hope for very little definite information concerning the +psychology of study, for study is so intimately bound up with thinking +that the two are not to be separated. + +But even if it is impossible at the present time to analyze the process +of studying, we are pretty well agreed as to what constitutes successful +study, and many rules have been formulated for helping pupils to acquire +effective habits of study. These rules concern us only indirectly at the +present time, for our problem is still narrower in its scope. It has to +do with the possibility of so training children in the art of study, +not only that they may study effectively in school, but also that they +may carry over the habits and methods of study thus acquired into the +tasks of later life. In other words, the topic that we are discussing is +but one phase of the problem of formal discipline,--the problem of +securing a transfer of training from a specific field to other fields; +and my purpose is to view this topic of "study" in the light of what we +know concerning the possibilities of transfer. + +Let me take a specific example. I am not so much concerned with the +problem of getting a pupil to master a history lesson quickly and +effectively,--not how he may best assimilate the facts concerning the +Missouri Compromise, for example. My task is rather to determine how we +can make his mastery of the Missouri Compromise a lesson in the general +art of study,--how that mastery may help him develop what we used to +call the general power of study,--the capacity to apply an effective +method of study to other problems, perhaps, very far removed from the +history lesson; in other words, how that single lesson may help him in +the more general task of finding any type of information when he needs +it, of assimilating it once he has found it, and of applying it once he +has assimilated it. + +In an audience of practical teachers, it is hardly necessary to +emphasize the significance of doing this very thing. From one point of +view, it may be asserted that the whole future of what we term general +education, as distinguished from technical or vocational education, +depends upon our ability to solve problems like this, and solve them +satisfactorily. We can never justify universal general education beyond +the merest rudiments unless we can demonstrate acceptably that the +training which general education furnishes will help the individual to +solve the everyday problems of his life. Either we must train the pupil +in a general way so that he will be able to acquire specialized skill +more quickly and more effectively than will the pupil who lacks this +general training; or we must give up a large part of the general-culture +courses that now occupy an important part in our elementary and +secondary curriculums, and replace these with technical and vocational +subjects that shall have for their purpose the development of +specialized efficiency. + +All teachers, I take it, are alive to the grave dangers of the latter +policy. Whether we have thought the matter through logically or not we +certainly _feel_ strongly that too early specialization will work a +serious injury to the cause of education, and, through education, to the +larger cause of social advancement and enlightenment. We view with grave +foreboding any policy that will shut the door of opportunity to any +child, no matter how humble or how unpromising. And yet we also know +that, unless the general education that we now offer can be distinctly +shown to have a beneficial influence upon specialized efficiency, we +shall be forced by economic conditions into this very policy. It is +small wonder, then, that so many of our educational discussions and +investigations to-day turn upon this problem; and among the various +phases of the problem none is more significant than that which is +covered by our topic of to-day,--How may we develop in the pupil a +general power or capacity for gaining information independently of +schools and teachers? If we could adequately develop this power, there +is much in the way of specialized instruction that could be safely left +to the individual himself. If we could teach him how to study, then we +could perhaps trust him to master some of the principles of any calling +that he undertakes in so far as these principles can be mastered from +books. To teach the child to study effectively is to do the most useful +thing that could be done to help him to adjust himself to any +environment of modern civilized life into which he may be thrown. For +there is one thing that the more radical advocates of a narrow +vocational education commonly forget, and that is the constant change +that is going on in industrial processes. When we limit our vocational +teaching to a mere mastery of technique, there is no guarantee that the +process which we teach to-day may not be discarded in five or ten years +from to-day. Even the narrower technical principles which are so +extremely important to-day may be relatively insignificant by the time +that the child whom we are training takes his place in the industrial +world. But if we can arm the individual with the more fundamental +principles which are fixed for all time; and if, in addition to this, +we can teach him how to master the specialized principles which may come +into the field unheralded and unexpected, and turn topsy-turvy the older +methods of doing his work, then we shall have done much toward helping +him in solving that perplexing problem of gaining a livelihood. + + +II + +I shall not try in this discussion of the problem of study to summarize +completely the principles and precepts that have been presented so well +in the four books on the subject that have appeared in the last two +years. I do not know, in fact, of any book that is more useful to the +teacher just at present than Professor Frank McMurry's _How to Study and +Teaching how to Study_. It is a book that is both a help and a delight, +for it is clear and well-organized, and written in a vivacious style and +with a wealth of concrete illustration that holds the attention from +beginning to end. The chief fault that I have to find with it is the +fault that I have to find with almost every educational book that comes +from the press to-day,--the tendency, namely, to imply that the teacher +of to-day is doing very little to solve these troublesome problems. As a +matter of fact, many teachers are securing excellent results from their +attempts to teach pupils how to study. Otherwise we should not find so +many energetic young men to-day who are making an effective individual +mastery of the principles of their respective trades and professions +independently of schools and teachers. Our attitude toward these +questions, far from being that of the pessimist, should be that of the +optimist. Our task should be to seek out these successful teachers, and +find out how they do their work. + +Among the most important points emphasized by the recent writers upon +the art of study is the necessity for some form of motivation in the +work of mastering the text. We all know that if a pupil feels a distinct +need for getting information out of a book, the chances are that he will +get it if the book is available and if he can read. To create a problem +that will involve in its solution the gaining of such information is, +therefore, one of the best approaches to a mastery of the art of study. +It is, however, only the beginning. It furnishes the necessary energy, +but does not map out the path along which this energy is to be expended. +And this is where the greater emphasis, perhaps, is needed. + +One of the best teachers that I ever knew taught the subject that we now +call agronomy,--a branch of agricultural science that has to do with +field crops. I was a mere boy when I sat under his instruction, but +certain points in his method of teaching made a most distinct impression +upon me. Lectures we had, of course, for lecturing was the orthodox +method of class instruction. But this man did something more than merely +lecture. He assigned each one of his students a plat of ground on the +college farm. Upon this plat of ground, a definite experiment was to be +conducted. One of my experiments had to do with the smut of oats. I was +to try the effect of treating the seed with hot water in order to see +whether it would prevent the fungus from later destroying the ripening +grain. The very nature of the problem interested me intensely. I began +to wonder about the life-history of this fungus,--how it looked and how +it germinated and how it grew and wrought its destructive influence. It +was not long before I found myself spending some of my leisure moments +in the library trying to find out what was known concerning this +subject. I was not so successful as I might have been, but I am +confident that I learned more about parasitic fungi under the spur of +that curiosity than I should have done in five times the number of hours +spent in formal, meaningless study. + +But the point of my experience is not that a problem interest had been +awakened, but rather that the white heat of that interest was not +utilized so completely as it might have been utilized in fixing upon my +mind some important details in the general method of running down +references and acquiring information. That was the moment to strike, and +one serious defect of our school organization to-day is that most +teachers, like my teacher at that time, have so much to do that anything +like individual attention at such moments is out of the question. + +Next to individual attention, probably, the best way to overcome the +difficulty is to give class instruction in these matters,--to set aside +a definite period for teaching pupils the technique of using books. If +one could arouse a sufficiently general problem interest, this sort of +instruction could be made most effective. But even if the problem +interest is not general, I think that it is well to assume that it +exists in some pupils, at least, and to give them the benefit of class +instruction in the art of study,--even if some of the seed should fall +upon barren soil. + +This aspect of teaching pupils how to study is particularly important in +the upper grades and the high school, where pupils have sufficiently +mastered the technique of reading to be intrusted with individual +problems, and where some reference books are commonly available. Chief +among these always is the dictionary, and to get pupils to use this +ponderous volume effectively is one of the important steps in teaching +them how to study. Here, too, it is easy to be pedantic. As I shall +insist strenuously a little later, the chief factor in insuring a +transfer of training from one subject to another is to leave in the +pupil's mind a distinct consciousness that the method that he has been +trained to follow is worth while,--that it gets results. The dictionary +habit is likely to begin and end within the schoolroom unless steps are +taken to insure the operation of this factor. It is easy to overwork the +dictionary and to use it fruitlessly, in so great a measure, in fact, +that the pupil will never want to see a dictionary again. + +Aside from the use of the dictionary, is the use of the helps that +modern books provide for finding the information that may be +desired,--indices, tables of contents, marginal and cross-references, +and the like. These, again, are most significant in the work of the +upper grades and the high school, and here again if we wish the skill +that is developed in their use to be transferred, we must take pains to +see that the pupil really appreciates their value,--that he realizes +their time-saving and energy-saving functions. I do not know that there +is any better way to do this than to let him flounder around without +them for a little so that his sense of their value may be enhanced by +contrast. + + +III + +Another important step emphasized by the recent writers is the need for +training children to pick out the significant features in the text or +portion of the text that they are reading. This, of course, is work that +is to be undertaken from the very moment that they begin to use books. +How to do it effectively is a puzzling problem and one that will amply +repay study and experimentation by the individual teacher. Much studying +of lessons by teachers and pupils together will help, provided that the +exercise is spirited and vital, and is not looked upon by the pupils as +an easy way of getting out of recitation work. McMurry strongly +recommends the marking of books to indicate the topic sentences and the +other salient features. Personally, I am sure from my own experience +that the assignment is all-important here, and that study questions and +problems which can be answered or solved by reference to the text will +help matters very much; but care must, of course, be taken that the +continued use of such questions does not preclude the pupil's own +mastery of the art of study. To eliminate this danger, it is well that +the pupils be requested frequently to make out their own lists of +questions, and, as speedily as possible, both the questions made by the +pupil and those made by the teacher, should be replaced by topical +outlines. By taking care that the questions are logically +arranged,--that is, that a general question refer to the topic of the +paragraph, and other subordinate questions to the subordinate details of +the paragraph,--the transition from the questions to the topical outline +may be readily made. Simultaneously with this will go the transition in +recitation from the question-and-answer type to the topical type; and +when you have trained a class into the habit of topical +recitation,--when each pupil can talk right through a topic (not around +it or underneath it or above it) without the use of "pumping" questions +by the teacher,--you have gone a long way toward developing the art of +study. + +The transfer of this training, however, is quite another matter. There +are pupils who can work up excellent topical recitations from their +school text-books but who are utterly at sea in getting a grasp on a +subject treated in other books. Here again the problem lies in getting +the pupil to see the method apart from its content, and to show him that +it really brings results that are worth while. If, in our training in +the topical method, we are too formal and didactic, the art of study +will begin and end right there. It is here that the factor of motivation +is of supreme importance. When real problems are raised which require +for their solution intelligent reading, the general worth of the method +of study can be clearly shown. I do not go so far as to say that the +pupil should never be required to study unless he has a real problem +that he wishes to solve. In fact, I think that we still have a large +place for the formal, systematic mastery of texts by every pupil in our +schools. I do contend, however, that the frequent introduction of real +problems will give us an opportunity to show the pupil that the method +that he has utilized in his more formal school work is adequate and +essential to do the thing that appeals to him as worth while. Only in +this way, I believe, can we insure that transfer of training which is +the important factor from our present standpoint. + +And I ought also to say, parenthetically, that we should not interpret +too narrowly this word "motivation." Let us remember that what may +appeal to the adult as an effective motive does not always appeal to the +child as such. Economic motives are the most effective, probably, in our +own adult lives, and probably very effective with high-school pupils, +but economic motives are not always strong in young children, nor should +we wish them to be. It is not always true that the child will approach a +school task sympathetically when he knows that the task is an essential +preparation for the life that is going on about him. He may work harder +at a task in order to get ahead of his fellow-pupils than he would if +the motive were to fit him to enter a shop or a factory. Motive is +largely a matter of instinct with the child, and he may, indeed, be +perfectly satisfied with a school task just as it stands. For example, +we all know that children enjoy the right kind of drill. Repetition, +especially rhythmic repetition, is instinctive,--it satisfies an inborn +need. Where such a condition exists, it is an obvious waste of time to +search about for more indirect motives. The economical thing to do is to +turn the ready energy of the child into the channel that is already open +to it, so long as this procedure fits in with the results that we must +secure. I feel like emphasizing this fact, inasmuch as the terms +"problem interest" and "motivation" seem most commonly to be associated +in the minds of teachers with what we adults term "real" or economic +situations. To learn a lesson well may often be a sufficient +motive,--may often constitute a "real" situation to the child,--and if +it does, it will serve very effectively our purposes in this other +task,--namely, getting the pupil to see the worth of the method that we +ask him to employ. + + +IV + +There are one or two points of a general nature in connection with the +art of study that should be emphasized. In the first place, the +upper-grade and high-school pupils are, I believe, mature enough to +appreciate in some degree what knowledge really means. One of the +fallacies of which I was possessed on completing my work in the lower +schools was the belief that there are some men who know everything. I +naturally concluded that the superintendent of schools was one of these +men; the family physician was another; the leading man in my town was a +third; and any one who ever wrote a book was put, _ex officio_ so to +speak, into this class without further inquiry. One of the most +astounding revelations of my later education was to learn that, after +all, the amount of real knowledge in this world, voluminous though it +seems, is after all pitiably small. Of opinion and speculation we have a +surplus, but of real, downright, hard fact, our capital is still most +insignificant. And I wonder if something could not be done in the high +school to teach pupils the difference between fact and opinion, and +something also of the slow, laborious process through which real facts +are accumulated. How many mistakes of life are due to the lack of the +judicial attitude right here. What mistakes we all make when we try to +evaluate writings outside of our own special field of knowledge or +activity. Nothing depresses me to-day quite so much as the readiness +with which laymen mistake opinion for fact in the field of psychology +and education,--and I suppose that my own hasty acceptance of statements +in other fields would have a similar effect upon the specialists of +those fields. + +Can general education help us out at all in this matter? I have only +one or two suggestions to make, and even these may not be worth a great +deal. In the recent Polar controversy, the sympathies of the general +public were, I think, at the outset with Cook. This was perhaps, +natural, and yet the trained mind ought to have withheld judgment for +one reason if for no other,--and that one reason was Peary's long Arctic +service, his unquestioned mastery of the technique of polar travel, his +general reputation for honesty and caution in advancing opinions. By all +the lessons that history teaches, Peary's word should have had +precedence over Cook's, for Peary was a specialist, while Cook was only +an amateur. And yet the general public discounted entirely those +lessons, and trusted rather the novice, with what results it is now +unnecessary to review,--and in nine cases out of ten, the results will +be the same. + +Could we not, as part of our work in training pupils to study, also +teach them to give some sort of an evaluation to the authorities that +they consult? Could we not teach them that, in nine cases out of ten, at +least, the man who has the message most worth listening to is the man +who has worked the hardest and the longest in his field, and who enjoys +the best reputation among his fellow-workers? Sometimes, I admit, the +rule does not work, and especially with men whose reputations as +authorities have outlived their period of productivity, but even this +mistake could be guarded against. Certainly high-school pupils ought +distinctly to understand that the authors of their text-books are not +always the most learned men or the greatest authorities in the fields +that they treat. The use of biographical dictionaries, of the books that +are appearing in various fields giving brief biographies and often some +authoritative estimate of the workers in these fields, is important in +this connection. + +McMurry recommends that pupils be encouraged to take a critical attitude +toward the principles they are set to master,--to judge, as he says, the +soundness and worth of the statements that they learn. This is certainly +good advice, and wherever the pupil can intelligently deal with real +sources, it is well frequently to have him check up the statements of +secondary sources. But, after all, this is the age of the specialist, +and to trust one's untrained judgment in a field remote from one's +knowledge and experience is likely to lead to unfortunate results. We +have all sorts of illustrations from the ignorant man who will not trust +the physician or the health official in matters of sanitation; because +he lacks the proper perspective, he jumps to the conclusion that the +specialist is a fraud. Would it not be well to supplement McMurry's +suggestion by the one that I have just made,--that is, that we train +pupils how to evaluate authorities as well as facts,--how to protect +themselves from the quack and the faker who live like parasites upon the +ignorance of laymen, both in medicine, in education, and in Arctic +exploration? + +And I believe that there is a place, also, in the high school, +especially in connection with the work in science and history, for +giving pupils some idea of how knowledge is really gained. I should not +teach science exclusively by the laboratory method, nor history +exclusively by the source method, but I should certainly take frequent +opportunity to let pupils work through some simple problems from the +beginnings, struggling with the conditions somewhat as the discoverers +themselves struggled; following up "blind leads" and toilsomely +returning for a fresh start; meeting with discouragement; and finally +feeling, perhaps, some of the joy that comes with success after +struggle; and all in order that they may know better and appreciate more +fully the cost and the worth of that intellectual heritage which the +master-minds of the world have bequeathed to the present and the future. +And along with this, as they master the principles of science, let them +learn also the human side of science,--the story of Newton, withholding +his great discovery for years until he could be absolutely certain that +it was a law; until he could get the very commonplace but obstreperous +moon into harmony with his law of falling bodies;--the story of Darwin, +with his twenty-odd years of the most patient and persistent kind of +toil; delving into the most unpromising materials, reading the driest +books, always on the lookout for the facts that would point the way to +the explanation of species;--the story of Morse and his bitter struggle +against poverty, and sickness, and innumerable disappointments up to +the time when, in advancing years, success crowned his efforts. + +All this may seem very remote from the prosaic task of teaching pupils +how to study; and yet it will lend its influence toward the attainment +of that end. For, after all, we must lead our pupils to see that some +books, in spite of their formidable difficulties and their apparent +abstractions, are still close to life, and that the truth which lies in +books, and which we wish them to assimilate, has been wrought out of +human experience, and not brought down miraculously from some remote +storehouse of wisdom that is accessible only to the elect. We poke a +good deal of fun at book learning nowadays, and there is a pedantic type +of book learning that certainly deserves all the ridicule that can be +heaped upon it. But it is not wise to carry satire and ridicule too far +in any direction, and especially when it may mean creating in young +minds a distrust of the force that, more than any other single factor, +has operated to raise man above the savage. + + +V + +To teach the child the art of study means, then, that we take every +possible occasion to impress upon his mind the value of study as a means +of solving real and vital problems, and that, with this as an incentive, +we gradually and persistently and systematically lead him to grasp the +method of study as a method,--that is, slowly and gradually to abstract +the method from the particular cases to which he applies it and to +emotionalize it,--to make it an ideal. Only in this way, so far as we +may know, can the art be so generalized as to find ready application in +his later life. To this end, it is essential that the steps be taken +repeatedly,--not begun to-day and never thought of again until next +year,--but daily, even hourly, insuring a little growth. This means, +too, not only that the teacher must possess a high degree of +patience,--that first principle of pedagogic skill,--but also that he +have a comprehensive grasp of the problem, and the ability to separate +the woods from the trees, so that, to him at least, the chief aim will +never be lost to view. + +But, even at its best, the task is a severe one, and we need, here as +elsewhere in education, carefully controlled tests and experiments, that +will enable us to get at the facts. Above all, let me protest against +the incidental theory of teaching pupils how to study. To adopt the +incidental policy in any field of education,--whether in arithmetic, or +spelling, or reading; whether in developing the power of reasoning or +the memory, or the art of study,--is to throw wide open the doors that +lead to the lines of least resistance, to lax methods, to easy honors, +to weakened mental fiber, and to scamped work. Just as the pernicious +doctrine of the subconscious is the first and last refuge of the +psycho-faker, so incidental learning is the first and last refuge of +soft pedagogy. And I mean by incidental learning, going at a teaching +task in an indolent, unreflective, hit-or-miss fashion in the hope that +somehow or other from this process will emerge the very definite results +that we desire. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 14: A paper read before the Superintendents' Section of the +Illinois State Teachers' Association, December 29, 1910.] + + + + +~IX~ + +A PLEA FOR THE DEFINITE IN EDUCATION[15] + +I + + +One way to be definite in education is to formulate as clearly as we can +the aims that we hope to realize in every stage of our work. The task of +teaching is so complex that, unless we strive earnestly and persistently +to reduce it to the simplest possible terms, we are bound to work +blindly and ineffectively. + +It is only one phase of this topic that I wish to discuss with you this +morning. My plea for the definite in education will be limited not only +to the field of educational aims and values, but to a small corner of +that field. Your morning's program has dealt with the problem of +teaching history in the elementary school. I should like, if you are +willing, to confine my remarks to this topic, and to attack the specific +question, What is the history that we teach in the grades to do for the +pupil? I wish to make this limitation, not only because what I have to +say will be related to the other topics on the program, but also because +this very subject of history is one which the lack of a definite +standard of educational value has been keenly felt. + +I should admit at the outset that my interest in history is purely +educational. I have had no special training in historical research. As +you may perhaps infer from my discussion, my acquaintance with +historical facts is very far from comprehensive. I speak as a layman in +history,--and I do it openly and, perhaps, a little defiantly, for I +believe that the last person to pass adequate judgment upon the general +educational value of a given department of knowledge is a man who has +made the department a life study. I have little faith in what the +mathematician has to say regarding the educational value of mathematics +_for the average elementary pupil_, because he is a special pleader and +his conclusions cannot escape the coloring of his prejudice. I once knew +an enthusiastic brain specialist who maintained that, in every grade of +the elementary school, instruction should be required in the anatomy of +the human brain. That man was an expert in his own line. He knew more +about the structure of the brain than any other living man. But knowing +more about brain morphology also implied that he knew less about many +other things, and among the things that he knew little about were the +needs and capacities of children in the elementary school. He was a +special pleader; he had been dealing with his special subject so long +that it had assumed a disproportionate value in his eyes. Brain +morphology had given him fame, honor, and worldly emoluments. Naturally +he would have an exaggerated notion of its value. + +It is the same with any other specialist. As specialists in education, +you and I are likely to overemphasize the importance of the common +school in the scheme of creation. Personally I am convinced that the +work of elementary education is the most profoundly significant work in +the world; and yet I can realize that I should be no fit person to make +comparisons if the welfare of a number of other professions and callings +were at stake. I should let an unbiased judge make the final +determination. + + +II + +The first question for which we should seek an answer in connection with +the value of any school subject is this: How does it influence conduct? +Let me insist at the outset that we cannot be definite by saying simply +that we teach history in order to impart instruction. If there is one +thing upon which we are all agreed to-day it is this: that it is what +our pupils do that counts, not what they know. The knowledge that they +may possess has value only in so far as it may directly or indirectly be +turned over into action. + +Let us not be mistaken upon this point. Knowledge is of the utmost +importance, but it is important only as a means to an end--and the end +is conduct. If my pupils act in no way more efficiently after they have +received my instruction than they would have acted had they never come +under my influence, then my work as a teacher is a failure. If their +conduct is less efficient, then my work is not only a failure,--it is a +catastrophe. The knowledge that I impart may be absolutely true; the +interest that I arouse may be intense; the affection that my pupils have +for me may be genuine; but all these are but means to an end, and if the +end is not attained, the means have been futile. + +We have faith that the materials which we pour in at the hopper of sense +impression will come out sooner or later at the spout of reaction, +transformed by some mysterious process into efficient conduct. While the +machinery of the process, like the mills of the gods, certainly grinds +slowly, it is some consolation to believe that, at any rate, it _does_ +grind; and we are perhaps fain to believe that the exceeding fineness of +the grist is responsible for our failure to detect at the spout all of +the elements that we have been so careful to pour in at the hopper. What +I should like to do is to examine this grinding process rather +carefully,--to gain, if possible, some definite notion of the kind of +grist we should like to produce, and then to see how the machinery may +be made to produce this grist, and in what proportions we must mix the +material that we pour into the hopper in order to gain the desired +result. + +I have said that we must ask of every subject that we teach, How does +it influence conduct? Now when we ask this question concerning history a +variety of answers are at once proposed. One group of people will assert +that the facts of history have value because they can be directly +applied to the needs of contemporary life. History, they will tell us, +records the experiences of the race, and if we are to act intelligently +we must act upon the basis of this experience. History informs us of the +mistakes that former generations have made in adjusting themselves to +the world. If we know history, we can avoid these mistakes. This type of +reasoning may be said to ascribe a utilitarian value to the study of +history. It assumes that historical knowledge is directly and +immediately applicable to vital problems of the present day. + +Now the difficulty with this value, as with many others that seem to +have the sanction of reason, is that it does not possess the sanction of +practical test. While knowledge doubtless affects in some way the +present policy of our own government, it would be very hard to prove +that the influence is in any way a direct influence. It is extremely +doubtful whether the knowledge that the voters have of the history of +their country will be recalled and applied at the ballot box next +November. I do not say that the study of history that has been going on +in the common schools for a generation will be entirely without effect +upon the coming election. I simply maintain that this influence will be +indirect,--but I believe that it will be none the less profound. One's +vote at the next election will be determined largely by immediate and +present conditions. But the way in which one interprets these conditions +cannot help being profoundly influenced by one's historical study or +lack of such study. + +If it is clear, then, that the study of history cannot be justified upon +a purely utilitarian basis, we may pass to the consideration of other +values that have been proposed. The specialist in history, whose right +to legislate upon this matter I have just called into question, will +probably emphasize the disciplinary value of this study. Specialists are +commonly enthusiastic over the disciplinary value of their special +subjects. Their own minds have been so well developed by the pursuit of +their special branches that they are impelled to recommend the same +discipline for all minds. Again, we must not blame the specialist in +history, for you and I think the same about our own special type of +activity. + +From the disciplinary point of view, the study of history is supposed to +give one the mastery of a special method of reasoning. Historical method +involves, above all else, the careful sifting of evidence, the minutest +scrutiny of sources in order to judge whether or not the records are +authentic, and the utmost care in coming to conclusions. Now it will be +generally agreed that these are desirable types of skill to possess +whether one is an historian or a lawyer or a teacher or a man of +business. And yet, as in all types of discipline, the difficulty lies, +not so much in acquiring the specific skill, as in transferring the +skill thus acquired to other fields of activity. Skill of any sort is +made up of a multitude of little specific habits, and it is a current +theory that habit functions effectively only in the specific situation +in which it has been built up, or in situations closely similar. But +whether this is true or not it is obvious that the teaching of +elementary history provides very few opportunities for this type of +training. + +A third view of the way in which historical knowledge is thought to work +into action may be discussed under the head of the cultural value. +History, like literature, is commonly assumed to give to the individual +who studies it, a certain amount of that commodity which the world calls +culture. Precisely what culture consists in, no one, apparently, is +ready to tell us, but we all admit that it is real, if not tangible and +definable, nor can we deny that the individual who possesses culture +conducts himself, as a rule, differently from the individual who does +not possess it. In other words, culture is a practical thing, for the +only things that are practical are the things that modify or control +human action. + +It is doubtless true that the study of history does add to this +intangible something that we call "culture," but the difficulty with +this value lies in the fact that, even after we have accepted it as +valid, we are in no way better off regarding our methods. Like many +other theories, its truth is not to be denied, but its truth gives us no +inkling of a solution of our problem. What we need is an educational +value of history, the recognition of which will enable us to formulate a +method for realizing the value. + + +III + +The unsatisfactory character of these three values that have been +proposed for history--the utilitarian, the disciplinary, and the +cultural--is typical of the values that have been proposed for other +subjects. Unless the aim of teaching any given subject can be stated in +definite terms, the teacher must work very largely in the dark; his +efforts must be largely of the "hit-or-miss" order. The desired value +may be realized under these conditions, but, if it is realized, it is +manifestly through accident, not through intelligent design. It is +needless to point out the waste that such a blundering and haphazard +adjustment entails. We all know how much of our teaching fails to hit +the mark, even when we are clear concerning the result that we desire; +we can only conjecture how much of the remainder fails of effect because +we are hazy and obscure concerning its purpose. + +Let us return to our original basic principle and see what light it may +throw upon our problem. We have said that the efficiency of teaching +must always be measured by the degree in which the pupil's conduct is +modified. Taking conduct as our base, then, let us reason back and see +what factors control conduct, and, if possible, how these "controls" may +be influenced by the processes of education working through the lesson +in history. + +I shall start with a very simple and apparently trivial example. When I +was living in the Far West, I came to know something of the Chinese, who +are largely engaged, as you know, in domestic service in that part of +the country. Most of the Chinese servants that I met corresponded very +closely with what we read concerning Chinese character. We have all +heard of the Chinese servant's unswerving adherence to a routine that he +has once established. They say in the West that when a housewife gives +her Chinese servant an object lesson in the preparation of a certain +dish, she must always be very careful to make her demonstration perfect +the first time. If, inadvertently, she adds one egg too many, she will +find that, in spite of her protestations, the superfluous egg will +always go into that preparation forever afterward. From what I know of +the typical Oriental, I am sure that this warning is not overdrawn. + +Now here is a bit of conduct, a bit of adjustment, that characterizes +the Chinese cook. Not only that, but, in a general way, it is peculiar +to all Chinese, and hence may be called a national trait. We might call +it a vigorous national prejudice in favor of precedent. But whatever we +call it, it is a very dominant force in Chinese life. It is the trait +that, perhaps more than any other, distinguishes Chinese conduct from +European or American conduct. Now one might think this trait to be +instinctive,--to be bred in the bone rather than acquired,--but this I +am convinced is not altogether true. At least one Chinese whom I knew +did not possess it at all. He was born on a western ranch and his +parents died soon after his birth. He was brought up with the children +of the ranch owner, and is now a prosperous rancher himself. He lacks +every characteristic that we commonly associate with the Chinese, save +only the physical features. His hair is straight, his skin is saffron, +his eyes are slightly aslant,--but that is all. As far as his conduct +goes,--and that is the essential thing,--he is an American. In other +words, his traits, his tendencies to action, are American and not +Chinese. His life represents the triumph of environment over heredity. + +When you visit England you find yourselves among a people who speak the +same language that you speak,--or, perhaps it would be better to say, +somewhat the same; at least you can understand each other. In a great +many respects, the Englishman and the American are similar in their +traits, but in a great many other respects they differ radically. You +cannot, from your knowledge of American traits, judge what an +Englishman's conduct will be upon every occasion. If you happened on +Piccadilly of a rainy morning, for example, you would see the English +clerks and storekeepers and professional men riding to their work on the +omnibuses that thread their way slowly through the crowded thoroughfare. +No matter how rainy the morning, these men would be seated on the tops +of the omnibuses, although the interior seats might be quite unoccupied. +No matter how rainy the morning, many of these men would be faultlessly +attired in top hats and frock coats, and there they would sit through +the drizzling rain, protecting themselves most inadequately with their +opened umbrellas. Now there is a bit of conduct that you cannot find +duplicated in any American city. It is a national habit,--or, perhaps, +it would be better to say, it is an expression of a national trait,--and +that national trait is a prejudice in favor of convention. It is the +thing to do, and the typical Englishman does it, just as, when he is +sent as civil governor to some lonely outpost in India, with no +companions except scantily clad native servants, he always dresses +conscientiously for dinner and sits down to his solitary meal clad in +the conventional swallow-tail coat of civilization. + +Now the way in which a Chinese cook prepares a custard, or the way in +which an English merchant rides in an omnibus, may be trivial and +unimportant matters in themselves, and yet, like the straw that shows +which way the wind blows, they are indicative of vast and profound +currents. The conservatism of the Chinese empire is only a larger and +more comprehensive expression of the same trait or prejudice that leads +the cook to copy literally his model. The present educational situation +in England is only another expression of that same prejudice in favor of +the established order, which finds expression in the merchant on the +Piccadilly omnibus. + +Whenever you pass from one country to another you will find this +difference in tendencies to action. In Germany, for example, you will +find something that amounts almost to a national fervor for economy and +frugality. You will find it expressing itself in the care with which the +German housewife does her marketing. You will find it expressing itself +in the intensive methods of agriculture, through which scarcely a square +inch of arable land is permitted to lie fallow,--through which, for +example, even the shade trees by the roadside furnish fruit as well as +shade, and are annually rented for their fruit value to industrious +members of the community,--and it is said in one section of Germany that +the only people known to steal fruit from these trees along the lonely +country roads are American tourists, who, you will see, also have their +peculiar standards of conduct. You will find this same fervor for +frugality and economy expressing itself most extensively in that +splendid forest policy by means of which the German states have +conserved their magnificent timber resources. + +But, whatever its expression, it is the same trait,--a trait born of +generations of struggle with an unyielding soil, and yet a trait which, +combined with the German fervor for science and education, has made +possible the marvelous progress that Germany has made within the last +half century. + +What do we mean by national traits? Simply this: prejudices or +tendencies toward certain typical forms of conduct, common to a given +people. It is this community of conduct that constitutes a nation. A +country whose people have different standards of action must be a +divided country, as our own American history sufficiently demonstrates. +Unless upon the vital questions of human adjustment, men are able to +agree, they cannot live together in peace. If we are a distinctive and +unique nation,--if we hold a distinctive and unique place among the +nations of the globe,--it is because you and I and the other inhabitants +of our country have developed distinctive and unique ideals and +prejudices and standards, all of which unite to produce a community of +conduct. And once granting that our national characteristics are worth +while, that they constitute a distinct advance over the characteristics +of the other nations of the earth, it becomes the manifest duty of the +school to do its share in perpetuating these ideals and prejudices and +standards. Once let these atrophy through disuse, once let them fail of +transmission because of the decay of the home, or the decay of the +school, or the decay of the social institutions that typify and express +them, and our country must go the way of Greece and Rome, and, although +our blood may thereafter continue pure and unmixed, and our physical +characteristics may be passed on from generation to generation unchanged +in form, our nation will be only a memory, and its history ancient +history. Some of the Greeks of to-day are the lineal descendants of the +Athenians and Spartans, but the ancient Greek standards of conduct, the +Greek ideals, died twenty centuries ago, to be resurrected, it is true, +by the renaissance, and to enjoy the glorious privilege of a new and +wider sphere of life,--but among an alien people, and under a northern +sun. + +And so the true aim of the study of history in the elementary school is +not the realization of its utilitarian, its cultural, or its +disciplinary value. It is not a mere assimilation of facts concerning +historical events, nor the memorizing of dates, nor the picturing of +battles, nor the learning of lists of presidents,--although each of +these factors has its place in fulfilling the function of historical +study. The true function of national history in our elementary schools +is to establish in the pupils' minds those ideals and standards of +action which differentiate the American people from the rest of the +world, and especially to fortify these ideals and standards by a +description of the events and conditions through which they developed. +It is not the facts of history that are to be applied to the problems of +life; it is rather the emotional attitude, the point of view, that comes +not from memorizing, but from appreciating, the facts. A mere fact has +never yet had a profound influence over human conduct. A principle that +is accepted by the head and not by the heart has never yet stained a +battle field nor turned the tide of a popular election. Men act, not as +they think, but as they feel, and it is not the idea, but the ideal, +that is important in history. + + +IV + +But what are the specific ideals and standards for which our nation +stands and which distinguish, in a very broad but yet explicit manner, +our conduct from the conduct of other peoples? If we were to ask this +question of an older country, we could more easily obtain an answer, for +in the older countries the national ideals have, in many cases, reached +an advanced point of self-consciousness. The educational machinery of +the German empire, for example, turns upon this problem of impressing +the national ideals. It is one aim of the official courses of study, for +instance, that history shall be so taught that the pupils will gain an +overweening reverence for the reigning house of Hohenzollern. Nor is +that newer ideal of national unity which had its seed sown in the +Franco-Prussian War in any danger of neglect by the watchful eye of the +government. Not only must the teacher impress it upon every occasion, +but every attempt is also made to bring it daily fresh to the minds of +the people through great monuments and memorials. Scarcely a hamlet is +so small that it does not possess its Bismarck _Denkmal_, often situated +upon some commanding hill, telling to each generation, in the sublime +poetry of form, the greatness of the man who made German unity a reality +instead of a dream. + +But in our country, we do not thus consciously formulate and express our +national ideals. We recognize them rather with averted face as the +adolescent boy recognizes any virtue that he may possess, as if +half-ashamed of his weakness. We have monuments to our heroes, it is +true, but they are often inaccessible, and as often they fail to convey +in any adequate manner, the greatness of the lessons which the lives of +these heroes represent. Where Germany has a hundred or more impressive +memorials to the genius of Bismarck, we have but one adequate memorial +to the genius of Washington, while for Lincoln, who represents the +typical American standards of life and conduct more faithfully than any +other one character in our history, we have no memorial that is at all +adequate,--and we should have a thousand. Some day our people will awake +to the possibilities that inhere in these palpable expressions of the +impalpable things for which our country stands. We shall come to +recognize the vast educative importance of perpetuating, in every +possible way, the deep truths that have been established at the cost of +so much blood and treasure. + +To embody our national ideals in the personages of the great figures of +history who did so much to establish them is the most elementary method +of insuring their conservation and transmission. We are beginning to +appreciate the value of this method in our introductory courses of +history in the intermediate and lower grammar grades. The historical +study outlined for these grades in most of our state and city school +programs includes mainly biographical materials. As long as the purpose +of this study is kept steadily in view by the teacher, its value may be +very richly realized. The danger lies in an obscure conception of the +purpose. We are always too prone to teach history didactically, and to +teach biographical history didactically is to miss the mark entirely. +The aim here is not primarily instruction, but inspiration; not merely +learning, but also appreciation. To tell the story of Lincoln's life in +such a way that its true value will be realized requires first upon the +part of the teacher a sincere appreciation of the great lesson of +Lincoln's life. Lincoln typifies the most significant and representative +of American ideals. His career stands for and illustrates the greatest +of our national principles,--the principle of equality,--not the +equality of birth, not the equality of social station, but the equality +of opportunity. That a child of the lowliest birth, reared under +conditions apparently the most unfavorable for rich development, limited +by the sternest poverty, by lack of formal education, by lack of family +pride and traditions, by lack of an environment of culture, by the hard +necessity of earning his own livelihood almost from earliest +childhood,--that such a man should attain to the highest station in the +land and the proudest eminence in its history, and should have acquired +from the apparently unfavorable environment of his early life the very +qualities that made him so efficient in that station and so permanent in +that eminence,--this is a miracle that only America could produce. It is +this conception that the teacher must have, and this he must, in some +measure, impress upon his pupils. + + +V + +In the teaching of history in the elementary school, the biographical +treatment is followed in the later grammar grades by a systematic study +of the main events of American history. Here the method is different, +but the purpose is the same. This purpose is, I take it, to show how our +ideals and standards have developed, through what struggles and +conflicts they have become firmly established; and the aim must be to +have our pupils relive, as vividly as possible, the pain and the +struggles and the striving and the triumph, to the end that they may +appreciate, however feebly, the heritage that is theirs. + +Here again it is not the facts as such that are important, but the +emotional appreciation of the facts, and to this end, the coloring must +be rich, the pictures vivid, the contrasts sharply drawn. The successful +teacher of history has the gift of making real the past. His pupils +struggle with Columbus against a frightened, ignorant, mutinous crew; +they toil with the Pilgrim fathers to conquer the wilderness; they +follow the bloody trail of the Deerfield victims through the forest to +Canada; they too resist the encroachments of the Mother Country upon +their rights as English citizens; they suffer through the long winter at +Valley Forge and join with Washington in his midnight vigils; they +rejoice at Yorktown; they dream with Jefferson and plead with Webster; +their hearts are fired with the news of Sumter; they clinch their teeth +at Bull Run; they gather hope at Donelson, but they shudder at Shiloh; +they struggle through the Wilderness with Grant; tired but triumphant, +they march home from Appomattox; and through it all, in virtue of the +limitless capacities of vicarious experience, they have shared the +agonies of Lincoln. + +Professor Mace, in his essay on _Method in History_, tells us that there +are two distinct phases to every historical event. These are the event +itself and the human feeling that brought it forth. It has seemed to me +that there are three phases,--the event itself, the feeling that brought +it forth, and the feeling to which it gave birth; for no event is +historically important unless it has transformed in some way the ideals +and standards of the people,--unless it has shifted, in some way, their +point of view, and made them act differently from the way in which they +would have acted had the event never occurred. One leading purpose in +the teaching of history is to show how ideals have been transformed, how +we have come to have standards different from those that were once held. + +Many of our national ideals have their roots deep down in English +history. Not long ago I heard a seventh-grade class discussing the Magna +Charta. It was a class in American history, and yet the events that the +pupils had been studying occurred three centuries before the discovery +of America. They had become familiar with the long list of abuses that +led to the granting of the charter. They could tell very glibly what +this great document did for the English people. They traced in detail +the subsequent events that led to the establishment of the House of +Commons. All this was American history just as truly as if the events +described had occurred on American soil. They were gaining an +appreciation of one of the most fundamental of our national ideals,--the +ideal of popular government. And not only that, but they were studying +popular government in its simplest form, uncomplicated by the +innumerable details and the elaborate organizations which characterize +popular government to-day. + +And when these pupils come to the time when this ideal of +self-government was transplanted to American soil, they will be ready to +trace with intelligence the changes that it took on. They will +appreciate the marked influence which geographical conditions exert in +shaping national standards of action. How richly American history +reveals and illustrates this influence we are only just now beginning to +appreciate. The French and the English colonists developed different +types of national character partly because they were placed under +different geographical conditions. The St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes +gave the French an easy means of access into the vast interior of the +continent, and provided innumerable temptations to exploitation rather +than a few incentives to development. Where the French influence was +dispersed over a wide territory, the English influence was concentrated. +As a consequence, the English energy went to the development of +resources that were none too abundant, and to the establishment of +permanent institutions that would conserve these resources. The barrier +of the Appalachians hemmed them in,--three hundred miles of alternate +ridge and valley kept them from the West until they were numerically +able to settle rather than to exploit this country. Not a little credit +for the ultimate English domination of the continent must be given to +these geographical conditions. + +But geography does not tell the whole story. The French colonists +differed from the English colonists from the outset in standards of +conduct. They had brought with them the principle of paternalism, and, +in time of trouble, they looked to France for support. The English +colonists brought with them the principle of self-reliance and, in time +of trouble, they looked only to themselves. And so the old English +ideals had a new birth and a broader field of application on American +soil. There is nothing finer in our country's history than the attitude +of the New England colonists during the intercolonial wars. Their +northern frontier covering two hundred miles of unprotected territory +was constantly open to the incursions of the French from Canada and +their Indian allies, to appease whom the French organized their raids. +And yet, so deeply implanted was this ideal of self-reliance that New +England scarcely thought of asking aid of the mother country and would +have protested to the last against the permanent establishment of a +military garrison within her limits. For a period extending over fifty +years, New England protected her own borders. She felt the terrors of +savage warfare in its most sanguinary forms. And yet, uncomplaining, she +taxed herself to repel the invaders. The people loved their own +independence too much to part with it, even for the sake of peace, +prosperity, and security. At a later date, unknown to the mother +country, they raised and equipped from their own young men and at their +own expense, the punitive expedition that, in the face of seemingly +certain defeat, captured the French fortress at Louisburg, and gave to +English military annals one of its most brilliant victories. To get the +pupil to live through these struggles, to feel the impetus of idealism +upon conduct, to appreciate what that almost forgotten half-century of +conflict meant to the development of our national character, would be to +realize the greatest value that colonial history can have for its +students. It lays bare the source of that strength which made New +England preëminent in the Revolution, and which has placed the mint mark +of New England idealism upon the coin of American character. Could a +pupil who has lived vicariously through such experiences as these easily +forsake principle for policy? + +A newspaper cartoon published a year or so ago, gives some notion of the +danger that we are now facing of losing that idealism upon which our +country was founded. The cartoon represents the signing of the +Declaration of Independence. The worthies are standing about the table +dressed in the knee breeches and flowing coats of the day, with wigs +conventionally powdered and that stately bearing which characterizes the +typical historical painting. John Hancock is seated at the table +prepared to make his name immortal. A figure, however, has just +appeared in the doorway. It is the cartoonist's conventional conception +of the modern Captain of Industry. His silk hat is on the back of his +head as if he had just come from his office as fast as his +forty-horse-power automobile could carry him. His portly form shows +evidences of intense excitement. He is holding his hand aloft to stay +the proceedings, while from his lips comes the stage whisper: +"Gentlemen, stop! You will hurt business!" What would those old New +England fathers think, could they know that such a conception may be +taken as representing a well-recognized tendency of the present day? And +remember, too, that those old heroes had something of a passion for +trade themselves. + +But when we seek for the source of our most important national +ideal,--the ideal that we have called equality of opportunity,--we must +look to another part of the country. The typical Americanism that is +represented by Lincoln owes its origin, I believe, very largely to +geographical factors. It could have been developed only under certain +conditions and these conditions the Middle West alone provided. The +settling of the Middle West in the latter part of the eighteenth and the +early part of the nineteenth centuries was part and parcel of a rigid +logic of events. As Miss Semple so clearly points out in her work on the +geographic conditions of American history, the Atlantic seaboard sloped +toward the sea and its people held their faces eastward. They were never +cut off from easy communication with the Old World, and consequently +they were never quite freed from the Old World prejudices and standards. +But the movement across the mountains gave rise to a new condition. The +faces of the people were turned westward, and cut off from easy +communication with the Old World, they developed a new set of ideals and +standards under the stress of new conditions. Chief among these +conditions was the immensity and richness of the territory that they +were settling. The vastness of their outlook and the wealth of their +resources confirmed and extended the ideals of self-reliance that they +had brought with them from the seaboard. But on the seaboard, the Old +World notion of social classes, the prestige of family and station, +still held sway. The development of the Middle West would have been +impossible under so severe a handicap. With resources so great, every +stimulus must be given to individual achievement. Nothing must be +permitted to stand in its way. The man who could do things, the man who +could most effectively turn the forces of nature to serve the needs of +society, was the man who was selected for preferment, no matter what his +birth, no matter what the station of his family. + +We might, in a similar fashion, review the various other ideals, which +have grown out of our history, but, as I have said, my purpose is not +historical but educational, and the illustrations that I have given may +suffice to make my contention clear. I have attempted to show that the +chief purpose of the study of history in the elementary school is to +establish and fortify in the pupils' minds the significant ideals and +standards of conduct which those who have gone before us have gleaned +from their experience. I have maintained that, to this end, it is not +only the facts of history that are important, but the appreciation of +these facts. I have maintained that these prejudices and ideals have a +profound influence upon conduct, and that, consequently, history is to +be looked upon as a most practical branch of study. + + * * * * * + +The best way in this world to be definite is to know our goal and then +strive to attain it. In the lack of definite standards based upon the +lessons of the past, our dominant national ideals shift with every +shifting wind of public sentiment and popular demand. Are we satisfied +with the individualistic and self-centered idealism that has come with +our material prosperity and which to-day shames the memory of the men +who founded our Republic? Are we negligent of the serious menace that +confronts any people when it loses its hold upon those goods of life +that are far more precious than commercial prestige and individual +aggrandizement? Are we losing our hold upon the sterner virtues which +our fathers possessed,--upon the things of the spirit that are permanent +and enduring? + +A study of history cannot determine entirely the dominant ideals of +those who pursue it. But the study of history if guided in the proper +spirit and dominated by the proper aim may help. For no one who gets +into the spirit of our national history,--no one who traces the origin +and growth of these ideals and institutions that I have named,--can +escape the conviction that the elemental virtues of courage, +self-reliance, hardihood, unselfishness, self-denial, and service lie at +the basis of every forward step that this country has made, and that the +most precious part of our heritage is not the material comforts with +which we are surrounded, but the sturdy virtues which made these +comforts possible. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: An address delivered March 18, 1910, before the Central +Illinois Teachers' Association.] + + + + +~X~ + +SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE[16] + + +The scientific method is the method of unprejudiced observation and +induction. Its function in the scheme of life is to furnish man with +facts and principles,--statements which mirror with accuracy and +precision the conditions that may exist in any situation of any sort +which man may have to face. In other words, the facts of science are +important and worthy because they help us to solve the problems of life +more satisfactorily. They are instrumental in their function. They are +means to an end. And whenever we have a problem to solve, whenever we +face a situation that demands some form of adjustment, the more accurate +the information that we possess concerning this situation, the better we +shall be able to solve it. + +Now when I propose that we try to find out some facts about the teaching +of English, and that we apply the scientific method in the discovery of +these facts, I am immediately confronted with an objection. My opponent +will maintain that the subject of English in our school curriculum is +not one of the sciences. Taking English to mean particularly English +literature rather than rhetoric or composition or grammar, it is clear +that we do not teach literature as we teach the sciences. Its function +differs from that of science in the curriculum. If there is a science of +literature, that is not what we are teaching in the secondary schools, +and that is not what most of us believe should be taught in the +secondary schools. We think that the study of literature should transmit +to each generation the great ideals that are crystallized in literary +masterpieces. And we think that, in seeing to it that our pupils are +inspired with these ideals, we should also teach literature in such a +way that our pupils will be left with a desire to read good literature +as a source of recreation and inspiration after they have finished the +courses that we offer. When I speak of "inspiration," "appreciation," +the development of "taste," and the like, I am using terms that have +little direct relation to the scientific method; for, as I have said, +science deals with facts, and the harder and more stubborn and more +unyielding the facts become, the better they represent true science. +What right have I, then, to speak of the scientific study of the +teaching of English, when science and literature seem to belong to two +quite separate rubrics of mental life? + +I refer to this point of view, not because its inconsistencies are not +fully apparent to you even upon the surface, but because it is a point +of view that has hitherto interfered very materially with our +educational progress. It has sometimes been assumed that, because we +wish to study education scientifically, we wish to read out of it +everything that cannot be reduced to a scientific formula,--that, +somehow or other, we intend still further to intellectualize the +processes of education and to neglect the tremendous importance of those +factors that are not primarily intellectual in their nature, but which +belong rather to the field of emotion and feeling. + +I wish, therefore, to say at the outset that, while I firmly believe the +hope of education to lie in the application of the scientific method to +the solution of its problems, I still hold that neither facts nor +principles nor any other products of the scientific method are the most +important "goods" of life. The greatest "goods" in life are, and always +must remain, I believe, its ideals, its visions, its insights, and its +sympathies,--must always remain those qualities with which the teaching +of literature is primarily concerned, and in the engendering of which in +the hearts and souls of his pupils, the teacher of literature finds the +greatest opportunity that is vouchsafed to any teacher. + +The facts and principles that science has given us have been of such +service to humanity that we are prone to forget that they have been of +service because they have helped us more effectively to realize our +ideals and attain our ends; and we are prone to forget also that, +without the ideals and the ends and the visions, the facts and +principles would be quite without function. I have sometimes been taken +to account for separating these two factors in this way. But unless we +do distinguish sharply between them, our educational thinking is bound +to be hopelessly obscure. + +You have all heard the story of the great chemist who was at work in his +laboratory when word was brought him that his wife was dead. As the +first wave of anguish swept over him, he bowed his head upon his hands +and wept out his grief; but suddenly he lifted up his head, and held +before him his hands wet with tears. "Tears!" he cried; "what are they? +I have analyzed them: a little chloride of sodium, some alkaline salts, +a little mucin, and some water. That is all." And he went back to his +work. + +The story is an old one, and very likely apocryphal, but it is not +without its lesson to us in the present connection. Unless we +distinguish between these two factors that I have named, we are likely +either to take this man's attitude or something approaching it, or to go +to the other extreme, renounce the accuracy and precision of the +scientific method, and give ourselves up to the cult of emotionalism. + +Now, while we do not wish to read out of the teaching of literature the +factors of appreciation and inspiration, we do wish to find out how +these important functions of our teaching may be best fulfilled. And it +is here that facts and principles gained by the scientific method not +only can but must furnish the ultimate solution. We have a problem. That +problem, it is true, is concerned with something that is not scientific, +and to attempt to make it scientific is to kill the very life that it is +our problem to cherish. But in solving that problem, we must take +certain steps; we must arrange our materials in certain ways; we must +adjust hard and stubborn facts to the attainment of our end. What are +these facts? What is their relation to our problem? What laws govern +their operation? These are subordinate but very essential parts of our +larger problem, and it is through the scientific investigation of these +subordinate problems that our larger problem is to be solved. + +Let me give you an illustration of what I mean. We may assume that every +boy who goes out of the high school should appreciate the meaning and +worth of self-sacrifice as this is revealed (not expounded) in Dickens's +delineation of the character of Sidney Carton. There is our +problem,--but what a host of subordinate problems at once confront us! +Where shall we introduce _The Tale of Two Cities_? Will it be in the +second year, or the third, or the fourth? Will it be best preceded by +the course in general history which will give the pupil a time +perspective upon the crimson background of the French Revolution against +which Dickens projected his master character? Or shall we put _The Tale +of Two Cities_ first for the sake of the heightened interest which the +art of the novelist may lend to the facts of the historian? Again, how +may the story be best presented? What part shall the pupils read in +class? What part shall they read at home? What part, if any, shall we +read to them? What questions are necessary to insure appreciation? How +many of the allusions need be run down in order to give the maximal +effect of the masterpiece? How may the necessarily discontinuous +discussions of the class--one period each day for several days--be so +counteracted as to insure the cumulative emotional effect which the +appreciation of all art presupposes? Should the story be sketched +through first, and then read in some detail, or will one reading +suffice? + +These are problems, I repeat, that stand to the chief problem as means +stand to end. Now some of these questions must be solved by every +teacher for himself, but that does not prevent each teacher from solving +them scientifically. Others, it is clear, might be solved once and for +all by the right kind of an investigation,--might result in permanent +and universal laws which any one could apply. + +There are, of course, several ways in which answers for these questions +may be secured. One way is that of _a priori_ reasoning,--the deductive +procedure. This method may be thoroughly scientific, depending of course +upon the validity of our general principles as applied to the specific +problem. Ordinarily this validity can be determined only by trial; +consequently these _a priori_ inferences should be looked upon as +hypotheses to be tested by trial under standard conditions. For example, +I might argue that _The Tale of Two Cities_ should be placed in the +third year because the emotional ferment of adolescence is then most +favorable for the engendering of the ideal. But in the first place, this +assumed principle would itself be subject to grave question and it would +also have to be determined whether there is so little variation among +the pupils in respect of physiological age as to permit the application +to all of a generalization that might conceivably apply only to the +average child. In other words, all of our generalizations applying to +average pupils must be applied with a knowledge of the extent and range +of variation from the average. Some people say that there is no such +thing as an average child, but, for all practical purposes, the average +child is a very real reality,--he is, in fact, more numerous than any +other single class; but this does not mean that there may be not enough +variations from the average to make unwise the application of our +principle. + +I refer to this hypothetical case to show the extreme difficulty of +reaching anything more than hypotheses by _a priori_ reasoning. We have +a certain number of fairly well established general principles in +secondary education. Perhaps those most frequently employed are our +generalizations regarding adolescence and its influences upon the mental +and especially the emotional life of high-school pupils. Stanley Hall's +work in this field is wonderfully stimulating and suggestive, and yet we +should not forget that most of his generalizations are, after all, only +plausible hypotheses to be acted upon as tentative guides for practice +and to be tested carefully under controlled conditions, rather than to +be accepted as immutable and unchangeable laws. We sometimes assume that +all high-school pupils are adolescents, when the likelihood is that an +appreciable proportion of pupils in the first two years have not yet +reached this important node of their development. + +I say this not to minimize in any way the importance that attaches to +adolescent characteristics, but rather to suggest that you who are daily +dealing with these pupils can in the aggregate add immeasurably to the +knowledge that we now have concerning this period. A tremendous waste is +constantly going on in that most precious of all our possible +resources,--namely, human experience. How many problems that are well +solved have to be solved again and again because the experience has not +been crystallized in a well-tested fact or principle; how many +experiences that might be well worth the effort that they cost are quite +worthless because, in undergoing them, we have neglected some one or +another of the rules that govern inexorably the validity of our +inferences and conclusions. That is all that the scientific method means +in the last analysis: it is a system of principles that enable us to +make our experience worth while in meeting later situations. We all +have the opportunity of contributing to the sum total of human +knowledge, if only we know the rules of the game. + +I said that one way of solving these subordinate problems that arise in +the realization of our chief aims in teaching is the _a priori_ method +of applying general principles to the problems. Another method is to +imitate the way in which we have seen some one else handle the +situation. Now this may be the most effective way possible. In fact, if +a sufficient number of generations of teachers keep on blindly plunging +in and floundering about in solving their problems, the most effective +methods will ultimately be evolved through what we call the process of +trial and error. The teaching of the very oldest subjects in the +curriculum is almost always the best and most effective teaching, for +the very reason that the blundering process has at last resulted in an +effective procedure. But the scientific method of solving problems has +its very function in preventing the tremendous waste that this process +involves. English literature is a comparatively recent addition to the +secondary curriculum. Its possibilities of service are almost unlimited. +Shall we wait for ten or fifteen generations of teachers to blunder out +the most effective means of teaching it, or shall we avail ourselves of +these simple principles which will enable us to concentrate this +experience within one or two generations? + +I should like to emphasize one further point. No one has greater +respect than I have for what we term experience in teaching. But let me +say that a great deal of what we may term "crude" experience--that is, +experience that has not been refined by the application of scientific +method--is most untrustworthy,--unless, indeed, it has been garnered and +winnowed and sifted through the ages. Let me give you an example of some +accepted dictums of educational experience that controlled +investigations have shown to be untrustworthy. + +It is a general impression among teachers that specific habits may be +generalized; that habits of neatness and accuracy developed in one line +of work, for example, will inevitably make one neater and more accurate +in other things. It has been definitely proved that this transfer of +training does not take place inevitably, but in reality demands the +fulfillment of certain conditions of which education has become fully +conscious only within a comparatively short time, and as a result of +careful, systematic, controlled experimentation. The meaning of this in +the prevention of waste through inadequate teaching is fully apparent. + +Again, it has been supposed by many teachers that the home environment +is a large factor in the success or failure of a pupil in school. In +every accurate and controlled investigation that has been conducted so +far it has been shown that this factor in such subjects as arithmetic +and spelling at least is so small as to be absolutely negligible in +practice. + +Some people still believe that a teacher is born and not made, and yet +a careful investigation of the efficiency of elementary teachers shows +that, when such teachers were ranked by competent judges, specialized +training stood out as the most important factor in general efficiency. +In this same investigation, the time-honored notion that a college +education will, irrespective of specialized training, adequately equip a +teacher for his work was revealed as a fallacy,--for twenty-eight per +cent of the normal-school graduates among all the teachers were in the +first and second ranks of efficiency as against only seventeen per cent +of the college graduates; while, in the two lowest ranks, only sixteen +per cent of the normal-school graduates are to be found as against +forty-four per cent of the college graduates. These investigations, I +may add, were made by university professors, and I am giving them here +in a university classroom and as a university representative. And of +course I shall hasten to add that general scholarship is one important +essential. Our mistake has been in assuming sometimes that it is the +only essential. + +Very frequently the controlled experience of scientific investigation +confirms a principle that has been derived from crude experience. Most +teachers will agree, for example, that a certain amount of drill and +repetition is absolutely essential in the mastery of any subject. Every +time that scientific investigation has touched this problem it has +unmistakably confirmed this belief. Some very recent investigations +made by Mr. Brown at the Charleston Normal School show conclusively that +five-minute drill periods preceding every lesson in arithmetic place +pupils who undergo such periods far in advance of others who spend this +time in non-drill arithmetical work, and that this improvement holds not +only in the number habits, but also in the reasoning processes. + +Other similar cases could be cited, but I have probably said enough to +make my point, and my point is this: that crude experience is an unsafe +guide for practice; that experience may be refined in two ways--first by +the slow, halting, wasteful operation of time, which has established +many principles upon a pinnacle of security from which they will never +be shaken, but which has also accomplished this result at the cost of +innumerable mistakes, blunders, errors, futile efforts, and +heartbreaking failures; or secondly, by the application of the +principles of control and test which are now at our service, and which +permit present-day teachers to concentrate within a single generation +the growth and development and progress that the empirical method of +trial and error could not encompass in a millennium. + +The teaching of English merits treatment by this method. I recommend +strongly that you give the plan a trial. You may not get immediate +results. You may not get valuable results. But in any case, if you +carefully respect the scientific proprieties, your experience will be +worth vastly more than ten times the amount of crude experience; and, +whether you get results or not, you will undergo a valuable discipline +from which may emerge the ideals of science if you are not already +imbued with them. I always tell my students that, even in the study of +science itself, it is the ideals of science,--the ideals of patient, +thoughtful work, the ideals of open-mindedness and caution in reaching +conclusions, the ideals of unprejudiced observation from which +selfishness and personal desire are eliminated,--it is these ideals that +are vastly more important than the facts of science as such,--and these +latter are significant enough to have made possible our present progress +and our present amenities of life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 16: A paper read before the English Section of the University +of Illinois High School Conference, November 17, 1910.] + + + + +~XI~ + +THE NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD DRILL[17] + + +Wandering about in a circle through a thick forest is perhaps an +overdrawn analogy to our activity in attempting to construct educational +theories; and yet there is a resemblance. We push out hopefully--and +often boastfully--into the unknown wilderness, absolutely certain that +we are pioneering a trail that will later become the royal highway to +learning. We struggle on, ruthlessly using the hatchet and the ax to +clear the road before us. And all too often we come back to our starting +point, having unwittingly described a perfect circle, instead of the +straight line that we had anticipated. + +But I am not a pessimist, and I like to believe that, although our +course frequently resembles a circle, it is much better to characterize +it as a spiral, and that, although we do get back to a point that we +recognize, it is not, after all, our old starting point; it is an +homologous point on a higher plane. We have at least climbed a little, +even if we have not traveled in a straight line. + +Now in a figurative way this explains how we have come to take our +present attitude toward the problem of drill or training in the process +of education. Drill means the repetition of a process until it has +become mechanical or automatic. It means the kind of discipline that the +recruit undergoes in the army,--the making of a series of complicated +movements so thoroughly automatic that they will be gone through with +accurately and precisely, at the word of command. It means the sort of +discipline that makes certain activities machine-like in their +operation,--so that we do not have to think about which one comes next. +Thus the mind is relieved of the burden of looking after the innumerable +details and may use its precious energy for a more important purpose. + +In every adult life, a large number of these mechanized responses are +absolutely essential to efficiency. Modern civilized life is so highly +organized that it demands a multitude of reactions and adjustments which +primitive life did not demand. It goes without saying that there are +innumerable little details of our daily work that must be reduced to the +plane of unvarying habit. These details vary with the trade or +profession of the individual; hence general education cannot hope to +supply the individual with all of the automatic responses that he will +need. But, in addition to these specialized responses, there is a large +mass of responses that are common to every member of the social group. +We must all be able to communicate with one another, both through the +medium of speech, and through the medium of written and printed symbols. +We live in a society that is founded upon the principle of the division +of labor. We must exchange the products of our labor for the necessities +of life that we do not ourselves produce, and hence arises the necessity +for the short cuts to counting and measurement which we call arithmetic. +And finally we must all live together in something at least approaching +harmony; hence the thousand and one little responses that mean courtesy +and good manners must be made thoroughly automatic. + +Now education, from the very earliest times, has recognized the +necessity of building up these automatic responses,--of fixing these +essential habits in all individuals. This recognition has often been +short-sighted and sometimes even blind; but it has served to hold +education rather tenaciously to a process that all must admit to be +essential. + +Drill or training, however, is unfortunate in one important particular. +It invariably involves repetition; and conscious, explicit repetition +tends to become monotonous. We must hold attention to the drill process, +and yet attention abhors monotony as nature abhors a vacuum. +Consequently no small part of the tedium and irksomeness of school work +has been due to its emphasis of drill. The formalism of the older +schools has been described, criticized, and lampooned in professional +literature, and even in the pages of fiction. The disastrous results +that follow from engendering in pupils a disgust for school and all that +it represents have been eloquently portrayed. Along with the tendency +toward ease and comfort in other departments of human life has gone a +parallel tendency to relieve the school of this odious burden of formal, +lifeless, repetitive work. + +This "reform movement," as I shall call it, represents our first plunge +into the wilderness. We would get away from the entanglements of drill +and into the clearings of pleasurable, spontaneous activities. A new sun +of hope dawned upon the educational world. + +You are all familiar with some of the more spectacular results of this +movement. You have heard of the schools that eliminated drill processes +altogether, and depended upon clear initial development to fix the facts +and formulæ and reactions that every one needs. You have heard and +perhaps seen some of the schools that were based entirely upon the +doctrine of spontaneity, governing their work by the principle that the +child should never do anything that he did not wish to do at the moment +of doing,--although the advocates of this theory generally qualified +their principle by insisting that the skillful teacher would have the +child wish to do the right thing all the time. + +Let me describe to you a school of this type that I once visited. I +learned of it through a resident of the city in which it was located. He +was delivering an address before an educational gathering on the +problems of modern education. He told the audience that, in the schools +of this enlightened city, the antiquated notions that were so pernicious +had been entirely dispensed with. He said that pupils in these schools +were no longer repressed; that all regimentation, line passing, static +posture, and other barbaric practices had been abolished; that the +pupils were free to work out their own destiny, to realize themselves, +through all forms of constructive activity; that drills had been +eliminated; that corporal punishment was never even mentioned, much less +practiced; that all was harmony, and love, and freedom, and spontaneity. + +I listened to this speaker with intense interest, and, as his picture +unfolded, I became more and more convinced that this city had at last +solved the problem. I took the earliest opportunity to visit its +schools. When I reached the city I went to the superintendent's office. +I asked to be directed to the best school. "Our schools are all 'best,'" +the secretary told me with an intonation that denoted commendable pride, +and which certainly made me feel extremely humble, for here even the +laws of logic and of formal grammar had been transcended. I made bold to +apologize, however, and amended my request to make it apparent that I +wished to see the largest school. I was directed to take a certain car +and, in due time, found myself at the school. I inferred that recess was +in progress when I reached the building, and that the recess was being +celebrated within doors. After some time spent in dodging about the +corridors, I at last located the principal. + +I introduced myself and asked if I could visit his school after recess +was over. "We have no recesses here," he replied (I could just catch his +voice above the din of the corridors); "this is a relaxation period for +some of the classes." He led the way to the office, and I spent a few +moments in getting the "lay of the land." I asked him, first, whether he +agreed with the doctrines that the system represented, and he told me +that he believed in them implicitly. Did he follow them out consistently +in the operation of his school? Yes, he followed them out to the letter. + +We then went to several classrooms, where I saw children realizing +themselves, I thought, very effectively. There were three groups at work +in each room. One recited to the teacher, another studied at the seats, +a third did construction work at the tables. I inquired about the +mechanics of this rather elaborate organization, but I was told that +mechanics had been eliminated from this school. Mechanical organization +of the classroom, it seems, crushes the child's spontaneity, represses +his self-activity, prevents the effective operation of the principle of +self-realization. How, then, did these three groups exchange places, for +I felt that the doctrine of self-realization would not permit them to +remain in the same employment during the entire session. "Oh," the +principal replied, "when they get ready to change, they change, that's +all." + +I saw that a change was coming directly, so I waited to watch it. The +group had been working with what I should call a great deal of noise and +confusion. All at once this increased tenfold. Pupils jumped over seats, +ran into each other in the aisles, scurried and scampered from this +place to that, while the teacher stood in the front of the room wildly +waving her arms. The performance lasted several minutes. "There's +spontaneity for you," the principal shouted above the roar of the storm. +I acquiesced by a nod of the head,--my lungs, through lack of training, +being unequal to the emergency. + +We passed to another room. The same group system was in evidence. I +noticed pupils who had been working at their seats suddenly put away +their books and papers and skip over to the construction table. I asked +concerning the nature of the construction work. "We use it," the +principal told me, "as a reward for good work in the book subjects. You +see arithmetic is dead and dry. You must give pupils an incentive to +master it. We make the privileges of the construction table the +incentive." "What do they make at this table?" I asked. "Whatever their +fancy dictates," he replied. I was a little curious, however, to know +how it all come out. I saw one child start to work on a basket, work at +it a few minutes, then take up something else, continue a little time, +go back to the basket, and finally throw both down for a third object of +self-realization. I called the principal's attention to this phenomenon. +"How do you get the beautiful results that you exhibit?" I asked. "For +those," he said, "we just keep the pupils working on one thing until it +is finished." "But," I objected, "is that consistent with the doctrine +of spontaneity?" His answer was lost in the din of a change of groups, +and I did not follow the investigation further. + +Noon dismissal was due when I went into the corridor. Lines are +forbidden in that school. At the stroke of the bell, the classroom doors +burst open and bedlam was let loose. I had anticipated what was coming, +and hurriedly betook myself to an alcove. I saw more spontaneity in two +minutes than I had ever seen before in my life. Some boys tore through +the corridors at breakneck speed and down the stairways, three steps at +a time. Others sauntered along, realizing various propensities by +pushing and shoving each other, snatching caps out of others' hands, +slapping each other over the head with books, and various other +expressions of exuberant spirits. One group stopped in front of my +alcove, and showed commendable curiosity about the visitor in their +midst. After exhausting his static possibilities, they tempted him to +dynamic reaction by making faces; but this proving to be of no avail, +they went on their way,--in the hope, doubtless, of realizing themselves +elsewhere. + +I left that school with a fairly firm conviction that I had seen the +most advanced notions of educational theory worked out to a logical +conclusion. There was nothing halfway about it. There was no apology +offered for anything that happened. It was all fair and square and open +and aboveboard. To be sure, the pupils were, to my prejudiced mind, in a +condition approaching anarchy, but I could not deny the spontaneity, nor +could I deny self-activity, nor could I deny self-realization. These +principles were evidently operating without let or hindrance. + +Before leaving the school, I took occasion to inquire concerning the +effect of such a system upon the teachers. I led up to it by asking the +principal if there were any nervous or anæmic children in his school. +"Not one," he replied enthusiastically; "our system eliminates them." +"But how about the teachers?" I ventured to remark, having in mind the +image of a distracted young woman whom I had seen attempting to reduce +forty little ruffians to some semblance of law and order through moral +suasion. If I judged conditions correctly, that woman was on the verge +of a nervous breakdown. My guide became confidential when I made this +inquiry. "To tell the truth," he whispered, "the system is mighty hard +on the women." + +A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting a high school which was +operated upon this same principle. I visited in that school some classes +that were taught by men and women, whom I should number among the most +expert teachers that I have ever seen. The instruction that these men +and women were giving was as clear and lucid as one could desire. And +yet, in spite of that excellent instruction, pupils read newspapers, +prepared other lessons, or read books during the recitations, and did +all this openly and unreproved. They responded to their instructors with +shameless insolence. Young ladies of sixteen and seventeen coming from +cultured homes were permitted in this school to pull each other's hair, +pinch the arms of schoolmates who were reciting, and behave themselves +in general as if they were savages. The pupils lolled in their seats, +passed notes, kept up an undertone of conversation, arose from their +seats at the first tap of the bell, and piled in disorder out of the +classroom while the instructor was still talking. If the lessons had +been tedious, one might perhaps at least have palliated such conduct, +but the instruction was very far from tedious. It was bright, lively, +animated, beautifully clear, and admirably illustrated. It is simply the +theory of this school never to interfere with the spontaneous activity +of the pupils. And I may add that the school draws its enrollment very +largely from wealthy families who believe that their children are being +given the best that modern education has developed, that they are not +being subjected to the deadening methods of the average public school, +and above all that their manners are not being corrupted by promiscuous +mingling with the offspring of illiterate immigrants. And yet soon +afterward, I visited a high school in one of the poorest slum districts +of a large city. I saw pupils well-behaved, courteous to one another, to +their instructors, and to visitors. The instruction was much below that +given in the first school in point of quality, and yet the pupils were +getting from it, even under these conditions, vastly more than were the +pupils of the other school from their masterly instructors. + +The two schools that I first described represent one type of the attempt +that education has made to pioneer a new path through the wilderness. I +have said that many of these attempts have ended by bringing the +adventurers back to their starting point. I cannot say so much for these +schools. The movement that they represent is still floundering about in +the tamarack swamps, getting farther and farther into the morass, with +little hope of ever emerging. + +May I tax your patience with one more concrete illustration: this time, +of a school that seems to me to have reached the starting point, but on +that new and higher plane of which I have spoken? + +This school is in a small Massachusetts town, and is the model +department of the state normal school located at that place. The first +point that impressed me was typified by a boy of about twelve who was +passing through the corridor as I entered the building. Instead of +slouching along, wasting every possible moment before he should return +to his room, he was walking briskly as if eager to get back to his work. +Instead of staring at the stranger within his gates with the impudent +curiosity so often noticed in children of this age, he greeted me +pleasantly and wished to know if I were looking for the principal. When +I told him that I was, he informed me that the principal was on the +upper floor, but that he would go for him at once. He did, and returned +a moment later saying that the head of the school would be down +directly, and asked me to wait in the office, into which he ushered me +with all the courtesy of a private secretary. Then he excused himself +and went directly to his room. + +Now that might have been an exceptional case, but I found out later that +is was not. Wherever I went in that school, the pupils were polite and +courteous and respectful. That was part of their education. It should be +part of every child's education. But many schools are too busy teaching +reading, writing, and arithmetic, and others are too busy preserving +discipline, and others are too busy coquetting for the good will of +their pupils and trying to amuse them--too busy to give heed to a set of +habits that are of paramount importance in the life of civilized +society. This school took up the matter of training in good manners as +an essential part of its duty, and it accomplished this task quickly and +effectively. It did it by utilizing the opportunities presented in the +usual course of school work. It took a little time and a little +attention, for good manners cannot be acquired incidentally any more +than the multiplication tables can be acquired incidentally; but it +utilized the everyday opportunities of the schoolroom, and did not make +morals and manners the subject of instruction for a half-hour on Friday +afternoons to be completely forgotten during the rest of the week. + +When the principal took me through the school, I noted everywhere a +happy and courteous relation between pupils and teachers. They spoke +pleasantly to one another. I heard no nagging or scolding. I saw no one +sulking or pouting or in bad temper. And yet there was every evidence of +respect and obedience on the part of the pupils. There was none of that +happy-go-lucky comradeship which I have sometimes seen in other modern +schools, and which leads the pupil to understand that his teacher is +there to gain his interest, not to command his respectful attention. +Pupils were too busy with their work to talk much with one another. They +were sitting up in their seats as a matter of habit, and it did not seem +to hurt them seriously to do so. And everywhere they were working like +beavers at one task or another, or attending with all their eyes and +ears to a recitation. + +Now it seemed to me that this school was operated with a minimum of +waste or loss. Every item of energy that the pupils possessed was being +given to some educative activity. Nothing was lost by conflict between +pupil and teacher. Nothing was lost by bursts of anger or by fits of +depression. These sources of waste had been eliminated so far as I could +determine. The pupils could read well and write well and cipher +accurately. They even took a keen delight in the drills. And I found +that this phase of their work was enlightened by the modern content that +had been introduced. In their handwork and manual training they could +see that arithmetic was useful,--that it had something to do with the +great big buzzing life of the outer world. They learned that spelling +was useful in writing,--that it was not something that began and ended +within the covers of the spelling book, but that it had a real and vital +relation to other things that they found to be important. They had their +dramatic exercises in which they and their fellows, and, on occasions, +their parents, took a keen delight, and they were glad to afford them +pleasure and to receive congratulations at the close. And yet they found +that, in order to do these things well, they must read and study and +drill on speaking. They liked to have their drawings inspected and +praised at the school exhibitions, but they soon found that good drawing +and painting and designing were strictly conditioned by a mastery of +technique, and they wished to master technique in order to win these +rewards. + +Now what was the secret of the efficiency of this school? Not merely the +fact that it had introduced certain types of content such as drawing, +manual training, domestic science, dramatization, story work,--but also +that it had not lost sight of the fundamental purpose of elementary +education, but had so organized all of its studies that each played into +the hands of the others, and that everything that was done had some +definite and tangible relation to everything else. The manual training +exercises and the mechanical drawing were exercises in arithmetic, but, +let me remind you, there were other lessons, and formal lessons, in +arithmetic as well. But the one exercise enlightened and made more +meaningful the other. In the same way the story and dramatization were +intimately related to the reading and the language, but there were +formal lessons in reading and formal lessons in language. The geography +illustrated nature study and employed language and arithmetic and +drawing in its exercises. And so the whole structure was organized and +coherent and unified, and what was taught in one class was utilized in +another. There was no needless duplication, no needless or meaningless +repetition. But repetition there was, over and over again, but always it +was effective in still more firmly fixing the habits. + +One would be an ingrate, indeed, if one failed to recognize the great +good that an extreme reform movement may do. Some very precious +increments of progress have resulted even from the most extreme and +ridiculous reactions against the drill and formalism of the older +schools. Let me briefly summarize these really substantial gains as I +conceive them. + +In the first place, we have come to recognize distinctly the importance +of enlisting in the service of habit building the native instincts of +the child. Up to a certain point nature provides for the fixing of +useful responses, and we should be unwise not to make use of these +tendencies. In the spontaneous activities of play, certain fundamental +reactions are continually repeated until they reach the plane of +absolute mechanism. In imitating the actions of others, adjustments are +learned and made into habits without effort; in fact, the process of +imitation, so far as it is instinctive, is a source of pure delight to +the young child. Finally, closely related to these two instincts, is the +native tendency to repetition,--nature's primary provision for drill. +You have often heard little children repeat their new words over and +over again. Frequently they have no conception of the meanings of these +words. Nature seems to be untroubled by a question that has bothered +teachers; namely, Should a child ever be asked to drill on something the +purpose of which he does not understand? Nature sees to it that certain +essential responses become automatic long before the child is conscious +of their meaning. Just because nature does this is, of course, no +reason why we should imitate her. But the fact is an interesting +commentary upon the extreme to which we sometimes carry our principle of +rationalizing everything before permitting it to be mastered. + +I repeat that the reform movement has done excellent service in +extending the recognition in education of these fundamental and inborn +adaptive instincts,--play, imitation, and rhythmic repetition. It has +erred when it has insisted that we could depend upon these alone, for +nature has adapted man, not to the complicated conditions of our modern +highly organized social life, but rather to primitive conditions. Left +to themselves, these instinctive forces would take the child up to a +certain point, but they would still leave him on a primitive plane. I +know of one good authority on the teaching of reading who maintains that +the normal child would learn to read without formal teaching if he were +placed in the right environment,--an environment of books. This may be +possible with some exceptional children, but even an environment +reasonably replete with books does not effect this miracle in the case +of certain children whom I know very well and whom I like to think of as +perfectly normal. These children learned to talk by imitation and +instinctive repetition. But nature has not yet gone so far as to provide +the average child with spontaneous impulses that will lead him to learn +to read. Reading is a much more complicated and highly organized +process. And so it is with a vast number of the activities that our +pupils must master. + +Another increment of progress that the reform movement has given to +educational practice is a recognition of the fact that we have been +requiring pupils to acquire unnecessary habits, under the impression, +that even if the habits were not useful, something of value was gained +in their acquisition. As a result, we have passed all of our grain +through the same mill, unmindful of the fact that different life +activities required different types of grist. To-day we are seeing the +need for carefully selecting the types of habit and skill that should be +developed in _all_ children. We are recognizing that there are many +phases of the educative process that it is not well to reduce to an +automatic basis. When I was in the elementary school I memorized +Barnes's _History of the United States_ and Harper's _Geography_ from +cover to cover. I have never greatly regretted this automatic mastery; +but I have often thought that I might have memorized something rather +more important, for history and geography could have been mastered just +as effectively in another way. + +In the third place, and most important of all, we have been led to +analyze this complex process of habit building,--to find out the factors +that operate in learning. We have now a goodly body of principles that +may even be characterized by the adjective "scientific." We know that in +habit building, it is fundamentally essential to get the pupil started +in the right way. A recent writer states that two thirds of the +difficulty that the teacher meets fixing habits is due to the neglect of +this principle. Inadequate and inefficient habits get started and must +be continually combated while the desirable habit is being formed. How +important this is in the initial presentation of material that is to be +memorized or made automatic we are just now beginning to appreciate. One +writer insists that faulty work in the first grade is responsible for a +large part of the retardation which is bothering us so much to-day. The +wrong kind of a start is made, and whenever a faulty habit is formed, it +much more than doubles the difficulty of getting the right one well +under way. We are slowly coming to appreciate how much time is wasted in +drill processes by inadequate methods. Technique is being improved and +the time thus saved is being given to the newer content subjects that +are demanding admission to the schools. + +Again, we are coming to appreciate as never before the importance of +motivating our drill work,--of not only reading into it purpose and +meaning so that the pupil will understand what it is all for, but also +of engendering in him the _desire_ to form the habits,--to undergo the +discipline that is essential for mastery. Here again the reform movement +has been helpful, showing us the waste of time and energy that results +from attempting to fix habits that are only weakly motivated. + +All this is a vastly different matter from sugar-coating the drill +processes, under the mistaken notion that something that is worth while +may be acquired without effort. I think that educators are generally +agreed that such a policy is thoroughly bad,--for it subverts a basic +principle of human life the operation of which neither education nor any +other force can alter or reverse. To teach the child that the things in +life that are worth doing are easy to do, or that they are always or +even often intrinsically pleasant or agreeable, is to teach him a lie. +Human history gives us no examples of worthy achievements that have not +been made at the price of struggle and effort,--at the price of doing +things that men did not want to do. Every great truth has had to +struggle upward from defeat. Every man who has really found himself in +the work of life has paid the price of sacrifice for his success. And +whenever we attempt to give our pupils a mastery of the complicated arts +and skills that have lifted civilized man above the plane of his savage +ancestors, we must expect from them struggle and effort and self-denial. + +Let me quote a paragraph from the report of a recent investigation in +the psychology of learning. The habit that was being learned in this +experiment was skill in the use of the typewriter. The writer describes +the process in the following words: + + "In the early stages of learning, our subjects were all very much + interested in the work. Their whole mind seemed to be spontaneously + held by the writing. They were always anxious to take up the work + anew each day. Their general attitude and the resultant sensations + constituted a pleasant feeling tone, which had a helpful + reactionary effect upon the work. Continued practice, however, + brought a change. In place of the spontaneous, rapt attention of + the beginning stages, attention tended, at certain definite stages + of advancement, to wander away from the work. A general feeling of + monotony, which at times assumed the form of utter disgust, took + the place of the former pleasant sensations and feelings. The + writing became a disagreeable task. The unpleasant feelings now + present in consciousness exerted an ever-restraining effect on the + work. As an expert skill was approached, however, the learners' + attitude and mood changed again. They again took a keen interest in + the work. Their whole feeling tone once more became favorable, and + the movements delightful and pleasant. The expert typist ... so + thoroughly enjoyed the writing that it was as pleasant as the + spontaneous play activities of a child. But in the course of + developing this permanent interest in the work, there were many + periods in nearly every test, many days, as well as stages in the + practice as a whole, when the work was much disliked, periods when + the learning assumed the rôle of a very monotonous task. Our + records showed that at such times as these no progress was made. + Rapid progress in learning typewriting was made only when the + learners were feeling good and had an attitude of interest toward + the work."[18] + +Who has not experienced that feeling of hopelessness and despair that +comes at these successive levels of the long process of acquiring skill +in a complicated art? How desperately we struggle on--striving to put +every item of energy that we can command into our work, and yet feeling +how hopeless it all seems. How tempting then is the hammock on the +porch, the fascinating novel that we have placed on our bedside table, +the happy company of friends that are talking and laughing in the next +room; or how we long for the green fields and the open road; how +seductive is that siren call of change and diversion,--that evil spirit +of procrastination! How feeble, too, are the efforts that we make under +these conditions! We are not making progress in our art, we are only +marking time. And yet the psychologists tell us that this marking time +is an essential in the mastery of any complicated art. Somewhere, deep +down in the nervous system, subtle processes are at work, and when +finally interest dawns,--when finally hope returns to us, and life again +becomes worth while,--these heartbreaking struggles reap their reward. +The psychologists call them "plateaus of growth," but some one has said +that "sloughs of despond" would be a far better designation. + +The progress of any individual depends upon his ability to pass through +these sloughs of despond,--to set his face resolutely to the task and +persevere. It would be the idlest folly to lead children to believe that +success or achievement or even passing ability can be gained in any +other manner. And this is the danger in the sugar-coating process. + +But motivation does not mean sugar-coating. It means the development of +purpose, of ambition, of incentive. It means the development of the +willingness to undergo the discipline in order that the purpose may be +realized, in order that the goal may be attained. It means the creating +of those conditions that make for strength and virility and moral +fiber,--for it is in the consciousness of having overcome obstacles and +won in spite of handicaps,--it is in this consciousness of conquest that +mental strength and moral strength have their source. The victory that +really strengthens one is not the victory that has come easily, but the +victory that stands out sharp and clear against the background of effort +and struggle. It is because this subjective contrast is so absolutely +essential to the consciousness of power,--it is for this reason that the +"sloughs of despond" still have their function in our new attitude +toward drill. + +But do not mistake me: I have no sympathy with that educational +"stand-pattism" that would multiply these needlessly, or fail to build +solid and comfortable highways across them wherever it is possible to do +so. I have no sympathy with that philosophy of education which approves +the placing of artificial barriers in the learner's path. But if I build +highways across the morasses, it is only that youth may the more readily +traverse the region and come the more quickly to the points where +struggle is absolutely necessary. + +You remember in George Eliot's _Daniel Deronda_ the story of Gwendolen +Harleth. Gwendolen was a butterfly of society, a young woman in whose +childhood drill and discipline had found no place. In early womanhood, +she was, through family misfortune, thrown upon her own resources. In +casting about for some means of self-support her first recourse was to +music, for which she had some taste and in which she had had some +slight training. She sought out her old German music teacher, Klesmer, +and asked him what she might do to turn this taste and this training to +financial account. Klesmer's reply sums up in a nutshell the psychology +of skill: + + "Any great achievement in acting or in music grows with the growth. + Whenever an artist has been able to say, 'I came, I saw, I + conquered,' it has been at the end of patient practice. Genius, at + first, is little more than a great capacity for receiving + discipline. Singing and acting, like the fine dexterity of the + juggler with his cup and balls, require a shaping of the organs + toward a finer and finer certainty of effect. Your muscles, your + whole frame, must go like a watch,--true, true, true, to a hair. + This is the work of the springtime of life before the habits have + been formed." + +And I can formulate my own conception of the work of habit building in +education no better than by paraphrasing Klesmer's epigram. To increase +in our pupils the capacity to receive discipline; to show them, through +concrete example, over and over again, how persistence and effort and +concentration bring results that are worth while; to choose from their +own childish experiences the illustrations that will force this lesson +home; to supplement, from the stories of great achievements, those +illustrations which will inspire them to effort; to lead them to see +that Peary conquering the Pole, or Wilbur Wright perfecting the +aëroplane, or Morse struggling through long years of hopelessness and +discouragement to give the world the electric telegraph,--to show them +that these men went through experiences differing only in degree and not +in kind from those which characterize every achievement, no matter how +small, so long as it is dominated by a unitary purpose; to make the +inevitable sloughs of despond no less morasses, perhaps, but to make +their conquest add a permanent increment to growth and development: this +is the task of our drill work as I view it. As the prophecy of Isaiah +has it: "Precept must be upon precept; precept upon precept; line upon +line; line upon line; here a little and there a little." And if we can +succeed in giving our pupils this vision,--if we can reveal the deeper +meaning of struggle and effort and self-denial and sacrifice shining out +through the little details of the day's work,--we are ourselves +achieving something that is richly worth while; for the highest triumph +of the teacher's art is to get his pupils to see, in the small and +seemingly trivial affairs of everyday life, the operation of fundamental +and eternal principles. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 17: An address before the Kansas State Teachers' Association, +Topeka, October 20, 1910.] + +[Footnote 18: W.F. Book, _Journal of Educational Psychology_, vol. i, +1910, p. 195.] + + + + +~XII~ + +THE IDEAL TEACHER[19] + + +I wish to discuss with you briefly a very commonplace and oft-repeated +theme,--a theme that has been handled and handled until its +once-glorious raiment is now quite threadbare; a theme so full of +pitfalls and dangers for one who would attempt its discussion that I +have hesitated long before making a choice. I know of no other theme +that lends itself so readily to a superficial treatment--of no theme +upon which one could find so easily at hand all of the proverbs and +platitudes and maxims that one might desire. And so I cannot be expected +to say anything upon this topic that has not been said before in a far +better manner. But, after all, very few of our thoughts--even of those +that we consider to be the most original and worth while--are really new +to the world. Most of our thoughts have been thought before. They are +like dolls that are passed on from age to age to be dressed up and +decorated to suit the taste or the fashion or the fancy of each +succeeding generation. But even a new dress may add a touch of newness +to an old doll; and a new phrase or a new setting may, for a moment, +rejuvenate an old truth. + +The topic that I wish to treat is this, "The Ideal Teacher." And I may +as well start out by saying that the ideal teacher is and always must be +a figment of the imagination. This is the essential feature of any +ideal. The ideal man, for example, must possess an infinite number of +superlative characteristics. We take this virtue from one, and that from +another, and so on indefinitely until we have constructed in imagination +a paragon, the counterpart of which could never exist on earth. He would +have all the virtues of all the heroes; but he would lack all their +defects and all their inadequacies. He would have the manners of a +Chesterfield, the courage of a Winkelried, the imagination of a Dante, +the eloquence of a Cicero, the wit of a Voltaire, the intuitions of a +Shakespeare, the magnetism of a Napoleon, the patriotism of a +Washington, the loyalty of a Bismarck, the humanity of a Lincoln, and a +hundred other qualities, each the counterpart of some superlative +quality, drawn from the historic figure that represented that quality in +richest measure. + +And so it is with the ideal teacher: he would combine, in the right +proportion, all of the good qualities of all of the good teachers that +we have ever known or heard of. The ideal teacher is and always must be +a creature, not of flesh and blood, but of the imagination, a child of +the brain. And perhaps it is well that this is true; for, if he existed +in the flesh, it would not take very many of him to put the rest of us +out of business. The relentless law of compensation, which rules that +unusual growth in one direction must always be counterbalanced by +deficient growth in another direction, is the saving principle of human +society. That a man should be superlatively good in one single line of +effort is the demand of modern life. It is a platitude to say that this +is the age of the specialist. But specialism, while it always means a +gain to society, also always means a loss to the individual. Darwin, at +the age of forty, suddenly awoke to the fact that he was a man of one +idea. Twenty years before, he had been a youth of the most varied and +diverse interests. He had enjoyed music, he had found delight in the +masterpieces of imaginative literature, he had felt a keen interest in +the drama, in poetry, in the fine arts. But at forty Darwin quite by +accident discovered that these things had not attracted him for +years,--that every increment of his time and energy was concentrated in +a constantly increasing measure upon the unraveling of that great +problem to which he had set himself. And he lamented bitterly the loss +of these other interests; he wondered why he had been so thoughtless as +to let them slip from his grasp. It was the same old story of human +progress; the sacrifice of the individual to the race. For Darwin's loss +was the world's gain, and if he had not limited himself to one line of +effort, and given himself up to that work to the exclusion of everything +else, the world might still be waiting for the _Origin of Species_, and +the revolution in human thought and human life which followed in the +wake of that great book. Carlyle defined genius as an infinite capacity +for taking pains. George Eliot characterized it as an infinite capacity +for receiving discipline. But to make the definition complete, we need +the formulation of Goethe, who identified genius with the power of +concentration: "Who would be great must limit his ambitions; in +concentration is shown the Master." + +And so the great men of history, from the very fact of their genius, are +apt not to correspond with what our ideal of greatness demands. Indeed, +our ideal is often more nearly realized in men who fall far short of +genius. When I studied chemistry, the instructor burned a bit of diamond +to prove to us that the diamond was, after all, only carbon in an +"allotropic" form. There seems to be a similar allotropy working in +human nature. Some men seem to have all the constituents of genius, but +they never reach very far above the plane of the commonplace. They are +like the diamond,--except that they are more like the charcoal. + +I wish to describe to you a teacher who was not a genius, and yet who +possessed certain qualities that I should abstract and appropriate if I +were to construct in my imagination an ideal teacher. I first met this +man five years ago out in the mountain country. I can recall the +occasion with the most vivid distinctness. It was a sparkling morning, +in middle May. The valley was just beginning to green a little under +the influence of the lengthening days, but on the surrounding mountains +the snow line still hung low. I had just settled down to my morning's +work when word was brought that a visitor wished to see me, and a moment +later he was shown into the office. He was tall and straight, with +square shoulders and a deep chest. His hair was gray, and a rather long +white beard added to the effect of age, but detracted not an iota from +the evidences of strength and vigor. He had the look of a Westerner,--of +a man who had lived much of his life in the open. There was a ruggedness +about him, a sturdy strength that told of many a day's toil along the +trail, and many a night's sleep under the stars. + +In a few words he stated the purpose of his visit. He simply wished to +do what half a hundred others in the course of the year had entered that +office for the purpose of doing. He wished to enroll as a student in the +college and to prepare himself for a teacher. This was not ordinarily a +startling request, but hitherto it had been made only by those who were +just starting out on the highroad of life. Here was a man advanced in +years. He told me that he was sixty-five, and sixty-five in that country +meant old age; for the region had but recently been settled, and most of +the people were either young or middle-aged. The only old men in the +country were the few surviving pioneers,--men who had come in away back +in the early days of the mining fever, long before the advent of the +railroad. They had trekked across the plains from Omaha, and up through +the mountainous passes of the Oregon trail; or, a little later, they had +come by steamboat from St. Louis up the twelve-hundred-mile stretch of +the Missouri until their progress had been stopped by the Great Falls in +the very foothills of the Rockies. What heroes were these graybeards of +the mountains! What possibilities in knowing them, of listening to the +recounting of tales of the early days,--of running fights with the +Indians on the plains, of ambushments by desperadoes in the mountain +passes, of the lurid life of the early mining camps, and the desperate +deeds of the Vigilantes! And here, before me, was a man of that type. +You could read the main facts of his history in the very lines of his +face. And this man--one of that small band whom the whole country united +to honor--this man wanted to become a student,--to sit among adolescent +boys and girls, listening to the lectures and discussions of instructors +who were babes in arms when he was a man of middle life. + +But there was no doubt of his determination. With the eagerness of a +boy, he outlined his plan to me; and in doing this, he told me the story +of his life,--just the barest facts to let me know that he was not a man +to do things half-heartedly, or to drop a project until he had carried +it through either to a successful issue, or to indisputable defeat. + +And what a life that man had lived! He had been a youth of promise, +keen of intelligence and quick of wit. He had spent two years at a +college in the Middle West back in the early sixties. He had left his +course uncompleted to enter the army, and he had followed the fortunes +of war through the latter part of the great rebellion. At the close of +the war he went West. He farmed in Kansas until the drought and the +grasshoppers urged him on. He joined the first surveying party that +picked out the line of the transcontinental railroad that was to follow +the southern route along the old Santa Fé trail. He carried the chain +and worked the transit across the Rockies, across the desert, across the +Sierras, until, with his companions, he had-- + + "led the iron stallions down to drink + Through the cañons to the waters of the West." + +And when this task was accomplished, he followed the lure of the gold +through the California placers; eastward again over the mountains to the +booming Nevada camp, where the Comstock lode was already turning out the +wealth that was to build a half-dozen colossal fortunes. He "prospected" +through this country, with varying success, living the life of the +camps,--rich in its experiences, vivid in its coloring, calling forth +every item of energy and courage and hardihood that a man could command. +Then word came by that mysterious wireless and keyless telegraphy of the +mountains and the desert,--word that back to the eastward, ore deposits +of untold wealth had been discovered. So eastward once more, with the +stampede of the miners, he turned his face. He was successful at the +outset in this new region. He quickly accumulated a fortune; he lost it +and amassed another; lost that and still gained a third. Five successive +fortunes he made successively, and successively he lost them. But during +this time he had become a man of power and influence in the community. +He married and raised a family and saw his children comfortably settled. + +But when his last fortune was swept away, the old _Wanderlust_ again +claimed its own. Houses and lands and mortgages and mills and mines had +slipped from his grasp. But it mattered little. He had only himself to +care for, and, with pick and pan strapped to his saddlebow, he set his +face westward. Along the ridges of the high Rockies, through Wyoming and +Montana, he wandered, ever on the lookout for the glint of gold in the +white quartz. Little by little he moved westward, picking up a +sufficient living, until he found himself one winter shut in by the +snows in a remote valley on the upper waters of the Gallatin River. He +stopped one night at a lonely ranch house. In the course of the evening +his host told him of a catastrophe that had befallen the widely +scattered inhabitants of that remote valley. The teacher of the district +school had fallen sick, and there was little likelihood of their getting +another until spring. + +That is a true catastrophe to the ranchers of the high valleys cut off +from every line of communication with the outer world. For the +opportunities of education are highly valued in that part of the West. +They are reckoned with bread and horses and cattle and sheep, as among +the necessities of life. The children were crying for school, and their +parents could not satisfy that peculiar kind of hunger. But here was the +relief. This wanderer who had arrived in their midst was a man of parts. +He was lettered; he was educated. Would he do them the favor of teaching +their children until the snow had melted away from the ridges, and his +cayuse could pick the trail through the cañons? + +Now school-keeping was farthest from this man's thoughts. But the needs +of little children were very near to his heart. He accepted the offer, +and entered the log schoolhouse as the district schoolmaster, while a +handful of pupils, numbering all the children of the community who could +ride a broncho, came five, ten, and even fifteen miles daily, through +the winter's snows and storms and cruel cold, to pick up the crumbs of +learning that had lain so long untouched. + +What happened in that lonely little school, far off on the Gallatin +bench, I never rightly discovered. But when spring opened up, the master +sold his cayuse and his pick and his rifle and the other implements of +his trade. With the earnings of the winter he made his way to the school +that the state had established for the training of teachers; and I count +it as one of the privileges of my life that I was the first official of +that school to listen to his story and to welcome him to the vocation +that he had chosen to follow. + +And yet, when I looked at his face, drawn into lines of strength by +years of battle with the elements; when I looked at the clear, blue +eyes, that told of a far cleaner life than is lived by one in a thousand +of those that hold the frontiers of civilization; when I caught an +expression about the mouth that told of an innate humanity far beyond +the power of worldly losses or misfortunes to crush and subdue, I could +not keep from my lips the words that gave substance to my thought; and +the thought was this: that it were far better if we who were supposed to +be competent to the task of education should sit reverently at the feet +of this man, than that we should presume to instruct him. For knowledge +may come from books, and even youth may possess it, but wisdom comes +only from experience, and this man had that wisdom in far greater +measure than we of books and laboratories and classrooms could ever hope +to have it. He had lived years while we were living days. + +I thought of a learned scholar who, through patient labor in amassing +facts, had demonstrated the influence of the frontier in the development +of our national ideals; who had pointed out how, at each successive +stage of American history, the heroes of the frontier, pushing farther +and farther into the wilderness, conquering first the low coastal plain +of the Atlantic seaboard, then the forested foothills and ridges of the +Appalachians, had finally penetrated into the Mississippi Valley, and, +subduing that, had followed on westward to the prairies, and then to the +great plains, and then clear across the great divide, the alkali +deserts, and the Sierras, to California and the Pacific Coast; how these +frontiersmen, at every stage of our history, had sent back wave after +wave of strength and virility to keep alive the sturdy ideals of toil +and effort and independence,--ideals that would counteract the mellowing +and softening and degenerating influences of the hothouse civilization +that grew up so rapidly in the successive regions that they left behind. +Turner's theory that most of what is typical and unique in American +institutions and ideals owes its existence to the backset of the +frontier life found a living exemplar in the man who stood before me on +that May morning. + +But he would not be discouraged from his purpose. He had made up his +mind to complete the course that the school offered; to take up the +thread of his education at the point where he had dropped it more than +forty years before. He had made up his mind, and it was easy to see that +he was not a man to be deterred from a set purpose. + +I shall not hide the fact that some of us were skeptical of the outcome. +That a man of sixty-five should have a thirst for learning was not +remarkable. But that a man whose life had been spent in scenes of +excitement, who had been associated with deeds and events that stir the +blood when we read of them to-day, a man who had lived almost every +moment of his life in the open,--that such a man could settle down to +the uneventful life of a student and a teacher, could shut himself up +within the four walls of a classroom, could find anything to inspire and +hold him in the dull presentation of facts or the dry elucidation of +theories,--this seemed to be a miracle not to be expected in this +realistic age. But, miracle or not, the thing actually happened. He +remained nearly four years in the school, earning his living by work +that he did in the intervals of study, and doing it so well that, when +he graduated, he had not only his education and the diploma which stood +for it, but also a bank account. + +He lived in a little cabin by himself, for he wished to be where he +would not disturb others when he sang or whistled over his work in the +small hours of the night. But his meals he took at the college +dormitory, where he presided at a table of young women students. Never +was a man more popular with the ladies than this weather-beaten +patriarch with the girls of his table. No matter how gloomy the day +might be, one could always find sunshine from that quarter. No matter +how grievous the troubles of work, there was always a bit of cheerful +optimism from a man who had tasted almost every joy and sorrow that life +had to offer. If one were in a blue funk of dejection because of failure +in a class, he would lend the sympathy that came from his own rich +experience in failures,--not only past but present, for some things that +come easy at sixteen come hard at sixty-five, and this man who would +accept no favors had to fight his way through "flunks" and "goose-eggs" +like the younger members of the class. And even with it all so complete +an embodiment of hope and courage and wholesome light-heartedness would +be hard to find. He was an optimist because he had learned long since +that anything but optimism is a crime; and learning this in early life, +optimism had become a deeply seated and ineradicable prejudice in his +mind. He could not have been gloomy if he had tried. + +And so this man fought his way through science and mathematics and +philosophy, slowly but surely, just as he had fought inch by inch and +link by link, across the Arizona desert years before. It was a much +harder fight, for all the force of lifelong habit, than which there is +none other so powerful, was against him from the start. And now came the +human temptation to be off on the old trail, to saddle his horse and get +a pick and a pan and make off across the western range to the golden +land that always lies just under the sunset. How often that turbulent +_Wanderlust_ seized him, I can only conjecture. But I know the spirit of +the wanderer was always strong within him. He could say, with Kipling's +_Tramp Royal_: + + "It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world, + Which you can read and care for just so long, + But presently you feel that you will die + Unless you get the page you're reading done, + An' turn another--likely not so good; + But what you're after is to turn them all." + +And I knew that he fought that temptation over and over again; for that +little experience out on the Gallatin bench had only partially turned +his life from the channels of wandering, although it had bereft him of +the old desire to seek for gold. Often he outlined to me a +well-formulated plan; perhaps he had to tell some one, lest the fever +should take too strong a hold upon him, and force his surrender. His +plan was this: He would teach a term here and there, gradually working +his way westward, always toward the remote corners of the earth into +which his roving instinct seemed unerringly to lead him. Alaska, Hawaii, +and the Philippines seemed easy enough to access; surely, he thought, +teachers must be needed in all those regions. And when he should have +turned these pages, he might have mastered his vocation in a degree +sufficient to warrant his attempting an alien soil. Then he would sail +away into the South Seas, with New Zealand and Australia as a base. And +gradually moving westward through English-speaking settlements and +colonies he would finally complete the circuit of the globe. + +And the full fruition of that plan might have formed a fitting climax to +my tale, were I telling it for the sake of its romance; but my purpose +demands a different conclusion. My hero is now principal of schools in a +little city of the mountains,--a city so tiny that its name would be +unknown to most of you. And I have heard vague rumors that he is rising +rapidly in his profession and that the community he serves will not +listen to anything but a permanent tenure of his office. All of which +seems to indicate to me that he has abandoned, for the while at least, +his intention to turn quite all the pages of the world's great book, and +is content to live true to the ideal that was born in the log +schoolhouse--the conviction that the true life is the life of service, +and that the love of wandering and the lure of gold are only siren calls +that lead one always toward, but never to, the promised land of dreams +that seems to lie just over the western range where the pink sunset +stands sharp against the purple shadows. + +The ending of my story is prosaic, but everything in this world is +prosaic, unless you view it either in the perspective of time or space, +or in the contrasts that bring out the high lights and deepen the +shadows. + +But if I have left my hero happily married to his profession, the +courtship and winning of which formed the theme of my tale, I may be +permitted to indulge in a very little moralizing of a rather more +explicit sort than I have yet attempted. + +It is a simple matter to construct in imagination an ideal teacher. Mix +with immortal youth and abounding health, a maximal degree of knowledge +and a maximal degree of experience, add perfect tact, the spirit of true +service, the most perfect patience, and the most steadfast persistence; +place in the crucible of some good normal school; stir in twenty weeks +of standard psychology, ten weeks of general method, and varying +amounts of patent compounds known as special methods, all warranted pure +and without drugs or poison; sweeten with a little music, toughen with +fifteen weeks of logic, bring to a slow boil in the practice school, +and, while still sizzling, turn loose on a cold world. The formula is +simple and complete, but like many another good recipe, a competent cook +might find it hard to follow when she is short of butter and must +shamefully skimp on the eggs. + +Now the man whose history I have recounted represents the most priceless +qualities of this formula. In the first place he possessed that quality +the key to which the philosophers of all ages have sought in vain,--he +had solved the problem of eternal youth. At the age of sixty-five his +enthusiasm was the enthusiasm of an adolescent. His energy was the +energy of an adolescent. Despite his gray hair and white beard, his mind +was perennially young. And that is the only type of mind that ought to +be concerned with the work of education. I sometimes think that one of +the advantages of a practice school lies in the fact that the teachers +who have direct charge of the pupils--whatever may be their +limitations--have at least the virtue of youth, the virtue of being +young. If they could only learn from my hero the art of keeping young, +of keeping the mind fresh and vigorous and open to whatever is good and +true, no matter how novel a form it may take, they might, like him, +preserve their youth indefinitely. And I think that his life gives us +one clew to the secret,--to keep as close as we can to nature, for +nature is always young; to sing and to whistle when we would rather +weep; to cheer and comfort when we would rather crush and dishearten; +often to dare something just for the sake of daring, for to be young is +to dare; and always to wonder, for that is the prime symptom of youth, +and when a man ceases to wonder, age and decrepitude are waiting for him +around the next corner. + +It is the privilege of the teaching craft to represent more adequately +than any other calling the conditions for remaining young. There is time +for living out-of-doors, which some of us, alas! do not do. And youth, +with its high hope and lofty ambition, with its resolute daring and its +naive wonder, surrounds us on every side. And yet how rapidly some of us +age! How quickly life seems to lose its zest! How completely are we +blind to the opportunities that are on every hand! + +And closely related to this virtue of being always young, in fact +growing out of it, the ideal teacher will have, as my hero had, the gift +of gladness,--that joy of living which takes life for granted and +proposes to make the most of every moment of consciousness that it +brings. + +And finally, to balance these qualities, to keep them in leash, the +ideal teacher should possess that spirit of service, that conviction +that the life of service is the only life worth while--that conviction +for which my hero struggled so long and against such tremendous odds. +The spirit of service must always be the cornerstone of the teaching +craft. To know that any life which does not provide the opportunities +for service is not worth the living, and that any life, however humble, +that does provide these opportunities is rich beyond the reach of +earthly rewards,--this is the first lesson that the tyro in schoolcraft +must learn, be he sixteen or sixty-five. + +And just as youth and hope and the gift of gladness are the eternal +verities on one side of the picture, so the spirit of service, the +spirit of sacrifice, is the eternal verity that forms their true +complement; without whose compensation, hope were but idle dreaming, and +laughter a hollow mockery. And self-denial, which is the keynote of +service, is the great sobering, justifying, eternal factor that +symbolizes humanity more perfectly than anything else. In the +introduction to _Romola_, George Eliot pictures a spirit of the past who +returns to earth four hundred years after his death, and looks down upon +his native city of Florence. And I can conclude with no better words +than those in which George Eliot voices her advice to that shade: + + "Go not down, good Spirit: for the changes are great and the speech + of the Florentines would sound as a riddle in your ears. Or, if you + go, mingle with no politicians on the marmi, or elsewhere; ask no + questions about trade in Calimara; confuse yourself with no + inquiries into scholarship, official or monastic. Only look at the + sunlight and shadows on the grand walls that were built solidly and + have endured in their grandeur; look at the faces of the little + children, making another sunlight amid the shadows of age; look, if + you will, into the churches and hear the same chants, see the same + images as of old--the images of willing anguish for a great end, + of beneficent love and ascending glory, see upturned living faces, + and lips moving to the old prayers for help. These things have not + changed. The sunlight and the shadows bring their old beauty and + waken the old heart-strains at morning, noon, and even-tide; the + little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage + between love and duty; and men still yearn for the reign of peace + and righteousness--still own that life to be the best which is a + conscious voluntary sacrifice." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 19: An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New +York, State Normal School, February, 1908.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING*** + + +******* This file should be named 16987-8.txt or 16987-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/8/16987 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Craftsmanship in Teaching</p> +<p>Author: William Chandler Bagley</p> +<p>Release Date: November 2, 2005 [eBook #16987]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship, Bill Tozier,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p><a name="Page_-7" id="Page_-7"></a></p> +<h1>CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING<br /><br /><br /></h1> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>WILLIAM CHANDLER BAGLEY</h3> + +<p class='center'>AUTHOR OF "THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS," "CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT," "EDUCATIONAL +VALUES," ETC.<br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<p class='center'>New York</p> + +<p class='center'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p> + +<p class='center'>1912</p> + +<p class='center'><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap"><a name="Page_-6" id="Page_-6"></a>Copyright</span>, 1911,</p> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</p> + +<p class='center'>Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1911. Reprinted June, October, +1911; May, 1912.</p> + + +<p class='center'>Norwood Press</p> + +<p class='center'>J.S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.</p> + +<p class='center'>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3><a name="Page_-5" id="Page_-5"></a>TO MY PARENTS<br /><br /><br /><br /></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_-4" id="Page_-4"></a></p><p><a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3"></a><br /><br /><br /></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The following papers are published chiefly because they treat in a +concrete and personal manner some of the principles which the writer has +developed in two previously published books, <i>The Educative Process</i> and +<i>Classroom Management</i>, and in a forthcoming volume, <i>Educational +Values</i>. It is hoped that the more informal discussions presented in the +following pages will, in some slight measure, supplement the theoretical +and systematic treatment which necessarily characterizes the other +books. In this connection, it should be stated that the materials of the +first paper here presented were drawn upon in writing Chapter XVIII of +<i>Classroom Management</i>, and that the second paper simply states in a +different form the conclusions reached in Chapter I of <i>The Educative +Process</i>.</p> + +<p>The writer is indebted to his colleague, Professor L.F. Anderson, for +many criticisms and suggestions and to Miss Bernice Harrison for +invaluable aid in editing the papers for publication. But his heaviest +debt, here as elsewhere, is to his wife, to whose encouraging sympathy +and inspiration whatever may be valuable in this or in his other books +must be largely attributed.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +<span class="smcap">Urbana, Illinois,<br /> +March 1, 1911</span><br /> +</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2"></a></p><p><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1"></a></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="TABLE OF CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#I">I—<span class="smcap">Craftsmanship in Teaching</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#II">II—<span class="smcap">Optimism in Teaching</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#III">III—<span class="smcap">How may we Promote the Efficiency of the Teaching Force</span>?</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IV">IV—<span class="smcap">The Test of Efficiency in Supervision</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#V">V—<span class="smcap">The Supervisor and the Teacher</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VI">VI—<span class="smcap">Education and Utility</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VII">VII—<span class="smcap">The Scientific Spirit in Education</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VIII">VIII—<span class="smcap">The Possibility of Training Children to Study</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IX">IX—<span class="smcap">A Plea for the Definite in Education</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#X">X—<span class="smcap">Science as Related to the Teaching of Literature</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XI">XI—<span class="smcap">The New Attitude toward Drill</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XII">XII—<span class="smcap">The Ideal Teacher</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a></p><p><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> +<h1>CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING</h1> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Craftsmanship in Teaching</span><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In the laboratory of life, each newcomer repeats the old +experiments, and laughs and weeps for himself. We will be +explorers, though all the highways have their guideposts and every +bypath is mapped. Helen of Troy will not deter us, nor the wounds +of Cæsar frighten, nor the voice of the king crying 'Vanity!' from +his throne dismay. What wonder that the stars that once sang for +joy are dumb and the constellations go down in +silence."—<span class="smcap">Arthur Sherburne Hardy</span>: <i>The Wind of Destiny</i>. </p></div> + + +<p>We tend, I think, to look upon the advice that we give to young people +as something that shall disillusionize them. The cynic of forty sneers +at what he terms the platitudes of commencement addresses. He knows +life. He has been behind the curtains. He has looked upon the other side +of the scenery,—the side that is just framework and bare canvas. He has +seen the ugly machinery that shifts the stage setting—the stage setting +which appears so impressive when viewed from the front. He has seen the +rouge on the cheeks that seem to blush with <a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>the bloom of youth and +beauty and innocence, and has caught the cold glint in the eyes that, +from the distance, seem to languish with tenderness and love. Why, he +asks, should we create an illusion that must thus be rudely dispelled? +Why revamp and refurbish the old platitudes and dole them out each +succeeding year? Why not tell these young people the truth and let them +be prepared for the fate that must come sooner or later?</p> + +<p>But the cynic forgets that there are some people who never lose their +illusions,—some men and women who are always young,—and, whatever may +be the type of men and women that other callings and professions desire +to enroll in their service, this is the type that education needs. The +great problem of the teacher is to keep himself in this class, to keep +himself young, to preserve the very things that the cynic pleases to +call the illusions of his youth. And so much do I desire to impress +these novitiates into our calling with the necessity for preserving +their ideals that I shall ask them this evening to consider with me some +things which would, I fear, strike the cynic as most illusionary and +impractical. The initiation ceremonies that admitted the young man to +the privileges and duties of knighthood included the taking of certain +vows, the making of certain pledges of devotion and fidelity to the +fundamental principles for which chivalry stood. And I should like this +evening to imagine that these graduates are undergoing an analogous +initiation into the privileges and duties of schoolcraft, and <a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>that +these vows which I shall enumerate, embody some of the ideals that +govern the work of that craft.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>And the first of these vows I shall call, for want of a better term, the +vow of "artistry,"—the pledge that the initiate takes to do the work +that his hand finds to do in the best possible manner, without reference +to the effort that it may cost or to the reward that it may or may not +bring.</p> + +<p>I call this the vow of artistry because it represents the essential +attitude of the artist toward his work. The cynic tells us that ideals +are illusions of youth, and yet, the other day I saw expressed in a +middle-aged working-man a type of idealism that is not at all uncommon +in this world. He was a house painter; his task was simply the prosaic +job of painting a door; and yet, from the pains which he took with that +work, an observer would have concluded that it was, to the painter, the +most important task in the world. And that, after all, is the true test +of craft artistry: to the true craftsman the work that he is doing must +be the most important thing that can be done. One of the best teachers +that I know is that kind of a craftsman in education. A student was once +sent to observe his work. He was giving a lesson upon the "attribute +complement" to an eighth-grade grammar class. I asked the student +afterward what she had got from her visit. "Why," she replied, "that man +taught as if the <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>very greatest achievement in life would be to get his +pupils to understand the attribute complement,—and when he had +finished, they did understand it."</p> + +<p>In a narrower sense, this vow of artistry carries with it an +appreciation of the value of technique. From the very fact of their +normal school training, these graduates already possess a certain +measure of skill, a certain mastery of the technique of their craft. +This initial mastery has been gained in actual contact with the problems +of school work in their practice teaching. They have learned some of the +rudiments; they have met and mastered some of the rougher, cruder +difficulties. The finer skill, the delicate and intangible points of +technique, they must acquire, as all beginners must acquire them, +through the strenuous processes of self-discipline in the actual work of +the years that are to come. This is a process that takes time, energy, +constant and persistent application. All that this school or any school +can do for its students in this respect is to start them upon the right +track in the acquisition of skill. But do not make the mistake of +assuming that this is a small and unimportant matter. If this school did +nothing more than this, it would still repay tenfold the cost of its +establishment and maintenance. Three fourths of the failures in a world +that sometimes seems full of failures are due to nothing more nor less +than a wrong start. In spite of the growth of professional training for +teachers within the past fifty years, <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>many of our lower schools are +still filled with raw recruits, fresh from the high schools and even +from the grades, who must learn every practical lesson of teaching +through the medium of their own mistakes. Even if this were all, the +process would involve a tremendous and uncalled-for waste. But this is +not all; for, out of this multitude of untrained teachers, only a small +proportion ever recognize the mistakes that they make and try to correct +them.</p> + +<p>To you who are beginning the work of life, the mastery of technique may +seem a comparatively unimportant matter. You recognize its necessity, of +course, but you think of it as something of a mechanical nature,—an +integral part of the day's work, but uninviting in itself,—something to +be reduced as rapidly as possible to the plane of automatism and +dismissed from the mind. I believe that you will outgrow this notion. As +you go on with your work, as you increase in skill, ever and ever the +fascination of its technique will take a stronger and stronger hold upon +you. This is the great saving principle of our workaday life. This is +the factor that keeps the toiler free from the deadening effects of +mechanical routine. It is the factor that keeps the farmer at his plow, +the artisan at his bench, the lawyer at his desk, the artist at his +palette.</p> + +<p>I once worked for a man who had accumulated a large fortune. At the age +of seventy-five he divided this fortune among his children, intending to +retire; <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>but he could find pleasure and comfort only in the routine of +business. In six months he was back in his office. He borrowed +twenty-five thousand dollars on his past reputation and started in to +have some fun. I was his only employee at the time, and I sat across the +big double desk from him, writing his letters and keeping his accounts. +He would sit for hours, planning for the establishment of some industry +or running out the lines that would entangle some old adversary. I did +not stay with him very long, but before I left, he had a half-dozen +thriving industries on his hands, and when he died three years later he +had accumulated another fortune of over a million dollars.</p> + +<p>That is an example of what I mean by the fascination that the technique +of one's craft may come to possess. It is the joy of doing well the work +that you know how to do. The finer points of technique,—those little +things that seem so trivial in themselves and yet which mean everything +to skill and efficiency,—what pride the competent artisan or the master +artist takes in these! How he delights to revel in the jargon of his +craft! How he prides himself in possessing the knowledge and the +technical skill that are denied the layman!</p> + +<p>I am aware that I am somewhat unorthodox in urging this view of your +work upon you. Teachers have been encouraged to believe that details are +not only unimportant but stultifying,—that teaching ability is <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>a +function of personality, and not a product of a technique that must be +acquired through the strenuous discipline of experience. One of the most +skillful teachers of my acquaintance is a woman down in the grades. I +have watched her work for days at a time, striving to learn its secret. +I can find nothing there that is due to genius,—unless we accept George +Eliot's definition of genius as an infinite capacity for receiving +discipline. That teacher's success, by her own statement, is due to a +mastery of technique, gained through successive years of growth checked +by a rigid responsibility for results. She has found out by repeated +trial how to do her work in the best way; she has discovered the +attitude toward her pupils that will get the best work from them,—the +clearest methods of presenting subject matter; the most effective ways +in which to drill; how to use text-books and make study periods issue in +something besides mischief; and, more than all else, how to do these +things without losing sight of the true end of education. Very +frequently I have taken visiting school men to see this teacher's work. +Invariably after leaving her room they have turned to me with such +expressions as these: "A born teacher!" "What interest!" "What a +personality!" "What a voice!"—everything, in fact, except this,—which +would have been the truth: "What a tribute to years of effort and +struggle and self-discipline!"</p> + +<p>I have a theory which I have never exploited very <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>seriously, but I will +give it to you for what it is worth. It is this: elementary education +especially needs a literary interpretation. It needs a literary artist +who will portray to the public in the form of fiction the real life of +the elementary school,—who will idealize the technique of teaching as +Kipling idealized the technique of the marine engineer, as Balzac +idealized the technique of the journalist, as Du Maurier and a hundred +other novelists have idealized the technique of the artist. We need some +one to exploit our shop-talk on the reading public, and to show up our +work as you and I know it, not as you and I have been told by laymen +that it ought to be,—a literature of the elementary school with the +cant and the platitudes and the goody-goodyism left out, and in their +place something of the virility, of the serious study, of the manful +effort to solve difficult problems, of the real and vital achievements +that are characteristic of thousands of elementary schools throughout +the country to-day.</p> + +<p>At first you will be fascinated by the novelty of your work. But that +soon passes away. Then comes the struggle,—then comes the period, be it +long or short, when you will work with your eyes upon the clock, when +you will count the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes that lie +between you and vacation time. Then will be the need for all the +strength and all the energy that you can summon to your aid. Fail here, +and your fate is decided once and for all. If, in your <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>work, you never +get beyond this stage, you will never become the true craftsman. You +will never taste the joy that is vouchsafed the expert, the efficient +craftsman.</p> + +<p>The length of this period varies with different individuals. Some +teachers "find themselves" quickly. They seem to settle at once into the +teaching attitude. With others is a long, uphill fight. But it is safe +to say that if, at the end of three years, your eyes still habitually +seek the clock,—if, at the end of that time, your chief reward is the +check that comes at the end of every fourth week,—then your doom is +sealed.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>And the second vow that I should urge these graduates to take is the vow +of fidelity to the spirit of their calling. We have heard a great deal +in recent years about making education a profession. I do not like that +term myself. Education is not a profession in the sense that medicine +and law are professions. It is rather a craft, for its duty is to +produce, to mold, to fashion, to transform a certain raw material into a +useful product. And, like all crafts, education must possess the craft +spirit. It must have a certain code of craft ethics; it must have +certain standards of craft excellence and efficiency. And in these the +normal school must instruct its students, and to these it should secure +their pledge of loyalty and fidelity and devotion.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>A true conception of this craft spirit in education is one of the most +priceless possessions of the young teacher, for it will fortify him +against every criticism to which his calling is subjected. It is +revealing no secret to tell you that the teacher's work is not held in +the highest regard by the vast majority of men and women in other walks +of life. I shall not stop to inquire why this is so, but the fact cannot +be doubted, and every now and again some incident of life, trifling +perhaps in itself, will bring it to your notice; but most of all, +perhaps you will be vexed and incensed by the very thing that is meant +to put you at your ease—the patronizing attitude which your friends in +other walks of life will assume toward you and toward your work.</p> + +<p>When will the good public cease to insult the teacher's calling with +empty flattery? When will men who would never for a moment encourage +their own sons to enter the work of the public schools, cease to tell us +that education is the greatest and noblest of all human callings? +Education does not need these compliments. The teacher does not need +them. If he is a master of his craft, he knows what education means,—he +knows this far better than any layman can tell him. And what boots it to +him, if, with all this cant and hypocrisy about the dignity and worth of +his calling, he can sometimes hold his position only at the sacrifice of +his self-respect?</p> + +<p>But what is the relation of the craft spirit to these <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>facts? Simply +this: the true craftsman, by the very fact that he is a true craftsman, +is immune to these influences. What does the true artist care for the +plaudits or the sneers of the crowd? True, he seeks commendation and +welcomes applause, for your real artist is usually extremely human; but +he seeks this commendation from another source—from a source that metes +it out less lavishly and yet with unconditioned candor. He seeks the +commendation of his fellow-workmen, the applause of "those who know, and +always will know, and always will understand." He plays to the pit and +not to the gallery, for he knows that when the pit really approves the +gallery will often echo and reëcho the applause, albeit it has not the +slightest conception of what the whole thing is about.</p> + +<p>What education stands in need of to-day is just this: a stimulating and +pervasive craft spirit. If a human calling would win the world's +respect, it must first respect itself; and the more thoroughly it +respects itself, the greater will be the measure of homage that the +world accords it. In one of the educational journals a few years ago, +the editors ran a series of articles under the general caption, "Why I +am a teacher." It reminded me of the spirited discussion that one of the +Sunday papers started some years since on the world-old query, "Is +marriage a failure?" And some of the articles were fully as sickening in +their harrowing details as were some of the whining matrimonial +confessions of <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>the latter series. But the point that I wish to make is +this: your true craftsman in education never stops to ask himself such +questions. There are some men to whom schoolcraft is a mistress. They +love it, and their devotion is no make-believe, fashioned out of +sentiment, and donned for the purpose of hiding inefficiency or native +indolence. They love it as some men love Art, and others Business, and +others War. They do not stop to ask the reason why, to count the cost, +or to care a fig what people think. They are properly jealous of their +special knowledge, gained through years of special study; they are +justly jealous of their special skill gained through years of discipline +and training. They resent the interference of laymen in matters purely +professional. They resent such interference as would a reputable +physician, a reputable lawyer, a reputable engineer. They resent +officious patronage and "fussy" meddling. They resent all these things +manfully, vigorously. But your true craftsman will not whine. If the +conditions under which he works do not suit him, he will fight for their +betterment, but he will not whine.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>And yet this vow of fidelity and devotion to the spirit of schoolcraft +would be an empty form without the two complementary vows that give it +worth and meaning. These are the vow of poverty and the vow of service. +It is through these that the true craft <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>spirit must find its most +vigorous expression and its only justification. The very corner stone of +schoolcraft is service, and one fundamental lesson that the tyro in +schoolcraft must learn, especially in this materialistic age, is that +the value of service is not to be measured in dollars and cents. In this +respect, teaching resembles art, music, literature, discovery, +invention, and pure science; for, if all the workers in all of these +branches of human activity got together and demanded of the world the +real fruits of their self-sacrifice and labor,—if they demanded all the +riches and comforts and amenities of life that have flowed directly or +indirectly from their efforts,—there would be little left for the rest +of mankind. Each of these activities is represented by a craft spirit +that recognizes this great truth. The artist or the scientist who has an +itching palm, who prostitutes his craft for the sake of worldly gain, is +quickly relegated to the oblivion that he deserves. He loses caste, and +the caste of craft is more precious to your true craftsman than all the +gold of the modern Midas.</p> + +<p>You may think that this is all very well to talk about, but that it +bears little agreement to the real conditions. Let me tell you that you +are mistaken. Go ask Röntgen why he did not keep the X-rays a secret to +be exploited for his own personal gain. Ask the shade of the great +Helmholtz why he did not patent the ophthalmoscope. Go to the University +of Wisconsin and ask Professor Babcock why he gave to the world without +<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>money and without price the Babcock test—an invention which is +estimated to mean more than one million dollars every year to the +farmers and dairymen of that state alone. Ask the men on the geological +survey who laid bare the great gold deposits of Alaska why they did not +leave a thankless and ill-paid service to acquire the wealth that lay at +their feet. Because commercialized ideals govern the world that we know, +we think that all men's eyes are jaundiced, and that all men's vision is +circumscribed by the milled rim of the almighty dollar. But we are +sadly, miserably mistaken.</p> + +<p>Do you think that these ideals of service from which every taint of +self-seeking and commercialism have been eliminated—do you think that +these are mere figments of the impractical imagination? Go ask Perry +Holden out in Iowa. Go ask Luther Burbank out in California. Go to any +agricultural college in this broad land and ask the scientists who are +doing more than all other forces combined to increase the wealth of the +people. Go to the scientific departments at Washington where men of +genius are toiling for a pittance. Ask them how much of the wealth for +which they are responsible they propose to put into their own pockets. +What will be their answer? They will tell you that all they ask is a +living wage, a chance to work, and the just recognition of their +services by those who know and appreciate and understand.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>But let me hasten to add that these men claim no especial merit for +their altruism and unselfishness. They do not pose before the world as +philanthropists. They do not strut about and preen themselves as who +would say: "See what a noble man am I! See how I sacrifice myself for +the welfare of society!" The attitude of cant and pose is entirely alien +to the spirit of true service. Their delight is in doing, in serving, in +producing. But beyond this, they have the faults and frailties of their +kind,—save one,—the sin of covetousness. And again, all that they ask +of the world is a living wage, and the privilege to serve.</p> + +<p>And that is all that the true craftsman in education asks. The man or +woman with the itching palm has no place in the schoolroom,—no place in +any craft whose keynote is service. It is true that the teacher does not +receive to-day, in all parts of our country, a living wage; and it is +equally true that society at large is the greatest sufferer because of +its penurious policy in this regard. I should applaud and support every +movement that has for its purpose the raising of teachers' salaries to +the level of those paid in other branches of professional service. +Society should do this for its own benefit and in its own defense, not +as a matter of charity to the men and women who, among all public +servants, should be the last to be accused of feeding gratuitously at +the public crib. I should approve all honest efforts of school men and +school women toward this much-<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>desired end. But whenever men and women +enter schoolcraft because of the material rewards that it offers, the +virtue will have gone out of our calling,—just as the virtue went out +of the Church when, during the Middle Ages, the Church attracted men, +not because of the opportunities that it offered for social service, but +because of the opportunities that it offered for the acquisition of +wealth and temporal power,—just as the virtue has gone out of certain +other once-noble professions that have commercialized their standards +and tarnished their ideals.</p> + +<p>This is not to say that one condemns the man who devotes his life to the +accumulation of property. The tremendous strides that our country has +made in material civilization have been conditioned in part by this type +of genius. Creative genius must always compel our admiration and our +respect. It may create a world epic, a matchless symphony of tones or +pigments, a scientific theory of tremendous grasp and limitless scope; +or it may create a vast industrial system, a commercial enterprise of +gigantic proportions, a powerful organization of capital. Genius is +pretty much the same wherever we find it, and everywhere we of the +common clay must recognize its worth.</p> + +<p>The grave defect in our American life is not that we are hero +worshipers, but rather that we worship but one type of hero; we +recognize but one type of achievement; we see but one sort of genius. +For two genera<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>tions our youth have been led to believe that there is +only one ambition that is worth while,—the ambition of property. +Success at any price is the ideal that has been held up before our boys +and girls. And to-day we are reaping the rewards of this distorted and +unjust view of life.</p> + +<p>I recently met a man who had lived for some years in the neighborhood of +St. Paul and Minneapolis,—a section that is peopled, as you know, very +largely by Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants. This man told +me that he had been particularly impressed by the high idealism of the +Norwegian people. His business brought him in contact with Norwegian +immigrants in what are called the lower walks of life,—with workingmen +and servant girls,—and he made it a point to ask each of these young +men and young women the same question. "Tell me," he would say, "who are +the great men of your country? Who are the men toward whom the youth of +your land are led to look for inspiration? Who are the men whom your +boys are led to imitate and emulate and admire?" And he said that he +almost always received the same answer to this question: the great names +of the Norwegian nation that had been burned upon the minds even of +these workingmen and servant girls were just four in number: Ole Bull, +Björnson, Ibsen, Nansen. Over and over again he asked that same +question; over and over again he received the same answer: Ole Bull, +Björnson, Ibsen,<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a> Nansen. A great musician, a great novelist, a great +dramatist, a great scientist.</p> + +<p>And I conjectured as I heard of this incident, What would be the answer +if the youth of our land were asked that question: "Who are the great +men of <i>your</i> country? What type of achievement have you been led to +imitate and emulate and admire?" How many of our boys and girls have +even heard of our great men in the world of culture,—unless, indeed, +such men lived a half century ago and have got into the school readers +by this time? How many of our boys and girls have ever heard of +MacDowell, or James, or Whistler, or Sargent?</p> + +<p>I have said that the teacher must take the vow of service. What does +this imply except that the opportunity for service, the privilege of +serving, should be the opportunity that one seeks, and that the +achievements toward which one aspires should be the achievements of +serving? The keynote of service lies in self-sacrifice,—in +self-forgetfulness, rather,—in merging one's own life in the lives of +others. The attitude of the true teacher in this respect is very similar +to the attitude of the true parent. In so far as the parent feels +himself responsible for the character of his children, in so far as he +holds himself culpable for their shortcomings and instrumental in +shaping their virtues, he loses himself in his children. What we term +parental affection is, I believe, in part an outgrowth of this feeling +of <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>responsibility. The situation is precisely the same with the +teacher. It is when the teacher begins to feel himself responsible for +the growth and development of his pupils that he begins to find himself +in the work of teaching. It is then that the effective devotion to his +pupils has its birth. The affection that comes prior to this is, I +think, very likely to be of the sentimental and transitory sort.</p> + +<p>In education, as in life, we play altogether too carelessly with the +word "love." The test of true devotion is self-forgetfulness. Until the +teacher reaches that point, he is conscious of two distinct elements in +his work,—himself and his pupils. When that time comes, his own <i>ego</i> +drops from view, and he lives in and for his pupils. The young teacher's +tendency is always to ask himself, "Do my pupils like me?" Let me say +that this is beside the question. It is not, from his standpoint, a +matter of the pupils liking their teacher, but of the teacher liking his +pupils. That, I take it, must be constantly the point of view. If you +ask the other question first, you will be tempted to gain your end by +means that are almost certain to prove fatal,—to bribe and pet and +cajole and flatter, to resort to the dangerous expedient of playing to +the gallery; but the liking that you get in this way is not worth the +price that you pay for it. I should caution young teachers against the +short-sighted educational theories that are in the air to-day, and that +definitely recom<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>mend this attitude. They may sound sweet, but they are +soft and sticky in practice. Better be guided by instinct than by +"half-baked" theory. I have no disposition to criticize the attempts +that have been made to rationalize educational practice, but a great +deal of contemporary theory starts at the wrong end. It has failed to go +to the sources of actual experience for its data. I know a father and +mother who have brought up ten children successfully, and I may say that +you could learn more about managing boys and girls from observing their +methods than from a half-dozen prominent books on educational theory +that I could name.</p> + +<p>And so I repeat that the true test of the teacher's fidelity to this vow +of service is the degree in which he loses himself in his pupils,—the +degree in which he lives and toils and sacrifices for them just for the +pure joy that it brings him. Once you have tasted this joy, no carping +sneer of the cynic can cause you to lose faith in your calling. Material +rewards sink into insignificance. You no longer work with your eyes upon +the clock. The hours are all too short for the work that you would do. +You are as light-hearted and as happy as a child,—for you have lost +yourself to find yourself, and you have found yourself to lose yourself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a></p> +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>And the final vow that I would have these graduates take is the vow of +idealism,—the pledge of fidelity and devotion to certain fundamental +principles of life which it is the business of education carefully to +cherish and nourish and transmit untarnished to each succeeding +generation. These but formulate in another way what the vows that I have +already discussed mean by implication. One is the ideal of social +service, upon which education must, in the last analysis, rest its case. +The second is the ideal of science,—the pledge of devotion to that +persistent unwearying search after truth, of loyalty to the great +principles of unbiased observation and unprejudiced experiment, of +willingness to accept the truth and be governed by it, no matter how +disagreeable it may be, no matter how roughly it may trample down our +pet doctrines and our preconceived theories. The nineteenth century left +us a glorious heritage in the great discoveries and inventions that +science has established. These must not be lost to posterity; but far +better lose them than lose the spirit of free inquiry, the spirit of +untrammeled investigation, the noble devotion to truth for its own sake +that made these discoveries and inventions possible.</p> + +<p>It is these ideals that education must perpetuate, and if education is +successfully to perpetuate them, the teacher must himself be filled with +a spirit of devotion <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>to the things that they represent. Science has +triumphed over superstition and fraud and error. It is the teacher's +duty to see to it that this triumph is permanent, that mankind does not +again fall back into the black pit of ignorance and superstition.</p> + +<p>And so it is the teacher's province to hold aloft the torch, to stand +against the materialistic tendencies that would reduce all human +standards to the common denominator of the dollar, to insist at all +times and at all places that this nation of ours was founded upon +idealism, and that, whatever may be the prevailing tendencies of the +time, its children shall still learn to live "among the sunlit peaks." +And if the teacher is imbued with this idealism, although his work may +take him very close to Mother Earth, he may still lift his head above +the fog and look the morning sun squarely in the face.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New York, +State Normal School, February, 1907.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Optimism in Teaching</span><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h4> + + +<p>Although the month is March and not November, it is never unseasonable +to count up the blessings for which it is well to be thankful. In fact, +from the standpoint of education, the spring is perhaps the appropriate +time to perform this very pleasant function. As if still further to +emphasize the fact that education, like civilization, is an artificial +thing, we have reversed the operations of Mother Nature: we sow our seed +in the fall and cultivate our crops during the winter and reap our +harvests in the spring. I may be pardoned, therefore, for making the +theme of my discussion a brief review of the elements of growth and +victory for which the educator of to-day may justly be grateful, with, +perhaps, a few suggestions of what the next few years may reasonably be +expected to bring forth.</p> + +<p>And this course is all the more necessary because, I believe, the +teaching profession is unduly prone to pessimism. One might think at +first glance that the contrary would be true. We are surrounded on every +side by youth. Youth is the material with which we <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>constantly deal. +Youth is buoyant, hopeful, exuberant; and yet, with this material +constantly surrounding us, we frequently find the task wearisome and +apparently hopeless. The reason is not far to seek. Youth is not only +buoyant, it is unsophisticated, it is inexperienced, in many important +particulars it is crude. Some of its tastes must necessarily, in our +judgment, hark back to the primitive, to the barbaric. Ours is +continually the task to civilize, to sophisticate, to refine this raw +material. But, unfortunately for us, the effort that we put forth does +not always bring results that we can see and weigh and measure. The +hopefulness of our material is overshadowed not infrequently by its +crudeness. We take each generation as it comes to us. We strive to lift +it to the plane that civilized society has reached. We do our best and +pass it on, mindful of the many inadequacies, perhaps of the many +failures, in our work. We turn to the new generation that takes its +place. We hope for better materials, but we find no improvement.</p> + +<p>And so you and I reflect in our occasional moments of pessimism that +generic situation which inheres in the very work that we do. The +constantly accelerated progress of civilization lays constantly +increasing burdens upon us. In some way or another we must accomplish +the task. In some way or another we must lift the child to the level of +society, and, as society is reaching a continually higher and higher +level, so the <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>distance through which the child must be raised is ever +increased. We would like to think that all this progress in the race +would come to mean that we should be able to take the child at a higher +level; but you who deal with children know from experience the principle +for which the biologist Weismann stands sponsor—the principle, namely, +that acquired characteristics are not inherited; that whatever changes +may be wrought during life in the brains and nerves and muscles of the +present generation cannot be passed on to its successor save through the +same laborious process of acquisition and training; that, however far +the civilization of the race may progress, education, whose duty it is +to conserve and transmit this civilization, must always begin with the +"same old child."</p> + +<p>This, I take it, is the deep-lying cause of the schoolmaster's +pessimism. In our work we are constantly struggling against that same +inertia which held the race in bondage for how many millenniums only the +evolutionist can approximate a guess,—that inertia of the primitive, +untutored mind which we to-day know as the mind of childhood, but which, +for thousands of generations, was the only kind of a mind that man +possessed. This inertia has been conquered at various times in the +course of recorded history,—in Egypt and China and India, in Chaldea +and Assyria, in Greece and Rome,—conquered only again to reassert +itself and drive man back into barbarism. Now we of <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>the Western world +have conquered it, let us hope, for all time; for we of the Western +world have discovered an effective method of holding it in abeyance, and +this method is universal public education.</p> + +<p>Let Germany close her public schools, and in two generations she will +lapse back into the semi-darkness of medievalism; let her close both her +public schools and her universities, and three generations will fetch +her face to face with the Dark Ages; let her destroy her libraries and +break into ruin all of her works of art, all of her existing triumphs of +technical knowledge and skill, from which a few, self-tutored, might +glean the wisdom that is every one's to-day, and Germany will soon +become the home of a savage race, as it was in the days of Tacitus and +Cæsar. Let Italy close her public schools, and Italy will become the +same discordant jumble of petty states that it was a century ago,—again +to await, this time perhaps for centuries or millenniums, another +Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel to work her regeneration. Let Japan close +her public schools, and Japan in two generations will be a barbaric +kingdom of the Shoguns, shorn of every vestige of power and +prestige,—the easy victim of the machinations of Western diplomats. Let +our country cease in its work of education, and these United States must +needs pass through the reverse stages of their growth until another race +of savages shall roam through the unbroken forest, now and then to reach +the shores of <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>ocean and gaze through the centuries, eastward, to catch +a glimpse of the new Columbus. Like the moving pictures of the +kinetoscope when the reels are reversed, is the picture that imagination +can unroll if we grant the possibility of a lapse from civilization to +savagery.</p> + +<p>And so when we take the broader view, we quickly see that, in spite of +our pessimism, we are doing something in the world. We are part of that +machine which civilization has invented and is slowly perfecting to +preserve itself. We may be a very small part, but, so long as the +responsibility for a single child rests upon us, we are not an +unimportant part. Society must reckon with you and me perhaps in an +infinitesimal degree, but it must reckon with the institution which we +represent as it reckons with no other institution that it has reared to +subserve its needs.</p> + +<p>In a certain sense these statements are platitudes. We have repeated +them over and over again until the words have lost their tremendous +significance. And it behooves us now and again to revive the old +substance in a new form,—to come afresh to a self-consciousness of our +function. It is not good for any man to hold a debased and inferior +opinion of himself or of his work, and in the field of schoolcraft it is +easy to fall into this self-depreciating habit of thought. We cannot +hope that the general public will ever come to view our work in the true +perspective that I have very briefly outlined. It would probably not be +wise to promulgate <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>publicly so pronounced an affirmation of our +function and of our worth. The popular mind must think in concrete +details rather than in comprehensive principles, when the subject of +thought is a specialized vocation. You and I have crude ideas, no doubt, +of the lawyer's function, of the physician's function, of the +clergyman's function. Not less crude are their ideas of our function. +Even when they patronize us by saying that our work is the noblest that +any man or woman would engage in, they have but a vague and shadowy +perception of its real significance. I doubt not that, with the majority +of those who thus pat us verbally upon the back, the words that they use +are words only. They do not envy us our privileges,—unless it is our +summer vacations,—nor do they encourage their sons to enter service in +our craft. The popular mind—the nontechnical mind,—must work in the +concrete;—it must have visible evidences of power and influence before +it pays homage to a man or to an institution.</p> + +<p>Throughout the German empire the traveler is brought constantly face to +face with the memorials that have been erected by a grateful people to +the genius of the Iron Chancellor. Bismarck richly deserves the tribute +that is paid to his memory, but a man to be honored in this way must +exert a tangible and an obvious influence.</p> + +<p>And yet, in a broader sense, the preëminence of Germany is due in far +greater measure to two men whose <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>names are not so frequently to be +found inscribed upon towers and monuments. In the very midst of the +havoc and devastation wrought by the Napoleon wars,—at the very moment +when the German people seemed hopelessly crushed and defeated,—an +intellect more penetrating than that of Bismarck grasped the logic of +the situation. With the inspiration that comes with true insight, the +philosopher Fichte issued his famous Addresses to the German people. +With clear-cut argument couched in white-hot words, he drove home the +great principle that lies at the basis of United Germany and upon the +results of which Bismarck and Von Moltke and the first Emperor erected +the splendid structure that to-day commands the admiration of the world. +Fichte told the German people that their only hope lay in universal, +public education. And the kingdom of Prussia—impoverished, bankrupt, +war-ridden, and war-devastated—heard the plea. A great scheme that +comprehended such an education was already at hand. It had fallen almost +stillborn from the only kind of a mind that could have produced it,—a +mind that was suffused with an overwhelming love for humanity and +incomparably rich with the practical experiences of a primary +schoolmaster. It had fallen from the mind of Pestalozzi, the Swiss +reformer, who thus stands with Fichte as one of the vital factors in the +development of Germany's educational supremacy.</p> + +<p>The people's schools of Prussia, imbued with the <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>enthusiasm of Fichte +and Pestalozzi,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> gave to Germany the tremendous advantage that enabled +it so easily to overcome its hereditary foe, when, two generations +later, the Franco-Prussian War was fought; for the <i>Volksschule</i> gave to +Germany something that no other nation of that time possessed; namely, +an educated proletariat, an intelligent common people. Bismarck knew +this when he laid his cunning plans for the unification of German states +that was to crown the brilliant series of victories beginning at Sedan +and ending within the walls of Paris. William of Prussia knew it when, +in the royal palace at Versailles, he accepted the crown that made him +the first Emperor of United Germany. Von Moltke knew it when, at the +capitulation of Paris, he was asked to whom the credit of the victory +was due, and he replied, in the frank simplicity of the true soldier and +the true hero, "The schoolmaster did it."</p> + +<p>And yet Bismarck and Von Moltke and the Emperor are the heroes of +Germany, and if Fichte and Pestalozzi are not forgotten, at least their +memories are not cherished as are the memories of the more tangible and +obvious heroes. Instinct lies deeply embedded in human nature and it is +instinctive to think in the concrete. And so I repeat that we cannot +expect the <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>general public to share in the respect and veneration which +you and I feel for our calling, for you and I are technicians in +education, and we can see the process as a comprehensive whole. But our +fellow men and women have their own interests and their own departments +of technical knowledge and skill; they see the schoolhouse and the +pupils' desks and the books and other various material symbols of our +work,—they see these things and call them education; just as we see a +freight train thundering across the viaduct or a steamer swinging out in +the lake and call these things commerce. In both cases, the nontechnical +mind associates the word with something concrete and tangible; in both +cases, the technical mind associates the same word with an abstract +process, comprehending a movement of vast proportions.</p> + +<p>To compress such a movement—whether it be commerce or government or +education—in a single conception requires a multitude of experiences +involving actual adjustments with the materials involved; involving +constant reflection upon hidden meanings, painful investigations into +hidden causes, and mastery of a vast body of specialized knowledge which +it takes years of study to digest and assimilate.</p> + +<p>It is not every stevedore upon the docks, nor every stoker upon the +steamers, nor every brakeman upon the railroads, who comprehends what +commerce really means. It is not every banker's clerk who knows the +<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>meaning of business. It is not every petty holder of public office who +knows what government really means. But this, at least, is true: in +proportion as the worker knows the meaning of the work that he does,—in +proportion as he sees it in its largest relations to society and to +life,—his work is no longer the drudgery of routine toil. It becomes +instead an intelligent process directed toward a definite goal. It has +acquired that touch of artistry which, so far as human testimony goes, +is the only pure and uncontaminated source of human happiness.</p> + +<p>And the chief blessing for which you and I should be thankful to-day is +that this larger view of our calling has been vouchsafed to us as it has +been vouchsafed no former generation of teachers. Education as the +conventional prerogative of the rich,—as the garment which separated +the higher from the lower classes of society,—this could scarcely be +looked upon as a fascinating and uplifting ideal from which to derive +hope and inspiration in the day's work; and yet this was the commonly +accepted function of education for thousands of years, and the teachers +who did the actual work of instruction could not but reflect in their +attitude and bearing the servile character of the task that they +performed. Education to fit the child to earn a better living, to +command a higher wage,—- this myopic view of the function of the school +could do but little to make the work of teaching anything but drudgery; +<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>and yet it is this narrow and materialistic view that has dominated our +educational system to within a comparatively few years.</p> + +<p>So silently and yet so insistently have our craft ideals been +transformed in the last two decades that you and I are scarcely aware +that our point of view has been changed and that we are looking upon our +work from a much higher point of vantage and in a light entirely new. +And yet this is the change that has been wrought. That education, in its +widest meaning, is the sole conservator and transmitter of civilization +to successive generations found expression as far back as Aristotle and +Plato, and has been vaguely voiced at intervals down through the +centuries; but its complete establishment came only as an indirect issue +of the great scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century, and its +application to the problems of practical schoolcraft and its +dissemination through the rank and file of teachers awaited the dawn of +the twentieth century. To-day we see expressions and indications of the +new outlook upon every hand, in the greatly increased professional zeal +that animates the teacher's calling; in the widespread movement among +all civilized countries to raise the standards of teachers, to eliminate +those candidates for service who have not subjected themselves to the +discipline of special preparation; in the increased endowments and +appropriations for schools and seminaries that prepare teachers; and, +perhaps most strikingly at the present <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>moment, in that concerted +movement to organize into institutions of formal education, all of those +branches of training which have, for years, been left to the chance +operation of economic needs working through the crude and unorganized +though often effective apprentice system. The contemporary fervor for +industrial education is only one expression of this new view that, in +the last analysis, the school must stand sponsor for the conservation +and transmission of every valuable item of experience, every usable fact +or principle, every tiniest perfected bit of technical skill, every +significant ideal or prejudice, that the race has acquired at the cost +of so much struggle and suffering and effort.</p> + +<p>I repeat that this new vantage point from which to gain a comprehensive +view of our calling has been attained only as an indirect result of the +scientific investigations of the nineteenth century. We are wont to +study the history of education from the work and writings of a few great +reformers, and it is true that much that is valuable in our present +educational system can be understood and appreciated only when viewed in +the perspective of such sources. Aristotle and Quintilian, Abelard and +St. Thomas Aquinas, Sturm and Philip Melanchthon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, +Rousseau, Herbart, and Froebel still live in the schools of to-day. +Their genius speaks to us through the organization of subject-matter, +through the art of questioning, through the developmental methods of +teaching, through the use of pictures, through objective <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>instruction, +and in a thousand other forms. But this dominant ideal of education to +which I have referred and which is so rapidly transforming our outlook +and vitalizing our organization and inspiring us to new efforts, is not +to be drawn from these sources. The new histories of education must +account for this new ideal, and to do this they must turn to the masters +in science who made the middle part of the nineteenth century the period +of the most profound changes that the history of human thought +records.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>With the illuminating principle of evolution came a new and generously +rich conception of human growth and development. The panorama of +evolution carried man back far beyond the limits of recorded human +history and indicated an origin as lowly as the succeeding uplift has +been sublime. The old depressing and fatalistic notion that the human +race was on the downward path, and that the march of civilization must +sooner or later end in a cul-de-sac (a view which found frequent +expression in the French writers of the eighteenth century and which +dominated the skepticism of the dark hours preceding the +Revolution)—this fatalistic view met its death-blow in the principle of +evolution. A vista of hope entirely undreamed of stretched out before +the race. If the tremendous leverage of the untold millenniums of brute +and savage ancestry could be overcome, even in slight <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>measure, by a few +short centuries of intelligence and reason, what might not happen in a +few more centuries of constantly increasing light? In short, the +principle of evolution supplied the perspective that was necessary to an +adequate evaluation of human progress.</p> + +<p>But this inspiriting outlook which was perhaps the most comprehensive +result of Darwin's work had indirect consequences that were vitally +significant to education. It is with mental and not with physical +development that education is primarily concerned, and yet mental +development is now known to depend fundamentally upon physical forces. +The same decade that witnessed the publication of the <i>Origin of +Species</i> also witnessed the birth of another great book, little known +except to the specialist, and yet destined to achieve immortality. This +book is the <i>Elements of Psychophysics</i>, the work of the German +scientist Fechner. The intimate relation between mental life and +physical and physiological forces was here first clearly demonstrated, +and the way was open for a science of psychology which should cast aside +the old and threadbare raiment of mystery and speculation and +metaphysic, and stand forth naked and unashamed.</p> + +<p>But all this was only preparatory to the epoch-making discoveries that +have had so much to do with our present attitude toward education. The +Darwinian hypothesis led to violent controversy, not only between the +opponents and supporters of the theory, but also among the various camps +of the evolutionists themselves.<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a> Among these controversies was that +which concerned itself with the inheritance of acquired characteristics, +and the outcome of that conflict has a direct significance to present +educational theory. The principle, now almost conclusively +established,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> that the characteristics acquired by an organism during +its lifetime are not transmitted by physical heredity to its offspring, +must certainly stand as the basic principle of education; for everything +that we identify as human as contrasted with that which is brutal must +look to education for its preservation and support. It has been stated +by competent authorities that, during the past ten thousand years, there +has been no significant change in man's physical constitution. This +simply means that Nature finished her work as far as man is concerned +far beyond the remotest period that human history records; that, for all +that we can say to-day, there must have existed in the very distant past +human beings who were just as well adapted by nature to the lives that +we are leading as we are to-day adapted; that what they lacked and what +we possess is simply a mass of traditions, of habits, of ideals, and +prejudices which have been slowly accumulated through the ages and which +are passed on from generation to generation by imitation and instruction +and training and discipline; and that the child of to-day, left to his +own devices and operated upon in no way by the products of +<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>civilization, would develop into a savage undistinguishable in all +significant qualities from other savages.</p> + +<p>The possibilities that follow from such a conception are almost +overwhelming even at first glance, and yet the theory is borne out by +adequate experiments. The transformation of the Japanese people through +two generations of education in Western civilization is a complete +upsetting of the old theory that as far as race is concerned, there is +anything significantly important in blood, and confirms the view that +all that is racially significant depends upon the influences that +surround the young of the race during the formative years. The complete +assimilation of foreign ingredients into our own national stock through +the instrumentality of the public school is another demonstration that +the factors which form the significant characteristics in the lower +animals possess but a minimum of significance to man,—that color, race, +stature, and even brain weight and the shape of the cranium, have very +little to do with human worth or human efficiency save in extremely +abnormal cases.</p> + +<p>And so we have at last a fundamental principle with which to illumine +the field of our work and from which to derive not only light but +inspiration. Unite this with John Fiske's penetrating induction that the +possibilities of progress through education are correlated directly with +the length of the period of growth or immaturity,—that is, that the +races having the longest growth before maturity are capable of the +highest degree of civilization,—<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>and we have a pair of principles the +influence of which we see reflected all about us in the great activity +for education and especially in the increased sense of pride and +responsibility and respect for his calling that is animating the modern +teacher.</p> + +<p>And what will be the result of this new point of view? First and +foremost, an increased general respect for the work. Until a profession +respects itself, it cannot very well ask for the world's respect, and +until it can respect itself on the basis of scientific principles +indubitably established, its respect for itself will be little more than +the irritating self-esteem of the goody-goody order which is so often +associated with our craft.</p> + +<p>With our own respect for our calling, based upon this incontrovertible +principle, will come, sooner or later, increased compensation for the +work and increased prestige in the community. I repeat that these things +can only come after we have established a true craft spirit. If we are +ashamed of our calling, if we regret openly and publicly that we are not +lawyers or physicians or dentists or bricklayers or farmers or anything +rather than teachers, the public will have little respect for the +teacher's calling. As long as we criticize each other before laymen and +make light of each other's honest efforts, the public will question our +professional standing on the ground that we have no organized code of +professional ethics,—a prerequisite for any profession.</p> + +<p>I started out to tell you something that we ought to be <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>thankful +for,—something that ought to counteract in a measure the inevitable +tendencies toward pessimism and discouragement. The hopeful thing about +our present status is that we have an established principle upon which +to work. A writer in a recent periodical stoutly maintained that +education was in the position just now that medicine was in during the +Middle Ages. The statement is hardly fair, either to medicine or to +education. If one were to attempt a parallel, one might say that +education stands to-day where medicine stood about the middle of the +nineteenth century. The analogy might be more closely drawn by comparing +our present conception of education with the conception of medicine just +prior to the application of the experimental method to a solution of its +problems. Education has still a long road to travel before it reaches +the point of development that medicine has to-day attained. It has still +to develop principles that are comparable to the doctrine of lymph +therapy or to that latest triumph of investigation in the field of +medicine,—the theory of opsonins,—which almost makes one believe that +in a few years violent accident and old age will be the only sources of +death in the human race.</p> + +<p>Education, we admit, has a long road to travel before it reaches so +advanced a point of development. But there is no immediate cause for +pessimism or despair. We need especially, now that the purpose of +education is adequately defined, an adequate doctrine <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>of educational +values and a rich and vital infusion of the spirit of experimental +science. For efficiency in the work of instruction and training, we need +to know the influence of different types of experience in controlling +human conduct,—we need to know just what degree of efficiency is +exerted by our arithmetic and literature, our geography and history, our +drawing and manual training, our Latin and Greek, our ethics and +psychology. It is the lack of definite ideas and criteria in these +fields that constitutes the greatest single source of waste in our +educational system to-day.</p> + +<p>And yet even here the outlook is extremely hopeful. The new movement +toward industrial education is placing greater and greater emphasis upon +those subjects of instruction and those types of methods whose +efficiency can be tested and determined in an accurate fashion. The +intimate relation between the classroom, on the one hand, and the +machine shop, the experimental farm, the hospital ward and operating +room, and the practice school, on the other hand, indicates a source of +accurate knowledge with regard to the way in which our teachings really +affect the conduct and adjustment of our pupils that cannot fail within +a short time to serve as the basis for some illuminating principle of +educational values. This, I believe, will be the next great step in the +development of our profession.</p> + +<p>There has been no intention in what I have said to minimize the +disadvantages and discouragements under <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>which we are to-day doing our +work. My only plea is for the hopeful and optimistic outlook which, I +maintain, is richly justified by the progress that has already been made +and by the virile character of the forces that are operating in the +present situation.</p> + +<p>On the whole, I can see no reason why I should not encourage young men +to enter the service of schoolcraft. I cannot say to them that they will +attain to great wealth, but I can safely promise them that, if they give +to the work of preparation the same attention and time that they would +give to their education and training for medicine or law or engineering, +their services will be in large demand and their rewards not to be +sneered at. Their incomes will not enable them to compete with the +captains of industry, but they will permit as full an enjoyment of the +comforts of life as it is good for any young man to command. But the +ambitious teacher must pay the price to reap these rewards,—the price +of time and energy and labor,—the price that he would have to pay for +success in any other human calling. What I cannot promise him in +education is the opportunity for wide popular adulation, but this, after +all, is a matter of taste. Some men crave it and they should go into +those vocations that will give it to them. Others are better satisfied +with the discriminating recognition and praise of their own +fellow-craftsmen.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> An address before the Oswego, New York, County Council of +Education, March 28, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> It should be added that the movement toward universal +education in Germany owed much to the work of pre-Pestalozzian +reformers,—especially Francke and Basedow.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> While the years from 1840 to 1870 mark the period of +intellectual revolution, it should not be inferred that the education of +this period reflected these fundamental changes of outlook. On the +contrary, these years were in general marked by educational stagnation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The writer here accepts the conclusions of J.A. Thomson +(<i>Heredity</i> New York, 1908, ch. vii).</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">How May We Promote the Efficiency of the Teaching Force</span>?<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></h4> + + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>Efficiency seems to be a word to conjure with in these days. Popular +speech has taken it in its present connotation from the technical +vocabulary of engineering, and the term has brought with it a very +refreshing sense of accuracy and practicality. It suggests blueprints +and T-squares and mathematical formulæ. A faint and rather pleasant odor +of lubricating oil and cotton waste seems to hover about it. The +efficiency of a steam engine or a dynamo is a definitely determinable +and measurable factor, and when we use the term "efficiency" in popular +speech we convey through the word somewhat of this quality of certainty +and exactitude.</p> + +<p>An efficient man, very obviously, is a man who "makes good," who +surmounts obstacles, overcomes difficulties, and "gets results." Rowan, +the man who achieved immortality on account of a certain message that he +carried to Garcia, is the contemporary standard of human effi<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>ciency. He +was given a task to do, and he did it. He did not stop to inquire +whether it was interesting, or whether it was easy, or whether it would +be remunerative, or whether Garcia was a pleasant man to meet. He simply +took the message and brought back the answer. Here we have efficiency in +human endeavor reduced to its lowest terms: to take a message and to +bring back an answer; to do the work that is laid out for one to do +without shirking or "soldiering" or whining; and to "make good," to get +results.</p> + +<p>Now if we are to improve the efficiency of the teacher, the first thing +to do is to see that the conditions of efficiency are fulfilled as far +as possible at the outset. In other words, efficiency is impossible +unless one is set a certain task to accomplish. Rowan was told to carry +a message to Garcia. He was to carry it to Garcia, not to Queen Victoria +or Li Hung Chang or J. Pierpont Morgan, or any one else whom he may have +felt inclined to choose as its recipient. And that is just where Rowan +had a decided advantage over many teachers who have every ambition to be +just as efficient as he was. To expect a young teacher not only to get +results, but also to determine the results that should be obtained, +multiplies his chances of failure, not by two, as one might assume at +first thought, but almost by infinity.</p> + +<p>Let me give an example of what I mean. A young man graduated from +college during the hard times of the middle nineties. It was imperative +that he secure some <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>sort of a remunerative employment, but places were +very scarce and he had to seek a long time before he found anything to +which he could turn his hand. The position that he finally secured was +that of teacher in an ungraded school in a remote settlement. +School-teaching was far from his thoughts and still farther from his +ambitions, but forty dollars a month looked too good to be true, +especially as he had come to the point where his allowance of food +consisted of one plate of soup each day, with the small supply of +crackers that went with it. He accepted the position most gratefully.</p> + +<p>He taught this school for two years. He had no supervision. He read +various books on the science and art of teaching and upon a certain +subject that went by the name of psychology, but he could see no +connection between what these books told him and the tasks that he had +to face. Finally he bought a book that was advertised as indispensable +to young teachers. The first words of the opening paragraph were these: +"Teacher, if you know it all, don't read this book." The young man threw +the volume in the fire. He had no desire to profit by the teaching of an +author who began his instruction with an insult. From that time until he +left the school, he never opened a book on educational theory.</p> + +<p>His first year passed off with what appeared to be the most encouraging +success. He talked to his pupils on science and literature and history. +They were very good children, and they listened attentively. When he +tired of <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>talking, he set the pupils to writing in their copy books, +while he thought of more things to talk about. He covered a great deal +of ground that first year. Scarcely a field of human knowledge was left +untouched. His pupils were duly informed about the plants and rocks and +trees, about the planets and constellations, about atoms and molecules +and the laws of motion, about digestion and respiration and the wonders +of the nervous system, about Shakespeare and Dickens and George Eliot. +And his pupils were very much interested in it all. Their faces had that +glow of interest, that look of wonderment and absorption, that you get +sometimes when you tell a little four-year-old the story of the three +bears. He never had any troubles of discipline, because he never asked +his pupils to do anything that they did not wish to do. There were six +pupils in his "chart class." They were anxious to learn to read, and +three of them did learn. Their mothers taught them at home. The other +three were still learning at the end of the second year. He concluded +that they had been "born short," but he liked them and they liked him. +He did not teach his pupils spelling or writing. If they learned these +things they learned them without his aid, and it is safe to say that +they did not learn them in any significant measure. He did not like +arithmetic, and so he just touched on it now and then for the sake of +appearances.</p> + +<p>This teacher was elected for the following year at a handsome increase +of salary. He took this to mean a <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>hearty indorsement of his methods; +consequently he followed the same general plan the next year. He had +told his pupils about everything that he knew, so he started over again, +much to their delight. He left at the close of the year, amidst general +lamentation. School-teaching was a delightful occupation, but he had +mastered the art, and now he wished to attack something that was really +difficult. He would study law. It is no part of the story that he did +not. Neither is it part of the story that his successor had a very hard +time getting that school straightened out; in fact, I believe it +required three or four successive successors to make even an impression.</p> + +<p>Now that man's work was a failure, and the saddest kind of a failure, +for he did not realize that he had failed until years afterward. He +failed, not because he lacked ambition and enthusiasm; he had a large +measure of both these indispensable qualities. He failed, not because he +lacked education and a certain measure of what the world calls culture; +from the standpoint of education, he was better qualified than most +teachers in schools of that type. He failed, not because he lacked +social spirit and the ability to coöperate with the church and the home; +he mingled with the other members of the community, lived their life and +thought their thoughts and enjoyed their social diversions. The +community liked him and respected him. His pupils liked him and +respected him; and yet what he fears most of all to-day <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>is that he may +come suddenly face to face with one of those pupils and be forced to +listen to a first-hand account of his sins of omission.</p> + +<p>This man failed simply because he did not do what the elementary teacher +must do if he is to be efficient as an elementary teacher. He did not +train his pupils in the habits that are essential to one who is to live +the social life. He gave them a miscellaneous lot of interesting +information which held their attention while it lasted, but which was +never mastered in any real sense of the term, and which could have but +the most superficial influence upon their future conduct. But, worst of +all, he permitted bad and inadequate habits to be developed at the most +critical and plastic period of life. His pupils had followed the lines +of least effort, just as he had followed the lines of least effort. The +result was a well-established prejudice against everything that was not +superficially attractive and intrinsically interesting.</p> + +<p>Now this man's teaching fell short simply because he did not know what +results he ought to obtain. He had been given a message to deliver, but +he did not know to whom he should deliver it. Consequently he brought +the answer, not from Garcia, but from a host of other personages with +whom he was better acquainted, whose language he could speak and +understand, and from whom he was certain of a warm welcome. In other +words, having no definite results for which he would be held +responsible, he did the kind of teaching that he liked to do. That +<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>might, under certain conditions, have been the best kind of teaching +for his pupils. But these conditions did not happen to operate at that +time. The answer that he brought did not happen to be the answer that +was needed. That it pleased his employers does not in the least mitigate +the failure. That a teacher pleases the community in which he works is +not always evidence of his success. It is dangerous to make a statement +like this, for some are sure to jump to the opposite conclusion and +assume that one who is unpopular in the community is the most +successful. Needless to say, the reasoning is fallacious. The matter of +popularity is a secondary criterion, not a primary criterion of the +efficiency of teaching. One may be successful and popular or successful +and unpopular; unsuccessful and popular or unsuccessful and unpopular. +The question of popularity is beside the question of efficiency, +although it may enter into specific cases as a factor.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>And so the first step to take in getting more efficient work from young +teachers, and especially from inexperienced and untrained teachers fresh +from the high school or the college, is to make sure that they know what +is expected of them. Now this looks to be a very simple precaution that +no one would be unwise enough to omit. As a matter of fact, a great many +superintendents and principals are not explicit and definite about the +results that they desire. Very frequently all that is asked of a +<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>teacher is that he or she keep things running smoothly, keep pupils and +parents good-natured. Let me assert again that this ought to be done, +but that it is no measure of a teacher's efficiency, simply because it +can be done and often is done by means that defeat the purpose of the +school. As a young principal in a city system, I learned some vital +lessons in supervision from a very skillful teacher. She would come to +me week after week with this statement: "Tell me what you want done, and +I will do it." It took me some time to realize that that was just what I +was being paid to do,—telling teachers what should be accomplished and +then seeing that they accomplished the task that was set. When I finally +awoke to my duties, I found myself utterly at a loss to make +prescriptions. I then learned that there was a certain document known as +the course of study, which mapped out the general line of work and +indicated the minimal requirements. I had seen this course of study, but +its function had never impressed itself upon me. I had thought that it +was one of those documents that officials publish as a matter of form +but which no one is ever expected to read. But I soon discovered that a +principal had something to do besides passing from room to room, looking +wisely at the work going on, and patting little boys and girls on the +head.</p> + +<p>Now a definite course of study is very hard to construct,—a course that +will tell explicitly what the pupils of each grade should acquire each +term or half-term in the <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>way of habits, knowledge, ideals, attitudes, +and prejudices. But such a course of study is the first requisite to +efficiency in teaching. The system that goes by hit or miss, letting +each teacher work out his own salvation in any way that he may see fit, +is just an aggregation of such schools as that which I have described.</p> + +<p>It is true that reformers have very strenuously criticized the policy of +restricting teachers to a definite course of study. They have maintained +that it curtails individual initiative and crushes enthusiasm. It does +this in a certain measure. Every prescription is in a sense a +restriction. The fact that the steamship captain must head his ship for +Liverpool instead of wherever he may choose to go is a restriction, and +the captain's individuality is doubtless crushed and his initiative +limited. But this result seems to be inevitable and he generally manages +to survive the blow. The course of study must be to the teacher what the +sailing orders are to the captain of the ship, what the stated course is +to the wheelsman and the officer on the bridge, what the time-table is +to the locomotive engineer, what Garcia and the message and the answer +were to Rowan. One may decry organization and prescription in our +educational system. One may say that these things tend inevitably toward +mechanism and formalism and the stultifying of initiative. But the fact +remains that, whenever prescription is abandoned, efficiency in general +is at an end.</p> + +<p>And so I maintain that every teacher has a right to <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>know what he is to +be held responsible for, what is expected of him, and that this +information be just as definite and unequivocal as it can be made. It is +under the stress of definite responsibility that growth is most rapid +and certain. The more uncertain and intangible the end to be gained, the +less keenly will one feel the responsibility for gaining that end. +Unhappily we cannot say to a teacher: "Here is a message. Take it to +Garcia. Bring the answer." But we may make our work far more definite +and tangible than it is now. The courses of study are becoming more and +more explicit each year. Vague and general prescriptions are giving +place to definite and specific prescriptions. The teachers know what +they are expected to do, and knowing this, they have some measure for +testing the efficiency of their own efforts.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>But to make more definite requirements is, after all, only the first +step in improving efficiency. It is not sufficient that one know what +results are wanted; one must also know how these results may be +obtained. Improvement in method means improvement in efficiency, and a +crying need in education to-day is a scientific investigation of methods +of teaching. Teachers should be made acquainted with the methods that +are most economical and efficient. As a matter of fact, whatever is done +in that direction at the present time must be almost entirely confined +to suggestions and hints.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>Our discussions of methods of teaching may be divided into three +classes: (1) Dogmatic assertions that such and such a method is right +and that all others are wrong—assertions based entirely upon <i>a priori</i> +reasoning. For example, the assertion that children must never be +permitted to learn their lessons "by heart" is based upon the general +principle that words are only symbols of ideas and that, if one has +ideas, one can find words of his own in which to formulate them. (2) A +second class of discussions of method comprises descriptions of devices +that have proved successful in certain instances and with certain +teachers. (3) Of a third class of discussions there are very few +representative examples. I refer to methods that have been established +on the basis of experiments in which irrelevant factors have been +eliminated. In fact, I know of no clearly defined report or discussion +of this sort. An approach to a scientific solution of a definite problem +of method is to be found in Browne's monograph, <i>The Psychology of +Simple Arithmetical Processes.</i> Another example is represented by the +experiments of Miss Steffens, Marx Lobsien, and others, regarding the +best methods of memorizing, and proving beyond much doubt that the +complete repetition is more economical than the partial repetition. But +these conclusions have, of course, only a limited field of application +to practical teaching. We stand in great need of a definite experimental +investigation of the detailed problems of teaching upon which there is +wide divergence of opinion.<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a> A very good illustration is the controversy +between the how and the why in primary arithmetic. In this case, there +is a vast amount of "opinion," but there are no clearly defined +conclusions drawn from accurate tests. It would seem possible to do work +of this sort concerning the details of method in the teaching of +arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, and geography.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>Lacking this accurate type of data regarding methods, the next recourse +is to the actual teaching of those teachers who are recognized as +efficient. Wherever such a teacher may be found, his or her work is well +worth the most careful sort of study. Success, of course, may be due to +other factors than the methods employed,—to personality, for example. +But, in every case of recognized efficiency in teaching that I have +observed, I have found that the methods employed have, in the main, been +productive of good results when used by others. The experienced teacher +comes, through a process of trial and error, to select, perhaps +unconsciously, the methods that work best. Sometimes these are not +always to be identified with the methods that theoretical pedagogy had +worked out from <i>a priori</i> bases. For example, the type of lesson which +I call the "deductive development" lesson<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> is one that is not included +in the older discussions of method; yet it accurately describes one of +the <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>methods employed by a very successful teacher whose work I +observed.</p> + +<p>One way, then, to improve the efficiency of young teachers, in so far as +improvement in methods leads to improved efficiency, is to encourage the +observation of expert teaching. The plan of giving teachers visiting +days often brings excellent results, especially if the teacher looks +upon the privilege in the proper light. The hyper-critical spirit is +fatal to growth under any condition. Whenever a teacher has come to the +conclusion that he or she has nothing to learn from studying the work of +others, anabolism has ceased and katabolism has set in. The +self-sufficiency of our craft is one of its weakest characteristics. It +is the factor that more than any other discounts it in the minds of +laymen. Fortunately it is less frequently a professional characteristic +than in former years, but it still persists in some quarters. I recently +met a "pedagogue" who impressed me as the most "knowing" individual that +it had ever been my privilege to become acquainted with. An enthusiastic +friend of his, in dilating upon this man's virtues, used these words: +"When you propose a subject of conversation in whatever field you may +choose, you will find that he has mastered it to bed rock. He will go +over it once and you think that he is wise. He starts at the beginning +and goes over it again, and you realize that he is deep. Once more he +traverses the same ground, but he is so far down now that you cannot +follow him, and then you are aware that he is <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>profound." That sort of +profundity is still not rare in the field of general education. The +person who has all possible knowledge pigeonholed and classified is +still in our midst. The pedant still does the cause of education +incalculable injury.</p> + +<p>Of the use to which reading circles may be put in improving the +efficiency of teaching, it is necessary to say but little. Such +organizations, under wise leadership, may doubtless be made to serve a +good purpose in promoting professional enthusiasm. The difficulty with +using them to promote immediate and direct efficiency lies in the +paucity of the literature that is at our disposal. Most of our +present-day works upon education are very general in their nature. They +are not without their value, but this value is general and indirect +rather than immediate and specific. A book like Miss Winterburn's +<i>Methods of Teaching</i>, or Chubb's <i>Teaching of English</i><a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> is especially +valuable for young teachers who are looking for first-hand helps. But +books like this are all too rare in our literature.</p> + +<p>On the whole, I think that the improvement of teachers in the matter of +methods is the most unsatisfactory part of our problem.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> All that one +can say is that the work of <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>the best teachers should be observed +carefully and faithfully, that the methods upon which there is little or +no dispute should be given and accepted as standard, but that one should +be very careful about giving young teachers an idea that there is any +single form under which all teaching can be subsumed. I know of no term +that is more thoroughly a misnomer in our technical vocabulary than the +term "general method." I teach a subject that often goes by that name, +but I always take care to explain that the name does not mean, in my +class, what the words seem to signify. There are certain broad and +general principles which describe very crudely and roughly and +inadequately certain phases of certain processes that mind undergoes in +organizing experience—perception, apperception, conception, induction, +deduction, inference, generalization, and the like. But these terms have +only a vague and general connotation; or, if their connotation is +specific and definite, it has been made so by an artificial process of +definition in which counsel is darkened by words without meaning. The +only full-fledged law that I know of in the educative process is the law +of habit building—(1) focalization, (2) attentive repetition at +intervals of increasing length,<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a> (3) permitting no exception—and I am +often told that this "law" is fallacious. It has differed from some +other so-called laws, however, in this respect: it always works. +Whenever a complex habit is adduced that has not been formed through the +operation of this law, I am willing to give it up.</p> + + +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>A third general method of improving the efficiency of teaching is to +build up the notion of responsibility for results. The teacher must not +only take the message and deliver it to Garcia, or to some other +individual as definite and tangible, but he must also bring the answer. +So far as I know there is no other way to insure a maximum of efficiency +than to demand certain results and to hold the individual responsible +for gaining these results. The present standards of the teaching craft +are less rigorous than they should be in this respect. We need a craft +spirit that will judge every man impartially by his work, not by +secondary criteria. You remember Finlayson in Kipling's <i>Bridge +Builders</i>, and the agony with which he watched the waters of the Ganges +tearing away at the caissons of his new bridge. A vital question of +Finlayson's life was to be answered by the success or failure of those +caissons to resist the flood. If they should yield, it meant not only +the wreck of the bridge, but the wreck of his career; for, as Kipling +says, "Government might listen, perhaps, but his own kind would judge +him by his bridge as that stood or fell."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>President Hall has said that one of the last sentiments to be developed +in human nature is "the sense of responsibility, which is one of the +highest and most complex psychic qualities." How to develop this +sentiment of responsibility is one of the most pressing problems of +education. And the problem is especially pressing in those departments +of education that train for social service. To engender in the young +teacher an effective prejudice against scamped work, against the making +of excuses, against the seductive allurements of ease and comfort and +the lines of least resistance is one of the most important duties that +is laid upon the normal school, the training school, and the teachers' +college. To do well the work that has been set for him to do should be +the highest ambition of every worker, the ambition to which all other +ambitions and desires are secondary and subordinate. Pride in the +mastery of the technique of one's calling is the most wholesome and +helpful sort of pride that a man can indulge in. The joy of doing each +day's work in the best possible manner is the keenest joy of life. But +this pride and this joy do not come at the outset. Like all other good +things of life, they come only as the result of effort and struggle and +strenuous self-discipline and dogged perseverance. The emotional +coloring which gives these things their subjective worth is a matter +very largely of contrast. Success must stand out against a background of +struggle, or the chief virtue of success—the consciousness of +conquest—will be entirely <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>missed. That sort of success means strength; +for strength of mind is nothing more than the ability to "hew to the +line," to follow a given course of effort to a successful conclusion, no +matter how long and how tedious be the road that one must travel, no +matter how disagreeable are the tasks involved, no matter how tempting +are the insidious siren songs of momentary fancy.</p> + +<p>What teachers need—what all workers need—is to be inspired with those +ideals and prejudices that will enable them to work steadfastly and +unremittingly toward the attainment of a stated end. What inspired Rowan +with those ideals of efficiency that enabled him to carry his message +and bring back the answer, I do not know, but if he was a soldier, I do +not hesitate to hazard an opinion. Our regular army stands as the +clearest type of efficient service which is available for our study and +emulation. The work of Colonel Goethals on the Panama Canal bids fair to +be the finest fruit of the training that we give to the officers of our +army. If we wish to learn the fundamental virtues of that training, it +is not sufficient to study the curriculum of the Military Academy. +Technical knowledge and skill are essential to such results, but they +are not the prime essentials. If you wish to know what the prime +essentials are, let me refer you to a series of papers, entitled <i>The +Spirit of Old West Point</i>, which ran through a recent volume of the +<i>Atlantic Monthly</i> and which has since been published in book <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>form. +They constitute, to my mind, one of the most important educational +documents of the present decade. The army service is efficient because +it is inspired with effective ideals of service,—ideals in which every +other desire and ambition is totally and completely subordinated to the +ideal of duty. To those who maintain that close organization and +definite prescription kill initiative and curtail efficiency, the record +of West Point and the army service should be a silencing argument.</p> + +<p>And yet education is more important than war; more important, even, than +the building of the Panama Canal. We believe, and rightly, that no +training is too good for our military and naval officers; that no +discipline which will produce the appropriate habits and ideals and +prejudices is too strenuous; that no individual sacrifice of comfort or +ease is too costly. Equal or even commensurable efficiency in education +can come only through a like process. From the times of the ancient +Egyptians to the present day, one vital truth has been revealed in every +forward movement; the homely truth that you cannot make bricks without +straw; you cannot win success without effort; you cannot attain +efficiency without undergoing the processes of discipline; and +discipline means only this: doing things that you do not want to do, for +the sake of reaching some end that ought to be attained.</p> + +<p>The normal schools and the training schools and the teachers' colleges +must be the nurseries of craft ideals <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>and standards. The instruction +that they offer must be upon a plane that will command respect. The +intolerable pedantry and the hypocritical goody-goodyism must be +banished forever. The crass sentimentalism by which we attempt to cover +our paucity of craft ideals must also be eliminated. Those who are most +strongly imbued with ideals are not those who cheapen the value of +ideals by constant verbal reiteration. Ideals do not often come through +explicitly imparted precepts. They come through more impalpable and +hidden channels,—now through stately buildings with vine-covered towers +from which the past speaks in the silence of great halls and cloistered +retreats; now through the unwritten and scarcely spoken traditions that +are expressed in the very bearing and attitude of those to whom youth +looks for inspiration and guidance; now through a dominant and powerful +personality, sometimes rough and crude, sometimes warm-hearted and +lovable, but always sincere. Traditions and ideals are the most +priceless part of a school's equipment, and the school that can give +these things to its students in richest measure will have the greatest +influence on the succeeding generations.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> A paper read before the Normal and Training Teachers' +Conference of the New York State Teachers' Association, December 27, +1907.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See <i>Educative Process</i>, New York, 1910, Chapter XX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Rowe's <i>Habit Formation</i> (New York, 1909), Briggs and +Coffman's <i>Reading in Public Schools</i> (Chicago, 1908), Foght's <i>The +American Rural School</i>, Adams's <i>Exposition and Illustration in Class +Teaching</i> (New York, 1910), and Perry's <i>Problems of Elementary +Education</i> (New York, 1910) should certainly be added to this list.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "It seems to me one of the most pressing problems in +pedagogy to-day is that of method.... It is the subject in which +teachers of pedagogy in Colleges and Universities are weakest to-day. Of +what practical value is all our study of educational psychology or the +history of education, our child study, our experimental pedagogy, if it +does not finally result in the devising of better methods of teaching, +and make the teacher more skillful and effective in his work."—<span class="smcap">T.M. +Balliet</span>: "Undergraduate Instruction in Pedagogy," <i>Pedagogical +Seminary</i>, vol. xvii, 1910, p. 67.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Test of Efficiency in Supervision</span><a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></h4> + + +<h4>I</h4> + +<p>I know of no way in which I can better introduce my subject than to +describe very briefly the work of a superintendent who once furnished me +with an example of a definite and effective method of supervision. This +man was a "long range" superintendent. It was impossible for him to +visit his schools very frequently, and so he did the next best thing: he +had the schools brought to him. When I first saw him he was poring over +a pile of papers that had just come in from one of his schools. I soon +discovered that these papers were arranged in sets, each set being made +up of samples taken each week from the work of the pupils in the schools +under his supervision. The papers of each pupil were arranged in +chronological order, and by looking through the set, he could note the +growth that the pupil in question had made since the beginning of the +term. Upon these papers, the superintendent recorded his judgment of the +amount of improvement shown both in form and in content.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>I was particularly impressed by the character of his criticisms. There +was nothing vague or intangible about them. Every annotation was clear +and definite. If penmanship happened to be the point at issue, he would +note that the lines were too close together; that the letters did not +have sufficient individuality; that the spaces between the words were +not sufficiently wide; that the indentation was inadequate; that the +writing was cramped, showing that the pen had not been held properly; +that the margin needed correction. If the papers were defective from the +standpoint of language, the criticisms were equally clear and definite. +One pupil had misspelled the same word in three successive papers. "Be +sure that this word appears in the next spelling list," was the comment +of the superintendent. Another pupil habitually used a bit of false +syntax: "Place this upon the list of errors to be taken up and +corrected." Still others were uncertain about paragraphing: "Devote a +language lesson to the paragraph before the next written exercise." On +the covers of each bundle of class papers, he wrote directions and +suggestions of a more general nature; for example: "Improvement is not +sufficiently marked; try for better results next time"; or: "I note that +the pupils draw rather than write; look out for free movement." Often, +too, there were words of well-merited praise: "I like the way in which +your pupils have responded to their drill. This is good. Keep it up." +And not infrequently suggestions were made as to con<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>tent: "Tell this +story in greater detail next time, and have it reproduced again"; or: +"The form of these papers is good, but the nature study is poor; don't +sacrifice thought to form."</p> + +<p>In similar fashion, the other written work was gone over and annotated. +Every pupil in this system of schools had a sample of his written work +examined at regular and frequent intervals by the superintendent. Every +teacher knew just what her chief demanded in the way of results, and did +her best to gain the results demanded. I am not taking the position that +the results that were demanded represented the highest ideals of what +the elementary school should accomplish. Good penmanship and good +spelling and good language, in the light of contemporary educational +thought, seem to be something like happiness—you get them in larger +measure the less you think about getting them. But this possible +objection aside, the superintendent in question had developed a system +which kept him in very close touch with the work that was being done in +widely separated schools.</p> + +<p>He told me further that, on the infrequent occasions when he could visit +his classrooms, he gave most of his time and attention to the matters +that could not be supervised at "long range." He found out how the +pupils were improving in their reading, and especially in oral +expression, in its syntax, its freedom from errors of construction, its +clearness and fluency. He listed the <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>common errors, directing his +teachers to take them up in a systematic manner and eradicate them, and +he did not fail to note at his next visit how much progress had been +made. He noted the condition of the blackboard work, and kept a list of +the improvements that he suggested. He tested for rapidity in +arithmetical processes, for the papers sent to his office gave him only +an index of accuracy. He noted the habits of personal cleanliness that +were being developed or neglected. In fact, he had a long list of +specific standards that he kept continually in mind, the progress toward +which he constantly watched. And last, but by no means least, he carried +with him wherever he went an atmosphere of breezy good nature and +cheerfulness, for he had mastered the first principle in the art of both +supervision and teaching; he had learned that the best way to promote +growth in either pupils or teachers is neither to let them do as they +please nor to force them to do as you please, but to get them to please +to do what you please to have them do.</p> + +<p>I instance this superintendent as one type of efficiency in supervision. +He was efficient, not simply because he had a system that scrutinized +every least detail of his pupils' growth, but because that scrutiny +really insured growth. He obtained the results that he desired, and he +obtained uniformly good results from a large number of young, untrained +teachers. We have all heard of the superintendent who boasted that he +could tell by looking at his watch just what any pupil in any classroom +<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>was doing at just that moment. Surely here system was not lacking. But +the boast did not strike the vital point. It is not what the pupil is +doing that is fundamentally important, but what he is gaining from his +activity or inactivity; what he is gaining in the way of habits, in the +way of knowledge, in the way of standards and ideals and prejudices, all +of which are to govern his future conduct. The superintendent whom I +have described had the qualities of balance and perspective that enabled +him to see both the woods and the trees. And let me add that he taught +regularly in his own central high school, and that practically all of +his supervision was accomplished after school hours and on Saturdays.</p> + +<p>But my chief reason for choosing his work as a type is that it +represents a successful effort to supervise that part of school work +which is most difficult and irksome to supervise; namely, the formation +of habits. Whatever one's ideals of education may be, it still remains +true that habit building is the most important duty of the elementary +school, and that the efficiency of habit building can be tested in no +other way than by the means that he employed; namely, the careful +comparison of results at successive stages of the process.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>The essence of a true habit is its purely automatic character. Reaction +must follow upon the stimulus instantaneously, without thought, +reflection, or judgment.<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a> One has not taught spelling efficiently until +spelling is automatic, until the correct form flows from the pen without +the intervention of mind. The real test of the pupil's training in +spelling is his ability to spell the word correctly when he is thinking, +not about spelling, but about the content of the sentence that he is +writing. Consequently the test of efficiency in spelling is not an +examination in spelling, although this may be valuable as a means to an +end, but rather the infrequency with which misspelled words appear in +the composition work, letter writing, and other written work of the +pupil. Similarly in language and grammar, it is not sufficient to +instruct in rules of syntax. This is but the initial process. +Grammatical rules function effectively only when they function +automatically. So long as one must think and judge and reflect upon the +form of one's expression, the expression is necessarily awkward and +inadequate.</p> + +<p>The same rule holds in respect of the fundamental processes of +arithmetic. It holds in penmanship, in articulation and enunciation, in +word recognition, in moral conduct and good manners; in fact, in all of +the basic work for which the elementary school must stand sponsor. And +one source of danger in the newer methods of education lies in the +tendency to overlook the importance of carrying habit-building processes +through to a successful issue. The reaction against drill, against +formal work of all sorts, is a healthful reaction in many ways. It bids +fair to break up the mechanical lock step <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>of the elementary grades, and +to introduce some welcome life, and vigor, and wholesomeness. But it +will sadly defeat its own purpose if it underrates the necessity of +habit building as the basic activity of early education.</p> + +<p>What is needed, now that we have got away from the lock step, now that +we are happily emancipated from the meaningless thralldom of mechanical +repetition and the worship of drill for its own sake—what is needed now +is not less drill, but better drill. And this should be the net result +of the recent reforms in elementary education. In our first enthusiasm, +we threw away the spelling book, poked fun at the multiplication tables, +decried basal reading, and relieved ourselves of much wit and sarcasm at +the expense of formal grammar. But now we are swinging back to the +adequate recognition of the true purpose of drill. And in the wake of +this newer conception, we are learning that its drudgery may be +lightened and its efficiency heightened by the introduction of a richer +content that shall provide a greater variety in the repetitions, insure +an adequate motive for effort, and relieve the dead monotony that +frequently rendered the older methods so futile. I look forward to the +time when to be an efficient drillmaster in this newer sense of the term +will be to have reached one of the pinnacles of professional skill.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>But there is another side of teaching that must be supervised. Although +habit is responsible for nine tenths of <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>conduct, the remaining tenth +must not be neglected. In situations where habit is not adequate to +adjustment, judgment and reflection must come to the rescue, or should +come to the rescue. This means that, instead of acting without thought, +as in the case of habit, one analyzes the situation and tries to solve +it by the application of some fact or principle that has been gained +either from one's own experience or from the experience of others. This +is the field in which knowledge comes to its own; and a very important +task of education is to fix in the pupils' minds a number of facts and +principles that will be available for application to the situations of +later life.</p> + +<p>How, then, is the efficiency of instruction (as distinguished from +training or habit building) to be tested? Needless to say, an adequate +test is impossible from the very nature of the situation. The efficiency +of imparting knowledge can be tested only by the effect that this +knowledge has upon later conduct; and this, it will be agreed, cannot be +accurately determined until the pupil has left the school and is face to +face with the problems of real life.</p> + +<p>In practice, however, we adopt a more or less effective substitute for +the real test—the substitute called the examination. We all know that +the ultimate purpose of instruction is not primarily to enable pupils +successfully to pass examinations. And yet as long as we teach as though +this were the main purpose we might as well believe it to be. Now the +examination may be made a very <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>valuable test of the efficiency of +instruction if its limitations are fully recognized and if it does not +obscure the true purpose of instruction. And if we remember that the +true purpose is to impart facts in such a manner that they may not only +"stick" in the pupil's mind, but that they may also be amenable to +recall and practical application, and if we set our examination +questions with some reference to this requirement, then I believe that +we shall find the examination a dependable test.</p> + +<p>One important point is likely to be overlooked in the consideration of +examinations,—the fact, namely, that the form and content of the +questions have a very powerful influence in determining the content and +methods of instruction. Is it not pertinent, then, to inquire whether +examination questions cannot be so framed as radically to improve +instruction rather than to encourage, as is often the case, methods that +are pedagogically unsound? Granted that it is well for the child to +memorize verbatim certain unrelated facts, even to memorize some facts +that have no immediate bearing upon his life, granted that this is +valuable (and I think that a little of it is), is it necessary that an +entire year or half-year be given over almost entirely to "cramming up" +on old questions? Would it not be possible so to frame examination +questions that the "cramming" process would be practically valueless?</p> + +<p>What the pupil should get from geography, for instance, is not only a +knowledge of geographical facts, but <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>also, and more fundamentally, the +power to see the relation of these facts to his own life; in other +words, the ability to apply his knowledge to the improvement of +adjustment. Now this power is very closely associated with the ability +to grasp fundamental principles, to see the relation of cause and effect +working below the surface of diverse phenomena. Geography, to be +practical, must impress not only the fact, but also the principle that +rationalizes or explains the fact. It must emphasize the "why" as well +as the "what." For example: it is well for the pupil to know that New +York is the largest city in the United States; it is better that he +should know why New York has become the largest city in the United +States. It is well to know that South America extends very much farther +to the east than does North America, but it is better to know that this +fact has had an important bearing in determining the commercial +relations that exist between South America and Europe. Questions that +have reference to these larger relations of cause and effect may be so +framed that no amount of "cramming" will alone insure correct answers. +They may be so framed that the pupil will be forced to do some thinking +for himself, will be forced to solve an imaginary situation very much as +he would solve a real situation.</p> + +<p>Examination questions of this type would react beneficially upon the +methods of instruction. They would tend to place a premium upon that +type of instruction that <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>develops initiative in solving problems, +instead of encouraging the memoriter methods that tend to crush whatever +germs of initiative the pupil may possess. This does not mean that the +memoriter work should be excluded. A solid basis of fact is essential to +the mastery of principles. Personally I believe that the work of the +intermediate grades should be planned to give the pupil this factual +basis. This would leave the upper grades free for the more rational +work. In any case, I believe that the efficiency of examinations may be +greatly increased by giving one or two questions that must be answered +by a reasoning process for every question that may be answered by verbal +memory alone.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>Thus far it seems clear that an absolute standard is available for +testing the efficiency of training or habit building, and that a fairly +accurate standard may be developed for testing the efficiency of +instruction. Both training and instruction, however, are subject to the +modifying influence of a third factor of which too little account has +hitherto been taken in educational discussions. Training results in +habits, and yet a certain sort of training may not only result in a +certain type of habit, but it may also result in the development of +something which will quite negate the habit that has been developed. In +the process of developing habits of neatness, for example, one may +employ methods that result in prejudicing <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>the child against neatness as +a general virtue. In this event, although the little specific habits of +neatness may function in the situations in which they have been +developed, the prejudice will effectually prevent their extension to +other fields. In other words, the general emotional effect of training +must be considered as well as the specific results of the training. The +same stricture applies with equal force to instruction. Instruction +imparts knowledge; but if a man knows and fails to feel, his knowledge +has little influence upon his conduct.</p> + +<p>This factor that controls conduct when habit fails, this factor that may +even negate an otherwise efficient habit, is the great indeterminate in +the work of teaching. To know that one has trained an effective habit or +imparted a practical principle is one thing; to know that in doing this, +one has not engendered in the pupil's mind a prejudice against the very +thing taught is quite another matter.</p> + +<p>That phase of teaching which is concerned with the development of these +intangible forces may be termed "inspiration"; and it is the lack of an +adequate test for the efficiency of inspiration that makes the task of +supervision so difficult and the results so often unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, even here the outlook is not entirely hopeless. One may be +tolerably certain of at least two things. In the first place, the great +"emotionalized prejudices" that must come predominantly from school +influences are the love of truth, the love of work, respect for <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>law and +order, and a spirit of coöperation. These factors undoubtedly have their +basis in specific habits of honesty, industry, obedience, and regard for +the rights and feelings of others; and these habits may be developed and +tested just as thoroughly and just as accurately as habits of good +spelling and correct syntax. Without the solid basis of habit, ideals +and prejudices will be of but little service. The one caution must be +taken that the methods of training do not defeat their own purpose by +engendering prejudices and ideals that negate the habits. It is here +that the personality of the teacher becomes the all-important factor, +and the task of the supervisor is to determine whether the influence of +the personality is good or evil. Most supervisors come to judge of this +influence by an undefined factor that is best termed the "spirit of the +classroom."</p> + +<p>The second hopeful feature of the task of supervision in respect of +inspiration is that this "spirit" is an extremely contagious and +pervasive thing. In other words, the principal or the superintendent may +dominate every classroom under his supervision, almost without regard to +the limitations of the individual teachers. Typical schools in every +city system bear compelling testimony to this fact. The principal <i>is</i> +the school.</p> + +<p>And if I were to sum up the essential characteristics of the ideal +supervisor, I could not neglect this point. After all, the two great +dangers that beset him are, first, the danger of sloth—the old Adam of +laziness—which will <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>tempt him to avoid the details, to shirk the +drudgery, to escape the close and wearisome scrutiny of little things; +and, secondly, the sin of triviality—the inertia which holds him to +details and never permits him to take the broader view and see the true +ends toward which details are but the means. The proper combination of +these two factors is all too rare, but it is in this combination that +the ideal supervisor is to be found.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A paper read before the fifty-second annual meeting of the +New York State Association of School Commissioners and Superintendents, +November 8, 1907.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h4>THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER</h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>It is difficult not to be depressed by the irrational radicalism of +contemporary educational theory. It would seem that the workers in the +higher ranges of educational activity should, of all men, preserve a +balanced judgment and a sane outlook, and yet there is probably no other +human calling that presents the strange phenomenon of men who are called +experts throwing overboard everything that the past has sanctioned, and +embarking without chart or compass upon any new venture that happens to +catch popular fancy. The non-professional character of education is +nowhere more painfully apparent than in the expression of this tendency. +The literature of teaching that is written directly out of +experience—out of actual adjustment to the teaching situation—is +almost laughed out of court in some educational circles. But if one +wishes to win the applause of the multitude one may do it easily enough +by proclaiming some new and untried plan. At our educational gatherings +you notice above everything else a straining for spectacular and bizarre +effects. It is the novel that <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>catches attention; and it sometimes seems +to me that those who know the least about the educational situation in +the way of direct contact often receive the largest share of attention +and have the largest influence.</p> + +<p>It is in the attitude of the public and of a certain proportion of +school men toward elementary teaching and the elementary teacher that +this destructive criticism finds its most pronounced expression. +Throughout the length and breadth of the land, the efficiency of the +public school and the sincerity and intelligence of those who are giving +their lives to its work are being called into question. It is +discouraging to think that years of service in a calling do not qualify +one to speak authoritatively upon the problems of that calling, and +especially upon technique. And yet it is precisely upon that point of +technique that the criticisms of elementary education are most drastic.</p> + +<p>Our educational system is sometimes branded as a failure, and yet this +same educational system with all its weaknesses has accomplished the +task of assimilating to American institutions and ideals and standards +the most heterogeneous infusion of alien stocks that ever went to the +making of a united people. The elementary teacher is criticized for all +the sins of omission that the calendar enumerates, and yet this same +elementary teacher is daily lifting millions of children to a plane of +civilization and culture that no other people in history have even +thought possible. I am <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>willing to admit the deficiencies of American +education, but I also maintain that the teachers of our lower schools do +not deserve the opprobrium that has been heaped upon them. I believe +that in education, as in business, it would be a good thing if we saw +more of the doughnut and less of the hole. When I hear a prominent +educator say that we must discard everything that we have produced thus +far and begin anew in the realm of educational materials and methods, I +confess that I am discouraged, especially when that same authority is +extremely obscure as to the materials and methods that we should +substitute for those that we are now employing. I heard that statement +at a recent meeting of the Department of Superintendence, and I heard +other things of like tenor,—for example, that normal schools were +perpetuating types of skill in teaching that were unworthy of +perpetuation, that the observation of teaching was valueless in the +training of teachers because there was nothing that was being done at +the present time that was worthy of imitation, that practice teaching in +the training of young teachers is a farce, a delusion, and a snare. +Those very words were employed by one man of high position to express +his opinion of contemporary practices. You cannot pick up an educational +journal of the better sort, nor open a new educational book, without +being brought face to face with this destructive criticism.</p> + +<p>I protest against this, not only in the name of justice, but in the name +of common sense. It cannot be possible <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>that generations of dealing with +immature minds should have left no residuum of effective practice. The +very principle of progress by trial and error will inevitably mean that +certain practices that are possible and helpful and effective are +perpetuated, and that certain other processes that are ineffective and +wasteful are eliminated. To repudiate all this is the height of folly. +If the history of progress shows us anything, it shows us that progress +is not made by repudiating the lessons of experience. Theory is the last +word, not the first. Theory should explain: it should take successful +practice and find out what principles condition its efficiency; and if +these principles are inconsistent with those heretofore held, it is the +theory that should be modified to suit the facts, not the facts to suit +the theory.</p> + +<p>My opponents may point to medicine as a possible example of the opposite +procedure. And yet if there is anything that the history of medical +science demonstrates, it is that the first cues to new discoveries were +made in the field of practice. Lymph therapy, which is one of the +triumphs of modern medicine, was discovered empirically. It was an +accident of practice, a blind procedure of trial and success that led to +Jenner's discovery of the virtues of vaccination. A century passed +before theory adequately explained the phenomenon, and opened the way to +those wider applications of the principle that have done so much to +reduce the ravages of disease.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>The value of theory, I repeat, is to explain successful practice and to +generalize experience in broad and comprehensive principles which can be +easily held in mind, and from which inferences for further new and +effective practices may be derived. We have a small body of sound +principles in education to-day,—a body of principles that are +thoroughly consistent with successful practice. But the sort of +principles that are put forth as the last words of educational theory +are often far from sound. Personally I firmly believe that a vast amount +of damage is being done to children by the application of fallacious +principles which, because they emanate from high authority, obtain an +artificial validity in the minds of teachers in service.</p> + +<p>I cannot understand why, when an educational experiment fails +lamentably, it is not rejected as a failure. And yet you and I know a +number of instances where certain educational experiments that have +undeniably reversed the hypotheses of those who initiated them are +excused on the ground that conditions were not favorable. That, it seems +to me, should tell the whole story, for precisely what we need in +educational practice is a body of doctrine that will work where +conditions <i>are</i> unfavorable. We are told that the successful +application of mooted theories depends upon the proper kind of teachers. +I maintain that the most effective sort of theory is the sort that +brings results with such teachers as we must employ in our work. It +would <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>be a poor recommendation for a theory of medicine to say that it +worked all right when people are healthy but failed to help the sick. +Nor is it true that good teachers can get good results by following bad +theory. They often obtain the results by evading the theory, and when +they live up to it, the results faithfully reflect the theory, no matter +how skillful the teaching.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>Statements like these are very apt to be misconstrued or misinterpreted +unless one is very careful to define one's position; and, after what I +have said, I should do myself an injustice if I did not make certain +that my position is clear. I believe in experimentation in education. I +believe in experimental schools. But I should wish these schools to be +interpreted as experiments and not as models, and I should wish that the +failure of an experiment be accepted with good, scientific grace, and +not with the unscientific attitude of making excuses. The trouble with +an experimental school is that, in the eyes of the great mass of +teachers, it becomes a model school, and the principles that it +represents are applied <i>ad libitum</i> by thousands of teachers who assume +that they have heard the last word in educational theory.</p> + +<p>No one is more favorably disposed toward the rights of children than I +am, and yet I am thoroughly convinced that soft-heartedness accompanied +by soft-<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>headedness is weakening the mental and moral fiber of hundreds +of thousands of boys and girls throughout this country. No one admires +more than I admire the sagacity and far-sightedness of Judge Lindsey, +and yet when Judge Lindsey's methods are proposed as models for school +government, I cannot lose sight, as so many people seem to lose sight, +of the contingent factor; namely, that Judge Lindsey's leniency is based +upon authority, and that if Judge Lindsey or anybody else attempted to +be lenient when he had no power to be otherwise than lenient, his +"bluff" would be called in short order. If you will give to teachers and +principals the same power that you give to the police judge, you may +well expect them to be lenient. The great trouble in the school is +simply this: that just in the proportion that leniency is demanded, +authority is taken away from the teacher.</p> + +<p>And I should perhaps say a qualifying word with regard to my attitude +toward educational theory. I have every feeling of affection for the +science of psychology. I have every faith in the value of psychological +principles in the interpretation of educational phenomena. But I also +recognize that the science of psychology is a very young science, and +that its data are not yet so well organized that it is safe to draw from +them anything more than tentative hypotheses which must meet their final +test in the crucible of practice. Some day, if we work hard enough, +psychology <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>will become a predictive science, just as mathematics and +physics and chemistry and, to a certain extent, biology, are predictive +sciences to-day. Meantime psychology is of inestimable value in giving +us a point of view, in clarifying our ideas, and in rationalizing the +truths that empirical practice discovers. A very few psychological +principles are strongly enough established even now to form the basis of +prediction. Among the most important of these are the laws of habit +building, some laws of memory, and the larger principles of attention. +Successful educational practice is and must be in accord with these +indisputable tenets. But the bane of education to-day is in the +pseudo-science, the "half-baked" psychology, that is lauded from the +house-tops by untrained enthusiasts, turned from the presses by +irresponsible publishing houses, and foisted upon the hungry teaching +public through the ever-present medium of the reading circle, the +teachers' institute, the summer school, and I am very sorry to admit +(for I think that I represent both institutions in a way) sometimes by +the normal schools and universities.</p> + +<p>Most of the doctrines that are turning our practice topsy-turvy have +absolutely no support from competent psychologists. The doctrine of +spontaneity and its attendant <i>laissez-faire</i> dogma of school government +is thoroughly inconsistent with good psychology. The radical extreme to +which some educators would push the doctrine of interest when they +maintain that the <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>child should never be asked to do anything for which +he fails to find a need in his own life,—this doctrine can find no +support in good psychology. The doctrine that the preadolescent child +should understand thoroughly every process that he is expected to reduce +to habit before that process is made automatic is utterly at variance +with long-established principles which were well understood by the +Greeks and the Hebrews twenty-five hundred years ago, and to which +Mother Nature herself gives the lie in the instincts of imitation and +repetition. It is conceivable that these radical doctrines were +justified as means of reform, especially in secondary and higher +education, but, even granting this, their function is fulfilled when the +reform that they exploited has been accomplished. That time has come +and, as palpable untruths, they should either be modified to meet the +facts, or be relegated to oblivion.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>It is safe to say that formalism is no longer a characteristic feature +of the typical American school. It is so long since I have heard any +rote learning in a schoolroom that I am wondering if it is not almost +time for some one to show that a little rote learning would not be at +all a bad thing in preadolescent education. We ridicule the memoriter +methods of Chinese education and yet we sometimes forget that Chinese +<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>education has done something that no other system of education, however +well planned, has even begun to do in the same degree. It has kept the +Chinese empire a unit through a period of time compared with which the +entire history of Greece and Rome is but an episode. We may ridicule the +formalism of Hebrew education, and yet the schools of rabbis have +preserved intact the racial integrity of the Jewish people during the +two thousand years that have elapsed since their geographical unity was +destroyed. I am not justifying the methods of Chinese or Hebrew +education. I am quite willing to admit that, in China at any rate, the +game may not have been worth the candle; but I am still far from +convinced that it is not a good thing for children to reduce to verbal +form a good many things that are now never learned in such a way as to +make any lasting impression upon the memory; and our criticism of +oriental formalism is not so much concerned with the method of learning +as with the content of learning,—not so much with learning by heart as +with the character of the material that was thus memorized.</p> + +<p>But, although formalism is no longer a distinctive feature of American +education, formalism is the point from which education is most +frequently attacked,—and this is the chief source of my dissatisfaction +with the present-day critics of our elementary schools. In a great many +cases, they have set up a man of straw and demolished him completely. +And in demolishing <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>him, they have incidentally knocked the props from +under the feet of many a good teacher, leaving him dazed and uncertain +of his bearings, stung with the conviction that what he has been doing +for his pupils is entirely without value, that his life of service has +been a failure, that the lessons of his own experience are not to be +trusted, nor the verdicts of his own intelligence respected. Go to any +of the great summer schools and you will meet, among the attending +teachers, hundreds of faithful, conscientious men and women who could +tell you if they would (and some of them will) of the muddle in which +their minds are left after some of the lectures to which they have +listened. Why should they fail to be depressed? The whole weight of +academic authority seems to be against them. The entire machinery of +educational administration is wheeling them with relentless force into +paths that seem to them hopelessly intricate and bewildering. If it is +true, as I think it is, that some of the proposals of modern education +are an attempt to square the circle, it is certainly true that the +classroom teacher is standing at the pressure points in this procedure.</p> + +<p>We hear expressed on every side a great deal of sympathy for the child +as the victim of our educational system. Sympathy for childhood is the +most natural thing in the world. It is one of the basic human instincts, +and its expressions are among the finest things in human life. But why +limit our sympathy to the <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>child, especially to-day when he is about as +happy and as fortunate an individual as anybody has ever been in all +history. Why not let a little of it go out to the teacher of this child? +Why not plan a little for her comfort and welfare and encouragement? It +is her skill that is assimilating the children of our alien population. +It is her strength that is lifting bodily each generation to the +ever-advancing race levels. Her work must be the main source of the +inspiration that will impel the race to further advancement. And yet +when these half-million teachers who mean so much to this country gather +at their institutes, when they attend the summer schools, when they take +up their professional journals, what do they hear and read? Criticisms +of their work. Denunciations of their methods. Serious doubts of their +intelligence. Aspersions cast upon their sincerity, their patience, and +their loyalty to their superiors. This, mingled with some mawkish +sentimentalism that passes under the name of inspiration. Only +occasionally a word of downright commendation, a sign of honest and +heartfelt appreciation, a note of sympathy or encouragement.</p> + +<p>Carnegie gives fifteen million dollars to provide pensions for +superannuated college professors; but the elementary teacher who is not +fortunate enough to die in harness must look forward to the almshouse. +The people tax themselves for magnificent buildings and luxurious +furnishings, but not one cent do they offer for <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>teachers' pensions. +What a blot upon Western civilization is this treatment of the teachers +in our lower schools. These people are doing the work that even the +savage races universally consider to be of the highest type. Benighted +China places her teachers second only to the literati themselves in the +place of honor. The Hindus made the teaching profession the highest +caste in the social scale. The Jews intrusted the education of their +children to their Rabbis, the most learned and the most honored of their +race. It is only Western civilization—it is almost only our much-lauded +Anglo-Saxon civilization—that denies to the teacher a station in life +befitting his importance as a social servant.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>But what has all this to do with school supervision? As I view it, the +supervisor of schools as the overseer and director of the educational +process, is just now confronted with two great problems. The first of +these is to keep a clear head in the present muddled condition of +educational theory. From the very fact of his position, the supervisor +must be a leader, whether he will or not. It is a maxim of our +profession that the principal is the school. In our city systems the +supervising principal is given almost absolute authority over the school +of which he has charge. In him is vested the ultimate responsibility for +instruction, for discipline, for the care and condition of the material +property. He <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>may be a despot if he wishes, benevolent or otherwise. +With this power goes a corresponding opportunity. His school can stand +for something,—perhaps for something new and strange which will bring +him into the limelight to-day, no matter what its character; perhaps for +something solid and enduring, something that will last long after his +own name has been forgotten. The temptation was never so strong as it is +to-day for the supervisor to seek the former kind of glory. The need was +never more acute than it is to-day for the supervisor who is content +with the impersonal glory of the latter type.</p> + +<p>I admit that it is a somewhat thankless task to do things in a +straightforward, effective way, without fuss or feathers, and I suppose +that the applause of the gallery may be easily mistaken for the applause +of the pit. But nevertheless the seeker for notoriety is doing the cause +of education a vast amount of harm. I know a principal who won ephemeral +fame by introducing into his school a form of the Japanese jiu-jitsu +physical exercises. When I visited that school, I was led to believe +that jiu-jitsu would be the salvation of the American people. Whole +classes of girls and boys were marched to the large basement to be put +through their paces for the delectation of visitors. The newspapers took +it up and heralded it as another indication that the formalism of the +public school was gradually breaking down. Visitors came by the +hundreds, and my <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>friend basked in the limelight of public adulation +while his colleagues turned green with envy and set themselves to +devising some means for turning attention in their direction.</p> + +<p>And yet, there are some principals who move on in the even tenor of +their ways, year after year, while all these currents and +countercurrents are seething and eddying around them. They hold fast to +that which they know is good until that which they know is better can be +found. They believe in the things that they do, so the chances are +greatly increased that they will do them well. They refuse to be bullied +or sneered at or laughed out of court because they do not take up with +every fancy that catches the popular mind. They have their own +professional standards as to what constitutes competent +schoolmanship,—their own standards gained from their own specialized +experience. And somehow I cannot help thinking that just now that is the +type of supervisor that we need and the type that ought to be +encouraged. If I were talking to Chinese teachers, I might preach +another sort of gospel, but American education to-day needs less +turmoil, less distraction, fewer sweeping changes. It needs to settle +itself, and look around, and find out where it is and what it is trying +to do. And it needs, above all, to rise to a consciousness of itself as +an institution manned by intelligent individuals who are perfectly +competent themselves to set up craft standard and ideals.<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a></p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>But in whatever way the supervisor may utilize the opportunity that his +position presents, his second great problem will come up for solution. +The supervisor is the captain of the teaching corps. Directly under his +control are the mainsprings of the school's life and activity,—the +classroom teachers. It is coming to be a maxim in the city systems that +the supervisor has not only the power to mold the school to the form of +his own ideals, but that he can, if he is skillful, turn weak teachers +into strong teachers and make out of most unpromising material, an +efficient, homogeneous school staff. I believe that this is coming to be +considered the prime criterion of effective school supervision,—not +what skill the supervisor may show in testing results, or in keeping his +pupils up to a given standard, or in choosing his teachers skillfully, +but rather the success with which he is able to take the teaching +material that is at his hand, and train it into efficiency.</p> + +<p>A former Commissioner of Education for one of our new insular +possessions once told me that he had come to divide supervisors into two +classes,—(1) those who knew good teaching when they saw it, and (2) +those who could make poor teachers into good teachers. Of these two +types, he said, the latter were infinitely more valuable to pioneer work +in education than the former, <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>and he named two or three city systems +from which he had selected the supervisors who could do this sort of +thing,—for there is no limit to this process of training, and the +superintendent who can train supervisors is just as important as the +supervisor who can train teachers.</p> + +<p>It would take a volume adequately to treat the various problems that +this conception of the supervisor's function involves. I can do no more +at present than indicate what seems to me the most pressing present need +in this direction. I have found that sometimes the supervisors who +insist most strenuously that their teachers secure the coöperation of +their pupils are among the very last to secure for themselves the +coöperation of their teachers.</p> + +<p>And to this important end, it seems to me that we have an important +suggestion in the present condition of the classroom teacher as I have +attempted to describe it. As a type, the classroom teacher needs just +now some adequate appreciation and recognition of the work that she is +doing. If the lay public is unable adequately to judge the teacher's +work, there is all the more reason that she should look to her +supervisor for that recognition of technical skill, for that +commendation of good work, which can come only from a fellow-craftsman, +but which, when it does come, is worth more in the way of real +inspiration than the loudest applause of the crowd.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>Upon the whole, I believe that the outlook in this direction is +encouraging. While the teacher may miss in her institutes and in the +summer school that sort of encouragement, she is, I believe, finding it +in larger and larger measure in the local teachers' meetings and in her +consultations with her supervisors. And when all has been said, that is +the place from which she should look for inspiration. The teachers' +meeting must be the nursery of professional ideals. It must be a place +where the real first-hand workers in education get that sanity of +outlook, that professional point of view, which shall fortify them +effectively against the rising tide of unprofessional interference and +dictation which, as I have tried to indicate, constitutes the most +serious menace to our educational welfare.</p> + +<p>And it is in the encouragement of this craft spirit, in this lifting of +the teacher's calling to the plane of craft consciousness, it is in this +that the supervisor must, I believe, find the true and lasting reward +for his work. It is through this factor that he can, just now, work the +greatest good for the schools that he supervises and the community that +he serves. The most effective way to reach his pupils is through the +medium of their teachers, and he can help these pupils in no better way +than to give their teachers a justifiable pride in the work that they +are doing through his own recognition of its worth and its value, +through his own respect for the significance of the lessons that +experience teaches them, through his <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>own suggestive help in making that +experience profitable and suggestive. And just at the present moment, he +can make no better start than by assuring them of the truth that Emerson +expresses when he defines the true scholar as the man who remains firm +in his belief that a popgun is only a popgun although the ancient and +honored of earth may solemnly affirm it to be the crack of doom.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Education and Utility</span><a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>I wish to discuss with you some phases of the problem that is perhaps +foremost in the minds of the teaching public to-day: the problem, +namely, of making education bear more directly and more effectively upon +the work of practical, everyday life. I have no doubt that some of you +feel, when this problem is suggested, very much as I felt when I first +suggested to myself the possibility of discussing it with you. You have +doubtless heard some phases of this problem discussed at every meeting +of this association for the past ten years—if you have been a member so +long as that. Certain it is that we all grow weary of the reiteration of +even the best of truths, but certain it is also that some problems are +always before us, and until they are solved satisfactorily they will +always stimulate men to devise means for their solution.</p> + +<p>I should say at the outset, however, that I shall not attempt to justify +to this audience the introduction of <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>vocational subjects into the +elementary and secondary curriculums. I shall take it for granted that +you have already made up your minds upon this matter. I shall not take +your time in an attempt to persuade you that agriculture ought to be +taught in the rural schools, or manual training and domestic science in +all schools. I am personally convinced of the value of such work and I +shall take it for granted that you are likewise convinced.</p> + +<p>My task to-day, then, is of another type. I wish to discuss with you +some of the implications of this matter of utility in respect of the +work that every elementary school is doing and always must do, no matter +how much hand work or vocational material it may introduce. My problem, +in other words, concerns the ordinary subject-matter of the +curriculum,—reading and writing and arithmetic, geography and grammar +and history,—those things which, like the poor, are always with us, but +which we seem a little ashamed to talk about in public. Truly, from +reading the educational journals and hearing educational discussion +to-day, the layman might well infer that what we term the "useful" +education and the education that is now offered by the average school +are as far apart as the two poles. We are all familiar with the +statement that the elementary curriculum is eminently adapted to produce +clerks and accountants, but very poorly adapted to furnish recruits for +any other department of life. The high <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>school is criticized on the +ground that it prepares for college and consequently for the +professions, but that it is totally inadequate to the needs of the +average citizen. Now it would be futile to deny that there is some truth +in both these assertions, but I do not hesitate to affirm that both are +grossly exaggerated, and that the curriculum of to-day, with all its +imperfections, does not justify so sweeping a denunciation. I wish to +point out some of the respects in which these charges are fallacious, +and, in so doing, perhaps, to suggest some possible remedies for the +defects that every one will acknowledge.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>In the first place, let me make myself perfectly clear upon what I mean +by the word "useful." What, after all, is the "useful" study in our +schools? What do men find to be the useful thing in their lives? The +most natural answer to this question is that the useful things are those +that enable us to meet effectively the conditions of life,—or, to use a +phrase that is perfectly clear to us all, the things that help us in +getting a living. The vast majority of men and women in this world +measure all values by this standard, for most of us are, to use the +expressive slang of the day, "up against" this problem, and "up against" +it so hard and so constantly that we interpret everything in the greatly +foreshortened perspective of immediate necessity. Most of us in this +room are confronting this <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>problem of making a living. At any rate, I am +confronting it, and consequently I may lay claim to some of the +authority that comes from experience.</p> + +<p>And since I have made this personal reference, may I violate the canons +of good taste and make still another? I was face to face with this +problem of getting a living a good many years ago, when the opportunity +came to me to take a college course. I could see nothing ahead after +that except another struggle with this same vital issue. So I decided to +take a college course which would, in all probability, help me to solve +the problem. Scientific agriculture was not developed in those days as +it has been since that time, but a start had been made, and the various +agricultural colleges were offering what seemed to be very practical +courses. I had had some early experience on the farm, and I decided to +become a scientific farmer. I took the course of four years and secured +my degree. The course was as useful from the standpoint of practical +agriculture as any that could have been devised at the time. But when I +graduated, what did I find? The same old problem of getting a living +still confronted me as I had expected that it would; and alas! I had got +my education in a profession that demanded capital. I was a landless +farmer. Times were hard and work of all kinds was very scarce. The +farmers of those days were inclined to scoff at scientific agriculture. +I could have worked for my board and a little more, <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>and I should have +done so had I been able to find a job. But while I was looking for the +place, a chance came to teach school, and I took the opportunity as a +means of keeping the wolf from the door. I have been engaged in the work +of teaching ever since. When I was able to buy land, I did so, and I +have to-day a farm of which I am very proud. It does not pay large +dividends, but I keep it up for the fun I get out of it,—and I like to +think, also, that if I should lose my job as a teacher, I could go back +to the farm and show the natives how to make money. This is doubtless an +illusion, but it is a source of solid comfort just the same.</p> + +<p>Now the point of this experience is simply this: I secured an education +that seemed to me to promise the acme of utility. In one way, it has +fulfilled that promise far beyond my wildest expectations, but that way +was very different from the one that I had anticipated. The technical +knowledge that I gained during those four strenuous years, I apply now +only as a means of recreation. So far as enabling me directly to get a +living, this technical knowledge does not pay one per cent on the +investment of time and money. And yet I count the training that I got +from its mastery as, perhaps, the most useful product of my education.</p> + +<p>Now what was the secret of its utility? As I analyze my experience, I +find it summed up very largely in two factors. In the first place, I +studied a set of subjects <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>for which I had at the outset very little +taste. In studying agriculture, I had to master a certain amount of +chemistry, physics, botany, and zoölogy, for each and every one of which +I felt, at the outset, a distinct aversion and dislike. A mastery of +these subjects was essential to a realization of the purpose that I had +in mind. I was sure that I should never like them, and yet, as I kept at +work, I gradually found myself losing that initial distaste. First one +and then another opened out its vista of truth and revelation before me, +and almost before I was aware of it, I was enthusiastic over science. It +was a long time before I generalized that experience and drew its +lesson, but the lesson, once learned, has helped me more even in the +specific task of getting a living than anything else that came out of my +school training. That experience taught me, not only the necessity for +doing disagreeable tasks,—for attacking them hopefully and +cheerfully,—but it also taught me that disagreeable tasks, if attacked +in the right way, and persisted in with patience, often become +attractive in themselves. Over and over again in meeting the situations +of real life, I have been confronted with tasks that were initially +distasteful. Sometimes I have surrendered before them; but sometimes, +too, that lesson has come back to me, and has inspired me to struggle +on, and at no time has it disappointed me by the outcome. I repeat that +there is no technical knowledge that I have gained that compares for a +<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>moment with that ideal of patience and persistence. When it comes to +real, downright utility, measured by this inexorable standard of getting +a living, let me commend to you the ideal of persistent effort. All the +knowledge that we can learn or teach will come to very little if this +element is lacking.</p> + +<p>Now this is very far from saying that the pursuit of really useful +knowledge may not give this ideal just as effectively as the pursuit of +knowledge that will never be used. My point is simply this: that beyond +the immediate utility of the facts that we teach,—indeed, basic and +fundamental to this utility,—is the utility of the ideals and standards +that are derived from our school work. Whatever we teach, these +essential factors can be made to stand out in our work, and if our +pupils acquire these we shall have done the basic and important thing in +helping them to solve the problems of real life,—and if our pupils do +not acquire these, it will make little difference how intrinsically +valuable may be the content of our instruction. I feel like emphasizing +this matter to-day, because there is in the air a notion that utility +depends entirely upon the content of the curriculum. Certainly the +curriculum must be improved from this standpoint, but we are just now +losing sight of the other equally important factor,—that, after all, +while both are essential, it is the spirit of teaching rather than the +content of teaching that is basic and fundamental.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>Nor have I much sympathy with that extreme view of this matter which +asserts that we must go out of our way to provide distasteful tasks for +the pupil in order to develop this ideal of persistence. I believe that +such a policy will always tend to defeat its own purpose. I know a +teacher who holds this belief. He goes out of his way to make tasks +difficult. He refuses to help pupils over hard places. He does not +believe in careful assignments of lessons, because, he maintains, the +pupil ought to learn to overcome difficulties for himself, and how can +he learn unless real difficulties are presented?</p> + +<p>The great trouble with this teacher is that his policy does not work out +in practice. A small minority of his pupils are strengthened by it; the +majority are weakened. He is right when he says that a pupil gains +strength only by overcoming difficulties, but he neglects a very +important qualification of this rule, namely, that a pupil gains no +strength out of obstacles that he fails to overcome. It is the conquest +that comes after effort,—this is the factor that gives one strength and +confidence. But when defeat follows defeat and failure follows failure, +it is weakness that is being engendered—not strength. And that is the +trouble with this teacher's pupils. The majority leave him with all +confidence in their own ability shaken out of them and some of them +never recover from the experience.</p> + +<p>And so while I insist strenuously that the most useful lesson we can +teach our pupils is how to do disagreeable <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>tasks cheerfully and +willingly, please do not understand me to mean that we should go out of +our way to provide disagreeable tasks. After all, I rejoice that my own +children are learning how to read and write and cipher much more easily, +much more quickly, and withal much more pleasantly than I learned those +useful arts. The more quickly they get to the plane that their elders +have reached, the more quickly they can get beyond this plane and on to +the next level.</p> + +<p>To argue against improved methods in teaching on the ground that they +make things too easy for the pupil is, to my mind, a grievous error. It +is as fallacious as to argue that the introduction of machinery is a +curse because it has diminished in some measure the necessity for human +drudgery. But if machinery left mankind to rest upon its oars, if it +discouraged further progress and further effortful achievement, it +<i>would</i> be a curse: and if the easier and quicker methods of instruction +simply bring my children to my own level and then fail to stimulate them +to get beyond my level, then they are a curse and not a blessing.</p> + +<p>I do not decry that educational policy of to-day which insists that +school work should be made as simple and attractive as possible. I do +decry that misinterpretation of this policy which looks at the matter +from the other side, and asserts so vehemently that the child should +never be asked or urged to do something that is not easy and attractive. +It is only because there is so <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>much in the world to be done that, for +the sake of economizing time and strength, we should raise the child as +quickly and as rapidly and as pleasantly as possible to the plane that +the race has reached. But among all the lessons of race experience that +we must teach him there is none so fundamental and important as the +lesson of achievement itself,—the supreme lesson wrung from human +experience,—the lesson, namely, that every advance that the world has +made, every step that it has taken forward, every increment that has +been added to the sum total of progress has been attained at the price +of self-sacrifice and effort and struggle,—at the price of doing things +that one does not want to do. And unless a man is willing to pay that +price, he is bound to be the worst kind of a social parasite, for he is +simply living on the experience of others, and adding to this capital +nothing of his own.</p> + +<p>It is sometimes said that universal education is essential in order that +the great mass of humanity may live in greater comfort and enjoy the +luxuries that in the past have been vouchsafed only to the few. +Personally I think that this is all right so far as it goes, but it +fails to reach an ultimate goal. Material comfort is justified only +because it enables mankind to live more effectively on the lower planes +of life and give greater strength and greater energy to the solution of +new problems upon the higher planes of life. The end of life can never +be adequately formulated in terms of comfort and ease, nor <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>even in +terms of culture and intellectual enjoyment; the end of life is +achievement, and no matter how far we go, achievement is possible only +to those who are willing to pay the price. When the race stops investing +its capital of experience in further achievement, when it settles down +to take life easily, it will not take it very long to eat up its capital +and revert to the plane of the brute.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>But I am getting away, from my text. You will remember that I said that +the most useful thing that we can teach the child is to attack +strenuously and resolutely any problem that confronts him whether it +pleases him or not, and I wanted to be certain that you did not +misinterpret me to mean that we should, for this reason, make our school +tasks unnecessarily difficult and laborious. After all, while our +attitude should always be one of interesting our pupils, their attitude +should always be one of effortful attention,—of willingness to do the +task that we think it best for them to do. You see it is a sort of a +double-headed policy, and how to carry it out is a perplexing problem. +Of so much I am certain, however, at the outset: if the pupil takes the +attitude that we are there to interest and entertain him, we shall make +a sorry fiasco of the whole matter, and inasmuch as this very tendency +is in the air at the present time, I feel justified in at least +referring to its danger.</p> + +<p>Now if this ideal of persistent effort is the most useful <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>thing that +can come out of education, what is the next most useful? Again, as I +analyze what I obtained from my own education, it seems to me that, next +to learning that disagreeable tasks are often well worth doing, the +factor that has helped me most in getting a living has been the method +of solving the situations that confronted me. After all, if we simply +have the ideal of resolute and aggressive and persistent attack, we may +struggle indefinitely without much result. All problems of life involve +certain common factors. The essential difference between the educated +and the uneducated man, if we grant each an equal measure of pluck, +persistence, and endurance, lies in the superior ability of the educated +man to analyze his problem effectively and to proceed intelligently +rather than blindly to its solution. I maintain that education should +give a man this ideal of attacking any problem; furthermore I maintain +that the education of the present day, in spite of the anathemas that +are hurled against it, is doing this in richer measure than it has ever +been done before. But there is no reason why we should not do it in +still greater measure.</p> + +<p>I once knew two men who were in the business of raising fruit for +commercial purposes. Each had a large orchard which he operated +according to conventional methods and which netted him a comfortable +income. One of these men was a man of narrow education: the other a man +of liberal education, although his training had not <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>been directed in +any way toward the problems of horticulture. The orchards had borne +exceptionally well for several years, but one season, when the fruit +looked especially promising, a period of wet, muggy weather came along +just before the picking season, and one morning both these men went out +into their orchards, to find the fruit very badly "specked." Now the +conventional thing to do in such cases was well known to both men. Each +had picked up a good deal of technical information about caring for +fruit, and each did the same thing in meeting this situation. He got out +his spraying outfit, prepared some Bordeaux mixture, and set vigorously +at work with his pumps. So far as persistence and enterprise went, both +men stood on an equal footing. But it happened that this was an unusual +and not a conventional situation. The spraying did not alleviate the +condition. The corruption spread through the trees like wildfire, and +seemed to thrive on copper sulphate rather than succumb to its corrosive +influence.</p> + +<p>Now this was where the difference in training showed itself. The +orchardist who worked by rule of thumb, when he found that his rule did +not work, gave up the fight and spent his time sitting on his front +porch bemoaning his luck. The other set diligently at work to analyze +the situation. His education had not taught him anything about the +characteristics of parasitic fungi, for parasitic fungi were not very +well understood when he was in school. But his education had left with +him a general <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>method of procedure for just such cases, and that method +he at once applied. It had taught him how to find the information that +he needed, provided that such information was available. It had taught +him that human experience is crystallized in books, and that, when a +discovery is made in any field of science,—no matter how specialized +the field and no matter how trivial the finding,—the discovery is +recorded in printer's ink and placed at the disposal of those who have +the intelligence to find it and apply it. And so he set out to read up +on the subject,—to see what other men had learned about this peculiar +kind of apple rot. He obtained all that had been written about it and +began to master it. He told his friend about this material and suggested +that the latter follow the same course, but the man of narrow education +soon found himself utterly at sea in a maze of technical terms. The +terms were new to the other too, but he took down his dictionary and +worked them out. He knew how to use indices and tables of contents and +various other devices that facilitate the gathering of information, and +while his uneducated friend was storming over the pedantry of men who +use big words, the other was making rapid progress through the material. +In a short time he learned everything that had been found out about this +specific disease. He learned that its spores are encased in a gelatinous +sac which resisted the entrance of the chemicals. He found how the +spores were reproduced, how they wintered, how they germinated in the +following season; <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>and, although he did not save much of his crop that +year, he did better the next. Nor were the evidences of his superiority +limited to this very useful result. He found that, after all, very +little was known about this disease, so he set himself to find out more +about it. To do this, he started where other investigators had left off, +and then he applied a principle he had learned from his education; +namely, that the only valid methods of obtaining new truths are the +methods of close observation and controlled experiment.</p> + +<p>Now I maintain that the education which was given that man was effective +in a degree that ought to make his experience an object lesson for us +who teach. What he had found most useful at a very critical juncture of +his business life was, primarily, not the technical knowledge that he +had gained either in school or in actual experience. His superiority lay +in the fact that he knew how to get hold of knowledge when he needed it, +how to master it once he had obtained it, how to apply it once he had +mastered it, and finally how to go about to discover facts that had been +undetected by previous investigators. I care not whether he got this +knowledge in the elementary school or in the high school or in the +college. He might have secured it in any one of the three types of +institution, but he had to learn it somewhere, and I shall go further +and say that the average man has to learn it in some school and under an +explicit and conscious method of instruction.<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a></p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>But perhaps you would maintain that this statement of the case, while in +general true, does not help us out in practice. After all, how are we to +impress pupils with this ideal of persistence and with these ideals of +getting and applying information, and with this ideal of investigation? +I maintain that these important useful ideals may be effectively +impressed almost from the very outset of school life. The teaching of +every subject affords innumerable opportunities to force home their +lessons. In fact, it must be a very gradual process—a process in which +the concrete instances are numerous and rich and impressive. From these +concrete instances, the general truth may in time emerge. Certainly the +chances that it will emerge are greatly multiplied if we ourselves +recognize its worth and importance, and lead our pupils to see in each +concrete case the operation of the general principle. After all, the +chief reason why so much of our education miscarries, why so few pupils +gain the strength and the power that we expect all to gain, lies in the +inability of the average individual to draw a general conclusion from +concrete cases—to see the general in the particular. We have insisted +so strenuously upon concrete instruction that we have perhaps failed +also to insist that fact without law is blind, and that observation +without induction is stupidity gone to seed.</p> + +<p>Let me give a concrete instance of what I mean. Not <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>long ago, I visited +an eighth-grade class during a geography period. It was at the time when +the discovery of the Pole had just set the whole civilized world by the +ears, and the teacher was doing something that many good teachers do on +occasions of this sort: she was turning the vivid interest of the moment +to educative purposes. The pupils had read Peary's account of his trip +and they were discussing its details in class. Now that exercise was +vastly more than an interesting information lesson, for Peary's +achievement became, under the skillful touch of that teacher, a type of +all human achievement. I wish that I could reproduce that lesson for +you—how vividly she pictured the situation that confronted the +explorer,—the bitter cold, the shifting ice, the treacherous open +leads, the lack of game or other sources of food supply, the long +marches on scant rations, the short hours and the uncomfortable +conditions of sleep; and how from these that fundamental lesson of pluck +and endurance and courage came forth naturally without preaching the +moral or indulging in sentimental "goody-goodyism." And then the other +and equally important part of the lesson,—how pluck and courage in +themselves could never have solved the problem; how knowledge was +essential, and how that knowledge had been gained: some of it from the +experience of early explorers,—how to avoid the dreaded scurvy, how to +build a ship that could withstand the tremendous pressure of the floes; +and some from the Eskimos,—how to live in that barren region, and how +to <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>travel with dogs and sledges;—and some, too, from Peary's own early +experiences,—how he had struggled for twenty years to reach the goal, +and had added this experience to that until finally the prize was his. +We may differ as to the value of Peary's deed, but that it stands as a +type of what success in any undertaking means, no one can deny. And this +was the lesson that these eighth-grade pupils were absorbing,—the +world-old lesson before which all others fade into insignificance,—the +lesson, namely, that achievement can be gained only by those who are +willing to pay the price.</p> + +<p>And I imagine that when that class is studying the continent of Africa +in their geography work, they will learn something more than the names +of rivers and mountains and boundaries and products,—I imagine that +they will link these facts with the names and deeds of the men who gave +them to the world. And when they study history, it will be vastly more +than a bare recital of dates and events,—it will be alive with these +great lessons of struggle and triumph,—for history, after all, is only +the record of human achievement. And if those pupils do not find these +same lessons coming out of their own little conquests,—if the problems +of arithmetic do not furnish an opportunity to conquer the pressure +ridges of partial payments or the Polar night of bank discount, or if +the intricacies of formal grammar do not resolve themselves into the +North Pole of correct expression,—I have misjudged that teacher's +capacities; for the great triumph <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>of teaching is to get our pupils to +see the fundamental and the eternal in things that are seemingly trivial +and transitory. We are fond of dividing school studies into the cultural +and the practical, into the humanities and the sciences. Believe me, +there is no study worth the teaching that is not practical at basis, and +there is no practical study that has not its human interest and its +humanizing influence—if only we go to some pains to search them out.</p> + + +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>I have said that the most useful thing that education can do is to imbue +the pupil with the ideal of effortful achievement which will lead him to +do cheerfully and effectively the disagreeable tasks that fall to his +lot. I have said that the next most useful thing that it can do is to +give him a general method of solving the problems that he meets. Is +there any other useful outcome of a general nature that we may rank in +importance with these two? I believe that there is, and I can perhaps +tell you what I mean by another reference to a concrete case. I know a +man who lacks this third factor, although he possesses the other two in +a very generous measure. He is full of ambition, persistence, and +courage. He is master of the rational method of solving the problems +that beset him. He does his work intelligently and effectively. And yet +he has failed to make a good living. Why? Simply because of his standard +of what constitutes a good living. Measured by my standard, he is <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>doing +excellently well. Measured by his own standard, he is a miserable +failure. He is depressed and gloomy and out of harmony with the world, +simply because he has no other standard for a good living than a +financial one. He is by profession a civil engineer. His work is much +more remunerative than is that of many other callings. He has it in him +to attain to professional distinction in that work. But to this +opportunity he is blind. In the great industrial center in which he +works, he is constantly irritated by the evidences of wealth and luxury +beyond what he himself enjoys. The millionaire captain of industry is +his hero, and because he is not numbered among this class, he looks at +the world through the bluest kind of spectacles.</p> + +<p>Now, to my mind that man's education failed somewhere, and its failure +lay in the fact that it did not develop in him ideals of success that +would have made him immune to these irritating factors. We have often +heard it said that education should rid the mind of the incubus of +superstition, and one very important effect of universal education is +that it does offer to all men an explanation of the phenomena that +formerly weighted down the mind with fear and dread, and opened an easy +ingress to the forces of superstition and fraud and error. Education has +accomplished this function, I think, passably well with respect to the +more obvious sources of superstition. Necromancy and magic, demonism and +witchcraft, have long since been relegated to the limbo of <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>exposed +fraud. Their conquest has been one of the most significant advances that +man has made above the savage. The truths of science have at last +triumphed, and, as education has diffused these truths among the masses, +the triumph has become almost universal.</p> + +<p>But there are other forms of superstition besides those I have +mentioned,—other instances of a false perspective, of distorted values, +of inadequate standards. If belief in witchcraft or in magic is bad +because it falls short of an adequate interpretation of nature,—if it +is false because it is inconsistent with human experience,—then the +worship of Mammon that my engineer friend represents is tenfold worse +than witchcraft, measured by the same standards. If there is any lesson +that human history teaches with compelling force, it is surely this: +Every race which has yielded to the demon of individualism and the lust +for gold and self-gratification has gone down the swift and certain road +to national decay. Every race that, through unusual material prosperity, +has lost its grip on the eternal verities of self-sacrifice and +self-denial has left the lesson of its downfall written large upon the +pages of history. I repeat that if superstition consists in believing +something that is inconsistent with rational human experience, then our +present worship of the golden calf is by far the most dangerous form of +superstition that has ever befuddled the human intellect.</p> + +<p>But, you ask, what can education do to alleviate a <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>condition of this +sort? How may the weak influence of the school make itself felt in an +environment that has crystallized on every hand this unfortunate +standard? Individualism is in the air. It is the dominant spirit of the +times. It is reënforced upon every side by the unmistakable evidences of +national prosperity. It is easy to preach the simple life, but who will +live it unless he has to? It is easy to say that man should have social +and not individual standards of success and achievement, but what effect +will your puerile assertion have upon the situation that confronts us?</p> + +<p>Yes; it is easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. It is far easier +to lie back and let things run their course than it is to strike out +into midstream and make what must be for the pioneer a fatal effort to +stem the current. But is the situation absolutely hopeless? If the +forces of education can lift the Japanese people from barbarism to +enlightenment in two generations; if education can in a single century +transform Germany from the weakest to the strongest power on the +continent of Europe; if five short years of a certain type of education +can change the course of destiny in China;—are we warranted in our +assumption that we hold a weak weapon in this fight against Mammon?</p> + +<p>I have intimated that the attitude of my engineer friend toward life is +the result of twisted ideals. A good many young men are going out into +life with a similar defect in their education. They gain their ideals, +not <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>from the great wellsprings of human experience as represented in +history and literature, in religion and art, but from the environment +around them, and consequently they become victims of this superstition +from the outset. As a trainer of teachers, I hold it to be one important +part of my duty to fortify my students as strongly as I can against this +false standard of which my engineer friend is the victim. It is just as +much a part of my duty to give my students effective and consistent +standards of what a good living consists in as it is to give them the +technical knowledge and skill that will enable them to make a good +living. If my students who are to become teachers have standards of +living and standards of success that are inconsistent with the great +ideal of social service for which teaching stands, then I have fallen +far short of success in my work. If they are constantly irritated by the +evidences of luxury beyond their means, if this irritation sours their +dispositions and checks their spontaneity, their efficiency as teachers +is greatly lessened or perhaps entirely negated. And if my engineer +friend places worldly emoluments upon a higher plane than professional +efficiency, I dread for the safety of the bridges that he builds. His +education as an engineer should have fortified him against just such a +contingency. It should have left him with the ideal of craftsmanship +supreme in his life. And if his technical education failed to do this, +his general education ought, at least, to have given him a bias in the +right direction.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>I believe that all forms of vocational and professional education are +not so strong in this respect as they should be. Again you say to me, +What can education do when the spirit of the times speaks so strongly on +the other side? But what is education for if it is not to preserve midst +the chaos and confusion of troublous times the great truths that the +race has wrung from its experience? How different might have been the +fate of Rome, if Rome had possessed an educational system touching every +child in the Empire, and if, during the years that witnessed her decay +and downfall, those schools could have kept steadily, persistently at +work, impressing upon every member of each successive generation the +virtues that made the old Romans strong and virile—the virtues that +enabled them to lay the foundations of an empire that crumbled in ruins +once these truths were forgotten. Is it not the specific task of +education to represent in each generation the human experiences that +have been tried and tested and found to work,—to represent these in the +face of opposition if need be,—to be faithful to the trusteeship of the +most priceless legacy that the past has left to the present and to the +future? If this is not our function in the scheme of things, then what +is our function? Is it to stand with bated breath to catch the first +whisper that will usher in the next change? Is it to surrender all +initiative and simply allow ourselves to be tossed hither and yon by the +waves and cross-waves of a fickle public opinion? Is it to cower in +dread of a criticism that is not only unjust <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>but often ill-advised of +the real conditions under which we are doing our work?</p> + +<p>I take it that none of us is ready to answer these questions in the +affirmative. Deep down in our hearts we know that we have a useful work +to do, and we know that we are doing it passably well. We also know our +defects and shortcomings at least as well as one who has never faced our +problems and tried to solve them. And it is from this latter type that +most of the drastic criticism, especially of the elementary and +secondary school, emanates. I confess that my gorge rises within me when +I read or hear the invectives that are being hurled against teaching as +a profession (and against the work of the elementary and secondary +school in particular) by men who know nothing of this work at first +hand. This is the greatest handicap under which the profession of +teaching labors. In every other important field of human activity a man +must present his credentials before he takes his seat at the council +table, and even then he must sit and listen respectfully to his elders +for a while before he ventures a criticism or even a suggestion. This +plan may have its defects. It may keep things on too conservative a +basis; but it avoids the danger into which we as a profession have +fallen,—the danger of "half-baked" theories and unmatured policies. +To-day the only man that can get a respectable hearing at our great +national educational meetings is the man who has something new and +bizarre to propose. And the more startling the pro<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>posal, the greater is +the measure of adulation that he receives. The result of this is a +continual straining for effect, an enormous annual crop of fads and +fancies, which, though most of them are happily short-lived, keep us in +a state of continual turmoil and confusion.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now, it goes without saying that there are many ways of making education +hit the mark of utility in addition to those that I have mentioned. The +teachers down in the lower grades who are teaching little children the +arts of reading and writing and computation are doing vastly more in a +practical direction than they are ever given credit for doing; for +reading and writing and the manipulation of numbers are, next to oral +speech itself, the prime necessities in the social and industrial world. +These arts are being taught to-day better than they have ever been +taught before,—and the technique of their teaching is undergoing +constant refinement and improvement.</p> + +<p>The school can do and is doing other useful things. Some schools are +training their pupils to be well mannered and courteous and considerate +of the rights of others. They are teaching children one of the most +basic and fundamental laws of human life; namely, that there are some +things that a gentleman cannot do and some things that society will not +stand. How many a painful experience in solving this very problem of +getting a living could be avoided if one had only learned this lesson +passing well! What a pity it is that some schools that stand <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>to-day for +what we call educational progress are failing in just this +particular—are sending out into the world an annual crop of boys and +girls who must learn the great lesson of self-control and a proper +respect for the rights of others in the bitter school of experience,—a +school in which the rod will never be spared, but whose chastening +scourge comes sometimes, alas, too late!</p> + +<p>There is no feature of school life which has not its almost infinite +possibilities of utility. But after all, are not the basic and +fundamental things these ideals that I have named? And should not we who +teach stand for idealism in its widest sense? Should we not ourselves +subscribe an undying fidelity to those great ideals for which teaching +must stand,—to the ideal of social service which lies at the basis of +our craft, to the ideals of effort and discipline that make a nation +great and its children strong, to the ideal of science that dissipates +the black night of ignorance and superstition, to the ideal of culture +that humanizes mankind?</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> An address before the Eastern Illinois Teachers' +Association, October 15, 1909. Published as a Bulletin of the Eastern +Illinois Normal School, October, 1909.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Scientific Spirit in Education</span><a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>I know that I do not need to plead with this audience for a recognition +of the scientific spirit in the solution of educational problems. The +long life and the enviable record of this Society of Pedagogy testify in +themselves to that spirit of free inquiry, to the calm and dispassionate +search for the truth which lies at the basis of the scientific method. +You have gathered here, fortnight after fortnight, to discuss +educational problems in the light of your experience. You have reported +your experience and listened to the results that others have gleaned in +the course of their daily work. And experience is the corner stone of +science.</p> + +<p>Some of the most stimulating and clarifying discussions of educational +problems that I have ever heard have been made in the sessions of this +Society. You have been scientific in your attitude toward education, and +I may add that I first learned the lessons of the real science of +education in the St. Louis schools, and under the inspiration that was +furnished by the men who <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>were members of this Society. What I knew of +the science of education before I came to this city ten years ago, was +gleaned largely from books. It was deductive, <i>a priori</i>, in its nature. +What I learned here was the induction from actual experience.</p> + +<p>My very first introduction to my colleagues among the school men of this +city was a lesson in the science of education. I had brought with me a +letter to one of your principals. He was in the office down on Locust +Street the first Saturday that I spent in the city. I presented my +letter to him, and, with that true Southern hospitality which has always +characterized your corps, he took me immediately under his wing and +carried me out to luncheon with him.</p> + +<p>We sat for hours in a little restaurant down on Sixth Street,—he was my +teacher and I was his pupil. And gradually, as the afternoon wore on, I +realized that I had met a master craftsman in the art of education. At +first I talked glibly enough of what I intended to do, and he listened +sympathetically and helpfully, with a little quizzical smile in his eyes +as I outlined my ambitious plans. And when I had run the gamut of my +dreams, he took his turn, and, in true Socratic fashion, yet without +making me feel in the least that I was only a dreamer after all, he +refashioned my theories. One by one the little card houses that I had +built up were deftly, smoothly, gently, but completely demolished. I did +not know the ABC of schoolcraft—but he did <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>not tell me that I did not. +He went at the task of instruction from the positive point of view. He +proved to me, by reminiscence and example, how different are actual and +ideal conditions. And finally he wound up with a single question that +opened a new world to me. "What," he asked, "is the dominant +characteristic of the child's mind?" I thought at first that I was on +safe ground—for had I not taken a course in child study, and had I not +measured some hundreds of school children while working out a university +thesis? So I began with my list. But, at each characteristic that I +mentioned he shook his head. "No," he said, "no; that is not right." And +when finally I had exhausted my list, he said to me, "The dominant +characteristic of the child's mind is its <i>seriousness</i>. The child is +the most <i>serious</i> creature in the world."</p> + +<p>The answer staggered me for a moment. Like ninety-nine per cent of the +adult population of this globe, the seriousness of the child had never +appealed to me. In spite of the theoretical basis of my training, that +single, dominant element of child life had escaped me. I had gained my +notion of the child from books, and, I also fear, from the Sunday +supplements. To me, deep down in my heart, the child was an animated +joke. I was immersed in unscientific preconceptions. But the master +craftsman had gained his conception of child life from intimate, +empirical acquaintance with the genus boy. He had gleaned from his +experience that fundamental <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>truth: "The child is the most serious +creature in the world."</p> + +<p>Sometime I hope that I may make some fitting acknowledgment of the debt +of gratitude that I owe to that man. The opportunities that I had to +talk with him were all too few, but I did make a memorable visit to his +school, and studied at first hand the great work that he was doing for +the pupils of the Columbia district. He died the next year, and I shall +never forget the words that stood beneath his picture that night in one +of the daily papers: "Charles Howard: Architect of Character."</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>The essence of the scientific spirit is to view experience without +prejudice, and that was the lesson that I learned from the school system +of St. Louis.</p> + +<p>The difference between the ideal child and the real child,—the +difference between what fancy pictures a schoolroom to be and what +actual first-hand acquaintance shows that it is, the difference between +a preconceived notion and an actual stubborn fact of experience,—these +were among the lessons that I learned in these schools. But, at the same +time, there was no crass materialism accompanying this teaching. There +was no loss of the broader point of view. A fact is a fact, and we +cannot get around it,—and this is what scientific method has insisted +upon from its inception. But always beyond the fact is its significance, +its meaning.<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a> That the St. Louis schools have for the last fifty years +stood for the larger view; that they have never, so far as I know, +exploited the new and the bizarre simply because it was new and +strange,—this is due, I believe, to the insight and inspiration of the +man<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> who first fashioned the framework of this system, and breathed +into it as a system the vitalizing element of idealism. Personally, I +have not always been in sympathy with the teachings of the Hegelian +philosophy,—I have not always understood them,—but no man could +witness the silent, steady, unchecked growth of the St. Louis schools +without being firmly and indelibly impressed with dynamic value of a +richly conceived and rigidly wrought system of fundamental principles. +The cause of education has suffered much from the failure of educators +to break loose from the shackles of the past. But it has, in some +places, suffered still more from the tendency of the human mind to +confuse fundamental principles with the shackles of tradition. The rage +for the new and the untried, simply because it is new and untried,—this +has been, and is to-day, the rock upon which real educational progress +is most likely to be wrecked. This is a rock, I believe, that St. Louis +has so far escaped, and I have no doubt that its escape has been due, in +large measure, to the careful, rigid, laborious, and yet illuminating +manner in which that great captain charted out its course.<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>Fundamentally, there is, I believe, no discrepancy, no inconsistency, +between the scientific spirit in education and what may be called the +philosophical spirit. As I have suggested, there are always two dangers +that must be avoided: the danger, in the first place, of thinking of the +old as essentially bad; and, on the other hand, the danger of thinking +of the new and strange and unknown as essentially bad; the danger of +confusing a sound conservatism with a blind worship of established +custom; and the danger of confusing a sound radicalism with the blind +worship of the new and the bizarre.</p> + +<p>Let me give you an example of what I mean. There is a rather bitter +controversy at present between two factions of science teachers. One +faction insists that physics and chemistry and biology should be taught +in the high school from the economic point of view,—that the economic +applications of these sciences to great human arts, such as engineering +and agriculture, should be emphasized at every point,—that a great deal +of the material now taught in these sciences is both useless and +unattractive to the average high-school pupil. The other faction +maintains that such a course would mean the destruction of science as an +integral part of the secondary culture course,—that science to be +cultural must be pure science,—must be viewed apart <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>from its economic +applications,—apart from its relations to the bread-and-butter problem.</p> + +<p>Now many of the advocates of the first point of view—many of the people +that would emphasize the economic side—are animated by the spirit of +change and unrest which dominates our latter-day civilization. They wish +to follow the popular demand. "Down with scholasticism!" is their cry; +"Down with this blind worship of custom and tradition! Let us do the +thing that gives the greatest immediate benefit to our pupils. Let us +discard the elements in our courses that are hard and dry and barren of +practical results." Now these men, I believe, are basing their argument +upon the fallacy of immediate expediency. The old is bad, the new is +good. That is their argument. They have no sheet anchor out to windward. +They are willing to drift with the gale.</p> + +<p>Many of the advocates of the second point of view—many of the people +who hold to the old line, pure-science teaching—are, on the other hand, +animated by a spirit of irrational conservatism. "Down with radicalism!" +they shout; "Down with the innovators! Things that are hard and dry are +good mental discipline. They made our fathers strong. They can make our +children strong. What was good enough for the great minds of the past is +good enough for us."</p> + +<p>Now these men, I believe, have gone to the other extreme. They have +confused custom and tradition <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>with fundamental and eternal principles. +They have thought that, just because a thing is old, it is good, just as +their antagonists have thought that just because a thing is new it is +good.</p> + +<p>In both cases, obviously, the scientific spirit is lacking. The most +fundamental of all principles is the principle of truth. And yet these +men who are teachers of science are—both classes of them—ruled +themselves by dogma. And meantime the sciences are in danger of losing +their place in secondary education. The rich promise that was held out a +generation ago has not been fulfilled. Within the last decade, the +enrollment in the science courses has not increased in proportion to the +total enrollment, while the enrollment in Latin (which fifteen years ago +was about to be cast upon the educational scrap heap) has grown by leaps +and bounds.</p> + +<p>Now this is a type of a great many controversies in education. We talk +and theorize, but very seldom do we try to find out the actual facts in +the case by any adequate tests.</p> + +<p>It was the lack of such tests that led us at the University of Illinois +to enter upon a series of impartial investigations to see whether we +could not take some of these mooted questions out of the realm of +eternal controversy, and provide some definite solutions. We chose among +others this controversy between the economic scientists and the pure +scientists. We took a high-<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>school class and divided it into two +sections. We tried to place in each section an equal number of bright +and mediocre and dull pupils, so that the conditions would be equalized. +Then we chose an excellent teacher, a man who could approach the problem +with an open mind, without prejudice or favor. During the present year +he has been teaching these parallel sections. In one section he has +emphasized economic applications; in the other he has taught the class +upon the customary pure-science basis. He has kept a careful record of +his work, and at stated intervals he has given both sections the same +tests. We propose to carry on this investigation year after year with +different classes, different teachers, and in different schools. We are +not in a hurry to reach conclusions.</p> + +<p>Now I said that the safeguard in all work of this sort is to keep our +grip firm and fast on the eternal truths. In this work that I mention we +are not trying to prove that either pure science or applied science +interests our pupils the more or helps them the more in meeting +immediate economic situations. We do not propose to measure the success +of either method by its effect upon the bread-winning power of the +pupil. What we believe that science teaching should insure, is a grip on +the scientific method and an illuminating insight into the forces of +nature, and we are simply attempting to see whether the economic +applications will make this grip firmer or weaker, and this insight +clearer <a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>or more obscure. I trust that this point is plain, for it +illustrates what I have just said regarding the danger of following a +popular demand. We need no experiment to prove that economic science is +more useful in the narrow sense than is pure science. What we wish to +determine is whether a judicious mixture of the two sorts of teaching +will or will not enable us to realize this rich cultural value much more +effectively than a traditional purely cultural course.</p> + +<p>Now that illustrates what I think is the real and important application +of the scientific spirit to the solution of educational problems. You +will readily see that it does not do away necessarily with our ideals. +It is not necessarily materialistic. It is not necessarily idealistic. +Either side may utilize it. It is a quite impersonal factor. But it does +promise to take some of our educational problems out of the field of +useless and wasteful controversy, and it does promise to get men of +conflicting views together,—for, in the case that I have just cited, if +we prove that the right admixture of methods may enable us to realize +both a cultural and a utilitarian value, there is no reason why the +culturists and the utilitarians should not get together, cease their +quarreling, take off their coats, and go to work. Few people will deny +that bread and butter is a rather essential thing in this life of ours; +very few will deny that material prosperity in temperate amounts is good +for all of us; and very few also will deny that far <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>more fundamental +than bread and butter—far more important than material prosperity—are +the great fundamental and eternal truths which man has wrought out of +his experience and which are most effectively crystallized in the +creations of pure art, the masterpieces of pure literature, and the +discoveries of pure science.</p> + +<p>Certainly if we of the twentieth century can agree upon any one thing, +it is this: That life without toil is a crime, and that any one who +enjoys leisure and comfort and the luxuries of living without paying the +price of toil is a social parasite. I believe that it is an important +function of public education to impress upon each generation the highest +ideals of living as well as the arts that are essential to the making of +a livelihood, but I wish to protest against the doctrine that these two +factors stand over against one another as the positive and negative +poles of human existence. In other words, I protest against the notion, +that the study of the practical everyday problems of human life is +without what we are pleased to call a culture value,—that in the proper +study of those problems one is not able to see the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles.</p> + +<p>I shall readily agree that there is always a grave danger that the +trivial and temporary objects of everyday life may be viewed and studied +without reference to these fundamental principles. But this danger is +certainly no greater than that the permanent and eter<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>nal truths be +studied without reference to the actual, concrete, workaday world in +which we live. I have seen exercises in manual training that had for +their purpose the perfection of the pupil in some little art of joinery +for which he would, in all probability, have not the slightest use in +his later life. But even if he should find use for it, the process was +not being taught in the proper way. He was being made conscious only of +the little trivial thing, and no part of his instruction was directed +toward the much more important, fundamental lesson,—the lesson, namely, +that "a little thing may be perfect, but that perfection itself is not a +little thing."</p> + +<p>I say that I have witnessed such an exercise in the very practical field +of manual training. I may add that I went through several such exercises +myself, and emerged with a disgust that always recurs to me when I am +told that every boy will respond to the stimulus of the hammer and the +jack plane. But I should hasten to add that I have also seen what we +call the humanities so taught that the pupil has emerged from them with +a supreme contempt for the life of labor and a feeling of disgust at the +petty and trivial problems of human life which every one must face. I +have seen art and literature so taught as to leave their students not +with the high purpose to mold their lives in accordance with the high +ideals that art and literature represent, not the firm resolution to do +what they <a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>could to relieve the ugliness of the world where they found +it ugly, or to do what they could to ennoble life when they found it +vile; but rather with an attitude of calm superiority, as if they were +in some way privileged to the delights of æsthetic enjoyment, leaving +the baser born to do the world's drudgery.</p> + +<p>I have seen the principles of agriculture so taught as to leave with the +student the impression that he could raise more corn than his neighbor +and sell it at a higher price if he mastered the principles of +nitrification; and all without one single reference to the basic +principle of conservation upon which the welfare of the human race for +all time to come must inevitably depend,—without a single reference to +the moral iniquity of waste and sloth and ignorance. But I have also +seen men who have mastered the scientific method,—the method of +controlled observation, and unprejudiced induction and inference,—in +the laboratories of pure science; and who have gained so overweening and +hypertrophied a regard for this method that they have considered it too +holy to be contaminated by application to practical problems,—who have +sneered contemptuously when some adventurer has proposed, for example, +to subject the teaching of science itself to the searchlight of +scientific method.</p> + +<p>I trust that these examples have made my point clear, for it is +certainly simple enough. If vocational <a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>education means simply that the +arts and skills of industrial life are to be transmitted safely from +generation to generation, a minimum of educational machinery is all that +is necessary, and we do not need to worry much about it. If vocational +education means simply this, it need not trouble us much; for economic +conditions will sooner or later provide for an effective means of +transmission, just as economic conditions will sooner or later perfect, +through a blind and empirical process of elimination, the most effective +methods of agriculture, as in the case of China and other overpopulated +nations of the Orient.</p> + +<p>But I take it that we mean by vocational education something more than +this, just as we mean by cultural education something more than a veneer +of language, history, pure science, and the fine arts. In the former +case, the practical problems of life are to be lifted to the plane of +fundamental principles; in the latter case, fundamental principles are +to be brought down to the plane of present, everyday life. I can see no +discrepancy here. To my mind there is no cultural subject that has not +its practical outcome, and there is no practical subject that has not +its humanizing influence if only we go to some pains to seek it out. I +do not object to a subject of instruction that promises to put dollars +into the pockets of those that study it. I do object to the mode of +teaching that subject which fails to use this effective economic appeal +in stimulating a <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>glimpse of the broader vision. I do not object to the +subject that appeals to the pupil's curiosity because it informs him of +the wonderful deeds that men have done in the past. I do object to that +mode of teaching this subject which simply arouses interest in a +spectacular deed, and then fails to use this interest in the +interpretation of present problems. I do not contend that in either case +there must be an explicit pointing of morals and drawing of lessons. But +I do contend that the teacher who is in charge of the process should +always have this purpose in the forefront of his consciousness, and—now +by direct comparison, now by indirection and suggestion—guide his +pupils to the goal desired.</p> + +<p>I hope that through careful tests, we shall some day be able to +demonstrate that there is much that is good and valuable on both sides +of every controverted educational question. After all, in this complex +and intricate task of teaching to which you and I are devoting our +lives, there is too much at stake to permit us for a moment to be +dogmatic,—to permit us for a moment to hold ourselves in any other +attitude save one of openness and reception to the truth when the truth +shall have been demonstrated. Neither your ideas nor mine, nor those of +any man or group of men, living or dead, are important enough to stand +in the way of the best possible accomplishment of that great task to +which we have set our hands.<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>But I did not propose this morning to talk to you about science as a +part of our educational curriculum, but rather about the scientific +spirit and the scientific method as effective instruments for the +solution of our own peculiar educational problems. I have tried to give +you reasons for believing that an adoption of this policy does not +necessarily commit us to materialism or to a narrowly economic point of +view. I have attempted to show that the scientific method may be applied +to the solution of our problems while we still retain our faith in +ideals; and that, unless we do retain that faith, our investigations +will be without point or meaning.</p> + +<p>This problem of vocational education to which I have just referred is +one that is likely to remain unsolved until we have made a searching +investigation of its factors in the light of scientific method. Some +people profess not to be worried by the difficulty of finding time in +our elementary and secondary schools for the introduction of the newer +subjects making for increased vocational efficiency. They would cut the +Gordian knot with one single operation by eliminating enough of the +older subjects to make room for the new. I confess that this solution +does not appeal to me. Fundamentally the core of the elementary +curriculum must, I believe, always be the arts that are <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>essential to +every one who lives the social life. In other words, the language arts +and the number arts are, and always must be, the fundamentals of +elementary education. I do not believe that specialized vocational +education should ever be introduced at the expense of thorough training +in the subjects that already hold their place in the curriculum. And yet +we are confronted by the economic necessity of solving in some way this +vocational problem. How are we to do it?</p> + +<p>It is here that the scientific method may perhaps come to our aid. The +obvious avenue of attack upon this problem is to determine whether we +cannot save time and energy, not by the drastic operation of eliminating +old subjects, but rather by improving our technique of teaching, so that +the waste may be reduced, and the time thus saved given to these new +subjects that are so vociferously demanding admission. In Cleveland, for +example, the method of teaching spelling has been subjected to a rigid +scientific treatment, and, as a result, spelling is being taught to-day +vastly better than ever before and with a much smaller expenditure of +time and energy. It has been due, very largely, to the application of a +few well-known principles which the science of psychology has furnished.</p> + +<p>Now that is vastly better than saying that spelling is a subject that +takes too much time in our schools and consequently ought forthwith to +be eliminated. In all of our school work enough time is undoubtedly +<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>wasted to provide ample opportunity for training the child thoroughly +in some vocation if we wish to vocationalize him, and I do not think +that this would hurt him, even if he does not follow the vocation in +later life.</p> + +<p>To-day we are attempting to detect these sources of waste in technique. +The problems of habit building or memorizing are already well on the way +to solution. Careful tests have shown the value of doing memory work in +a certain definite way—learning by unit wholes rather than by +fragments, for example. Experiments have been conducted to determine the +best length of time to give to drill processes, such as spelling, and +penmanship, and the fundamental tables of arithmetic. It is already +clearly demonstrated that brief periods of intense concentration are +more economical than longer periods during which the monotony of +repetition fags the mind to a point where it can no longer work +effectively. We are also beginning to see from these tests, that a +systematic method of attacking such a problem as the memorizing of the +tables will do much to save time and promote efficiency. We are finding +that it is extremely profitable to instruct children in the technique of +learning,—to start them out in the right way by careful example, so +that much of the time and energy that was formerly dissipated, may now +be conserved.</p> + +<p>And there is a suggestion, also, that in the average school, the vast +possibilities of the child's latent energy <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>are only imperfectly +realized. A friend of mine stumbled accidentally upon this fact by +introducing a new method of grading. He divided his pupils into three +groups or streams. The group that progressed the fastest was made up of +those who averaged 85 per cent and over in their work. A middle group +averaged between 75 per cent and 85 per cent in their work, and a third, +slow group was made up of those who averaged below 75 per cent. At the +end of the first month, he found that a certain proportion of his +pupils, who had formerly hovered around the passing grade of 70, began +to forge ahead. Many of them easily went into the fastest stream, but +they were still satisfied with the minimum standing for that group. In +other words, whether we like to admit it or not, most men and women and +boys and girls are content with the passing grades, both in school and +in life. So common is the phenomenon that we think of the matter +fatalistically. But supply a stimulus, raise the standard, and you will +find some of these individuals forging up to the next level.</p> + +<p>Professor James's doctrine of latent energies bids fair to furnish the +solution of a vast number of perplexing educational problems. Certain it +is that our pupils of to-day are not overburdened with work. They are +sometimes irritated by too many tasks, sometimes dulled by dead routine, +sometimes exhilarated to the point of mental <i>ennui</i> by spectacular +appeals to immediate interest. But they are seldom overworked, or <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>even +worked to within a healthful degree of the fatigue point.</p> + +<p>Elementary education has often been accused of transacting its business +in small coin,—of dealing with and emphasizing trivialities,—and yet +every time that the scientific method touches the field of education, it +reveals the fundamental significance of little things. Whether the +third-grade pupil should memorize the multiplication tables in the form, +"8 times 9 equals 72" or simply "8-9's—72" seems a matter of +insignificance in contrast with the larger problems that beset us. And +yet scientific investigation tells us clearly and unequivocally that any +useless addition to a formula to be memorized increases the time for +reducing the formula to memory, and interferes significantly with its +recall and application. It may seem a matter of trivial importance +whether the pupil increases the subtrahend number or decreases the +minuend number when he subtracts digits that involve taking or +borrowing; and yet investigation proves that to increase the subtrahend +number is by far the simpler process, and eliminates both a source of +waste and a source of error, which, in the aggregate, may assume a +significance to mental economy that is well worth considering.</p> + +<p>In fact, if we are ever to solve the broader, bigger, more attractive +problems,—like the problem of vocational education, or the problem of +retardation,—we must first find a solution for some of the smaller and +seemingly <a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>trivial questions of the very existence of which the lay +public may be quite unaware, but which you and I know to mean an untold +total of waste and inefficiency in the work that we are trying to do.</p> + +<p>And one reason why the scientific attitude toward educational problems +appeals to me is simply because this attitude carries with it a respect +for these seemingly trivial and commonplace problems; for just as the +greatest triumph of the teaching art is to get our pupils to see in +those things of life that are fleeting and transitory the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles, so the glory of the scientific +method lies in its power to reveal the significance of the commonplace +and to teach us that no slightest detail of our daily work is +necessarily devoid of inspiration; that every slightest detail of school +method and school management has a meaning and a significance that it is +worth our while to ponder.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> An address delivered before the St. Louis Society of +Pedagogy, April 16, 1910.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Dr. W.T. Harris.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Possibility of Training Children how to Study</span><a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>In its widest aspects, the problem of teaching pupils how to study forms +a large part of the larger educational problem. It means, not only +teaching them how to read books, and to make the content of books part +of their own mental capital, but also, and perhaps far more +significantly, teaching them how to draw lessons from their own +experiences; not only how to observe and classify and draw conclusions, +but also how to evaluate their experience—how to judge whether certain +things that they do give adequate or inadequate results.</p> + +<p>In the narrower sense, however, the art of study may be said to consist +in the ability to assimilate the experiences of others, and it is in +this narrower sense that I shall discuss the problem to-day. It is not +only in books that human experience is recorded, and yet it is true that +the reading of books is the most economical means of gaining these +experiences; consequently, we may still further <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>narrow our problem to +this: How may pupils be trained effectively to glean, through the medium +of the printed page, the great lessons of race experience?</p> + +<p>The word "study" is thus used in the sense in which most teachers employ +it. When we speak of a pupil's studying his lessons, we commonly mean +that he is bending over a text-book, attempting to assimilate the +contents of the text. Just what it means to study, even in this narrow +sense of the term,—just what it means, psychologically, to assimilate +even the simplest thoughts of others,—I cannot tell you, and I do not +know of any one who can answer this seemingly simple question +satisfactorily. We all study, but what happens in our minds when we do +study is a mystery. We all do some thinking, and yet the psychology of +thinking is the great undiscovered and unexplored region in the field of +mental science. Until we know something of the psychology of thinking, +we can hope for very little definite information concerning the +psychology of study, for study is so intimately bound up with thinking +that the two are not to be separated.</p> + +<p>But even if it is impossible at the present time to analyze the process +of studying, we are pretty well agreed as to what constitutes successful +study, and many rules have been formulated for helping pupils to acquire +effective habits of study. These rules concern us only indirectly at the +present time, for our problem is still narrower in its scope. It has to +do with the possibility of so training <a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>children in the art of study, +not only that they may study effectively in school, but also that they +may carry over the habits and methods of study thus acquired into the +tasks of later life. In other words, the topic that we are discussing is +but one phase of the problem of formal discipline,—the problem of +securing a transfer of training from a specific field to other fields; +and my purpose is to view this topic of "study" in the light of what we +know concerning the possibilities of transfer.</p> + +<p>Let me take a specific example. I am not so much concerned with the +problem of getting a pupil to master a history lesson quickly and +effectively,—not how he may best assimilate the facts concerning the +Missouri Compromise, for example. My task is rather to determine how we +can make his mastery of the Missouri Compromise a lesson in the general +art of study,—how that mastery may help him develop what we used to +call the general power of study,—the capacity to apply an effective +method of study to other problems, perhaps, very far removed from the +history lesson; in other words, how that single lesson may help him in +the more general task of finding any type of information when he needs +it, of assimilating it once he has found it, and of applying it once he +has assimilated it.</p> + +<p>In an audience of practical teachers, it is hardly necessary to +emphasize the significance of doing this very thing. From one point of +view, it may be asserted that the whole future of what we term general +education, as distinguished <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>from technical or vocational education, +depends upon our ability to solve problems like this, and solve them +satisfactorily. We can never justify universal general education beyond +the merest rudiments unless we can demonstrate acceptably that the +training which general education furnishes will help the individual to +solve the everyday problems of his life. Either we must train the pupil +in a general way so that he will be able to acquire specialized skill +more quickly and more effectively than will the pupil who lacks this +general training; or we must give up a large part of the general-culture +courses that now occupy an important part in our elementary and +secondary curriculums, and replace these with technical and vocational +subjects that shall have for their purpose the development of +specialized efficiency.</p> + +<p>All teachers, I take it, are alive to the grave dangers of the latter +policy. Whether we have thought the matter through logically or not we +certainly <i>feel</i> strongly that too early specialization will work a +serious injury to the cause of education, and, through education, to the +larger cause of social advancement and enlightenment. We view with grave +foreboding any policy that will shut the door of opportunity to any +child, no matter how humble or how unpromising. And yet we also know +that, unless the general education that we now offer can be distinctly +shown to have a beneficial influence upon specialized efficiency, we +shall be forced by economic conditions into this very policy. It is +small wonder, then, that so <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>many of our educational discussions and +investigations to-day turn upon this problem; and among the various +phases of the problem none is more significant than that which is +covered by our topic of to-day,—How may we develop in the pupil a +general power or capacity for gaining information independently of +schools and teachers? If we could adequately develop this power, there +is much in the way of specialized instruction that could be safely left +to the individual himself. If we could teach him how to study, then we +could perhaps trust him to master some of the principles of any calling +that he undertakes in so far as these principles can be mastered from +books. To teach the child to study effectively is to do the most useful +thing that could be done to help him to adjust himself to any +environment of modern civilized life into which he may be thrown. For +there is one thing that the more radical advocates of a narrow +vocational education commonly forget, and that is the constant change +that is going on in industrial processes. When we limit our vocational +teaching to a mere mastery of technique, there is no guarantee that the +process which we teach to-day may not be discarded in five or ten years +from to-day. Even the narrower technical principles which are so +extremely important to-day may be relatively insignificant by the time +that the child whom we are training takes his place in the industrial +world. But if we can arm the individual with the more fundamental +principles which are fixed for all time; and if, in addi<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>tion to this, +we can teach him how to master the specialized principles which may come +into the field unheralded and unexpected, and turn topsy-turvy the older +methods of doing his work, then we shall have done much toward helping +him in solving that perplexing problem of gaining a livelihood.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>I shall not try in this discussion of the problem of study to summarize +completely the principles and precepts that have been presented so well +in the four books on the subject that have appeared in the last two +years. I do not know, in fact, of any book that is more useful to the +teacher just at present than Professor Frank McMurry's <i>How to Study and +Teaching how to Study</i>. It is a book that is both a help and a delight, +for it is clear and well-organized, and written in a vivacious style and +with a wealth of concrete illustration that holds the attention from +beginning to end. The chief fault that I have to find with it is the +fault that I have to find with almost every educational book that comes +from the press to-day,—the tendency, namely, to imply that the teacher +of to-day is doing very little to solve these troublesome problems. As a +matter of fact, many teachers are securing excellent results from their +attempts to teach pupils how to study. Otherwise we should not find so +many energetic young men to-day who are making an effective individual +mastery of the principles of their respective trades and pro<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>fessions +independently of schools and teachers. Our attitude toward these +questions, far from being that of the pessimist, should be that of the +optimist. Our task should be to seek out these successful teachers, and +find out how they do their work.</p> + +<p>Among the most important points emphasized by the recent writers upon +the art of study is the necessity for some form of motivation in the +work of mastering the text. We all know that if a pupil feels a distinct +need for getting information out of a book, the chances are that he will +get it if the book is available and if he can read. To create a problem +that will involve in its solution the gaining of such information is, +therefore, one of the best approaches to a mastery of the art of study. +It is, however, only the beginning. It furnishes the necessary energy, +but does not map out the path along which this energy is to be expended. +And this is where the greater emphasis, perhaps, is needed.</p> + +<p>One of the best teachers that I ever knew taught the subject that we now +call agronomy,—a branch of agricultural science that has to do with +field crops. I was a mere boy when I sat under his instruction, but +certain points in his method of teaching made a most distinct impression +upon me. Lectures we had, of course, for lecturing was the orthodox +method of class instruction. But this man did something more than merely +lecture. He assigned each one of his students a plat of ground on the +college farm. Upon this plat of ground, a definite <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>experiment was to be +conducted. One of my experiments had to do with the smut of oats. I was +to try the effect of treating the seed with hot water in order to see +whether it would prevent the fungus from later destroying the ripening +grain. The very nature of the problem interested me intensely. I began +to wonder about the life-history of this fungus,—how it looked and how +it germinated and how it grew and wrought its destructive influence. It +was not long before I found myself spending some of my leisure moments +in the library trying to find out what was known concerning this +subject. I was not so successful as I might have been, but I am +confident that I learned more about parasitic fungi under the spur of +that curiosity than I should have done in five times the number of hours +spent in formal, meaningless study.</p> + +<p>But the point of my experience is not that a problem interest had been +awakened, but rather that the white heat of that interest was not +utilized so completely as it might have been utilized in fixing upon my +mind some important details in the general method of running down +references and acquiring information. That was the moment to strike, and +one serious defect of our school organization to-day is that most +teachers, like my teacher at that time, have so much to do that anything +like individual attention at such moments is out of the question.</p> + +<p>Next to individual attention, probably, the best way to overcome the +difficulty is to give class instruction in these matters,—to set aside +a definite period for teaching <a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>pupils the technique of using books. If +one could arouse a sufficiently general problem interest, this sort of +instruction could be made most effective. But even if the problem +interest is not general, I think that it is well to assume that it +exists in some pupils, at least, and to give them the benefit of class +instruction in the art of study,—even if some of the seed should fall +upon barren soil.</p> + +<p>This aspect of teaching pupils how to study is particularly important in +the upper grades and the high school, where pupils have sufficiently +mastered the technique of reading to be intrusted with individual +problems, and where some reference books are commonly available. Chief +among these always is the dictionary, and to get pupils to use this +ponderous volume effectively is one of the important steps in teaching +them how to study. Here, too, it is easy to be pedantic. As I shall +insist strenuously a little later, the chief factor in insuring a +transfer of training from one subject to another is to leave in the +pupil's mind a distinct consciousness that the method that he has been +trained to follow is worth while,—that it gets results. The dictionary +habit is likely to begin and end within the schoolroom unless steps are +taken to insure the operation of this factor. It is easy to overwork the +dictionary and to use it fruitlessly, in so great a measure, in fact, +that the pupil will never want to see a dictionary again.</p> + +<p>Aside from the use of the dictionary, is the use of the helps that +modern books provide for finding the informa<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>tion that may be +desired,—indices, tables of contents, marginal and cross-references, +and the like. These, again, are most significant in the work of the +upper grades and the high school, and here again if we wish the skill +that is developed in their use to be transferred, we must take pains to +see that the pupil really appreciates their value,—that he realizes +their time-saving and energy-saving functions. I do not know that there +is any better way to do this than to let him flounder around without +them for a little so that his sense of their value may be enhanced by +contrast.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>Another important step emphasized by the recent writers is the need for +training children to pick out the significant features in the text or +portion of the text that they are reading. This, of course, is work that +is to be undertaken from the very moment that they begin to use books. +How to do it effectively is a puzzling problem and one that will amply +repay study and experimentation by the individual teacher. Much studying +of lessons by teachers and pupils together will help, provided that the +exercise is spirited and vital, and is not looked upon by the pupils as +an easy way of getting out of recitation work. McMurry strongly +recommends the marking of books to indicate the topic sentences and the +other salient features. Personally, I am sure from my own experience +that the assignment is all-important here, and that study questions and +problems which can be answered or solved by <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>reference to the text will +help matters very much; but care must, of course, be taken that the +continued use of such questions does not preclude the pupil's own +mastery of the art of study. To eliminate this danger, it is well that +the pupils be requested frequently to make out their own lists of +questions, and, as speedily as possible, both the questions made by the +pupil and those made by the teacher, should be replaced by topical +outlines. By taking care that the questions are logically +arranged,—that is, that a general question refer to the topic of the +paragraph, and other subordinate questions to the subordinate details of +the paragraph,—the transition from the questions to the topical outline +may be readily made. Simultaneously with this will go the transition in +recitation from the question-and-answer type to the topical type; and +when you have trained a class into the habit of topical +recitation,—when each pupil can talk right through a topic (not around +it or underneath it or above it) without the use of "pumping" questions +by the teacher,—you have gone a long way toward developing the art of +study.</p> + +<p>The transfer of this training, however, is quite another matter. There +are pupils who can work up excellent topical recitations from their +school text-books but who are utterly at sea in getting a grasp on a +subject treated in other books. Here again the problem lies in getting +the pupil to see the method apart from its content, and to show him that +it really brings results that are worth <a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>while. If, in our training in +the topical method, we are too formal and didactic, the art of study +will begin and end right there. It is here that the factor of motivation +is of supreme importance. When real problems are raised which require +for their solution intelligent reading, the general worth of the method +of study can be clearly shown. I do not go so far as to say that the +pupil should never be required to study unless he has a real problem +that he wishes to solve. In fact, I think that we still have a large +place for the formal, systematic mastery of texts by every pupil in our +schools. I do contend, however, that the frequent introduction of real +problems will give us an opportunity to show the pupil that the method +that he has utilized in his more formal school work is adequate and +essential to do the thing that appeals to him as worth while. Only in +this way, I believe, can we insure that transfer of training which is +the important factor from our present standpoint.</p> + +<p>And I ought also to say, parenthetically, that we should not interpret +too narrowly this word "motivation." Let us remember that what may +appeal to the adult as an effective motive does not always appeal to the +child as such. Economic motives are the most effective, probably, in our +own adult lives, and probably very effective with high-school pupils, +but economic motives are not always strong in young children, nor should +we wish them to be. It is not always true that the child will approach a +school task sympathetically when he knows that the task <a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>is an essential +preparation for the life that is going on about him. He may work harder +at a task in order to get ahead of his fellow-pupils than he would if +the motive were to fit him to enter a shop or a factory. Motive is +largely a matter of instinct with the child, and he may, indeed, be +perfectly satisfied with a school task just as it stands. For example, +we all know that children enjoy the right kind of drill. Repetition, +especially rhythmic repetition, is instinctive,—it satisfies an inborn +need. Where such a condition exists, it is an obvious waste of time to +search about for more indirect motives. The economical thing to do is to +turn the ready energy of the child into the channel that is already open +to it, so long as this procedure fits in with the results that we must +secure. I feel like emphasizing this fact, inasmuch as the terms +"problem interest" and "motivation" seem most commonly to be associated +in the minds of teachers with what we adults term "real" or economic +situations. To learn a lesson well may often be a sufficient +motive,—may often constitute a "real" situation to the child,—and if +it does, it will serve very effectively our purposes in this other +task,—namely, getting the pupil to see the worth of the method that we +ask him to employ.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>There are one or two points of a general nature in connection with the +art of study that should be emphasized. In the first place, the +upper-grade and high-school <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>pupils are, I believe, mature enough to +appreciate in some degree what knowledge really means. One of the +fallacies of which I was possessed on completing my work in the lower +schools was the belief that there are some men who know everything. I +naturally concluded that the superintendent of schools was one of these +men; the family physician was another; the leading man in my town was a +third; and any one who ever wrote a book was put, <i>ex officio</i> so to +speak, into this class without further inquiry. One of the most +astounding revelations of my later education was to learn that, after +all, the amount of real knowledge in this world, voluminous though it +seems, is after all pitiably small. Of opinion and speculation we have a +surplus, but of real, downright, hard fact, our capital is still most +insignificant. And I wonder if something could not be done in the high +school to teach pupils the difference between fact and opinion, and +something also of the slow, laborious process through which real facts +are accumulated. How many mistakes of life are due to the lack of the +judicial attitude right here. What mistakes we all make when we try to +evaluate writings outside of our own special field of knowledge or +activity. Nothing depresses me to-day quite so much as the readiness +with which laymen mistake opinion for fact in the field of psychology +and education,—and I suppose that my own hasty acceptance of statements +in other fields would have a similar effect upon the specialists of +those fields.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>Can general education help us out at all in this matter? I have only +one or two suggestions to make, and even these may not be worth a great +deal. In the recent Polar controversy, the sympathies of the general +public were, I think, at the outset with Cook. This was perhaps, +natural, and yet the trained mind ought to have withheld judgment for +one reason if for no other,—and that one reason was Peary's long Arctic +service, his unquestioned mastery of the technique of polar travel, his +general reputation for honesty and caution in advancing opinions. By all +the lessons that history teaches, Peary's word should have had +precedence over Cook's, for Peary was a specialist, while Cook was only +an amateur. And yet the general public discounted entirely those +lessons, and trusted rather the novice, with what results it is now +unnecessary to review,—and in nine cases out of ten, the results will +be the same.</p> + +<p>Could we not, as part of our work in training pupils to study, also +teach them to give some sort of an evaluation to the authorities that +they consult? Could we not teach them that, in nine cases out of ten, at +least, the man who has the message most worth listening to is the man +who has worked the hardest and the longest in his field, and who enjoys +the best reputation among his fellow-workers? Sometimes, I admit, the +rule does not work, and especially with men whose reputations as +authorities have outlived their period of productivity, but even this +mistake could be guarded against. Certainly high-<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>school pupils ought +distinctly to understand that the authors of their text-books are not +always the most learned men or the greatest authorities in the fields +that they treat. The use of biographical dictionaries, of the books that +are appearing in various fields giving brief biographies and often some +authoritative estimate of the workers in these fields, is important in +this connection.</p> + +<p>McMurry recommends that pupils be encouraged to take a critical attitude +toward the principles they are set to master,—to judge, as he says, the +soundness and worth of the statements that they learn. This is certainly +good advice, and wherever the pupil can intelligently deal with real +sources, it is well frequently to have him check up the statements of +secondary sources. But, after all, this is the age of the specialist, +and to trust one's untrained judgment in a field remote from one's +knowledge and experience is likely to lead to unfortunate results. We +have all sorts of illustrations from the ignorant man who will not trust +the physician or the health official in matters of sanitation; because +he lacks the proper perspective, he jumps to the conclusion that the +specialist is a fraud. Would it not be well to supplement McMurry's +suggestion by the one that I have just made,—that is, that we train +pupils how to evaluate authorities as well as facts,—how to protect +themselves from the quack and the faker who live like parasites upon the +ignorance of laymen, both in medicine, in education, and in Arctic +exploration?</p> + +<p><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>And I believe that there is a place, also, in the high school, +especially in connection with the work in science and history, for +giving pupils some idea of how knowledge is really gained. I should not +teach science exclusively by the laboratory method, nor history +exclusively by the source method, but I should certainly take frequent +opportunity to let pupils work through some simple problems from the +beginnings, struggling with the conditions somewhat as the discoverers +themselves struggled; following up "blind leads" and toilsomely +returning for a fresh start; meeting with discouragement; and finally +feeling, perhaps, some of the joy that comes with success after +struggle; and all in order that they may know better and appreciate more +fully the cost and the worth of that intellectual heritage which the +master-minds of the world have bequeathed to the present and the future. +And along with this, as they master the principles of science, let them +learn also the human side of science,—the story of Newton, withholding +his great discovery for years until he could be absolutely certain that +it was a law; until he could get the very commonplace but obstreperous +moon into harmony with his law of falling bodies;—the story of Darwin, +with his twenty-odd years of the most patient and persistent kind of +toil; delving into the most unpromising materials, reading the driest +books, always on the lookout for the facts that would point the way to +the explanation of species;—the story of Morse and his bitter struggle +against poverty, <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>and sickness, and innumerable disappointments up to +the time when, in advancing years, success crowned his efforts.</p> + +<p>All this may seem very remote from the prosaic task of teaching pupils +how to study; and yet it will lend its influence toward the attainment +of that end. For, after all, we must lead our pupils to see that some +books, in spite of their formidable difficulties and their apparent +abstractions, are still close to life, and that the truth which lies in +books, and which we wish them to assimilate, has been wrought out of +human experience, and not brought down miraculously from some remote +storehouse of wisdom that is accessible only to the elect. We poke a +good deal of fun at book learning nowadays, and there is a pedantic type +of book learning that certainly deserves all the ridicule that can be +heaped upon it. But it is not wise to carry satire and ridicule too far +in any direction, and especially when it may mean creating in young +minds a distrust of the force that, more than any other single factor, +has operated to raise man above the savage.</p> + + +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>To teach the child the art of study means, then, that we take every +possible occasion to impress upon his mind the value of study as a means +of solving real and vital problems, and that, with this as an incentive, +we gradually and persistently and systematically lead him to grasp the +method of study as a method,—that is, <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>slowly and gradually to abstract +the method from the particular cases to which he applies it and to +emotionalize it,—to make it an ideal. Only in this way, so far as we +may know, can the art be so generalized as to find ready application in +his later life. To this end, it is essential that the steps be taken +repeatedly,—not begun to-day and never thought of again until next +year,—but daily, even hourly, insuring a little growth. This means, +too, not only that the teacher must possess a high degree of +patience,—that first principle of pedagogic skill,—but also that he +have a comprehensive grasp of the problem, and the ability to separate +the woods from the trees, so that, to him at least, the chief aim will +never be lost to view.</p> + +<p>But, even at its best, the task is a severe one, and we need, here as +elsewhere in education, carefully controlled tests and experiments, that +will enable us to get at the facts. Above all, let me protest against +the incidental theory of teaching pupils how to study. To adopt the +incidental policy in any field of education,—whether in arithmetic, or +spelling, or reading; whether in developing the power of reasoning or +the memory, or the art of study,—is to throw wide open the doors that +lead to the lines of least resistance, to lax methods, to easy honors, +to weakened mental fiber, and to scamped work. Just as the pernicious +doctrine of the subconscious is the first and last refuge of the +psycho-faker, so incidental learning is the first and last refuge of +soft <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>pedagogy. And I mean by incidental learning, going at a teaching +task in an indolent, unreflective, hit-or-miss fashion in the hope that +somehow or other from this process will emerge the very definite results +that we desire.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> A paper read before the Superintendents' Section of the +Illinois State Teachers' Association, December 29, 1910.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Plea for the Definite in Education</span><a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></h4> + +<h4>I</h4> + + +<p>One way to be definite in education is to formulate as clearly as we can +the aims that we hope to realize in every stage of our work. The task of +teaching is so complex that, unless we strive earnestly and persistently +to reduce it to the simplest possible terms, we are bound to work +blindly and ineffectively.</p> + +<p>It is only one phase of this topic that I wish to discuss with you this +morning. My plea for the definite in education will be limited not only +to the field of educational aims and values, but to a small corner of +that field. Your morning's program has dealt with the problem of +teaching history in the elementary school. I should like, if you are +willing, to confine my remarks to this topic, and to attack the specific +question, What is the history that we teach in the grades to do for the +pupil? I wish to make this limitation, not only because what I have to +say will be related to the other topics on the program, but also because +this very subject of <a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>history is one which the lack of a definite +standard of educational value has been keenly felt.</p> + +<p>I should admit at the outset that my interest in history is purely +educational. I have had no special training in historical research. As +you may perhaps infer from my discussion, my acquaintance with +historical facts is very far from comprehensive. I speak as a layman in +history,—and I do it openly and, perhaps, a little defiantly, for I +believe that the last person to pass adequate judgment upon the general +educational value of a given department of knowledge is a man who has +made the department a life study. I have little faith in what the +mathematician has to say regarding the educational value of mathematics +<i>for the average elementary pupil</i>, because he is a special pleader and +his conclusions cannot escape the coloring of his prejudice. I once knew +an enthusiastic brain specialist who maintained that, in every grade of +the elementary school, instruction should be required in the anatomy of +the human brain. That man was an expert in his own line. He knew more +about the structure of the brain than any other living man. But knowing +more about brain morphology also implied that he knew less about many +other things, and among the things that he knew little about were the +needs and capacities of children in the elementary school. He was a +special pleader; he had been dealing with his special subject so long +that it had assumed a disproportionate value in his eyes. Brain +<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>morphology had given him fame, honor, and worldly emoluments. Naturally +he would have an exaggerated notion of its value.</p> + +<p>It is the same with any other specialist. As specialists in education, +you and I are likely to overemphasize the importance of the common +school in the scheme of creation. Personally I am convinced that the +work of elementary education is the most profoundly significant work in +the world; and yet I can realize that I should be no fit person to make +comparisons if the welfare of a number of other professions and callings +were at stake. I should let an unbiased judge make the final +determination.</p> + + +<h4>II</h4> + +<p>The first question for which we should seek an answer in connection with +the value of any school subject is this: How does it influence conduct? +Let me insist at the outset that we cannot be definite by saying simply +that we teach history in order to impart instruction. If there is one +thing upon which we are all agreed to-day it is this: that it is what +our pupils do that counts, not what they know. The knowledge that they +may possess has value only in so far as it may directly or indirectly be +turned over into action.</p> + +<p>Let us not be mistaken upon this point. Knowledge is of the utmost +importance, but it is important only as a means to an end—and the end +is conduct. If my <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>pupils act in no way more efficiently after they have +received my instruction than they would have acted had they never come +under my influence, then my work as a teacher is a failure. If their +conduct is less efficient, then my work is not only a failure,—it is a +catastrophe. The knowledge that I impart may be absolutely true; the +interest that I arouse may be intense; the affection that my pupils have +for me may be genuine; but all these are but means to an end, and if the +end is not attained, the means have been futile.</p> + +<p>We have faith that the materials which we pour in at the hopper of sense +impression will come out sooner or later at the spout of reaction, +transformed by some mysterious process into efficient conduct. While the +machinery of the process, like the mills of the gods, certainly grinds +slowly, it is some consolation to believe that, at any rate, it <i>does</i> +grind; and we are perhaps fain to believe that the exceeding fineness of +the grist is responsible for our failure to detect at the spout all of +the elements that we have been so careful to pour in at the hopper. What +I should like to do is to examine this grinding process rather +carefully,—to gain, if possible, some definite notion of the kind of +grist we should like to produce, and then to see how the machinery may +be made to produce this grist, and in what proportions we must mix the +material that we pour into the hopper in order to gain the desired +result.</p> + +<p>I have said that we must ask of every subject that <a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>we teach, How does +it influence conduct? Now when we ask this question concerning history a +variety of answers are at once proposed. One group of people will assert +that the facts of history have value because they can be directly +applied to the needs of contemporary life. History, they will tell us, +records the experiences of the race, and if we are to act intelligently +we must act upon the basis of this experience. History informs us of the +mistakes that former generations have made in adjusting themselves to +the world. If we know history, we can avoid these mistakes. This type of +reasoning may be said to ascribe a utilitarian value to the study of +history. It assumes that historical knowledge is directly and +immediately applicable to vital problems of the present day.</p> + +<p>Now the difficulty with this value, as with many others that seem to +have the sanction of reason, is that it does not possess the sanction of +practical test. While knowledge doubtless affects in some way the +present policy of our own government, it would be very hard to prove +that the influence is in any way a direct influence. It is extremely +doubtful whether the knowledge that the voters have of the history of +their country will be recalled and applied at the ballot box next +November. I do not say that the study of history that has been going on +in the common schools for a generation will be entirely without effect +upon the coming election. I simply maintain that this influence <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>will be +indirect,—but I believe that it will be none the less profound. One's +vote at the next election will be determined largely by immediate and +present conditions. But the way in which one interprets these conditions +cannot help being profoundly influenced by one's historical study or +lack of such study.</p> + +<p>If it is clear, then, that the study of history cannot be justified upon +a purely utilitarian basis, we may pass to the consideration of other +values that have been proposed. The specialist in history, whose right +to legislate upon this matter I have just called into question, will +probably emphasize the disciplinary value of this study. Specialists are +commonly enthusiastic over the disciplinary value of their special +subjects. Their own minds have been so well developed by the pursuit of +their special branches that they are impelled to recommend the same +discipline for all minds. Again, we must not blame the specialist in +history, for you and I think the same about our own special type of +activity.</p> + +<p>From the disciplinary point of view, the study of history is supposed to +give one the mastery of a special method of reasoning. Historical method +involves, above all else, the careful sifting of evidence, the minutest +scrutiny of sources in order to judge whether or not the records are +authentic, and the utmost care in coming to conclusions. Now it will be +generally agreed that these are desirable types of skill to possess +whether one is an historian or a lawyer or a teacher or a man of +<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>business. And yet, as in all types of discipline, the difficulty lies, +not so much in acquiring the specific skill, as in transferring the +skill thus acquired to other fields of activity. Skill of any sort is +made up of a multitude of little specific habits, and it is a current +theory that habit functions effectively only in the specific situation +in which it has been built up, or in situations closely similar. But +whether this is true or not it is obvious that the teaching of +elementary history provides very few opportunities for this type of +training.</p> + +<p>A third view of the way in which historical knowledge is thought to work +into action may be discussed under the head of the cultural value. +History, like literature, is commonly assumed to give to the individual +who studies it, a certain amount of that commodity which the world calls +culture. Precisely what culture consists in, no one, apparently, is +ready to tell us, but we all admit that it is real, if not tangible and +definable, nor can we deny that the individual who possesses culture +conducts himself, as a rule, differently from the individual who does +not possess it. In other words, culture is a practical thing, for the +only things that are practical are the things that modify or control +human action.</p> + +<p>It is doubtless true that the study of history does add to this +intangible something that we call "culture," but the difficulty with +this value lies in the fact that, even after we have accepted it as +valid, we are in no <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>way better off regarding our methods. Like many +other theories, its truth is not to be denied, but its truth gives us no +inkling of a solution of our problem. What we need is an educational +value of history, the recognition of which will enable us to formulate a +method for realizing the value.</p> + + +<h4>III</h4> + +<p>The unsatisfactory character of these three values that have been +proposed for history—the utilitarian, the disciplinary, and the +cultural—is typical of the values that have been proposed for other +subjects. Unless the aim of teaching any given subject can be stated in +definite terms, the teacher must work very largely in the dark; his +efforts must be largely of the "hit-or-miss" order. The desired value +may be realized under these conditions, but, if it is realized, it is +manifestly through accident, not through intelligent design. It is +needless to point out the waste that such a blundering and haphazard +adjustment entails. We all know how much of our teaching fails to hit +the mark, even when we are clear concerning the result that we desire; +we can only conjecture how much of the remainder fails of effect because +we are hazy and obscure concerning its purpose.</p> + +<p>Let us return to our original basic principle and see what light it may +throw upon our problem. We have said that the efficiency of teaching +must always be <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>measured by the degree in which the pupil's conduct is +modified. Taking conduct as our base, then, let us reason back and see +what factors control conduct, and, if possible, how these "controls" may +be influenced by the processes of education working through the lesson +in history.</p> + +<p>I shall start with a very simple and apparently trivial example. When I +was living in the Far West, I came to know something of the Chinese, who +are largely engaged, as you know, in domestic service in that part of +the country. Most of the Chinese servants that I met corresponded very +closely with what we read concerning Chinese character. We have all +heard of the Chinese servant's unswerving adherence to a routine that he +has once established. They say in the West that when a housewife gives +her Chinese servant an object lesson in the preparation of a certain +dish, she must always be very careful to make her demonstration perfect +the first time. If, inadvertently, she adds one egg too many, she will +find that, in spite of her protestations, the superfluous egg will +always go into that preparation forever afterward. From what I know of +the typical Oriental, I am sure that this warning is not overdrawn.</p> + +<p>Now here is a bit of conduct, a bit of adjustment, that characterizes +the Chinese cook. Not only that, but, in a general way, it is peculiar +to all Chinese, and hence may be called a national trait. We might call +<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>it a vigorous national prejudice in favor of precedent. But whatever we +call it, it is a very dominant force in Chinese life. It is the trait +that, perhaps more than any other, distinguishes Chinese conduct from +European or American conduct. Now one might think this trait to be +instinctive,—to be bred in the bone rather than acquired,—but this I +am convinced is not altogether true. At least one Chinese whom I knew +did not possess it at all. He was born on a western ranch and his +parents died soon after his birth. He was brought up with the children +of the ranch owner, and is now a prosperous rancher himself. He lacks +every characteristic that we commonly associate with the Chinese, save +only the physical features. His hair is straight, his skin is saffron, +his eyes are slightly aslant,—but that is all. As far as his conduct +goes,—and that is the essential thing,—he is an American. In other +words, his traits, his tendencies to action, are American and not +Chinese. His life represents the triumph of environment over heredity.</p> + +<p>When you visit England you find yourselves among a people who speak the +same language that you speak,—or, perhaps it would be better to say, +somewhat the same; at least you can understand each other. In a great +many respects, the Englishman and the American are similar in their +traits, but in a great many other respects they differ radically. You +cannot, from your knowledge of American traits, judge what an +English<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>man's conduct will be upon every occasion. If you happened on +Piccadilly of a rainy morning, for example, you would see the English +clerks and storekeepers and professional men riding to their work on the +omnibuses that thread their way slowly through the crowded thoroughfare. +No matter how rainy the morning, these men would be seated on the tops +of the omnibuses, although the interior seats might be quite unoccupied. +No matter how rainy the morning, many of these men would be faultlessly +attired in top hats and frock coats, and there they would sit through +the drizzling rain, protecting themselves most inadequately with their +opened umbrellas. Now there is a bit of conduct that you cannot find +duplicated in any American city. It is a national habit,—or, perhaps, +it would be better to say, it is an expression of a national trait,—and +that national trait is a prejudice in favor of convention. It is the +thing to do, and the typical Englishman does it, just as, when he is +sent as civil governor to some lonely outpost in India, with no +companions except scantily clad native servants, he always dresses +conscientiously for dinner and sits down to his solitary meal clad in +the conventional swallow-tail coat of civilization.</p> + +<p>Now the way in which a Chinese cook prepares a custard, or the way in +which an English merchant rides in an omnibus, may be trivial and +unimportant matters in themselves, and yet, like the straw that shows +which <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>way the wind blows, they are indicative of vast and profound +currents. The conservatism of the Chinese empire is only a larger and +more comprehensive expression of the same trait or prejudice that leads +the cook to copy literally his model. The present educational situation +in England is only another expression of that same prejudice in favor of +the established order, which finds expression in the merchant on the +Piccadilly omnibus.</p> + +<p>Whenever you pass from one country to another you will find this +difference in tendencies to action. In Germany, for example, you will +find something that amounts almost to a national fervor for economy and +frugality. You will find it expressing itself in the care with which the +German housewife does her marketing. You will find it expressing itself +in the intensive methods of agriculture, through which scarcely a square +inch of arable land is permitted to lie fallow,—through which, for +example, even the shade trees by the roadside furnish fruit as well as +shade, and are annually rented for their fruit value to industrious +members of the community,—and it is said in one section of Germany that +the only people known to steal fruit from these trees along the lonely +country roads are American tourists, who, you will see, also have their +peculiar standards of conduct. You will find this same fervor for +frugality and economy expressing itself most extensively in that +splendid forest policy by means of <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>which the German states have +conserved their magnificent timber resources.</p> + +<p>But, whatever its expression, it is the same trait,—a trait born of +generations of struggle with an unyielding soil, and yet a trait which, +combined with the German fervor for science and education, has made +possible the marvelous progress that Germany has made within the last +half century.</p> + +<p>What do we mean by national traits? Simply this: prejudices or +tendencies toward certain typical forms of conduct, common to a given +people. It is this community of conduct that constitutes a nation. A +country whose people have different standards of action must be a +divided country, as our own American history sufficiently demonstrates. +Unless upon the vital questions of human adjustment, men are able to +agree, they cannot live together in peace. If we are a distinctive and +unique nation,—if we hold a distinctive and unique place among the +nations of the globe,—it is because you and I and the other inhabitants +of our country have developed distinctive and unique ideals and +prejudices and standards, all of which unite to produce a community of +conduct. And once granting that our national characteristics are worth +while, that they constitute a distinct advance over the characteristics +of the other nations of the earth, it becomes the manifest duty of the +school to do its share in perpetuating these ideals and prejudices and +standards. Once <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>let these atrophy through disuse, once let them fail of +transmission because of the decay of the home, or the decay of the +school, or the decay of the social institutions that typify and express +them, and our country must go the way of Greece and Rome, and, although +our blood may thereafter continue pure and unmixed, and our physical +characteristics may be passed on from generation to generation unchanged +in form, our nation will be only a memory, and its history ancient +history. Some of the Greeks of to-day are the lineal descendants of the +Athenians and Spartans, but the ancient Greek standards of conduct, the +Greek ideals, died twenty centuries ago, to be resurrected, it is true, +by the renaissance, and to enjoy the glorious privilege of a new and +wider sphere of life,—but among an alien people, and under a northern +sun.</p> + +<p>And so the true aim of the study of history in the elementary school is +not the realization of its utilitarian, its cultural, or its +disciplinary value. It is not a mere assimilation of facts concerning +historical events, nor the memorizing of dates, nor the picturing of +battles, nor the learning of lists of presidents,—although each of +these factors has its place in fulfilling the function of historical +study. The true function of national history in our elementary schools +is to establish in the pupils' minds those ideals and standards of +action which differentiate the American people from the rest of the +world, and especially to fortify these ideals and stand<a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>ards by a +description of the events and conditions through which they developed. +It is not the facts of history that are to be applied to the problems of +life; it is rather the emotional attitude, the point of view, that comes +not from memorizing, but from appreciating, the facts. A mere fact has +never yet had a profound influence over human conduct. A principle that +is accepted by the head and not by the heart has never yet stained a +battle field nor turned the tide of a popular election. Men act, not as +they think, but as they feel, and it is not the idea, but the ideal, +that is important in history.</p> + + +<h4>IV</h4> + +<p>But what are the specific ideals and standards for which our nation +stands and which distinguish, in a very broad but yet explicit manner, +our conduct from the conduct of other peoples? If we were to ask this +question of an older country, we could more easily obtain an answer, for +in the older countries the national ideals have, in many cases, reached +an advanced point of self-consciousness. The educational machinery of +the German empire, for example, turns upon this problem of impressing +the national ideals. It is one aim of the official courses of study, for +instance, that history shall be so taught that the pupils will gain an +overweening reverence for the reigning house of Hohenzollern. Nor is +that newer ideal of national unity which had its seed <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>sown in the +Franco-Prussian War in any danger of neglect by the watchful eye of the +government. Not only must the teacher impress it upon every occasion, +but every attempt is also made to bring it daily fresh to the minds of +the people through great monuments and memorials. Scarcely a hamlet is +so small that it does not possess its Bismarck <i>Denkmal</i>, often situated +upon some commanding hill, telling to each generation, in the sublime +poetry of form, the greatness of the man who made German unity a reality +instead of a dream.</p> + +<p>But in our country, we do not thus consciously formulate and express our +national ideals. We recognize them rather with averted face as the +adolescent boy recognizes any virtue that he may possess, as if +half-ashamed of his weakness. We have monuments to our heroes, it is +true, but they are often inaccessible, and as often they fail to convey +in any adequate manner, the greatness of the lessons which the lives of +these heroes represent. Where Germany has a hundred or more impressive +memorials to the genius of Bismarck, we have but one adequate memorial +to the genius of Washington, while for Lincoln, who represents the +typical American standards of life and conduct more faithfully than any +other one character in our history, we have no memorial that is at all +adequate,—and we should have a thousand. Some day our people will awake +to the possibilities that inhere in these palpable expressions of the +impalpable things for which our country stands.<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a> We shall come to +recognize the vast educative importance of perpetuating, in every +possible way, the deep truths that have been established at the cost of +so much blood and treasure.</p> + +<p>To embody our national ideals in the personages of the great figures of +history who did so much to establish them is the most elementary method +of insuring their conservation and transmission. We are beginning to +appreciate the value of this method in our introductory courses of +history in the intermediate and lower grammar grades. The historical +study outlined for these grades in most of our state and city school +programs includes mainly biographical materials. As long as the purpose +of this study is kept steadily in view by the teacher, its value may be +very richly realized. The danger lies in an obscure conception of the +purpose. We are always too prone to teach history didactically, and to +teach biographical history didactically is to miss the mark entirely. +The aim here is not primarily instruction, but inspiration; not merely +learning, but also appreciation. To tell the story of Lincoln's life in +such a way that its true value will be realized requires first upon the +part of the teacher a sincere appreciation of the great lesson of +Lincoln's life. Lincoln typifies the most significant and representative +of American ideals. His career stands for and illustrates the greatest +of our national principles,—the principle of equality,—not the +equality of birth, not the equality of social station, <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>but the equality +of opportunity. That a child of the lowliest birth, reared under +conditions apparently the most unfavorable for rich development, limited +by the sternest poverty, by lack of formal education, by lack of family +pride and traditions, by lack of an environment of culture, by the hard +necessity of earning his own livelihood almost from earliest +childhood,—that such a man should attain to the highest station in the +land and the proudest eminence in its history, and should have acquired +from the apparently unfavorable environment of his early life the very +qualities that made him so efficient in that station and so permanent in +that eminence,—this is a miracle that only America could produce. It is +this conception that the teacher must have, and this he must, in some +measure, impress upon his pupils.</p> + + +<h4>V</h4> + +<p>In the teaching of history in the elementary school, the biographical +treatment is followed in the later grammar grades by a systematic study +of the main events of American history. Here the method is different, +but the purpose is the same. This purpose is, I take it, to show how our +ideals and standards have developed, through what struggles and +conflicts they have become firmly established; and the aim must be to +have our pupils relive, as vividly as possible, the pain and the +struggles and the striving and the triumph, to the end <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>that they may +appreciate, however feebly, the heritage that is theirs.</p> + +<p>Here again it is not the facts as such that are important, but the +emotional appreciation of the facts, and to this end, the coloring must +be rich, the pictures vivid, the contrasts sharply drawn. The successful +teacher of history has the gift of making real the past. His pupils +struggle with Columbus against a frightened, ignorant, mutinous crew; +they toil with the Pilgrim fathers to conquer the wilderness; they +follow the bloody trail of the Deerfield victims through the forest to +Canada; they too resist the encroachments of the Mother Country upon +their rights as English citizens; they suffer through the long winter at +Valley Forge and join with Washington in his midnight vigils; they +rejoice at Yorktown; they dream with Jefferson and plead with Webster; +their hearts are fired with the news of Sumter; they clinch their teeth +at Bull Run; they gather hope at Donelson, but they shudder at Shiloh; +they struggle through the Wilderness with Grant; tired but triumphant, +they march home from Appomattox; and through it all, in virtue of the +limitless capacities of vicarious experience, they have shared the +agonies of Lincoln.</p> + +<p>Professor Mace, in his essay on <i>Method in History</i>, tells us that there +are two distinct phases to every historical event. These are the event +itself and the human feeling that brought it forth. It has seemed to <a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>me +that there are three phases,—the event itself, the feeling that brought +it forth, and the feeling to which it gave birth; for no event is +historically important unless it has transformed in some way the ideals +and standards of the people,—unless it has shifted, in some way, their +point of view, and made them act differently from the way in which they +would have acted had the event never occurred. One leading purpose in +the teaching of history is to show how ideals have been transformed, how +we have come to have standards different from those that were once held.</p> + +<p>Many of our national ideals have their roots deep down in English +history. Not long ago I heard a seventh-grade class discussing the Magna +Charta. It was a class in American history, and yet the events that the +pupils had been studying occurred three centuries before the discovery +of America. They had become familiar with the long list of abuses that +led to the granting of the charter. They could tell very glibly what +this great document did for the English people. They traced in detail +the subsequent events that led to the establishment of the House of +Commons. All this was American history just as truly as if the events +described had occurred on American soil. They were gaining an +appreciation of one of the most fundamental of our national ideals,—the +ideal of popular government. And not only that, but they were studying +popular government in its simplest form, uncomplicated <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>by the +innumerable details and the elaborate organizations which characterize +popular government to-day.</p> + +<p>And when these pupils come to the time when this ideal of +self-government was transplanted to American soil, they will be ready to +trace with intelligence the changes that it took on. They will +appreciate the marked influence which geographical conditions exert in +shaping national standards of action. How richly American history +reveals and illustrates this influence we are only just now beginning to +appreciate. The French and the English colonists developed different +types of national character partly because they were placed under +different geographical conditions. The St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes +gave the French an easy means of access into the vast interior of the +continent, and provided innumerable temptations to exploitation rather +than a few incentives to development. Where the French influence was +dispersed over a wide territory, the English influence was concentrated. +As a consequence, the English energy went to the development of +resources that were none too abundant, and to the establishment of +permanent institutions that would conserve these resources. The barrier +of the Appalachians hemmed them in,—three hundred miles of alternate +ridge and valley kept them from the West until they were numerically +able to settle rather than to exploit this country. Not a little credit +for the ultimate Eng<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>lish domination of the continent must be given to +these geographical conditions.</p> + +<p>But geography does not tell the whole story. The French colonists +differed from the English colonists from the outset in standards of +conduct. They had brought with them the principle of paternalism, and, +in time of trouble, they looked to France for support. The English +colonists brought with them the principle of self-reliance and, in time +of trouble, they looked only to themselves. And so the old English +ideals had a new birth and a broader field of application on American +soil. There is nothing finer in our country's history than the attitude +of the New England colonists during the intercolonial wars. Their +northern frontier covering two hundred miles of unprotected territory +was constantly open to the incursions of the French from Canada and +their Indian allies, to appease whom the French organized their raids. +And yet, so deeply implanted was this ideal of self-reliance that New +England scarcely thought of asking aid of the mother country and would +have protested to the last against the permanent establishment of a +military garrison within her limits. For a period extending over fifty +years, New England protected her own borders. She felt the terrors of +savage warfare in its most sanguinary forms. And yet, uncomplaining, she +taxed herself to repel the invaders. The people loved their own +independence too much to part with it, even for the sake of peace, +<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>prosperity, and security. At a later date, unknown to the mother +country, they raised and equipped from their own young men and at their +own expense, the punitive expedition that, in the face of seemingly +certain defeat, captured the French fortress at Louisburg, and gave to +English military annals one of its most brilliant victories. To get the +pupil to live through these struggles, to feel the impetus of idealism +upon conduct, to appreciate what that almost forgotten half-century of +conflict meant to the development of our national character, would be to +realize the greatest value that colonial history can have for its +students. It lays bare the source of that strength which made New +England preëminent in the Revolution, and which has placed the mint mark +of New England idealism upon the coin of American character. Could a +pupil who has lived vicariously through such experiences as these easily +forsake principle for policy?</p> + +<p>A newspaper cartoon published a year or so ago, gives some notion of the +danger that we are now facing of losing that idealism upon which our +country was founded. The cartoon represents the signing of the +Declaration of Independence. The worthies are standing about the table +dressed in the knee breeches and flowing coats of the day, with wigs +conventionally powdered and that stately bearing which characterizes the +typical historical painting. John Hancock is seated at the table +prepared to make his name immortal. A figure, however, has just +<a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>appeared in the doorway. It is the cartoonist's conventional conception +of the modern Captain of Industry. His silk hat is on the back of his +head as if he had just come from his office as fast as his +forty-horse-power automobile could carry him. His portly form shows +evidences of intense excitement. He is holding his hand aloft to stay +the proceedings, while from his lips comes the stage whisper: +"Gentlemen, stop! You will hurt business!" What would those old New +England fathers think, could they know that such a conception may be +taken as representing a well-recognized tendency of the present day? And +remember, too, that those old heroes had something of a passion for +trade themselves.</p> + +<p>But when we seek for the source of our most important national +ideal,—the ideal that we have called equality of opportunity,—we must +look to another part of the country. The typical Americanism that is +represented by Lincoln owes its origin, I believe, very largely to +geographical factors. It could have been developed only under certain +conditions and these conditions the Middle West alone provided. The +settling of the Middle West in the latter part of the eighteenth and the +early part of the nineteenth centuries was part and parcel of a rigid +logic of events. As Miss Semple so clearly points out in her work on the +geographic conditions of American history, the Atlantic seaboard sloped +toward the sea and its people held their faces eastward. They were never +cut off from easy communication with the Old World, <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>and consequently +they were never quite freed from the Old World prejudices and standards. +But the movement across the mountains gave rise to a new condition. The +faces of the people were turned westward, and cut off from easy +communication with the Old World, they developed a new set of ideals and +standards under the stress of new conditions. Chief among these +conditions was the immensity and richness of the territory that they +were settling. The vastness of their outlook and the wealth of their +resources confirmed and extended the ideals of self-reliance that they +had brought with them from the seaboard. But on the seaboard, the Old +World notion of social classes, the prestige of family and station, +still held sway. The development of the Middle West would have been +impossible under so severe a handicap. With resources so great, every +stimulus must be given to individual achievement. Nothing must be +permitted to stand in its way. The man who could do things, the man who +could most effectively turn the forces of nature to serve the needs of +society, was the man who was selected for preferment, no matter what his +birth, no matter what the station of his family.</p> + +<p>We might, in a similar fashion, review the various other ideals, which +have grown out of our history, but, as I have said, my purpose is not +historical but educational, and the illustrations that I have given may +suffice to make my contention clear. I have attempted to show that the +chief purpose of the study of history in the elementary <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>school is to +establish and fortify in the pupils' minds the significant ideals and +standards of conduct which those who have gone before us have gleaned +from their experience. I have maintained that, to this end, it is not +only the facts of history that are important, but the appreciation of +these facts. I have maintained that these prejudices and ideals have a +profound influence upon conduct, and that, consequently, history is to +be looked upon as a most practical branch of study.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The best way in this world to be definite is to know our goal and then +strive to attain it. In the lack of definite standards based upon the +lessons of the past, our dominant national ideals shift with every +shifting wind of public sentiment and popular demand. Are we satisfied +with the individualistic and self-centered idealism that has come with +our material prosperity and which to-day shames the memory of the men +who founded our Republic? Are we negligent of the serious menace that +confronts any people when it loses its hold upon those goods of life +that are far more precious than commercial prestige and individual +aggrandizement? Are we losing our hold upon the sterner virtues which +our fathers possessed,—upon the things of the spirit that are permanent +and enduring?</p> + +<p>A study of history cannot determine entirely the dominant ideals of +those who pursue it. But the study of history if guided in the proper +spirit and dominated by <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>the proper aim may help. For no one who gets +into the spirit of our national history,—no one who traces the origin +and growth of these ideals and institutions that I have named,—can +escape the conviction that the elemental virtues of courage, +self-reliance, hardihood, unselfishness, self-denial, and service lie at +the basis of every forward step that this country has made, and that the +most precious part of our heritage is not the material comforts with +which we are surrounded, but the sturdy virtues which made these +comforts possible.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> An address delivered March 18, 1910, before the Central +Illinois Teachers' Association.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Science as Related to the Teaching of Literature</span><a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></h4> + + +<p>The scientific method is the method of unprejudiced observation and +induction. Its function in the scheme of life is to furnish man with +facts and principles,—statements which mirror with accuracy and +precision the conditions that may exist in any situation of any sort +which man may have to face. In other words, the facts of science are +important and worthy because they help us to solve the problems of life +more satisfactorily. They are instrumental in their function. They are +means to an end. And whenever we have a problem to solve, whenever we +face a situation that demands some form of adjustment, the more accurate +the information that we possess concerning this situation, the better we +shall be able to solve it.</p> + +<p>Now when I propose that we try to find out some facts about the teaching +of English, and that we apply the scientific method in the discovery of +these facts, I am immediately confronted with an objection. My oppo<a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>nent +will maintain that the subject of English in our school curriculum is +not one of the sciences. Taking English to mean particularly English +literature rather than rhetoric or composition or grammar, it is clear +that we do not teach literature as we teach the sciences. Its function +differs from that of science in the curriculum. If there is a science of +literature, that is not what we are teaching in the secondary schools, +and that is not what most of us believe should be taught in the +secondary schools. We think that the study of literature should transmit +to each generation the great ideals that are crystallized in literary +masterpieces. And we think that, in seeing to it that our pupils are +inspired with these ideals, we should also teach literature in such a +way that our pupils will be left with a desire to read good literature +as a source of recreation and inspiration after they have finished the +courses that we offer. When I speak of "inspiration," "appreciation," +the development of "taste," and the like, I am using terms that have +little direct relation to the scientific method; for, as I have said, +science deals with facts, and the harder and more stubborn and more +unyielding the facts become, the better they represent true science. +What right have I, then, to speak of the scientific study of the +teaching of English, when science and literature seem to belong to two +quite separate rubrics of mental life?</p> + +<p>I refer to this point of view, not because its inconsistencies are not +fully apparent to you even upon the sur<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>face, but because it is a point +of view that has hitherto interfered very materially with our +educational progress. It has sometimes been assumed that, because we +wish to study education scientifically, we wish to read out of it +everything that cannot be reduced to a scientific formula,—that, +somehow or other, we intend still further to intellectualize the +processes of education and to neglect the tremendous importance of those +factors that are not primarily intellectual in their nature, but which +belong rather to the field of emotion and feeling.</p> + +<p>I wish, therefore, to say at the outset that, while I firmly believe the +hope of education to lie in the application of the scientific method to +the solution of its problems, I still hold that neither facts nor +principles nor any other products of the scientific method are the most +important "goods" of life. The greatest "goods" in life are, and always +must remain, I believe, its ideals, its visions, its insights, and its +sympathies,—must always remain those qualities with which the teaching +of literature is primarily concerned, and in the engendering of which in +the hearts and souls of his pupils, the teacher of literature finds the +greatest opportunity that is vouchsafed to any teacher.</p> + +<p>The facts and principles that science has given us have been of such +service to humanity that we are prone to forget that they have been of +service because they have helped us more effectively to realize our +ideals and attain our ends; and we are prone to forget also that, +<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>without the ideals and the ends and the visions, the facts and +principles would be quite without function. I have sometimes been taken +to account for separating these two factors in this way. But unless we +do distinguish sharply between them, our educational thinking is bound +to be hopelessly obscure.</p> + +<p>You have all heard the story of the great chemist who was at work in his +laboratory when word was brought him that his wife was dead. As the +first wave of anguish swept over him, he bowed his head upon his hands +and wept out his grief; but suddenly he lifted up his head, and held +before him his hands wet with tears. "Tears!" he cried; "what are they? +I have analyzed them: a little chloride of sodium, some alkaline salts, +a little mucin, and some water. That is all." And he went back to his +work.</p> + +<p>The story is an old one, and very likely apocryphal, but it is not +without its lesson to us in the present connection. Unless we +distinguish between these two factors that I have named, we are likely +either to take this man's attitude or something approaching it, or to go +to the other extreme, renounce the accuracy and precision of the +scientific method, and give ourselves up to the cult of emotionalism.</p> + +<p>Now, while we do not wish to read out of the teaching of literature the +factors of appreciation and inspiration, we do wish to find out how +these important functions of our teaching may be best fulfilled. And it +is here that <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>facts and principles gained by the scientific method not +only can but must furnish the ultimate solution. We have a problem. That +problem, it is true, is concerned with something that is not scientific, +and to attempt to make it scientific is to kill the very life that it is +our problem to cherish. But in solving that problem, we must take +certain steps; we must arrange our materials in certain ways; we must +adjust hard and stubborn facts to the attainment of our end. What are +these facts? What is their relation to our problem? What laws govern +their operation? These are subordinate but very essential parts of our +larger problem, and it is through the scientific investigation of these +subordinate problems that our larger problem is to be solved.</p> + +<p>Let me give you an illustration of what I mean. We may assume that every +boy who goes out of the high school should appreciate the meaning and +worth of self-sacrifice as this is revealed (not expounded) in Dickens's +delineation of the character of Sidney Carton. There is our +problem,—but what a host of subordinate problems at once confront us! +Where shall we introduce <i>The Tale of Two Cities</i>? Will it be in the +second year, or the third, or the fourth? Will it be best preceded by +the course in general history which will give the pupil a time +perspective upon the crimson background of the French Revolution against +which Dickens projected his master character? Or shall we put <i>The Tale +of Two Cities</i> first for the sake of the heightened interest which the +art of <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>the novelist may lend to the facts of the historian? Again, how +may the story be best presented? What part shall the pupils read in +class? What part shall they read at home? What part, if any, shall we +read to them? What questions are necessary to insure appreciation? How +many of the allusions need be run down in order to give the maximal +effect of the masterpiece? How may the necessarily discontinuous +discussions of the class—one period each day for several days—be so +counteracted as to insure the cumulative emotional effect which the +appreciation of all art presupposes? Should the story be sketched +through first, and then read in some detail, or will one reading +suffice?</p> + +<p>These are problems, I repeat, that stand to the chief problem as means +stand to end. Now some of these questions must be solved by every +teacher for himself, but that does not prevent each teacher from solving +them scientifically. Others, it is clear, might be solved once and for +all by the right kind of an investigation,—might result in permanent +and universal laws which any one could apply.</p> + +<p>There are, of course, several ways in which answers for these questions +may be secured. One way is that of <i>a priori</i> reasoning,—the deductive +procedure. This method may be thoroughly scientific, depending of course +upon the validity of our general principles as applied to the specific +problem. Ordinarily this validity can be determined only by trial; +consequently these <i>a priori</i><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a> inferences should be looked upon as +hypotheses to be tested by trial under standard conditions. For example, +I might argue that <i>The Tale of Two Cities</i> should be placed in the +third year because the emotional ferment of adolescence is then most +favorable for the engendering of the ideal. But in the first place, this +assumed principle would itself be subject to grave question and it would +also have to be determined whether there is so little variation among +the pupils in respect of physiological age as to permit the application +to all of a generalization that might conceivably apply only to the +average child. In other words, all of our generalizations applying to +average pupils must be applied with a knowledge of the extent and range +of variation from the average. Some people say that there is no such +thing as an average child, but, for all practical purposes, the average +child is a very real reality,—he is, in fact, more numerous than any +other single class; but this does not mean that there may be not enough +variations from the average to make unwise the application of our +principle.</p> + +<p>I refer to this hypothetical case to show the extreme difficulty of +reaching anything more than hypotheses by <i>a priori</i> reasoning. We have +a certain number of fairly well established general principles in +secondary education. Perhaps those most frequently employed are our +generalizations regarding adolescence and its influences upon the mental +and especially the emotional life of high-school <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>pupils. Stanley Hall's +work in this field is wonderfully stimulating and suggestive, and yet we +should not forget that most of his generalizations are, after all, only +plausible hypotheses to be acted upon as tentative guides for practice +and to be tested carefully under controlled conditions, rather than to +be accepted as immutable and unchangeable laws. We sometimes assume that +all high-school pupils are adolescents, when the likelihood is that an +appreciable proportion of pupils in the first two years have not yet +reached this important node of their development.</p> + +<p>I say this not to minimize in any way the importance that attaches to +adolescent characteristics, but rather to suggest that you who are daily +dealing with these pupils can in the aggregate add immeasurably to the +knowledge that we now have concerning this period. A tremendous waste is +constantly going on in that most precious of all our possible +resources,—namely, human experience. How many problems that are well +solved have to be solved again and again because the experience has not +been crystallized in a well-tested fact or principle; how many +experiences that might be well worth the effort that they cost are quite +worthless because, in undergoing them, we have neglected some one or +another of the rules that govern inexorably the validity of our +inferences and conclusions. That is all that the scientific method means +in the last analysis: it is a system of principles that enable us to +make our experience worth while in meeting <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>later situations. We all +have the opportunity of contributing to the sum total of human +knowledge, if only we know the rules of the game.</p> + +<p>I said that one way of solving these subordinate problems that arise in +the realization of our chief aims in teaching is the <i>a priori</i> method +of applying general principles to the problems. Another method is to +imitate the way in which we have seen some one else handle the +situation. Now this may be the most effective way possible. In fact, if +a sufficient number of generations of teachers keep on blindly plunging +in and floundering about in solving their problems, the most effective +methods will ultimately be evolved through what we call the process of +trial and error. The teaching of the very oldest subjects in the +curriculum is almost always the best and most effective teaching, for +the very reason that the blundering process has at last resulted in an +effective procedure. But the scientific method of solving problems has +its very function in preventing the tremendous waste that this process +involves. English literature is a comparatively recent addition to the +secondary curriculum. Its possibilities of service are almost unlimited. +Shall we wait for ten or fifteen generations of teachers to blunder out +the most effective means of teaching it, or shall we avail ourselves of +these simple principles which will enable us to concentrate this +experience within one or two generations?</p> + +<p>I should like to emphasize one further point. No one <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>has greater +respect than I have for what we term experience in teaching. But let me +say that a great deal of what we may term "crude" experience—that is, +experience that has not been refined by the application of scientific +method—is most untrustworthy,—unless, indeed, it has been garnered and +winnowed and sifted through the ages. Let me give you an example of some +accepted dictums of educational experience that controlled +investigations have shown to be untrustworthy.</p> + +<p>It is a general impression among teachers that specific habits may be +generalized; that habits of neatness and accuracy developed in one line +of work, for example, will inevitably make one neater and more accurate +in other things. It has been definitely proved that this transfer of +training does not take place inevitably, but in reality demands the +fulfillment of certain conditions of which education has become fully +conscious only within a comparatively short time, and as a result of +careful, systematic, controlled experimentation. The meaning of this in +the prevention of waste through inadequate teaching is fully apparent.</p> + +<p>Again, it has been supposed by many teachers that the home environment +is a large factor in the success or failure of a pupil in school. In +every accurate and controlled investigation that has been conducted so +far it has been shown that this factor in such subjects as arithmetic +and spelling at least is so small as to be absolutely negligible in +practice.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>Some people still believe that a teacher is born and not made, and yet +a careful investigation of the efficiency of elementary teachers shows +that, when such teachers were ranked by competent judges, specialized +training stood out as the most important factor in general efficiency. +In this same investigation, the time-honored notion that a college +education will, irrespective of specialized training, adequately equip a +teacher for his work was revealed as a fallacy,—for twenty-eight per +cent of the normal-school graduates among all the teachers were in the +first and second ranks of efficiency as against only seventeen per cent +of the college graduates; while, in the two lowest ranks, only sixteen +per cent of the normal-school graduates are to be found as against +forty-four per cent of the college graduates. These investigations, I +may add, were made by university professors, and I am giving them here +in a university classroom and as a university representative. And of +course I shall hasten to add that general scholarship is one important +essential. Our mistake has been in assuming sometimes that it is the +only essential.</p> + +<p>Very frequently the controlled experience of scientific investigation +confirms a principle that has been derived from crude experience. Most +teachers will agree, for example, that a certain amount of drill and +repetition is absolutely essential in the mastery of any subject. Every +time that scientific investigation has touched this problem it has +unmistakably confirmed this belief. Some very <a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>recent investigations +made by Mr. Brown at the Charleston Normal School show conclusively that +five-minute drill periods preceding every lesson in arithmetic place +pupils who undergo such periods far in advance of others who spend this +time in non-drill arithmetical work, and that this improvement holds not +only in the number habits, but also in the reasoning processes.</p> + +<p>Other similar cases could be cited, but I have probably said enough to +make my point, and my point is this: that crude experience is an unsafe +guide for practice; that experience may be refined in two ways—first by +the slow, halting, wasteful operation of time, which has established +many principles upon a pinnacle of security from which they will never +be shaken, but which has also accomplished this result at the cost of +innumerable mistakes, blunders, errors, futile efforts, and +heartbreaking failures; or secondly, by the application of the +principles of control and test which are now at our service, and which +permit present-day teachers to concentrate within a single generation +the growth and development and progress that the empirical method of +trial and error could not encompass in a millennium.</p> + +<p>The teaching of English merits treatment by this method. I recommend +strongly that you give the plan a trial. You may not get immediate +results. You may not get valuable results. But in any case, if you +carefully respect the scientific proprieties, your experience will be +worth vastly more than ten times the amount of <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>crude experience; and, +whether you get results or not, you will undergo a valuable discipline +from which may emerge the ideals of science if you are not already +imbued with them. I always tell my students that, even in the study of +science itself, it is the ideals of science,—the ideals of patient, +thoughtful work, the ideals of open-mindedness and caution in reaching +conclusions, the ideals of unprejudiced observation from which +selfishness and personal desire are eliminated,—it is these ideals that +are vastly more important than the facts of science as such,—and these +latter are significant enough to have made possible our present progress +and our present amenities of life.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> A paper read before the English Section of the University +of Illinois High School Conference, November 17, 1910.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The New Attitude toward Drill</span><a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></h4> + + +<p>Wandering about in a circle through a thick forest is perhaps an +overdrawn analogy to our activity in attempting to construct educational +theories; and yet there is a resemblance. We push out hopefully—and +often boastfully—into the unknown wilderness, absolutely certain that +we are pioneering a trail that will later become the royal highway to +learning. We struggle on, ruthlessly using the hatchet and the ax to +clear the road before us. And all too often we come back to our starting +point, having unwittingly described a perfect circle, instead of the +straight line that we had anticipated.</p> + +<p>But I am not a pessimist, and I like to believe that, although our +course frequently resembles a circle, it is much better to characterize +it as a spiral, and that, although we do get back to a point that we +recognize, it is not, after all, our old starting point; it is an +homologous point on a higher plane. We have at least climbed a little, +even if we have not traveled in a straight line.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>Now in a figurative way this explains how we have come to take our +present attitude toward the problem of drill or training in the process +of education. Drill means the repetition of a process until it has +become mechanical or automatic. It means the kind of discipline that the +recruit undergoes in the army,—the making of a series of complicated +movements so thoroughly automatic that they will be gone through with +accurately and precisely, at the word of command. It means the sort of +discipline that makes certain activities machine-like in their +operation,—so that we do not have to think about which one comes next. +Thus the mind is relieved of the burden of looking after the innumerable +details and may use its precious energy for a more important purpose.</p> + +<p>In every adult life, a large number of these mechanized responses are +absolutely essential to efficiency. Modern civilized life is so highly +organized that it demands a multitude of reactions and adjustments which +primitive life did not demand. It goes without saying that there are +innumerable little details of our daily work that must be reduced to the +plane of unvarying habit. These details vary with the trade or +profession of the individual; hence general education cannot hope to +supply the individual with all of the automatic responses that he will +need. But, in addition to these specialized responses, there is a large +mass of responses that are common to every member of the <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>social group. +We must all be able to communicate with one another, both through the +medium of speech, and through the medium of written and printed symbols. +We live in a society that is founded upon the principle of the division +of labor. We must exchange the products of our labor for the necessities +of life that we do not ourselves produce, and hence arises the necessity +for the short cuts to counting and measurement which we call arithmetic. +And finally we must all live together in something at least approaching +harmony; hence the thousand and one little responses that mean courtesy +and good manners must be made thoroughly automatic.</p> + +<p>Now education, from the very earliest times, has recognized the +necessity of building up these automatic responses,—of fixing these +essential habits in all individuals. This recognition has often been +short-sighted and sometimes even blind; but it has served to hold +education rather tenaciously to a process that all must admit to be +essential.</p> + +<p>Drill or training, however, is unfortunate in one important particular. +It invariably involves repetition; and conscious, explicit repetition +tends to become monotonous. We must hold attention to the drill process, +and yet attention abhors monotony as nature abhors a vacuum. +Consequently no small part of the tedium and irksomeness of school work +has been due to its emphasis of drill. The formalism of the older +<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>schools has been described, criticized, and lampooned in professional +literature, and even in the pages of fiction. The disastrous results +that follow from engendering in pupils a disgust for school and all that +it represents have been eloquently portrayed. Along with the tendency +toward ease and comfort in other departments of human life has gone a +parallel tendency to relieve the school of this odious burden of formal, +lifeless, repetitive work.</p> + +<p>This "reform movement," as I shall call it, represents our first plunge +into the wilderness. We would get away from the entanglements of drill +and into the clearings of pleasurable, spontaneous activities. A new sun +of hope dawned upon the educational world.</p> + +<p>You are all familiar with some of the more spectacular results of this +movement. You have heard of the schools that eliminated drill processes +altogether, and depended upon clear initial development to fix the facts +and formulæ and reactions that every one needs. You have heard and +perhaps seen some of the schools that were based entirely upon the +doctrine of spontaneity, governing their work by the principle that the +child should never do anything that he did not wish to do at the moment +of doing,—although the advocates of this theory generally qualified +their principle by insisting that the skillful teacher would have the +child wish to do the right thing all the time.</p> + +<p>Let me describe to you a school of this type that I <a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>once visited. I +learned of it through a resident of the city in which it was located. He +was delivering an address before an educational gathering on the +problems of modern education. He told the audience that, in the schools +of this enlightened city, the antiquated notions that were so pernicious +had been entirely dispensed with. He said that pupils in these schools +were no longer repressed; that all regimentation, line passing, static +posture, and other barbaric practices had been abolished; that the +pupils were free to work out their own destiny, to realize themselves, +through all forms of constructive activity; that drills had been +eliminated; that corporal punishment was never even mentioned, much less +practiced; that all was harmony, and love, and freedom, and spontaneity.</p> + +<p>I listened to this speaker with intense interest, and, as his picture +unfolded, I became more and more convinced that this city had at last +solved the problem. I took the earliest opportunity to visit its +schools. When I reached the city I went to the superintendent's office. +I asked to be directed to the best school. "Our schools are all 'best,'" +the secretary told me with an intonation that denoted commendable pride, +and which certainly made me feel extremely humble, for here even the +laws of logic and of formal grammar had been transcended. I made bold to +apologize, however, and amended my request to make it apparent that I +wished to see the largest school. I was directed to take a cer<a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>tain car +and, in due time, found myself at the school. I inferred that recess was +in progress when I reached the building, and that the recess was being +celebrated within doors. After some time spent in dodging about the +corridors, I at last located the principal.</p> + +<p>I introduced myself and asked if I could visit his school after recess +was over. "We have no recesses here," he replied (I could just catch his +voice above the din of the corridors); "this is a relaxation period for +some of the classes." He led the way to the office, and I spent a few +moments in getting the "lay of the land." I asked him, first, whether he +agreed with the doctrines that the system represented, and he told me +that he believed in them implicitly. Did he follow them out consistently +in the operation of his school? Yes, he followed them out to the letter.</p> + +<p>We then went to several classrooms, where I saw children realizing +themselves, I thought, very effectively. There were three groups at work +in each room. One recited to the teacher, another studied at the seats, +a third did construction work at the tables. I inquired about the +mechanics of this rather elaborate organization, but I was told that +mechanics had been eliminated from this school. Mechanical organization +of the classroom, it seems, crushes the child's spontaneity, represses +his self-activity, prevents the effective operation of the principle of +self-realization. How, then, did these three groups exchange places, for +I felt that the <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>doctrine of self-realization would not permit them to +remain in the same employment during the entire session. "Oh," the +principal replied, "when they get ready to change, they change, that's +all."</p> + +<p>I saw that a change was coming directly, so I waited to watch it. The +group had been working with what I should call a great deal of noise and +confusion. All at once this increased tenfold. Pupils jumped over seats, +ran into each other in the aisles, scurried and scampered from this +place to that, while the teacher stood in the front of the room wildly +waving her arms. The performance lasted several minutes. "There's +spontaneity for you," the principal shouted above the roar of the storm. +I acquiesced by a nod of the head,—my lungs, through lack of training, +being unequal to the emergency.</p> + +<p>We passed to another room. The same group system was in evidence. I +noticed pupils who had been working at their seats suddenly put away +their books and papers and skip over to the construction table. I asked +concerning the nature of the construction work. "We use it," the +principal told me, "as a reward for good work in the book subjects. You +see arithmetic is dead and dry. You must give pupils an incentive to +master it. We make the privileges of the construction table the +incentive." "What do they make at this table?" I asked. "Whatever their +fancy dictates," he replied. I was a little curious, however, to know +<a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>how it all come out. I saw one child start to work on a basket, work at +it a few minutes, then take up something else, continue a little time, +go back to the basket, and finally throw both down for a third object of +self-realization. I called the principal's attention to this phenomenon. +"How do you get the beautiful results that you exhibit?" I asked. "For +those," he said, "we just keep the pupils working on one thing until it +is finished." "But," I objected, "is that consistent with the doctrine +of spontaneity?" His answer was lost in the din of a change of groups, +and I did not follow the investigation further.</p> + +<p>Noon dismissal was due when I went into the corridor. Lines are +forbidden in that school. At the stroke of the bell, the classroom doors +burst open and bedlam was let loose. I had anticipated what was coming, +and hurriedly betook myself to an alcove. I saw more spontaneity in two +minutes than I had ever seen before in my life. Some boys tore through +the corridors at breakneck speed and down the stairways, three steps at +a time. Others sauntered along, realizing various propensities by +pushing and shoving each other, snatching caps out of others' hands, +slapping each other over the head with books, and various other +expressions of exuberant spirits. One group stopped in front of my +alcove, and showed commendable curiosity about the visitor in their +midst. After exhausting his static possibilities, they tempted him to +dynamic reaction by <a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>making faces; but this proving to be of no avail, +they went on their way,—in the hope, doubtless, of realizing themselves +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>I left that school with a fairly firm conviction that I had seen the +most advanced notions of educational theory worked out to a logical +conclusion. There was nothing halfway about it. There was no apology +offered for anything that happened. It was all fair and square and open +and aboveboard. To be sure, the pupils were, to my prejudiced mind, in a +condition approaching anarchy, but I could not deny the spontaneity, nor +could I deny self-activity, nor could I deny self-realization. These +principles were evidently operating without let or hindrance.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the school, I took occasion to inquire concerning the +effect of such a system upon the teachers. I led up to it by asking the +principal if there were any nervous or anæmic children in his school. +"Not one," he replied enthusiastically; "our system eliminates them." +"But how about the teachers?" I ventured to remark, having in mind the +image of a distracted young woman whom I had seen attempting to reduce +forty little ruffians to some semblance of law and order through moral +suasion. If I judged conditions correctly, that woman was on the verge +of a nervous breakdown. My guide became confidential when I made this +inquiry. "To tell the truth," he whispered, "the system is mighty hard +on the women."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting a high school which was +operated upon this same principle. I visited in that school some classes +that were taught by men and women, whom I should number among the most +expert teachers that I have ever seen. The instruction that these men +and women were giving was as clear and lucid as one could desire. And +yet, in spite of that excellent instruction, pupils read newspapers, +prepared other lessons, or read books during the recitations, and did +all this openly and unreproved. They responded to their instructors with +shameless insolence. Young ladies of sixteen and seventeen coming from +cultured homes were permitted in this school to pull each other's hair, +pinch the arms of schoolmates who were reciting, and behave themselves +in general as if they were savages. The pupils lolled in their seats, +passed notes, kept up an undertone of conversation, arose from their +seats at the first tap of the bell, and piled in disorder out of the +classroom while the instructor was still talking. If the lessons had +been tedious, one might perhaps at least have palliated such conduct, +but the instruction was very far from tedious. It was bright, lively, +animated, beautifully clear, and admirably illustrated. It is simply the +theory of this school never to interfere with the spontaneous activity +of the pupils. And I may add that the school draws its enrollment very +largely from wealthy families who believe that their children are being +given the best that <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>modern education has developed, that they are not +being subjected to the deadening methods of the average public school, +and above all that their manners are not being corrupted by promiscuous +mingling with the offspring of illiterate immigrants. And yet soon +afterward, I visited a high school in one of the poorest slum districts +of a large city. I saw pupils well-behaved, courteous to one another, to +their instructors, and to visitors. The instruction was much below that +given in the first school in point of quality, and yet the pupils were +getting from it, even under these conditions, vastly more than were the +pupils of the other school from their masterly instructors.</p> + +<p>The two schools that I first described represent one type of the attempt +that education has made to pioneer a new path through the wilderness. I +have said that many of these attempts have ended by bringing the +adventurers back to their starting point. I cannot say so much for these +schools. The movement that they represent is still floundering about in +the tamarack swamps, getting farther and farther into the morass, with +little hope of ever emerging.</p> + +<p>May I tax your patience with one more concrete illustration: this time, +of a school that seems to me to have reached the starting point, but on +that new and higher plane of which I have spoken?</p> + +<p>This school is in a small Massachusetts town, and is the model +department of the state normal school located <a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>at that place. The first +point that impressed me was typified by a boy of about twelve who was +passing through the corridor as I entered the building. Instead of +slouching along, wasting every possible moment before he should return +to his room, he was walking briskly as if eager to get back to his work. +Instead of staring at the stranger within his gates with the impudent +curiosity so often noticed in children of this age, he greeted me +pleasantly and wished to know if I were looking for the principal. When +I told him that I was, he informed me that the principal was on the +upper floor, but that he would go for him at once. He did, and returned +a moment later saying that the head of the school would be down +directly, and asked me to wait in the office, into which he ushered me +with all the courtesy of a private secretary. Then he excused himself +and went directly to his room.</p> + +<p>Now that might have been an exceptional case, but I found out later that +is was not. Wherever I went in that school, the pupils were polite and +courteous and respectful. That was part of their education. It should be +part of every child's education. But many schools are too busy teaching +reading, writing, and arithmetic, and others are too busy preserving +discipline, and others are too busy coquetting for the good will of +their pupils and trying to amuse them—too busy to give heed to a set of +habits that are of paramount importance in the life of civilized +society. This <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>school took up the matter of training in good manners as +an essential part of its duty, and it accomplished this task quickly and +effectively. It did it by utilizing the opportunities presented in the +usual course of school work. It took a little time and a little +attention, for good manners cannot be acquired incidentally any more +than the multiplication tables can be acquired incidentally; but it +utilized the everyday opportunities of the schoolroom, and did not make +morals and manners the subject of instruction for a half-hour on Friday +afternoons to be completely forgotten during the rest of the week.</p> + +<p>When the principal took me through the school, I noted everywhere a +happy and courteous relation between pupils and teachers. They spoke +pleasantly to one another. I heard no nagging or scolding. I saw no one +sulking or pouting or in bad temper. And yet there was every evidence of +respect and obedience on the part of the pupils. There was none of that +happy-go-lucky comradeship which I have sometimes seen in other modern +schools, and which leads the pupil to understand that his teacher is +there to gain his interest, not to command his respectful attention. +Pupils were too busy with their work to talk much with one another. They +were sitting up in their seats as a matter of habit, and it did not seem +to hurt them seriously to do so. And everywhere they were working like +beavers at one task or another, or attending with all their eyes and +ears to a recitation.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>Now it seemed to me that this school was operated with a minimum of +waste or loss. Every item of energy that the pupils possessed was being +given to some educative activity. Nothing was lost by conflict between +pupil and teacher. Nothing was lost by bursts of anger or by fits of +depression. These sources of waste had been eliminated so far as I could +determine. The pupils could read well and write well and cipher +accurately. They even took a keen delight in the drills. And I found +that this phase of their work was enlightened by the modern content that +had been introduced. In their handwork and manual training they could +see that arithmetic was useful,—that it had something to do with the +great big buzzing life of the outer world. They learned that spelling +was useful in writing,—that it was not something that began and ended +within the covers of the spelling book, but that it had a real and vital +relation to other things that they found to be important. They had their +dramatic exercises in which they and their fellows, and, on occasions, +their parents, took a keen delight, and they were glad to afford them +pleasure and to receive congratulations at the close. And yet they found +that, in order to do these things well, they must read and study and +drill on speaking. They liked to have their drawings inspected and +praised at the school exhibitions, but they soon found that good drawing +and painting and designing were strictly conditioned by a mastery of +technique, <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>and they wished to master technique in order to win these +rewards.</p> + +<p>Now what was the secret of the efficiency of this school? Not merely the +fact that it had introduced certain types of content such as drawing, +manual training, domestic science, dramatization, story work,—but also +that it had not lost sight of the fundamental purpose of elementary +education, but had so organized all of its studies that each played into +the hands of the others, and that everything that was done had some +definite and tangible relation to everything else. The manual training +exercises and the mechanical drawing were exercises in arithmetic, but, +let me remind you, there were other lessons, and formal lessons, in +arithmetic as well. But the one exercise enlightened and made more +meaningful the other. In the same way the story and dramatization were +intimately related to the reading and the language, but there were +formal lessons in reading and formal lessons in language. The geography +illustrated nature study and employed language and arithmetic and +drawing in its exercises. And so the whole structure was organized and +coherent and unified, and what was taught in one class was utilized in +another. There was no needless duplication, no needless or meaningless +repetition. But repetition there was, over and over again, but always it +was effective in still more firmly fixing the habits.</p> + +<p>One would be an ingrate, indeed, if one failed to <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>recognize the great +good that an extreme reform movement may do. Some very precious +increments of progress have resulted even from the most extreme and +ridiculous reactions against the drill and formalism of the older +schools. Let me briefly summarize these really substantial gains as I +conceive them.</p> + +<p>In the first place, we have come to recognize distinctly the importance +of enlisting in the service of habit building the native instincts of +the child. Up to a certain point nature provides for the fixing of +useful responses, and we should be unwise not to make use of these +tendencies. In the spontaneous activities of play, certain fundamental +reactions are continually repeated until they reach the plane of +absolute mechanism. In imitating the actions of others, adjustments are +learned and made into habits without effort; in fact, the process of +imitation, so far as it is instinctive, is a source of pure delight to +the young child. Finally, closely related to these two instincts, is the +native tendency to repetition,—nature's primary provision for drill. +You have often heard little children repeat their new words over and +over again. Frequently they have no conception of the meanings of these +words. Nature seems to be untroubled by a question that has bothered +teachers; namely, Should a child ever be asked to drill on something the +purpose of which he does not understand? Nature sees to it that certain +essential responses become automatic long before the child is conscious +of their meaning. Just because <a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>nature does this is, of course, no +reason why we should imitate her. But the fact is an interesting +commentary upon the extreme to which we sometimes carry our principle of +rationalizing everything before permitting it to be mastered.</p> + +<p>I repeat that the reform movement has done excellent service in +extending the recognition in education of these fundamental and inborn +adaptive instincts,—play, imitation, and rhythmic repetition. It has +erred when it has insisted that we could depend upon these alone, for +nature has adapted man, not to the complicated conditions of our modern +highly organized social life, but rather to primitive conditions. Left +to themselves, these instinctive forces would take the child up to a +certain point, but they would still leave him on a primitive plane. I +know of one good authority on the teaching of reading who maintains that +the normal child would learn to read without formal teaching if he were +placed in the right environment,—an environment of books. This may be +possible with some exceptional children, but even an environment +reasonably replete with books does not effect this miracle in the case +of certain children whom I know very well and whom I like to think of as +perfectly normal. These children learned to talk by imitation and +instinctive repetition. But nature has not yet gone so far as to provide +the average child with spontaneous impulses that will lead him to learn +to read. Reading is a much more complicated and highly organized +process.<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a> And so it is with a vast number of the activities that our +pupils must master.</p> + +<p>Another increment of progress that the reform movement has given to +educational practice is a recognition of the fact that we have been +requiring pupils to acquire unnecessary habits, under the impression, +that even if the habits were not useful, something of value was gained +in their acquisition. As a result, we have passed all of our grain +through the same mill, unmindful of the fact that different life +activities required different types of grist. To-day we are seeing the +need for carefully selecting the types of habit and skill that should be +developed in <i>all</i> children. We are recognizing that there are many +phases of the educative process that it is not well to reduce to an +automatic basis. When I was in the elementary school I memorized +Barnes's <i>History of the United States</i> and Harper's <i>Geography</i> from +cover to cover. I have never greatly regretted this automatic mastery; +but I have often thought that I might have memorized something rather +more important, for history and geography could have been mastered just +as effectively in another way.</p> + +<p>In the third place, and most important of all, we have been led to +analyze this complex process of habit building,—to find out the factors +that operate in learning. We have now a goodly body of principles that +may even be characterized by the adjective "scientific." We know that in +habit building, it is fundamentally essential to get the pupil started +in the right way. A recent writer states <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>that two thirds of the +difficulty that the teacher meets fixing habits is due to the neglect of +this principle. Inadequate and inefficient habits get started and must +be continually combated while the desirable habit is being formed. How +important this is in the initial presentation of material that is to be +memorized or made automatic we are just now beginning to appreciate. One +writer insists that faulty work in the first grade is responsible for a +large part of the retardation which is bothering us so much to-day. The +wrong kind of a start is made, and whenever a faulty habit is formed, it +much more than doubles the difficulty of getting the right one well +under way. We are slowly coming to appreciate how much time is wasted in +drill processes by inadequate methods. Technique is being improved and +the time thus saved is being given to the newer content subjects that +are demanding admission to the schools.</p> + +<p>Again, we are coming to appreciate as never before the importance of +motivating our drill work,—of not only reading into it purpose and +meaning so that the pupil will understand what it is all for, but also +of engendering in him the <i>desire</i> to form the habits,—to undergo the +discipline that is essential for mastery. Here again the reform movement +has been helpful, showing us the waste of time and energy that results +from attempting to fix habits that are only weakly motivated.</p> + +<p>All this is a vastly different matter from sugar-coating the drill +processes, under the mistaken notion that some<a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>thing that is worth while +may be acquired without effort. I think that educators are generally +agreed that such a policy is thoroughly bad,—for it subverts a basic +principle of human life the operation of which neither education nor any +other force can alter or reverse. To teach the child that the things in +life that are worth doing are easy to do, or that they are always or +even often intrinsically pleasant or agreeable, is to teach him a lie. +Human history gives us no examples of worthy achievements that have not +been made at the price of struggle and effort,—at the price of doing +things that men did not want to do. Every great truth has had to +struggle upward from defeat. Every man who has really found himself in +the work of life has paid the price of sacrifice for his success. And +whenever we attempt to give our pupils a mastery of the complicated arts +and skills that have lifted civilized man above the plane of his savage +ancestors, we must expect from them struggle and effort and self-denial.</p> + +<p>Let me quote a paragraph from the report of a recent investigation in +the psychology of learning. The habit that was being learned in this +experiment was skill in the use of the typewriter. The writer describes +the process in the following words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In the early stages of learning, our subjects were all very much +interested in the work. Their whole mind seemed to be spontaneously +held by the writing. They were always anxious to take up the work +anew each day. Their general attitude and the resultant sensations +constituted a pleasant feeling tone, which had a helpful +reactionary effect upon the work. Continued practice, however, +<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>brought a change. In place of the spontaneous, rapt attention of +the beginning stages, attention tended, at certain definite stages +of advancement, to wander away from the work. A general feeling of +monotony, which at times assumed the form of utter disgust, took +the place of the former pleasant sensations and feelings. The +writing became a disagreeable task. The unpleasant feelings now +present in consciousness exerted an ever-restraining effect on the +work. As an expert skill was approached, however, the learners' +attitude and mood changed again. They again took a keen interest in +the work. Their whole feeling tone once more became favorable, and +the movements delightful and pleasant. The expert typist ... so +thoroughly enjoyed the writing that it was as pleasant as the +spontaneous play activities of a child. But in the course of +developing this permanent interest in the work, there were many +periods in nearly every test, many days, as well as stages in the +practice as a whole, when the work was much disliked, periods when +the learning assumed the rôle of a very monotonous task. Our +records showed that at such times as these no progress was made. +Rapid progress in learning typewriting was made only when the +learners were feeling good and had an attitude of interest toward +the work."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> </p></div> + +<p>Who has not experienced that feeling of hopelessness and despair that +comes at these successive levels of the long process of acquiring skill +in a complicated art? How desperately we struggle on—striving to put +every item of energy that we can command into our work, and yet feeling +how hopeless it all seems. How tempting then is the hammock on the +porch, the fascinating novel that we have placed on our bedside table, +the happy company of friends that are talking and laughing in the next +room; or how we long for the green fields and the open road; <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>how +seductive is that siren call of change and diversion,—that evil spirit +of procrastination! How feeble, too, are the efforts that we make under +these conditions! We are not making progress in our art, we are only +marking time. And yet the psychologists tell us that this marking time +is an essential in the mastery of any complicated art. Somewhere, deep +down in the nervous system, subtle processes are at work, and when +finally interest dawns,—when finally hope returns to us, and life again +becomes worth while,—these heartbreaking struggles reap their reward. +The psychologists call them "plateaus of growth," but some one has said +that "sloughs of despond" would be a far better designation.</p> + +<p>The progress of any individual depends upon his ability to pass through +these sloughs of despond,—to set his face resolutely to the task and +persevere. It would be the idlest folly to lead children to believe that +success or achievement or even passing ability can be gained in any +other manner. And this is the danger in the sugar-coating process.</p> + +<p>But motivation does not mean sugar-coating. It means the development of +purpose, of ambition, of incentive. It means the development of the +willingness to undergo the discipline in order that the purpose may be +realized, in order that the goal may be attained. It means the creating +of those conditions that make for strength and virility and moral +fiber,—for it is in the <a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>consciousness of having overcome obstacles and +won in spite of handicaps,—it is in this consciousness of conquest that +mental strength and moral strength have their source. The victory that +really strengthens one is not the victory that has come easily, but the +victory that stands out sharp and clear against the background of effort +and struggle. It is because this subjective contrast is so absolutely +essential to the consciousness of power,—it is for this reason that the +"sloughs of despond" still have their function in our new attitude +toward drill.</p> + +<p>But do not mistake me: I have no sympathy with that educational +"stand-pattism" that would multiply these needlessly, or fail to build +solid and comfortable highways across them wherever it is possible to do +so. I have no sympathy with that philosophy of education which approves +the placing of artificial barriers in the learner's path. But if I build +highways across the morasses, it is only that youth may the more readily +traverse the region and come the more quickly to the points where +struggle is absolutely necessary.</p> + +<p>You remember in George Eliot's <i>Daniel Deronda</i> the story of Gwendolen +Harleth. Gwendolen was a butterfly of society, a young woman in whose +childhood drill and discipline had found no place. In early womanhood, +she was, through family misfortune, thrown upon her own resources. In +casting about for some means of self-support her first recourse was to +music, for which she had <a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>some taste and in which she had had some +slight training. She sought out her old German music teacher, Klesmer, +and asked him what she might do to turn this taste and this training to +financial account. Klesmer's reply sums up in a nutshell the psychology +of skill:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Any great achievement in acting or in music grows with the growth. +Whenever an artist has been able to say, 'I came, I saw, I +conquered,' it has been at the end of patient practice. Genius, at +first, is little more than a great capacity for receiving +discipline. Singing and acting, like the fine dexterity of the +juggler with his cup and balls, require a shaping of the organs +toward a finer and finer certainty of effect. Your muscles, your +whole frame, must go like a watch,—true, true, true, to a hair. +This is the work of the springtime of life before the habits have +been formed." </p></div> + +<p>And I can formulate my own conception of the work of habit building in +education no better than by paraphrasing Klesmer's epigram. To increase +in our pupils the capacity to receive discipline; to show them, through +concrete example, over and over again, how persistence and effort and +concentration bring results that are worth while; to choose from their +own childish experiences the illustrations that will force this lesson +home; to supplement, from the stories of great achievements, those +illustrations which will inspire them to effort; to lead them to see +that Peary conquering the Pole, or Wilbur Wright perfecting the +aëroplane, or Morse struggling through long years of hopelessness and +discouragement to give the world the electric telegraph,—<a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>to show them +that these men went through experiences differing only in degree and not +in kind from those which characterize every achievement, no matter how +small, so long as it is dominated by a unitary purpose; to make the +inevitable sloughs of despond no less morasses, perhaps, but to make +their conquest add a permanent increment to growth and development: this +is the task of our drill work as I view it. As the prophecy of Isaiah +has it: "Precept must be upon precept; precept upon precept; line upon +line; line upon line; here a little and there a little." And if we can +succeed in giving our pupils this vision,—if we can reveal the deeper +meaning of struggle and effort and self-denial and sacrifice shining out +through the little details of the day's work,—we are ourselves +achieving something that is richly worth while; for the highest triumph +of the teacher's art is to get his pupils to see, in the small and +seemingly trivial affairs of everyday life, the operation of fundamental +and eternal principles.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><p><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> An address before the Kansas State Teachers' Association, +Topeka, October 20, 1910.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> W.F. Book, <i>Journal of Educational Psychology</i>, vol. i, +1910, p. 195.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Ideal Teacher</span><a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></h4> + + +<p>I wish to discuss with you briefly a very commonplace and oft-repeated +theme,—a theme that has been handled and handled until its +once-glorious raiment is now quite threadbare; a theme so full of +pitfalls and dangers for one who would attempt its discussion that I +have hesitated long before making a choice. I know of no other theme +that lends itself so readily to a superficial treatment—of no theme +upon which one could find so easily at hand all of the proverbs and +platitudes and maxims that one might desire. And so I cannot be expected +to say anything upon this topic that has not been said before in a far +better manner. But, after all, very few of our thoughts—even of those +that we consider to be the most original and worth while—are really new +to the world. Most of our thoughts have been thought before. They are +like dolls that are passed on from age to age to be dressed up and +decorated to suit the taste or the fashion or the fancy of each +succeeding generation. But even a new dress may add a touch of newness +to an old <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>doll; and a new phrase or a new setting may, for a moment, +rejuvenate an old truth.</p> + +<p>The topic that I wish to treat is this, "The Ideal Teacher." And I may +as well start out by saying that the ideal teacher is and always must be +a figment of the imagination. This is the essential feature of any +ideal. The ideal man, for example, must possess an infinite number of +superlative characteristics. We take this virtue from one, and that from +another, and so on indefinitely until we have constructed in imagination +a paragon, the counterpart of which could never exist on earth. He would +have all the virtues of all the heroes; but he would lack all their +defects and all their inadequacies. He would have the manners of a +Chesterfield, the courage of a Winkelried, the imagination of a Dante, +the eloquence of a Cicero, the wit of a Voltaire, the intuitions of a +Shakespeare, the magnetism of a Napoleon, the patriotism of a +Washington, the loyalty of a Bismarck, the humanity of a Lincoln, and a +hundred other qualities, each the counterpart of some superlative +quality, drawn from the historic figure that represented that quality in +richest measure.</p> + +<p>And so it is with the ideal teacher: he would combine, in the right +proportion, all of the good qualities of all of the good teachers that +we have ever known or heard of. The ideal teacher is and always must be +a creature, not of flesh and blood, but of the imagination, a child of +the brain. And perhaps it is well that this is true; for, if he existed +in the flesh, it would not take very many of <a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>him to put the rest of us +out of business. The relentless law of compensation, which rules that +unusual growth in one direction must always be counterbalanced by +deficient growth in another direction, is the saving principle of human +society. That a man should be superlatively good in one single line of +effort is the demand of modern life. It is a platitude to say that this +is the age of the specialist. But specialism, while it always means a +gain to society, also always means a loss to the individual. Darwin, at +the age of forty, suddenly awoke to the fact that he was a man of one +idea. Twenty years before, he had been a youth of the most varied and +diverse interests. He had enjoyed music, he had found delight in the +masterpieces of imaginative literature, he had felt a keen interest in +the drama, in poetry, in the fine arts. But at forty Darwin quite by +accident discovered that these things had not attracted him for +years,—that every increment of his time and energy was concentrated in +a constantly increasing measure upon the unraveling of that great +problem to which he had set himself. And he lamented bitterly the loss +of these other interests; he wondered why he had been so thoughtless as +to let them slip from his grasp. It was the same old story of human +progress; the sacrifice of the individual to the race. For Darwin's loss +was the world's gain, and if he had not limited himself to one line of +effort, and given himself up to that work to the exclusion of everything +else, the world might still be waiting for the <i>Origin of Species</i>, and +<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>the revolution in human thought and human life which followed in the +wake of that great book. Carlyle defined genius as an infinite capacity +for taking pains. George Eliot characterized it as an infinite capacity +for receiving discipline. But to make the definition complete, we need +the formulation of Goethe, who identified genius with the power of +concentration: "Who would be great must limit his ambitions; in +concentration is shown the Master."</p> + +<p>And so the great men of history, from the very fact of their genius, are +apt not to correspond with what our ideal of greatness demands. Indeed, +our ideal is often more nearly realized in men who fall far short of +genius. When I studied chemistry, the instructor burned a bit of diamond +to prove to us that the diamond was, after all, only carbon in an +"allotropic" form. There seems to be a similar allotropy working in +human nature. Some men seem to have all the constituents of genius, but +they never reach very far above the plane of the commonplace. They are +like the diamond,—except that they are more like the charcoal.</p> + +<p>I wish to describe to you a teacher who was not a genius, and yet who +possessed certain qualities that I should abstract and appropriate if I +were to construct in my imagination an ideal teacher. I first met this +man five years ago out in the mountain country. I can recall the +occasion with the most vivid distinctness. It was a sparkling morning, +in middle May. The valley was just <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>beginning to green a little under +the influence of the lengthening days, but on the surrounding mountains +the snow line still hung low. I had just settled down to my morning's +work when word was brought that a visitor wished to see me, and a moment +later he was shown into the office. He was tall and straight, with +square shoulders and a deep chest. His hair was gray, and a rather long +white beard added to the effect of age, but detracted not an iota from +the evidences of strength and vigor. He had the look of a Westerner,—of +a man who had lived much of his life in the open. There was a ruggedness +about him, a sturdy strength that told of many a day's toil along the +trail, and many a night's sleep under the stars.</p> + +<p>In a few words he stated the purpose of his visit. He simply wished to +do what half a hundred others in the course of the year had entered that +office for the purpose of doing. He wished to enroll as a student in the +college and to prepare himself for a teacher. This was not ordinarily a +startling request, but hitherto it had been made only by those who were +just starting out on the highroad of life. Here was a man advanced in +years. He told me that he was sixty-five, and sixty-five in that country +meant old age; for the region had but recently been settled, and most of +the people were either young or middle-aged. The only old men in the +country were the few surviving pioneers,—men who had come in away back +in the early days of the mining fever, long before <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>the advent of the +railroad. They had trekked across the plains from Omaha, and up through +the mountainous passes of the Oregon trail; or, a little later, they had +come by steamboat from St. Louis up the twelve-hundred-mile stretch of +the Missouri until their progress had been stopped by the Great Falls in +the very foothills of the Rockies. What heroes were these graybeards of +the mountains! What possibilities in knowing them, of listening to the +recounting of tales of the early days,—of running fights with the +Indians on the plains, of ambushments by desperadoes in the mountain +passes, of the lurid life of the early mining camps, and the desperate +deeds of the Vigilantes! And here, before me, was a man of that type. +You could read the main facts of his history in the very lines of his +face. And this man—one of that small band whom the whole country united +to honor—this man wanted to become a student,—to sit among adolescent +boys and girls, listening to the lectures and discussions of instructors +who were babes in arms when he was a man of middle life.</p> + +<p>But there was no doubt of his determination. With the eagerness of a +boy, he outlined his plan to me; and in doing this, he told me the story +of his life,—just the barest facts to let me know that he was not a man +to do things half-heartedly, or to drop a project until he had carried +it through either to a successful issue, or to indisputable defeat.</p> + +<p>And what a life that man had lived! He had been a <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>youth of promise, +keen of intelligence and quick of wit. He had spent two years at a +college in the Middle West back in the early sixties. He had left his +course uncompleted to enter the army, and he had followed the fortunes +of war through the latter part of the great rebellion. At the close of +the war he went West. He farmed in Kansas until the drought and the +grasshoppers urged him on. He joined the first surveying party that +picked out the line of the transcontinental railroad that was to follow +the southern route along the old Santa Fé trail. He carried the chain +and worked the transit across the Rockies, across the desert, across the +Sierras, until, with his companions, he had—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"led the iron stallions down to drink</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through the cañons to the waters of the West."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And when this task was accomplished, he followed the lure of the gold +through the California placers; eastward again over the mountains to the +booming Nevada camp, where the Comstock lode was already turning out the +wealth that was to build a half-dozen colossal fortunes. He "prospected" +through this country, with varying success, living the life of the +camps,—rich in its experiences, vivid in its coloring, calling forth +every item of energy and courage and hardihood that a man could command. +Then word came by that mysterious wireless and keyless telegraphy of the +mountains and the desert,—word that back to the eastward, ore deposits +of untold <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>wealth had been discovered. So eastward once more, with the +stampede of the miners, he turned his face. He was successful at the +outset in this new region. He quickly accumulated a fortune; he lost it +and amassed another; lost that and still gained a third. Five successive +fortunes he made successively, and successively he lost them. But during +this time he had become a man of power and influence in the community. +He married and raised a family and saw his children comfortably settled.</p> + +<p>But when his last fortune was swept away, the old <i>Wanderlust</i> again +claimed its own. Houses and lands and mortgages and mills and mines had +slipped from his grasp. But it mattered little. He had only himself to +care for, and, with pick and pan strapped to his saddlebow, he set his +face westward. Along the ridges of the high Rockies, through Wyoming and +Montana, he wandered, ever on the lookout for the glint of gold in the +white quartz. Little by little he moved westward, picking up a +sufficient living, until he found himself one winter shut in by the +snows in a remote valley on the upper waters of the Gallatin River. He +stopped one night at a lonely ranch house. In the course of the evening +his host told him of a catastrophe that had befallen the widely +scattered inhabitants of that remote valley. The teacher of the district +school had fallen sick, and there was little likelihood of their getting +another until spring.</p> + +<p>That is a true catastrophe to the ranchers of the high <a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>valleys cut off +from every line of communication with the outer world. For the +opportunities of education are highly valued in that part of the West. +They are reckoned with bread and horses and cattle and sheep, as among +the necessities of life. The children were crying for school, and their +parents could not satisfy that peculiar kind of hunger. But here was the +relief. This wanderer who had arrived in their midst was a man of parts. +He was lettered; he was educated. Would he do them the favor of teaching +their children until the snow had melted away from the ridges, and his +cayuse could pick the trail through the cañons?</p> + +<p>Now school-keeping was farthest from this man's thoughts. But the needs +of little children were very near to his heart. He accepted the offer, +and entered the log schoolhouse as the district schoolmaster, while a +handful of pupils, numbering all the children of the community who could +ride a broncho, came five, ten, and even fifteen miles daily, through +the winter's snows and storms and cruel cold, to pick up the crumbs of +learning that had lain so long untouched.</p> + +<p>What happened in that lonely little school, far off on the Gallatin +bench, I never rightly discovered. But when spring opened up, the master +sold his cayuse and his pick and his rifle and the other implements of +his trade. With the earnings of the winter he made his way to the school +that the state had established for the training of teachers; and I count +it as one of the privileges of my life that I <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>was the first official of +that school to listen to his story and to welcome him to the vocation +that he had chosen to follow.</p> + +<p>And yet, when I looked at his face, drawn into lines of strength by +years of battle with the elements; when I looked at the clear, blue +eyes, that told of a far cleaner life than is lived by one in a thousand +of those that hold the frontiers of civilization; when I caught an +expression about the mouth that told of an innate humanity far beyond +the power of worldly losses or misfortunes to crush and subdue, I could +not keep from my lips the words that gave substance to my thought; and +the thought was this: that it were far better if we who were supposed to +be competent to the task of education should sit reverently at the feet +of this man, than that we should presume to instruct him. For knowledge +may come from books, and even youth may possess it, but wisdom comes +only from experience, and this man had that wisdom in far greater +measure than we of books and laboratories and classrooms could ever hope +to have it. He had lived years while we were living days.</p> + +<p>I thought of a learned scholar who, through patient labor in amassing +facts, had demonstrated the influence of the frontier in the development +of our national ideals; who had pointed out how, at each successive +stage of American history, the heroes of the frontier, pushing farther +and farther into the wilderness, conquering first the low coastal plain +of the Atlantic seaboard, then the <a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>forested foothills and ridges of the +Appalachians, had finally penetrated into the Mississippi Valley, and, +subduing that, had followed on westward to the prairies, and then to the +great plains, and then clear across the great divide, the alkali +deserts, and the Sierras, to California and the Pacific Coast; how these +frontiersmen, at every stage of our history, had sent back wave after +wave of strength and virility to keep alive the sturdy ideals of toil +and effort and independence,—ideals that would counteract the mellowing +and softening and degenerating influences of the hothouse civilization +that grew up so rapidly in the successive regions that they left behind. +Turner's theory that most of what is typical and unique in American +institutions and ideals owes its existence to the backset of the +frontier life found a living exemplar in the man who stood before me on +that May morning.</p> + +<p>But he would not be discouraged from his purpose. He had made up his +mind to complete the course that the school offered; to take up the +thread of his education at the point where he had dropped it more than +forty years before. He had made up his mind, and it was easy to see that +he was not a man to be deterred from a set purpose.</p> + +<p>I shall not hide the fact that some of us were skeptical of the outcome. +That a man of sixty-five should have a thirst for learning was not +remarkable. But that a man whose life had been spent in scenes of +excitement, who had been associated with deeds and events that stir <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>the +blood when we read of them to-day, a man who had lived almost every +moment of his life in the open,—that such a man could settle down to +the uneventful life of a student and a teacher, could shut himself up +within the four walls of a classroom, could find anything to inspire and +hold him in the dull presentation of facts or the dry elucidation of +theories,—this seemed to be a miracle not to be expected in this +realistic age. But, miracle or not, the thing actually happened. He +remained nearly four years in the school, earning his living by work +that he did in the intervals of study, and doing it so well that, when +he graduated, he had not only his education and the diploma which stood +for it, but also a bank account.</p> + +<p>He lived in a little cabin by himself, for he wished to be where he +would not disturb others when he sang or whistled over his work in the +small hours of the night. But his meals he took at the college +dormitory, where he presided at a table of young women students. Never +was a man more popular with the ladies than this weather-beaten +patriarch with the girls of his table. No matter how gloomy the day +might be, one could always find sunshine from that quarter. No matter +how grievous the troubles of work, there was always a bit of cheerful +optimism from a man who had tasted almost every joy and sorrow that life +had to offer. If one were in a blue funk of dejection because of failure +in a class, he would lend the sympathy that came from his own rich +experience in failures,—not only past but present, for some things that +<a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>come easy at sixteen come hard at sixty-five, and this man who would +accept no favors had to fight his way through "flunks" and "goose-eggs" +like the younger members of the class. And even with it all so complete +an embodiment of hope and courage and wholesome light-heartedness would +be hard to find. He was an optimist because he had learned long since +that anything but optimism is a crime; and learning this in early life, +optimism had become a deeply seated and ineradicable prejudice in his +mind. He could not have been gloomy if he had tried.</p> + +<p>And so this man fought his way through science and mathematics and +philosophy, slowly but surely, just as he had fought inch by inch and +link by link, across the Arizona desert years before. It was a much +harder fight, for all the force of lifelong habit, than which there is +none other so powerful, was against him from the start. And now came the +human temptation to be off on the old trail, to saddle his horse and get +a pick and a pan and make off across the western range to the golden +land that always lies just under the sunset. How often that turbulent +<i>Wanderlust</i> seized him, I can only conjecture. But I know the spirit of +the wanderer was always strong within him. He could say, with Kipling's +<i>Tramp Royal</i>:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which you can read and care for just so long,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But presently you feel that you will die</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unless you get the page you're reading done,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An' turn another—likely not so good;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But what you're after is to turn them all."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>And I knew that he fought that temptation over and over again; for that +little experience out on the Gallatin bench had only partially turned +his life from the channels of wandering, although it had bereft him of +the old desire to seek for gold. Often he outlined to me a +well-formulated plan; perhaps he had to tell some one, lest the fever +should take too strong a hold upon him, and force his surrender. His +plan was this: He would teach a term here and there, gradually working +his way westward, always toward the remote corners of the earth into +which his roving instinct seemed unerringly to lead him. Alaska, Hawaii, +and the Philippines seemed easy enough to access; surely, he thought, +teachers must be needed in all those regions. And when he should have +turned these pages, he might have mastered his vocation in a degree +sufficient to warrant his attempting an alien soil. Then he would sail +away into the South Seas, with New Zealand and Australia as a base. And +gradually moving westward through English-speaking settlements and +colonies he would finally complete the circuit of the globe.</p> + +<p>And the full fruition of that plan might have formed a fitting climax to +my tale, were I telling it for the sake of its romance; but my purpose +demands a different conclusion. My hero is now principal of schools in a +little city of the mountains,—a city so tiny that its name would be +unknown to most of you. And I have heard vague rumors that he is rising +rapidly in his profession and <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>that the community he serves will not +listen to anything but a permanent tenure of his office. All of which +seems to indicate to me that he has abandoned, for the while at least, +his intention to turn quite all the pages of the world's great book, and +is content to live true to the ideal that was born in the log +schoolhouse—the conviction that the true life is the life of service, +and that the love of wandering and the lure of gold are only siren calls +that lead one always toward, but never to, the promised land of dreams +that seems to lie just over the western range where the pink sunset +stands sharp against the purple shadows.</p> + +<p>The ending of my story is prosaic, but everything in this world is +prosaic, unless you view it either in the perspective of time or space, +or in the contrasts that bring out the high lights and deepen the +shadows.</p> + +<p>But if I have left my hero happily married to his profession, the +courtship and winning of which formed the theme of my tale, I may be +permitted to indulge in a very little moralizing of a rather more +explicit sort than I have yet attempted.</p> + +<p>It is a simple matter to construct in imagination an ideal teacher. Mix +with immortal youth and abounding health, a maximal degree of knowledge +and a maximal degree of experience, add perfect tact, the spirit of true +service, the most perfect patience, and the most steadfast persistence; +place in the crucible of some good normal school; stir in twenty weeks +of standard psychology, <a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>ten weeks of general method, and varying +amounts of patent compounds known as special methods, all warranted pure +and without drugs or poison; sweeten with a little music, toughen with +fifteen weeks of logic, bring to a slow boil in the practice school, +and, while still sizzling, turn loose on a cold world. The formula is +simple and complete, but like many another good recipe, a competent cook +might find it hard to follow when she is short of butter and must +shamefully skimp on the eggs.</p> + +<p>Now the man whose history I have recounted represents the most priceless +qualities of this formula. In the first place he possessed that quality +the key to which the philosophers of all ages have sought in vain,—he +had solved the problem of eternal youth. At the age of sixty-five his +enthusiasm was the enthusiasm of an adolescent. His energy was the +energy of an adolescent. Despite his gray hair and white beard, his mind +was perennially young. And that is the only type of mind that ought to +be concerned with the work of education. I sometimes think that one of +the advantages of a practice school lies in the fact that the teachers +who have direct charge of the pupils—whatever may be their +limitations—have at least the virtue of youth, the virtue of being +young. If they could only learn from my hero the art of keeping young, +of keeping the mind fresh and vigorous and open to whatever is good and +true, no matter how novel a form it may take, they might, like him, +preserve their youth indefinitely. And I think that his life gives us +<a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>one clew to the secret,—to keep as close as we can to nature, for +nature is always young; to sing and to whistle when we would rather +weep; to cheer and comfort when we would rather crush and dishearten; +often to dare something just for the sake of daring, for to be young is +to dare; and always to wonder, for that is the prime symptom of youth, +and when a man ceases to wonder, age and decrepitude are waiting for him +around the next corner.</p> + +<p>It is the privilege of the teaching craft to represent more adequately +than any other calling the conditions for remaining young. There is time +for living out-of-doors, which some of us, alas! do not do. And youth, +with its high hope and lofty ambition, with its resolute daring and its +naive wonder, surrounds us on every side. And yet how rapidly some of us +age! How quickly life seems to lose its zest! How completely are we +blind to the opportunities that are on every hand!</p> + +<p>And closely related to this virtue of being always young, in fact +growing out of it, the ideal teacher will have, as my hero had, the gift +of gladness,—that joy of living which takes life for granted and +proposes to make the most of every moment of consciousness that it +brings.</p> + +<p>And finally, to balance these qualities, to keep them in leash, the +ideal teacher should possess that spirit of service, that conviction +that the life of service is the only life worth while—that conviction +for which my hero struggled so long and against such tremendous odds. +The <a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>spirit of service must always be the cornerstone of the teaching +craft. To know that any life which does not provide the opportunities +for service is not worth the living, and that any life, however humble, +that does provide these opportunities is rich beyond the reach of +earthly rewards,—this is the first lesson that the tyro in schoolcraft +must learn, be he sixteen or sixty-five.</p> + +<p>And just as youth and hope and the gift of gladness are the eternal +verities on one side of the picture, so the spirit of service, the +spirit of sacrifice, is the eternal verity that forms their true +complement; without whose compensation, hope were but idle dreaming, and +laughter a hollow mockery. And self-denial, which is the keynote of +service, is the great sobering, justifying, eternal factor that +symbolizes humanity more perfectly than anything else. In the +introduction to <i>Romola</i>, George Eliot pictures a spirit of the past who +returns to earth four hundred years after his death, and looks down upon +his native city of Florence. And I can conclude with no better words +than those in which George Eliot voices her advice to that shade:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Go not down, good Spirit: for the changes are great and the speech +of the Florentines would sound as a riddle in your ears. Or, if you +go, mingle with no politicians on the marmi, or elsewhere; ask no +questions about trade in Calimara; confuse yourself with no +inquiries into scholarship, official or monastic. Only look at the +sunlight and shadows on the grand walls that were built solidly and +have endured in their grandeur; look at the faces of the little +children, making another sunlight amid the shadows of age; look, if +you will, into the churches and hear the same chants, see the same +<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>images as of old—the images of willing anguish for a great end, +of beneficent love and ascending glory, see upturned living faces, +and lips moving to the old prayers for help. These things have not +changed. The sunlight and the shadows bring their old beauty and +waken the old heart-strains at morning, noon, and even-tide; the +little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage +between love and duty; and men still yearn for the reign of peace +and righteousness—still own that life to be the best which is a +conscious voluntary sacrifice." </p></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New +York, State Normal School, February, 1908.</p></div> + +</div> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16987-h.txt or 16987-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/8/16987">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/8/16987</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Craftsmanship in Teaching + + +Author: William Chandler Bagley + + + +Release Date: November 2, 2005 [eBook #16987] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet Blenkinship, Bill Tozier, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING + +by + +WILLIAM CHANDLER BAGLEY + +Author Of "The Educative Process," "Classroom Management," "Educational +Values," Etc. + + + + + + + +New York +The MacMillan Company +1912 +All rights reserved +Copyright, 1911, by the MacMillan Company. +Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1911. Reprinted June, October, +1911; May, 1912. +Norwood Press +J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. +Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + + +TO MY PARENTS + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following papers are published chiefly because they treat in a +concrete and personal manner some of the principles which the writer has +developed in two previously published books, _The Educative Process_ and +_Classroom Management_, and in a forthcoming volume, _Educational +Values_. It is hoped that the more informal discussions presented in the +following pages will, in some slight measure, supplement the theoretical +and systematic treatment which necessarily characterizes the other +books. In this connection, it should be stated that the materials of the +first paper here presented were drawn upon in writing Chapter XVIII of +_Classroom Management_, and that the second paper simply states in a +different form the conclusions reached in Chapter I of _The Educative +Process_. + +The writer is indebted to his colleague, Professor L.F. Anderson, for +many criticisms and suggestions and to Miss Bernice Harrison for +invaluable aid in editing the papers for publication. But his heaviest +debt, here as elsewhere, is to his wife, to whose encouraging sympathy +and inspiration whatever may be valuable in this or in his other books +must be largely attributed. + + URBANA, ILLINOIS, + March 1, 1911 + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING 1 + + II. OPTIMISM IN TEACHING 23 + + III. HOW MAY WE PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TEACHING FORCE? 43 + + IV. THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SUPERVISION 63 + + V. THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER 77 + + VI. EDUCATION AND UTILITY 96 + + VII. THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN EDUCATION 123 + + VIII. THE POSSIBILITY OF TRAINING CHILDREN TO STUDY 144 + + IX. A PLEA FOR THE DEFINITE IN EDUCATION 164 + + X. SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE 191 + + XI. THE NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD DRILL 204 + + XII. THE IDEAL TEACHER 229 + + + + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING + +~I~ + +CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING[1] + +I + + "In the laboratory of life, each newcomer repeats the old + experiments, and laughs and weeps for himself. We will be + explorers, though all the highways have their guideposts and every + bypath is mapped. Helen of Troy will not deter us, nor the wounds + of Caesar frighten, nor the voice of the king crying 'Vanity!' from + his throne dismay. What wonder that the stars that once sang for + joy are dumb and the constellations go down in + silence."--ARTHUR SHERBURNE HARDY: _The Wind of Destiny_. + + +We tend, I think, to look upon the advice that we give to young people +as something that shall disillusionize them. The cynic of forty sneers +at what he terms the platitudes of commencement addresses. He knows +life. He has been behind the curtains. He has looked upon the other side +of the scenery,--the side that is just framework and bare canvas. He has +seen the ugly machinery that shifts the stage setting--the stage setting +which appears so impressive when viewed from the front. He has seen the +rouge on the cheeks that seem to blush with the bloom of youth and +beauty and innocence, and has caught the cold glint in the eyes that, +from the distance, seem to languish with tenderness and love. Why, he +asks, should we create an illusion that must thus be rudely dispelled? +Why revamp and refurbish the old platitudes and dole them out each +succeeding year? Why not tell these young people the truth and let them +be prepared for the fate that must come sooner or later? + +But the cynic forgets that there are some people who never lose their +illusions,--some men and women who are always young,--and, whatever may +be the type of men and women that other callings and professions desire +to enroll in their service, this is the type that education needs. The +great problem of the teacher is to keep himself in this class, to keep +himself young, to preserve the very things that the cynic pleases to +call the illusions of his youth. And so much do I desire to impress +these novitiates into our calling with the necessity for preserving +their ideals that I shall ask them this evening to consider with me some +things which would, I fear, strike the cynic as most illusionary and +impractical. The initiation ceremonies that admitted the young man to +the privileges and duties of knighthood included the taking of certain +vows, the making of certain pledges of devotion and fidelity to the +fundamental principles for which chivalry stood. And I should like this +evening to imagine that these graduates are undergoing an analogous +initiation into the privileges and duties of schoolcraft, and that +these vows which I shall enumerate, embody some of the ideals that +govern the work of that craft. + + +II + +And the first of these vows I shall call, for want of a better term, the +vow of "artistry,"--the pledge that the initiate takes to do the work +that his hand finds to do in the best possible manner, without reference +to the effort that it may cost or to the reward that it may or may not +bring. + +I call this the vow of artistry because it represents the essential +attitude of the artist toward his work. The cynic tells us that ideals +are illusions of youth, and yet, the other day I saw expressed in a +middle-aged working-man a type of idealism that is not at all uncommon +in this world. He was a house painter; his task was simply the prosaic +job of painting a door; and yet, from the pains which he took with that +work, an observer would have concluded that it was, to the painter, the +most important task in the world. And that, after all, is the true test +of craft artistry: to the true craftsman the work that he is doing must +be the most important thing that can be done. One of the best teachers +that I know is that kind of a craftsman in education. A student was once +sent to observe his work. He was giving a lesson upon the "attribute +complement" to an eighth-grade grammar class. I asked the student +afterward what she had got from her visit. "Why," she replied, "that man +taught as if the very greatest achievement in life would be to get his +pupils to understand the attribute complement,--and when he had +finished, they did understand it." + +In a narrower sense, this vow of artistry carries with it an +appreciation of the value of technique. From the very fact of their +normal school training, these graduates already possess a certain +measure of skill, a certain mastery of the technique of their craft. +This initial mastery has been gained in actual contact with the problems +of school work in their practice teaching. They have learned some of the +rudiments; they have met and mastered some of the rougher, cruder +difficulties. The finer skill, the delicate and intangible points of +technique, they must acquire, as all beginners must acquire them, +through the strenuous processes of self-discipline in the actual work of +the years that are to come. This is a process that takes time, energy, +constant and persistent application. All that this school or any school +can do for its students in this respect is to start them upon the right +track in the acquisition of skill. But do not make the mistake of +assuming that this is a small and unimportant matter. If this school did +nothing more than this, it would still repay tenfold the cost of its +establishment and maintenance. Three fourths of the failures in a world +that sometimes seems full of failures are due to nothing more nor less +than a wrong start. In spite of the growth of professional training for +teachers within the past fifty years, many of our lower schools are +still filled with raw recruits, fresh from the high schools and even +from the grades, who must learn every practical lesson of teaching +through the medium of their own mistakes. Even if this were all, the +process would involve a tremendous and uncalled-for waste. But this is +not all; for, out of this multitude of untrained teachers, only a small +proportion ever recognize the mistakes that they make and try to correct +them. + +To you who are beginning the work of life, the mastery of technique may +seem a comparatively unimportant matter. You recognize its necessity, of +course, but you think of it as something of a mechanical nature,--an +integral part of the day's work, but uninviting in itself,--something to +be reduced as rapidly as possible to the plane of automatism and +dismissed from the mind. I believe that you will outgrow this notion. As +you go on with your work, as you increase in skill, ever and ever the +fascination of its technique will take a stronger and stronger hold upon +you. This is the great saving principle of our workaday life. This is +the factor that keeps the toiler free from the deadening effects of +mechanical routine. It is the factor that keeps the farmer at his plow, +the artisan at his bench, the lawyer at his desk, the artist at his +palette. + +I once worked for a man who had accumulated a large fortune. At the age +of seventy-five he divided this fortune among his children, intending to +retire; but he could find pleasure and comfort only in the routine of +business. In six months he was back in his office. He borrowed +twenty-five thousand dollars on his past reputation and started in to +have some fun. I was his only employee at the time, and I sat across the +big double desk from him, writing his letters and keeping his accounts. +He would sit for hours, planning for the establishment of some industry +or running out the lines that would entangle some old adversary. I did +not stay with him very long, but before I left, he had a half-dozen +thriving industries on his hands, and when he died three years later he +had accumulated another fortune of over a million dollars. + +That is an example of what I mean by the fascination that the technique +of one's craft may come to possess. It is the joy of doing well the work +that you know how to do. The finer points of technique,--those little +things that seem so trivial in themselves and yet which mean everything +to skill and efficiency,--what pride the competent artisan or the master +artist takes in these! How he delights to revel in the jargon of his +craft! How he prides himself in possessing the knowledge and the +technical skill that are denied the layman! + +I am aware that I am somewhat unorthodox in urging this view of your +work upon you. Teachers have been encouraged to believe that details are +not only unimportant but stultifying,--that teaching ability is a +function of personality, and not a product of a technique that must be +acquired through the strenuous discipline of experience. One of the most +skillful teachers of my acquaintance is a woman down in the grades. I +have watched her work for days at a time, striving to learn its secret. +I can find nothing there that is due to genius,--unless we accept George +Eliot's definition of genius as an infinite capacity for receiving +discipline. That teacher's success, by her own statement, is due to a +mastery of technique, gained through successive years of growth checked +by a rigid responsibility for results. She has found out by repeated +trial how to do her work in the best way; she has discovered the +attitude toward her pupils that will get the best work from them,--the +clearest methods of presenting subject matter; the most effective ways +in which to drill; how to use text-books and make study periods issue in +something besides mischief; and, more than all else, how to do these +things without losing sight of the true end of education. Very +frequently I have taken visiting school men to see this teacher's work. +Invariably after leaving her room they have turned to me with such +expressions as these: "A born teacher!" "What interest!" "What a +personality!" "What a voice!"--everything, in fact, except this,--which +would have been the truth: "What a tribute to years of effort and +struggle and self-discipline!" + +I have a theory which I have never exploited very seriously, but I will +give it to you for what it is worth. It is this: elementary education +especially needs a literary interpretation. It needs a literary artist +who will portray to the public in the form of fiction the real life of +the elementary school,--who will idealize the technique of teaching as +Kipling idealized the technique of the marine engineer, as Balzac +idealized the technique of the journalist, as Du Maurier and a hundred +other novelists have idealized the technique of the artist. We need some +one to exploit our shop-talk on the reading public, and to show up our +work as you and I know it, not as you and I have been told by laymen +that it ought to be,--a literature of the elementary school with the +cant and the platitudes and the goody-goodyism left out, and in their +place something of the virility, of the serious study, of the manful +effort to solve difficult problems, of the real and vital achievements +that are characteristic of thousands of elementary schools throughout +the country to-day. + +At first you will be fascinated by the novelty of your work. But that +soon passes away. Then comes the struggle,--then comes the period, be it +long or short, when you will work with your eyes upon the clock, when +you will count the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes that lie +between you and vacation time. Then will be the need for all the +strength and all the energy that you can summon to your aid. Fail here, +and your fate is decided once and for all. If, in your work, you never +get beyond this stage, you will never become the true craftsman. You +will never taste the joy that is vouchsafed the expert, the efficient +craftsman. + +The length of this period varies with different individuals. Some +teachers "find themselves" quickly. They seem to settle at once into the +teaching attitude. With others is a long, uphill fight. But it is safe +to say that if, at the end of three years, your eyes still habitually +seek the clock,--if, at the end of that time, your chief reward is the +check that comes at the end of every fourth week,--then your doom is +sealed. + + +III + +And the second vow that I should urge these graduates to take is the vow +of fidelity to the spirit of their calling. We have heard a great deal +in recent years about making education a profession. I do not like that +term myself. Education is not a profession in the sense that medicine +and law are professions. It is rather a craft, for its duty is to +produce, to mold, to fashion, to transform a certain raw material into a +useful product. And, like all crafts, education must possess the craft +spirit. It must have a certain code of craft ethics; it must have +certain standards of craft excellence and efficiency. And in these the +normal school must instruct its students, and to these it should secure +their pledge of loyalty and fidelity and devotion. + +A true conception of this craft spirit in education is one of the most +priceless possessions of the young teacher, for it will fortify him +against every criticism to which his calling is subjected. It is +revealing no secret to tell you that the teacher's work is not held in +the highest regard by the vast majority of men and women in other walks +of life. I shall not stop to inquire why this is so, but the fact cannot +be doubted, and every now and again some incident of life, trifling +perhaps in itself, will bring it to your notice; but most of all, +perhaps you will be vexed and incensed by the very thing that is meant +to put you at your ease--the patronizing attitude which your friends in +other walks of life will assume toward you and toward your work. + +When will the good public cease to insult the teacher's calling with +empty flattery? When will men who would never for a moment encourage +their own sons to enter the work of the public schools, cease to tell us +that education is the greatest and noblest of all human callings? +Education does not need these compliments. The teacher does not need +them. If he is a master of his craft, he knows what education means,--he +knows this far better than any layman can tell him. And what boots it to +him, if, with all this cant and hypocrisy about the dignity and worth of +his calling, he can sometimes hold his position only at the sacrifice of +his self-respect? + +But what is the relation of the craft spirit to these facts? Simply +this: the true craftsman, by the very fact that he is a true craftsman, +is immune to these influences. What does the true artist care for the +plaudits or the sneers of the crowd? True, he seeks commendation and +welcomes applause, for your real artist is usually extremely human; but +he seeks this commendation from another source--from a source that metes +it out less lavishly and yet with unconditioned candor. He seeks the +commendation of his fellow-workmen, the applause of "those who know, and +always will know, and always will understand." He plays to the pit and +not to the gallery, for he knows that when the pit really approves the +gallery will often echo and reecho the applause, albeit it has not the +slightest conception of what the whole thing is about. + +What education stands in need of to-day is just this: a stimulating and +pervasive craft spirit. If a human calling would win the world's +respect, it must first respect itself; and the more thoroughly it +respects itself, the greater will be the measure of homage that the +world accords it. In one of the educational journals a few years ago, +the editors ran a series of articles under the general caption, "Why I +am a teacher." It reminded me of the spirited discussion that one of the +Sunday papers started some years since on the world-old query, "Is +marriage a failure?" And some of the articles were fully as sickening in +their harrowing details as were some of the whining matrimonial +confessions of the latter series. But the point that I wish to make is +this: your true craftsman in education never stops to ask himself such +questions. There are some men to whom schoolcraft is a mistress. They +love it, and their devotion is no make-believe, fashioned out of +sentiment, and donned for the purpose of hiding inefficiency or native +indolence. They love it as some men love Art, and others Business, and +others War. They do not stop to ask the reason why, to count the cost, +or to care a fig what people think. They are properly jealous of their +special knowledge, gained through years of special study; they are +justly jealous of their special skill gained through years of discipline +and training. They resent the interference of laymen in matters purely +professional. They resent such interference as would a reputable +physician, a reputable lawyer, a reputable engineer. They resent +officious patronage and "fussy" meddling. They resent all these things +manfully, vigorously. But your true craftsman will not whine. If the +conditions under which he works do not suit him, he will fight for their +betterment, but he will not whine. + + +IV + +And yet this vow of fidelity and devotion to the spirit of schoolcraft +would be an empty form without the two complementary vows that give it +worth and meaning. These are the vow of poverty and the vow of service. +It is through these that the true craft spirit must find its most +vigorous expression and its only justification. The very corner stone of +schoolcraft is service, and one fundamental lesson that the tyro in +schoolcraft must learn, especially in this materialistic age, is that +the value of service is not to be measured in dollars and cents. In this +respect, teaching resembles art, music, literature, discovery, +invention, and pure science; for, if all the workers in all of these +branches of human activity got together and demanded of the world the +real fruits of their self-sacrifice and labor,--if they demanded all the +riches and comforts and amenities of life that have flowed directly or +indirectly from their efforts,--there would be little left for the rest +of mankind. Each of these activities is represented by a craft spirit +that recognizes this great truth. The artist or the scientist who has an +itching palm, who prostitutes his craft for the sake of worldly gain, is +quickly relegated to the oblivion that he deserves. He loses caste, and +the caste of craft is more precious to your true craftsman than all the +gold of the modern Midas. + +You may think that this is all very well to talk about, but that it +bears little agreement to the real conditions. Let me tell you that you +are mistaken. Go ask Roentgen why he did not keep the X-rays a secret to +be exploited for his own personal gain. Ask the shade of the great +Helmholtz why he did not patent the ophthalmoscope. Go to the University +of Wisconsin and ask Professor Babcock why he gave to the world without +money and without price the Babcock test--an invention which is +estimated to mean more than one million dollars every year to the +farmers and dairymen of that state alone. Ask the men on the geological +survey who laid bare the great gold deposits of Alaska why they did not +leave a thankless and ill-paid service to acquire the wealth that lay at +their feet. Because commercialized ideals govern the world that we know, +we think that all men's eyes are jaundiced, and that all men's vision is +circumscribed by the milled rim of the almighty dollar. But we are +sadly, miserably mistaken. + +Do you think that these ideals of service from which every taint of +self-seeking and commercialism have been eliminated--do you think that +these are mere figments of the impractical imagination? Go ask Perry +Holden out in Iowa. Go ask Luther Burbank out in California. Go to any +agricultural college in this broad land and ask the scientists who are +doing more than all other forces combined to increase the wealth of the +people. Go to the scientific departments at Washington where men of +genius are toiling for a pittance. Ask them how much of the wealth for +which they are responsible they propose to put into their own pockets. +What will be their answer? They will tell you that all they ask is a +living wage, a chance to work, and the just recognition of their +services by those who know and appreciate and understand. + +But let me hasten to add that these men claim no especial merit for +their altruism and unselfishness. They do not pose before the world as +philanthropists. They do not strut about and preen themselves as who +would say: "See what a noble man am I! See how I sacrifice myself for +the welfare of society!" The attitude of cant and pose is entirely alien +to the spirit of true service. Their delight is in doing, in serving, in +producing. But beyond this, they have the faults and frailties of their +kind,--save one,--the sin of covetousness. And again, all that they ask +of the world is a living wage, and the privilege to serve. + +And that is all that the true craftsman in education asks. The man or +woman with the itching palm has no place in the schoolroom,--no place in +any craft whose keynote is service. It is true that the teacher does not +receive to-day, in all parts of our country, a living wage; and it is +equally true that society at large is the greatest sufferer because of +its penurious policy in this regard. I should applaud and support every +movement that has for its purpose the raising of teachers' salaries to +the level of those paid in other branches of professional service. +Society should do this for its own benefit and in its own defense, not +as a matter of charity to the men and women who, among all public +servants, should be the last to be accused of feeding gratuitously at +the public crib. I should approve all honest efforts of school men and +school women toward this much-desired end. But whenever men and women +enter schoolcraft because of the material rewards that it offers, the +virtue will have gone out of our calling,--just as the virtue went out +of the Church when, during the Middle Ages, the Church attracted men, +not because of the opportunities that it offered for social service, but +because of the opportunities that it offered for the acquisition of +wealth and temporal power,--just as the virtue has gone out of certain +other once-noble professions that have commercialized their standards +and tarnished their ideals. + +This is not to say that one condemns the man who devotes his life to the +accumulation of property. The tremendous strides that our country has +made in material civilization have been conditioned in part by this type +of genius. Creative genius must always compel our admiration and our +respect. It may create a world epic, a matchless symphony of tones or +pigments, a scientific theory of tremendous grasp and limitless scope; +or it may create a vast industrial system, a commercial enterprise of +gigantic proportions, a powerful organization of capital. Genius is +pretty much the same wherever we find it, and everywhere we of the +common clay must recognize its worth. + +The grave defect in our American life is not that we are hero +worshipers, but rather that we worship but one type of hero; we +recognize but one type of achievement; we see but one sort of genius. +For two generations our youth have been led to believe that there is +only one ambition that is worth while,--the ambition of property. +Success at any price is the ideal that has been held up before our boys +and girls. And to-day we are reaping the rewards of this distorted and +unjust view of life. + +I recently met a man who had lived for some years in the neighborhood of +St. Paul and Minneapolis,--a section that is peopled, as you know, very +largely by Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants. This man told +me that he had been particularly impressed by the high idealism of the +Norwegian people. His business brought him in contact with Norwegian +immigrants in what are called the lower walks of life,--with workingmen +and servant girls,--and he made it a point to ask each of these young +men and young women the same question. "Tell me," he would say, "who are +the great men of your country? Who are the men toward whom the youth of +your land are led to look for inspiration? Who are the men whom your +boys are led to imitate and emulate and admire?" And he said that he +almost always received the same answer to this question: the great names +of the Norwegian nation that had been burned upon the minds even of +these workingmen and servant girls were just four in number: Ole Bull, +Bjoernson, Ibsen, Nansen. Over and over again he asked that same +question; over and over again he received the same answer: Ole Bull, +Bjoernson, Ibsen, Nansen. A great musician, a great novelist, a great +dramatist, a great scientist. + +And I conjectured as I heard of this incident, What would be the answer +if the youth of our land were asked that question: "Who are the great +men of _your_ country? What type of achievement have you been led to +imitate and emulate and admire?" How many of our boys and girls have +even heard of our great men in the world of culture,--unless, indeed, +such men lived a half century ago and have got into the school readers +by this time? How many of our boys and girls have ever heard of +MacDowell, or James, or Whistler, or Sargent? + +I have said that the teacher must take the vow of service. What does +this imply except that the opportunity for service, the privilege of +serving, should be the opportunity that one seeks, and that the +achievements toward which one aspires should be the achievements of +serving? The keynote of service lies in self-sacrifice,--in +self-forgetfulness, rather,--in merging one's own life in the lives of +others. The attitude of the true teacher in this respect is very similar +to the attitude of the true parent. In so far as the parent feels +himself responsible for the character of his children, in so far as he +holds himself culpable for their shortcomings and instrumental in +shaping their virtues, he loses himself in his children. What we term +parental affection is, I believe, in part an outgrowth of this feeling +of responsibility. The situation is precisely the same with the +teacher. It is when the teacher begins to feel himself responsible for +the growth and development of his pupils that he begins to find himself +in the work of teaching. It is then that the effective devotion to his +pupils has its birth. The affection that comes prior to this is, I +think, very likely to be of the sentimental and transitory sort. + +In education, as in life, we play altogether too carelessly with the +word "love." The test of true devotion is self-forgetfulness. Until the +teacher reaches that point, he is conscious of two distinct elements in +his work,--himself and his pupils. When that time comes, his own _ego_ +drops from view, and he lives in and for his pupils. The young teacher's +tendency is always to ask himself, "Do my pupils like me?" Let me say +that this is beside the question. It is not, from his standpoint, a +matter of the pupils liking their teacher, but of the teacher liking his +pupils. That, I take it, must be constantly the point of view. If you +ask the other question first, you will be tempted to gain your end by +means that are almost certain to prove fatal,--to bribe and pet and +cajole and flatter, to resort to the dangerous expedient of playing to +the gallery; but the liking that you get in this way is not worth the +price that you pay for it. I should caution young teachers against the +short-sighted educational theories that are in the air to-day, and that +definitely recommend this attitude. They may sound sweet, but they are +soft and sticky in practice. Better be guided by instinct than by +"half-baked" theory. I have no disposition to criticize the attempts +that have been made to rationalize educational practice, but a great +deal of contemporary theory starts at the wrong end. It has failed to go +to the sources of actual experience for its data. I know a father and +mother who have brought up ten children successfully, and I may say that +you could learn more about managing boys and girls from observing their +methods than from a half-dozen prominent books on educational theory +that I could name. + +And so I repeat that the true test of the teacher's fidelity to this vow +of service is the degree in which he loses himself in his pupils,--the +degree in which he lives and toils and sacrifices for them just for the +pure joy that it brings him. Once you have tasted this joy, no carping +sneer of the cynic can cause you to lose faith in your calling. Material +rewards sink into insignificance. You no longer work with your eyes upon +the clock. The hours are all too short for the work that you would do. +You are as light-hearted and as happy as a child,--for you have lost +yourself to find yourself, and you have found yourself to lose yourself. + + + + +V + +And the final vow that I would have these graduates take is the vow of +idealism,--the pledge of fidelity and devotion to certain fundamental +principles of life which it is the business of education carefully to +cherish and nourish and transmit untarnished to each succeeding +generation. These but formulate in another way what the vows that I have +already discussed mean by implication. One is the ideal of social +service, upon which education must, in the last analysis, rest its case. +The second is the ideal of science,--the pledge of devotion to that +persistent unwearying search after truth, of loyalty to the great +principles of unbiased observation and unprejudiced experiment, of +willingness to accept the truth and be governed by it, no matter how +disagreeable it may be, no matter how roughly it may trample down our +pet doctrines and our preconceived theories. The nineteenth century left +us a glorious heritage in the great discoveries and inventions that +science has established. These must not be lost to posterity; but far +better lose them than lose the spirit of free inquiry, the spirit of +untrammeled investigation, the noble devotion to truth for its own sake +that made these discoveries and inventions possible. + +It is these ideals that education must perpetuate, and if education is +successfully to perpetuate them, the teacher must himself be filled with +a spirit of devotion to the things that they represent. Science has +triumphed over superstition and fraud and error. It is the teacher's +duty to see to it that this triumph is permanent, that mankind does not +again fall back into the black pit of ignorance and superstition. + +And so it is the teacher's province to hold aloft the torch, to stand +against the materialistic tendencies that would reduce all human +standards to the common denominator of the dollar, to insist at all +times and at all places that this nation of ours was founded upon +idealism, and that, whatever may be the prevailing tendencies of the +time, its children shall still learn to live "among the sunlit peaks." +And if the teacher is imbued with this idealism, although his work may +take him very close to Mother Earth, he may still lift his head above +the fog and look the morning sun squarely in the face. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New York, +State Normal School, February, 1907.] + + + + +~II~ + +OPTIMISM IN TEACHING[2] + + +Although the month is March and not November, it is never unseasonable +to count up the blessings for which it is well to be thankful. In fact, +from the standpoint of education, the spring is perhaps the appropriate +time to perform this very pleasant function. As if still further to +emphasize the fact that education, like civilization, is an artificial +thing, we have reversed the operations of Mother Nature: we sow our seed +in the fall and cultivate our crops during the winter and reap our +harvests in the spring. I may be pardoned, therefore, for making the +theme of my discussion a brief review of the elements of growth and +victory for which the educator of to-day may justly be grateful, with, +perhaps, a few suggestions of what the next few years may reasonably be +expected to bring forth. + +And this course is all the more necessary because, I believe, the +teaching profession is unduly prone to pessimism. One might think at +first glance that the contrary would be true. We are surrounded on every +side by youth. Youth is the material with which we constantly deal. +Youth is buoyant, hopeful, exuberant; and yet, with this material +constantly surrounding us, we frequently find the task wearisome and +apparently hopeless. The reason is not far to seek. Youth is not only +buoyant, it is unsophisticated, it is inexperienced, in many important +particulars it is crude. Some of its tastes must necessarily, in our +judgment, hark back to the primitive, to the barbaric. Ours is +continually the task to civilize, to sophisticate, to refine this raw +material. But, unfortunately for us, the effort that we put forth does +not always bring results that we can see and weigh and measure. The +hopefulness of our material is overshadowed not infrequently by its +crudeness. We take each generation as it comes to us. We strive to lift +it to the plane that civilized society has reached. We do our best and +pass it on, mindful of the many inadequacies, perhaps of the many +failures, in our work. We turn to the new generation that takes its +place. We hope for better materials, but we find no improvement. + +And so you and I reflect in our occasional moments of pessimism that +generic situation which inheres in the very work that we do. The +constantly accelerated progress of civilization lays constantly +increasing burdens upon us. In some way or another we must accomplish +the task. In some way or another we must lift the child to the level of +society, and, as society is reaching a continually higher and higher +level, so the distance through which the child must be raised is ever +increased. We would like to think that all this progress in the race +would come to mean that we should be able to take the child at a higher +level; but you who deal with children know from experience the principle +for which the biologist Weismann stands sponsor--the principle, namely, +that acquired characteristics are not inherited; that whatever changes +may be wrought during life in the brains and nerves and muscles of the +present generation cannot be passed on to its successor save through the +same laborious process of acquisition and training; that, however far +the civilization of the race may progress, education, whose duty it is +to conserve and transmit this civilization, must always begin with the +"same old child." + +This, I take it, is the deep-lying cause of the schoolmaster's +pessimism. In our work we are constantly struggling against that same +inertia which held the race in bondage for how many millenniums only the +evolutionist can approximate a guess,--that inertia of the primitive, +untutored mind which we to-day know as the mind of childhood, but which, +for thousands of generations, was the only kind of a mind that man +possessed. This inertia has been conquered at various times in the +course of recorded history,--in Egypt and China and India, in Chaldea +and Assyria, in Greece and Rome,--conquered only again to reassert +itself and drive man back into barbarism. Now we of the Western world +have conquered it, let us hope, for all time; for we of the Western +world have discovered an effective method of holding it in abeyance, and +this method is universal public education. + +Let Germany close her public schools, and in two generations she will +lapse back into the semi-darkness of medievalism; let her close both her +public schools and her universities, and three generations will fetch +her face to face with the Dark Ages; let her destroy her libraries and +break into ruin all of her works of art, all of her existing triumphs of +technical knowledge and skill, from which a few, self-tutored, might +glean the wisdom that is every one's to-day, and Germany will soon +become the home of a savage race, as it was in the days of Tacitus and +Caesar. Let Italy close her public schools, and Italy will become the +same discordant jumble of petty states that it was a century ago,--again +to await, this time perhaps for centuries or millenniums, another +Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel to work her regeneration. Let Japan close +her public schools, and Japan in two generations will be a barbaric +kingdom of the Shoguns, shorn of every vestige of power and +prestige,--the easy victim of the machinations of Western diplomats. Let +our country cease in its work of education, and these United States must +needs pass through the reverse stages of their growth until another race +of savages shall roam through the unbroken forest, now and then to reach +the shores of ocean and gaze through the centuries, eastward, to catch +a glimpse of the new Columbus. Like the moving pictures of the +kinetoscope when the reels are reversed, is the picture that imagination +can unroll if we grant the possibility of a lapse from civilization to +savagery. + +And so when we take the broader view, we quickly see that, in spite of +our pessimism, we are doing something in the world. We are part of that +machine which civilization has invented and is slowly perfecting to +preserve itself. We may be a very small part, but, so long as the +responsibility for a single child rests upon us, we are not an +unimportant part. Society must reckon with you and me perhaps in an +infinitesimal degree, but it must reckon with the institution which we +represent as it reckons with no other institution that it has reared to +subserve its needs. + +In a certain sense these statements are platitudes. We have repeated +them over and over again until the words have lost their tremendous +significance. And it behooves us now and again to revive the old +substance in a new form,--to come afresh to a self-consciousness of our +function. It is not good for any man to hold a debased and inferior +opinion of himself or of his work, and in the field of schoolcraft it is +easy to fall into this self-depreciating habit of thought. We cannot +hope that the general public will ever come to view our work in the true +perspective that I have very briefly outlined. It would probably not be +wise to promulgate publicly so pronounced an affirmation of our +function and of our worth. The popular mind must think in concrete +details rather than in comprehensive principles, when the subject of +thought is a specialized vocation. You and I have crude ideas, no doubt, +of the lawyer's function, of the physician's function, of the +clergyman's function. Not less crude are their ideas of our function. +Even when they patronize us by saying that our work is the noblest that +any man or woman would engage in, they have but a vague and shadowy +perception of its real significance. I doubt not that, with the majority +of those who thus pat us verbally upon the back, the words that they use +are words only. They do not envy us our privileges,--unless it is our +summer vacations,--nor do they encourage their sons to enter service in +our craft. The popular mind--the nontechnical mind,--must work in the +concrete;--it must have visible evidences of power and influence before +it pays homage to a man or to an institution. + +Throughout the German empire the traveler is brought constantly face to +face with the memorials that have been erected by a grateful people to +the genius of the Iron Chancellor. Bismarck richly deserves the tribute +that is paid to his memory, but a man to be honored in this way must +exert a tangible and an obvious influence. + +And yet, in a broader sense, the preeminence of Germany is due in far +greater measure to two men whose names are not so frequently to be +found inscribed upon towers and monuments. In the very midst of the +havoc and devastation wrought by the Napoleon wars,--at the very moment +when the German people seemed hopelessly crushed and defeated,--an +intellect more penetrating than that of Bismarck grasped the logic of +the situation. With the inspiration that comes with true insight, the +philosopher Fichte issued his famous Addresses to the German people. +With clear-cut argument couched in white-hot words, he drove home the +great principle that lies at the basis of United Germany and upon the +results of which Bismarck and Von Moltke and the first Emperor erected +the splendid structure that to-day commands the admiration of the world. +Fichte told the German people that their only hope lay in universal, +public education. And the kingdom of Prussia--impoverished, bankrupt, +war-ridden, and war-devastated--heard the plea. A great scheme that +comprehended such an education was already at hand. It had fallen almost +stillborn from the only kind of a mind that could have produced it,--a +mind that was suffused with an overwhelming love for humanity and +incomparably rich with the practical experiences of a primary +schoolmaster. It had fallen from the mind of Pestalozzi, the Swiss +reformer, who thus stands with Fichte as one of the vital factors in the +development of Germany's educational supremacy. + +The people's schools of Prussia, imbued with the enthusiasm of Fichte +and Pestalozzi,[3] gave to Germany the tremendous advantage that enabled +it so easily to overcome its hereditary foe, when, two generations +later, the Franco-Prussian War was fought; for the _Volksschule_ gave to +Germany something that no other nation of that time possessed; namely, +an educated proletariat, an intelligent common people. Bismarck knew +this when he laid his cunning plans for the unification of German states +that was to crown the brilliant series of victories beginning at Sedan +and ending within the walls of Paris. William of Prussia knew it when, +in the royal palace at Versailles, he accepted the crown that made him +the first Emperor of United Germany. Von Moltke knew it when, at the +capitulation of Paris, he was asked to whom the credit of the victory +was due, and he replied, in the frank simplicity of the true soldier and +the true hero, "The schoolmaster did it." + +And yet Bismarck and Von Moltke and the Emperor are the heroes of +Germany, and if Fichte and Pestalozzi are not forgotten, at least their +memories are not cherished as are the memories of the more tangible and +obvious heroes. Instinct lies deeply embedded in human nature and it is +instinctive to think in the concrete. And so I repeat that we cannot +expect the general public to share in the respect and veneration which +you and I feel for our calling, for you and I are technicians in +education, and we can see the process as a comprehensive whole. But our +fellow men and women have their own interests and their own departments +of technical knowledge and skill; they see the schoolhouse and the +pupils' desks and the books and other various material symbols of our +work,--they see these things and call them education; just as we see a +freight train thundering across the viaduct or a steamer swinging out in +the lake and call these things commerce. In both cases, the nontechnical +mind associates the word with something concrete and tangible; in both +cases, the technical mind associates the same word with an abstract +process, comprehending a movement of vast proportions. + +To compress such a movement--whether it be commerce or government or +education--in a single conception requires a multitude of experiences +involving actual adjustments with the materials involved; involving +constant reflection upon hidden meanings, painful investigations into +hidden causes, and mastery of a vast body of specialized knowledge which +it takes years of study to digest and assimilate. + +It is not every stevedore upon the docks, nor every stoker upon the +steamers, nor every brakeman upon the railroads, who comprehends what +commerce really means. It is not every banker's clerk who knows the +meaning of business. It is not every petty holder of public office who +knows what government really means. But this, at least, is true: in +proportion as the worker knows the meaning of the work that he does,--in +proportion as he sees it in its largest relations to society and to +life,--his work is no longer the drudgery of routine toil. It becomes +instead an intelligent process directed toward a definite goal. It has +acquired that touch of artistry which, so far as human testimony goes, +is the only pure and uncontaminated source of human happiness. + +And the chief blessing for which you and I should be thankful to-day is +that this larger view of our calling has been vouchsafed to us as it has +been vouchsafed no former generation of teachers. Education as the +conventional prerogative of the rich,--as the garment which separated +the higher from the lower classes of society,--this could scarcely be +looked upon as a fascinating and uplifting ideal from which to derive +hope and inspiration in the day's work; and yet this was the commonly +accepted function of education for thousands of years, and the teachers +who did the actual work of instruction could not but reflect in their +attitude and bearing the servile character of the task that they +performed. Education to fit the child to earn a better living, to +command a higher wage,--this myopic view of the function of the school +could do but little to make the work of teaching anything but drudgery; +and yet it is this narrow and materialistic view that has dominated our +educational system to within a comparatively few years. + +So silently and yet so insistently have our craft ideals been +transformed in the last two decades that you and I are scarcely aware +that our point of view has been changed and that we are looking upon our +work from a much higher point of vantage and in a light entirely new. +And yet this is the change that has been wrought. That education, in its +widest meaning, is the sole conservator and transmitter of civilization +to successive generations found expression as far back as Aristotle and +Plato, and has been vaguely voiced at intervals down through the +centuries; but its complete establishment came only as an indirect issue +of the great scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century, and its +application to the problems of practical schoolcraft and its +dissemination through the rank and file of teachers awaited the dawn of +the twentieth century. To-day we see expressions and indications of the +new outlook upon every hand, in the greatly increased professional zeal +that animates the teacher's calling; in the widespread movement among +all civilized countries to raise the standards of teachers, to eliminate +those candidates for service who have not subjected themselves to the +discipline of special preparation; in the increased endowments and +appropriations for schools and seminaries that prepare teachers; and, +perhaps most strikingly at the present moment, in that concerted +movement to organize into institutions of formal education, all of those +branches of training which have, for years, been left to the chance +operation of economic needs working through the crude and unorganized +though often effective apprentice system. The contemporary fervor for +industrial education is only one expression of this new view that, in +the last analysis, the school must stand sponsor for the conservation +and transmission of every valuable item of experience, every usable fact +or principle, every tiniest perfected bit of technical skill, every +significant ideal or prejudice, that the race has acquired at the cost +of so much struggle and suffering and effort. + +I repeat that this new vantage point from which to gain a comprehensive +view of our calling has been attained only as an indirect result of the +scientific investigations of the nineteenth century. We are wont to +study the history of education from the work and writings of a few great +reformers, and it is true that much that is valuable in our present +educational system can be understood and appreciated only when viewed in +the perspective of such sources. Aristotle and Quintilian, Abelard and +St. Thomas Aquinas, Sturm and Philip Melanchthon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, +Rousseau, Herbart, and Froebel still live in the schools of to-day. +Their genius speaks to us through the organization of subject-matter, +through the art of questioning, through the developmental methods of +teaching, through the use of pictures, through objective instruction, +and in a thousand other forms. But this dominant ideal of education to +which I have referred and which is so rapidly transforming our outlook +and vitalizing our organization and inspiring us to new efforts, is not +to be drawn from these sources. The new histories of education must +account for this new ideal, and to do this they must turn to the masters +in science who made the middle part of the nineteenth century the period +of the most profound changes that the history of human thought +records.[4] + +With the illuminating principle of evolution came a new and generously +rich conception of human growth and development. The panorama of +evolution carried man back far beyond the limits of recorded human +history and indicated an origin as lowly as the succeeding uplift has +been sublime. The old depressing and fatalistic notion that the human +race was on the downward path, and that the march of civilization must +sooner or later end in a cul-de-sac (a view which found frequent +expression in the French writers of the eighteenth century and which +dominated the skepticism of the dark hours preceding the +Revolution)--this fatalistic view met its death-blow in the principle of +evolution. A vista of hope entirely undreamed of stretched out before +the race. If the tremendous leverage of the untold millenniums of brute +and savage ancestry could be overcome, even in slight measure, by a few +short centuries of intelligence and reason, what might not happen in a +few more centuries of constantly increasing light? In short, the +principle of evolution supplied the perspective that was necessary to an +adequate evaluation of human progress. + +But this inspiriting outlook which was perhaps the most comprehensive +result of Darwin's work had indirect consequences that were vitally +significant to education. It is with mental and not with physical +development that education is primarily concerned, and yet mental +development is now known to depend fundamentally upon physical forces. +The same decade that witnessed the publication of the _Origin of +Species_ also witnessed the birth of another great book, little known +except to the specialist, and yet destined to achieve immortality. This +book is the _Elements of Psychophysics_, the work of the German +scientist Fechner. The intimate relation between mental life and +physical and physiological forces was here first clearly demonstrated, +and the way was open for a science of psychology which should cast aside +the old and threadbare raiment of mystery and speculation and +metaphysic, and stand forth naked and unashamed. + +But all this was only preparatory to the epoch-making discoveries that +have had so much to do with our present attitude toward education. The +Darwinian hypothesis led to violent controversy, not only between the +opponents and supporters of the theory, but also among the various camps +of the evolutionists themselves. Among these controversies was that +which concerned itself with the inheritance of acquired characteristics, +and the outcome of that conflict has a direct significance to present +educational theory. The principle, now almost conclusively +established,[5] that the characteristics acquired by an organism during +its lifetime are not transmitted by physical heredity to its offspring, +must certainly stand as the basic principle of education; for everything +that we identify as human as contrasted with that which is brutal must +look to education for its preservation and support. It has been stated +by competent authorities that, during the past ten thousand years, there +has been no significant change in man's physical constitution. This +simply means that Nature finished her work as far as man is concerned +far beyond the remotest period that human history records; that, for all +that we can say to-day, there must have existed in the very distant past +human beings who were just as well adapted by nature to the lives that +we are leading as we are to-day adapted; that what they lacked and what +we possess is simply a mass of traditions, of habits, of ideals, and +prejudices which have been slowly accumulated through the ages and which +are passed on from generation to generation by imitation and instruction +and training and discipline; and that the child of to-day, left to his +own devices and operated upon in no way by the products of +civilization, would develop into a savage undistinguishable in all +significant qualities from other savages. + +The possibilities that follow from such a conception are almost +overwhelming even at first glance, and yet the theory is borne out by +adequate experiments. The transformation of the Japanese people through +two generations of education in Western civilization is a complete +upsetting of the old theory that as far as race is concerned, there is +anything significantly important in blood, and confirms the view that +all that is racially significant depends upon the influences that +surround the young of the race during the formative years. The complete +assimilation of foreign ingredients into our own national stock through +the instrumentality of the public school is another demonstration that +the factors which form the significant characteristics in the lower +animals possess but a minimum of significance to man,--that color, race, +stature, and even brain weight and the shape of the cranium, have very +little to do with human worth or human efficiency save in extremely +abnormal cases. + +And so we have at last a fundamental principle with which to illumine +the field of our work and from which to derive not only light but +inspiration. Unite this with John Fiske's penetrating induction that the +possibilities of progress through education are correlated directly with +the length of the period of growth or immaturity,--that is, that the +races having the longest growth before maturity are capable of the +highest degree of civilization,--and we have a pair of principles the +influence of which we see reflected all about us in the great activity +for education and especially in the increased sense of pride and +responsibility and respect for his calling that is animating the modern +teacher. + +And what will be the result of this new point of view? First and +foremost, an increased general respect for the work. Until a profession +respects itself, it cannot very well ask for the world's respect, and +until it can respect itself on the basis of scientific principles +indubitably established, its respect for itself will be little more than +the irritating self-esteem of the goody-goody order which is so often +associated with our craft. + +With our own respect for our calling, based upon this incontrovertible +principle, will come, sooner or later, increased compensation for the +work and increased prestige in the community. I repeat that these things +can only come after we have established a true craft spirit. If we are +ashamed of our calling, if we regret openly and publicly that we are not +lawyers or physicians or dentists or bricklayers or farmers or anything +rather than teachers, the public will have little respect for the +teacher's calling. As long as we criticize each other before laymen and +make light of each other's honest efforts, the public will question our +professional standing on the ground that we have no organized code of +professional ethics,--a prerequisite for any profession. + +I started out to tell you something that we ought to be thankful +for,--something that ought to counteract in a measure the inevitable +tendencies toward pessimism and discouragement. The hopeful thing about +our present status is that we have an established principle upon which +to work. A writer in a recent periodical stoutly maintained that +education was in the position just now that medicine was in during the +Middle Ages. The statement is hardly fair, either to medicine or to +education. If one were to attempt a parallel, one might say that +education stands to-day where medicine stood about the middle of the +nineteenth century. The analogy might be more closely drawn by comparing +our present conception of education with the conception of medicine just +prior to the application of the experimental method to a solution of its +problems. Education has still a long road to travel before it reaches +the point of development that medicine has to-day attained. It has still +to develop principles that are comparable to the doctrine of lymph +therapy or to that latest triumph of investigation in the field of +medicine,--the theory of opsonins,--which almost makes one believe that +in a few years violent accident and old age will be the only sources of +death in the human race. + +Education, we admit, has a long road to travel before it reaches so +advanced a point of development. But there is no immediate cause for +pessimism or despair. We need especially, now that the purpose of +education is adequately defined, an adequate doctrine of educational +values and a rich and vital infusion of the spirit of experimental +science. For efficiency in the work of instruction and training, we need +to know the influence of different types of experience in controlling +human conduct,--we need to know just what degree of efficiency is +exerted by our arithmetic and literature, our geography and history, our +drawing and manual training, our Latin and Greek, our ethics and +psychology. It is the lack of definite ideas and criteria in these +fields that constitutes the greatest single source of waste in our +educational system to-day. + +And yet even here the outlook is extremely hopeful. The new movement +toward industrial education is placing greater and greater emphasis upon +those subjects of instruction and those types of methods whose +efficiency can be tested and determined in an accurate fashion. The +intimate relation between the classroom, on the one hand, and the +machine shop, the experimental farm, the hospital ward and operating +room, and the practice school, on the other hand, indicates a source of +accurate knowledge with regard to the way in which our teachings really +affect the conduct and adjustment of our pupils that cannot fail within +a short time to serve as the basis for some illuminating principle of +educational values. This, I believe, will be the next great step in the +development of our profession. + +There has been no intention in what I have said to minimize the +disadvantages and discouragements under which we are to-day doing our +work. My only plea is for the hopeful and optimistic outlook which, I +maintain, is richly justified by the progress that has already been made +and by the virile character of the forces that are operating in the +present situation. + +On the whole, I can see no reason why I should not encourage young men +to enter the service of schoolcraft. I cannot say to them that they will +attain to great wealth, but I can safely promise them that, if they give +to the work of preparation the same attention and time that they would +give to their education and training for medicine or law or engineering, +their services will be in large demand and their rewards not to be +sneered at. Their incomes will not enable them to compete with the +captains of industry, but they will permit as full an enjoyment of the +comforts of life as it is good for any young man to command. But the +ambitious teacher must pay the price to reap these rewards,--the price +of time and energy and labor,--the price that he would have to pay for +success in any other human calling. What I cannot promise him in +education is the opportunity for wide popular adulation, but this, after +all, is a matter of taste. Some men crave it and they should go into +those vocations that will give it to them. Others are better satisfied +with the discriminating recognition and praise of their own +fellow-craftsmen. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: An address before the Oswego, New York, County Council of +Education, March 28, 1908.] + +[Footnote 3: It should be added that the movement toward universal +education in Germany owed much to the work of pre-Pestalozzian +reformers,--especially Francke and Basedow.] + +[Footnote 4: While the years from 1840 to 1870 mark the period of +intellectual revolution, it should not be inferred that the education of +this period reflected these fundamental changes of outlook. On the +contrary, these years were in general marked by educational stagnation.] + +[Footnote 5: The writer here accepts the conclusions of J.A. Thomson +(_Heredity_ New York, 1908, ch. vii).] + + + + +~III~ + +HOW MAY WE PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TEACHING FORCE?[6] + + +I + +Efficiency seems to be a word to conjure with in these days. Popular +speech has taken it in its present connotation from the technical +vocabulary of engineering, and the term has brought with it a very +refreshing sense of accuracy and practicality. It suggests blueprints +and T-squares and mathematical formulae. A faint and rather pleasant odor +of lubricating oil and cotton waste seems to hover about it. The +efficiency of a steam engine or a dynamo is a definitely determinable +and measurable factor, and when we use the term "efficiency" in popular +speech we convey through the word somewhat of this quality of certainty +and exactitude. + +An efficient man, very obviously, is a man who "makes good," who +surmounts obstacles, overcomes difficulties, and "gets results." Rowan, +the man who achieved immortality on account of a certain message that he +carried to Garcia, is the contemporary standard of human efficiency. He +was given a task to do, and he did it. He did not stop to inquire +whether it was interesting, or whether it was easy, or whether it would +be remunerative, or whether Garcia was a pleasant man to meet. He simply +took the message and brought back the answer. Here we have efficiency in +human endeavor reduced to its lowest terms: to take a message and to +bring back an answer; to do the work that is laid out for one to do +without shirking or "soldiering" or whining; and to "make good," to get +results. + +Now if we are to improve the efficiency of the teacher, the first thing +to do is to see that the conditions of efficiency are fulfilled as far +as possible at the outset. In other words, efficiency is impossible +unless one is set a certain task to accomplish. Rowan was told to carry +a message to Garcia. He was to carry it to Garcia, not to Queen Victoria +or Li Hung Chang or J. Pierpont Morgan, or any one else whom he may have +felt inclined to choose as its recipient. And that is just where Rowan +had a decided advantage over many teachers who have every ambition to be +just as efficient as he was. To expect a young teacher not only to get +results, but also to determine the results that should be obtained, +multiplies his chances of failure, not by two, as one might assume at +first thought, but almost by infinity. + +Let me give an example of what I mean. A young man graduated from +college during the hard times of the middle nineties. It was imperative +that he secure some sort of a remunerative employment, but places were +very scarce and he had to seek a long time before he found anything to +which he could turn his hand. The position that he finally secured was +that of teacher in an ungraded school in a remote settlement. +School-teaching was far from his thoughts and still farther from his +ambitions, but forty dollars a month looked too good to be true, +especially as he had come to the point where his allowance of food +consisted of one plate of soup each day, with the small supply of +crackers that went with it. He accepted the position most gratefully. + +He taught this school for two years. He had no supervision. He read +various books on the science and art of teaching and upon a certain +subject that went by the name of psychology, but he could see no +connection between what these books told him and the tasks that he had +to face. Finally he bought a book that was advertised as indispensable +to young teachers. The first words of the opening paragraph were these: +"Teacher, if you know it all, don't read this book." The young man threw +the volume in the fire. He had no desire to profit by the teaching of an +author who began his instruction with an insult. From that time until he +left the school, he never opened a book on educational theory. + +His first year passed off with what appeared to be the most encouraging +success. He talked to his pupils on science and literature and history. +They were very good children, and they listened attentively. When he +tired of talking, he set the pupils to writing in their copy books, +while he thought of more things to talk about. He covered a great deal +of ground that first year. Scarcely a field of human knowledge was left +untouched. His pupils were duly informed about the plants and rocks and +trees, about the planets and constellations, about atoms and molecules +and the laws of motion, about digestion and respiration and the wonders +of the nervous system, about Shakespeare and Dickens and George Eliot. +And his pupils were very much interested in it all. Their faces had that +glow of interest, that look of wonderment and absorption, that you get +sometimes when you tell a little four-year-old the story of the three +bears. He never had any troubles of discipline, because he never asked +his pupils to do anything that they did not wish to do. There were six +pupils in his "chart class." They were anxious to learn to read, and +three of them did learn. Their mothers taught them at home. The other +three were still learning at the end of the second year. He concluded +that they had been "born short," but he liked them and they liked him. +He did not teach his pupils spelling or writing. If they learned these +things they learned them without his aid, and it is safe to say that +they did not learn them in any significant measure. He did not like +arithmetic, and so he just touched on it now and then for the sake of +appearances. + +This teacher was elected for the following year at a handsome increase +of salary. He took this to mean a hearty indorsement of his methods; +consequently he followed the same general plan the next year. He had +told his pupils about everything that he knew, so he started over again, +much to their delight. He left at the close of the year, amidst general +lamentation. School-teaching was a delightful occupation, but he had +mastered the art, and now he wished to attack something that was really +difficult. He would study law. It is no part of the story that he did +not. Neither is it part of the story that his successor had a very hard +time getting that school straightened out; in fact, I believe it +required three or four successive successors to make even an impression. + +Now that man's work was a failure, and the saddest kind of a failure, +for he did not realize that he had failed until years afterward. He +failed, not because he lacked ambition and enthusiasm; he had a large +measure of both these indispensable qualities. He failed, not because he +lacked education and a certain measure of what the world calls culture; +from the standpoint of education, he was better qualified than most +teachers in schools of that type. He failed, not because he lacked +social spirit and the ability to cooeperate with the church and the home; +he mingled with the other members of the community, lived their life and +thought their thoughts and enjoyed their social diversions. The +community liked him and respected him. His pupils liked him and +respected him; and yet what he fears most of all to-day is that he may +come suddenly face to face with one of those pupils and be forced to +listen to a first-hand account of his sins of omission. + +This man failed simply because he did not do what the elementary teacher +must do if he is to be efficient as an elementary teacher. He did not +train his pupils in the habits that are essential to one who is to live +the social life. He gave them a miscellaneous lot of interesting +information which held their attention while it lasted, but which was +never mastered in any real sense of the term, and which could have but +the most superficial influence upon their future conduct. But, worst of +all, he permitted bad and inadequate habits to be developed at the most +critical and plastic period of life. His pupils had followed the lines +of least effort, just as he had followed the lines of least effort. The +result was a well-established prejudice against everything that was not +superficially attractive and intrinsically interesting. + +Now this man's teaching fell short simply because he did not know what +results he ought to obtain. He had been given a message to deliver, but +he did not know to whom he should deliver it. Consequently he brought +the answer, not from Garcia, but from a host of other personages with +whom he was better acquainted, whose language he could speak and +understand, and from whom he was certain of a warm welcome. In other +words, having no definite results for which he would be held +responsible, he did the kind of teaching that he liked to do. That +might, under certain conditions, have been the best kind of teaching +for his pupils. But these conditions did not happen to operate at that +time. The answer that he brought did not happen to be the answer that +was needed. That it pleased his employers does not in the least mitigate +the failure. That a teacher pleases the community in which he works is +not always evidence of his success. It is dangerous to make a statement +like this, for some are sure to jump to the opposite conclusion and +assume that one who is unpopular in the community is the most +successful. Needless to say, the reasoning is fallacious. The matter of +popularity is a secondary criterion, not a primary criterion of the +efficiency of teaching. One may be successful and popular or successful +and unpopular; unsuccessful and popular or unsuccessful and unpopular. +The question of popularity is beside the question of efficiency, +although it may enter into specific cases as a factor. + + +II + +And so the first step to take in getting more efficient work from young +teachers, and especially from inexperienced and untrained teachers fresh +from the high school or the college, is to make sure that they know what +is expected of them. Now this looks to be a very simple precaution that +no one would be unwise enough to omit. As a matter of fact, a great many +superintendents and principals are not explicit and definite about the +results that they desire. Very frequently all that is asked of a +teacher is that he or she keep things running smoothly, keep pupils and +parents good-natured. Let me assert again that this ought to be done, +but that it is no measure of a teacher's efficiency, simply because it +can be done and often is done by means that defeat the purpose of the +school. As a young principal in a city system, I learned some vital +lessons in supervision from a very skillful teacher. She would come to +me week after week with this statement: "Tell me what you want done, and +I will do it." It took me some time to realize that that was just what I +was being paid to do,--telling teachers what should be accomplished and +then seeing that they accomplished the task that was set. When I finally +awoke to my duties, I found myself utterly at a loss to make +prescriptions. I then learned that there was a certain document known as +the course of study, which mapped out the general line of work and +indicated the minimal requirements. I had seen this course of study, but +its function had never impressed itself upon me. I had thought that it +was one of those documents that officials publish as a matter of form +but which no one is ever expected to read. But I soon discovered that a +principal had something to do besides passing from room to room, looking +wisely at the work going on, and patting little boys and girls on the +head. + +Now a definite course of study is very hard to construct,--a course that +will tell explicitly what the pupils of each grade should acquire each +term or half-term in the way of habits, knowledge, ideals, attitudes, +and prejudices. But such a course of study is the first requisite to +efficiency in teaching. The system that goes by hit or miss, letting +each teacher work out his own salvation in any way that he may see fit, +is just an aggregation of such schools as that which I have described. + +It is true that reformers have very strenuously criticized the policy of +restricting teachers to a definite course of study. They have maintained +that it curtails individual initiative and crushes enthusiasm. It does +this in a certain measure. Every prescription is in a sense a +restriction. The fact that the steamship captain must head his ship for +Liverpool instead of wherever he may choose to go is a restriction, and +the captain's individuality is doubtless crushed and his initiative +limited. But this result seems to be inevitable and he generally manages +to survive the blow. The course of study must be to the teacher what the +sailing orders are to the captain of the ship, what the stated course is +to the wheelsman and the officer on the bridge, what the time-table is +to the locomotive engineer, what Garcia and the message and the answer +were to Rowan. One may decry organization and prescription in our +educational system. One may say that these things tend inevitably toward +mechanism and formalism and the stultifying of initiative. But the fact +remains that, whenever prescription is abandoned, efficiency in general +is at an end. + +And so I maintain that every teacher has a right to know what he is to +be held responsible for, what is expected of him, and that this +information be just as definite and unequivocal as it can be made. It is +under the stress of definite responsibility that growth is most rapid +and certain. The more uncertain and intangible the end to be gained, the +less keenly will one feel the responsibility for gaining that end. +Unhappily we cannot say to a teacher: "Here is a message. Take it to +Garcia. Bring the answer." But we may make our work far more definite +and tangible than it is now. The courses of study are becoming more and +more explicit each year. Vague and general prescriptions are giving +place to definite and specific prescriptions. The teachers know what +they are expected to do, and knowing this, they have some measure for +testing the efficiency of their own efforts. + + +III + +But to make more definite requirements is, after all, only the first +step in improving efficiency. It is not sufficient that one know what +results are wanted; one must also know how these results may be +obtained. Improvement in method means improvement in efficiency, and a +crying need in education to-day is a scientific investigation of methods +of teaching. Teachers should be made acquainted with the methods that +are most economical and efficient. As a matter of fact, whatever is done +in that direction at the present time must be almost entirely confined +to suggestions and hints. + +Our discussions of methods of teaching may be divided into three +classes: (1) Dogmatic assertions that such and such a method is right +and that all others are wrong--assertions based entirely upon _a priori_ +reasoning. For example, the assertion that children must never be +permitted to learn their lessons "by heart" is based upon the general +principle that words are only symbols of ideas and that, if one has +ideas, one can find words of his own in which to formulate them. (2) A +second class of discussions of method comprises descriptions of devices +that have proved successful in certain instances and with certain +teachers. (3) Of a third class of discussions there are very few +representative examples. I refer to methods that have been established +on the basis of experiments in which irrelevant factors have been +eliminated. In fact, I know of no clearly defined report or discussion +of this sort. An approach to a scientific solution of a definite problem +of method is to be found in Browne's monograph, _The Psychology of +Simple Arithmetical Processes_. Another example is represented by the +experiments of Miss Steffens, Marx Lobsien, and others, regarding the +best methods of memorizing, and proving beyond much doubt that the +complete repetition is more economical than the partial repetition. But +these conclusions have, of course, only a limited field of application +to practical teaching. We stand in great need of a definite experimental +investigation of the detailed problems of teaching upon which there is +wide divergence of opinion. A very good illustration is the controversy +between the how and the why in primary arithmetic. In this case, there +is a vast amount of "opinion," but there are no clearly defined +conclusions drawn from accurate tests. It would seem possible to do work +of this sort concerning the details of method in the teaching of +arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, and geography. + + +IV + +Lacking this accurate type of data regarding methods, the next recourse +is to the actual teaching of those teachers who are recognized as +efficient. Wherever such a teacher may be found, his or her work is well +worth the most careful sort of study. Success, of course, may be due to +other factors than the methods employed,--to personality, for example. +But, in every case of recognized efficiency in teaching that I have +observed, I have found that the methods employed have, in the main, been +productive of good results when used by others. The experienced teacher +comes, through a process of trial and error, to select, perhaps +unconsciously, the methods that work best. Sometimes these are not +always to be identified with the methods that theoretical pedagogy had +worked out from _a priori_ bases. For example, the type of lesson which +I call the "deductive development" lesson[7] is one that is not included +in the older discussions of method; yet it accurately describes one of +the methods employed by a very successful teacher whose work I +observed. + +One way, then, to improve the efficiency of young teachers, in so far as +improvement in methods leads to improved efficiency, is to encourage the +observation of expert teaching. The plan of giving teachers visiting +days often brings excellent results, especially if the teacher looks +upon the privilege in the proper light. The hyper-critical spirit is +fatal to growth under any condition. Whenever a teacher has come to the +conclusion that he or she has nothing to learn from studying the work of +others, anabolism has ceased and katabolism has set in. The +self-sufficiency of our craft is one of its weakest characteristics. It +is the factor that more than any other discounts it in the minds of +laymen. Fortunately it is less frequently a professional characteristic +than in former years, but it still persists in some quarters. I recently +met a "pedagogue" who impressed me as the most "knowing" individual that +it had ever been my privilege to become acquainted with. An enthusiastic +friend of his, in dilating upon this man's virtues, used these words: +"When you propose a subject of conversation in whatever field you may +choose, you will find that he has mastered it to bed rock. He will go +over it once and you think that he is wise. He starts at the beginning +and goes over it again, and you realize that he is deep. Once more he +traverses the same ground, but he is so far down now that you cannot +follow him, and then you are aware that he is profound." That sort of +profundity is still not rare in the field of general education. The +person who has all possible knowledge pigeonholed and classified is +still in our midst. The pedant still does the cause of education +incalculable injury. + +Of the use to which reading circles may be put in improving the +efficiency of teaching, it is necessary to say but little. Such +organizations, under wise leadership, may doubtless be made to serve a +good purpose in promoting professional enthusiasm. The difficulty with +using them to promote immediate and direct efficiency lies in the +paucity of the literature that is at our disposal. Most of our +present-day works upon education are very general in their nature. They +are not without their value, but this value is general and indirect +rather than immediate and specific. A book like Miss Winterburn's +_Methods of Teaching_, or Chubb's _Teaching of English_[8] is especially +valuable for young teachers who are looking for first-hand helps. But +books like this are all too rare in our literature. + +On the whole, I think that the improvement of teachers in the matter of +methods is the most unsatisfactory part of our problem.[9] All that one +can say is that the work of the best teachers should be observed +carefully and faithfully, that the methods upon which there is little or +no dispute should be given and accepted as standard, but that one should +be very careful about giving young teachers an idea that there is any +single form under which all teaching can be subsumed. I know of no term +that is more thoroughly a misnomer in our technical vocabulary than the +term "general method." I teach a subject that often goes by that name, +but I always take care to explain that the name does not mean, in my +class, what the words seem to signify. There are certain broad and +general principles which describe very crudely and roughly and +inadequately certain phases of certain processes that mind undergoes in +organizing experience--perception, apperception, conception, induction, +deduction, inference, generalization, and the like. But these terms have +only a vague and general connotation; or, if their connotation is +specific and definite, it has been made so by an artificial process of +definition in which counsel is darkened by words without meaning. The +only full-fledged law that I know of in the educative process is the law +of habit building--(1) focalization, (2) attentive repetition at +intervals of increasing length, (3) permitting no exception--and I am +often told that this "law" is fallacious. It has differed from some +other so-called laws, however, in this respect: it always works. +Whenever a complex habit is adduced that has not been formed through the +operation of this law, I am willing to give it up. + + +V + +A third general method of improving the efficiency of teaching is to +build up the notion of responsibility for results. The teacher must not +only take the message and deliver it to Garcia, or to some other +individual as definite and tangible, but he must also bring the answer. +So far as I know there is no other way to insure a maximum of efficiency +than to demand certain results and to hold the individual responsible +for gaining these results. The present standards of the teaching craft +are less rigorous than they should be in this respect. We need a craft +spirit that will judge every man impartially by his work, not by +secondary criteria. You remember Finlayson in Kipling's _Bridge +Builders_, and the agony with which he watched the waters of the Ganges +tearing away at the caissons of his new bridge. A vital question of +Finlayson's life was to be answered by the success or failure of those +caissons to resist the flood. If they should yield, it meant not only +the wreck of the bridge, but the wreck of his career; for, as Kipling +says, "Government might listen, perhaps, but his own kind would judge +him by his bridge as that stood or fell." + +President Hall has said that one of the last sentiments to be developed +in human nature is "the sense of responsibility, which is one of the +highest and most complex psychic qualities." How to develop this +sentiment of responsibility is one of the most pressing problems of +education. And the problem is especially pressing in those departments +of education that train for social service. To engender in the young +teacher an effective prejudice against scamped work, against the making +of excuses, against the seductive allurements of ease and comfort and +the lines of least resistance is one of the most important duties that +is laid upon the normal school, the training school, and the teachers' +college. To do well the work that has been set for him to do should be +the highest ambition of every worker, the ambition to which all other +ambitions and desires are secondary and subordinate. Pride in the +mastery of the technique of one's calling is the most wholesome and +helpful sort of pride that a man can indulge in. The joy of doing each +day's work in the best possible manner is the keenest joy of life. But +this pride and this joy do not come at the outset. Like all other good +things of life, they come only as the result of effort and struggle and +strenuous self-discipline and dogged perseverance. The emotional +coloring which gives these things their subjective worth is a matter +very largely of contrast. Success must stand out against a background of +struggle, or the chief virtue of success--the consciousness of +conquest--will be entirely missed. That sort of success means strength; +for strength of mind is nothing more than the ability to "hew to the +line," to follow a given course of effort to a successful conclusion, no +matter how long and how tedious be the road that one must travel, no +matter how disagreeable are the tasks involved, no matter how tempting +are the insidious siren songs of momentary fancy. + +What teachers need--what all workers need--is to be inspired with those +ideals and prejudices that will enable them to work steadfastly and +unremittingly toward the attainment of a stated end. What inspired Rowan +with those ideals of efficiency that enabled him to carry his message +and bring back the answer, I do not know, but if he was a soldier, I do +not hesitate to hazard an opinion. Our regular army stands as the +clearest type of efficient service which is available for our study and +emulation. The work of Colonel Goethals on the Panama Canal bids fair to +be the finest fruit of the training that we give to the officers of our +army. If we wish to learn the fundamental virtues of that training, it +is not sufficient to study the curriculum of the Military Academy. +Technical knowledge and skill are essential to such results, but they +are not the prime essentials. If you wish to know what the prime +essentials are, let me refer you to a series of papers, entitled _The +Spirit of Old West Point_, which ran through a recent volume of the +_Atlantic Monthly_ and which has since been published in book form. +They constitute, to my mind, one of the most important educational +documents of the present decade. The army service is efficient because +it is inspired with effective ideals of service,--ideals in which every +other desire and ambition is totally and completely subordinated to the +ideal of duty. To those who maintain that close organization and +definite prescription kill initiative and curtail efficiency, the record +of West Point and the army service should be a silencing argument. + +And yet education is more important than war; more important, even, than +the building of the Panama Canal. We believe, and rightly, that no +training is too good for our military and naval officers; that no +discipline which will produce the appropriate habits and ideals and +prejudices is too strenuous; that no individual sacrifice of comfort or +ease is too costly. Equal or even commensurable efficiency in education +can come only through a like process. From the times of the ancient +Egyptians to the present day, one vital truth has been revealed in every +forward movement; the homely truth that you cannot make bricks without +straw; you cannot win success without effort; you cannot attain +efficiency without undergoing the processes of discipline; and +discipline means only this: doing things that you do not want to do, for +the sake of reaching some end that ought to be attained. + +The normal schools and the training schools and the teachers' colleges +must be the nurseries of craft ideals and standards. The instruction +that they offer must be upon a plane that will command respect. The +intolerable pedantry and the hypocritical goody-goodyism must be +banished forever. The crass sentimentalism by which we attempt to cover +our paucity of craft ideals must also be eliminated. Those who are most +strongly imbued with ideals are not those who cheapen the value of +ideals by constant verbal reiteration. Ideals do not often come through +explicitly imparted precepts. They come through more impalpable and +hidden channels,--now through stately buildings with vine-covered towers +from which the past speaks in the silence of great halls and cloistered +retreats; now through the unwritten and scarcely spoken traditions that +are expressed in the very bearing and attitude of those to whom youth +looks for inspiration and guidance; now through a dominant and powerful +personality, sometimes rough and crude, sometimes warm-hearted and +lovable, but always sincere. Traditions and ideals are the most +priceless part of a school's equipment, and the school that can give +these things to its students in richest measure will have the greatest +influence on the succeeding generations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: A paper read before the Normal and Training Teachers' +Conference of the New York State Teachers' Association, December 27, +1907.] + +[Footnote 7: See _Educative Process_, New York, 1910, Chapter XX.] + +[Footnote 8: Rowe's _Habit Formation_ (New York, 1909), Briggs and +Coffman's _Reading in Public Schools_ (Chicago, 1908), Foght's _The +American Rural School_, Adams's _Exposition and Illustration in Class +Teaching_ (New York, 1910), and Perry's _Problems of Elementary +Education_ (New York, 1910) should certainly be added to this list.] + +[Footnote 9: "It seems to me one of the most pressing problems in +pedagogy to-day is that of method.... It is the subject in which +teachers of pedagogy in Colleges and Universities are weakest to-day. Of +what practical value is all our study of educational psychology or the +history of education, our child study, our experimental pedagogy, if it +does not finally result in the devising of better methods of teaching, +and make the teacher more skillful and effective in his work."--T.M. +BALLIET: "Undergraduate Instruction in Pedagogy," _Pedagogical +Seminary_, vol. xvii, 1910, p. 67.] + + + + +~IV~ + +THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SUPERVISION[10] + + +I + +I know of no way in which I can better introduce my subject than to +describe very briefly the work of a superintendent who once furnished me +with an example of a definite and effective method of supervision. This +man was a "long range" superintendent. It was impossible for him to +visit his schools very frequently, and so he did the next best thing: he +had the schools brought to him. When I first saw him he was poring over +a pile of papers that had just come in from one of his schools. I soon +discovered that these papers were arranged in sets, each set being made +up of samples taken each week from the work of the pupils in the schools +under his supervision. The papers of each pupil were arranged in +chronological order, and by looking through the set, he could note the +growth that the pupil in question had made since the beginning of the +term. Upon these papers, the superintendent recorded his judgment of the +amount of improvement shown both in form and in content. + +I was particularly impressed by the character of his criticisms. There +was nothing vague or intangible about them. Every annotation was clear +and definite. If penmanship happened to be the point at issue, he would +note that the lines were too close together; that the letters did not +have sufficient individuality; that the spaces between the words were +not sufficiently wide; that the indentation was inadequate; that the +writing was cramped, showing that the pen had not been held properly; +that the margin needed correction. If the papers were defective from the +standpoint of language, the criticisms were equally clear and definite. +One pupil had misspelled the same word in three successive papers. "Be +sure that this word appears in the next spelling list," was the comment +of the superintendent. Another pupil habitually used a bit of false +syntax: "Place this upon the list of errors to be taken up and +corrected." Still others were uncertain about paragraphing: "Devote a +language lesson to the paragraph before the next written exercise." On +the covers of each bundle of class papers, he wrote directions and +suggestions of a more general nature; for example: "Improvement is not +sufficiently marked; try for better results next time"; or: "I note that +the pupils draw rather than write; look out for free movement." Often, +too, there were words of well-merited praise: "I like the way in which +your pupils have responded to their drill. This is good. Keep it up." +And not infrequently suggestions were made as to content: "Tell this +story in greater detail next time, and have it reproduced again"; or: +"The form of these papers is good, but the nature study is poor; don't +sacrifice thought to form." + +In similar fashion, the other written work was gone over and annotated. +Every pupil in this system of schools had a sample of his written work +examined at regular and frequent intervals by the superintendent. Every +teacher knew just what her chief demanded in the way of results, and did +her best to gain the results demanded. I am not taking the position that +the results that were demanded represented the highest ideals of what +the elementary school should accomplish. Good penmanship and good +spelling and good language, in the light of contemporary educational +thought, seem to be something like happiness--you get them in larger +measure the less you think about getting them. But this possible +objection aside, the superintendent in question had developed a system +which kept him in very close touch with the work that was being done in +widely separated schools. + +He told me further that, on the infrequent occasions when he could visit +his classrooms, he gave most of his time and attention to the matters +that could not be supervised at "long range." He found out how the +pupils were improving in their reading, and especially in oral +expression, in its syntax, its freedom from errors of construction, its +clearness and fluency. He listed the common errors, directing his +teachers to take them up in a systematic manner and eradicate them, and +he did not fail to note at his next visit how much progress had been +made. He noted the condition of the blackboard work, and kept a list of +the improvements that he suggested. He tested for rapidity in +arithmetical processes, for the papers sent to his office gave him only +an index of accuracy. He noted the habits of personal cleanliness that +were being developed or neglected. In fact, he had a long list of +specific standards that he kept continually in mind, the progress toward +which he constantly watched. And last, but by no means least, he carried +with him wherever he went an atmosphere of breezy good nature and +cheerfulness, for he had mastered the first principle in the art of both +supervision and teaching; he had learned that the best way to promote +growth in either pupils or teachers is neither to let them do as they +please nor to force them to do as you please, but to get them to please +to do what you please to have them do. + +I instance this superintendent as one type of efficiency in supervision. +He was efficient, not simply because he had a system that scrutinized +every least detail of his pupils' growth, but because that scrutiny +really insured growth. He obtained the results that he desired, and he +obtained uniformly good results from a large number of young, untrained +teachers. We have all heard of the superintendent who boasted that he +could tell by looking at his watch just what any pupil in any classroom +was doing at just that moment. Surely here system was not lacking. But +the boast did not strike the vital point. It is not what the pupil is +doing that is fundamentally important, but what he is gaining from his +activity or inactivity; what he is gaining in the way of habits, in the +way of knowledge, in the way of standards and ideals and prejudices, all +of which are to govern his future conduct. The superintendent whom I +have described had the qualities of balance and perspective that enabled +him to see both the woods and the trees. And let me add that he taught +regularly in his own central high school, and that practically all of +his supervision was accomplished after school hours and on Saturdays. + +But my chief reason for choosing his work as a type is that it +represents a successful effort to supervise that part of school work +which is most difficult and irksome to supervise; namely, the formation +of habits. Whatever one's ideals of education may be, it still remains +true that habit building is the most important duty of the elementary +school, and that the efficiency of habit building can be tested in no +other way than by the means that he employed; namely, the careful +comparison of results at successive stages of the process. + + +II + +The essence of a true habit is its purely automatic character. Reaction +must follow upon the stimulus instantaneously, without thought, +reflection, or judgment. One has not taught spelling efficiently until +spelling is automatic, until the correct form flows from the pen without +the intervention of mind. The real test of the pupil's training in +spelling is his ability to spell the word correctly when he is thinking, +not about spelling, but about the content of the sentence that he is +writing. Consequently the test of efficiency in spelling is not an +examination in spelling, although this may be valuable as a means to an +end, but rather the infrequency with which misspelled words appear in +the composition work, letter writing, and other written work of the +pupil. Similarly in language and grammar, it is not sufficient to +instruct in rules of syntax. This is but the initial process. +Grammatical rules function effectively only when they function +automatically. So long as one must think and judge and reflect upon the +form of one's expression, the expression is necessarily awkward and +inadequate. + +The same rule holds in respect of the fundamental processes of +arithmetic. It holds in penmanship, in articulation and enunciation, in +word recognition, in moral conduct and good manners; in fact, in all of +the basic work for which the elementary school must stand sponsor. And +one source of danger in the newer methods of education lies in the +tendency to overlook the importance of carrying habit-building processes +through to a successful issue. The reaction against drill, against +formal work of all sorts, is a healthful reaction in many ways. It bids +fair to break up the mechanical lock step of the elementary grades, and +to introduce some welcome life, and vigor, and wholesomeness. But it +will sadly defeat its own purpose if it underrates the necessity of +habit building as the basic activity of early education. + +What is needed, now that we have got away from the lock step, now that +we are happily emancipated from the meaningless thralldom of mechanical +repetition and the worship of drill for its own sake--what is needed now +is not less drill, but better drill. And this should be the net result +of the recent reforms in elementary education. In our first enthusiasm, +we threw away the spelling book, poked fun at the multiplication tables, +decried basal reading, and relieved ourselves of much wit and sarcasm at +the expense of formal grammar. But now we are swinging back to the +adequate recognition of the true purpose of drill. And in the wake of +this newer conception, we are learning that its drudgery may be +lightened and its efficiency heightened by the introduction of a richer +content that shall provide a greater variety in the repetitions, insure +an adequate motive for effort, and relieve the dead monotony that +frequently rendered the older methods so futile. I look forward to the +time when to be an efficient drillmaster in this newer sense of the term +will be to have reached one of the pinnacles of professional skill. + + +III + +But there is another side of teaching that must be supervised. Although +habit is responsible for nine tenths of conduct, the remaining tenth +must not be neglected. In situations where habit is not adequate to +adjustment, judgment and reflection must come to the rescue, or should +come to the rescue. This means that, instead of acting without thought, +as in the case of habit, one analyzes the situation and tries to solve +it by the application of some fact or principle that has been gained +either from one's own experience or from the experience of others. This +is the field in which knowledge comes to its own; and a very important +task of education is to fix in the pupils' minds a number of facts and +principles that will be available for application to the situations of +later life. + +How, then, is the efficiency of instruction (as distinguished from +training or habit building) to be tested? Needless to say, an adequate +test is impossible from the very nature of the situation. The efficiency +of imparting knowledge can be tested only by the effect that this +knowledge has upon later conduct; and this, it will be agreed, cannot be +accurately determined until the pupil has left the school and is face to +face with the problems of real life. + +In practice, however, we adopt a more or less effective substitute for +the real test--the substitute called the examination. We all know that +the ultimate purpose of instruction is not primarily to enable pupils +successfully to pass examinations. And yet as long as we teach as though +this were the main purpose we might as well believe it to be. Now the +examination may be made a very valuable test of the efficiency of +instruction if its limitations are fully recognized and if it does not +obscure the true purpose of instruction. And if we remember that the +true purpose is to impart facts in such a manner that they may not only +"stick" in the pupil's mind, but that they may also be amenable to +recall and practical application, and if we set our examination +questions with some reference to this requirement, then I believe that +we shall find the examination a dependable test. + +One important point is likely to be overlooked in the consideration of +examinations,--the fact, namely, that the form and content of the +questions have a very powerful influence in determining the content and +methods of instruction. Is it not pertinent, then, to inquire whether +examination questions cannot be so framed as radically to improve +instruction rather than to encourage, as is often the case, methods that +are pedagogically unsound? Granted that it is well for the child to +memorize verbatim certain unrelated facts, even to memorize some facts +that have no immediate bearing upon his life, granted that this is +valuable (and I think that a little of it is), is it necessary that an +entire year or half-year be given over almost entirely to "cramming up" +on old questions? Would it not be possible so to frame examination +questions that the "cramming" process would be practically valueless? + +What the pupil should get from geography, for instance, is not only a +knowledge of geographical facts, but also, and more fundamentally, the +power to see the relation of these facts to his own life; in other +words, the ability to apply his knowledge to the improvement of +adjustment. Now this power is very closely associated with the ability +to grasp fundamental principles, to see the relation of cause and effect +working below the surface of diverse phenomena. Geography, to be +practical, must impress not only the fact, but also the principle that +rationalizes or explains the fact. It must emphasize the "why" as well +as the "what." For example: it is well for the pupil to know that New +York is the largest city in the United States; it is better that he +should know why New York has become the largest city in the United +States. It is well to know that South America extends very much farther +to the east than does North America, but it is better to know that this +fact has had an important bearing in determining the commercial +relations that exist between South America and Europe. Questions that +have reference to these larger relations of cause and effect may be so +framed that no amount of "cramming" will alone insure correct answers. +They may be so framed that the pupil will be forced to do some thinking +for himself, will be forced to solve an imaginary situation very much as +he would solve a real situation. + +Examination questions of this type would react beneficially upon the +methods of instruction. They would tend to place a premium upon that +type of instruction that develops initiative in solving problems, +instead of encouraging the memoriter methods that tend to crush whatever +germs of initiative the pupil may possess. This does not mean that the +memoriter work should be excluded. A solid basis of fact is essential to +the mastery of principles. Personally I believe that the work of the +intermediate grades should be planned to give the pupil this factual +basis. This would leave the upper grades free for the more rational +work. In any case, I believe that the efficiency of examinations may be +greatly increased by giving one or two questions that must be answered +by a reasoning process for every question that may be answered by verbal +memory alone. + + +IV + +Thus far it seems clear that an absolute standard is available for +testing the efficiency of training or habit building, and that a fairly +accurate standard may be developed for testing the efficiency of +instruction. Both training and instruction, however, are subject to the +modifying influence of a third factor of which too little account has +hitherto been taken in educational discussions. Training results in +habits, and yet a certain sort of training may not only result in a +certain type of habit, but it may also result in the development of +something which will quite negate the habit that has been developed. In +the process of developing habits of neatness, for example, one may +employ methods that result in prejudicing the child against neatness as +a general virtue. In this event, although the little specific habits of +neatness may function in the situations in which they have been +developed, the prejudice will effectually prevent their extension to +other fields. In other words, the general emotional effect of training +must be considered as well as the specific results of the training. The +same stricture applies with equal force to instruction. Instruction +imparts knowledge; but if a man knows and fails to feel, his knowledge +has little influence upon his conduct. + +This factor that controls conduct when habit fails, this factor that may +even negate an otherwise efficient habit, is the great indeterminate in +the work of teaching. To know that one has trained an effective habit or +imparted a practical principle is one thing; to know that in doing this, +one has not engendered in the pupil's mind a prejudice against the very +thing taught is quite another matter. + +That phase of teaching which is concerned with the development of these +intangible forces may be termed "inspiration"; and it is the lack of an +adequate test for the efficiency of inspiration that makes the task of +supervision so difficult and the results so often unsatisfactory. + +Nevertheless, even here the outlook is not entirely hopeless. One may be +tolerably certain of at least two things. In the first place, the great +"emotionalized prejudices" that must come predominantly from school +influences are the love of truth, the love of work, respect for law and +order, and a spirit of cooeperation. These factors undoubtedly have their +basis in specific habits of honesty, industry, obedience, and regard for +the rights and feelings of others; and these habits may be developed and +tested just as thoroughly and just as accurately as habits of good +spelling and correct syntax. Without the solid basis of habit, ideals +and prejudices will be of but little service. The one caution must be +taken that the methods of training do not defeat their own purpose by +engendering prejudices and ideals that negate the habits. It is here +that the personality of the teacher becomes the all-important factor, +and the task of the supervisor is to determine whether the influence of +the personality is good or evil. Most supervisors come to judge of this +influence by an undefined factor that is best termed the "spirit of the +classroom." + +The second hopeful feature of the task of supervision in respect of +inspiration is that this "spirit" is an extremely contagious and +pervasive thing. In other words, the principal or the superintendent may +dominate every classroom under his supervision, almost without regard to +the limitations of the individual teachers. Typical schools in every +city system bear compelling testimony to this fact. The principal _is_ +the school. + +And if I were to sum up the essential characteristics of the ideal +supervisor, I could not neglect this point. After all, the two great +dangers that beset him are, first, the danger of sloth--the old Adam of +laziness--which will tempt him to avoid the details, to shirk the +drudgery, to escape the close and wearisome scrutiny of little things; +and, secondly, the sin of triviality--the inertia which holds him to +details and never permits him to take the broader view and see the true +ends toward which details are but the means. The proper combination of +these two factors is all too rare, but it is in this combination that +the ideal supervisor is to be found. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: A paper read before the fifty-second annual meeting of the +New York State Association of School Commissioners and Superintendents, +November 8, 1907.] + + + + +~V~ + +THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER + + +I + +It is difficult not to be depressed by the irrational radicalism of +contemporary educational theory. It would seem that the workers in the +higher ranges of educational activity should, of all men, preserve a +balanced judgment and a sane outlook, and yet there is probably no other +human calling that presents the strange phenomenon of men who are called +experts throwing overboard everything that the past has sanctioned, and +embarking without chart or compass upon any new venture that happens to +catch popular fancy. The non-professional character of education is +nowhere more painfully apparent than in the expression of this tendency. +The literature of teaching that is written directly out of +experience--out of actual adjustment to the teaching situation--is +almost laughed out of court in some educational circles. But if one +wishes to win the applause of the multitude one may do it easily enough +by proclaiming some new and untried plan. At our educational gatherings +you notice above everything else a straining for spectacular and bizarre +effects. It is the novel that catches attention; and it sometimes seems +to me that those who know the least about the educational situation in +the way of direct contact often receive the largest share of attention +and have the largest influence. + +It is in the attitude of the public and of a certain proportion of +school men toward elementary teaching and the elementary teacher that +this destructive criticism finds its most pronounced expression. +Throughout the length and breadth of the land, the efficiency of the +public school and the sincerity and intelligence of those who are giving +their lives to its work are being called into question. It is +discouraging to think that years of service in a calling do not qualify +one to speak authoritatively upon the problems of that calling, and +especially upon technique. And yet it is precisely upon that point of +technique that the criticisms of elementary education are most drastic. + +Our educational system is sometimes branded as a failure, and yet this +same educational system with all its weaknesses has accomplished the +task of assimilating to American institutions and ideals and standards +the most heterogeneous infusion of alien stocks that ever went to the +making of a united people. The elementary teacher is criticized for all +the sins of omission that the calendar enumerates, and yet this same +elementary teacher is daily lifting millions of children to a plane of +civilization and culture that no other people in history have even +thought possible. I am willing to admit the deficiencies of American +education, but I also maintain that the teachers of our lower schools do +not deserve the opprobrium that has been heaped upon them. I believe +that in education, as in business, it would be a good thing if we saw +more of the doughnut and less of the hole. When I hear a prominent +educator say that we must discard everything that we have produced thus +far and begin anew in the realm of educational materials and methods, I +confess that I am discouraged, especially when that same authority is +extremely obscure as to the materials and methods that we should +substitute for those that we are now employing. I heard that statement +at a recent meeting of the Department of Superintendence, and I heard +other things of like tenor,--for example, that normal schools were +perpetuating types of skill in teaching that were unworthy of +perpetuation, that the observation of teaching was valueless in the +training of teachers because there was nothing that was being done at +the present time that was worthy of imitation, that practice teaching in +the training of young teachers is a farce, a delusion, and a snare. +Those very words were employed by one man of high position to express +his opinion of contemporary practices. You cannot pick up an educational +journal of the better sort, nor open a new educational book, without +being brought face to face with this destructive criticism. + +I protest against this, not only in the name of justice, but in the name +of common sense. It cannot be possible that generations of dealing with +immature minds should have left no residuum of effective practice. The +very principle of progress by trial and error will inevitably mean that +certain practices that are possible and helpful and effective are +perpetuated, and that certain other processes that are ineffective and +wasteful are eliminated. To repudiate all this is the height of folly. +If the history of progress shows us anything, it shows us that progress +is not made by repudiating the lessons of experience. Theory is the last +word, not the first. Theory should explain: it should take successful +practice and find out what principles condition its efficiency; and if +these principles are inconsistent with those heretofore held, it is the +theory that should be modified to suit the facts, not the facts to suit +the theory. + +My opponents may point to medicine as a possible example of the opposite +procedure. And yet if there is anything that the history of medical +science demonstrates, it is that the first cues to new discoveries were +made in the field of practice. Lymph therapy, which is one of the +triumphs of modern medicine, was discovered empirically. It was an +accident of practice, a blind procedure of trial and success that led to +Jenner's discovery of the virtues of vaccination. A century passed +before theory adequately explained the phenomenon, and opened the way to +those wider applications of the principle that have done so much to +reduce the ravages of disease. + +The value of theory, I repeat, is to explain successful practice and to +generalize experience in broad and comprehensive principles which can be +easily held in mind, and from which inferences for further new and +effective practices may be derived. We have a small body of sound +principles in education to-day,--a body of principles that are +thoroughly consistent with successful practice. But the sort of +principles that are put forth as the last words of educational theory +are often far from sound. Personally I firmly believe that a vast amount +of damage is being done to children by the application of fallacious +principles which, because they emanate from high authority, obtain an +artificial validity in the minds of teachers in service. + +I cannot understand why, when an educational experiment fails +lamentably, it is not rejected as a failure. And yet you and I know a +number of instances where certain educational experiments that have +undeniably reversed the hypotheses of those who initiated them are +excused on the ground that conditions were not favorable. That, it seems +to me, should tell the whole story, for precisely what we need in +educational practice is a body of doctrine that will work where +conditions _are_ unfavorable. We are told that the successful +application of mooted theories depends upon the proper kind of teachers. +I maintain that the most effective sort of theory is the sort that +brings results with such teachers as we must employ in our work. It +would be a poor recommendation for a theory of medicine to say that it +worked all right when people are healthy but failed to help the sick. +Nor is it true that good teachers can get good results by following bad +theory. They often obtain the results by evading the theory, and when +they live up to it, the results faithfully reflect the theory, no matter +how skillful the teaching. + + +II + +Statements like these are very apt to be misconstrued or misinterpreted +unless one is very careful to define one's position; and, after what I +have said, I should do myself an injustice if I did not make certain +that my position is clear. I believe in experimentation in education. I +believe in experimental schools. But I should wish these schools to be +interpreted as experiments and not as models, and I should wish that the +failure of an experiment be accepted with good, scientific grace, and +not with the unscientific attitude of making excuses. The trouble with +an experimental school is that, in the eyes of the great mass of +teachers, it becomes a model school, and the principles that it +represents are applied _ad libitum_ by thousands of teachers who assume +that they have heard the last word in educational theory. + +No one is more favorably disposed toward the rights of children than I +am, and yet I am thoroughly convinced that soft-heartedness accompanied +by soft-headedness is weakening the mental and moral fiber of hundreds +of thousands of boys and girls throughout this country. No one admires +more than I admire the sagacity and far-sightedness of Judge Lindsey, +and yet when Judge Lindsey's methods are proposed as models for school +government, I cannot lose sight, as so many people seem to lose sight, +of the contingent factor; namely, that Judge Lindsey's leniency is based +upon authority, and that if Judge Lindsey or anybody else attempted to +be lenient when he had no power to be otherwise than lenient, his +"bluff" would be called in short order. If you will give to teachers and +principals the same power that you give to the police judge, you may +well expect them to be lenient. The great trouble in the school is +simply this: that just in the proportion that leniency is demanded, +authority is taken away from the teacher. + +And I should perhaps say a qualifying word with regard to my attitude +toward educational theory. I have every feeling of affection for the +science of psychology. I have every faith in the value of psychological +principles in the interpretation of educational phenomena. But I also +recognize that the science of psychology is a very young science, and +that its data are not yet so well organized that it is safe to draw from +them anything more than tentative hypotheses which must meet their final +test in the crucible of practice. Some day, if we work hard enough, +psychology will become a predictive science, just as mathematics and +physics and chemistry and, to a certain extent, biology, are predictive +sciences to-day. Meantime psychology is of inestimable value in giving +us a point of view, in clarifying our ideas, and in rationalizing the +truths that empirical practice discovers. A very few psychological +principles are strongly enough established even now to form the basis of +prediction. Among the most important of these are the laws of habit +building, some laws of memory, and the larger principles of attention. +Successful educational practice is and must be in accord with these +indisputable tenets. But the bane of education to-day is in the +pseudo-science, the "half-baked" psychology, that is lauded from the +house-tops by untrained enthusiasts, turned from the presses by +irresponsible publishing houses, and foisted upon the hungry teaching +public through the ever-present medium of the reading circle, the +teachers' institute, the summer school, and I am very sorry to admit +(for I think that I represent both institutions in a way) sometimes by +the normal schools and universities. + +Most of the doctrines that are turning our practice topsy-turvy have +absolutely no support from competent psychologists. The doctrine of +spontaneity and its attendant _laissez-faire_ dogma of school government +is thoroughly inconsistent with good psychology. The radical extreme to +which some educators would push the doctrine of interest when they +maintain that the child should never be asked to do anything for which +he fails to find a need in his own life,--this doctrine can find no +support in good psychology. The doctrine that the preadolescent child +should understand thoroughly every process that he is expected to reduce +to habit before that process is made automatic is utterly at variance +with long-established principles which were well understood by the +Greeks and the Hebrews twenty-five hundred years ago, and to which +Mother Nature herself gives the lie in the instincts of imitation and +repetition. It is conceivable that these radical doctrines were +justified as means of reform, especially in secondary and higher +education, but, even granting this, their function is fulfilled when the +reform that they exploited has been accomplished. That time has come +and, as palpable untruths, they should either be modified to meet the +facts, or be relegated to oblivion. + + +III + +It is safe to say that formalism is no longer a characteristic feature +of the typical American school. It is so long since I have heard any +rote learning in a schoolroom that I am wondering if it is not almost +time for some one to show that a little rote learning would not be at +all a bad thing in preadolescent education. We ridicule the memoriter +methods of Chinese education and yet we sometimes forget that Chinese +education has done something that no other system of education, however +well planned, has even begun to do in the same degree. It has kept the +Chinese empire a unit through a period of time compared with which the +entire history of Greece and Rome is but an episode. We may ridicule the +formalism of Hebrew education, and yet the schools of rabbis have +preserved intact the racial integrity of the Jewish people during the +two thousand years that have elapsed since their geographical unity was +destroyed. I am not justifying the methods of Chinese or Hebrew +education. I am quite willing to admit that, in China at any rate, the +game may not have been worth the candle; but I am still far from +convinced that it is not a good thing for children to reduce to verbal +form a good many things that are now never learned in such a way as to +make any lasting impression upon the memory; and our criticism of +oriental formalism is not so much concerned with the method of learning +as with the content of learning,--not so much with learning by heart as +with the character of the material that was thus memorized. + +But, although formalism is no longer a distinctive feature of American +education, formalism is the point from which education is most +frequently attacked,--and this is the chief source of my dissatisfaction +with the present-day critics of our elementary schools. In a great many +cases, they have set up a man of straw and demolished him completely. +And in demolishing him, they have incidentally knocked the props from +under the feet of many a good teacher, leaving him dazed and uncertain +of his bearings, stung with the conviction that what he has been doing +for his pupils is entirely without value, that his life of service has +been a failure, that the lessons of his own experience are not to be +trusted, nor the verdicts of his own intelligence respected. Go to any +of the great summer schools and you will meet, among the attending +teachers, hundreds of faithful, conscientious men and women who could +tell you if they would (and some of them will) of the muddle in which +their minds are left after some of the lectures to which they have +listened. Why should they fail to be depressed? The whole weight of +academic authority seems to be against them. The entire machinery of +educational administration is wheeling them with relentless force into +paths that seem to them hopelessly intricate and bewildering. If it is +true, as I think it is, that some of the proposals of modern education +are an attempt to square the circle, it is certainly true that the +classroom teacher is standing at the pressure points in this procedure. + +We hear expressed on every side a great deal of sympathy for the child +as the victim of our educational system. Sympathy for childhood is the +most natural thing in the world. It is one of the basic human instincts, +and its expressions are among the finest things in human life. But why +limit our sympathy to the child, especially to-day when he is about as +happy and as fortunate an individual as anybody has ever been in all +history. Why not let a little of it go out to the teacher of this child? +Why not plan a little for her comfort and welfare and encouragement? It +is her skill that is assimilating the children of our alien population. +It is her strength that is lifting bodily each generation to the +ever-advancing race levels. Her work must be the main source of the +inspiration that will impel the race to further advancement. And yet +when these half-million teachers who mean so much to this country gather +at their institutes, when they attend the summer schools, when they take +up their professional journals, what do they hear and read? Criticisms +of their work. Denunciations of their methods. Serious doubts of their +intelligence. Aspersions cast upon their sincerity, their patience, and +their loyalty to their superiors. This, mingled with some mawkish +sentimentalism that passes under the name of inspiration. Only +occasionally a word of downright commendation, a sign of honest and +heartfelt appreciation, a note of sympathy or encouragement. + +Carnegie gives fifteen million dollars to provide pensions for +superannuated college professors; but the elementary teacher who is not +fortunate enough to die in harness must look forward to the almshouse. +The people tax themselves for magnificent buildings and luxurious +furnishings, but not one cent do they offer for teachers' pensions. +What a blot upon Western civilization is this treatment of the teachers +in our lower schools. These people are doing the work that even the +savage races universally consider to be of the highest type. Benighted +China places her teachers second only to the literati themselves in the +place of honor. The Hindus made the teaching profession the highest +caste in the social scale. The Jews intrusted the education of their +children to their Rabbis, the most learned and the most honored of their +race. It is only Western civilization--it is almost only our much-lauded +Anglo-Saxon civilization--that denies to the teacher a station in life +befitting his importance as a social servant. + + +IV + +But what has all this to do with school supervision? As I view it, the +supervisor of schools as the overseer and director of the educational +process, is just now confronted with two great problems. The first of +these is to keep a clear head in the present muddled condition of +educational theory. From the very fact of his position, the supervisor +must be a leader, whether he will or not. It is a maxim of our +profession that the principal is the school. In our city systems the +supervising principal is given almost absolute authority over the school +of which he has charge. In him is vested the ultimate responsibility for +instruction, for discipline, for the care and condition of the material +property. He may be a despot if he wishes, benevolent or otherwise. +With this power goes a corresponding opportunity. His school can stand +for something,--perhaps for something new and strange which will bring +him into the limelight to-day, no matter what its character; perhaps for +something solid and enduring, something that will last long after his +own name has been forgotten. The temptation was never so strong as it is +to-day for the supervisor to seek the former kind of glory. The need was +never more acute than it is to-day for the supervisor who is content +with the impersonal glory of the latter type. + +I admit that it is a somewhat thankless task to do things in a +straightforward, effective way, without fuss or feathers, and I suppose +that the applause of the gallery may be easily mistaken for the applause +of the pit. But nevertheless the seeker for notoriety is doing the cause +of education a vast amount of harm. I know a principal who won ephemeral +fame by introducing into his school a form of the Japanese jiu-jitsu +physical exercises. When I visited that school, I was led to believe +that jiu-jitsu would be the salvation of the American people. Whole +classes of girls and boys were marched to the large basement to be put +through their paces for the delectation of visitors. The newspapers took +it up and heralded it as another indication that the formalism of the +public school was gradually breaking down. Visitors came by the +hundreds, and my friend basked in the limelight of public adulation +while his colleagues turned green with envy and set themselves to +devising some means for turning attention in their direction. + +And yet, there are some principals who move on in the even tenor of +their ways, year after year, while all these currents and +countercurrents are seething and eddying around them. They hold fast to +that which they know is good until that which they know is better can be +found. They believe in the things that they do, so the chances are +greatly increased that they will do them well. They refuse to be bullied +or sneered at or laughed out of court because they do not take up with +every fancy that catches the popular mind. They have their own +professional standards as to what constitutes competent +schoolmanship,--their own standards gained from their own specialized +experience. And somehow I cannot help thinking that just now that is the +type of supervisor that we need and the type that ought to be +encouraged. If I were talking to Chinese teachers, I might preach +another sort of gospel, but American education to-day needs less +turmoil, less distraction, fewer sweeping changes. It needs to settle +itself, and look around, and find out where it is and what it is trying +to do. And it needs, above all, to rise to a consciousness of itself as +an institution manned by intelligent individuals who are perfectly +competent themselves to set up craft standard and ideals. + + +IV + [Transcriber's note: This is a typographical error in + the original, and should read "V"] + +But in whatever way the supervisor may utilize the opportunity that his +position presents, his second great problem will come up for solution. +The supervisor is the captain of the teaching corps. Directly under his +control are the mainsprings of the school's life and activity,--the +classroom teachers. It is coming to be a maxim in the city systems that +the supervisor has not only the power to mold the school to the form of +his own ideals, but that he can, if he is skillful, turn weak teachers +into strong teachers and make out of most unpromising material, an +efficient, homogeneous school staff. I believe that this is coming to be +considered the prime criterion of effective school supervision,--not +what skill the supervisor may show in testing results, or in keeping his +pupils up to a given standard, or in choosing his teachers skillfully, +but rather the success with which he is able to take the teaching +material that is at his hand, and train it into efficiency. + +A former Commissioner of Education for one of our new insular +possessions once told me that he had come to divide supervisors into two +classes,--(1) those who knew good teaching when they saw it, and (2) +those who could make poor teachers into good teachers. Of these two +types, he said, the latter were infinitely more valuable to pioneer work +in education than the former, and he named two or three city systems +from which he had selected the supervisors who could do this sort of +thing,--for there is no limit to this process of training, and the +superintendent who can train supervisors is just as important as the +supervisor who can train teachers. + +It would take a volume adequately to treat the various problems that +this conception of the supervisor's function involves. I can do no more +at present than indicate what seems to me the most pressing present need +in this direction. I have found that sometimes the supervisors who +insist most strenuously that their teachers secure the cooeperation of +their pupils are among the very last to secure for themselves the +cooeperation of their teachers. + +And to this important end, it seems to me that we have an important +suggestion in the present condition of the classroom teacher as I have +attempted to describe it. As a type, the classroom teacher needs just +now some adequate appreciation and recognition of the work that she is +doing. If the lay public is unable adequately to judge the teacher's +work, there is all the more reason that she should look to her +supervisor for that recognition of technical skill, for that +commendation of good work, which can come only from a fellow-craftsman, +but which, when it does come, is worth more in the way of real +inspiration than the loudest applause of the crowd. + +Upon the whole, I believe that the outlook in this direction is +encouraging. While the teacher may miss in her institutes and in the +summer school that sort of encouragement, she is, I believe, finding it +in larger and larger measure in the local teachers' meetings and in her +consultations with her supervisors. And when all has been said, that is +the place from which she should look for inspiration. The teachers' +meeting must be the nursery of professional ideals. It must be a place +where the real first-hand workers in education get that sanity of +outlook, that professional point of view, which shall fortify them +effectively against the rising tide of unprofessional interference and +dictation which, as I have tried to indicate, constitutes the most +serious menace to our educational welfare. + +And it is in the encouragement of this craft spirit, in this lifting of +the teacher's calling to the plane of craft consciousness, it is in this +that the supervisor must, I believe, find the true and lasting reward +for his work. It is through this factor that he can, just now, work the +greatest good for the schools that he supervises and the community that +he serves. The most effective way to reach his pupils is through the +medium of their teachers, and he can help these pupils in no better way +than to give their teachers a justifiable pride in the work that they +are doing through his own recognition of its worth and its value, +through his own respect for the significance of the lessons that +experience teaches them, through his own suggestive help in making that +experience profitable and suggestive. And just at the present moment, he +can make no better start than by assuring them of the truth that Emerson +expresses when he defines the true scholar as the man who remains firm +in his belief that a popgun is only a popgun although the ancient and +honored of earth may solemnly affirm it to be the crack of doom. + + + + +~VI~ + +EDUCATION AND UTILITY[11] + +I + + +I wish to discuss with you some phases of the problem that is perhaps +foremost in the minds of the teaching public to-day: the problem, +namely, of making education bear more directly and more effectively upon +the work of practical, everyday life. I have no doubt that some of you +feel, when this problem is suggested, very much as I felt when I first +suggested to myself the possibility of discussing it with you. You have +doubtless heard some phases of this problem discussed at every meeting +of this association for the past ten years--if you have been a member so +long as that. Certain it is that we all grow weary of the reiteration of +even the best of truths, but certain it is also that some problems are +always before us, and until they are solved satisfactorily they will +always stimulate men to devise means for their solution. + +I should say at the outset, however, that I shall not attempt to justify +to this audience the introduction of vocational subjects into the +elementary and secondary curriculums. I shall take it for granted that +you have already made up your minds upon this matter. I shall not take +your time in an attempt to persuade you that agriculture ought to be +taught in the rural schools, or manual training and domestic science in +all schools. I am personally convinced of the value of such work and I +shall take it for granted that you are likewise convinced. + +My task to-day, then, is of another type. I wish to discuss with you +some of the implications of this matter of utility in respect of the +work that every elementary school is doing and always must do, no matter +how much hand work or vocational material it may introduce. My problem, +in other words, concerns the ordinary subject-matter of the +curriculum,--reading and writing and arithmetic, geography and grammar +and history,--those things which, like the poor, are always with us, but +which we seem a little ashamed to talk about in public. Truly, from +reading the educational journals and hearing educational discussion +to-day, the layman might well infer that what we term the "useful" +education and the education that is now offered by the average school +are as far apart as the two poles. We are all familiar with the +statement that the elementary curriculum is eminently adapted to produce +clerks and accountants, but very poorly adapted to furnish recruits for +any other department of life. The high school is criticized on the +ground that it prepares for college and consequently for the +professions, but that it is totally inadequate to the needs of the +average citizen. Now it would be futile to deny that there is some truth +in both these assertions, but I do not hesitate to affirm that both are +grossly exaggerated, and that the curriculum of to-day, with all its +imperfections, does not justify so sweeping a denunciation. I wish to +point out some of the respects in which these charges are fallacious, +and, in so doing, perhaps, to suggest some possible remedies for the +defects that every one will acknowledge. + + +II + +In the first place, let me make myself perfectly clear upon what I mean +by the word "useful." What, after all, is the "useful" study in our +schools? What do men find to be the useful thing in their lives? The +most natural answer to this question is that the useful things are those +that enable us to meet effectively the conditions of life,--or, to use a +phrase that is perfectly clear to us all, the things that help us in +getting a living. The vast majority of men and women in this world +measure all values by this standard, for most of us are, to use the +expressive slang of the day, "up against" this problem, and "up against" +it so hard and so constantly that we interpret everything in the greatly +foreshortened perspective of immediate necessity. Most of us in this +room are confronting this problem of making a living. At any rate, I am +confronting it, and consequently I may lay claim to some of the +authority that comes from experience. + +And since I have made this personal reference, may I violate the canons +of good taste and make still another? I was face to face with this +problem of getting a living a good many years ago, when the opportunity +came to me to take a college course. I could see nothing ahead after +that except another struggle with this same vital issue. So I decided to +take a college course which would, in all probability, help me to solve +the problem. Scientific agriculture was not developed in those days as +it has been since that time, but a start had been made, and the various +agricultural colleges were offering what seemed to be very practical +courses. I had had some early experience on the farm, and I decided to +become a scientific farmer. I took the course of four years and secured +my degree. The course was as useful from the standpoint of practical +agriculture as any that could have been devised at the time. But when I +graduated, what did I find? The same old problem of getting a living +still confronted me as I had expected that it would; and alas! I had got +my education in a profession that demanded capital. I was a landless +farmer. Times were hard and work of all kinds was very scarce. The +farmers of those days were inclined to scoff at scientific agriculture. +I could have worked for my board and a little more, and I should have +done so had I been able to find a job. But while I was looking for the +place, a chance came to teach school, and I took the opportunity as a +means of keeping the wolf from the door. I have been engaged in the work +of teaching ever since. When I was able to buy land, I did so, and I +have to-day a farm of which I am very proud. It does not pay large +dividends, but I keep it up for the fun I get out of it,--and I like to +think, also, that if I should lose my job as a teacher, I could go back +to the farm and show the natives how to make money. This is doubtless an +illusion, but it is a source of solid comfort just the same. + +Now the point of this experience is simply this: I secured an education +that seemed to me to promise the acme of utility. In one way, it has +fulfilled that promise far beyond my wildest expectations, but that way +was very different from the one that I had anticipated. The technical +knowledge that I gained during those four strenuous years, I apply now +only as a means of recreation. So far as enabling me directly to get a +living, this technical knowledge does not pay one per cent on the +investment of time and money. And yet I count the training that I got +from its mastery as, perhaps, the most useful product of my education. + +Now what was the secret of its utility? As I analyze my experience, I +find it summed up very largely in two factors. In the first place, I +studied a set of subjects for which I had at the outset very little +taste. In studying agriculture, I had to master a certain amount of +chemistry, physics, botany, and zooelogy, for each and every one of which +I felt, at the outset, a distinct aversion and dislike. A mastery of +these subjects was essential to a realization of the purpose that I had +in mind. I was sure that I should never like them, and yet, as I kept at +work, I gradually found myself losing that initial distaste. First one +and then another opened out its vista of truth and revelation before me, +and almost before I was aware of it, I was enthusiastic over science. It +was a long time before I generalized that experience and drew its +lesson, but the lesson, once learned, has helped me more even in the +specific task of getting a living than anything else that came out of my +school training. That experience taught me, not only the necessity for +doing disagreeable tasks,--for attacking them hopefully and +cheerfully,--but it also taught me that disagreeable tasks, if attacked +in the right way, and persisted in with patience, often become +attractive in themselves. Over and over again in meeting the situations +of real life, I have been confronted with tasks that were initially +distasteful. Sometimes I have surrendered before them; but sometimes, +too, that lesson has come back to me, and has inspired me to struggle +on, and at no time has it disappointed me by the outcome. I repeat that +there is no technical knowledge that I have gained that compares for a +moment with that ideal of patience and persistence. When it comes to +real, downright utility, measured by this inexorable standard of getting +a living, let me commend to you the ideal of persistent effort. All the +knowledge that we can learn or teach will come to very little if this +element is lacking. + +Now this is very far from saying that the pursuit of really useful +knowledge may not give this ideal just as effectively as the pursuit of +knowledge that will never be used. My point is simply this: that beyond +the immediate utility of the facts that we teach,--indeed, basic and +fundamental to this utility,--is the utility of the ideals and standards +that are derived from our school work. Whatever we teach, these +essential factors can be made to stand out in our work, and if our +pupils acquire these we shall have done the basic and important thing in +helping them to solve the problems of real life,--and if our pupils do +not acquire these, it will make little difference how intrinsically +valuable may be the content of our instruction. I feel like emphasizing +this matter to-day, because there is in the air a notion that utility +depends entirely upon the content of the curriculum. Certainly the +curriculum must be improved from this standpoint, but we are just now +losing sight of the other equally important factor,--that, after all, +while both are essential, it is the spirit of teaching rather than the +content of teaching that is basic and fundamental. + +Nor have I much sympathy with that extreme view of this matter which +asserts that we must go out of our way to provide distasteful tasks for +the pupil in order to develop this ideal of persistence. I believe that +such a policy will always tend to defeat its own purpose. I know a +teacher who holds this belief. He goes out of his way to make tasks +difficult. He refuses to help pupils over hard places. He does not +believe in careful assignments of lessons, because, he maintains, the +pupil ought to learn to overcome difficulties for himself, and how can +he learn unless real difficulties are presented? + +The great trouble with this teacher is that his policy does not work out +in practice. A small minority of his pupils are strengthened by it; the +majority are weakened. He is right when he says that a pupil gains +strength only by overcoming difficulties, but he neglects a very +important qualification of this rule, namely, that a pupil gains no +strength out of obstacles that he fails to overcome. It is the conquest +that comes after effort,--this is the factor that gives one strength and +confidence. But when defeat follows defeat and failure follows failure, +it is weakness that is being engendered--not strength. And that is the +trouble with this teacher's pupils. The majority leave him with all +confidence in their own ability shaken out of them and some of them +never recover from the experience. + +And so while I insist strenuously that the most useful lesson we can +teach our pupils is how to do disagreeable tasks cheerfully and +willingly, please do not understand me to mean that we should go out of +our way to provide disagreeable tasks. After all, I rejoice that my own +children are learning how to read and write and cipher much more easily, +much more quickly, and withal much more pleasantly than I learned those +useful arts. The more quickly they get to the plane that their elders +have reached, the more quickly they can get beyond this plane and on to +the next level. + +To argue against improved methods in teaching on the ground that they +make things too easy for the pupil is, to my mind, a grievous error. It +is as fallacious as to argue that the introduction of machinery is a +curse because it has diminished in some measure the necessity for human +drudgery. But if machinery left mankind to rest upon its oars, if it +discouraged further progress and further effortful achievement, it +_would_ be a curse: and if the easier and quicker methods of instruction +simply bring my children to my own level and then fail to stimulate them +to get beyond my level, then they are a curse and not a blessing. + +I do not decry that educational policy of to-day which insists that +school work should be made as simple and attractive as possible. I do +decry that misinterpretation of this policy which looks at the matter +from the other side, and asserts so vehemently that the child should +never be asked or urged to do something that is not easy and attractive. +It is only because there is so much in the world to be done that, for +the sake of economizing time and strength, we should raise the child as +quickly and as rapidly and as pleasantly as possible to the plane that +the race has reached. But among all the lessons of race experience that +we must teach him there is none so fundamental and important as the +lesson of achievement itself,--the supreme lesson wrung from human +experience,--the lesson, namely, that every advance that the world has +made, every step that it has taken forward, every increment that has +been added to the sum total of progress has been attained at the price +of self-sacrifice and effort and struggle,--at the price of doing things +that one does not want to do. And unless a man is willing to pay that +price, he is bound to be the worst kind of a social parasite, for he is +simply living on the experience of others, and adding to this capital +nothing of his own. + +It is sometimes said that universal education is essential in order that +the great mass of humanity may live in greater comfort and enjoy the +luxuries that in the past have been vouchsafed only to the few. +Personally I think that this is all right so far as it goes, but it +fails to reach an ultimate goal. Material comfort is justified only +because it enables mankind to live more effectively on the lower planes +of life and give greater strength and greater energy to the solution of +new problems upon the higher planes of life. The end of life can never +be adequately formulated in terms of comfort and ease, nor even in +terms of culture and intellectual enjoyment; the end of life is +achievement, and no matter how far we go, achievement is possible only +to those who are willing to pay the price. When the race stops investing +its capital of experience in further achievement, when it settles down +to take life easily, it will not take it very long to eat up its capital +and revert to the plane of the brute. + + +III + +But I am getting away, from my text. You will remember that I said that +the most useful thing that we can teach the child is to attack +strenuously and resolutely any problem that confronts him whether it +pleases him or not, and I wanted to be certain that you did not +misinterpret me to mean that we should, for this reason, make our school +tasks unnecessarily difficult and laborious. After all, while our +attitude should always be one of interesting our pupils, their attitude +should always be one of effortful attention,--of willingness to do the +task that we think it best for them to do. You see it is a sort of a +double-headed policy, and how to carry it out is a perplexing problem. +Of so much I am certain, however, at the outset: if the pupil takes the +attitude that we are there to interest and entertain him, we shall make +a sorry fiasco of the whole matter, and inasmuch as this very tendency +is in the air at the present time, I feel justified in at least +referring to its danger. + +Now if this ideal of persistent effort is the most useful thing that +can come out of education, what is the next most useful? Again, as I +analyze what I obtained from my own education, it seems to me that, next +to learning that disagreeable tasks are often well worth doing, the +factor that has helped me most in getting a living has been the method +of solving the situations that confronted me. After all, if we simply +have the ideal of resolute and aggressive and persistent attack, we may +struggle indefinitely without much result. All problems of life involve +certain common factors. The essential difference between the educated +and the uneducated man, if we grant each an equal measure of pluck, +persistence, and endurance, lies in the superior ability of the educated +man to analyze his problem effectively and to proceed intelligently +rather than blindly to its solution. I maintain that education should +give a man this ideal of attacking any problem; furthermore I maintain +that the education of the present day, in spite of the anathemas that +are hurled against it, is doing this in richer measure than it has ever +been done before. But there is no reason why we should not do it in +still greater measure. + +I once knew two men who were in the business of raising fruit for +commercial purposes. Each had a large orchard which he operated +according to conventional methods and which netted him a comfortable +income. One of these men was a man of narrow education: the other a man +of liberal education, although his training had not been directed in +any way toward the problems of horticulture. The orchards had borne +exceptionally well for several years, but one season, when the fruit +looked especially promising, a period of wet, muggy weather came along +just before the picking season, and one morning both these men went out +into their orchards, to find the fruit very badly "specked." Now the +conventional thing to do in such cases was well known to both men. Each +had picked up a good deal of technical information about caring for +fruit, and each did the same thing in meeting this situation. He got out +his spraying outfit, prepared some Bordeaux mixture, and set vigorously +at work with his pumps. So far as persistence and enterprise went, both +men stood on an equal footing. But it happened that this was an unusual +and not a conventional situation. The spraying did not alleviate the +condition. The corruption spread through the trees like wildfire, and +seemed to thrive on copper sulphate rather than succumb to its corrosive +influence. + +Now this was where the difference in training showed itself. The +orchardist who worked by rule of thumb, when he found that his rule did +not work, gave up the fight and spent his time sitting on his front +porch bemoaning his luck. The other set diligently at work to analyze +the situation. His education had not taught him anything about the +characteristics of parasitic fungi, for parasitic fungi were not very +well understood when he was in school. But his education had left with +him a general method of procedure for just such cases, and that method +he at once applied. It had taught him how to find the information that +he needed, provided that such information was available. It had taught +him that human experience is crystallized in books, and that, when a +discovery is made in any field of science,--no matter how specialized +the field and no matter how trivial the finding,--the discovery is +recorded in printer's ink and placed at the disposal of those who have +the intelligence to find it and apply it. And so he set out to read up +on the subject,--to see what other men had learned about this peculiar +kind of apple rot. He obtained all that had been written about it and +began to master it. He told his friend about this material and suggested +that the latter follow the same course, but the man of narrow education +soon found himself utterly at sea in a maze of technical terms. The +terms were new to the other too, but he took down his dictionary and +worked them out. He knew how to use indices and tables of contents and +various other devices that facilitate the gathering of information, and +while his uneducated friend was storming over the pedantry of men who +use big words, the other was making rapid progress through the material. +In a short time he learned everything that had been found out about this +specific disease. He learned that its spores are encased in a gelatinous +sac which resisted the entrance of the chemicals. He found how the +spores were reproduced, how they wintered, how they germinated in the +following season; and, although he did not save much of his crop that +year, he did better the next. Nor were the evidences of his superiority +limited to this very useful result. He found that, after all, very +little was known about this disease, so he set himself to find out more +about it. To do this, he started where other investigators had left off, +and then he applied a principle he had learned from his education; +namely, that the only valid methods of obtaining new truths are the +methods of close observation and controlled experiment. + +Now I maintain that the education which was given that man was effective +in a degree that ought to make his experience an object lesson for us +who teach. What he had found most useful at a very critical juncture of +his business life was, primarily, not the technical knowledge that he +had gained either in school or in actual experience. His superiority lay +in the fact that he knew how to get hold of knowledge when he needed it, +how to master it once he had obtained it, how to apply it once he had +mastered it, and finally how to go about to discover facts that had been +undetected by previous investigators. I care not whether he got this +knowledge in the elementary school or in the high school or in the +college. He might have secured it in any one of the three types of +institution, but he had to learn it somewhere, and I shall go further +and say that the average man has to learn it in some school and under an +explicit and conscious method of instruction. + + +IV + +But perhaps you would maintain that this statement of the case, while in +general true, does not help us out in practice. After all, how are we to +impress pupils with this ideal of persistence and with these ideals of +getting and applying information, and with this ideal of investigation? +I maintain that these important useful ideals may be effectively +impressed almost from the very outset of school life. The teaching of +every subject affords innumerable opportunities to force home their +lessons. In fact, it must be a very gradual process--a process in which +the concrete instances are numerous and rich and impressive. From these +concrete instances, the general truth may in time emerge. Certainly the +chances that it will emerge are greatly multiplied if we ourselves +recognize its worth and importance, and lead our pupils to see in each +concrete case the operation of the general principle. After all, the +chief reason why so much of our education miscarries, why so few pupils +gain the strength and the power that we expect all to gain, lies in the +inability of the average individual to draw a general conclusion from +concrete cases--to see the general in the particular. We have insisted +so strenuously upon concrete instruction that we have perhaps failed +also to insist that fact without law is blind, and that observation +without induction is stupidity gone to seed. + +Let me give a concrete instance of what I mean. Not long ago, I visited +an eighth-grade class during a geography period. It was at the time when +the discovery of the Pole had just set the whole civilized world by the +ears, and the teacher was doing something that many good teachers do on +occasions of this sort: she was turning the vivid interest of the moment +to educative purposes. The pupils had read Peary's account of his trip +and they were discussing its details in class. Now that exercise was +vastly more than an interesting information lesson, for Peary's +achievement became, under the skillful touch of that teacher, a type of +all human achievement. I wish that I could reproduce that lesson for +you--how vividly she pictured the situation that confronted the +explorer,--the bitter cold, the shifting ice, the treacherous open +leads, the lack of game or other sources of food supply, the long +marches on scant rations, the short hours and the uncomfortable +conditions of sleep; and how from these that fundamental lesson of pluck +and endurance and courage came forth naturally without preaching the +moral or indulging in sentimental "goody-goodyism." And then the other +and equally important part of the lesson,--how pluck and courage in +themselves could never have solved the problem; how knowledge was +essential, and how that knowledge had been gained: some of it from the +experience of early explorers,--how to avoid the dreaded scurvy, how to +build a ship that could withstand the tremendous pressure of the floes; +and some from the Eskimos,--how to live in that barren region, and how +to travel with dogs and sledges;--and some, too, from Peary's own early +experiences,--how he had struggled for twenty years to reach the goal, +and had added this experience to that until finally the prize was his. +We may differ as to the value of Peary's deed, but that it stands as a +type of what success in any undertaking means, no one can deny. And this +was the lesson that these eighth-grade pupils were absorbing,--the +world-old lesson before which all others fade into insignificance,--the +lesson, namely, that achievement can be gained only by those who are +willing to pay the price. + +And I imagine that when that class is studying the continent of Africa +in their geography work, they will learn something more than the names +of rivers and mountains and boundaries and products,--I imagine that +they will link these facts with the names and deeds of the men who gave +them to the world. And when they study history, it will be vastly more +than a bare recital of dates and events,--it will be alive with these +great lessons of struggle and triumph,--for history, after all, is only +the record of human achievement. And if those pupils do not find these +same lessons coming out of their own little conquests,--if the problems +of arithmetic do not furnish an opportunity to conquer the pressure +ridges of partial payments or the Polar night of bank discount, or if +the intricacies of formal grammar do not resolve themselves into the +North Pole of correct expression,--I have misjudged that teacher's +capacities; for the great triumph of teaching is to get our pupils to +see the fundamental and the eternal in things that are seemingly trivial +and transitory. We are fond of dividing school studies into the cultural +and the practical, into the humanities and the sciences. Believe me, +there is no study worth the teaching that is not practical at basis, and +there is no practical study that has not its human interest and its +humanizing influence--if only we go to some pains to search them out. + + +V + +I have said that the most useful thing that education can do is to imbue +the pupil with the ideal of effortful achievement which will lead him to +do cheerfully and effectively the disagreeable tasks that fall to his +lot. I have said that the next most useful thing that it can do is to +give him a general method of solving the problems that he meets. Is +there any other useful outcome of a general nature that we may rank in +importance with these two? I believe that there is, and I can perhaps +tell you what I mean by another reference to a concrete case. I know a +man who lacks this third factor, although he possesses the other two in +a very generous measure. He is full of ambition, persistence, and +courage. He is master of the rational method of solving the problems +that beset him. He does his work intelligently and effectively. And yet +he has failed to make a good living. Why? Simply because of his standard +of what constitutes a good living. Measured by my standard, he is doing +excellently well. Measured by his own standard, he is a miserable +failure. He is depressed and gloomy and out of harmony with the world, +simply because he has no other standard for a good living than a +financial one. He is by profession a civil engineer. His work is much +more remunerative than is that of many other callings. He has it in him +to attain to professional distinction in that work. But to this +opportunity he is blind. In the great industrial center in which he +works, he is constantly irritated by the evidences of wealth and luxury +beyond what he himself enjoys. The millionaire captain of industry is +his hero, and because he is not numbered among this class, he looks at +the world through the bluest kind of spectacles. + +Now, to my mind that man's education failed somewhere, and its failure +lay in the fact that it did not develop in him ideals of success that +would have made him immune to these irritating factors. We have often +heard it said that education should rid the mind of the incubus of +superstition, and one very important effect of universal education is +that it does offer to all men an explanation of the phenomena that +formerly weighted down the mind with fear and dread, and opened an easy +ingress to the forces of superstition and fraud and error. Education has +accomplished this function, I think, passably well with respect to the +more obvious sources of superstition. Necromancy and magic, demonism and +witchcraft, have long since been relegated to the limbo of exposed +fraud. Their conquest has been one of the most significant advances that +man has made above the savage. The truths of science have at last +triumphed, and, as education has diffused these truths among the masses, +the triumph has become almost universal. + +But there are other forms of superstition besides those I have +mentioned,--other instances of a false perspective, of distorted values, +of inadequate standards. If belief in witchcraft or in magic is bad +because it falls short of an adequate interpretation of nature,--if it +is false because it is inconsistent with human experience,--then the +worship of Mammon that my engineer friend represents is tenfold worse +than witchcraft, measured by the same standards. If there is any lesson +that human history teaches with compelling force, it is surely this: +Every race which has yielded to the demon of individualism and the lust +for gold and self-gratification has gone down the swift and certain road +to national decay. Every race that, through unusual material prosperity, +has lost its grip on the eternal verities of self-sacrifice and +self-denial has left the lesson of its downfall written large upon the +pages of history. I repeat that if superstition consists in believing +something that is inconsistent with rational human experience, then our +present worship of the golden calf is by far the most dangerous form of +superstition that has ever befuddled the human intellect. + +But, you ask, what can education do to alleviate a condition of this +sort? How may the weak influence of the school make itself felt in an +environment that has crystallized on every hand this unfortunate +standard? Individualism is in the air. It is the dominant spirit of the +times. It is reenforced upon every side by the unmistakable evidences of +national prosperity. It is easy to preach the simple life, but who will +live it unless he has to? It is easy to say that man should have social +and not individual standards of success and achievement, but what effect +will your puerile assertion have upon the situation that confronts us? + +Yes; it is easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. It is far easier +to lie back and let things run their course than it is to strike out +into midstream and make what must be for the pioneer a fatal effort to +stem the current. But is the situation absolutely hopeless? If the +forces of education can lift the Japanese people from barbarism to +enlightenment in two generations; if education can in a single century +transform Germany from the weakest to the strongest power on the +continent of Europe; if five short years of a certain type of education +can change the course of destiny in China;--are we warranted in our +assumption that we hold a weak weapon in this fight against Mammon? + +I have intimated that the attitude of my engineer friend toward life is +the result of twisted ideals. A good many young men are going out into +life with a similar defect in their education. They gain their ideals, +not from the great wellsprings of human experience as represented in +history and literature, in religion and art, but from the environment +around them, and consequently they become victims of this superstition +from the outset. As a trainer of teachers, I hold it to be one important +part of my duty to fortify my students as strongly as I can against this +false standard of which my engineer friend is the victim. It is just as +much a part of my duty to give my students effective and consistent +standards of what a good living consists in as it is to give them the +technical knowledge and skill that will enable them to make a good +living. If my students who are to become teachers have standards of +living and standards of success that are inconsistent with the great +ideal of social service for which teaching stands, then I have fallen +far short of success in my work. If they are constantly irritated by the +evidences of luxury beyond their means, if this irritation sours their +dispositions and checks their spontaneity, their efficiency as teachers +is greatly lessened or perhaps entirely negated. And if my engineer +friend places worldly emoluments upon a higher plane than professional +efficiency, I dread for the safety of the bridges that he builds. His +education as an engineer should have fortified him against just such a +contingency. It should have left him with the ideal of craftsmanship +supreme in his life. And if his technical education failed to do this, +his general education ought, at least, to have given him a bias in the +right direction. + +I believe that all forms of vocational and professional education are +not so strong in this respect as they should be. Again you say to me, +What can education do when the spirit of the times speaks so strongly on +the other side? But what is education for if it is not to preserve midst +the chaos and confusion of troublous times the great truths that the +race has wrung from its experience? How different might have been the +fate of Rome, if Rome had possessed an educational system touching every +child in the Empire, and if, during the years that witnessed her decay +and downfall, those schools could have kept steadily, persistently at +work, impressing upon every member of each successive generation the +virtues that made the old Romans strong and virile--the virtues that +enabled them to lay the foundations of an empire that crumbled in ruins +once these truths were forgotten. Is it not the specific task of +education to represent in each generation the human experiences that +have been tried and tested and found to work,--to represent these in the +face of opposition if need be,--to be faithful to the trusteeship of the +most priceless legacy that the past has left to the present and to the +future? If this is not our function in the scheme of things, then what +is our function? Is it to stand with bated breath to catch the first +whisper that will usher in the next change? Is it to surrender all +initiative and simply allow ourselves to be tossed hither and yon by the +waves and cross-waves of a fickle public opinion? Is it to cower in +dread of a criticism that is not only unjust but often ill-advised of +the real conditions under which we are doing our work? + +I take it that none of us is ready to answer these questions in the +affirmative. Deep down in our hearts we know that we have a useful work +to do, and we know that we are doing it passably well. We also know our +defects and shortcomings at least as well as one who has never faced our +problems and tried to solve them. And it is from this latter type that +most of the drastic criticism, especially of the elementary and +secondary school, emanates. I confess that my gorge rises within me when +I read or hear the invectives that are being hurled against teaching as +a profession (and against the work of the elementary and secondary +school in particular) by men who know nothing of this work at first +hand. This is the greatest handicap under which the profession of +teaching labors. In every other important field of human activity a man +must present his credentials before he takes his seat at the council +table, and even then he must sit and listen respectfully to his elders +for a while before he ventures a criticism or even a suggestion. This +plan may have its defects. It may keep things on too conservative a +basis; but it avoids the danger into which we as a profession have +fallen,--the danger of "half-baked" theories and unmatured policies. +To-day the only man that can get a respectable hearing at our great +national educational meetings is the man who has something new and +bizarre to propose. And the more startling the proposal, the greater is +the measure of adulation that he receives. The result of this is a +continual straining for effect, an enormous annual crop of fads and +fancies, which, though most of them are happily short-lived, keep us in +a state of continual turmoil and confusion. + + * * * * * + +Now, it goes without saying that there are many ways of making education +hit the mark of utility in addition to those that I have mentioned. The +teachers down in the lower grades who are teaching little children the +arts of reading and writing and computation are doing vastly more in a +practical direction than they are ever given credit for doing; for +reading and writing and the manipulation of numbers are, next to oral +speech itself, the prime necessities in the social and industrial world. +These arts are being taught to-day better than they have ever been +taught before,--and the technique of their teaching is undergoing +constant refinement and improvement. + +The school can do and is doing other useful things. Some schools are +training their pupils to be well mannered and courteous and considerate +of the rights of others. They are teaching children one of the most +basic and fundamental laws of human life; namely, that there are some +things that a gentleman cannot do and some things that society will not +stand. How many a painful experience in solving this very problem of +getting a living could be avoided if one had only learned this lesson +passing well! What a pity it is that some schools that stand to-day for +what we call educational progress are failing in just this +particular--are sending out into the world an annual crop of boys and +girls who must learn the great lesson of self-control and a proper +respect for the rights of others in the bitter school of experience,--a +school in which the rod will never be spared, but whose chastening +scourge comes sometimes, alas, too late! + +There is no feature of school life which has not its almost infinite +possibilities of utility. But after all, are not the basic and +fundamental things these ideals that I have named? And should not we who +teach stand for idealism in its widest sense? Should we not ourselves +subscribe an undying fidelity to those great ideals for which teaching +must stand,--to the ideal of social service which lies at the basis of +our craft, to the ideals of effort and discipline that make a nation +great and its children strong, to the ideal of science that dissipates +the black night of ignorance and superstition, to the ideal of culture +that humanizes mankind? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 11: An address before the Eastern Illinois Teachers' +Association, October 15, 1909. Published as a Bulletin of the Eastern +Illinois Normal School, October, 1909.] + + + + +~VII~ + +THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN EDUCATION[12] + +I + + +I know that I do not need to plead with this audience for a recognition +of the scientific spirit in the solution of educational problems. The +long life and the enviable record of this Society of Pedagogy testify in +themselves to that spirit of free inquiry, to the calm and dispassionate +search for the truth which lies at the basis of the scientific method. +You have gathered here, fortnight after fortnight, to discuss +educational problems in the light of your experience. You have reported +your experience and listened to the results that others have gleaned in +the course of their daily work. And experience is the corner stone of +science. + +Some of the most stimulating and clarifying discussions of educational +problems that I have ever heard have been made in the sessions of this +Society. You have been scientific in your attitude toward education, and +I may add that I first learned the lessons of the real science of +education in the St. Louis schools, and under the inspiration that was +furnished by the men who were members of this Society. What I knew of +the science of education before I came to this city ten years ago, was +gleaned largely from books. It was deductive, _a priori_, in its nature. +What I learned here was the induction from actual experience. + +My very first introduction to my colleagues among the school men of this +city was a lesson in the science of education. I had brought with me a +letter to one of your principals. He was in the office down on Locust +Street the first Saturday that I spent in the city. I presented my +letter to him, and, with that true Southern hospitality which has always +characterized your corps, he took me immediately under his wing and +carried me out to luncheon with him. + +We sat for hours in a little restaurant down on Sixth Street,--he was my +teacher and I was his pupil. And gradually, as the afternoon wore on, I +realized that I had met a master craftsman in the art of education. At +first I talked glibly enough of what I intended to do, and he listened +sympathetically and helpfully, with a little quizzical smile in his eyes +as I outlined my ambitious plans. And when I had run the gamut of my +dreams, he took his turn, and, in true Socratic fashion, yet without +making me feel in the least that I was only a dreamer after all, he +refashioned my theories. One by one the little card houses that I had +built up were deftly, smoothly, gently, but completely demolished. I did +not know the ABC of schoolcraft--but he did not tell me that I did not. +He went at the task of instruction from the positive point of view. He +proved to me, by reminiscence and example, how different are actual and +ideal conditions. And finally he wound up with a single question that +opened a new world to me. "What," he asked, "is the dominant +characteristic of the child's mind?" I thought at first that I was on +safe ground--for had I not taken a course in child study, and had I not +measured some hundreds of school children while working out a university +thesis? So I began with my list. But, at each characteristic that I +mentioned he shook his head. "No," he said, "no; that is not right." And +when finally I had exhausted my list, he said to me, "The dominant +characteristic of the child's mind is its _seriousness_. The child is +the most _serious_ creature in the world." + +The answer staggered me for a moment. Like ninety-nine per cent of the +adult population of this globe, the seriousness of the child had never +appealed to me. In spite of the theoretical basis of my training, that +single, dominant element of child life had escaped me. I had gained my +notion of the child from books, and, I also fear, from the Sunday +supplements. To me, deep down in my heart, the child was an animated +joke. I was immersed in unscientific preconceptions. But the master +craftsman had gained his conception of child life from intimate, +empirical acquaintance with the genus boy. He had gleaned from his +experience that fundamental truth: "The child is the most serious +creature in the world." + +Sometime I hope that I may make some fitting acknowledgment of the debt +of gratitude that I owe to that man. The opportunities that I had to +talk with him were all too few, but I did make a memorable visit to his +school, and studied at first hand the great work that he was doing for +the pupils of the Columbia district. He died the next year, and I shall +never forget the words that stood beneath his picture that night in one +of the daily papers: "Charles Howard: Architect of Character." + + +II + +The essence of the scientific spirit is to view experience without +prejudice, and that was the lesson that I learned from the school system +of St. Louis. + +The difference between the ideal child and the real child,--the +difference between what fancy pictures a schoolroom to be and what +actual first-hand acquaintance shows that it is, the difference between +a preconceived notion and an actual stubborn fact of experience,--these +were among the lessons that I learned in these schools. But, at the same +time, there was no crass materialism accompanying this teaching. There +was no loss of the broader point of view. A fact is a fact, and we +cannot get around it,--and this is what scientific method has insisted +upon from its inception. But always beyond the fact is its significance, +its meaning. That the St. Louis schools have for the last fifty years +stood for the larger view; that they have never, so far as I know, +exploited the new and the bizarre simply because it was new and +strange,--this is due, I believe, to the insight and inspiration of the +man[13] who first fashioned the framework of this system, and breathed +into it as a system the vitalizing element of idealism. Personally, I +have not always been in sympathy with the teachings of the Hegelian +philosophy,--I have not always understood them,--but no man could +witness the silent, steady, unchecked growth of the St. Louis schools +without being firmly and indelibly impressed with dynamic value of a +richly conceived and rigidly wrought system of fundamental principles. +The cause of education has suffered much from the failure of educators +to break loose from the shackles of the past. But it has, in some +places, suffered still more from the tendency of the human mind to +confuse fundamental principles with the shackles of tradition. The rage +for the new and the untried, simply because it is new and untried,--this +has been, and is to-day, the rock upon which real educational progress +is most likely to be wrecked. This is a rock, I believe, that St. Louis +has so far escaped, and I have no doubt that its escape has been due, in +large measure, to the careful, rigid, laborious, and yet illuminating +manner in which that great captain charted out its course. + + +III + +Fundamentally, there is, I believe, no discrepancy, no inconsistency, +between the scientific spirit in education and what may be called the +philosophical spirit. As I have suggested, there are always two dangers +that must be avoided: the danger, in the first place, of thinking of the +old as essentially bad; and, on the other hand, the danger of thinking +of the new and strange and unknown as essentially bad; the danger of +confusing a sound conservatism with a blind worship of established +custom; and the danger of confusing a sound radicalism with the blind +worship of the new and the bizarre. + +Let me give you an example of what I mean. There is a rather bitter +controversy at present between two factions of science teachers. One +faction insists that physics and chemistry and biology should be taught +in the high school from the economic point of view,--that the economic +applications of these sciences to great human arts, such as engineering +and agriculture, should be emphasized at every point,--that a great deal +of the material now taught in these sciences is both useless and +unattractive to the average high-school pupil. The other faction +maintains that such a course would mean the destruction of science as an +integral part of the secondary culture course,--that science to be +cultural must be pure science,--must be viewed apart from its economic +applications,--apart from its relations to the bread-and-butter problem. + +Now many of the advocates of the first point of view--many of the people +that would emphasize the economic side--are animated by the spirit of +change and unrest which dominates our latter-day civilization. They wish +to follow the popular demand. "Down with scholasticism!" is their cry; +"Down with this blind worship of custom and tradition! Let us do the +thing that gives the greatest immediate benefit to our pupils. Let us +discard the elements in our courses that are hard and dry and barren of +practical results." Now these men, I believe, are basing their argument +upon the fallacy of immediate expediency. The old is bad, the new is +good. That is their argument. They have no sheet anchor out to windward. +They are willing to drift with the gale. + +Many of the advocates of the second point of view--many of the people +who hold to the old line, pure-science teaching--are, on the other hand, +animated by a spirit of irrational conservatism. "Down with radicalism!" +they shout; "Down with the innovators! Things that are hard and dry are +good mental discipline. They made our fathers strong. They can make our +children strong. What was good enough for the great minds of the past is +good enough for us." + +Now these men, I believe, have gone to the other extreme. They have +confused custom and tradition with fundamental and eternal principles. +They have thought that, just because a thing is old, it is good, just as +their antagonists have thought that just because a thing is new it is +good. + +In both cases, obviously, the scientific spirit is lacking. The most +fundamental of all principles is the principle of truth. And yet these +men who are teachers of science are--both classes of them--ruled +themselves by dogma. And meantime the sciences are in danger of losing +their place in secondary education. The rich promise that was held out a +generation ago has not been fulfilled. Within the last decade, the +enrollment in the science courses has not increased in proportion to the +total enrollment, while the enrollment in Latin (which fifteen years ago +was about to be cast upon the educational scrap heap) has grown by leaps +and bounds. + +Now this is a type of a great many controversies in education. We talk +and theorize, but very seldom do we try to find out the actual facts in +the case by any adequate tests. + +It was the lack of such tests that led us at the University of Illinois +to enter upon a series of impartial investigations to see whether we +could not take some of these mooted questions out of the realm of +eternal controversy, and provide some definite solutions. We chose among +others this controversy between the economic scientists and the pure +scientists. We took a high-school class and divided it into two +sections. We tried to place in each section an equal number of bright +and mediocre and dull pupils, so that the conditions would be equalized. +Then we chose an excellent teacher, a man who could approach the problem +with an open mind, without prejudice or favor. During the present year +he has been teaching these parallel sections. In one section he has +emphasized economic applications; in the other he has taught the class +upon the customary pure-science basis. He has kept a careful record of +his work, and at stated intervals he has given both sections the same +tests. We propose to carry on this investigation year after year with +different classes, different teachers, and in different schools. We are +not in a hurry to reach conclusions. + +Now I said that the safeguard in all work of this sort is to keep our +grip firm and fast on the eternal truths. In this work that I mention we +are not trying to prove that either pure science or applied science +interests our pupils the more or helps them the more in meeting +immediate economic situations. We do not propose to measure the success +of either method by its effect upon the bread-winning power of the +pupil. What we believe that science teaching should insure, is a grip on +the scientific method and an illuminating insight into the forces of +nature, and we are simply attempting to see whether the economic +applications will make this grip firmer or weaker, and this insight +clearer or more obscure. I trust that this point is plain, for it +illustrates what I have just said regarding the danger of following a +popular demand. We need no experiment to prove that economic science is +more useful in the narrow sense than is pure science. What we wish to +determine is whether a judicious mixture of the two sorts of teaching +will or will not enable us to realize this rich cultural value much more +effectively than a traditional purely cultural course. + +Now that illustrates what I think is the real and important application +of the scientific spirit to the solution of educational problems. You +will readily see that it does not do away necessarily with our ideals. +It is not necessarily materialistic. It is not necessarily idealistic. +Either side may utilize it. It is a quite impersonal factor. But it does +promise to take some of our educational problems out of the field of +useless and wasteful controversy, and it does promise to get men of +conflicting views together,--for, in the case that I have just cited, if +we prove that the right admixture of methods may enable us to realize +both a cultural and a utilitarian value, there is no reason why the +culturists and the utilitarians should not get together, cease their +quarreling, take off their coats, and go to work. Few people will deny +that bread and butter is a rather essential thing in this life of ours; +very few will deny that material prosperity in temperate amounts is good +for all of us; and very few also will deny that far more fundamental +than bread and butter--far more important than material prosperity--are +the great fundamental and eternal truths which man has wrought out of +his experience and which are most effectively crystallized in the +creations of pure art, the masterpieces of pure literature, and the +discoveries of pure science. + +Certainly if we of the twentieth century can agree upon any one thing, +it is this: That life without toil is a crime, and that any one who +enjoys leisure and comfort and the luxuries of living without paying the +price of toil is a social parasite. I believe that it is an important +function of public education to impress upon each generation the highest +ideals of living as well as the arts that are essential to the making of +a livelihood, but I wish to protest against the doctrine that these two +factors stand over against one another as the positive and negative +poles of human existence. In other words, I protest against the notion, +that the study of the practical everyday problems of human life is +without what we are pleased to call a culture value,--that in the proper +study of those problems one is not able to see the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles. + +I shall readily agree that there is always a grave danger that the +trivial and temporary objects of everyday life may be viewed and studied +without reference to these fundamental principles. But this danger is +certainly no greater than that the permanent and eternal truths be +studied without reference to the actual, concrete, workaday world in +which we live. I have seen exercises in manual training that had for +their purpose the perfection of the pupil in some little art of joinery +for which he would, in all probability, have not the slightest use in +his later life. But even if he should find use for it, the process was +not being taught in the proper way. He was being made conscious only of +the little trivial thing, and no part of his instruction was directed +toward the much more important, fundamental lesson,--the lesson, namely, +that "a little thing may be perfect, but that perfection itself is not a +little thing." + +I say that I have witnessed such an exercise in the very practical field +of manual training. I may add that I went through several such exercises +myself, and emerged with a disgust that always recurs to me when I am +told that every boy will respond to the stimulus of the hammer and the +jack plane. But I should hasten to add that I have also seen what we +call the humanities so taught that the pupil has emerged from them with +a supreme contempt for the life of labor and a feeling of disgust at the +petty and trivial problems of human life which every one must face. I +have seen art and literature so taught as to leave their students not +with the high purpose to mold their lives in accordance with the high +ideals that art and literature represent, not the firm resolution to do +what they could to relieve the ugliness of the world where they found +it ugly, or to do what they could to ennoble life when they found it +vile; but rather with an attitude of calm superiority, as if they were +in some way privileged to the delights of aesthetic enjoyment, leaving +the baser born to do the world's drudgery. + +I have seen the principles of agriculture so taught as to leave with the +student the impression that he could raise more corn than his neighbor +and sell it at a higher price if he mastered the principles of +nitrification; and all without one single reference to the basic +principle of conservation upon which the welfare of the human race for +all time to come must inevitably depend,--without a single reference to +the moral iniquity of waste and sloth and ignorance. But I have also +seen men who have mastered the scientific method,--the method of +controlled observation, and unprejudiced induction and inference,--in +the laboratories of pure science; and who have gained so overweening and +hypertrophied a regard for this method that they have considered it too +holy to be contaminated by application to practical problems,--who have +sneered contemptuously when some adventurer has proposed, for example, +to subject the teaching of science itself to the searchlight of +scientific method. + +I trust that these examples have made my point clear, for it is +certainly simple enough. If vocational education means simply that the +arts and skills of industrial life are to be transmitted safely from +generation to generation, a minimum of educational machinery is all that +is necessary, and we do not need to worry much about it. If vocational +education means simply this, it need not trouble us much; for economic +conditions will sooner or later provide for an effective means of +transmission, just as economic conditions will sooner or later perfect, +through a blind and empirical process of elimination, the most effective +methods of agriculture, as in the case of China and other overpopulated +nations of the Orient. + +But I take it that we mean by vocational education something more than +this, just as we mean by cultural education something more than a veneer +of language, history, pure science, and the fine arts. In the former +case, the practical problems of life are to be lifted to the plane of +fundamental principles; in the latter case, fundamental principles are +to be brought down to the plane of present, everyday life. I can see no +discrepancy here. To my mind there is no cultural subject that has not +its practical outcome, and there is no practical subject that has not +its humanizing influence if only we go to some pains to seek it out. I +do not object to a subject of instruction that promises to put dollars +into the pockets of those that study it. I do object to the mode of +teaching that subject which fails to use this effective economic appeal +in stimulating a glimpse of the broader vision. I do not object to the +subject that appeals to the pupil's curiosity because it informs him of +the wonderful deeds that men have done in the past. I do object to that +mode of teaching this subject which simply arouses interest in a +spectacular deed, and then fails to use this interest in the +interpretation of present problems. I do not contend that in either case +there must be an explicit pointing of morals and drawing of lessons. But +I do contend that the teacher who is in charge of the process should +always have this purpose in the forefront of his consciousness, and--now +by direct comparison, now by indirection and suggestion--guide his +pupils to the goal desired. + +I hope that through careful tests, we shall some day be able to +demonstrate that there is much that is good and valuable on both sides +of every controverted educational question. After all, in this complex +and intricate task of teaching to which you and I are devoting our +lives, there is too much at stake to permit us for a moment to be +dogmatic,--to permit us for a moment to hold ourselves in any other +attitude save one of openness and reception to the truth when the truth +shall have been demonstrated. Neither your ideas nor mine, nor those of +any man or group of men, living or dead, are important enough to stand +in the way of the best possible accomplishment of that great task to +which we have set our hands. + + +IV + +But I did not propose this morning to talk to you about science as a +part of our educational curriculum, but rather about the scientific +spirit and the scientific method as effective instruments for the +solution of our own peculiar educational problems. I have tried to give +you reasons for believing that an adoption of this policy does not +necessarily commit us to materialism or to a narrowly economic point of +view. I have attempted to show that the scientific method may be applied +to the solution of our problems while we still retain our faith in +ideals; and that, unless we do retain that faith, our investigations +will be without point or meaning. + +This problem of vocational education to which I have just referred is +one that is likely to remain unsolved until we have made a searching +investigation of its factors in the light of scientific method. Some +people profess not to be worried by the difficulty of finding time in +our elementary and secondary schools for the introduction of the newer +subjects making for increased vocational efficiency. They would cut the +Gordian knot with one single operation by eliminating enough of the +older subjects to make room for the new. I confess that this solution +does not appeal to me. Fundamentally the core of the elementary +curriculum must, I believe, always be the arts that are essential to +every one who lives the social life. In other words, the language arts +and the number arts are, and always must be, the fundamentals of +elementary education. I do not believe that specialized vocational +education should ever be introduced at the expense of thorough training +in the subjects that already hold their place in the curriculum. And yet +we are confronted by the economic necessity of solving in some way this +vocational problem. How are we to do it? + +It is here that the scientific method may perhaps come to our aid. The +obvious avenue of attack upon this problem is to determine whether we +cannot save time and energy, not by the drastic operation of eliminating +old subjects, but rather by improving our technique of teaching, so that +the waste may be reduced, and the time thus saved given to these new +subjects that are so vociferously demanding admission. In Cleveland, for +example, the method of teaching spelling has been subjected to a rigid +scientific treatment, and, as a result, spelling is being taught to-day +vastly better than ever before and with a much smaller expenditure of +time and energy. It has been due, very largely, to the application of a +few well-known principles which the science of psychology has furnished. + +Now that is vastly better than saying that spelling is a subject that +takes too much time in our schools and consequently ought forthwith to +be eliminated. In all of our school work enough time is undoubtedly +wasted to provide ample opportunity for training the child thoroughly +in some vocation if we wish to vocationalize him, and I do not think +that this would hurt him, even if he does not follow the vocation in +later life. + +To-day we are attempting to detect these sources of waste in technique. +The problems of habit building or memorizing are already well on the way +to solution. Careful tests have shown the value of doing memory work in +a certain definite way--learning by unit wholes rather than by +fragments, for example. Experiments have been conducted to determine the +best length of time to give to drill processes, such as spelling, and +penmanship, and the fundamental tables of arithmetic. It is already +clearly demonstrated that brief periods of intense concentration are +more economical than longer periods during which the monotony of +repetition fags the mind to a point where it can no longer work +effectively. We are also beginning to see from these tests, that a +systematic method of attacking such a problem as the memorizing of the +tables will do much to save time and promote efficiency. We are finding +that it is extremely profitable to instruct children in the technique of +learning,--to start them out in the right way by careful example, so +that much of the time and energy that was formerly dissipated, may now +be conserved. + +And there is a suggestion, also, that in the average school, the vast +possibilities of the child's latent energy are only imperfectly +realized. A friend of mine stumbled accidentally upon this fact by +introducing a new method of grading. He divided his pupils into three +groups or streams. The group that progressed the fastest was made up of +those who averaged 85 per cent and over in their work. A middle group +averaged between 75 per cent and 85 per cent in their work, and a third, +slow group was made up of those who averaged below 75 per cent. At the +end of the first month, he found that a certain proportion of his +pupils, who had formerly hovered around the passing grade of 70, began +to forge ahead. Many of them easily went into the fastest stream, but +they were still satisfied with the minimum standing for that group. In +other words, whether we like to admit it or not, most men and women and +boys and girls are content with the passing grades, both in school and +in life. So common is the phenomenon that we think of the matter +fatalistically. But supply a stimulus, raise the standard, and you will +find some of these individuals forging up to the next level. + +Professor James's doctrine of latent energies bids fair to furnish the +solution of a vast number of perplexing educational problems. Certain it +is that our pupils of to-day are not overburdened with work. They are +sometimes irritated by too many tasks, sometimes dulled by dead routine, +sometimes exhilarated to the point of mental _ennui_ by spectacular +appeals to immediate interest. But they are seldom overworked, or even +worked to within a healthful degree of the fatigue point. + +Elementary education has often been accused of transacting its business +in small coin,--of dealing with and emphasizing trivialities,--and yet +every time that the scientific method touches the field of education, it +reveals the fundamental significance of little things. Whether the +third-grade pupil should memorize the multiplication tables in the form, +"8 times 9 equals 72" or simply "8-9's--72" seems a matter of +insignificance in contrast with the larger problems that beset us. And +yet scientific investigation tells us clearly and unequivocally that any +useless addition to a formula to be memorized increases the time for +reducing the formula to memory, and interferes significantly with its +recall and application. It may seem a matter of trivial importance +whether the pupil increases the subtrahend number or decreases the +minuend number when he subtracts digits that involve taking or +borrowing; and yet investigation proves that to increase the subtrahend +number is by far the simpler process, and eliminates both a source of +waste and a source of error, which, in the aggregate, may assume a +significance to mental economy that is well worth considering. + +In fact, if we are ever to solve the broader, bigger, more attractive +problems,--like the problem of vocational education, or the problem of +retardation,--we must first find a solution for some of the smaller and +seemingly trivial questions of the very existence of which the lay +public may be quite unaware, but which you and I know to mean an untold +total of waste and inefficiency in the work that we are trying to do. + +And one reason why the scientific attitude toward educational problems +appeals to me is simply because this attitude carries with it a respect +for these seemingly trivial and commonplace problems; for just as the +greatest triumph of the teaching art is to get our pupils to see in +those things of life that are fleeting and transitory the operation of +fundamental and eternal principles, so the glory of the scientific +method lies in its power to reveal the significance of the commonplace +and to teach us that no slightest detail of our daily work is +necessarily devoid of inspiration; that every slightest detail of school +method and school management has a meaning and a significance that it is +worth our while to ponder. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 12: An address delivered before the St. Louis Society of +Pedagogy, April 16, 1910.] + +[Footnote 13: Dr. W.T. Harris.] + + + + +~VIII~ + +THE POSSIBILITY OF TRAINING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY[14] + +I + + +In its widest aspects, the problem of teaching pupils how to study forms +a large part of the larger educational problem. It means, not only +teaching them how to read books, and to make the content of books part +of their own mental capital, but also, and perhaps far more +significantly, teaching them how to draw lessons from their own +experiences; not only how to observe and classify and draw conclusions, +but also how to evaluate their experience--how to judge whether certain +things that they do give adequate or inadequate results. + +In the narrower sense, however, the art of study may be said to consist +in the ability to assimilate the experiences of others, and it is in +this narrower sense that I shall discuss the problem to-day. It is not +only in books that human experience is recorded, and yet it is true that +the reading of books is the most economical means of gaining these +experiences; consequently, we may still further narrow our problem to +this: How may pupils be trained effectively to glean, through the medium +of the printed page, the great lessons of race experience? + +The word "study" is thus used in the sense in which most teachers employ +it. When we speak of a pupil's studying his lessons, we commonly mean +that he is bending over a text-book, attempting to assimilate the +contents of the text. Just what it means to study, even in this narrow +sense of the term,--just what it means, psychologically, to assimilate +even the simplest thoughts of others,--I cannot tell you, and I do not +know of any one who can answer this seemingly simple question +satisfactorily. We all study, but what happens in our minds when we do +study is a mystery. We all do some thinking, and yet the psychology of +thinking is the great undiscovered and unexplored region in the field of +mental science. Until we know something of the psychology of thinking, +we can hope for very little definite information concerning the +psychology of study, for study is so intimately bound up with thinking +that the two are not to be separated. + +But even if it is impossible at the present time to analyze the process +of studying, we are pretty well agreed as to what constitutes successful +study, and many rules have been formulated for helping pupils to acquire +effective habits of study. These rules concern us only indirectly at the +present time, for our problem is still narrower in its scope. It has to +do with the possibility of so training children in the art of study, +not only that they may study effectively in school, but also that they +may carry over the habits and methods of study thus acquired into the +tasks of later life. In other words, the topic that we are discussing is +but one phase of the problem of formal discipline,--the problem of +securing a transfer of training from a specific field to other fields; +and my purpose is to view this topic of "study" in the light of what we +know concerning the possibilities of transfer. + +Let me take a specific example. I am not so much concerned with the +problem of getting a pupil to master a history lesson quickly and +effectively,--not how he may best assimilate the facts concerning the +Missouri Compromise, for example. My task is rather to determine how we +can make his mastery of the Missouri Compromise a lesson in the general +art of study,--how that mastery may help him develop what we used to +call the general power of study,--the capacity to apply an effective +method of study to other problems, perhaps, very far removed from the +history lesson; in other words, how that single lesson may help him in +the more general task of finding any type of information when he needs +it, of assimilating it once he has found it, and of applying it once he +has assimilated it. + +In an audience of practical teachers, it is hardly necessary to +emphasize the significance of doing this very thing. From one point of +view, it may be asserted that the whole future of what we term general +education, as distinguished from technical or vocational education, +depends upon our ability to solve problems like this, and solve them +satisfactorily. We can never justify universal general education beyond +the merest rudiments unless we can demonstrate acceptably that the +training which general education furnishes will help the individual to +solve the everyday problems of his life. Either we must train the pupil +in a general way so that he will be able to acquire specialized skill +more quickly and more effectively than will the pupil who lacks this +general training; or we must give up a large part of the general-culture +courses that now occupy an important part in our elementary and +secondary curriculums, and replace these with technical and vocational +subjects that shall have for their purpose the development of +specialized efficiency. + +All teachers, I take it, are alive to the grave dangers of the latter +policy. Whether we have thought the matter through logically or not we +certainly _feel_ strongly that too early specialization will work a +serious injury to the cause of education, and, through education, to the +larger cause of social advancement and enlightenment. We view with grave +foreboding any policy that will shut the door of opportunity to any +child, no matter how humble or how unpromising. And yet we also know +that, unless the general education that we now offer can be distinctly +shown to have a beneficial influence upon specialized efficiency, we +shall be forced by economic conditions into this very policy. It is +small wonder, then, that so many of our educational discussions and +investigations to-day turn upon this problem; and among the various +phases of the problem none is more significant than that which is +covered by our topic of to-day,--How may we develop in the pupil a +general power or capacity for gaining information independently of +schools and teachers? If we could adequately develop this power, there +is much in the way of specialized instruction that could be safely left +to the individual himself. If we could teach him how to study, then we +could perhaps trust him to master some of the principles of any calling +that he undertakes in so far as these principles can be mastered from +books. To teach the child to study effectively is to do the most useful +thing that could be done to help him to adjust himself to any +environment of modern civilized life into which he may be thrown. For +there is one thing that the more radical advocates of a narrow +vocational education commonly forget, and that is the constant change +that is going on in industrial processes. When we limit our vocational +teaching to a mere mastery of technique, there is no guarantee that the +process which we teach to-day may not be discarded in five or ten years +from to-day. Even the narrower technical principles which are so +extremely important to-day may be relatively insignificant by the time +that the child whom we are training takes his place in the industrial +world. But if we can arm the individual with the more fundamental +principles which are fixed for all time; and if, in addition to this, +we can teach him how to master the specialized principles which may come +into the field unheralded and unexpected, and turn topsy-turvy the older +methods of doing his work, then we shall have done much toward helping +him in solving that perplexing problem of gaining a livelihood. + + +II + +I shall not try in this discussion of the problem of study to summarize +completely the principles and precepts that have been presented so well +in the four books on the subject that have appeared in the last two +years. I do not know, in fact, of any book that is more useful to the +teacher just at present than Professor Frank McMurry's _How to Study and +Teaching how to Study_. It is a book that is both a help and a delight, +for it is clear and well-organized, and written in a vivacious style and +with a wealth of concrete illustration that holds the attention from +beginning to end. The chief fault that I have to find with it is the +fault that I have to find with almost every educational book that comes +from the press to-day,--the tendency, namely, to imply that the teacher +of to-day is doing very little to solve these troublesome problems. As a +matter of fact, many teachers are securing excellent results from their +attempts to teach pupils how to study. Otherwise we should not find so +many energetic young men to-day who are making an effective individual +mastery of the principles of their respective trades and professions +independently of schools and teachers. Our attitude toward these +questions, far from being that of the pessimist, should be that of the +optimist. Our task should be to seek out these successful teachers, and +find out how they do their work. + +Among the most important points emphasized by the recent writers upon +the art of study is the necessity for some form of motivation in the +work of mastering the text. We all know that if a pupil feels a distinct +need for getting information out of a book, the chances are that he will +get it if the book is available and if he can read. To create a problem +that will involve in its solution the gaining of such information is, +therefore, one of the best approaches to a mastery of the art of study. +It is, however, only the beginning. It furnishes the necessary energy, +but does not map out the path along which this energy is to be expended. +And this is where the greater emphasis, perhaps, is needed. + +One of the best teachers that I ever knew taught the subject that we now +call agronomy,--a branch of agricultural science that has to do with +field crops. I was a mere boy when I sat under his instruction, but +certain points in his method of teaching made a most distinct impression +upon me. Lectures we had, of course, for lecturing was the orthodox +method of class instruction. But this man did something more than merely +lecture. He assigned each one of his students a plat of ground on the +college farm. Upon this plat of ground, a definite experiment was to be +conducted. One of my experiments had to do with the smut of oats. I was +to try the effect of treating the seed with hot water in order to see +whether it would prevent the fungus from later destroying the ripening +grain. The very nature of the problem interested me intensely. I began +to wonder about the life-history of this fungus,--how it looked and how +it germinated and how it grew and wrought its destructive influence. It +was not long before I found myself spending some of my leisure moments +in the library trying to find out what was known concerning this +subject. I was not so successful as I might have been, but I am +confident that I learned more about parasitic fungi under the spur of +that curiosity than I should have done in five times the number of hours +spent in formal, meaningless study. + +But the point of my experience is not that a problem interest had been +awakened, but rather that the white heat of that interest was not +utilized so completely as it might have been utilized in fixing upon my +mind some important details in the general method of running down +references and acquiring information. That was the moment to strike, and +one serious defect of our school organization to-day is that most +teachers, like my teacher at that time, have so much to do that anything +like individual attention at such moments is out of the question. + +Next to individual attention, probably, the best way to overcome the +difficulty is to give class instruction in these matters,--to set aside +a definite period for teaching pupils the technique of using books. If +one could arouse a sufficiently general problem interest, this sort of +instruction could be made most effective. But even if the problem +interest is not general, I think that it is well to assume that it +exists in some pupils, at least, and to give them the benefit of class +instruction in the art of study,--even if some of the seed should fall +upon barren soil. + +This aspect of teaching pupils how to study is particularly important in +the upper grades and the high school, where pupils have sufficiently +mastered the technique of reading to be intrusted with individual +problems, and where some reference books are commonly available. Chief +among these always is the dictionary, and to get pupils to use this +ponderous volume effectively is one of the important steps in teaching +them how to study. Here, too, it is easy to be pedantic. As I shall +insist strenuously a little later, the chief factor in insuring a +transfer of training from one subject to another is to leave in the +pupil's mind a distinct consciousness that the method that he has been +trained to follow is worth while,--that it gets results. The dictionary +habit is likely to begin and end within the schoolroom unless steps are +taken to insure the operation of this factor. It is easy to overwork the +dictionary and to use it fruitlessly, in so great a measure, in fact, +that the pupil will never want to see a dictionary again. + +Aside from the use of the dictionary, is the use of the helps that +modern books provide for finding the information that may be +desired,--indices, tables of contents, marginal and cross-references, +and the like. These, again, are most significant in the work of the +upper grades and the high school, and here again if we wish the skill +that is developed in their use to be transferred, we must take pains to +see that the pupil really appreciates their value,--that he realizes +their time-saving and energy-saving functions. I do not know that there +is any better way to do this than to let him flounder around without +them for a little so that his sense of their value may be enhanced by +contrast. + + +III + +Another important step emphasized by the recent writers is the need for +training children to pick out the significant features in the text or +portion of the text that they are reading. This, of course, is work that +is to be undertaken from the very moment that they begin to use books. +How to do it effectively is a puzzling problem and one that will amply +repay study and experimentation by the individual teacher. Much studying +of lessons by teachers and pupils together will help, provided that the +exercise is spirited and vital, and is not looked upon by the pupils as +an easy way of getting out of recitation work. McMurry strongly +recommends the marking of books to indicate the topic sentences and the +other salient features. Personally, I am sure from my own experience +that the assignment is all-important here, and that study questions and +problems which can be answered or solved by reference to the text will +help matters very much; but care must, of course, be taken that the +continued use of such questions does not preclude the pupil's own +mastery of the art of study. To eliminate this danger, it is well that +the pupils be requested frequently to make out their own lists of +questions, and, as speedily as possible, both the questions made by the +pupil and those made by the teacher, should be replaced by topical +outlines. By taking care that the questions are logically +arranged,--that is, that a general question refer to the topic of the +paragraph, and other subordinate questions to the subordinate details of +the paragraph,--the transition from the questions to the topical outline +may be readily made. Simultaneously with this will go the transition in +recitation from the question-and-answer type to the topical type; and +when you have trained a class into the habit of topical +recitation,--when each pupil can talk right through a topic (not around +it or underneath it or above it) without the use of "pumping" questions +by the teacher,--you have gone a long way toward developing the art of +study. + +The transfer of this training, however, is quite another matter. There +are pupils who can work up excellent topical recitations from their +school text-books but who are utterly at sea in getting a grasp on a +subject treated in other books. Here again the problem lies in getting +the pupil to see the method apart from its content, and to show him that +it really brings results that are worth while. If, in our training in +the topical method, we are too formal and didactic, the art of study +will begin and end right there. It is here that the factor of motivation +is of supreme importance. When real problems are raised which require +for their solution intelligent reading, the general worth of the method +of study can be clearly shown. I do not go so far as to say that the +pupil should never be required to study unless he has a real problem +that he wishes to solve. In fact, I think that we still have a large +place for the formal, systematic mastery of texts by every pupil in our +schools. I do contend, however, that the frequent introduction of real +problems will give us an opportunity to show the pupil that the method +that he has utilized in his more formal school work is adequate and +essential to do the thing that appeals to him as worth while. Only in +this way, I believe, can we insure that transfer of training which is +the important factor from our present standpoint. + +And I ought also to say, parenthetically, that we should not interpret +too narrowly this word "motivation." Let us remember that what may +appeal to the adult as an effective motive does not always appeal to the +child as such. Economic motives are the most effective, probably, in our +own adult lives, and probably very effective with high-school pupils, +but economic motives are not always strong in young children, nor should +we wish them to be. It is not always true that the child will approach a +school task sympathetically when he knows that the task is an essential +preparation for the life that is going on about him. He may work harder +at a task in order to get ahead of his fellow-pupils than he would if +the motive were to fit him to enter a shop or a factory. Motive is +largely a matter of instinct with the child, and he may, indeed, be +perfectly satisfied with a school task just as it stands. For example, +we all know that children enjoy the right kind of drill. Repetition, +especially rhythmic repetition, is instinctive,--it satisfies an inborn +need. Where such a condition exists, it is an obvious waste of time to +search about for more indirect motives. The economical thing to do is to +turn the ready energy of the child into the channel that is already open +to it, so long as this procedure fits in with the results that we must +secure. I feel like emphasizing this fact, inasmuch as the terms +"problem interest" and "motivation" seem most commonly to be associated +in the minds of teachers with what we adults term "real" or economic +situations. To learn a lesson well may often be a sufficient +motive,--may often constitute a "real" situation to the child,--and if +it does, it will serve very effectively our purposes in this other +task,--namely, getting the pupil to see the worth of the method that we +ask him to employ. + + +IV + +There are one or two points of a general nature in connection with the +art of study that should be emphasized. In the first place, the +upper-grade and high-school pupils are, I believe, mature enough to +appreciate in some degree what knowledge really means. One of the +fallacies of which I was possessed on completing my work in the lower +schools was the belief that there are some men who know everything. I +naturally concluded that the superintendent of schools was one of these +men; the family physician was another; the leading man in my town was a +third; and any one who ever wrote a book was put, _ex officio_ so to +speak, into this class without further inquiry. One of the most +astounding revelations of my later education was to learn that, after +all, the amount of real knowledge in this world, voluminous though it +seems, is after all pitiably small. Of opinion and speculation we have a +surplus, but of real, downright, hard fact, our capital is still most +insignificant. And I wonder if something could not be done in the high +school to teach pupils the difference between fact and opinion, and +something also of the slow, laborious process through which real facts +are accumulated. How many mistakes of life are due to the lack of the +judicial attitude right here. What mistakes we all make when we try to +evaluate writings outside of our own special field of knowledge or +activity. Nothing depresses me to-day quite so much as the readiness +with which laymen mistake opinion for fact in the field of psychology +and education,--and I suppose that my own hasty acceptance of statements +in other fields would have a similar effect upon the specialists of +those fields. + +Can general education help us out at all in this matter? I have only +one or two suggestions to make, and even these may not be worth a great +deal. In the recent Polar controversy, the sympathies of the general +public were, I think, at the outset with Cook. This was perhaps, +natural, and yet the trained mind ought to have withheld judgment for +one reason if for no other,--and that one reason was Peary's long Arctic +service, his unquestioned mastery of the technique of polar travel, his +general reputation for honesty and caution in advancing opinions. By all +the lessons that history teaches, Peary's word should have had +precedence over Cook's, for Peary was a specialist, while Cook was only +an amateur. And yet the general public discounted entirely those +lessons, and trusted rather the novice, with what results it is now +unnecessary to review,--and in nine cases out of ten, the results will +be the same. + +Could we not, as part of our work in training pupils to study, also +teach them to give some sort of an evaluation to the authorities that +they consult? Could we not teach them that, in nine cases out of ten, at +least, the man who has the message most worth listening to is the man +who has worked the hardest and the longest in his field, and who enjoys +the best reputation among his fellow-workers? Sometimes, I admit, the +rule does not work, and especially with men whose reputations as +authorities have outlived their period of productivity, but even this +mistake could be guarded against. Certainly high-school pupils ought +distinctly to understand that the authors of their text-books are not +always the most learned men or the greatest authorities in the fields +that they treat. The use of biographical dictionaries, of the books that +are appearing in various fields giving brief biographies and often some +authoritative estimate of the workers in these fields, is important in +this connection. + +McMurry recommends that pupils be encouraged to take a critical attitude +toward the principles they are set to master,--to judge, as he says, the +soundness and worth of the statements that they learn. This is certainly +good advice, and wherever the pupil can intelligently deal with real +sources, it is well frequently to have him check up the statements of +secondary sources. But, after all, this is the age of the specialist, +and to trust one's untrained judgment in a field remote from one's +knowledge and experience is likely to lead to unfortunate results. We +have all sorts of illustrations from the ignorant man who will not trust +the physician or the health official in matters of sanitation; because +he lacks the proper perspective, he jumps to the conclusion that the +specialist is a fraud. Would it not be well to supplement McMurry's +suggestion by the one that I have just made,--that is, that we train +pupils how to evaluate authorities as well as facts,--how to protect +themselves from the quack and the faker who live like parasites upon the +ignorance of laymen, both in medicine, in education, and in Arctic +exploration? + +And I believe that there is a place, also, in the high school, +especially in connection with the work in science and history, for +giving pupils some idea of how knowledge is really gained. I should not +teach science exclusively by the laboratory method, nor history +exclusively by the source method, but I should certainly take frequent +opportunity to let pupils work through some simple problems from the +beginnings, struggling with the conditions somewhat as the discoverers +themselves struggled; following up "blind leads" and toilsomely +returning for a fresh start; meeting with discouragement; and finally +feeling, perhaps, some of the joy that comes with success after +struggle; and all in order that they may know better and appreciate more +fully the cost and the worth of that intellectual heritage which the +master-minds of the world have bequeathed to the present and the future. +And along with this, as they master the principles of science, let them +learn also the human side of science,--the story of Newton, withholding +his great discovery for years until he could be absolutely certain that +it was a law; until he could get the very commonplace but obstreperous +moon into harmony with his law of falling bodies;--the story of Darwin, +with his twenty-odd years of the most patient and persistent kind of +toil; delving into the most unpromising materials, reading the driest +books, always on the lookout for the facts that would point the way to +the explanation of species;--the story of Morse and his bitter struggle +against poverty, and sickness, and innumerable disappointments up to +the time when, in advancing years, success crowned his efforts. + +All this may seem very remote from the prosaic task of teaching pupils +how to study; and yet it will lend its influence toward the attainment +of that end. For, after all, we must lead our pupils to see that some +books, in spite of their formidable difficulties and their apparent +abstractions, are still close to life, and that the truth which lies in +books, and which we wish them to assimilate, has been wrought out of +human experience, and not brought down miraculously from some remote +storehouse of wisdom that is accessible only to the elect. We poke a +good deal of fun at book learning nowadays, and there is a pedantic type +of book learning that certainly deserves all the ridicule that can be +heaped upon it. But it is not wise to carry satire and ridicule too far +in any direction, and especially when it may mean creating in young +minds a distrust of the force that, more than any other single factor, +has operated to raise man above the savage. + + +V + +To teach the child the art of study means, then, that we take every +possible occasion to impress upon his mind the value of study as a means +of solving real and vital problems, and that, with this as an incentive, +we gradually and persistently and systematically lead him to grasp the +method of study as a method,--that is, slowly and gradually to abstract +the method from the particular cases to which he applies it and to +emotionalize it,--to make it an ideal. Only in this way, so far as we +may know, can the art be so generalized as to find ready application in +his later life. To this end, it is essential that the steps be taken +repeatedly,--not begun to-day and never thought of again until next +year,--but daily, even hourly, insuring a little growth. This means, +too, not only that the teacher must possess a high degree of +patience,--that first principle of pedagogic skill,--but also that he +have a comprehensive grasp of the problem, and the ability to separate +the woods from the trees, so that, to him at least, the chief aim will +never be lost to view. + +But, even at its best, the task is a severe one, and we need, here as +elsewhere in education, carefully controlled tests and experiments, that +will enable us to get at the facts. Above all, let me protest against +the incidental theory of teaching pupils how to study. To adopt the +incidental policy in any field of education,--whether in arithmetic, or +spelling, or reading; whether in developing the power of reasoning or +the memory, or the art of study,--is to throw wide open the doors that +lead to the lines of least resistance, to lax methods, to easy honors, +to weakened mental fiber, and to scamped work. Just as the pernicious +doctrine of the subconscious is the first and last refuge of the +psycho-faker, so incidental learning is the first and last refuge of +soft pedagogy. And I mean by incidental learning, going at a teaching +task in an indolent, unreflective, hit-or-miss fashion in the hope that +somehow or other from this process will emerge the very definite results +that we desire. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 14: A paper read before the Superintendents' Section of the +Illinois State Teachers' Association, December 29, 1910.] + + + + +~IX~ + +A PLEA FOR THE DEFINITE IN EDUCATION[15] + +I + + +One way to be definite in education is to formulate as clearly as we can +the aims that we hope to realize in every stage of our work. The task of +teaching is so complex that, unless we strive earnestly and persistently +to reduce it to the simplest possible terms, we are bound to work +blindly and ineffectively. + +It is only one phase of this topic that I wish to discuss with you this +morning. My plea for the definite in education will be limited not only +to the field of educational aims and values, but to a small corner of +that field. Your morning's program has dealt with the problem of +teaching history in the elementary school. I should like, if you are +willing, to confine my remarks to this topic, and to attack the specific +question, What is the history that we teach in the grades to do for the +pupil? I wish to make this limitation, not only because what I have to +say will be related to the other topics on the program, but also because +this very subject of history is one which the lack of a definite +standard of educational value has been keenly felt. + +I should admit at the outset that my interest in history is purely +educational. I have had no special training in historical research. As +you may perhaps infer from my discussion, my acquaintance with +historical facts is very far from comprehensive. I speak as a layman in +history,--and I do it openly and, perhaps, a little defiantly, for I +believe that the last person to pass adequate judgment upon the general +educational value of a given department of knowledge is a man who has +made the department a life study. I have little faith in what the +mathematician has to say regarding the educational value of mathematics +_for the average elementary pupil_, because he is a special pleader and +his conclusions cannot escape the coloring of his prejudice. I once knew +an enthusiastic brain specialist who maintained that, in every grade of +the elementary school, instruction should be required in the anatomy of +the human brain. That man was an expert in his own line. He knew more +about the structure of the brain than any other living man. But knowing +more about brain morphology also implied that he knew less about many +other things, and among the things that he knew little about were the +needs and capacities of children in the elementary school. He was a +special pleader; he had been dealing with his special subject so long +that it had assumed a disproportionate value in his eyes. Brain +morphology had given him fame, honor, and worldly emoluments. Naturally +he would have an exaggerated notion of its value. + +It is the same with any other specialist. As specialists in education, +you and I are likely to overemphasize the importance of the common +school in the scheme of creation. Personally I am convinced that the +work of elementary education is the most profoundly significant work in +the world; and yet I can realize that I should be no fit person to make +comparisons if the welfare of a number of other professions and callings +were at stake. I should let an unbiased judge make the final +determination. + + +II + +The first question for which we should seek an answer in connection with +the value of any school subject is this: How does it influence conduct? +Let me insist at the outset that we cannot be definite by saying simply +that we teach history in order to impart instruction. If there is one +thing upon which we are all agreed to-day it is this: that it is what +our pupils do that counts, not what they know. The knowledge that they +may possess has value only in so far as it may directly or indirectly be +turned over into action. + +Let us not be mistaken upon this point. Knowledge is of the utmost +importance, but it is important only as a means to an end--and the end +is conduct. If my pupils act in no way more efficiently after they have +received my instruction than they would have acted had they never come +under my influence, then my work as a teacher is a failure. If their +conduct is less efficient, then my work is not only a failure,--it is a +catastrophe. The knowledge that I impart may be absolutely true; the +interest that I arouse may be intense; the affection that my pupils have +for me may be genuine; but all these are but means to an end, and if the +end is not attained, the means have been futile. + +We have faith that the materials which we pour in at the hopper of sense +impression will come out sooner or later at the spout of reaction, +transformed by some mysterious process into efficient conduct. While the +machinery of the process, like the mills of the gods, certainly grinds +slowly, it is some consolation to believe that, at any rate, it _does_ +grind; and we are perhaps fain to believe that the exceeding fineness of +the grist is responsible for our failure to detect at the spout all of +the elements that we have been so careful to pour in at the hopper. What +I should like to do is to examine this grinding process rather +carefully,--to gain, if possible, some definite notion of the kind of +grist we should like to produce, and then to see how the machinery may +be made to produce this grist, and in what proportions we must mix the +material that we pour into the hopper in order to gain the desired +result. + +I have said that we must ask of every subject that we teach, How does +it influence conduct? Now when we ask this question concerning history a +variety of answers are at once proposed. One group of people will assert +that the facts of history have value because they can be directly +applied to the needs of contemporary life. History, they will tell us, +records the experiences of the race, and if we are to act intelligently +we must act upon the basis of this experience. History informs us of the +mistakes that former generations have made in adjusting themselves to +the world. If we know history, we can avoid these mistakes. This type of +reasoning may be said to ascribe a utilitarian value to the study of +history. It assumes that historical knowledge is directly and +immediately applicable to vital problems of the present day. + +Now the difficulty with this value, as with many others that seem to +have the sanction of reason, is that it does not possess the sanction of +practical test. While knowledge doubtless affects in some way the +present policy of our own government, it would be very hard to prove +that the influence is in any way a direct influence. It is extremely +doubtful whether the knowledge that the voters have of the history of +their country will be recalled and applied at the ballot box next +November. I do not say that the study of history that has been going on +in the common schools for a generation will be entirely without effect +upon the coming election. I simply maintain that this influence will be +indirect,--but I believe that it will be none the less profound. One's +vote at the next election will be determined largely by immediate and +present conditions. But the way in which one interprets these conditions +cannot help being profoundly influenced by one's historical study or +lack of such study. + +If it is clear, then, that the study of history cannot be justified upon +a purely utilitarian basis, we may pass to the consideration of other +values that have been proposed. The specialist in history, whose right +to legislate upon this matter I have just called into question, will +probably emphasize the disciplinary value of this study. Specialists are +commonly enthusiastic over the disciplinary value of their special +subjects. Their own minds have been so well developed by the pursuit of +their special branches that they are impelled to recommend the same +discipline for all minds. Again, we must not blame the specialist in +history, for you and I think the same about our own special type of +activity. + +From the disciplinary point of view, the study of history is supposed to +give one the mastery of a special method of reasoning. Historical method +involves, above all else, the careful sifting of evidence, the minutest +scrutiny of sources in order to judge whether or not the records are +authentic, and the utmost care in coming to conclusions. Now it will be +generally agreed that these are desirable types of skill to possess +whether one is an historian or a lawyer or a teacher or a man of +business. And yet, as in all types of discipline, the difficulty lies, +not so much in acquiring the specific skill, as in transferring the +skill thus acquired to other fields of activity. Skill of any sort is +made up of a multitude of little specific habits, and it is a current +theory that habit functions effectively only in the specific situation +in which it has been built up, or in situations closely similar. But +whether this is true or not it is obvious that the teaching of +elementary history provides very few opportunities for this type of +training. + +A third view of the way in which historical knowledge is thought to work +into action may be discussed under the head of the cultural value. +History, like literature, is commonly assumed to give to the individual +who studies it, a certain amount of that commodity which the world calls +culture. Precisely what culture consists in, no one, apparently, is +ready to tell us, but we all admit that it is real, if not tangible and +definable, nor can we deny that the individual who possesses culture +conducts himself, as a rule, differently from the individual who does +not possess it. In other words, culture is a practical thing, for the +only things that are practical are the things that modify or control +human action. + +It is doubtless true that the study of history does add to this +intangible something that we call "culture," but the difficulty with +this value lies in the fact that, even after we have accepted it as +valid, we are in no way better off regarding our methods. Like many +other theories, its truth is not to be denied, but its truth gives us no +inkling of a solution of our problem. What we need is an educational +value of history, the recognition of which will enable us to formulate a +method for realizing the value. + + +III + +The unsatisfactory character of these three values that have been +proposed for history--the utilitarian, the disciplinary, and the +cultural--is typical of the values that have been proposed for other +subjects. Unless the aim of teaching any given subject can be stated in +definite terms, the teacher must work very largely in the dark; his +efforts must be largely of the "hit-or-miss" order. The desired value +may be realized under these conditions, but, if it is realized, it is +manifestly through accident, not through intelligent design. It is +needless to point out the waste that such a blundering and haphazard +adjustment entails. We all know how much of our teaching fails to hit +the mark, even when we are clear concerning the result that we desire; +we can only conjecture how much of the remainder fails of effect because +we are hazy and obscure concerning its purpose. + +Let us return to our original basic principle and see what light it may +throw upon our problem. We have said that the efficiency of teaching +must always be measured by the degree in which the pupil's conduct is +modified. Taking conduct as our base, then, let us reason back and see +what factors control conduct, and, if possible, how these "controls" may +be influenced by the processes of education working through the lesson +in history. + +I shall start with a very simple and apparently trivial example. When I +was living in the Far West, I came to know something of the Chinese, who +are largely engaged, as you know, in domestic service in that part of +the country. Most of the Chinese servants that I met corresponded very +closely with what we read concerning Chinese character. We have all +heard of the Chinese servant's unswerving adherence to a routine that he +has once established. They say in the West that when a housewife gives +her Chinese servant an object lesson in the preparation of a certain +dish, she must always be very careful to make her demonstration perfect +the first time. If, inadvertently, she adds one egg too many, she will +find that, in spite of her protestations, the superfluous egg will +always go into that preparation forever afterward. From what I know of +the typical Oriental, I am sure that this warning is not overdrawn. + +Now here is a bit of conduct, a bit of adjustment, that characterizes +the Chinese cook. Not only that, but, in a general way, it is peculiar +to all Chinese, and hence may be called a national trait. We might call +it a vigorous national prejudice in favor of precedent. But whatever we +call it, it is a very dominant force in Chinese life. It is the trait +that, perhaps more than any other, distinguishes Chinese conduct from +European or American conduct. Now one might think this trait to be +instinctive,--to be bred in the bone rather than acquired,--but this I +am convinced is not altogether true. At least one Chinese whom I knew +did not possess it at all. He was born on a western ranch and his +parents died soon after his birth. He was brought up with the children +of the ranch owner, and is now a prosperous rancher himself. He lacks +every characteristic that we commonly associate with the Chinese, save +only the physical features. His hair is straight, his skin is saffron, +his eyes are slightly aslant,--but that is all. As far as his conduct +goes,--and that is the essential thing,--he is an American. In other +words, his traits, his tendencies to action, are American and not +Chinese. His life represents the triumph of environment over heredity. + +When you visit England you find yourselves among a people who speak the +same language that you speak,--or, perhaps it would be better to say, +somewhat the same; at least you can understand each other. In a great +many respects, the Englishman and the American are similar in their +traits, but in a great many other respects they differ radically. You +cannot, from your knowledge of American traits, judge what an +Englishman's conduct will be upon every occasion. If you happened on +Piccadilly of a rainy morning, for example, you would see the English +clerks and storekeepers and professional men riding to their work on the +omnibuses that thread their way slowly through the crowded thoroughfare. +No matter how rainy the morning, these men would be seated on the tops +of the omnibuses, although the interior seats might be quite unoccupied. +No matter how rainy the morning, many of these men would be faultlessly +attired in top hats and frock coats, and there they would sit through +the drizzling rain, protecting themselves most inadequately with their +opened umbrellas. Now there is a bit of conduct that you cannot find +duplicated in any American city. It is a national habit,--or, perhaps, +it would be better to say, it is an expression of a national trait,--and +that national trait is a prejudice in favor of convention. It is the +thing to do, and the typical Englishman does it, just as, when he is +sent as civil governor to some lonely outpost in India, with no +companions except scantily clad native servants, he always dresses +conscientiously for dinner and sits down to his solitary meal clad in +the conventional swallow-tail coat of civilization. + +Now the way in which a Chinese cook prepares a custard, or the way in +which an English merchant rides in an omnibus, may be trivial and +unimportant matters in themselves, and yet, like the straw that shows +which way the wind blows, they are indicative of vast and profound +currents. The conservatism of the Chinese empire is only a larger and +more comprehensive expression of the same trait or prejudice that leads +the cook to copy literally his model. The present educational situation +in England is only another expression of that same prejudice in favor of +the established order, which finds expression in the merchant on the +Piccadilly omnibus. + +Whenever you pass from one country to another you will find this +difference in tendencies to action. In Germany, for example, you will +find something that amounts almost to a national fervor for economy and +frugality. You will find it expressing itself in the care with which the +German housewife does her marketing. You will find it expressing itself +in the intensive methods of agriculture, through which scarcely a square +inch of arable land is permitted to lie fallow,--through which, for +example, even the shade trees by the roadside furnish fruit as well as +shade, and are annually rented for their fruit value to industrious +members of the community,--and it is said in one section of Germany that +the only people known to steal fruit from these trees along the lonely +country roads are American tourists, who, you will see, also have their +peculiar standards of conduct. You will find this same fervor for +frugality and economy expressing itself most extensively in that +splendid forest policy by means of which the German states have +conserved their magnificent timber resources. + +But, whatever its expression, it is the same trait,--a trait born of +generations of struggle with an unyielding soil, and yet a trait which, +combined with the German fervor for science and education, has made +possible the marvelous progress that Germany has made within the last +half century. + +What do we mean by national traits? Simply this: prejudices or +tendencies toward certain typical forms of conduct, common to a given +people. It is this community of conduct that constitutes a nation. A +country whose people have different standards of action must be a +divided country, as our own American history sufficiently demonstrates. +Unless upon the vital questions of human adjustment, men are able to +agree, they cannot live together in peace. If we are a distinctive and +unique nation,--if we hold a distinctive and unique place among the +nations of the globe,--it is because you and I and the other inhabitants +of our country have developed distinctive and unique ideals and +prejudices and standards, all of which unite to produce a community of +conduct. And once granting that our national characteristics are worth +while, that they constitute a distinct advance over the characteristics +of the other nations of the earth, it becomes the manifest duty of the +school to do its share in perpetuating these ideals and prejudices and +standards. Once let these atrophy through disuse, once let them fail of +transmission because of the decay of the home, or the decay of the +school, or the decay of the social institutions that typify and express +them, and our country must go the way of Greece and Rome, and, although +our blood may thereafter continue pure and unmixed, and our physical +characteristics may be passed on from generation to generation unchanged +in form, our nation will be only a memory, and its history ancient +history. Some of the Greeks of to-day are the lineal descendants of the +Athenians and Spartans, but the ancient Greek standards of conduct, the +Greek ideals, died twenty centuries ago, to be resurrected, it is true, +by the renaissance, and to enjoy the glorious privilege of a new and +wider sphere of life,--but among an alien people, and under a northern +sun. + +And so the true aim of the study of history in the elementary school is +not the realization of its utilitarian, its cultural, or its +disciplinary value. It is not a mere assimilation of facts concerning +historical events, nor the memorizing of dates, nor the picturing of +battles, nor the learning of lists of presidents,--although each of +these factors has its place in fulfilling the function of historical +study. The true function of national history in our elementary schools +is to establish in the pupils' minds those ideals and standards of +action which differentiate the American people from the rest of the +world, and especially to fortify these ideals and standards by a +description of the events and conditions through which they developed. +It is not the facts of history that are to be applied to the problems of +life; it is rather the emotional attitude, the point of view, that comes +not from memorizing, but from appreciating, the facts. A mere fact has +never yet had a profound influence over human conduct. A principle that +is accepted by the head and not by the heart has never yet stained a +battle field nor turned the tide of a popular election. Men act, not as +they think, but as they feel, and it is not the idea, but the ideal, +that is important in history. + + +IV + +But what are the specific ideals and standards for which our nation +stands and which distinguish, in a very broad but yet explicit manner, +our conduct from the conduct of other peoples? If we were to ask this +question of an older country, we could more easily obtain an answer, for +in the older countries the national ideals have, in many cases, reached +an advanced point of self-consciousness. The educational machinery of +the German empire, for example, turns upon this problem of impressing +the national ideals. It is one aim of the official courses of study, for +instance, that history shall be so taught that the pupils will gain an +overweening reverence for the reigning house of Hohenzollern. Nor is +that newer ideal of national unity which had its seed sown in the +Franco-Prussian War in any danger of neglect by the watchful eye of the +government. Not only must the teacher impress it upon every occasion, +but every attempt is also made to bring it daily fresh to the minds of +the people through great monuments and memorials. Scarcely a hamlet is +so small that it does not possess its Bismarck _Denkmal_, often situated +upon some commanding hill, telling to each generation, in the sublime +poetry of form, the greatness of the man who made German unity a reality +instead of a dream. + +But in our country, we do not thus consciously formulate and express our +national ideals. We recognize them rather with averted face as the +adolescent boy recognizes any virtue that he may possess, as if +half-ashamed of his weakness. We have monuments to our heroes, it is +true, but they are often inaccessible, and as often they fail to convey +in any adequate manner, the greatness of the lessons which the lives of +these heroes represent. Where Germany has a hundred or more impressive +memorials to the genius of Bismarck, we have but one adequate memorial +to the genius of Washington, while for Lincoln, who represents the +typical American standards of life and conduct more faithfully than any +other one character in our history, we have no memorial that is at all +adequate,--and we should have a thousand. Some day our people will awake +to the possibilities that inhere in these palpable expressions of the +impalpable things for which our country stands. We shall come to +recognize the vast educative importance of perpetuating, in every +possible way, the deep truths that have been established at the cost of +so much blood and treasure. + +To embody our national ideals in the personages of the great figures of +history who did so much to establish them is the most elementary method +of insuring their conservation and transmission. We are beginning to +appreciate the value of this method in our introductory courses of +history in the intermediate and lower grammar grades. The historical +study outlined for these grades in most of our state and city school +programs includes mainly biographical materials. As long as the purpose +of this study is kept steadily in view by the teacher, its value may be +very richly realized. The danger lies in an obscure conception of the +purpose. We are always too prone to teach history didactically, and to +teach biographical history didactically is to miss the mark entirely. +The aim here is not primarily instruction, but inspiration; not merely +learning, but also appreciation. To tell the story of Lincoln's life in +such a way that its true value will be realized requires first upon the +part of the teacher a sincere appreciation of the great lesson of +Lincoln's life. Lincoln typifies the most significant and representative +of American ideals. His career stands for and illustrates the greatest +of our national principles,--the principle of equality,--not the +equality of birth, not the equality of social station, but the equality +of opportunity. That a child of the lowliest birth, reared under +conditions apparently the most unfavorable for rich development, limited +by the sternest poverty, by lack of formal education, by lack of family +pride and traditions, by lack of an environment of culture, by the hard +necessity of earning his own livelihood almost from earliest +childhood,--that such a man should attain to the highest station in the +land and the proudest eminence in its history, and should have acquired +from the apparently unfavorable environment of his early life the very +qualities that made him so efficient in that station and so permanent in +that eminence,--this is a miracle that only America could produce. It is +this conception that the teacher must have, and this he must, in some +measure, impress upon his pupils. + + +V + +In the teaching of history in the elementary school, the biographical +treatment is followed in the later grammar grades by a systematic study +of the main events of American history. Here the method is different, +but the purpose is the same. This purpose is, I take it, to show how our +ideals and standards have developed, through what struggles and +conflicts they have become firmly established; and the aim must be to +have our pupils relive, as vividly as possible, the pain and the +struggles and the striving and the triumph, to the end that they may +appreciate, however feebly, the heritage that is theirs. + +Here again it is not the facts as such that are important, but the +emotional appreciation of the facts, and to this end, the coloring must +be rich, the pictures vivid, the contrasts sharply drawn. The successful +teacher of history has the gift of making real the past. His pupils +struggle with Columbus against a frightened, ignorant, mutinous crew; +they toil with the Pilgrim fathers to conquer the wilderness; they +follow the bloody trail of the Deerfield victims through the forest to +Canada; they too resist the encroachments of the Mother Country upon +their rights as English citizens; they suffer through the long winter at +Valley Forge and join with Washington in his midnight vigils; they +rejoice at Yorktown; they dream with Jefferson and plead with Webster; +their hearts are fired with the news of Sumter; they clinch their teeth +at Bull Run; they gather hope at Donelson, but they shudder at Shiloh; +they struggle through the Wilderness with Grant; tired but triumphant, +they march home from Appomattox; and through it all, in virtue of the +limitless capacities of vicarious experience, they have shared the +agonies of Lincoln. + +Professor Mace, in his essay on _Method in History_, tells us that there +are two distinct phases to every historical event. These are the event +itself and the human feeling that brought it forth. It has seemed to me +that there are three phases,--the event itself, the feeling that brought +it forth, and the feeling to which it gave birth; for no event is +historically important unless it has transformed in some way the ideals +and standards of the people,--unless it has shifted, in some way, their +point of view, and made them act differently from the way in which they +would have acted had the event never occurred. One leading purpose in +the teaching of history is to show how ideals have been transformed, how +we have come to have standards different from those that were once held. + +Many of our national ideals have their roots deep down in English +history. Not long ago I heard a seventh-grade class discussing the Magna +Charta. It was a class in American history, and yet the events that the +pupils had been studying occurred three centuries before the discovery +of America. They had become familiar with the long list of abuses that +led to the granting of the charter. They could tell very glibly what +this great document did for the English people. They traced in detail +the subsequent events that led to the establishment of the House of +Commons. All this was American history just as truly as if the events +described had occurred on American soil. They were gaining an +appreciation of one of the most fundamental of our national ideals,--the +ideal of popular government. And not only that, but they were studying +popular government in its simplest form, uncomplicated by the +innumerable details and the elaborate organizations which characterize +popular government to-day. + +And when these pupils come to the time when this ideal of +self-government was transplanted to American soil, they will be ready to +trace with intelligence the changes that it took on. They will +appreciate the marked influence which geographical conditions exert in +shaping national standards of action. How richly American history +reveals and illustrates this influence we are only just now beginning to +appreciate. The French and the English colonists developed different +types of national character partly because they were placed under +different geographical conditions. The St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes +gave the French an easy means of access into the vast interior of the +continent, and provided innumerable temptations to exploitation rather +than a few incentives to development. Where the French influence was +dispersed over a wide territory, the English influence was concentrated. +As a consequence, the English energy went to the development of +resources that were none too abundant, and to the establishment of +permanent institutions that would conserve these resources. The barrier +of the Appalachians hemmed them in,--three hundred miles of alternate +ridge and valley kept them from the West until they were numerically +able to settle rather than to exploit this country. Not a little credit +for the ultimate English domination of the continent must be given to +these geographical conditions. + +But geography does not tell the whole story. The French colonists +differed from the English colonists from the outset in standards of +conduct. They had brought with them the principle of paternalism, and, +in time of trouble, they looked to France for support. The English +colonists brought with them the principle of self-reliance and, in time +of trouble, they looked only to themselves. And so the old English +ideals had a new birth and a broader field of application on American +soil. There is nothing finer in our country's history than the attitude +of the New England colonists during the intercolonial wars. Their +northern frontier covering two hundred miles of unprotected territory +was constantly open to the incursions of the French from Canada and +their Indian allies, to appease whom the French organized their raids. +And yet, so deeply implanted was this ideal of self-reliance that New +England scarcely thought of asking aid of the mother country and would +have protested to the last against the permanent establishment of a +military garrison within her limits. For a period extending over fifty +years, New England protected her own borders. She felt the terrors of +savage warfare in its most sanguinary forms. And yet, uncomplaining, she +taxed herself to repel the invaders. The people loved their own +independence too much to part with it, even for the sake of peace, +prosperity, and security. At a later date, unknown to the mother +country, they raised and equipped from their own young men and at their +own expense, the punitive expedition that, in the face of seemingly +certain defeat, captured the French fortress at Louisburg, and gave to +English military annals one of its most brilliant victories. To get the +pupil to live through these struggles, to feel the impetus of idealism +upon conduct, to appreciate what that almost forgotten half-century of +conflict meant to the development of our national character, would be to +realize the greatest value that colonial history can have for its +students. It lays bare the source of that strength which made New +England preeminent in the Revolution, and which has placed the mint mark +of New England idealism upon the coin of American character. Could a +pupil who has lived vicariously through such experiences as these easily +forsake principle for policy? + +A newspaper cartoon published a year or so ago, gives some notion of the +danger that we are now facing of losing that idealism upon which our +country was founded. The cartoon represents the signing of the +Declaration of Independence. The worthies are standing about the table +dressed in the knee breeches and flowing coats of the day, with wigs +conventionally powdered and that stately bearing which characterizes the +typical historical painting. John Hancock is seated at the table +prepared to make his name immortal. A figure, however, has just +appeared in the doorway. It is the cartoonist's conventional conception +of the modern Captain of Industry. His silk hat is on the back of his +head as if he had just come from his office as fast as his +forty-horse-power automobile could carry him. His portly form shows +evidences of intense excitement. He is holding his hand aloft to stay +the proceedings, while from his lips comes the stage whisper: +"Gentlemen, stop! You will hurt business!" What would those old New +England fathers think, could they know that such a conception may be +taken as representing a well-recognized tendency of the present day? And +remember, too, that those old heroes had something of a passion for +trade themselves. + +But when we seek for the source of our most important national +ideal,--the ideal that we have called equality of opportunity,--we must +look to another part of the country. The typical Americanism that is +represented by Lincoln owes its origin, I believe, very largely to +geographical factors. It could have been developed only under certain +conditions and these conditions the Middle West alone provided. The +settling of the Middle West in the latter part of the eighteenth and the +early part of the nineteenth centuries was part and parcel of a rigid +logic of events. As Miss Semple so clearly points out in her work on the +geographic conditions of American history, the Atlantic seaboard sloped +toward the sea and its people held their faces eastward. They were never +cut off from easy communication with the Old World, and consequently +they were never quite freed from the Old World prejudices and standards. +But the movement across the mountains gave rise to a new condition. The +faces of the people were turned westward, and cut off from easy +communication with the Old World, they developed a new set of ideals and +standards under the stress of new conditions. Chief among these +conditions was the immensity and richness of the territory that they +were settling. The vastness of their outlook and the wealth of their +resources confirmed and extended the ideals of self-reliance that they +had brought with them from the seaboard. But on the seaboard, the Old +World notion of social classes, the prestige of family and station, +still held sway. The development of the Middle West would have been +impossible under so severe a handicap. With resources so great, every +stimulus must be given to individual achievement. Nothing must be +permitted to stand in its way. The man who could do things, the man who +could most effectively turn the forces of nature to serve the needs of +society, was the man who was selected for preferment, no matter what his +birth, no matter what the station of his family. + +We might, in a similar fashion, review the various other ideals, which +have grown out of our history, but, as I have said, my purpose is not +historical but educational, and the illustrations that I have given may +suffice to make my contention clear. I have attempted to show that the +chief purpose of the study of history in the elementary school is to +establish and fortify in the pupils' minds the significant ideals and +standards of conduct which those who have gone before us have gleaned +from their experience. I have maintained that, to this end, it is not +only the facts of history that are important, but the appreciation of +these facts. I have maintained that these prejudices and ideals have a +profound influence upon conduct, and that, consequently, history is to +be looked upon as a most practical branch of study. + + * * * * * + +The best way in this world to be definite is to know our goal and then +strive to attain it. In the lack of definite standards based upon the +lessons of the past, our dominant national ideals shift with every +shifting wind of public sentiment and popular demand. Are we satisfied +with the individualistic and self-centered idealism that has come with +our material prosperity and which to-day shames the memory of the men +who founded our Republic? Are we negligent of the serious menace that +confronts any people when it loses its hold upon those goods of life +that are far more precious than commercial prestige and individual +aggrandizement? Are we losing our hold upon the sterner virtues which +our fathers possessed,--upon the things of the spirit that are permanent +and enduring? + +A study of history cannot determine entirely the dominant ideals of +those who pursue it. But the study of history if guided in the proper +spirit and dominated by the proper aim may help. For no one who gets +into the spirit of our national history,--no one who traces the origin +and growth of these ideals and institutions that I have named,--can +escape the conviction that the elemental virtues of courage, +self-reliance, hardihood, unselfishness, self-denial, and service lie at +the basis of every forward step that this country has made, and that the +most precious part of our heritage is not the material comforts with +which we are surrounded, but the sturdy virtues which made these +comforts possible. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: An address delivered March 18, 1910, before the Central +Illinois Teachers' Association.] + + + + +~X~ + +SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE[16] + + +The scientific method is the method of unprejudiced observation and +induction. Its function in the scheme of life is to furnish man with +facts and principles,--statements which mirror with accuracy and +precision the conditions that may exist in any situation of any sort +which man may have to face. In other words, the facts of science are +important and worthy because they help us to solve the problems of life +more satisfactorily. They are instrumental in their function. They are +means to an end. And whenever we have a problem to solve, whenever we +face a situation that demands some form of adjustment, the more accurate +the information that we possess concerning this situation, the better we +shall be able to solve it. + +Now when I propose that we try to find out some facts about the teaching +of English, and that we apply the scientific method in the discovery of +these facts, I am immediately confronted with an objection. My opponent +will maintain that the subject of English in our school curriculum is +not one of the sciences. Taking English to mean particularly English +literature rather than rhetoric or composition or grammar, it is clear +that we do not teach literature as we teach the sciences. Its function +differs from that of science in the curriculum. If there is a science of +literature, that is not what we are teaching in the secondary schools, +and that is not what most of us believe should be taught in the +secondary schools. We think that the study of literature should transmit +to each generation the great ideals that are crystallized in literary +masterpieces. And we think that, in seeing to it that our pupils are +inspired with these ideals, we should also teach literature in such a +way that our pupils will be left with a desire to read good literature +as a source of recreation and inspiration after they have finished the +courses that we offer. When I speak of "inspiration," "appreciation," +the development of "taste," and the like, I am using terms that have +little direct relation to the scientific method; for, as I have said, +science deals with facts, and the harder and more stubborn and more +unyielding the facts become, the better they represent true science. +What right have I, then, to speak of the scientific study of the +teaching of English, when science and literature seem to belong to two +quite separate rubrics of mental life? + +I refer to this point of view, not because its inconsistencies are not +fully apparent to you even upon the surface, but because it is a point +of view that has hitherto interfered very materially with our +educational progress. It has sometimes been assumed that, because we +wish to study education scientifically, we wish to read out of it +everything that cannot be reduced to a scientific formula,--that, +somehow or other, we intend still further to intellectualize the +processes of education and to neglect the tremendous importance of those +factors that are not primarily intellectual in their nature, but which +belong rather to the field of emotion and feeling. + +I wish, therefore, to say at the outset that, while I firmly believe the +hope of education to lie in the application of the scientific method to +the solution of its problems, I still hold that neither facts nor +principles nor any other products of the scientific method are the most +important "goods" of life. The greatest "goods" in life are, and always +must remain, I believe, its ideals, its visions, its insights, and its +sympathies,--must always remain those qualities with which the teaching +of literature is primarily concerned, and in the engendering of which in +the hearts and souls of his pupils, the teacher of literature finds the +greatest opportunity that is vouchsafed to any teacher. + +The facts and principles that science has given us have been of such +service to humanity that we are prone to forget that they have been of +service because they have helped us more effectively to realize our +ideals and attain our ends; and we are prone to forget also that, +without the ideals and the ends and the visions, the facts and +principles would be quite without function. I have sometimes been taken +to account for separating these two factors in this way. But unless we +do distinguish sharply between them, our educational thinking is bound +to be hopelessly obscure. + +You have all heard the story of the great chemist who was at work in his +laboratory when word was brought him that his wife was dead. As the +first wave of anguish swept over him, he bowed his head upon his hands +and wept out his grief; but suddenly he lifted up his head, and held +before him his hands wet with tears. "Tears!" he cried; "what are they? +I have analyzed them: a little chloride of sodium, some alkaline salts, +a little mucin, and some water. That is all." And he went back to his +work. + +The story is an old one, and very likely apocryphal, but it is not +without its lesson to us in the present connection. Unless we +distinguish between these two factors that I have named, we are likely +either to take this man's attitude or something approaching it, or to go +to the other extreme, renounce the accuracy and precision of the +scientific method, and give ourselves up to the cult of emotionalism. + +Now, while we do not wish to read out of the teaching of literature the +factors of appreciation and inspiration, we do wish to find out how +these important functions of our teaching may be best fulfilled. And it +is here that facts and principles gained by the scientific method not +only can but must furnish the ultimate solution. We have a problem. That +problem, it is true, is concerned with something that is not scientific, +and to attempt to make it scientific is to kill the very life that it is +our problem to cherish. But in solving that problem, we must take +certain steps; we must arrange our materials in certain ways; we must +adjust hard and stubborn facts to the attainment of our end. What are +these facts? What is their relation to our problem? What laws govern +their operation? These are subordinate but very essential parts of our +larger problem, and it is through the scientific investigation of these +subordinate problems that our larger problem is to be solved. + +Let me give you an illustration of what I mean. We may assume that every +boy who goes out of the high school should appreciate the meaning and +worth of self-sacrifice as this is revealed (not expounded) in Dickens's +delineation of the character of Sidney Carton. There is our +problem,--but what a host of subordinate problems at once confront us! +Where shall we introduce _The Tale of Two Cities_? Will it be in the +second year, or the third, or the fourth? Will it be best preceded by +the course in general history which will give the pupil a time +perspective upon the crimson background of the French Revolution against +which Dickens projected his master character? Or shall we put _The Tale +of Two Cities_ first for the sake of the heightened interest which the +art of the novelist may lend to the facts of the historian? Again, how +may the story be best presented? What part shall the pupils read in +class? What part shall they read at home? What part, if any, shall we +read to them? What questions are necessary to insure appreciation? How +many of the allusions need be run down in order to give the maximal +effect of the masterpiece? How may the necessarily discontinuous +discussions of the class--one period each day for several days--be so +counteracted as to insure the cumulative emotional effect which the +appreciation of all art presupposes? Should the story be sketched +through first, and then read in some detail, or will one reading +suffice? + +These are problems, I repeat, that stand to the chief problem as means +stand to end. Now some of these questions must be solved by every +teacher for himself, but that does not prevent each teacher from solving +them scientifically. Others, it is clear, might be solved once and for +all by the right kind of an investigation,--might result in permanent +and universal laws which any one could apply. + +There are, of course, several ways in which answers for these questions +may be secured. One way is that of _a priori_ reasoning,--the deductive +procedure. This method may be thoroughly scientific, depending of course +upon the validity of our general principles as applied to the specific +problem. Ordinarily this validity can be determined only by trial; +consequently these _a priori_ inferences should be looked upon as +hypotheses to be tested by trial under standard conditions. For example, +I might argue that _The Tale of Two Cities_ should be placed in the +third year because the emotional ferment of adolescence is then most +favorable for the engendering of the ideal. But in the first place, this +assumed principle would itself be subject to grave question and it would +also have to be determined whether there is so little variation among +the pupils in respect of physiological age as to permit the application +to all of a generalization that might conceivably apply only to the +average child. In other words, all of our generalizations applying to +average pupils must be applied with a knowledge of the extent and range +of variation from the average. Some people say that there is no such +thing as an average child, but, for all practical purposes, the average +child is a very real reality,--he is, in fact, more numerous than any +other single class; but this does not mean that there may be not enough +variations from the average to make unwise the application of our +principle. + +I refer to this hypothetical case to show the extreme difficulty of +reaching anything more than hypotheses by _a priori_ reasoning. We have +a certain number of fairly well established general principles in +secondary education. Perhaps those most frequently employed are our +generalizations regarding adolescence and its influences upon the mental +and especially the emotional life of high-school pupils. Stanley Hall's +work in this field is wonderfully stimulating and suggestive, and yet we +should not forget that most of his generalizations are, after all, only +plausible hypotheses to be acted upon as tentative guides for practice +and to be tested carefully under controlled conditions, rather than to +be accepted as immutable and unchangeable laws. We sometimes assume that +all high-school pupils are adolescents, when the likelihood is that an +appreciable proportion of pupils in the first two years have not yet +reached this important node of their development. + +I say this not to minimize in any way the importance that attaches to +adolescent characteristics, but rather to suggest that you who are daily +dealing with these pupils can in the aggregate add immeasurably to the +knowledge that we now have concerning this period. A tremendous waste is +constantly going on in that most precious of all our possible +resources,--namely, human experience. How many problems that are well +solved have to be solved again and again because the experience has not +been crystallized in a well-tested fact or principle; how many +experiences that might be well worth the effort that they cost are quite +worthless because, in undergoing them, we have neglected some one or +another of the rules that govern inexorably the validity of our +inferences and conclusions. That is all that the scientific method means +in the last analysis: it is a system of principles that enable us to +make our experience worth while in meeting later situations. We all +have the opportunity of contributing to the sum total of human +knowledge, if only we know the rules of the game. + +I said that one way of solving these subordinate problems that arise in +the realization of our chief aims in teaching is the _a priori_ method +of applying general principles to the problems. Another method is to +imitate the way in which we have seen some one else handle the +situation. Now this may be the most effective way possible. In fact, if +a sufficient number of generations of teachers keep on blindly plunging +in and floundering about in solving their problems, the most effective +methods will ultimately be evolved through what we call the process of +trial and error. The teaching of the very oldest subjects in the +curriculum is almost always the best and most effective teaching, for +the very reason that the blundering process has at last resulted in an +effective procedure. But the scientific method of solving problems has +its very function in preventing the tremendous waste that this process +involves. English literature is a comparatively recent addition to the +secondary curriculum. Its possibilities of service are almost unlimited. +Shall we wait for ten or fifteen generations of teachers to blunder out +the most effective means of teaching it, or shall we avail ourselves of +these simple principles which will enable us to concentrate this +experience within one or two generations? + +I should like to emphasize one further point. No one has greater +respect than I have for what we term experience in teaching. But let me +say that a great deal of what we may term "crude" experience--that is, +experience that has not been refined by the application of scientific +method--is most untrustworthy,--unless, indeed, it has been garnered and +winnowed and sifted through the ages. Let me give you an example of some +accepted dictums of educational experience that controlled +investigations have shown to be untrustworthy. + +It is a general impression among teachers that specific habits may be +generalized; that habits of neatness and accuracy developed in one line +of work, for example, will inevitably make one neater and more accurate +in other things. It has been definitely proved that this transfer of +training does not take place inevitably, but in reality demands the +fulfillment of certain conditions of which education has become fully +conscious only within a comparatively short time, and as a result of +careful, systematic, controlled experimentation. The meaning of this in +the prevention of waste through inadequate teaching is fully apparent. + +Again, it has been supposed by many teachers that the home environment +is a large factor in the success or failure of a pupil in school. In +every accurate and controlled investigation that has been conducted so +far it has been shown that this factor in such subjects as arithmetic +and spelling at least is so small as to be absolutely negligible in +practice. + +Some people still believe that a teacher is born and not made, and yet +a careful investigation of the efficiency of elementary teachers shows +that, when such teachers were ranked by competent judges, specialized +training stood out as the most important factor in general efficiency. +In this same investigation, the time-honored notion that a college +education will, irrespective of specialized training, adequately equip a +teacher for his work was revealed as a fallacy,--for twenty-eight per +cent of the normal-school graduates among all the teachers were in the +first and second ranks of efficiency as against only seventeen per cent +of the college graduates; while, in the two lowest ranks, only sixteen +per cent of the normal-school graduates are to be found as against +forty-four per cent of the college graduates. These investigations, I +may add, were made by university professors, and I am giving them here +in a university classroom and as a university representative. And of +course I shall hasten to add that general scholarship is one important +essential. Our mistake has been in assuming sometimes that it is the +only essential. + +Very frequently the controlled experience of scientific investigation +confirms a principle that has been derived from crude experience. Most +teachers will agree, for example, that a certain amount of drill and +repetition is absolutely essential in the mastery of any subject. Every +time that scientific investigation has touched this problem it has +unmistakably confirmed this belief. Some very recent investigations +made by Mr. Brown at the Charleston Normal School show conclusively that +five-minute drill periods preceding every lesson in arithmetic place +pupils who undergo such periods far in advance of others who spend this +time in non-drill arithmetical work, and that this improvement holds not +only in the number habits, but also in the reasoning processes. + +Other similar cases could be cited, but I have probably said enough to +make my point, and my point is this: that crude experience is an unsafe +guide for practice; that experience may be refined in two ways--first by +the slow, halting, wasteful operation of time, which has established +many principles upon a pinnacle of security from which they will never +be shaken, but which has also accomplished this result at the cost of +innumerable mistakes, blunders, errors, futile efforts, and +heartbreaking failures; or secondly, by the application of the +principles of control and test which are now at our service, and which +permit present-day teachers to concentrate within a single generation +the growth and development and progress that the empirical method of +trial and error could not encompass in a millennium. + +The teaching of English merits treatment by this method. I recommend +strongly that you give the plan a trial. You may not get immediate +results. You may not get valuable results. But in any case, if you +carefully respect the scientific proprieties, your experience will be +worth vastly more than ten times the amount of crude experience; and, +whether you get results or not, you will undergo a valuable discipline +from which may emerge the ideals of science if you are not already +imbued with them. I always tell my students that, even in the study of +science itself, it is the ideals of science,--the ideals of patient, +thoughtful work, the ideals of open-mindedness and caution in reaching +conclusions, the ideals of unprejudiced observation from which +selfishness and personal desire are eliminated,--it is these ideals that +are vastly more important than the facts of science as such,--and these +latter are significant enough to have made possible our present progress +and our present amenities of life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 16: A paper read before the English Section of the University +of Illinois High School Conference, November 17, 1910.] + + + + +~XI~ + +THE NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD DRILL[17] + + +Wandering about in a circle through a thick forest is perhaps an +overdrawn analogy to our activity in attempting to construct educational +theories; and yet there is a resemblance. We push out hopefully--and +often boastfully--into the unknown wilderness, absolutely certain that +we are pioneering a trail that will later become the royal highway to +learning. We struggle on, ruthlessly using the hatchet and the ax to +clear the road before us. And all too often we come back to our starting +point, having unwittingly described a perfect circle, instead of the +straight line that we had anticipated. + +But I am not a pessimist, and I like to believe that, although our +course frequently resembles a circle, it is much better to characterize +it as a spiral, and that, although we do get back to a point that we +recognize, it is not, after all, our old starting point; it is an +homologous point on a higher plane. We have at least climbed a little, +even if we have not traveled in a straight line. + +Now in a figurative way this explains how we have come to take our +present attitude toward the problem of drill or training in the process +of education. Drill means the repetition of a process until it has +become mechanical or automatic. It means the kind of discipline that the +recruit undergoes in the army,--the making of a series of complicated +movements so thoroughly automatic that they will be gone through with +accurately and precisely, at the word of command. It means the sort of +discipline that makes certain activities machine-like in their +operation,--so that we do not have to think about which one comes next. +Thus the mind is relieved of the burden of looking after the innumerable +details and may use its precious energy for a more important purpose. + +In every adult life, a large number of these mechanized responses are +absolutely essential to efficiency. Modern civilized life is so highly +organized that it demands a multitude of reactions and adjustments which +primitive life did not demand. It goes without saying that there are +innumerable little details of our daily work that must be reduced to the +plane of unvarying habit. These details vary with the trade or +profession of the individual; hence general education cannot hope to +supply the individual with all of the automatic responses that he will +need. But, in addition to these specialized responses, there is a large +mass of responses that are common to every member of the social group. +We must all be able to communicate with one another, both through the +medium of speech, and through the medium of written and printed symbols. +We live in a society that is founded upon the principle of the division +of labor. We must exchange the products of our labor for the necessities +of life that we do not ourselves produce, and hence arises the necessity +for the short cuts to counting and measurement which we call arithmetic. +And finally we must all live together in something at least approaching +harmony; hence the thousand and one little responses that mean courtesy +and good manners must be made thoroughly automatic. + +Now education, from the very earliest times, has recognized the +necessity of building up these automatic responses,--of fixing these +essential habits in all individuals. This recognition has often been +short-sighted and sometimes even blind; but it has served to hold +education rather tenaciously to a process that all must admit to be +essential. + +Drill or training, however, is unfortunate in one important particular. +It invariably involves repetition; and conscious, explicit repetition +tends to become monotonous. We must hold attention to the drill process, +and yet attention abhors monotony as nature abhors a vacuum. +Consequently no small part of the tedium and irksomeness of school work +has been due to its emphasis of drill. The formalism of the older +schools has been described, criticized, and lampooned in professional +literature, and even in the pages of fiction. The disastrous results +that follow from engendering in pupils a disgust for school and all that +it represents have been eloquently portrayed. Along with the tendency +toward ease and comfort in other departments of human life has gone a +parallel tendency to relieve the school of this odious burden of formal, +lifeless, repetitive work. + +This "reform movement," as I shall call it, represents our first plunge +into the wilderness. We would get away from the entanglements of drill +and into the clearings of pleasurable, spontaneous activities. A new sun +of hope dawned upon the educational world. + +You are all familiar with some of the more spectacular results of this +movement. You have heard of the schools that eliminated drill processes +altogether, and depended upon clear initial development to fix the facts +and formulae and reactions that every one needs. You have heard and +perhaps seen some of the schools that were based entirely upon the +doctrine of spontaneity, governing their work by the principle that the +child should never do anything that he did not wish to do at the moment +of doing,--although the advocates of this theory generally qualified +their principle by insisting that the skillful teacher would have the +child wish to do the right thing all the time. + +Let me describe to you a school of this type that I once visited. I +learned of it through a resident of the city in which it was located. He +was delivering an address before an educational gathering on the +problems of modern education. He told the audience that, in the schools +of this enlightened city, the antiquated notions that were so pernicious +had been entirely dispensed with. He said that pupils in these schools +were no longer repressed; that all regimentation, line passing, static +posture, and other barbaric practices had been abolished; that the +pupils were free to work out their own destiny, to realize themselves, +through all forms of constructive activity; that drills had been +eliminated; that corporal punishment was never even mentioned, much less +practiced; that all was harmony, and love, and freedom, and spontaneity. + +I listened to this speaker with intense interest, and, as his picture +unfolded, I became more and more convinced that this city had at last +solved the problem. I took the earliest opportunity to visit its +schools. When I reached the city I went to the superintendent's office. +I asked to be directed to the best school. "Our schools are all 'best,'" +the secretary told me with an intonation that denoted commendable pride, +and which certainly made me feel extremely humble, for here even the +laws of logic and of formal grammar had been transcended. I made bold to +apologize, however, and amended my request to make it apparent that I +wished to see the largest school. I was directed to take a certain car +and, in due time, found myself at the school. I inferred that recess was +in progress when I reached the building, and that the recess was being +celebrated within doors. After some time spent in dodging about the +corridors, I at last located the principal. + +I introduced myself and asked if I could visit his school after recess +was over. "We have no recesses here," he replied (I could just catch his +voice above the din of the corridors); "this is a relaxation period for +some of the classes." He led the way to the office, and I spent a few +moments in getting the "lay of the land." I asked him, first, whether he +agreed with the doctrines that the system represented, and he told me +that he believed in them implicitly. Did he follow them out consistently +in the operation of his school? Yes, he followed them out to the letter. + +We then went to several classrooms, where I saw children realizing +themselves, I thought, very effectively. There were three groups at work +in each room. One recited to the teacher, another studied at the seats, +a third did construction work at the tables. I inquired about the +mechanics of this rather elaborate organization, but I was told that +mechanics had been eliminated from this school. Mechanical organization +of the classroom, it seems, crushes the child's spontaneity, represses +his self-activity, prevents the effective operation of the principle of +self-realization. How, then, did these three groups exchange places, for +I felt that the doctrine of self-realization would not permit them to +remain in the same employment during the entire session. "Oh," the +principal replied, "when they get ready to change, they change, that's +all." + +I saw that a change was coming directly, so I waited to watch it. The +group had been working with what I should call a great deal of noise and +confusion. All at once this increased tenfold. Pupils jumped over seats, +ran into each other in the aisles, scurried and scampered from this +place to that, while the teacher stood in the front of the room wildly +waving her arms. The performance lasted several minutes. "There's +spontaneity for you," the principal shouted above the roar of the storm. +I acquiesced by a nod of the head,--my lungs, through lack of training, +being unequal to the emergency. + +We passed to another room. The same group system was in evidence. I +noticed pupils who had been working at their seats suddenly put away +their books and papers and skip over to the construction table. I asked +concerning the nature of the construction work. "We use it," the +principal told me, "as a reward for good work in the book subjects. You +see arithmetic is dead and dry. You must give pupils an incentive to +master it. We make the privileges of the construction table the +incentive." "What do they make at this table?" I asked. "Whatever their +fancy dictates," he replied. I was a little curious, however, to know +how it all come out. I saw one child start to work on a basket, work at +it a few minutes, then take up something else, continue a little time, +go back to the basket, and finally throw both down for a third object of +self-realization. I called the principal's attention to this phenomenon. +"How do you get the beautiful results that you exhibit?" I asked. "For +those," he said, "we just keep the pupils working on one thing until it +is finished." "But," I objected, "is that consistent with the doctrine +of spontaneity?" His answer was lost in the din of a change of groups, +and I did not follow the investigation further. + +Noon dismissal was due when I went into the corridor. Lines are +forbidden in that school. At the stroke of the bell, the classroom doors +burst open and bedlam was let loose. I had anticipated what was coming, +and hurriedly betook myself to an alcove. I saw more spontaneity in two +minutes than I had ever seen before in my life. Some boys tore through +the corridors at breakneck speed and down the stairways, three steps at +a time. Others sauntered along, realizing various propensities by +pushing and shoving each other, snatching caps out of others' hands, +slapping each other over the head with books, and various other +expressions of exuberant spirits. One group stopped in front of my +alcove, and showed commendable curiosity about the visitor in their +midst. After exhausting his static possibilities, they tempted him to +dynamic reaction by making faces; but this proving to be of no avail, +they went on their way,--in the hope, doubtless, of realizing themselves +elsewhere. + +I left that school with a fairly firm conviction that I had seen the +most advanced notions of educational theory worked out to a logical +conclusion. There was nothing halfway about it. There was no apology +offered for anything that happened. It was all fair and square and open +and aboveboard. To be sure, the pupils were, to my prejudiced mind, in a +condition approaching anarchy, but I could not deny the spontaneity, nor +could I deny self-activity, nor could I deny self-realization. These +principles were evidently operating without let or hindrance. + +Before leaving the school, I took occasion to inquire concerning the +effect of such a system upon the teachers. I led up to it by asking the +principal if there were any nervous or anaemic children in his school. +"Not one," he replied enthusiastically; "our system eliminates them." +"But how about the teachers?" I ventured to remark, having in mind the +image of a distracted young woman whom I had seen attempting to reduce +forty little ruffians to some semblance of law and order through moral +suasion. If I judged conditions correctly, that woman was on the verge +of a nervous breakdown. My guide became confidential when I made this +inquiry. "To tell the truth," he whispered, "the system is mighty hard +on the women." + +A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting a high school which was +operated upon this same principle. I visited in that school some classes +that were taught by men and women, whom I should number among the most +expert teachers that I have ever seen. The instruction that these men +and women were giving was as clear and lucid as one could desire. And +yet, in spite of that excellent instruction, pupils read newspapers, +prepared other lessons, or read books during the recitations, and did +all this openly and unreproved. They responded to their instructors with +shameless insolence. Young ladies of sixteen and seventeen coming from +cultured homes were permitted in this school to pull each other's hair, +pinch the arms of schoolmates who were reciting, and behave themselves +in general as if they were savages. The pupils lolled in their seats, +passed notes, kept up an undertone of conversation, arose from their +seats at the first tap of the bell, and piled in disorder out of the +classroom while the instructor was still talking. If the lessons had +been tedious, one might perhaps at least have palliated such conduct, +but the instruction was very far from tedious. It was bright, lively, +animated, beautifully clear, and admirably illustrated. It is simply the +theory of this school never to interfere with the spontaneous activity +of the pupils. And I may add that the school draws its enrollment very +largely from wealthy families who believe that their children are being +given the best that modern education has developed, that they are not +being subjected to the deadening methods of the average public school, +and above all that their manners are not being corrupted by promiscuous +mingling with the offspring of illiterate immigrants. And yet soon +afterward, I visited a high school in one of the poorest slum districts +of a large city. I saw pupils well-behaved, courteous to one another, to +their instructors, and to visitors. The instruction was much below that +given in the first school in point of quality, and yet the pupils were +getting from it, even under these conditions, vastly more than were the +pupils of the other school from their masterly instructors. + +The two schools that I first described represent one type of the attempt +that education has made to pioneer a new path through the wilderness. I +have said that many of these attempts have ended by bringing the +adventurers back to their starting point. I cannot say so much for these +schools. The movement that they represent is still floundering about in +the tamarack swamps, getting farther and farther into the morass, with +little hope of ever emerging. + +May I tax your patience with one more concrete illustration: this time, +of a school that seems to me to have reached the starting point, but on +that new and higher plane of which I have spoken? + +This school is in a small Massachusetts town, and is the model +department of the state normal school located at that place. The first +point that impressed me was typified by a boy of about twelve who was +passing through the corridor as I entered the building. Instead of +slouching along, wasting every possible moment before he should return +to his room, he was walking briskly as if eager to get back to his work. +Instead of staring at the stranger within his gates with the impudent +curiosity so often noticed in children of this age, he greeted me +pleasantly and wished to know if I were looking for the principal. When +I told him that I was, he informed me that the principal was on the +upper floor, but that he would go for him at once. He did, and returned +a moment later saying that the head of the school would be down +directly, and asked me to wait in the office, into which he ushered me +with all the courtesy of a private secretary. Then he excused himself +and went directly to his room. + +Now that might have been an exceptional case, but I found out later that +is was not. Wherever I went in that school, the pupils were polite and +courteous and respectful. That was part of their education. It should be +part of every child's education. But many schools are too busy teaching +reading, writing, and arithmetic, and others are too busy preserving +discipline, and others are too busy coquetting for the good will of +their pupils and trying to amuse them--too busy to give heed to a set of +habits that are of paramount importance in the life of civilized +society. This school took up the matter of training in good manners as +an essential part of its duty, and it accomplished this task quickly and +effectively. It did it by utilizing the opportunities presented in the +usual course of school work. It took a little time and a little +attention, for good manners cannot be acquired incidentally any more +than the multiplication tables can be acquired incidentally; but it +utilized the everyday opportunities of the schoolroom, and did not make +morals and manners the subject of instruction for a half-hour on Friday +afternoons to be completely forgotten during the rest of the week. + +When the principal took me through the school, I noted everywhere a +happy and courteous relation between pupils and teachers. They spoke +pleasantly to one another. I heard no nagging or scolding. I saw no one +sulking or pouting or in bad temper. And yet there was every evidence of +respect and obedience on the part of the pupils. There was none of that +happy-go-lucky comradeship which I have sometimes seen in other modern +schools, and which leads the pupil to understand that his teacher is +there to gain his interest, not to command his respectful attention. +Pupils were too busy with their work to talk much with one another. They +were sitting up in their seats as a matter of habit, and it did not seem +to hurt them seriously to do so. And everywhere they were working like +beavers at one task or another, or attending with all their eyes and +ears to a recitation. + +Now it seemed to me that this school was operated with a minimum of +waste or loss. Every item of energy that the pupils possessed was being +given to some educative activity. Nothing was lost by conflict between +pupil and teacher. Nothing was lost by bursts of anger or by fits of +depression. These sources of waste had been eliminated so far as I could +determine. The pupils could read well and write well and cipher +accurately. They even took a keen delight in the drills. And I found +that this phase of their work was enlightened by the modern content that +had been introduced. In their handwork and manual training they could +see that arithmetic was useful,--that it had something to do with the +great big buzzing life of the outer world. They learned that spelling +was useful in writing,--that it was not something that began and ended +within the covers of the spelling book, but that it had a real and vital +relation to other things that they found to be important. They had their +dramatic exercises in which they and their fellows, and, on occasions, +their parents, took a keen delight, and they were glad to afford them +pleasure and to receive congratulations at the close. And yet they found +that, in order to do these things well, they must read and study and +drill on speaking. They liked to have their drawings inspected and +praised at the school exhibitions, but they soon found that good drawing +and painting and designing were strictly conditioned by a mastery of +technique, and they wished to master technique in order to win these +rewards. + +Now what was the secret of the efficiency of this school? Not merely the +fact that it had introduced certain types of content such as drawing, +manual training, domestic science, dramatization, story work,--but also +that it had not lost sight of the fundamental purpose of elementary +education, but had so organized all of its studies that each played into +the hands of the others, and that everything that was done had some +definite and tangible relation to everything else. The manual training +exercises and the mechanical drawing were exercises in arithmetic, but, +let me remind you, there were other lessons, and formal lessons, in +arithmetic as well. But the one exercise enlightened and made more +meaningful the other. In the same way the story and dramatization were +intimately related to the reading and the language, but there were +formal lessons in reading and formal lessons in language. The geography +illustrated nature study and employed language and arithmetic and +drawing in its exercises. And so the whole structure was organized and +coherent and unified, and what was taught in one class was utilized in +another. There was no needless duplication, no needless or meaningless +repetition. But repetition there was, over and over again, but always it +was effective in still more firmly fixing the habits. + +One would be an ingrate, indeed, if one failed to recognize the great +good that an extreme reform movement may do. Some very precious +increments of progress have resulted even from the most extreme and +ridiculous reactions against the drill and formalism of the older +schools. Let me briefly summarize these really substantial gains as I +conceive them. + +In the first place, we have come to recognize distinctly the importance +of enlisting in the service of habit building the native instincts of +the child. Up to a certain point nature provides for the fixing of +useful responses, and we should be unwise not to make use of these +tendencies. In the spontaneous activities of play, certain fundamental +reactions are continually repeated until they reach the plane of +absolute mechanism. In imitating the actions of others, adjustments are +learned and made into habits without effort; in fact, the process of +imitation, so far as it is instinctive, is a source of pure delight to +the young child. Finally, closely related to these two instincts, is the +native tendency to repetition,--nature's primary provision for drill. +You have often heard little children repeat their new words over and +over again. Frequently they have no conception of the meanings of these +words. Nature seems to be untroubled by a question that has bothered +teachers; namely, Should a child ever be asked to drill on something the +purpose of which he does not understand? Nature sees to it that certain +essential responses become automatic long before the child is conscious +of their meaning. Just because nature does this is, of course, no +reason why we should imitate her. But the fact is an interesting +commentary upon the extreme to which we sometimes carry our principle of +rationalizing everything before permitting it to be mastered. + +I repeat that the reform movement has done excellent service in +extending the recognition in education of these fundamental and inborn +adaptive instincts,--play, imitation, and rhythmic repetition. It has +erred when it has insisted that we could depend upon these alone, for +nature has adapted man, not to the complicated conditions of our modern +highly organized social life, but rather to primitive conditions. Left +to themselves, these instinctive forces would take the child up to a +certain point, but they would still leave him on a primitive plane. I +know of one good authority on the teaching of reading who maintains that +the normal child would learn to read without formal teaching if he were +placed in the right environment,--an environment of books. This may be +possible with some exceptional children, but even an environment +reasonably replete with books does not effect this miracle in the case +of certain children whom I know very well and whom I like to think of as +perfectly normal. These children learned to talk by imitation and +instinctive repetition. But nature has not yet gone so far as to provide +the average child with spontaneous impulses that will lead him to learn +to read. Reading is a much more complicated and highly organized +process. And so it is with a vast number of the activities that our +pupils must master. + +Another increment of progress that the reform movement has given to +educational practice is a recognition of the fact that we have been +requiring pupils to acquire unnecessary habits, under the impression, +that even if the habits were not useful, something of value was gained +in their acquisition. As a result, we have passed all of our grain +through the same mill, unmindful of the fact that different life +activities required different types of grist. To-day we are seeing the +need for carefully selecting the types of habit and skill that should be +developed in _all_ children. We are recognizing that there are many +phases of the educative process that it is not well to reduce to an +automatic basis. When I was in the elementary school I memorized +Barnes's _History of the United States_ and Harper's _Geography_ from +cover to cover. I have never greatly regretted this automatic mastery; +but I have often thought that I might have memorized something rather +more important, for history and geography could have been mastered just +as effectively in another way. + +In the third place, and most important of all, we have been led to +analyze this complex process of habit building,--to find out the factors +that operate in learning. We have now a goodly body of principles that +may even be characterized by the adjective "scientific." We know that in +habit building, it is fundamentally essential to get the pupil started +in the right way. A recent writer states that two thirds of the +difficulty that the teacher meets fixing habits is due to the neglect of +this principle. Inadequate and inefficient habits get started and must +be continually combated while the desirable habit is being formed. How +important this is in the initial presentation of material that is to be +memorized or made automatic we are just now beginning to appreciate. One +writer insists that faulty work in the first grade is responsible for a +large part of the retardation which is bothering us so much to-day. The +wrong kind of a start is made, and whenever a faulty habit is formed, it +much more than doubles the difficulty of getting the right one well +under way. We are slowly coming to appreciate how much time is wasted in +drill processes by inadequate methods. Technique is being improved and +the time thus saved is being given to the newer content subjects that +are demanding admission to the schools. + +Again, we are coming to appreciate as never before the importance of +motivating our drill work,--of not only reading into it purpose and +meaning so that the pupil will understand what it is all for, but also +of engendering in him the _desire_ to form the habits,--to undergo the +discipline that is essential for mastery. Here again the reform movement +has been helpful, showing us the waste of time and energy that results +from attempting to fix habits that are only weakly motivated. + +All this is a vastly different matter from sugar-coating the drill +processes, under the mistaken notion that something that is worth while +may be acquired without effort. I think that educators are generally +agreed that such a policy is thoroughly bad,--for it subverts a basic +principle of human life the operation of which neither education nor any +other force can alter or reverse. To teach the child that the things in +life that are worth doing are easy to do, or that they are always or +even often intrinsically pleasant or agreeable, is to teach him a lie. +Human history gives us no examples of worthy achievements that have not +been made at the price of struggle and effort,--at the price of doing +things that men did not want to do. Every great truth has had to +struggle upward from defeat. Every man who has really found himself in +the work of life has paid the price of sacrifice for his success. And +whenever we attempt to give our pupils a mastery of the complicated arts +and skills that have lifted civilized man above the plane of his savage +ancestors, we must expect from them struggle and effort and self-denial. + +Let me quote a paragraph from the report of a recent investigation in +the psychology of learning. The habit that was being learned in this +experiment was skill in the use of the typewriter. The writer describes +the process in the following words: + + "In the early stages of learning, our subjects were all very much + interested in the work. Their whole mind seemed to be spontaneously + held by the writing. They were always anxious to take up the work + anew each day. Their general attitude and the resultant sensations + constituted a pleasant feeling tone, which had a helpful + reactionary effect upon the work. Continued practice, however, + brought a change. In place of the spontaneous, rapt attention of + the beginning stages, attention tended, at certain definite stages + of advancement, to wander away from the work. A general feeling of + monotony, which at times assumed the form of utter disgust, took + the place of the former pleasant sensations and feelings. The + writing became a disagreeable task. The unpleasant feelings now + present in consciousness exerted an ever-restraining effect on the + work. As an expert skill was approached, however, the learners' + attitude and mood changed again. They again took a keen interest in + the work. Their whole feeling tone once more became favorable, and + the movements delightful and pleasant. The expert typist ... so + thoroughly enjoyed the writing that it was as pleasant as the + spontaneous play activities of a child. But in the course of + developing this permanent interest in the work, there were many + periods in nearly every test, many days, as well as stages in the + practice as a whole, when the work was much disliked, periods when + the learning assumed the role of a very monotonous task. Our + records showed that at such times as these no progress was made. + Rapid progress in learning typewriting was made only when the + learners were feeling good and had an attitude of interest toward + the work."[18] + +Who has not experienced that feeling of hopelessness and despair that +comes at these successive levels of the long process of acquiring skill +in a complicated art? How desperately we struggle on--striving to put +every item of energy that we can command into our work, and yet feeling +how hopeless it all seems. How tempting then is the hammock on the +porch, the fascinating novel that we have placed on our bedside table, +the happy company of friends that are talking and laughing in the next +room; or how we long for the green fields and the open road; how +seductive is that siren call of change and diversion,--that evil spirit +of procrastination! How feeble, too, are the efforts that we make under +these conditions! We are not making progress in our art, we are only +marking time. And yet the psychologists tell us that this marking time +is an essential in the mastery of any complicated art. Somewhere, deep +down in the nervous system, subtle processes are at work, and when +finally interest dawns,--when finally hope returns to us, and life again +becomes worth while,--these heartbreaking struggles reap their reward. +The psychologists call them "plateaus of growth," but some one has said +that "sloughs of despond" would be a far better designation. + +The progress of any individual depends upon his ability to pass through +these sloughs of despond,--to set his face resolutely to the task and +persevere. It would be the idlest folly to lead children to believe that +success or achievement or even passing ability can be gained in any +other manner. And this is the danger in the sugar-coating process. + +But motivation does not mean sugar-coating. It means the development of +purpose, of ambition, of incentive. It means the development of the +willingness to undergo the discipline in order that the purpose may be +realized, in order that the goal may be attained. It means the creating +of those conditions that make for strength and virility and moral +fiber,--for it is in the consciousness of having overcome obstacles and +won in spite of handicaps,--it is in this consciousness of conquest that +mental strength and moral strength have their source. The victory that +really strengthens one is not the victory that has come easily, but the +victory that stands out sharp and clear against the background of effort +and struggle. It is because this subjective contrast is so absolutely +essential to the consciousness of power,--it is for this reason that the +"sloughs of despond" still have their function in our new attitude +toward drill. + +But do not mistake me: I have no sympathy with that educational +"stand-pattism" that would multiply these needlessly, or fail to build +solid and comfortable highways across them wherever it is possible to do +so. I have no sympathy with that philosophy of education which approves +the placing of artificial barriers in the learner's path. But if I build +highways across the morasses, it is only that youth may the more readily +traverse the region and come the more quickly to the points where +struggle is absolutely necessary. + +You remember in George Eliot's _Daniel Deronda_ the story of Gwendolen +Harleth. Gwendolen was a butterfly of society, a young woman in whose +childhood drill and discipline had found no place. In early womanhood, +she was, through family misfortune, thrown upon her own resources. In +casting about for some means of self-support her first recourse was to +music, for which she had some taste and in which she had had some +slight training. She sought out her old German music teacher, Klesmer, +and asked him what she might do to turn this taste and this training to +financial account. Klesmer's reply sums up in a nutshell the psychology +of skill: + + "Any great achievement in acting or in music grows with the growth. + Whenever an artist has been able to say, 'I came, I saw, I + conquered,' it has been at the end of patient practice. Genius, at + first, is little more than a great capacity for receiving + discipline. Singing and acting, like the fine dexterity of the + juggler with his cup and balls, require a shaping of the organs + toward a finer and finer certainty of effect. Your muscles, your + whole frame, must go like a watch,--true, true, true, to a hair. + This is the work of the springtime of life before the habits have + been formed." + +And I can formulate my own conception of the work of habit building in +education no better than by paraphrasing Klesmer's epigram. To increase +in our pupils the capacity to receive discipline; to show them, through +concrete example, over and over again, how persistence and effort and +concentration bring results that are worth while; to choose from their +own childish experiences the illustrations that will force this lesson +home; to supplement, from the stories of great achievements, those +illustrations which will inspire them to effort; to lead them to see +that Peary conquering the Pole, or Wilbur Wright perfecting the +aeroplane, or Morse struggling through long years of hopelessness and +discouragement to give the world the electric telegraph,--to show them +that these men went through experiences differing only in degree and not +in kind from those which characterize every achievement, no matter how +small, so long as it is dominated by a unitary purpose; to make the +inevitable sloughs of despond no less morasses, perhaps, but to make +their conquest add a permanent increment to growth and development: this +is the task of our drill work as I view it. As the prophecy of Isaiah +has it: "Precept must be upon precept; precept upon precept; line upon +line; line upon line; here a little and there a little." And if we can +succeed in giving our pupils this vision,--if we can reveal the deeper +meaning of struggle and effort and self-denial and sacrifice shining out +through the little details of the day's work,--we are ourselves +achieving something that is richly worth while; for the highest triumph +of the teacher's art is to get his pupils to see, in the small and +seemingly trivial affairs of everyday life, the operation of fundamental +and eternal principles. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 17: An address before the Kansas State Teachers' Association, +Topeka, October 20, 1910.] + +[Footnote 18: W.F. Book, _Journal of Educational Psychology_, vol. i, +1910, p. 195.] + + + + +~XII~ + +THE IDEAL TEACHER[19] + + +I wish to discuss with you briefly a very commonplace and oft-repeated +theme,--a theme that has been handled and handled until its +once-glorious raiment is now quite threadbare; a theme so full of +pitfalls and dangers for one who would attempt its discussion that I +have hesitated long before making a choice. I know of no other theme +that lends itself so readily to a superficial treatment--of no theme +upon which one could find so easily at hand all of the proverbs and +platitudes and maxims that one might desire. And so I cannot be expected +to say anything upon this topic that has not been said before in a far +better manner. But, after all, very few of our thoughts--even of those +that we consider to be the most original and worth while--are really new +to the world. Most of our thoughts have been thought before. They are +like dolls that are passed on from age to age to be dressed up and +decorated to suit the taste or the fashion or the fancy of each +succeeding generation. But even a new dress may add a touch of newness +to an old doll; and a new phrase or a new setting may, for a moment, +rejuvenate an old truth. + +The topic that I wish to treat is this, "The Ideal Teacher." And I may +as well start out by saying that the ideal teacher is and always must be +a figment of the imagination. This is the essential feature of any +ideal. The ideal man, for example, must possess an infinite number of +superlative characteristics. We take this virtue from one, and that from +another, and so on indefinitely until we have constructed in imagination +a paragon, the counterpart of which could never exist on earth. He would +have all the virtues of all the heroes; but he would lack all their +defects and all their inadequacies. He would have the manners of a +Chesterfield, the courage of a Winkelried, the imagination of a Dante, +the eloquence of a Cicero, the wit of a Voltaire, the intuitions of a +Shakespeare, the magnetism of a Napoleon, the patriotism of a +Washington, the loyalty of a Bismarck, the humanity of a Lincoln, and a +hundred other qualities, each the counterpart of some superlative +quality, drawn from the historic figure that represented that quality in +richest measure. + +And so it is with the ideal teacher: he would combine, in the right +proportion, all of the good qualities of all of the good teachers that +we have ever known or heard of. The ideal teacher is and always must be +a creature, not of flesh and blood, but of the imagination, a child of +the brain. And perhaps it is well that this is true; for, if he existed +in the flesh, it would not take very many of him to put the rest of us +out of business. The relentless law of compensation, which rules that +unusual growth in one direction must always be counterbalanced by +deficient growth in another direction, is the saving principle of human +society. That a man should be superlatively good in one single line of +effort is the demand of modern life. It is a platitude to say that this +is the age of the specialist. But specialism, while it always means a +gain to society, also always means a loss to the individual. Darwin, at +the age of forty, suddenly awoke to the fact that he was a man of one +idea. Twenty years before, he had been a youth of the most varied and +diverse interests. He had enjoyed music, he had found delight in the +masterpieces of imaginative literature, he had felt a keen interest in +the drama, in poetry, in the fine arts. But at forty Darwin quite by +accident discovered that these things had not attracted him for +years,--that every increment of his time and energy was concentrated in +a constantly increasing measure upon the unraveling of that great +problem to which he had set himself. And he lamented bitterly the loss +of these other interests; he wondered why he had been so thoughtless as +to let them slip from his grasp. It was the same old story of human +progress; the sacrifice of the individual to the race. For Darwin's loss +was the world's gain, and if he had not limited himself to one line of +effort, and given himself up to that work to the exclusion of everything +else, the world might still be waiting for the _Origin of Species_, and +the revolution in human thought and human life which followed in the +wake of that great book. Carlyle defined genius as an infinite capacity +for taking pains. George Eliot characterized it as an infinite capacity +for receiving discipline. But to make the definition complete, we need +the formulation of Goethe, who identified genius with the power of +concentration: "Who would be great must limit his ambitions; in +concentration is shown the Master." + +And so the great men of history, from the very fact of their genius, are +apt not to correspond with what our ideal of greatness demands. Indeed, +our ideal is often more nearly realized in men who fall far short of +genius. When I studied chemistry, the instructor burned a bit of diamond +to prove to us that the diamond was, after all, only carbon in an +"allotropic" form. There seems to be a similar allotropy working in +human nature. Some men seem to have all the constituents of genius, but +they never reach very far above the plane of the commonplace. They are +like the diamond,--except that they are more like the charcoal. + +I wish to describe to you a teacher who was not a genius, and yet who +possessed certain qualities that I should abstract and appropriate if I +were to construct in my imagination an ideal teacher. I first met this +man five years ago out in the mountain country. I can recall the +occasion with the most vivid distinctness. It was a sparkling morning, +in middle May. The valley was just beginning to green a little under +the influence of the lengthening days, but on the surrounding mountains +the snow line still hung low. I had just settled down to my morning's +work when word was brought that a visitor wished to see me, and a moment +later he was shown into the office. He was tall and straight, with +square shoulders and a deep chest. His hair was gray, and a rather long +white beard added to the effect of age, but detracted not an iota from +the evidences of strength and vigor. He had the look of a Westerner,--of +a man who had lived much of his life in the open. There was a ruggedness +about him, a sturdy strength that told of many a day's toil along the +trail, and many a night's sleep under the stars. + +In a few words he stated the purpose of his visit. He simply wished to +do what half a hundred others in the course of the year had entered that +office for the purpose of doing. He wished to enroll as a student in the +college and to prepare himself for a teacher. This was not ordinarily a +startling request, but hitherto it had been made only by those who were +just starting out on the highroad of life. Here was a man advanced in +years. He told me that he was sixty-five, and sixty-five in that country +meant old age; for the region had but recently been settled, and most of +the people were either young or middle-aged. The only old men in the +country were the few surviving pioneers,--men who had come in away back +in the early days of the mining fever, long before the advent of the +railroad. They had trekked across the plains from Omaha, and up through +the mountainous passes of the Oregon trail; or, a little later, they had +come by steamboat from St. Louis up the twelve-hundred-mile stretch of +the Missouri until their progress had been stopped by the Great Falls in +the very foothills of the Rockies. What heroes were these graybeards of +the mountains! What possibilities in knowing them, of listening to the +recounting of tales of the early days,--of running fights with the +Indians on the plains, of ambushments by desperadoes in the mountain +passes, of the lurid life of the early mining camps, and the desperate +deeds of the Vigilantes! And here, before me, was a man of that type. +You could read the main facts of his history in the very lines of his +face. And this man--one of that small band whom the whole country united +to honor--this man wanted to become a student,--to sit among adolescent +boys and girls, listening to the lectures and discussions of instructors +who were babes in arms when he was a man of middle life. + +But there was no doubt of his determination. With the eagerness of a +boy, he outlined his plan to me; and in doing this, he told me the story +of his life,--just the barest facts to let me know that he was not a man +to do things half-heartedly, or to drop a project until he had carried +it through either to a successful issue, or to indisputable defeat. + +And what a life that man had lived! He had been a youth of promise, +keen of intelligence and quick of wit. He had spent two years at a +college in the Middle West back in the early sixties. He had left his +course uncompleted to enter the army, and he had followed the fortunes +of war through the latter part of the great rebellion. At the close of +the war he went West. He farmed in Kansas until the drought and the +grasshoppers urged him on. He joined the first surveying party that +picked out the line of the transcontinental railroad that was to follow +the southern route along the old Santa Fe trail. He carried the chain +and worked the transit across the Rockies, across the desert, across the +Sierras, until, with his companions, he had-- + + "led the iron stallions down to drink + Through the canons to the waters of the West." + +And when this task was accomplished, he followed the lure of the gold +through the California placers; eastward again over the mountains to the +booming Nevada camp, where the Comstock lode was already turning out the +wealth that was to build a half-dozen colossal fortunes. He "prospected" +through this country, with varying success, living the life of the +camps,--rich in its experiences, vivid in its coloring, calling forth +every item of energy and courage and hardihood that a man could command. +Then word came by that mysterious wireless and keyless telegraphy of the +mountains and the desert,--word that back to the eastward, ore deposits +of untold wealth had been discovered. So eastward once more, with the +stampede of the miners, he turned his face. He was successful at the +outset in this new region. He quickly accumulated a fortune; he lost it +and amassed another; lost that and still gained a third. Five successive +fortunes he made successively, and successively he lost them. But during +this time he had become a man of power and influence in the community. +He married and raised a family and saw his children comfortably settled. + +But when his last fortune was swept away, the old _Wanderlust_ again +claimed its own. Houses and lands and mortgages and mills and mines had +slipped from his grasp. But it mattered little. He had only himself to +care for, and, with pick and pan strapped to his saddlebow, he set his +face westward. Along the ridges of the high Rockies, through Wyoming and +Montana, he wandered, ever on the lookout for the glint of gold in the +white quartz. Little by little he moved westward, picking up a +sufficient living, until he found himself one winter shut in by the +snows in a remote valley on the upper waters of the Gallatin River. He +stopped one night at a lonely ranch house. In the course of the evening +his host told him of a catastrophe that had befallen the widely +scattered inhabitants of that remote valley. The teacher of the district +school had fallen sick, and there was little likelihood of their getting +another until spring. + +That is a true catastrophe to the ranchers of the high valleys cut off +from every line of communication with the outer world. For the +opportunities of education are highly valued in that part of the West. +They are reckoned with bread and horses and cattle and sheep, as among +the necessities of life. The children were crying for school, and their +parents could not satisfy that peculiar kind of hunger. But here was the +relief. This wanderer who had arrived in their midst was a man of parts. +He was lettered; he was educated. Would he do them the favor of teaching +their children until the snow had melted away from the ridges, and his +cayuse could pick the trail through the canons? + +Now school-keeping was farthest from this man's thoughts. But the needs +of little children were very near to his heart. He accepted the offer, +and entered the log schoolhouse as the district schoolmaster, while a +handful of pupils, numbering all the children of the community who could +ride a broncho, came five, ten, and even fifteen miles daily, through +the winter's snows and storms and cruel cold, to pick up the crumbs of +learning that had lain so long untouched. + +What happened in that lonely little school, far off on the Gallatin +bench, I never rightly discovered. But when spring opened up, the master +sold his cayuse and his pick and his rifle and the other implements of +his trade. With the earnings of the winter he made his way to the school +that the state had established for the training of teachers; and I count +it as one of the privileges of my life that I was the first official of +that school to listen to his story and to welcome him to the vocation +that he had chosen to follow. + +And yet, when I looked at his face, drawn into lines of strength by +years of battle with the elements; when I looked at the clear, blue +eyes, that told of a far cleaner life than is lived by one in a thousand +of those that hold the frontiers of civilization; when I caught an +expression about the mouth that told of an innate humanity far beyond +the power of worldly losses or misfortunes to crush and subdue, I could +not keep from my lips the words that gave substance to my thought; and +the thought was this: that it were far better if we who were supposed to +be competent to the task of education should sit reverently at the feet +of this man, than that we should presume to instruct him. For knowledge +may come from books, and even youth may possess it, but wisdom comes +only from experience, and this man had that wisdom in far greater +measure than we of books and laboratories and classrooms could ever hope +to have it. He had lived years while we were living days. + +I thought of a learned scholar who, through patient labor in amassing +facts, had demonstrated the influence of the frontier in the development +of our national ideals; who had pointed out how, at each successive +stage of American history, the heroes of the frontier, pushing farther +and farther into the wilderness, conquering first the low coastal plain +of the Atlantic seaboard, then the forested foothills and ridges of the +Appalachians, had finally penetrated into the Mississippi Valley, and, +subduing that, had followed on westward to the prairies, and then to the +great plains, and then clear across the great divide, the alkali +deserts, and the Sierras, to California and the Pacific Coast; how these +frontiersmen, at every stage of our history, had sent back wave after +wave of strength and virility to keep alive the sturdy ideals of toil +and effort and independence,--ideals that would counteract the mellowing +and softening and degenerating influences of the hothouse civilization +that grew up so rapidly in the successive regions that they left behind. +Turner's theory that most of what is typical and unique in American +institutions and ideals owes its existence to the backset of the +frontier life found a living exemplar in the man who stood before me on +that May morning. + +But he would not be discouraged from his purpose. He had made up his +mind to complete the course that the school offered; to take up the +thread of his education at the point where he had dropped it more than +forty years before. He had made up his mind, and it was easy to see that +he was not a man to be deterred from a set purpose. + +I shall not hide the fact that some of us were skeptical of the outcome. +That a man of sixty-five should have a thirst for learning was not +remarkable. But that a man whose life had been spent in scenes of +excitement, who had been associated with deeds and events that stir the +blood when we read of them to-day, a man who had lived almost every +moment of his life in the open,--that such a man could settle down to +the uneventful life of a student and a teacher, could shut himself up +within the four walls of a classroom, could find anything to inspire and +hold him in the dull presentation of facts or the dry elucidation of +theories,--this seemed to be a miracle not to be expected in this +realistic age. But, miracle or not, the thing actually happened. He +remained nearly four years in the school, earning his living by work +that he did in the intervals of study, and doing it so well that, when +he graduated, he had not only his education and the diploma which stood +for it, but also a bank account. + +He lived in a little cabin by himself, for he wished to be where he +would not disturb others when he sang or whistled over his work in the +small hours of the night. But his meals he took at the college +dormitory, where he presided at a table of young women students. Never +was a man more popular with the ladies than this weather-beaten +patriarch with the girls of his table. No matter how gloomy the day +might be, one could always find sunshine from that quarter. No matter +how grievous the troubles of work, there was always a bit of cheerful +optimism from a man who had tasted almost every joy and sorrow that life +had to offer. If one were in a blue funk of dejection because of failure +in a class, he would lend the sympathy that came from his own rich +experience in failures,--not only past but present, for some things that +come easy at sixteen come hard at sixty-five, and this man who would +accept no favors had to fight his way through "flunks" and "goose-eggs" +like the younger members of the class. And even with it all so complete +an embodiment of hope and courage and wholesome light-heartedness would +be hard to find. He was an optimist because he had learned long since +that anything but optimism is a crime; and learning this in early life, +optimism had become a deeply seated and ineradicable prejudice in his +mind. He could not have been gloomy if he had tried. + +And so this man fought his way through science and mathematics and +philosophy, slowly but surely, just as he had fought inch by inch and +link by link, across the Arizona desert years before. It was a much +harder fight, for all the force of lifelong habit, than which there is +none other so powerful, was against him from the start. And now came the +human temptation to be off on the old trail, to saddle his horse and get +a pick and a pan and make off across the western range to the golden +land that always lies just under the sunset. How often that turbulent +_Wanderlust_ seized him, I can only conjecture. But I know the spirit of +the wanderer was always strong within him. He could say, with Kipling's +_Tramp Royal_: + + "It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world, + Which you can read and care for just so long, + But presently you feel that you will die + Unless you get the page you're reading done, + An' turn another--likely not so good; + But what you're after is to turn them all." + +And I knew that he fought that temptation over and over again; for that +little experience out on the Gallatin bench had only partially turned +his life from the channels of wandering, although it had bereft him of +the old desire to seek for gold. Often he outlined to me a +well-formulated plan; perhaps he had to tell some one, lest the fever +should take too strong a hold upon him, and force his surrender. His +plan was this: He would teach a term here and there, gradually working +his way westward, always toward the remote corners of the earth into +which his roving instinct seemed unerringly to lead him. Alaska, Hawaii, +and the Philippines seemed easy enough to access; surely, he thought, +teachers must be needed in all those regions. And when he should have +turned these pages, he might have mastered his vocation in a degree +sufficient to warrant his attempting an alien soil. Then he would sail +away into the South Seas, with New Zealand and Australia as a base. And +gradually moving westward through English-speaking settlements and +colonies he would finally complete the circuit of the globe. + +And the full fruition of that plan might have formed a fitting climax to +my tale, were I telling it for the sake of its romance; but my purpose +demands a different conclusion. My hero is now principal of schools in a +little city of the mountains,--a city so tiny that its name would be +unknown to most of you. And I have heard vague rumors that he is rising +rapidly in his profession and that the community he serves will not +listen to anything but a permanent tenure of his office. All of which +seems to indicate to me that he has abandoned, for the while at least, +his intention to turn quite all the pages of the world's great book, and +is content to live true to the ideal that was born in the log +schoolhouse--the conviction that the true life is the life of service, +and that the love of wandering and the lure of gold are only siren calls +that lead one always toward, but never to, the promised land of dreams +that seems to lie just over the western range where the pink sunset +stands sharp against the purple shadows. + +The ending of my story is prosaic, but everything in this world is +prosaic, unless you view it either in the perspective of time or space, +or in the contrasts that bring out the high lights and deepen the +shadows. + +But if I have left my hero happily married to his profession, the +courtship and winning of which formed the theme of my tale, I may be +permitted to indulge in a very little moralizing of a rather more +explicit sort than I have yet attempted. + +It is a simple matter to construct in imagination an ideal teacher. Mix +with immortal youth and abounding health, a maximal degree of knowledge +and a maximal degree of experience, add perfect tact, the spirit of true +service, the most perfect patience, and the most steadfast persistence; +place in the crucible of some good normal school; stir in twenty weeks +of standard psychology, ten weeks of general method, and varying +amounts of patent compounds known as special methods, all warranted pure +and without drugs or poison; sweeten with a little music, toughen with +fifteen weeks of logic, bring to a slow boil in the practice school, +and, while still sizzling, turn loose on a cold world. The formula is +simple and complete, but like many another good recipe, a competent cook +might find it hard to follow when she is short of butter and must +shamefully skimp on the eggs. + +Now the man whose history I have recounted represents the most priceless +qualities of this formula. In the first place he possessed that quality +the key to which the philosophers of all ages have sought in vain,--he +had solved the problem of eternal youth. At the age of sixty-five his +enthusiasm was the enthusiasm of an adolescent. His energy was the +energy of an adolescent. Despite his gray hair and white beard, his mind +was perennially young. And that is the only type of mind that ought to +be concerned with the work of education. I sometimes think that one of +the advantages of a practice school lies in the fact that the teachers +who have direct charge of the pupils--whatever may be their +limitations--have at least the virtue of youth, the virtue of being +young. If they could only learn from my hero the art of keeping young, +of keeping the mind fresh and vigorous and open to whatever is good and +true, no matter how novel a form it may take, they might, like him, +preserve their youth indefinitely. And I think that his life gives us +one clew to the secret,--to keep as close as we can to nature, for +nature is always young; to sing and to whistle when we would rather +weep; to cheer and comfort when we would rather crush and dishearten; +often to dare something just for the sake of daring, for to be young is +to dare; and always to wonder, for that is the prime symptom of youth, +and when a man ceases to wonder, age and decrepitude are waiting for him +around the next corner. + +It is the privilege of the teaching craft to represent more adequately +than any other calling the conditions for remaining young. There is time +for living out-of-doors, which some of us, alas! do not do. And youth, +with its high hope and lofty ambition, with its resolute daring and its +naive wonder, surrounds us on every side. And yet how rapidly some of us +age! How quickly life seems to lose its zest! How completely are we +blind to the opportunities that are on every hand! + +And closely related to this virtue of being always young, in fact +growing out of it, the ideal teacher will have, as my hero had, the gift +of gladness,--that joy of living which takes life for granted and +proposes to make the most of every moment of consciousness that it +brings. + +And finally, to balance these qualities, to keep them in leash, the +ideal teacher should possess that spirit of service, that conviction +that the life of service is the only life worth while--that conviction +for which my hero struggled so long and against such tremendous odds. +The spirit of service must always be the cornerstone of the teaching +craft. To know that any life which does not provide the opportunities +for service is not worth the living, and that any life, however humble, +that does provide these opportunities is rich beyond the reach of +earthly rewards,--this is the first lesson that the tyro in schoolcraft +must learn, be he sixteen or sixty-five. + +And just as youth and hope and the gift of gladness are the eternal +verities on one side of the picture, so the spirit of service, the +spirit of sacrifice, is the eternal verity that forms their true +complement; without whose compensation, hope were but idle dreaming, and +laughter a hollow mockery. And self-denial, which is the keynote of +service, is the great sobering, justifying, eternal factor that +symbolizes humanity more perfectly than anything else. In the +introduction to _Romola_, George Eliot pictures a spirit of the past who +returns to earth four hundred years after his death, and looks down upon +his native city of Florence. And I can conclude with no better words +than those in which George Eliot voices her advice to that shade: + + "Go not down, good Spirit: for the changes are great and the speech + of the Florentines would sound as a riddle in your ears. Or, if you + go, mingle with no politicians on the marmi, or elsewhere; ask no + questions about trade in Calimara; confuse yourself with no + inquiries into scholarship, official or monastic. Only look at the + sunlight and shadows on the grand walls that were built solidly and + have endured in their grandeur; look at the faces of the little + children, making another sunlight amid the shadows of age; look, if + you will, into the churches and hear the same chants, see the same + images as of old--the images of willing anguish for a great end, + of beneficent love and ascending glory, see upturned living faces, + and lips moving to the old prayers for help. These things have not + changed. The sunlight and the shadows bring their old beauty and + waken the old heart-strains at morning, noon, and even-tide; the + little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage + between love and duty; and men still yearn for the reign of peace + and righteousness--still own that life to be the best which is a + conscious voluntary sacrifice." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 19: An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New +York, State Normal School, February, 1908.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING*** + + +******* This file should be named 16987.txt or 16987.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/8/16987 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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