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schools, or between grammar schools and high schools, have no philosophical founda tion, and are likely to be profoundly modified, if they do not altogether pass away. In the same sense, I believe that the formal distinction between college work and university work is likely to disappear, although the distinction between liberal edu-. cation and technical or professional education is sure to endure. I have never yet seen in any college or university a method of instruction which was too good for an elementary or a secondary school. The alert, inspiring, winning, commanding teacher is just the same rare and admirable person in school and in college. There is, to be sure, one important element of university work which schools and colleges can not participate in-namely, the element of original investigation-but although this element is of high importance, and qualifies, or flavors, a considerable part of university work, there remains in all large universities, and particularly in those which make much of professional training, an immense body of purely disciplinary work, all of which is, or should be, conducted on principles and by methods which apply throughout the whole course of education. When it is a question how best to teach a given subject, the chances are that college or scientific school teachers of that subject can help school teachers, and that school teachers can help college teachers. Moreover, it is important that each should know what the other does. I have observed, too, that, even when neither party is ready to venture on affirmative coun sel, each is pretty well prepared to tell the other what not to do. Such negative connsel is often very useful.

On the whole, the greatest promise of usefulness which I see in the report of the committee of ten lies in its obvious tendency to promote cooperation among school and college teachers and all other persons intelligently interested in education, for the advancement of well-marked and comprehensive educational reforms.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TEN.

By JAMES H. BAKER, President of the University of Colorado.

HISTORY.

In a report on requirements for admission to college, made to the National Council of Education in 1891, the following recommendation appeared:

"That a committee be appointed by this council to select a dozen universities and colleges and a dozen high and preparatory schools to be represented in a convention to consider the problems of secondary and higher education.”

In accordance with the recommendation the committee making the report, of which the writer was chairman, was authorized to call a meeting of representatives of leading educational institutions at Saratoga in 1892. Invitations were issued and some 30 delegates responded. After a three days' session a plan was formulated which was adopted by the National Council. The committee of ten thus appointed and charged with the duty of conducting an investigation of secondary school studies held its first meeting in New York City in November, 1893. The committee arranged for nine subcommittees or conferences, each to consider a principal subject of high school courses, and submitted to them definito inquiries. Each conference was composed of prominent instructors in the particular subject assigned. The inquiries covered such points as place of beginning the study, time to be given, selection of topics, advisability of difference in treatment for pupils going to college and for those who finish with the high school, methods, etc. The reports of these conferences in printed form, together with a summary of the recommendations, were in the hands of the committee of ten at their second meeting in New York, November, 1893. The report of the committee of ten, including the conference reports, through the good offices of the Commissioner of Education, was published by the Government, and it has now been before the country for some months.

ED 93-93

GENERAL COMMENTS.

The manner of investigation took a somewhat different turn from what was anticipated when the original report, which led to the undertaking, was made, but I do not doubt the wisdom of the plan finally adopted. The committee is confident that it would be difficult to find groups of men in America better fitted than the members of the conferences to discuss the specific subjects assigned them, and their recommendations as to choice of matter, the time element, place in the curriculum, and the best methods constitute a most valuable contribution to the educational literature of the period. In the main they represent the best thought of practical educators. It is not my purpose to enter into a discussion of the details of these conference reports. Each report, and in many instances each part of the report, is in itself a large theme. The summary of results and the recommendation of the committee of ten will occupy the time allotted me.

It was expected that the report as a whole would excite much discussion and invite extensive criticism; and if no other result is attained than the sharpening of wits in controversy, the existence of the report has sufficient warrant.

It is impossible to say of any opinions that they are final and of any methods that they are the best. Some hold that the eternal verities are to be discovered in the consciousness of the few geniuses, and that obtaining a consensus of opinion is not the way to reach wise conclusions. If we are Hegelian in our philosophy of history, we shall hold to the law of development, shall believe that each stage of thought is a necessary one, that the best light is obtained by the historic method, and that the highest evolution of thought is to be found in the belief and practice of the advanced representatives of any line of investigation. The work of the conferences was to correlate the parts of cach subject by the method of applying reason to history; it was the work of the committee proper to correlate these results by the same method. Whether the committee was large and varied enough to represent all sides is to be decided by the discussions of those best fitted to form opinions.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS.

After a careful review of the work of our committee I venture to make a formal list of opinions presented, most of which I think should be heartily indorsed, reserving till later the discussion of a few of them.

(1) That work in many secondary school studies should be begun earlier.

(2) That each subject should be made to help every other, as, for example, history should contribute to the study of English, and natural history should be correlated with language, drawing, literature, and geography.

(3) That every subject should be taught in the same way, whether in preparation for college or as part of a finishing course.

(4) That more highly trained teachers are needed, especially for subjects.that are receiving increased attention, as the various sciences and history.

(5) That in all scientific subjects laboratory work should be extended and improved.

(6) That for some studies special instructors should be employed to guide the work of teachers in elementary and secondary schools.

(7) That all pupils should pursue a given subject in the same way and to the same extent as long as they study it at all.

(8) That every study should be made a serious subject of instruction, and should cultivate the pupil's powers of observation, memory, expression, and reasoning.

(9) That the choice between the classical course and the Latin-scientific course should be postponed as long as possible, until the taste and power of the pupil have been tested and he has been able to determine his future aim.

(10) That twenty periods per week should be adopted as the standard, providing that five of these periods be given to unprepared work.

(11) That parallel programmes should be identical in as many of their parts as possible.

(12) That drawing should be largely employed in connection with most of the studies.

(13) The omission of industrial and commercial subjects. This is mentioned without comment.

(14) That more fieldwork should be required for certain sciences.

(15) The desirability of uniformity; not definitely recommended in the report. (16) That the function of the high schools should be to prepare for the duties of life as well as to fit for college.

(17) That colleges and scientific schools should accept any one of the courses of study as preparation for admission.

(18) That a good course in English should be required of all pupils entering college.

(19) That many teachers should employ various means for better preparation, such as summer schools, special courses of instruction given by college professors, and instruction of school superintendents, principals of high schools, or specially equipped teachers.

(20) That the colleges should take a larger interest in secondary and elementary schools.

(21) That technological and professional schools should require for admission a complete secondary school education.

(22) That each study pursued should be given continuous time adequate to securing from it good results.

The points of the report which I should question are as follows:

(1) That Latin should be begun much earlier than now. recommendation.)

(This is a conference

(2) That English should be given as much time as Latin. (Conference recommendation.)

(3) The large number of science subjects recommended, with loss of adequate time for each.

(4) The omission of a careful analysis of the value of each subject, absolute and relative, preparatory to tabulating courses.

(5) The apparent implication that the multiplying of courses is advisable. (6) The implications that the choice of subjects by the pupils may be a matter of comparative indifference-the doctrine of equivalence of studies.

(7) Some parts of the model programmes made by the committee.

BEGINNING CERTAIN STUDIES EARLIER.

An examination of tabulated results of the investigations of the conferences will show that in their opinion the following studies should be begun below the high school:

English literature.

German or French.

Elementary algebra and concrete geometry.

Natural phenomena.

Natural history.

Biography and mythology, civil government, and Greek and Roman history.
Physical geography.

There has been much discussion within a few years as to improvements in elementary courses of study, with, I believe, a growing tendency toward important modifications. Rigid and mechanical methods and an exaggerated notion of thoroughness in every detail have often become a hindrance to the progress of the pupils in elementary schools. The mind of the child is susceptible of a more mature development at the age of 14 than is usually attained. There are numerous exam

ples of pupils in graded schools, who, with very limited schoo. terms, prepare for the high school at the age of 14. Under the guidance of painstaking and intelligent parents or private tutors, children cover in a very brief time the studies of the grammar school. All have noted, under favoring conditions, a surprising development at an early age in understanding of history, literature, and common phenomena, a growth far beyond that reached at the same age in the schools. These facts simply show the possibilities of the period of elementary education. We understand that ultimately those best prepared to judge must determine the modifications, if any are needed, of the elementary courses. Some say the courses are already overcrowded, it is impossible to add anything. Is it not true, however, that by placing less stress upon a few things, by arousing mental activity through the stimulus of the scientific method, and by improving the skill of the teachers, the work suggested by these conferences may be easily accomplished? All these experiments are already old in many schools in the country.

Consider the logical order of studies. Each child, almost from the dawn of consciousness, recognizes relations of number and space, observes phenomena, and draws crude inferences, records in his mind the daily deeds of his associates, and employs language to express his thought, often with large use of imagination. Already has begun the spontaneous development in mathematics, science, history, and literature. Nature points the way and we should follow the direction. These subjects in their various forms should be pursued from the first. Hill's True Order of Studies shows that there are some five parallel, upward-running lines representing the divisions of knowledge, and that development may be compared to the encircling onward movement of a spiral which at each turn cuts off a portion of all the lines. If we accept this view, we must grant that geometry on its concrete side belongs to the carliest period of education; that the observation of natural phenomena with simple inferences will be a most attractive study to the child; that the importance of observation of objects of natural history is foreshadowed by the spontaneous interest taken in them before the school period; that tales of ancient heroes, and the pleasing myths of antiquity, together with the striking characters and incidents of Greek and Roman history, belong to the early period of historic knowledge; that the whole world of substance and phenomena that constitutes our environment should be the subject of study under the head of physiography or physical geography; that the thoughts of literature, ethical and imaginative, appeal readily to the child's mind. We may add that the taste of children may be early cultivated and that the glory which the child discovers in nature makes possible the art idea and the religions sentiment. The reason for beginning a foreign language early is somewhat independent, but all agree that early study of a living language is

desirable.

Should we not reconsider our analysis of the elementary courses? Superintendents and teachers will find the necessary changes not impossible, but easy. The sum of all that is recommended for the elementary schools by the conferences is not so formidable as at first appears.

IDENTITY OF INSTRUCTION.

The relation of the mind to a study is determined by the nature of the mind and the nature of the study, and there seems to be no reason in psychology why a college preparatory subject should be taught differently to one fitting for the duties of life. Besides, it is economy to make identical the work of different courses as far as possible. There was perfect unanimity in the opinion that the same studies should be pursued by all in the same way as far as taken.

BETTER TEACHERS.

Everyone knows that many teachers are unskilled to present in the elementary schools the beginnings of geometry, science, history, or literature, and that the failures in this work are due to the mechanical efforts of those who have had no higher

or special training. The demands of present methods are imperative for improved power in instruction. Science is well taught in but a few schools. I have seen within a few months a school which taught biology from a manual without specimen, microscope, or illustrations. It was a humiliating confession of the committee that the classical course is superior, for the reason that it is difficult to find enough instructors competent to teach modern subjects by modern methods.

POSTPONING CHOICE OF courses.

A very important principle recognized by the committee is the advantage of postponing the necessity of making a final choice of courses as long as possible. In this country we have no fixed conditions of rank, and the poor man's son has the same privileges as the sons of men of position and wealth. Hence, the station in life is not determined by the differentiation in courses at an early period. Very few parents decide upon the final character of the children's instruction much before the beginning of the college period.

For these reasons I would not agree with the conference recommendation to begin Latin at an earlier period. It would not be cconomy; there is enough else that belongs to the elementary stage of education, and I would not recommend a plan that is founded upon the foreign view of caste and fixed condition in life.

UNIFORMITY.

Uniformity in requirements for admission to college was the subject of the report that finally led to this investigation. Although uniformity is not prominently urged in the report of the committee of ten, I think that the logical outcome of the latter report will be a tendency toward uniformity. There is a vigorous conflict of opinion to-day as to nationalism and individualism, with a strong tendency, especially in education, toward individualism. In my judgment there exists a harmful slavery of the high and preparatory schools to the erratic and varied demands of different colleges, and also a slavery to ignorance and caprice in some schools themselves, which would be removed by a general agreement to uniformity. Men are not enslaved, but are emancipated, by organization, and freedom of the individual is found in the good order of society and government. In a facetious criticism of the committee's report by a man with whom I have had many a friendly tilt, I read the following. The writer is arguing for extremo individualism in choice of studies: "Please tell us if you and your colleagues on the conference considered any methods for the encouragement of cranks." No; for the encouragement neither of cranks nor of crankiness, but for the encouragement of the best kind of rational education. While there are a few wise, independent investigators who need no enforced uniformity and will not be bound by the recommendations of others, nine-tenths of the schools are largely imitators, or, worse, are working independently with limited insight, and this nine-tenths would be vastly improved by adopting courses and methods growing from a consensus of the best opinions of the country. The lowest would thereby tend to rise to the highest and from that plane a new advance could be made. Meantime the original thinkers would be free to push forward toward higher results to be generally adopted later. Through contact of various ideas some principles are settled, and the world is free to move on toward fresh discovery.

The selection of studies is to be determined largely by the nature of the mind and the universal character of natural and civil environments, and this fact points toward the possibility of uniformity. The period of secondary education is not the period for specializing, and even if it is there should be some uniformity in differentiation. In the United States there is a general uniformity of tradition of government, of civilization, and the educated youth of San Francisco bears about the same relation to the world as the educated youth of Boston; hence, so far as elementary and secondary education is pursued, there is no reason why it should not be substantially the same in various schools, not in details belonging to the individual teacher, but

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