The record-union., 1897-02-22
CONTRIBUTION TO PEDAGOGY.
DR.. Rice's Investigations of Educa
tiOnaI Systems,

III LIS perhaps TOO early 20 give a COR
rect estimate of the value of the re-
searches made by Dr. j. NJ. Rice. in the
past two years, under the auspices of
The Forum" as THE two articles pub
lished thus far indicate the lines on
which his Investigations were conduct
ed only in "a very general way One
thing, however, is brought out very
clearly, particularly in the January ar
ticle, and that is that DR. Rice is not
concerned about the examination of
pedagogical foundation principles,
but that he addresses himself rather to
Intelligent laymen, in and out of school,
Who are opposed to the enrichment of
the elementary curriculum on the
ground that there is no time for amy
thing outside of the teaching of the
three RS, OF in other words he at
tackS the still very common delusion
that the elementary school must con-
fine itself strictly to what tradition has
stamped ais essentials" Judged from
this view DIR. Rice's contrt button to the
advancement of public educa ton can
not but impress professional educators
as highly important and productive of
great good for the schools.
er will be delighted to see how DR. Rice
handles the Old fogies who believe they
are combining themselves to the truly
useful things in education, when they
follow the lines of the course of study
as laid down by tradition. He shows
what "a tremendous amount of time is
wasted in the teaching of unnecessary
details in branches otherwise quite use
full, and suggests that by rational
method of elimination the equivalent
of more than four years might be saw
ed. (which might then be utilized to-
ward enTIiching the course of study"
Here we have the central Thought of
the whole series of articles.
DIR. Rice is evidently aiming a t three
things: he wants to show % that con-
finement to the narrow curriculum of
the old mechanical school means to
''needleSsly condemn the child to a life
of drudgsry, and deprive him of ele-
waiting Influences" CD that in instltu
lions with broad cuT1icula the results
pertaining to the conventional side of
schooling need not be any less good
than in those who labor for nothing
else: 90 that the problems most in need
of attention at the present time
are (a) how to harmoniZe the objects of
the school with the demands of civli-
za'tioq1. (b) What 10 es1inlinla te from the
elem entary school curriculum, (c) how
TO ec-onlornize time in teaching.
DR.. Rice proposes that committees
to be appointed by the National Edu-
c,aitfonal Association should continue
the work he has begun in outlining this
method of clearing the course of study
ait lesast of those matters that have no
better reason for their retainrnent than
that they were handed down by ira
dttion He would also have the Ma
.hional Government aid this enterprise
by a special appropriation placed at
the disposal of THE National Eduaa tion-
al Association There is no reason why
tris should not be done. 1t certainly
ia "a matter of pressing Importance,
and it is simply impossible for one man
+o do the work alone. In fact, the in
vestiga lions made by DIR. Rice at his
own expense and with the aid of THE
Forum are such as the United States
Government or individual States ought
to support as readily as they do the
collecting of statistics in other fields
Ossian H. Lang in The School Journal.