The record-union., 1897-06-27
1.-THE LOCK-STEP OF THE PUBLIC
SCHOOIS,,,

A paper in the Atlantic Monthly for
June by VIM. ]. Shearer, under the title
1.-The Lock SteD in the Public Schools, "
has awakened a great deal of interest,
and this has been intensified by the is
suance of a letter by Mr.. Shearer, in
which he refers anew to his essay and
fortifies it by testimony of many edu-
Gators. The author of the paper is the
Superintendent of the Public School of
Elizabeth, New jersey, where his new
plan Of grading has been in operation for
some years. We are favored with doc
uments from educators and officials of
that city testifying that to this date
the new system has been entirely sue
cessful.
We shall not at this time do more than
present an outline of Mr. Shearer's plan,
as set out in his essay and in the letters
he has addressed to the press. The sub
ject is one of such high interest that
analysis of the new scheme must be re-
served for distinct treatment. 1t is,
however, timely to say that we have
information that some of the leading
educators of this State warmly espouse
the new idea, and in official educational
quarters it has strong friends. Indeed,
one leading member of the State Edu-
cational Department tells us that
long prior to the issuance of the Shearer
letters the subject had attention in CAL
ifornia, and was matter of grave and
anxious debate among teachers of youth.
Superintendent Shearer claims that
the present method of grading in the
public schools is mediaeval, differing to-
day but little from the system of the
first graded school founded by Strum
$50 years ago. In ungraded schools SO
far as can be done, the instruction has
been suited to the individual, and this
is a. correct method. But in the graded
school there is yielded the greatest good
to the greatest number, in the least time,
at least expense, but it does not very
often provide for the individual diff
ferences of the pupils--it is not, in
SAOIN, SQIHCtGHllS u6AlDie.
The course of study being divided ar
bitrarily into grades usually a year
apart the work is laid out either for
bright, slow or average pupils. If for
the bright the rest are dragged over
work they cannot understand; if for the
slow there is manifest injustice to those
capable of greater rapidity, and habits
of Incidence and inattention are thus en-
ceuraged. The largest portion of grad
ing is for the average pupils, but this
neglects the individual pupil. of soul
and life. and his or her infinite possibili-
ties. Then at a certain season all are
subjected to a useless examination.
which the lucky ones pass while the
others lose a year or leave school.
This. Mr.. Shearer holds, is a lock-step,
chain gang system, and accounts for the
small percentage who finish a complete
school course. Under the present system
the brightest cannot gain time, and if
any but the brightest are absent for a
short time they are unable to pass to the
advanced work. Not more than one per
cent. of pupils in the schools can sue
cessfully skip the work of whole year,
and about 80 per cent. fail to be pro-
NOTED. The large majority of these do
not return. He finds the loss of time by
pupils to be so great that 50 per cent
lose from one to four years. This loss
Is inevitable when the teacher is forced
10 forget that the class is composed of
fifty individuals and to think only OF
all reaching a certain place by a certain
time
With these facts before him, and ex-
pressed dissatisfaction with the pres
ent system common, he set out to
evolve a better method, and in doing
SO visited the schools in fifty cities, ex-
amined many courses OF study, and
corresponded with educators widely.
He examined the seni-annual promo
ton plan, the scheme of an ungraded
room in each school, and other tried
methods. Settling upon the plan about
to be explained, he secured its trial
in the schools Of three cities, under