The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-28
The Elective System.

An article In the current number Of the
Atlantic Monthly contains some refiec-
lions on the much discussed question of
the elective system in education. The ar
ticle is entitled Some old-Fashioned
Doubts About New Fashioned Education"
Some OF these doubts are very reason
able. One is, whether the elective sys-
TEN is not being carried too far down.
into the grammar schools, and even into
the primary grades. Another Is, whether
in the eagerness of the modern educator
to make studies enjoyable, he is not re-
moving the discipline which comes from
study that is recognized as such. and not
presented as game.
1t is possible that the child Of today is
treated too deferentially, and given too
much leeway in determining his cwn ca
rser; but from a dispassionate survey OF
the curriculum of the average city school
IL appears rather that he has no chance
TO determine anything. He is simply
erammed with small doses Of dozen DIFF
ferent kinds Of learning. If the elective
system were carried into the Urinary
schools the pupils would at least have
chance to learn some one thing thor
| oughly.
AS to the clarge that the student does
not get enough mental discipline under the
| elective system. and that the old-fashioned
| classical course. with its allotted amount
Of Greek. Latin, mathematics, and philoso-
ply. afforded needed drill for the student
between sixteen and twenty-one, there Is
| something to be said on both sides.
| Perhaps in the case of a boy without spe-
cial aptitude for anything the "all-around
education" would be best. but there is no
reason why he should not take il even I'M
| der the elective system II he feels that it
would be best. Moreover, If young man
does not wish TO study nobody can make
him. In these days he may select certain
courses because they are easy, thus Slip
ping through his four years with less labor
than his cousin who dives into the depths
NJ mathematics for the sake Of the hard
work. But IL the pleasure-seeker had been
educated under the old regime he would
have slipped through his course in the
easiest way Just the same, but with this
difference: He would not have acquired a
thorough education in anything and the
whole school would have been held back
to suit bis capacity. Under the elective
| system each department can be arranged
| to meet the needs Of those who are in
| earnest, not the capacity or Willingness OF
those who study from compulsion. The
drones are eliminated. The boy who
cannot learn trigonometry is not obliged
| to take 1t up, and the time of the rest
of the class is not wasted while the pro-
lessor makes desperate efforts to get some
principle into the billiards head. That is
| the natural way OF education. That is the
way things are done in the outer world.
The man who is fitted by nature to be a
blacksmith is not taught matchmaking, nor
does the matchmaker spend half his time
| in the gymnasium trying TO develop the
muscles of blacksmith. If he is a wise
man he will take exercise enough to keep
his sligbter frame in as good order as that
of the blacksmith, and that is all he
| needs.
| A student can work just as hard over a
| study he likes as over one he does not like,
and what is more, he must. Drudgery can
not be escaped; but the wisest plan rs to
put 1t where 1t will be useful. The ten