Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-03-13

thus with us. as the fulfillment of a
public demand and a philosophical and
psychological verdict as to the nature
and process of true education.
The Elective Dangers.
But neither public demand nor Phil.
osophy have as yet freed us from the
very grave dangers of the elective sys.
TEN. Good as II is to certain extent,
it Is. nevertheless, Iull of danger and
weakness II not properly handled. Why
should a boy of fourteen be compelled
to choose at that age his life work?
That is precisely what he must do un.
der the elective system as conducted
by many schools, II he wants to avoid
' a great loss of time and be free from
| harassing and injurious experimental
changes from one course to another
during his High School career.
But this is not the most serious dan
ger of the leective system. That lies
rather in the fact that in perhaps the
ma jority of cases the election of
courses is based on childish caprice,
which is as unreliable, unintelligent
and as useless as would be the ambi.
ton of an Apache Indian to be the
King Of England. the only redeeming
feature about such a situation is that
the child must study something. He
cannot elect to do nothing. Some will
maintain that II really makes no diff.
ference what the child studies, provid.
ed he is kept busy. But II does make
all the difference in the world If a
child elects the scientific course be.
cause he wants to meet the require
ments for a college course In civil en-
cheering, because, forsooth, his great
uncle Is very successful engi
neer. and the boy mas CHANGED TO see
more of this profession than any other
particular one-it does make a great
difference. II he chooses such a course
and then, three or four years later. dis.
covers that. great.uncles notwithstand,
ing, he has no taste or aptitude for sci.
ence and mathematics. but has strong
linguistic tendencies. II means that
for several years he has been putting
his time into work that has crowded
out his preparation for linguistic
college course, for which he really
should have been preparing himself
II would have been far better for O
bay In such a case to have been held
to the old STRAIGHTFORWARD system OF
Latin, Greek, mathematics, English
science, with perhaps a little more OF
less of any one OF these than the stu
dent now gets under the elective sys
TEN.
| This is not fanciful case. but is
typical OF great many instances OF
the inefficiency and injury of the elect
| I've grg nttf f.n ,InaNt,sA
is here. and II is an advance on the
old system, provided we can harness
and bride and hitch II up and drive Il
straight.
Check caprieious Election.
The first benefit, therefore. OF q
good course in the Psychology
of Vacations would be a decided check
on the caprlcious election Of courses
Our budding young engineer by a
careful and comparative study of the
work of O civil engineer and that of a
professor of Greek probably would
have easily discovered with the helI
of teacher well trained in psycholo,
gy, that in spite of the glt.edged at
fractions of his great.uncle's career
his own powers did not indicate that
] hNih Va iubOl lllo NV Nblh.
Misguided Ambition.
And this suggests second beneficial
| result of a Psychology of Vacations
Just think OF 14-year.old child decid
ing on his life work! Now think oil
that! But the elective system invites
him, and within certain limits fairly
compels him. TO do so. Result: In the
case of the boy who decided to be a
minister. three or four years later an.
other noble career blasted before II
even sprouted. At II he was sure
that he was TO be a minister: hence
the choice of the classical course, but
at is he discovers that he abhors
Cheek and Latin. has little aptitude
for public speaking, and absolutely no
desire to occupy pulpit the rest OF
his life, but instead fairly revels in
bugs. worms mad germs, microscopes
and scalpels, and really can do very
Credltable work in biology, and thor.
Oughly enjoys II. Another result: so
certain was he. at fourteen, that he
vas to be a minister that he at once
felt all the importance of position.
leadership, etc. of that career. as his
. IN. and consequently was so conceit.
| ed that he was an intolerable bore to
others and, what Is worse and exceed
inSly serious, his proper and modest
appreciation OF self, q right relation Of
sclirto others and to his work. was
spoiled by this overdose OF ambition
and premature realization of magni.
fcopt career! This destruction. or,
rather approximation Of self.respect
necessarily reflected most injuriously
on the child's attitude toward his own
intellectual endeavor. He became
convinced of his superior mental ma.
chinery, gradually forgot to turn the
crank steadily every day, and conse.
quently at the end Of his course found
his ministerial college preparatory
equipment badly out of gear, exceed,
ingly rusty and poorly fabricated, while
his real interest had been incidentally
awakened in an entirely different field.
The most serious phase OF the whole
affair is the destruction OF the chlld's
right attitude toward self and others.
There is no doubt that an elective sys.
TEN, turned loose in a school, Is a mag.
nificent producer and fertilizer of an
intolerable self.conceit and bombastic
self'assertlveness on the part OF
students. And the pity OF 1t Is that
the elective system is very largely
turned loose! Here there Is great
possible benefit to be derived from a
Psychology of Vacations: Il would
Inevitably check this destruction nj