Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
THE HIGH SCHOOL COURSE
SHOULD GIVE ROUNDED DEVEL-
oPMENT OF MENTAL POWERS.
Nature Study-Importance Of. Sci
ence Work In Out-of-Doors Lab
oratories-Book of Experience.

David Starr Jordan, 10 Popular Science Monthly.
1t has been lately said by an honored
teacher that the weakest part in our edu-
cational system is the high school. 1t
has less unity in theory and less definite
ness in practice than any other. and
those who have charge OF Its administra-
ton are less sure that they are doing the
right thing than is the case with other
types of schools. las forcing house
between grammar school and college"
says a recent writer 1.-The high school
hasn't time to do anything very we'll"
Hence it may be well to try to do fewer
things, thus saving time to do some things
better.
If we we're to start at the beginning of
education we should change good many
things. Especially should we distinguish
between college and the university in
making the former the stepping stone to
the latter. But accepting our colleges
and universities as they are, at the same
time discarding the results of tradition
and Of half-hearted experiment. what
should the high school do? BY high school
we mean the instruction in the public
school for four years of school life from
the age Of thirteen or fourteen to that OF
seventeen or eighteen, resting on the
primary and grammar school on the one
hand and presumably leading to the COL
of the years in which a student lives at
home and goes to school.
Foundation Should Be Solid.
The high school as thus defined has these
duties clearly indicated: To give a round
ed development of physical and mental
powers. SO that no line Of talent shall
perish by default; it should indicate and
emphasize that form OF ability which
will count for most in the conduct Of
life and 1t should do it's foundation work
with such thoroughness that the higher
education may be built upon 1t with the
certainty that the attainments shall be
solid 50 far as they 60. This IL all that
the college and universities have the
right to ask, and for them to specify GER
tain classes Of subjects regardless of the
real interest Of the secondary schools and
their pupils is species Of impertinence
which only tradition justifies. To de-
mand thoroughness of secondary instruc-
ton and to enforce this demand in any
practicable way is the duty Of the col
lege. but the question OF what the
high schools shall teach Is a ques-
themselves. In general, the high school
graduate who has q training worth while
in the conduct of life il also well fitted to
enter college for further training. In
general, too. the high school must con-
slider it's individual students. A well
rounded training for one is very lop-
sided discipline for another, and the de-
velopment Of special interests must not be
overlooked. For these reasons a consid-
cradle range Of choice is necessary in a
ever, imply an elective system such as the
colleges have found necessary. In an
ideal high school system the election
should be mainly in the hands Of the
teachers. But at the same time the wise
teacher makes sure that the student
thing. The lack of such sustained inter
est is the main reason why most of the
boys drop out of the high school to get
where they will be doing something. deal
ing with things. not words.
1t is clear that even yet with all the
advances or encroachments the sciences
have made. the study Of words still fills
too large part In our secondary schools.
The traditional college education was a
training in words. 1t is easier and cheap
err to teach language than anything else
The average child learns words by rote,
while other subjects demand a more COM
pick method, and the tendency is to I'LL
the child with words, regardless Of the
dyspepsia and disgust the abnormal diet
may produce.
Study OF Natural Science.
In my judgment, with the average stu
dent and especially the average young
man, some study of natural science ought
to 60 with every year in the school. The
child is surrounded by q world Of actual
tiles. each producing definite effect on
the senses. In an out-of-door world, he
recognizes that external things are real
He knows that the sun rises in the east
and he soon learns the various phases OF
woodcraft ana heldcraft-how to comport
himself in the presence of realities The
constancy in these relations gives to him
q kind Of moral training, and the knowl.
edge he obtains he wins at first hand. II
IL acquired In terms Of his own expe-
rience and In such terms all real and
helpful knowledge must always be stated
In our cities we cannot replace the
training of the farm. the knowledge OF
the woods and hills. but we can continue
to give in some degree the essential part
of ft-contact with realities and extension
Of knowledge in terms of experience
This il through real contact with ami
mails plants. rocks. chemical compounds
and physical instruments. and a well
conducted scientific laboratory has the
same value as Out-of-dOors experience
with the great addition that it can be
made systematic and therefore effective
for power. The value Of genuine nature
study. study Of sciehce in out-of- door
laboratories. is Of the very highest order
Not SO the imitation nature study, the
study OF sentimentalisms about nature
Of nature words smothered In painted ad-
jectives. now popular in some quarters
or still less value are the nature books
written as pot boilers by men who would
turn out dime novels or problem plays
just as cheerfully IL the literary current
set in that direction. The student of real
tiles in nature ana the ''nature-faker" are