Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-07-15
NO Academy in High School

~ Tie city SuperntendentS, nigh
school principals and boards of edu.
cation by State Superintendent c. P.
Cary:
1t has recently come to my notice
that not a few people who have been
convinced Of the necessity of putting
an end to college domination in our
hlgh schools, are casting about for a
solution in directions that would seem
decidedly unfortunate | read Eone
newspaper editorial, for example,, in
winch it was stated that in view of
the fact that we have a state univer-
slty and numerous normal schools in
wisconsin which must be looked after
ana be fed the annual grist of stud
ents, 1t is necessary for us to esCab-
llSh academies for the purpose of fit
ting those who want to go to college
or normal school so that they may be
prepared to enter. Another sugges-
ton is in the direction of establishing
hitting academy within the high
school so that those who want to go
to college may, on entering the high
n
DENY. This method is now in vogue
IN number Of high schools in the
state. Both methods to which refer
ence has been made are most unfor-
tunate tendencies. The academy as
a separate institution is an idea that
is not likely to strike deep root in this
state, but the notion Of developing an
academy within the high school has to
be reckoned with more seriously
since it is advocated by the higher
institutions Of learning and the ad-
vocacy has been taken up by the
schoolmen here and there
There are several reasons why
such plan or idea is untenable. In
the first place, it is an unnecessary
evil; in the second place, it is I'M
democratic and introduces the idea Of
caste into the high school; in the
ried out, the group of pupils preparing
for college would be less broadly and
efficiently educated than they would
be by a more modern type of educa-
ton; and in the fourth place. it ne
cessitates the choosing on the part of
pupils in the beginning Of the high
school course, or soon after, what
they will do when they get through
the high school. This no pupil can,
do with any degree of certainty,s.
neither can his parents nor his teach
ers. The sttlement of the question
ac +n rbo+ +ho obi e,I, Il I,
has finished high school should be
left open until he finishes the high
school. It is a we'll known fact that
the developments that occur during
the adolescent period, in other words,
the high school period, are beyond
the power of any one to foresee.
The scheme is undemocratic for
the reason that pupils who do not en-
ter the college preparatory course
are regarded by the other students
and generally by the faculty, as lack
ing in ambition, brains, or social
prestige. I asked a young lady who
received her diploma from the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, why she studied
Latin in the high school. She said:
For the simple reason that every
teacher in the school said that every
body with brains or ambition takes
Latin; that for those that lacked in
these qualities it didn't make much
difference what they took. They
might go into manual training, domes-
tic science, or anything they wanted;
or perhaps better still, go to work
and not attend high school at all" 1t
is a fact that the students in many
high schools in Wisconsin feel today
that not TO take Latin and other sub
jects that are supposed to lead di
rectly to college is to declass them
selves. 1t is unnecessary to estab-
lish an academy within the high
school for the reason that the col
leges and universities of the country
can just as well take the students
who have had a modernized course Of
study as those who have had me-
diaeval course.
1t was a matter of great astonish
ment to me to find out, as L did not
long since, that many intelligent peo-
pie in this state simply can not think
the thought that students can go into
our state university and go right
along with the work without having
gone through a definite preparatory
course for entrance. One lady put
the matter in this way, rs not the
university a higher institution OF
learning and must not the students
who enter have all the elementary
work in the studies they are to pur-
sue in college worked off before they
enter? She evidently thought OF the
entire college course from the point
of view Of the Latin student who has
had four years of preparatory work
and in the university goes into his
fifth year Of Latin. It was her turn
for amazement when [ told her that
students who have had year Of
physics are put into classes with stud
ents who have never had a day of
physics, and that the same was true
in biology and chemistry.