Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-12-01

Idea and broadening it into a compre
hensive plan. A Washington write
deals with the subject, bringing GU
/ the strength and the weakness of thu
general proposition. He declares tina
the correspondence school has passed
| the experimental stage, and today Il
| in the position of mode of teaching
| in good and regular standing.
The Federal Bureau of Education
in Washington has compiled facts ant
figures which will back up the state.
ment. Prof. VIM. Carl Rudiger. o.
Teachers College, George Washington
University, says:
Correspondence study is rapidly be-
coming a force to be reckoned with III
the educational world. Where, but g
few years ago, this work was left al
most entirely to private, commercial
exploitation, it is now being rapidly
adopted by our standard universities,
colleges and normal schools"
The Kennebec Journal has taken oc,
easion several times in the past year.
to call attention to the rapid growth
in this field of education. The latest
statistics show that correspondence
work is offered by ten state uniVer-
sites: Florida, Indiana, kansas,
Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon,
Texas. wisconsin and Wyoming, as
well as by the Pennsylvania State Col
Iege and the Massachusetts Agrieui-
tural College. and by the normal
schools at Athens, Ga; Danbury and
Wfllimantic. Conn; Normal, Ill; Sill
yer City, n. NJ. and a course in short
hand by the North Carolina Normal
and Industrial College. OF course the
number of students enrolled in these
varies greatly. but Wis
,onsin and Chicago take an undisputed
cad, each having about 1900 students
registered during active work.
The grade of the work offered by
the correspondence schools ranges all
the way from that of the high school
and even lower to that of the normal
school. The wants of all classes OF
people are met and much of the work
is intended to satisfy no other motive
than the benefit derived from the work
itself. Not a little of the general work
is planned to enable teachers to pass
examinations for certificates and the
secondary school work may usually be
taken for the satisfaction of entrance
Ten of the thirteen ill.,
situations which Professor Rudiger has
studied, allow college credit for the
work taken by correspondence. When
enough courses are taken, and when
the list is varied sufficiently. one-haif
of the college course may be taken
by mail. The fees vary greatly; in
five of the colleges the work is prac-
tically free.
justification for correspondence work
by universities is found in the cata-
logue of the University of Wisconsin
There exists says that pamphlet
'in every community considerable
class of persons who are unable to ad.
Just themselves to the formal system
of education. Such persons have q
claim upon the State for edueationa
opportunities outside the formal re-
gime. The rrespondence-study de-
partment serves the needs of men ano
women in this situation and offers ef-
fective individual instruction, which
may be pursued in accordance with
the requirements of each student in
his own home. The possibility OF
teaching by correspondence has been
demonstrated by practical experiment
One of the great psychological adj
vantages that correspondence study
has is that specific individual lessons
are assigned. 1t seems easy to advance
by definite, short steps, even if the
course, as whole, is long. But to
have the whole course thrust upon one
at once makes it seem discouragingly
difficult. The work is likely to be put
off and put off, until, finally, the stu
dent becomes lost in his own tangle
of doubts, and overwhelmed by the
magnitude of the task before him
One lesson a week is likely to be met
and mastered before the next arrives
but a. large number of lessons to be
mastered in a long period possesses
no such compelling force.