The Daily Missoulian., 1912-12-30
ESSENTIALS Of SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE
OUTLINED TO TEACHERS BY DR.. KEMP

One of the most interesting papers
read before the educators of Montana
who gathered in the Garden city in
annual convention last week, was that
read Saturday morning by DR.. w. w.
Kemp of the department of psychology
of the University Of Montana. His
theme was: Essentials of the School
of the Future and in it's unfolding
DR.. Kemp brought out many vital
points in the changes in the system of
education that are being demanded by
the changing conditions of the age. Dr.
Kemp said:
It is task, indeed, to assume to
prophesy what any institution will be
in the future. We stand at the OPEN
Ing of the goth century, in the position
Of forecasting an institution that is
just in it's beginnings even now. The
only safe way by which we can gain
a view of the school of tomorrow is to
approach 1t from the background of
educational history. Once we realiAu
the changes that have occurred within
the three centuries of American his
tory, we must admit the tremendous
progress that has overthrown previous
conservative traditions: In this goth
century, when affairs move with much
greater rapidity than they did in the
18th and 10th centuries, there is justi-
fication in predicting even more radl-
cal reform.
Go back for a moment to the co. )nia!
period Of American educational his
tory, and examine the various ele-
ments where social pressure registered
itself upon the school. Contrast these
points with the actual situation as it
Is found today. In the first place the
school as an institution was rarely
under the control of the church; now
1T is the servant of the state. 1t was
supported by voluntary agencies; now
public taxation is the chief resource
Once the select few were educated
those among the leisure class who had
gift for formal and abstract think
ing; now we educate all-the rich and
the poor, the gifted and the defective
Then, the arts and sciences taught
were almost exclusively concerned
with mathematics and the languages;
now the course of study is as broad
as human knowledge itself The
schools of that day were concerned
primarily with ideas and symbols; to-
day they are busy with impulses,
ideals, things and actions. The three
RS have made room for play socia-
bility, fine arts, literatures, nature
study, geography, history and self
government. Once the teacher ruled
his school with tremendous authority,
basing this on a kind of divine and
civil sanction; today the teacher rules
for the most part through leader
ship of mind over mind-through a
leadership that is reverent and toler-
ant of childhood while. clearly con
scious of social ends. In view of
changes such as these, it is right to
expect that the schoo1, within the next
century will be greatly reconstructed
SO as to be a fit and mighty weapon
with which to protect and maintain
the democracy of the future.
There are two basic differences
which the school of the future faces
and they are these d) school pop
ulation recruited from wider differ
ences of economic and social status
% A rapidly changing social organ
1zat1on which is vastly different from
that in which the old traditions of
the public school system were fixed.
Whatever notifications are henceforth
to mark the development of the school
must find their causes and sanctions
In one or the other of the fields of
fundamental change.
Vocational Education.
Turning now to a specific statement
of what the school Of the future will
be as compared with the school we
now know, 1t may be said First,
that to the traditional, general or Gull
tural education there will be added
the new function of special or voca-
t1onal education. Rapid change in the
use or machinery materials and me-
thods, which is characteristic of mod
ern industrial evolution, soon throws
the non-versatile and inflexible man
into the ranks of the unemployed, and
present day apprenticeship with its
training for mere fraction of a task
does not train adjustable men, The
fatigue of labor where the machine
dominates the man rather than the
man the machine, dehumanfzes the
operative and suggests the necessity
of some antidote. New class problems
ARISE among these men, for the pro-
lection of their interests, and this
solidarity, frequently narrow and self
ish, may become menace to the
public welfare. For all of these reas-
ons the worker must be trained for
his vocation by some other agency
than apprenticeship, and the school is
the obvious institution at hand to
train him for his life's business The
school of the future must add yoca-
t1onal training. 1t is inevitable To
perform this task, it must double it's
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