The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-12-27

completed or not. furnish any definite
unity of ideas. The French boy who
drops out here need not feel that he Inns
begun piece Of work and left IL I'M
finished
lie has met the classic authors OF his
own literature he has studied from one
to three foreign languages, according to
the course he has chosen. for two or four
years; he has covered all the common
arithmetic. including two years of geofn-
etiy: he has completed the geography of
the world; he has glanced at every
period OF the worll's history from the
very beginning down to 1859. and this
has included brief sketches OF all TIN
countries OF the civilized world in modern
times: IN word. lie has touched prac-
ticiny all subjects OF secondary school
study Such is the fexibility OF this
programme that il the boy il dissatisfied
with HIS course at the end OF the first
cycle he has large opportunity for
changing 10 another without loss OF time
and yet when he concludes h. will have
rounded out u complete whole
All this IL made possible by the fact
that, barring the ella ssics. all the cou -
are concerned with exactly the same sub
jeCts and that all the subjects are being
studied ali the time. In other words,
each subject II studied progressively in
accordance with the growing intellectual
power OF the pupil. II follows a concen-
trio circle plan OF work. This. submit.
In thu normal way OF learning. The
little child, FOR example. learns hrst about
an electric car that moves and carries
people. As time goes on he uses the re-
latlun OF that car to thousand diff
ferent things. until ultimately he may be
concerned with the furth5st reaches OF
physics. There il little justification in
fact or fancy tsave only for the con
venlence OF the college -ntranc> require
ments OF measuring In units and half units)
for such intensive study ~ We give IN
our secondary schools
since YOU left an Institution or formal
education, l venture to say that no one
~ YOU has confined your attention .
four subjects for a b,ief period and then
turned TO four other subjects for another
interval until you had completed the whole
ganut of subjects Of common interest
II YOU are "a person OF cathoic tastes
YOU are keeping NJ with the progress "r
literature. OF ar; In its various forms, q,
history. OF geography, OF invention. W
economics, OF politics. of religion Yet
NJ ore Of you would deny that YOU a~e
adding to your general culture. because
YOU are carrying along all these interests
simultaneously. For vocational or p'o-
fesslonal advancement special!za'ion IL
certainly the order OF the day. hut | am
vet to be convinced that any such !n;eu-
SlNe MOrk as our OWL s'hS'''
are standing GOV 10 crndnciv" tn broad
general culture.
one has only to glance at our history
courses to see TO what extremes our pres
ent plan leads. Il is entirely conceiHable
even for a boy going 70 college that ms
only study Of United States history might
be in the elementary school course. Yet
YOU mus, recognize that this grammar
school age absolutely pTecludes the pos
saiiity Of considering many OF the m re
fundamental aspects OF our national his
tory. The boy Of ~ or II is not su''i-
ci,rtiy mature - appreciate them.
Again in how many Of oyr secondary
schools and colleges d. ind any sys-
tematic OF study of the Balkan question
Yet submit that without some such
study the history OF Europe during the
past twelve months would he quite IN
comprehensive. This very topic has been
a prominent subject OF study t. the
French secondary programme. IT you
should claim that the Balkan states are
nearer France. geographically ana po9it-
cally | shall retort thu. the French sec
I ondary school hoy knows mere about the
history Of South America, the awakening
OF china and the ~ 'lut.on 81 modern
Japan than does his fellow pupil in our
own schools.
This all implies "A high order Of skill
OF the part of the teaching staff--a quail
, ntatluh MnltH is amply tutl dlN'fu ~ NV
standard of attainment demanded. IL
the first place. teaching is a profe Ssion
/ in France, and not n stepping ~ ne 10
business or 10 an ther profession. \
man takes Il ny seriously as a life work,
/ The preparation IL Ling and ;he compett-
tlon strenuous, NO tat o"ce he mas pa,
his hand to the plough I've canno; AFFORD
/ TO turn back. Many fall by the ways.de ;
J hut once the goal Is attasnsd the homer
! 4, large, lhc tenure Z position If secure
/ and a retiring ptnsiCr IL assured. With
Ne In America we may fairly say that
tho tenure is reasonably secure especially
hero in New York. unless We happen TO
give birth 10 child, but for the grea;
majority Of our secondary teachers the
honor and the pension are still to be at
tanned
/ The French teacher Is a specials in
/ his profession, and not jack ~ all
trades , recent official publication r. m
a Western state noted particularly the
percen:age of teacher who had received
no special training for teaching the sub
jects they were supposed to %, teaching
. This is the first direct evidence ! have
, ever come across (although II IL a matter
Of common knowledge IN support Of a
! criticism passed by an eminent French
, historian few years ago the quality
! OF our teachers preparation for Their
work Langlols writes: 1T !s only IN
England and the United states that any
body at all can teach anything az all
In secondary schools in France. for in
7 stance, the teacher of Greek and Lltir
IS always teacher OF the mother tongue
/ the history teacher must likewise carry
. the geography; the physical sciences
! physics and chemistry, Invariably go u"
! gcth"Y. Whatever the siZc of the school
the natural sciences, botany. zoology
( gcoiCgN. are all handled by the same per
/ son. mathematics are never broken NJ
! into a number Of arbitrary units lahclleC
Z arithmetic. algebra, geometry, analytlcs
80. the modern 'anguas" teacher never
B handles more than one foreign language,
There is thus kind of golden mean II
/ this mattcr o' clal2ation--bctweel
! diTuseness AZ one extreme and too nan
row ,cialization at the other. t,acl
! field of interest IL wide enough to aNoit
deadcnng routine ana Yet narrow enough
/ to guard against superhclalitN. Suci
y combinations ot subjects AZ history an,
mathematics Latin and physics and thu
! like are positively unthinkablc. Even II
/ the strenuous tmes that France IL hay
/ mig at the present moment a teacher II
never allowed to teach n subject which T..
out OF his field In similar fashion. he Is
never allowed to devote himself "XClu
sivcly to Latin, or English. or history
! This plan offers large opportunity FOR in
/ telIgent and wise correlation. vet ! dC
not recall ever having heard that tern
i ,L.ed in connection with work In tn,
/ French schools All this makes for A