New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-04
A Modern School.

If Mr.. Abraham Flexner demOlishes the
curriculum in the report pre-
pared for the General Education Board OF
the Rockefeller Foundation it is for rea-
sons plainly set forth in his own conception
of what the modern school should be. 1t is
unreasonable to his thinking, to accept any
method Of education merely because 1t is
not demonstrably useless or harmful; no
system. he holds. should include anything
'for which an affirmative case cannot be
made out" and his particular objection to
current schooling is that it is mainly for
NAL and traditional and bears little or no
relation to the world we live in.
Reading. writing and figuring are mani
testify necessary and will have their place
in the modern school. but Latin and Greek,
formal grammar and the sort Of informa-
ton impaired in most schools as history
must 90. "The schools" Mr.. Flexner
argues, should teach Latin and algebra,
if at all, just as the intelligent physician
prescribes quinine. because 1t serve pur-
pose that he knows and can state"
1t is true that the most plausible argu-
ments have been put forth for both, but
thew do not meet Mr.. Flexner's test, and 1t
is idle he insists. to MAINTAIN that
knowledge of the classics and mathematics
is useful. for the plain reason that pupils
do not obtain it. His conclusion on this
point would have been welcomed by Hulk
ley. II am the last person. he wrote, ito
question the value of thorough and COM
prehensive classical education; but ! fail to
see that there is anything in common be-
tween such high intellectual discipline and
the process by which young boys are
ground up to the pitch Of being enabled to
construe some easy Latin or Greek
ANY one who is shocked at Mr.. FleXner's
drastic proposals should endeavor con-
stantly to bear in mind the test by which
he endeavors to establish the relative value
of subjects taught in schools. The futility
of Latin and Greek as commonly impaired
is easily demonstrate, and the same may
be said of history. Nominally, indeed, his
tory has an evident bearing on political
and social relations and duties, but in
reality the teaching of history in our
schools is frivolous. The pupil is concerned
in the accumulation of facts--when they
are facts-which provide no clew to the
principles of political action, facts from
which no conclusions of value can be drawn
in short. as Herbert Spencer put 1t, "un-
organizable facts" 1t was for this reason
that Spencer utterly condemned the ordi-
nary history books for educational pur-
poses. "Read them if you like he said,
"for amusement; but do not fatter your
s,sf they are instructive"
As to grammar and syntax, they have
already been abolished from some of the
more modern schools. AS a means of
teaching English they are plainly prepos-
ferrous. Grammar was made after lam
quagc. and to stuff chid's head with rules
drawn from practice is to put the abstract
before the concrete, or, to quote Spencer
again. "to put scientific concepts before
empirical experiences" 1t serves no use
full purpose. unless we are TO believe that
it is good for a child 20 he bored.
It is against this peculiar conception of
discipline that the whole Of Mr.. FleXner's
plea for scientific education is protest.
An impartial consideration of his idea OF
a modern school will show that he is con
cerned only in formulating a project
adapted to the conditions Of actual life.