The sun., 1918-11-10
SchoOlmasters Association ~.
Starts Season Discussion
Of schools of Tomorrow

lies the safety OF the country. The crit
les. nevertheless, are expressing vague
dissatisfaction. They do not know Just
where to put their fingers, but several
points are clear In the first place,
there is a common agreement that teach
ers must have better financial and social
rewards. and therefore they are be-
coming the more willing to devote money
to education. They are realizing also
that the young people must give more
time. Both OF these tendencies will
prove an Invaluable asset
There Is also the fact that in our
family life we are developing a better
background. Eugenically and culturally
the conditions are improving. This social
economy will mean n fairer start for the
child. and at the age of compulsory at
tendance which has been so gradually
heightened will undoubtedly be in
creased TO seventeen or eighteen years.
This does not mean that the last years
In school will be full time there. but
IL does imply that continuation work will
be insisted upon. Wisconsin and Penn
sylvania already have laws whereby
youth are not permitted to sever their
contact with school before eighteen.
The consequences of this new outlook
toward education will make themselves
felt differently In the several periods
of instruction.
From four to nine there Is likely to
come far more solicitation about the
health and the play development of chill
dren, than about the meeting of special
educational requirements 1t will come
to be realized that between these years
what is most required where children
IRE in normal circumstances Is plain,
wholesome growth. The American kim
IN IN a,I x.,tn
ioubtedly become merely a compensa-
tory institution to make up for home de-
fects. In the primary grades there will
he less emphasis UPON formal writing
and arithmetic.
From nine to twelve our aims will
probably not materially change. The
American people seem pretty well salts
fed with the work of these grades, and
rightly so. The European schools have
little to offer by wsy of suggestion just
here. 1t Is after this period that we
begin to fall short, a fact recognized
in the institution Of the Junior high
school.
From twelve tn eighteen there will
he great changes. possibly revolutionary
changes, and they will be different both
in the Junior and in the senior high
schools At twelve the pupils are chill
dren: at seventeen to eighteen they are
mostly seif-supporting young men and
women.
We must recognize that most of our
conditional education in these years Is
notwithstanding. Some time every per-
son will be required to train himself
for some line Of work. This will be just
as realistic, just as definite and direct
az our military training in time Of war.
At present our schools are not equipped
for any such purpose. The slight vo-
cationalizing we have done is almost lip
service. Our big problem is very speed
lily to go to work upon genuine voca-
tional purposes.
In preparing for particular fields there
Is Of course alpost infinite heXibility
and variety. Just how schools OF rail-
reading will be worked QUE, for exam
Pile, we are not yet ready TO say. Ger
tain 1t is, however, that we must soon
determine upon the elements common to
most vacations, and that we must for
mulate these in such a way that each
child will have acquired before entering
upon special fields certain body of
minimum essentials.
There is no question OF the increasing
emphasis upon modern languages. Not
only must we learn better those which
are now given. but we must learn far
more. II Is not that all the pupils must
have this diversity Of training, but
rather that we shall work to make ex
perts in a number of new fields. We
must, for example, understand the Japa-
nese and the Chinese. We must have
those who can be our spokesman with
these nations. Japan has tens OF thou
sands OF her citizens here learning to
understand us. and yet we have not one
In ten thousand there. Travelling schol-
arships must be broadly provided. so
that modern languages may be mas
tered through the only possible means.
that Is. living In the country itself.
From the point Of view OF discipline
we must not suppose that the present
admirable universal military training
will solve all our problems We must
remember the nation morally at war
brings itself into cooperation. In a way
which In peace times Is not likely 10
be approached. Every young man in
this nation has thrown himself when
physically At into this conflict and has
done 1t gladly. Unless. however. these
youths were to see what the end Is
we could not expect this enthusiasm.
There Is the clue to the new education
seeing the end. For years we have
been attempting to teach mathematics
without having the boys and girls un-
derstand the end. In a democracy with
an atmosphere OF Tree lnOuBHt you
can't expect to hold the boys and the
girls TO the unreal. The whole effort
must be to develop self-disciplne.
That after all. Is what happens In
business. Boys and girls in schools
who have been utterly irresponsible go
into large business organization and
presently find themselves working in
real earnest at the things which In
school they could find no interest In.
We must find something in our schools
to correspond with this life OF self
discipline. The Boy Scout movement
is healthy, but this does not seem 10
hold youth beyond sixteen. We need
something between sixteen and twenty.
Some of the Moral Substitutes for
War; about which Prof. James wrote.
Hard, Arm discipline between ak
teen and twenty will be welcome pro-
vlded the boys and girls can understand
the end
intellectual discipline will smack little
OF the ancient or of the antique. and yet
vocational discipline will not do all
that we expect. The humanities are
fundamental. A mans citizenship is
OF the world and he must be ready
to do his part. Therefore there will
always be reserved for general educa-
ton the earlier years OF youth.
In preparation for this broader cItl-
zenshp there will be developed for
our schools a new type OF social science
service. 1t will abandon the chrono-
logical order but 1t will convey funda-
mental facts of the relations OF citizens
and of nations one to another
For those whose richness OF social
Inheritance Is greater than the average
there will be greater effort to develop