Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
BUSINESS RECOGNIZES
DIFFERENCES in PEOPLE
Insurance Salesman No Longer Has
Favorite Policy-Studies Prospect to
Select One Which Best Suits Needs.

than in other fields
Different standards for different chill
dren is the most basic and most far
reaching modification which our newer
knowledge of children has brought
about in the conduct of schools
School people no longer consider it wise
or fair to hold all pupils up to one and
the same standard. a standard far too
low for the talented and too high for
those who are slower or dulled. The
standards set by the modern school are
adapted to the needs, interests and ca
pacities of the individual pupil in that
school.
Time Adjustment Made.
2. A second important adjustment to
be made by the modern school is a time
adjustment. an adaptation in rate of
work and in sequence of tasks. Courses
in arithmetic, spelling and other school
subjects so years ago were organized
to require the same amount of work in
the same amount of time from all
pupils in given grade and subject.
Further, the items of the course were
to be mastered in the same sequence by
all children.
shown that pupils differ in the amount
of work they can do in given time.
AS consequence, the modern school
tends to do either of two things--it
allows the amount of work required of
particular student in particular field
to vary in terms of his capacity and
needs OF it allows the amount of time
which he is enabled to spend upon it
to vary
Order of Presentation Varied.
In like manner, the modern school
permits much more variation in the
order in which topics may be presented.
NtNA tnA1 L. E- L..
modified now than formerly when 1t
can be shown that for a particular
child some other sequence is likely to
be more effective
3. Modern type of individual adjust
ment frequently found in the modern
school is the variation in the subjects
offered the different children. The cleo
tive system in high schools and colleges
is now taken for granted, but 80 years
ago there was hard fight to have it
accepted.
We now assume that girl who must
stop school in the tenth grade in order
to help support her parents needs, and
should receive, different type of school
instruction from that needed by the
girl who plans to complete high school
and college before going to work.
Elective System Helped.
The whole elective system, while pos
sesSing some disadvantages, of course,
nevertheless has been a notable adj
vance on the part of schools, because
it signifies better adjustment to the
needs of different pupils.
Not only Is there an opportunity for
students to select the types of school
experiences which fit their needs best
as regards the larger divisions in sub
iect-matter, but also there is consid-
cradle evidence of an effort on the part
of the modern school to provide for
variation within each particular sub
ject.
For example, the ninth-grade teacher
In history may be endeayoring to help
her students appreciate the significance
Of the industrial revolution. She will
use the same sort of experience for all
pupils as provided in the text book,
but she is much more likely now than
formerly to have individual pupils ex-
tend their experience on different top
les along the lines of their own par
ticular interests.
Individual Study Assigned
Thus, the son of dentist may be
encouraged to look upon the effects of
the industrial freedom as it influenced
dentistry. The girl who is clerking
evenings and Saturdays in shoe store
and who aSpires to management and
ownership of a shoe store in later years
may be guided similarly to read about
the industrial revolution as it affected
the boot and shne industry.
4. Adjustment in method is the
fourth type of adaptation made by the
modern school. Up to relatively recent
years most educational workers assumed
that there was a lone best method
for doing any particular thing in the
school room. Increasing knowledge OF
children and of the conditions of mod
ern life reveals that different methods
of learning may be appropriate for diff
ferent children under different circum-
stances.
In one section of Detroit we have
a number of children of so little abil-
ity that they find it very difficult to
master arithmetic by the usual meth
DDS. Whatever is done by the teacher
these particular boys and girls appar-
emily return to the method of count
ing on their fingers or with their tongue
or in some other manner.
Experiment in Arithmetic.
Our supervisor of arithmetic is now
carrying on an experiment to find out
whether or not certain of these boys
and girls may not be helped most by
the teacher when she gives them better
way of counting. The assumption is
I1IdO lIlCSc DdILICuldI WILL COuiII
anyway, and therefore the teacher
should help them to count in the most
efficient way possible.
The school of today is tending to put
less emphasis on methods devised and
controlled entirely by teachers and to
put more emphasis on those methods
of learning which may differ somewhat
from child to child, but which are
adapted better to their individual ma
lures.
5. The modern school adjusts better
to individual needs through modiflca-
tons in the ways of using Institutional
aids of various sorts, such as text books.
work books, job sheets. and so forth.
The teacher in the modern school no
longer assumes that learning verbatim
the contents of one particular text book
is the best possible activity for all the
As boys and girls in particular class.
Child Helped to Teach Self.
She tries, rather, to provide a variety
of books on a reference basis, and in
some cases to supply three or four or
five different text books. In addition to
this, she frequently devises self-in-
structive materials which enable each
child to use his own powers as far as
possible in teaching himself.
A class at work in a modern school
room where individual adjustments are
being made presents a very different
picture from that of class of so years
ago. A visitor going in today usually
will find all pupils busy working on ac-
tivities of different sorts, perhaps, but
in every case adapted to the need of
the individual child.
Much less time than formerly is spent
in formal recitation or in talking by the
teacher. The classtime is devoted to
learning. chiefly, rather than to recit-
ing upon what has been learned. The