Evening star., 1932-07-26
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. NJ.

mans Sons.
Education. like other trafic for hu-
man benefit, needs. at intervals. to
set up Stop-Look-Listen posts Tor both
the passing and future safety OF In
dividuals and the public as whole.
Such a waymark, In purpose, is
zone Foot on the Ground" whose
other name is "a Plea for Common
Sense in Education" Its author, pro-
fessionally active in this field, IS Of
the group of progressives that, not so
many years ago, formed society for
the declared purpose of hberating the
schools. Theirs to free learning from
the bondage Of such outworn material
and processes as we're causing 1t to
lag behind the general movement Of
events, dimming its spirit by this long
gap between then and now and hin
dering the efficiency OF Its effects both
for the moment and Tor the future
itself.
And so the Progressives in Educa-
ton set out upon their way. THE
New Leayen," by Stanwood Cobb of
Washington, along with other writings
of like spirit and intent, indicates the
keynote of action, the pitch Of this
adventure. Clearly turning point,
a departure. reformation by design
and procedure.
Now reform is q temperament. Eager,
ardent, impetuous, self-conf1dent and
daring. Impatient toward restraint,
restless under the critical eye. Re-
form is thing of wings soaring out
into the blue, likely in its high mo-
ments to forget the good uses Of feet,
even when the feet stumble over rocky
ground or plod sturdily over dull fields.
So reformers, both gallant and head
strong by nature, need now and then
to be reminded that feet can do many
things in the places where men live
that wings cannot do. And this fact
came strikingly to Ernest Cobb about
certain features in the work OF his own
family, the ProgreSsives in Education.
So looking around their own house of
learning, the old saying came to this
man about the general utility Of clean
ing up ones own place before aSSailing
the poor housekeeping of the neighbors.
And here he goes. Fraternal and friend
ly in spirit and word, he seeks out such
danger signs in the Progressive plan as,
to him, seem fruitful of miscarriage in
the purpose Of that plan, of real dan
ger, accordingly, to the true benefits of
education sought by these advocates of
reform, these workers toward its full
f1llment.
Looking over this field of progressive
education, gay with bright colors of
hope, brilliant with the high light of
self-assurance upon it, Mr.. Cobb thought
he saw, here and there, dark spots
upon this promising outlook. These
suggested dimly some menace, or danger
even, to the future of the Progressives.
After the system Of strict negations
and inhibitions to which the earlier
education had been in bond-to which
all social life had been in bond-it was
only natural that the enthusiasm of the
new order would drive 1t as far as pos
Sible from that restrictive and crippling
era. So it did. The new watchword
instantly became freedom to the child"
Libattons were poured and other SOL
emn rites performed before the "crer
ative spirit of the child" And other
such liberating lingo was invented to
linn the felicities, and benfits, of the
new day. And the very newest of the
new schools" became something be-
tween a general pandemonium and a
continuing festival of song and frolic.
THE dear little children" passed, each,
into a fetch whose mentor was de-
voted solely to the freedom Of the child
while its creative spirit" was in the
throes OF making things" of making
up things.
And yet Mr.. Cobb saw that that
school room, primary grade and uni
versity alike, was life, not different
from the life outside, on the street. In
1t were constant calls for tending to the
job, the lesson job, maybe Maybe the
Job OF being decent to the fellow across
the a1sle-street, of understanding that
work and play take turns, just as they
do with father and mother or the fell
lows on an outing after the weeks work
done. That learning a lesson Is a
1ob-and here the teacher falls down
as often as the pupil himself. For the
teacher thinks that reciting the lesson
Is the topnotch Of the thing Not at
all. It Is the approach to the lesson,
the ways Of seizing it, the order in
which 1t settles into the mind in pre-
cedences of Importance, the readiness
with which 1t can be drawn out for
use. No, to the teacher the parrot
recitation is the thing that counts.
But I'm running away from Mr.. Cobb.
who Is first-rate man to stay by. as
with both feet on the ground and only
appreciative and aspiring eyes cast
toward the blue he talks SO under
standingly Of this most important thing
IN the World-what the young ones are
getting at the hands of tutors, parents,
legislators; of the whole whatnot OF
public concern in the vital and over
topping matter Of education.
MIR. Cobb tells us what this progress
slVe education is, what the association
sponsoring 1t, in part at least, has in
mlno concerning its purpose and plan
ana eHects. And right here he de-
plores the current call for "a painless
education. He resists 1t, sturdily, as
anen 10 LIE itself, which is a "thorny
ROAD, Tor whose pricks and stings and
clutchlng hndrances the schools must
get the boys and girls ready. The
schools must be seized as life, which
they are. They must be used to grow
habits no different, but exactly the
same, as will be needed when, school
done, the boys and girls are out to
meet bravely, unflinchingly, happily,
courageously and in deeply friendly
way the big and terrible and beautiful
world that stands, waiting, for them
just outside. 1t is this spirit that the
author wants as a full baptism of
modern education.
A pleasant man, and an admirable
talker, who In the main by story, Incl
dent remembered, anecdote stored away,
presents this study in illuminating
stuff and convincing logic. Some of
this Is family talk. for the Cobbs were
| ShIou Nc" aIiSlduO trlDe VINO worked
and dreamed and tried out their
dreams, sometimes in failure and now
and then in something far from that
unhappy climax. Idealists, all Of them,
as our own schoolmaster (2), STAN
! wood Cobb, here in Washington, sug-
gests. But, luckily, there is such a
creature as an idealist who believes
that his Utopia must be earned, must
be paid for in actual work, and that it
is not free gift of the gods to certain
of their favored children. Throughout
this serious and stirring book. it is the
gospel of orderly effort that Is advo-
Gated. And the beautiful point to this
theory is that nobody is more jealous
and delighted with exactly that sort of
activity than "the child" himself. You
know that and 50 do I. Nobody keener
to sense that he Ia ching cajoled and