Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-05-28
FOLK SCHOOL
is PLANNED
CONTINUED from Page ~

Continued from Page ~
Gemic machinery of credits, grades,
examinations, degrees, prescribed
courses, prizes, competitions, and SIM
liar artificial" devices for coercion,
recognition, or reward of achievement
The student must learn, if he learns
at all, simply because he wants to
learn.
2. The most effective curriculum
for young adults is organized primari-
ly in terms of desired attitudes rather
than in terms of set pattern OF
knowledge OR skill. If student ac-
quires information as result of his
folk high school experience, it is not
because the school asks him to ac-
quire it, but rather because the school
gives him an imperiOus longing which
only knowledge can satisfy. Ii he
learns how to do something better
than before, it is not because the
school teaches him new tricks, but
rather because it gives him ideals
which demand new ways.
In the peoples college. therefore,
subject matter is not the curriculum;
it is only a convenient tool whereby
teachers and students may dig the
real curriculum out of their combined
experiences. Thus the young Danish
farmers in the latter part of the nine
teen.h century studied history and
literature in the folk high school and
then went back to their farms and en-
gineered the most complete agricul-
tural recovery in history. They sang
old Danish songs and heard old DAN
and by this apparently impractical
education they were inspired to re-
turn to their local communities and
solve very practical problems of dairy
ing, marketing, finance and govern
ment.
1t must not be thought, however,
that the peoples college leaders cal
culated that their students would go
out and solve practical problems if
taught certain ideals and attitudes.
The leaders aimed at character build
ing. They were inspired by religious
IL.
by pragmatic purposes.
3. The most effective methods of
instruction for the young adult are
those which put him most immedi-
ately and impressively in contact
with the teacher. Thus the folk high
school has chung to Bishop Grundt-
Wigs belief in the pre-eminent value
of the living word'-the oral meth
DDS of lectures, stories, discussions,
conferences, and conversations.
For the same reason group singing
has been a traditional part of the
folk high school program. Gymnas-
tics and sports are also included in
the regular activities. Teachers and
students work, play, sing and live
together in a homelike situation de-
signed to secure the optimum edu-
cational effects of the impact of per-
sonality upon personality.
What Considered!
B. Questions to be considered in
testing the above hypothesis in the
communities studied.
1. Can the peoples college type
of education be adapted to the needs
of young people in Minnesota?
a. What changes, if any, must be
made in the usual curricular goals of
the peoples college in order to fit
the needs of young adults in the COM
munities studied?
b. What changes, if any, must be
made in the usual methods Of the
peoples college to make the institu-
ton valuable for these young people?
2. What are the observable effects
of the peoples college education on
the students?
a. Attitudes and ideals?
b. Information?
c. Skills?
Ill. The Procedure.
A. Selection of communities. Three