The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1946-04-04

ty Free Library Spring book review
series, Harvard University's Re
port on Education in Free Society"
reviewed last Wednesday evening
by DR.. Vernon B. Kellett, head mas
ter of st. James School, was one of
the outstanding services offered to
the public by the Library, this sea-
son.
Of imperative interest to laymen
and teachers alike Though local
educators were conspicuous by their
absence), the Harvard Report is a
monumental document requiring
great skill on the part of reviewer,
who is called upon to make a COM
prehensive condensation to fit neat
ly into one hour. This Dr. Kellett
did, most successfully, with a nice
overtone of humor and a smooth
reduction of technicalities to their
simplest terms.
A Harvard graduate himself, DR..
Kellett, who was introduced by Mr..
Franklin Thomas, gave a brief re-
sumo of the background of the Re-
port, which resulted from Harvard
President James B. Commits desire
to find out exactly what is being
done in the field of general education
- and what needs to be done.
Toward this end, the Harvard
Overseers granted a fund of $780,
600 and twelve men from Harvard's
History, Classics, English, Education
and Philosophy Departments, went
to work on an exhaustive and pains
taking two-year survey, delving in
to all of the aspects of general edu-
cation, with particular emphasis on
the secondary schools.
In his introduction, President
Conant sets forth his belief in the
continuation of the liberal and
humane traditions, at all levels of
education These traditions, so i'm
portantly involved in our back
grounds, President Conant believes
to be more essential to the develop
ment of well rounded and properly
adjusted members of society than
mere training in skills alone can be-
Working on that basis, the Report
seeks to define education, and by
exposition and philosophy arrive
at some sound conclusion"
Recognizing the problems put up
on education by the enormous growth
in knowledge that has taken place
in the last century - which at the
secondary level has rushed forth
with tremendous force only to be
beset by the cross currents of our
national life - the Report takes a
look at some very startling statis-
tics which show that, whereas in
1870 we had 10000 pupils in second
airy schools and 10000 in colleges, we
had, in 1910, 6O,OOO,OOO students in
secondary schools and only $780,
600 in colleges. Out of the 90 per
cent increase in students at the sec
Ondary level, three-fourths of that
number are going directly to work
from the secondary schools - only
one-fourth goes on to college. The
need for some solution to bring stu
dents together at the various levels
is therefore obvious.
The Harvard committee attributes
this disparity to a number of causes:
A betrayal of the curricula by the
titanic growth of high schools and
the problems thus posed; the i'm
pact of social change resulting from
our industrial growth and our high
ly mechanical mode of life, and the
disparity in the states. In connoc-
ton with the latter the reviewer
pointed out that Mississippi, for in
stance, spends only one-ffth as
much per pupil in her schools as
New York. Or, if North Carolina
were to spend her entire state bud
get on her schools, she would still
not be spending as much as many
other states spend on their schools
alone. In this connection, DR.. Kel-
lett said, the subject of Federal Ad-
ministration always rears its head
and lis looked upon," he added.
with both longing and fear"
The Report goes into the crying
need for higher remuneration for
teachers and for a greater sense of
dedication to their profession on the
part of teachers, which should be
fostered, in part, by an effort to
make the profession more attractive.
The development of extra-curricular
activities, under the guidance of
trained people, is also recommended.
The section devoted to the Theory
of Education deals with heritage and
change - the first as expressed in
our common heritage of Christian
ity and our modern education, which