Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1963-09-12

lzatlon that some people are
highly motivated in certain
fields even without any of the
basic survival incentives. An in
vestigation disclosed that such
motivation apparently knows
no bounds and learning in the
chosen field is limited only by
p time and available study materi
al. Furthermore the individual
o.ni so moved gets great satisfaction
r9l5 from the pursuit of such knowl
! 8 edge. 1t should be understood
'H'0Athat there is no argument with
any of the foregoing. 1t is true
OH and a perceptive observation
3fs- No doubt our society has, and
'9Viowill continue to reap rewards
from such highly motivated peo
ic2n pie. And those who possess this
'N9 characteristic are truly favored
oiG1with gift Of which they can
sloc be justly proud-and envied by
lee the bulk of the less fortunate
- population. For the sad truth is
1e' that the gifted" in this sense
0o' are an unfortunately small pro-
portion of the population. Per
90 haps of the order of one or two
~ per cent?
s"si But here is exactly where the
u.s. educational process fell apart
1t follows, quite logically, from
the above observations, that if
the motivated are allowed to
. pursue their interests as they
are capable they will far out
distance those who are being
instructed in the same subject
matter in step-by-step sequence
of orderly logical instruction.
John Dewey of the Columbia
University Teachers College, es-
tablished an experimental school
known as the Lincoln School
which operated on the indicated
s'permissive" basis. The school
was a measured and document
ed success. But it should be care
fully noted that thousands of
applicants were screened to find
those who were not only strong
ly rnotivated but had other prob
able assets for success such as
very high 10.
1t is the height of folly to
apply a process proven for a
microscopic few to the many.
1t is plain idiotic to do so in the
face of the above additional
considerations. Yet that is ex-
actly what is going on in the
bulk of the schools of the ma
ton and is the official policy of
DR.. Winters administration.
A whole fabric of tragically
misguided dogma has been built
upon the failures of the permits.
sive-or progressive, as it is
commonly called, philosophy OF
education A discouragingly
large percentage of the gradu
ates over the past 80 years
while this philosophy of educa
ton was in its heyday, demon
strate complete inability to
spell, to perform basic arithme
tic or utilize the written lang
uage with any degree of facility
Perhaps the most tragic re
suit of the progressive philos
ophy of education is result oil
the method-rather than the
content-of the program. And
here is where the dogma, which
sounds so reasonable and non
violent when considered piece
meal, does a great cumulative
violence to the reasoned human
characteristics which have beer
=. - = demonstrated through all Of re
corded history as essential to the
progress of civilization.
The permissive method does
not tolerate uniform minimum
standards of achievement
among students in given sub.
ject but excuses failure with the
palliative che will get it when
he is ready; just because he
wasn't ready for this yet is no
reason to fail the child" Most
adults feel this is a very under
standable, mature approach
but unfortunately the CHI j d
doesn't grasp this sophisticated
reasoning. He only knows that
he didn't do the work and there
was no penalty resulting. For
tunately (more than so per cent?
students came to school to learn
did the work and appreciated
the reward of a good mark.
This is matter of discipline
Not physical discipline but men
tai, reward for performance and
penalty for failure "The Meth
cd" knows only reward and ex
cuse Now what is the incentive
in the permissive program il
there is no penalty? True tho
reward conscious child has in
centives but what of the re
naming so per cent?
Now let us project this sit
uation through the years. Wha'
becomes of child who does
not respond with vigor to the in
centive of the meager rewards
offered? In the progressive
school he still passes. He arrives
at the junior high school where
educational emphasis is sup
posed to shift from mastery o
the fundamental tools of litera