GROTON SCHOOL,
GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mrs. W. Murray Crane,

Dalton.

Massachusetts.

GROTON SCHOOL
GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS

November 14, 1924

My dear Mrs. Crane:

Please do not think that I am lightly passing by the Dalton Plan.

As I believe I wrote you at the beginning of the term, I studied the Plan in England and saw some of the people who were experts upon it. In several of our departments they use methods suggested by the Dalton Plan. This is what one of our masters who has done a good deal in the way of pedagogy and psychology says about the Plan in connection with this school: —

"The main difficulties for us in the introduction of the Dalton Plan lie in the fact that we have an established system, with established men doing successful work. It would mean a complete reorganization of our schedule, retraining of our teaching staff, and a pretty thorough overhauling of all methods. To a certain extent the project method can be used in all classes - and probably is - more especially in the sciences."

We have been told that Mr. French at Derby Academy, Hingham, is trying the Plan in his school, and we are getting into touch with him.

Bruce is excellent at times in Latin; at other times, rather heavy. I think that he is on the whole coming forward very well.

With kindest regards,

POPULAR LECTURES BY
C. W. KIMMINS, M.A. (Cantab), D.Sc. (Lond.)

Chairman of the University Extension Board of the University of London.
Gilchrist Lecturer. Staff-Lecturer on the Cambridge University Extension Scheme.

Subjects.

"The Springs of
Laughter."

"English & American
Humour."

"Children's Dreams."

"The Freedom of the
Child."

"The Child and the
Cinema."

"The Psychology of
the Child."

"Modern Movements
in English
Education."

"The Dalton Plan
in English Schools."

"The Handwriting of
the Future."
(Script Writing, with
Lantern Illustrations).

Dr. KIMMINS is an able platform speaker and is a popular lecturer of great experience. He has made a life-long study of the child, and has carried out original investigations on "Children's Dreams," "the Sense of Humour in Children," "the Child and the Cinema," "the Handwriting of the Future," and "the Psychology of the Child." In many departments of Child Study he can speak with considerable authority.

His Lecture to the Meeting of the British Association in Toronto in 1924 on "The
Sense of Humour in Children," was well received by the American Press.

For further particulars apply to:

MR. WILLIAM B. FEAKINS,
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK.

# OUTLINES OF LECTURES.

## "THE SPRINGS OF LAUGHTER."

The value of laughter from different points of view. The essentials of a good joke or funny story. Various theories with regard to the cause of laughter. The types of funny stories and jokes which appeal most to children at different ages. Interesting results of an investigation of the development of humour in children. Family groups of stories. The long life of a good joke and the reasons of its survival. Incidents in everyday life which cause laughter. Will laughter decrease as we reach a higher state of civilisation?

## "ENGLISH AND AMERICAN HUMOUR."

An investigation of the sense of humour of American children. Comparison with a similar investigation of English children. The universality of funny stories and jokes of a particular type. Exaggeration and mendacity as elements in humorous situations. The effect of the writings of Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Artemus Ward and Max Adeler on American Humour, with illustrations. The popularity in American schools of the writings of Charles Dickens and of Alice in Wonderland. Punch and Life as representatives of English and American humour. Primitive humour and the absence of subtlety. A study of humour in Negro schools. Contrast of visual humour in the two countries.

## "CHILDREN'S DREAMS."

The dream as the Guardian of Sleep. A popular account of an investigation of the dreams of 6,000 children. Fear dreams of the young child. Special features of dreams at different ages. Differences between those of boys and girls. Falling dreams. The wish-fulfilment dreams of poor children. Comparison of the dreams of blind, deaf, and maimed children. The value of the dream in giving information about the nature of the child which cannot be obtained so well by other means. The dreams of twins.

## "THE FREEDOM OF THE CHILD."

The demand for freedom made by Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Montessori. The period of 2 to 5 years of age most important of the child's life. Research on the pre-school period in the American universities and experimental schools. The study of naiveté. Parents as seen by their children. Discipline in the school and the home. Difference in attitude of boys and girls to discipline. Dead knowledge and over-peptonisation. Habit formation and character-building. Memory as master or servant. Evidence as to mental make-up of children seen in investigations of dreams and the sense of humour.

## "THE CHILD AND THE CINEMA."

Investigation of the types of films most popular with children of different ages. Remarkable power of young children in describing films they have seen, as shown by illustrations of children's essays on moving pictures. Account of the proceedings of the Cinema Commission, of which the Lecturer was a member. Discussion of questions of eye-strain and fatigue. The educational possibilities of the Cinema. Production of educational films. Different types of projectors for teaching purposes. How the cinema affects children of varying orders of intelligence. Comparison of the cinema and the lantern as means of visual instruction. Results of an original research on the retention by the memory of the moving image (film) as compared with that of the static image (lantern slide).

## SOME RECENT PRESS OPINIONS.

*The Daily Telegraph (London)*: "Scientist's Analysis of Juvenile Humour. It is rarely that the meetings of this learned body (British Association) provide an opportunity for unrestrained mirth, but the fact that the scientist can, on occasion, rise above his traditional austerity was demonstrated in the Psychology Section, where an audience of some hundreds enjoyed the address of Dr. C. W. Kimmins, who gave the results of investigations into the sense of humour in children. . . . He kept his audience in roars of laughter with quotations from the savings of his juvenile subjects."

*The Evening News (London)*: "The School of Laughter. Dr. Kimmins, by his recent address to the British Association, has established himself as the Leading Authority on school children's wit and humour."

*The Scottish Educational Journal*: "No educationist in London speaks with greater authority than Dr. Kimmins. . . . He has just been appointed a Gilchrist Lecturer, and will be lecturing in all parts of the country. He has a style and a humour all his own, and knows well how to manage an audience."

POPULAR LECTURES BY
C.W. KIMMINS, M.A. (Cantab), D.Sc. (Lond.)

## Subjects.

* "The Springs of Laughter."

* "English & American Humour."

* "Children's Dreams."

* "The Freedom of the Child."

* "The Child and the Cinema."

* "The Psychology of the Child."

* "Modern Movements in English Education."

* "The Dalton Plan in English Schools."

* "The Handwriting of the Future."
(Script Writing, with Lantern Illustrations).

OUTLINES OF LECTURES.

“THE SPRINGS OF LAUGHTER.”

“ENGLISH AND AMERICAN HUMOUR.”

An investigation of the sense of humour of American children. Comparison with a similar investigation of English children. The universality of funny stories and jokes of a particular type. Exaggeration and mendacity as elements in humorous situations. The effect of the writings of Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Artemus Ward and Max Adeler on American Humour, with illustrations. The popularity in American schools of the writings of Charles Dickens and of Alice in Wonderland. Punch and Life as representatives of English and American humour. Primitive humour and the absence of subtlety. A study of humour in Negro schools. Contrast of visual humour in the two countries,

“CHILDREN'S DREAMS.”

“THE FREEDOM OF THE CHILD.”

“THE CHILD AND THE CINEMA.”

SOME RECENT PRESS OPINIONS.

*The Scottish Educational Journal*: "No educationist in London speaks with greater authority than Dr. Kimmins. He has just been appointed a Gilchrist Lecturer, and will be lecturing in all parts of the country. He has a style and a humour all his own, and knows well how to manage an audience."

# The Dalton Plan: Why and How

LUCY L. W. WILSON

Principal of the South Philadelphia High School for Girls
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THE "SCHOOL" of the Greeks meant "leisure," particularly the "retired leisure that in trim gardens takes his pleasure." Here, pedagogs, slaves, led their charges to teachers of grammar, or music, or gymnastics, carrying their instruments and giving them, in passing, some discipline, some moral training. This individualized instruction was superseded by the lecture method of the Sophists, much too intent upon imparting knowledge. Then came a renaissance. Socrates, the great democrat, in the streets, anywhere, tried with his famous questions to help each individual to develop his power to think and, his ability to do. In the olive groves of the *Akademia*, Plato, the aristocrat, and, in his *Lyceum*, practical Aristotle taught the fortunate youths of Athens, not individually but for the most part in real "discussion forums."

Under the Romans, these schools were institutionalized, of course, and carried to the rest of Europe, including England. Here, in the tutorial system of Oxford, and in some remarkable secondary schools, such as Bedales and Oundle, the fine art of teaching individuals in a socialized environment, developing the individual in the child, rather than merely "individualizing instruction," has survived to the present day.

In this country—witness the once popular story of Mark Hopkins at one end of the log, with Garfield at the other—a highly individualistic method of education prevailed until about two generations ago. Then was born the modern recitation method. It seemed to solve some of the difficulties of educating numbers by providing a method of testing their home preparation. As a matter of fact, at its best, this method is a time waster for the many and a spur to only a few of any group. Clever children, those who can easily prepare by themselves even with hurriedly given assignments, gain almost nothing additional, unless it be ennui or lazy habits of depending upon memory, in place of the more difficult adventure of thinking.

For a generation, progressive teachers have been trying to overcome the difficulties due to the obvious maladjust-

ment of the school to the enormously great individual differences of the children. The Pueblo Plan is an example of earlier attempts. Coaching laggards, or giving them more time, differentiated

adopted was called "The Laboratory Plan." When the Adoption of the plan became general in England, Miss Parkhurst renamed it "The Dalton Laboratory Plan."

The Fundamental principles of the Dalton Plan are: I. Freedom for Individual progress and Instruction, II. Time Freedom, with responsibility, III. Provision for a Social Environment: Community Living.

I. *Individualized instruction* did not originate with the Dalton Plan and is not peculiar to it. The problem has been attacked in this country along two main lines: A. The segregation and teaching of normal children in accordance with their abilities, with special classes for the subnormal, and sometimes for supernormal, children; and B. The individual assignment, either within or without a segregated group.

A. The enforcement of compulsory education laws and the growth of junior high schools, together with the development of scientific measurements of individual differences, in this country, at least, are rapidly leading to the attempt at more or less complete segregation and teaching of all pupils in accordance with their abilities. In several American cities, research bureaus have carefully measured the results obtained from such segregation. Detroit, in particular, has been carrying on, since 1920, a scientific experiment in segregation according to abilities and in individualization of instruction from the first grade up. In European countries, two generations of compulsory education, compelled such segregation, long ago, by a trial and error method that has been remarkably successful. For example in Denmark, it is this efficient and practical segregation, beginning at the end of the first grade, that accounts largely for the literacy of all the people. Probably, too, their own success is one of the reasons for the slowness with which they are investigating our scales and measurements.

For seven years, we in South Philadelphia have been experimenting with rapid and slow progressive classes. The initial segregation is in accordance with I.Q.'s formerly determined from group

## Teaching

I DO NOT KNOW that I could make entirely clear to an outside the pleasure I have in teaching. I had rather earn my living by teaching than in any other way. In my mind, teaching is not merely a life work, a profession, an occupation, a struggle: it is a passion. I love to teach. I love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a musician loves to play, as a singer loves to sing, as a strong man rejoices to run a race. Teaching is an art—an art so great and so difficult to master that a man or woman can spend a long life at it, without realizing much more than his limitations and mistakes, and his distance from the ideal. But the main aim of my happy days has been to become a good teacher, just as every architect wishes to be a good architect, and every professional poet strives toward perfection.—William Lyon Phelps.

assignments, segregating and teaching classes in accordance with their abilities, restoration and adjustment classes, are some of the modern devices used in many schools. No single scheme is as wide-spread, as well known, however, as the Dalton Plan.

The Dalton Plan is really the evolution from a *laboratory method*, in other than science classes, worked out 1908-1913 by Helen Parkhurst. It was first applied in the Tacoma Public Schools in 1911. Then began a long and finally successful effort especially aimed at eliminating the lock step of the time table, coming to a climax in September, 1919, in the Pittsfield School for Crispled Children. Here also was born the graph. Then, in 1919, the High School in Dalton, Massachusetts, was reorganized by the regular Dalton teaching staff according to suggestions laid down by Miss Parkhurst, who supervised the work. What the Dalton School

[181].

182

THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

June, 1925

tests, but given us, of late years, by their
respective grammar schools. The classes
are paralleled, thus making it easy to
change a pupil from one group to the
other whenever it is the judgment of
the teacher that in the subject he
teaches, at least, the classification was a
mistake. Moreover, we have still
further segregated those who obviously
cannot be expected to complete a four
years high school course, and are giving
them an "extension course" in which
they are happy and successful.

But the range of abilities within
groups was still almost unbelievably
large. The individual assignment
within the segregated group has been
of great service to us in still further
bridging the gaps.

B. Individual assignments: Frederic Burk, of the San Francisco State Teachers College, abandoned the daily verbal assignment, as well as the daily recitation in the training department, giving to each elementary pupil, instead, a copy of the course of study in each separate subject. These detailed courses of study were originally intended to guide pupil teachers. The immediate success of this project stimulated the faculty to produce a series of "self-instruction bulletins," in six subjects, covering some twenty-six phases of grade work. Until they were prohibited from doing so, these were sold at cost to any one interested. The idea, however, still lives in San Francisco, in Winnetka, and in many other cities.

The individual assignment, originated
by Burk, has been still further devel-
oped, especially along two lines:

I. By making provision, definitely,
for individual differences—This may be
done in one assignment either by double-
starring maximum units, or by collect-
ing all the maximum work in a single
optional assignment, listed at the end.
Some of the teachers in the South Phil-
adelphia High School prefer to have
the maximum work quite separate, so
that those who cannot do it may not be
teased by seeing it.

*Illustrations of maximum units—*
*English II A, Unit 1: The Vicar of*
*Wakefield.*

"For those who read quickly: *The Vicar* has much in it that is auto-biographical. If you want to know more of Oliver Goldsmith himself, read *The Jessamy Bride* by Moore or Irving's *Life of Oliver Goldsmith*. Report on additional reading either orally or in writing."

Science 10B: At the end of a month's work on Sugar:

1. "The testing of common foods (oatmeal, banana, parsnip, cornmeal, apple, raisins, etc.) for sugar; 2. A comparison of different sugars as to solubility, taste and case of crystallization; 3. The effect of strong sulphuric acid and of dry heat on sugars; 4. The changes that take place in a sugar solu-

Teachers of Mankind

THEIR CALLING is high and
holy; their fame is the prop-
erty of nations; their renown will
fill the earth in after ages in pro-
portion as it sounds not far off in
their own times. Each one of
these great teachers of the world,
possessing his soul in peace, per-
forms his appointed course, awaits
in patience the fulfilment of the
promises and resting from his
labors, bequeathes his memory to
the generation whom his works
have blessed, and sleeps under the
humble but not inglorious epitaph,
commemorating "one in whom
mankind lost a friend and no man
got rid of an enemy."—Lord
Brougham.

tion when its temperature is gradually
raised; 5. The effect of diastase on
starch; 6. The effect of saliva on starch;
7. The effect of pancreatin on starch;
8. Dextrin and its uses; 9. Substitutes
for sugar; 10. The use and abuse of
sugar in the diet."

"Consult your teacher for direction."

2. *Making provision, definitely, for socialization.* May I quote again from some of our own assignments?

English 12A: Unit of *Adam Bede*.

"Plan to finish your reading in about three weeks; that means reading approximately 175 pages a week. Talk over the story with your friends as you go along. If you find any marked differences of opinion, bring the question to me.

"When a large enough number have finished the novel, we shall have two conferences for general discussion. The discussions will be more enjoyable if the entire class is ready to take part at one time.

"The following questions and statements will be used as a basis for discussion.

1. What do you think the author's prime purpose was in writing this novel?

2. Are there any characters in *Adam Bede* who make you think of people in *Silas Marner* or the *Mill on the Floss*?

3. Does the author make her characters
real enough for you to understand them
and sympathize with them?

4. 'George Eliot's heroes and heroines differ radically from those of Dickens in this respect—when we meet the men and women of Dickens, their characters are already formed. In George Eliot's novels the characters develop gradually as we come to know them.'

5. We look to George Eliot for the reflection of country life in England. Frequent and definite references to parts of the story will make the discussion more profitable and more interesting."

*English Composition, 12B.*

"Choose 1 or 2.

"1. Has your father or brother any 'bad bills' that he would like us to try to collect? Ask him to give us the necessary data. If he will, form a small group of girls to talk over the problems presented in each case. Let each girl write the letters; then select the best, which will be mailed. Repeat the process, until you get results."

*English 11B, Argumentation (two months' work).*

"The skilful person always tries to foresee his opponent's arguments. The development of this ability to see both sides of the question makes you fair and open-minded."

"Formulate a proposition on some subject on which you have a strong conviction. Then try to think of several good reasons which your opponent would urge against it. Next, try to prove as conclusively as your opponent would one of these reasons. To do this, you must mentally put yourself in his place and temporarily forget your own point of view. Perhaps you will make your argument so forceful that you will convince yourself. Think out this proof first by yourself, making notes if you wish but not writing it out. Then present your argument orally to some one else in the group, or to me, if you prefer, and ask for criticism. Try to speak as effectively as possible (one day's work)."

II. Freedom with responsibility—
Rousseau was the first to advocate the
utilization of the principle of liberty in
education. It was emphasized, also by
both Pestalozzi and Froebel, although
their followers have often failed to use
it in their practice. That we in
this generation and in this country, in
our grammar and high schools, as well as
in the kindergarten and in the elementary
schools, are able to practice what they
preached is due more to John Dewey
than to any one else. We must acknowl-
edge too the stimulation that has come

Vol. 14, No. 6

183

from Mme. Montessori and Helen Parkhurst.

Freedom with stabilizing responsibility, under the Dalton Plan, is secured by helping the child to do his own time budgeting. In spite of weekly and other "conferences," and still other fixed periods, such as assemblies, a short daily period with the student advisers, chorus, physical training, a t. foods, and clothing, the child has about half the time "free." With the help of his student adviser, his subject teacher, and especially from his own experience, made up of successes and failures, he learns how best to use that free time in order to get the largest results from his effort. He becomes in a small way an efficiency engineer. He is the master, not the servant, acquiring the habit of also seeing the part always in its relationship to the whole.

*Graphs*—The individual pupil graph was first evolved in the School for Crimped Children, Pittsfield, Mass. It is an efficient aid to the child in budgeting his time intelligently, as well as a help to the teacher in helping to teach him to think straight. Moreover, when stamped and graded by the teachers, it serves the double purpose of a monthly report card with comparatively little strain on the teachers. A wall graph in which each pupil records his own progress serves to stimulate him as well as aid the teacher in helping and getting together the smaller groups.

### III. The Social Environment
In which children do their work is now of supreme importance. The modern answer to the question, "Who is your next door neighbor?", "Why, the man I do not know," indicates clearly the reason why the school must help its children to real community living. It is no longer enough that they cooperate with their teachers and their classmates. They must have the opportunity to be socialized across the years, with any and all of the children in school, at least. The Dalton Plan accomplishes this by substituting the atmosphere and the equipment of the laboratory for the cold, formal, separate classroom. This is splendidly illustrated in Miss Parkhurst's own school, the Children's University School, New York. In South Philadelphia, we have not yet attained either the substance or the shadow. In our overcrowded building, each classroom is used by at least two different teachers in our long fourshift day. But we have often had the spirit with us in working out school projects. We hope some time to gain

it less consciously and with less effort.

So much for the principles involved in the use of the Dalton Plan. It is obvious that there is only one modern device to which it is in opposition—the recitation method. Not only is it not in opposition to supervised study, nor to

MISS NELLIE F. CORNELL, of Rochester, New York, has a longer record of service than Miss Marsh whose career was noted in THE JOURNAL for April, reports Miss Julia M. Traver, school editor of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Miss Cornell began teaching in the public schools of Rochester on January 3, 1862, and had rounded out sixty-two years of service when she retired in January, 1924, still vigorous. After preliminary experience in other schools of the city she became principal of the Ellwanger and Barry School No. 24, a new school then in the outskirts of Rochester, now almost in its heart. Here was spent the last forty-seven years of her sixty-two years of professional work. In the late years she had in her school grandchildren of former pupils. "Love has been her rule of life and its beneficent effects are shown in the lives of thousands of men and women, former pupils, now scattered through all parts of the Nation and the world." Miss Cornell says that life has been beautiful, filled with love and happiness, and that if she could go back and again choose her life work it would be teaching.

socialized recitations, nor to segregation and teaching in accordance with abilities, nor to problems, nor to projects, nor to platoons, but the Dalton Plan will be found to be a most consistent and efficient

means actually to realize any or all of these ends.

The Dalton Plan does put the emphasis on *how* the child learns. Even-tually, however, it will, at least, point the way to that other important element in the education of children—namely, *what* shall he learn. To answer this question, it is not enough that curriculum-makers shall know the geography and social history of the world, both present and future, and the varying needs, the range of abilities, the habits, and the psychology of children, and the attainments, abilities, and psychology of their probable teachers. They must understand, also, a free child in action in a socialized environment. It is a long, long road, but the goal is now in sight.

*To summarize*, sticking to my last: In the South Philadelphia High School, in addition to an immediate improvement in the quantity and quality of work, we have noted a heightened sense of responsibility and self-reliance and a keener interest in work as work. Perhaps this generalization is merely consensus of opinion. What follows is fact:

1. Three times as many children now use the library; twice as many, take out books.

2. The absent child is no longer an insolvable problem.

3. The substitute teacher no longer is helpless, even when born inefficient.

4. Reports are more frequent and less laborious.

5. Traffic and study hall problems have almost disappeared.

6. More pupils are promoted.

7. Grades are almost uniformly higher. It is much more difficult—almost impossible—for the lazy pupil to obtain a higher grade than he deserves.

Moreover, we, the teachers, are learning to do by doing. Our technique is steadily improving. Altogether, the Dalton Plan is the best scheme for teacher development and teacher-training that has ever come our way. We, consciously, owe much to Dewey, to James, to Thorndike; to Terman and Yerkes and Otis, to Bobbitt, to Kingsley, to Briggs, to Inglis, to Courtis, to Rugg, to Hall-Quest, to Fretwell. They, with many others, have helped us to get the vision, to see the doorways. The Dalton Plan has been the master key to unlock these doors for the full service of our pupils that they may enter finally into their kingdom. Education shall overtake catastrophe.

QUESTIONS FROM TEACHERS&

1. Is any provision made in practice, apart from debates, for class work in any class teaching?

2. Are forms-i.e. classes dispensed with?

3. Is no serious difficulty found owing to (a) director's talking-

(b) various groups of children talking-

(c) constant entrances and exits-all going on together ?

(4). Is any special provision made for beginners. in e.g. French- where correct pronunciation and phonetics are all important ?

(5). Is it found that a subject like Latin- where "haziness" is fatal and where much care is needed to guide through difficulties- where many mistakes may pass unrecognised by children etc- can really be thoroughly mastered without definite teaching ?

(6- Are definite exercises included in the schedules? e.g. Latin prose, Maths: problems, -English Essay etc ?

(7) Dr. the teachers like the system ? Did they change without difficulty, or was some special training given ?

(8) What progress do the week-old children (intellectually) make under this system ?

QUARR HOUSE,
SWAY,
HAMPSHIRE.

June 22nd, 1920.

Dear Mrs Crane,

Many thanks for your letter which I was very glad to have.
Thank you also very much for the cheque, but I never thought of
your paying for the textbooks, I am only too glad to be of any use to
a fellow worker in education, so I am sending it back with many
thanks, all the same, for thinking of it. They didn't cost nearly so
much as £2.0.0. and the cheque was quite right by mailarat!

I wrote a letter to the "Times Educational Supplement" des-
cribing Miss Parkhurst's scheme as I saw at Dalton, and they also
put in an article embodying the typed particulars Miss Parkhurst
gave me. I had a hundred and seventy applications for the further
details and several schools, besides those from the head teachers
of which I enclose letters, are going to turn over their schools,
when the term begins in September.

Our summer term begins ends about July 26th, so of course, their
hopes were all raised at the prospect of perhaps hearing Miss

Parkhurst expound her scheme in public before the holidays began.

However, we must possess our souls in patience, and in the mean-
while you would perhaps be so very kind as to let us have a sam-
ple months assignment in each of the five subjects. This I am sure

would be a great help to the teachers, and any other hints or help
Mr Jackman could give would be received like water in a thirsty
land!

I am also sending a list of typical questions which I should be
very glad if he would answer. I have sent duplicates of all
these to Miss Parkhurst, also a letter I had from a publisher ask
ing for a book on the subject.

I hate to give you and Mr Jackman so much trouble, my only excuse
is that it is in the noble cause of education, which is kind of free
masonry, isn't?

I will keep a list of the questions so that they can be answered by
the numbers.

I am so very glad to hear that your experience of the scene in
the Cipple school has been so good and shall be more than interested
in the Report you so kindly promise to send.

Mr Brown -a copy of whose letter I send-is very anxious to come
to America to see the Dalton School, if he can afford it. Could you
give me any idea of what it would be likely to cost him per week to
stay in the country for say six weeks?

I am also sending duplicate copies of the letters for Mr Jackman as
I am sure he will be interested to know what a sensation his school
has made here, and he will be able to help his confreres here in
their efforts. We are longing for Miss Parkhurst's visit and hope the
Foundation will spare her to us as soon as possible. Again thanking

St Mary's Church Boys School
Eastbourne.

10th,June.'20

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your reply containing particulars of " The Laboratory Scheme".I like the idea very much and hope to work on similar lines in my school ( 360 boys).

Your explanations were quite clear,but I should like to have fuller details.If there is a book on the scheme would you kindly let me know.

Thanking you in anticipation.

High School for Girls
Tottenham

London.N.17.

Dear Miss Rennie,

I am much indebted to you for sending me particulars of Miss Parkhurst's scheme and I should very much like to adopt some of the ideas,if not the whole scheme.Mine is a school of over 400 girls, ranging from 8-18 years of age, and both I and my Staff would be most delighted if you would come over and talk with us about the possibilities,or, do you think Miss Parkhurst herself would come in July?

I know it is hardly fair to ask you to do this,as you must have so many calls on your time,but I would gladly arrange a fee up to £2.2.0. if you or Miss Parkhurst could spare an after noon to meet us

Brookfield,
Shepherds Hill
London.N.6.

Dear Madam,

[I am a derelict headmaster having a period of rest, with definite instructions to keep off " shop "! You can imagine how refreshing I found the article in "The Times Edu. Supt." a couple of weeks ago.[ I have always been rather of a pioneer and free lance in the field of education and the article to which your name is attached as willing and able to give more information has attracted me greatly.[ It seems to me to be the nearest approach that has ever been made to an ideal that I have been blindly groping after for many years.

[I should be very grateful if you could spare me a few moments some-
-time to have a chat with you.

With apologies for troubling you

[I am

11Parkfield Street
Whitworth Park,
Manchester.

May 7th, 1920.

Dear Miss Rennie,

I have received your letter, and also the particulars
of the laboratory scheme, and I write to thank you.

I think the scheme goes a long way towards solving the
great problem of school management, viz., the development of individ-
ual initiative in such a way that the advantages of group teaching
are not foregone.

where this child

I recently saw a school in Manchester, is left free to do anything
he pleases, the teacher's main business being to supply an adequate
environment. While this is a valuable experiment, I think the results
of the laboratory plan are likely to be more useful.

I should be glad of an opportunity of meeting the originator of
the scheme when she comes to England in July.

If I may say so, I think it would be useful for her to see Mr
O'Neill's experimental school at Kearsley-the one I mention ed
above.

( Late Headmaster of a Secondary School on the Gold Coast, now
Headmaster of a similar school in Ceylon.)

COPIES OF LETTERS RECEIVED IN ANSWER TO AN ARTICLE AND LETTER
IN THE TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT ON MISS PARKHURST'S LABORATORY
SCHEME.

GOGGOGG----------------GOGGOGG

Board of Education
24 Old Queen Street,
Westminster
LONDON.S.W.1.

Dear Madam,

My colleague, Mr Howard, has handed me your letter describing
the laboratory scheme which impressed you so much in Massachusetts.
We are all keenly interested in course, in any really promising
experiment in matters of this kind, and I trust that when the origin-
ator of the scheme comes to England in July she will be good
enough to give us an opportunity of hearing more about it.
I may add, that it was seeing your letter in "The Times Educational
Supplement" that prompted me to urge Mr Howard to write to you.

I am
Very truly yours,

Christopher Phillips

(Chief Inspector for London Elementary Schools for Board of
Education.)

Dear Mrs Crane,

I am glad to answer the questions of various English educators regarding the Dalton plan.

It must be understood that teachers as well as pupils have been in
the process of training, that we have made some mistakes of judgment in
regard to the nature of the monthly assignments which have tended unfavor-
ably to affect results, and that, beginning as we did at mid-year, we were
forced to accept all the liabilities of the conventional system.

I will answer the eight questions submitted in their order.
1. Is any provision made in practice, apart from debates, for any class teaching?

2. Are forms i.e. classes dispensed with?

In order to satisfy apprehensions of the board of education, and the
state inspector for secondary schools, only the forenoon sessions was given
over to the plan proper. The afternoons of the week were devoted to a defin-
ite program of class work, with recitations occuring two or three times per
week. This phase of the work was not entirely successful. The teachers trained
for work under the old system, had difficulty in devising a type of group
work adequate for holding a common interest among scholars naturally divided
by their differing rates of progress. What is evidently needed is further div-
ision of the ordinary classes into groups each appointed to investigate a
particular phase of the work, and be responsible to the class group for a def-
inite report. Such a system, reached only by sufficient experimentation by
the teachers, would enable each student to contribute to the class work
according to his ability, and tie his interests firmly to the general int-
erests of the class. It would also enable the instructor to contribute val-
uable guidance in the general principle of the subject studied.

(a) director's talking

(c) constant entrances and exits all going on together?

No serious difficulty in connection with the forenoon work because
of talking, has been encountered. Indeed, the conspicuous feature of the
free study period has been the steady increase in the power of the students
to attack work with deliberate and business intelligence. The general
quiet of the building during the hours of work was markedly better than under
the old system. The atmosphere was more like that of a well regulated office
or a library than that ordinaryy expected in a public school.

4. Is any provision made for beginners in French e.g. where correct pronunciation and phonetics are all important?

5. Is it found that a subject like Latin - where "haziness" is fatal and where much care is needed to guide through difficulties where many mistakes may pass unrecognised by children etc. - can really be thoroughly mastered without definite teaching?

At first considerable difficulty was encountered in the foreign
language groups, French offering the conspicuous problem. Attempts to solve
the problem by individual conferences were not satisfactory because of the
numbers involved. We made some progress, however by devising a schedule of
group conferences arranged to accommodate the varying progress of the stud-
ents, and work at the end of the year was much moer profitable than at
first. It is my belief that acquaintance with formal grammar can be best

"2"

attained through the medium of class groups as a whole, while pronunciation can be developed through the reading and study of the required literature by specialized groups of groups reporting to the class group periodically. The problem in connection with Latin is similar though far less serious. I think that definite teaching can be reduced with profit. I would not, however, wholly eliminate it.

6. Are definite exercises included in the schedules? e.g. Latin prose, Math problems - English Essay etc?

In the field of mathematics a much better showing was made than under the previous system. Progress in elementary algebra was slightly slower than before, but far more through. Plane geometry gave some trouble at first, but gradually grew better, and greatly profited by the introduction of special problems taken from practical designing. It was, however, in the work of solid geometry and the advanced algebra that we reaped an early harvest. Possibly the relative smallness of groups and the fact that the groups were composed of older pupils may have given some atvantage. The fact remains that the classes had a vitality to which we had been unaccustomed.

English essay work was a conspicuous success. The students felt an appeal to their creative powers, where before they had found hardly more than than drudgery and boredom.

History in general was successful, though the phase of history dealing with recent or current problems were far more appreciated than those dealing with ancient times. This difficulty, however, is not peculiar to the new plan.

7. Do the teachers like the system? Did they change without difficulty, or was some special training given?

No special training was given the teachers in preparation for the change. The plan was under consideration some months' previous to its adoption, and they had ample opportunity to comprehend its principle. It is true, as I said at the beginning of this letter, that they made some mistakes, that of overloading the monthly assignments with details being perhaps the most serious. All report a new vision of education, and a desire for further progress in the same lines.

8. What progress do the weakest children (intellectually) make under this system?

Our observations and collected data lead to interesting conclusions in regard to the students of slower intellect, as well as its results with the pupils of high intelligence. In regard to the former group the majority showed profit in thoroughness and inspiration. The facts that the entering class was not intellectually as strong as usual and that the proportion of absolute failures was considerably decreased, seems to speak well for results. It is, of course, true that the system increases the difficulty of adjustment to the entering pupil coming as he does from elementary schools conducted under the conventional system. Some of the brighter pupils, notably girls accustomed to attainment of high rank through the exercise of memory alone, suffered a reduction of both inspiration and progress. The time brought to them readjustment and some understanding of values hitherto unknown, and though in some cases the lost ground was recovered slowly, their increased self-reliance and initiative was deemed a full compensation. A large proportion of boys of all grades of intellect than of girls similarly considered, received immediate benefit. This may be due to the greater general experience of the average boy in exercising his creative

3

faculties.

We are glad indeed that we undertook the work. It has made us see education as an entirely different thing from what we had previously accepted it. The interest of the public in the school has been quickened into real vitality, and even the opposition we have at times encountered is likely to prove of lasting benefit. We shall, doubtless, as time goes on, de-<u>wise modifications of the plan, as experience shows such changes to be wise, but the broad development of a human soul - has been revealed and will not, I think again be obscured.</u>

I shall be glad to receive letters of inquiry from any educator, and will try to answer any question fully. Especially will I take pains to satisfy my English brothers and sisters in the cause of education.

Yours very truly,

Ernest Jackman.

Dear Mrs Crane,

It must be understood that teachers as well as pupils have been in the process of training, that we have made some mistakes of judgment in regard to the nature of the monthly assignments which have tended unfavorably to affect results, and that, beginning as we did at mid-year, we were forced to accept all the liabilities of the conventional system.

1. Is any provision made in practice, apart from debates, for any class teaching?

In order to satisfy apprehensions of the board of education, and the state inspector for secondary schools, only the forenoon sessions was given over to the plan proper. The afternoons of the week were devoted to a definite program of class work, with recitations occurring two or three times per week. This phase of the work was not entirely successful. The teachers trained for work under the old system, had difficulty in devising a type of group work adequate for holding a common interest among scholars naturally divided by their differing rates of progress. What is evidently needed is further division of the ordinary classes into groups each appointed to investigate a particular phase of the work, and be responsible to the class group for a definite report. Such a system, reached only by sufficient experimentation by the teachers, would enable each student to contribute to the class work according to his ability, and tie his interests firmly to the general interests of the class. It would also enable the instructor to contribute valuable guidance in the general principle of the subject studied.

(a) director's talking-

At first considerable difficulty was encountered in the foreign language groups, French offering the conspicuous problem. Attempts to solve the problem by individual conferences were not satisfactory because of the numbers involved. We made some progress, however by devising a schedule of group conferences arranged to accommodate the varying progress of the students, and work at the end of the year was much moer profitable than at first. It is my belief that acquaintance with formal grammar can be best

2

attained through the medium of class groups as a whole, while pronunciation can be developed through the reading and study of the required literature by specialized groups through groups reporting to the class group periodically. The problem in connection with Latin is similar though far less serious. I think that definite teaching can be reduced with profit. I would not, however, wholly eliminate it.

Our observations and collected data lead to interesting conclusions in regard to the students of slower intellect, as well as its results with the pupils of high intelligence. In regard to the former group the majority showed profit in thoroughness and inspiration. The facts that the entering class was not intellectually as strong as usual and that the proportion of absolute failures was considerably decreased, seems to speak well for results. It is, of course, true that the system increases the difficulty of adjustment to the entering pupil coming as he does from elementary schools so conducted under the conventional system. Some of the brighter pupils, notably girls accustomed to attainment of high rank through the exercise of memory alone, suffered a reduction of both inspiration and progress. The time brought to them readjustment and some understanding of values hitherto unknown, and though in some cases the lost ground was recovered slowly, their increased self-reliance and initiative was deemed a full compensation. A larger proportions of boys of all grades of intellect than of girls similarly considered, received immediate benefit. This may be due to the greater general experience of the average boy in exercising his creative

3

faculties.

We are glad indeed that we undertook the work. It has made us see education as an entirely different thing from what we had previously accepted it. The interest of the public in the school has been quickened into real vitality, and even the opposition we have at times encountered is likely to prove of lasting benefit. We shall, doubtless, as time goes on, decide modifications of the plan, as experience shows such changes to be wise, but the broad development of a human soul - has been revealed and will not, I think again, be obscured.

Yours very truly,

Ernest Jackman.

Dear Mrs Crane,

In order to satisfy apprehensions of the board of education, and the state inspector for secondary schools, only the forenoon sessions was given over to the plan proper. The afternoons of the week were devoted to a definite program of class work, with recitations occuring two or three times per week. This phase of the work was not entirely successful. The teachers trained for work under the old system, had difficulty in devising a type of group work adequate for holding a common interest among scholars naturally divided by their differing rates of progress. What is evidently needed is further division of the ordinary classes into groups each appointed to investigate a particular phase of the work, and be responsible to the class group for a definite report. Such a system, reached only by sufficient experimentation by the teachers, would enable each student to contribute to the class work according to his ability, and tie his interests firmly to the general interests of the class. It would also enable the instructor to contribute valuable guidance in the general principle of the subject studied.

(a) director's talking-

'2"

In the field of mathematics a much better showing was made than under the previous system. Progress in elementary algebra was slightly slower than before, but far more through. Plane geometry gave some trouble at first, but gradually grew better, and greatly profited by the introduction of special problems taken from practical designing. It was, however, in the work of solid geometry and the advanced algebra that we reaped an early harvest. Possibly the relative smallness of groups and the fact that the groups were composed of older pupils may have given some atadvantage. The fact remains that the classes had a vitality to which we had been unaccustomed.

No special training was given to the teachers in preparation for the change. The plan was under consideration some months' previous to its adoption, and they had ample opportunity to comprehend its principle. It is true, as I said at the beginning of this letter, that they made some mistakes, that of overloading the monthly assignments with details being perhaps the most serious. All report a new vision of education, and a desire for further progress in the same lines.

Our observations and collected data lead to interesting conclusions in regard to the students of slower intellect, as well as its results with the pupils of high intelligence. In regard to the former group the majority showed profit in thoroughness and inspiration. The facts that the entering class was not intellectually as strong as usual and that the proportion of absolute failures was considerably decreased, seems to speak well for results. It is, of course, true that the system increases the difficulty of adjustment to the entering pupil coming as he does from elementary schools conducted under the conventional system. Some of the brighter pupils, notably girls accustomed to attainment of high rank through the exercise of memory alone, suffered a reduction of both inspiration and progress. The time brought to them readjustment and some understanding of values hitherto unknown, and though in some cases the lost ground was recovered slowly, their increased self-reliance and initiative was deemed a full compensation. A larger proportion of boys of all grades of intellect than of girls similarly considered, received immediate benefit. This may be due to the greater general experience of the average boy in exercising his creative

faculties.

We are glad indeed that we undertook the work. It has made us see education as an entirely different thing from what we had previously accepted it. The interest of the public in the school has been quickened into real vitality, and even the opposition we have at times encountered is likely to prove of lasting benefit. We shall, doubtless, as time goes on, devise modification of the plan, as experience shows such changes to be wise, but the broad development of a human soul - has been revealed and will not, I think again be obscured.

Yours very truly,

Ernest Jackman.

Dear Mrs Crane,

(a) director's talking-

2

Our observations and collected data lead to interesting conclusions in regard to the students of slower intellect, as well as its results with the pupils of high intelligence. In regard to the former group the majority showed profit in thoroughness and inspiration. The facts that the entering class was not intellectually as strong as usual and that the proportion of absolute failures was considerably decreased, seems to speak well for results. It is, of course, true that the system increases the difficulty of adjustment to the entering pupil coming as he does from elementary schools co-conducted under the conventional system. Some of the brighter pupils, notably girls accustomed to attainment of high rank through the exercise of memory alone, suffered a reduction of both inspiration and progress. The time brought to them readjustment and some understanding of values hitherto unknown, and though in some cases the lost ground was recovered slowly, their increased self-reliance and initiative was deemed a full compensation. A large proportion of boys of all grades of intellect than of girls similarly considered, received immediate benefit. This may be due to the greater general experience of the average boy in exercising his creative

"B"

faculties.

We are glad indeed that we undertook the work. It has made us see education as an entirely different thing from what we had previously accepted it. The interest of the public in the school has been quickened into real vitality, and even the opposition we have at times encountered is likely to prove of lasting benefit. We shall, doubtless, as time goes on, devise modification of the plan, as experience shows such changes to be wise, but the broad development of a human soul - has been revealed and will not, I think again, be obscured.

Yours very truly,

Ernest Jackman.

Dear Mrs Crane,

(a) director's talking-

No serious difficulty in connection with the forenoon work because of talking, has been encountered. Indeed, the conspicuous feature of the free study period has been the steady increase in the power of the students to attack work with deliberate and business-like intelligence. The general quiet of the building during the hours of work was markedly better than under the old system. The atmosphere was more like that of a well regulated office or a library than that ordinaryy expected in a public school.

"2"

In the field of mathematics a much better showing was made than under the previous system. Progress in elementary algebra was slightly slower than before, but far more though. Plane geometry gave some trouble at first, but gradually grew better, and greatly profited by the introduction of special problems taken from practical designing. It was, however, in the work of solid geometry and the advanced algebra that we reaped an early harvest. Possibly the relative smallness of groups and the fact that the groups were composed of older pupils may have given some atvantage. The fact remains that the classes had a vitality to which we had been unaccustomed.

Our observations and collected data lead to interesting conclusions in regard to the students of slower intellect, as well as its results with the pupils of high intelligence. In regard to the former group the majority showed profit in thoroughness and inspiration. The facts that the entering class was not intellectually as strong as usual and that the proportion of absolute failures was considerably decreased, seems to speak well for results. It is, of course, true that the system increases the difficulty of adjustment to the entering pupil coming as he does from elementary schools co conducted under the conventional system. Some of the brighter pupils, notably girls accustomed to attainment of high rank through the exercise of memory alone, suffered a reduction of both inspiration and progress. The time brought to them readjustment and some understanding of values hitherto unknown, and though in some cases the lost ground was recovered slowly, their increased self-reliance and initiative was deemed a full compensation. A large proportion of boys of all grades of intellect than of girls similarly considered, received immediate benefit. This may be due to the greater general experience of the average boy in exercising his creative

faculties.

We are glad indeed that we undertook the work. It has made us see education as an entirely different thing from what we had previously accepted it. The interest of the public in the school has been quickened into real vitality, and even the opposition we have at times encountered is likely to prove of lasting benefit. We shall, doubtless, as time goes on, devise modifications of the plan, as experience shows such changes to be wise, but the broad development of a human soul - has been revealed and will not, I think again be obscured.

Yours very truly,

Ernest Jackman.

M. V. O'SHEA
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
140 LANGDON STREET
MADISON

Mrs. W. Murray Crane,
Choate Cottage,
Woods Hole,
Mass.

M. V. O'SHEA
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
MADISON

July 23, 1923.

Dear Mrs. Crane:

I have thought you might be interested to learn
that Miss Parkhurst has just finished a course of lectures on the
Dalton Plan in our university, and we have been very much
interested in and benefitted by her work. She had a large audience
of teachers, principals, and superintendents, whom she held for a
week. They were so greatly interested in the Dalton Plan and in
Miss Parkhurst that a large number of them have asked that she give
a longer course in the University of Wisconsin next summer and es-
tablish a school for the training of teachers in the Dalton Plan.
Our education faculty have set to work to see if plans can be
devised so that Miss Parkhurst can make the University of Wisconsin
a center of large influence in training teachers in The Dalton Plan.

With best wishes, I remain

Mrs. W. Murray Crane,

Choate Cottage,

Woods Hole,

Mass.