the contrary, observational study and concrete teaching are more interesting to both children and adults than memory study of any sort; and whenever the interest of pupils is aroused, it brings out more concentrated attention and harder work, but causes less fatigue. The obvious utility of mental labor directed to a practical end increases the interest the pupils take in their work, and stimulates them to effective effort. To use a good tool or machine and get the results it is competent to produce when in skillful hands, is vastly more interesting than reading or hearing about the uses of such a tool or machine. Whenever, by the use of observational and concrete methods, the pupils' power of attention and of concentrated effort is developed, that power of attention once acquired can be exercised in other subjects. This principle holds true not only of manual or bodily labor but also of games and sports, and of cooperation in rhythmical movements, like dancing. The power of concentrated attention won in carpentry, turning, forging, or farm work is easily transferred to work in reading, writing, and ciphering, or at a later stage in history, literature, and civics; so that the reduction in the so-called academic studies made to allow the introduction of observational studies need not result in less attainment in the academic studies themselves. For this great improvement in the conduct of American secondary schools a good deal of preparation has already been made. The new schools of mechanic arts, the trade schools, the various endowed institutes for giving a sound training in applied science, and such institutions as the Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute are showing how to learn by actual seeing, hearing, touching, and doing, instead of by reading and committing to memory. They have proved that the mental powers, as well as the bodily powers, are strongly developed by the kind of instruction they give; so that nobody need apprehend that reduced attention to memory subjects, with increased attention to the training of the senses, the muscles, and the nerves, will result in a smaller capacity for sound thinking and for the exercise of an animating good will. It is not the secondary school alone which needs to be reformed; the elementary school needs to set a different standard of attainment, not lower or easier, but, rather, higher and r; a standard in which the training of the senses shall be an i and ment. and girls ? accom If the elementary and secondary schools served ▾ from 6 to 18 years of age, the main reform would, in plished. It is but a small percentage of the youth of the go to the colleges and the higher technical schools; and ti of this small percentage are often able to provide their with opportunities for securing, outside of their systematic educa y that irents ildren tion, a well coordinated use of all their senses and nerves, such as a violinist, organist, pilot, locomotive engineer, or sharpshooter requires. The educational publicist must keep in mind the interests of the 95 per cent of the children, rather than those of the 5 per cent; for it is on the wise treatment of the mass of the population during youth that a modern democracy must rely for assuring the public health, prosperity, and happiness. If the educational material and the method of instruction were right, the training given in the grades would be just as good for the children who leave school at 14 as for those who go on till 18, and the training in the high school would be equally appropriate for pupils who do not go to college as for those who do. The progressive sensetraining from beginning to end of systematic education is desirable for all pupils, whatever their destination in after life, and should prepare every pupil for his best entrance on earning a livelihood, at whatever age that necessity is to come upon him. It should be the same with the language and history studies in every public-school program. At every stage, or in every grade, they should be suitable for every pupil, no matter what his destination. Flexibility and adaptation to individual needs would still be necessary in the programs, first, in order to enable the individual pupil to concentrate on the studies he prefers and excels in, and secondly to enable pupils of different capacity to advance at different rates. The adoption of these principles would solve justly problems in the American tax-supported system of public education which have been in debate for generations. It must not be imagined that any advocate of more sense training in education expects to diminish the exercise of the reasoning powers or of the motive powers which distinguish man from the other animals, or to impair man's faith in the spiritual unity of the world, or his sense of duty toward fellowmen, or his sympathies with them. The devotees of natural and physical science during the last 150 years have not shown themselves inferior to any other class of men in their power to reason and to will, and have shown themselves superior to any other class of men in the value or worth to society of the product of those powers. The men who have done most for the human race since the nineteenth century began, through the right use of their magination, and will, are the men of science, the skilled craftsmen, not the metaphysicians, the orators, the historians, or the rulers. In modern times the most beneficent of the rulers have been men who shared in some degree the new scientific spirit, and the same is true of the metaphysicians. As to the real poets, teachers of religion, and other men of genius, their best work has the scientific quality of precision and truthfulness; and their rhetorical or oratorical work is only their second best. the artists, The best poetry of the last three centuries perfectly illustrates this general truth. Shakespeare wrote: I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows. The florists now tell us that thyme will not thrive except on a bank. George Herbert wrote: Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright; The bridal of the earth and sky, The dew shall weep thy fall to-night, Precision of statement could not go further; thought and word are perfectly accurate. Emerson said to the rhodora: The selfsame power that brought me here, brought you. A more accurate description of the universal Providence could not be given. Even martial poetry often possesses the same absolute accuracy: Oh! Tiber, Father Tiber, To whom the Romans pray, A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, Cannon to right of them, When human emotions are to be stirred, and human wills inspired, it is the accurate, perfectly true statement which moves most, and lasts longest: Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life The most exact, complete, satisfying, and influential description of true neighborliness in all literature is the parable of the Good Samaritan: Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor. unto him that fell among the robbers? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go and do thou likewise. It is an important lesson to be drawn from The Great War that under the passionate excitements and tremendous strains of the widespread disaster the medical profession and the nurses of all countries are holding firmly to that exact definition of the neighbor, and are obeying strictly the command, "Do thou likewise." These are men and women who have received thorough training of the senses without suffering any loss of quick sympathy or of humane devotion. Rhetorical exaggeration, paradox, hyperbole, and rhapsody doubtless have their uses in moving to immediate action masses of ordinary men and women; but they are not the finest weapons of the teacher and moralist: Speaks for itself the fact, As unrelenting Nature leaves SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENT. [The illustrative statement which follows did not form part of the paper as presented at the Congress, but was furnished by Dr. Eliot for use in "Occasional Papers No. 2," issued by the General Education Board.] The proportion of attention given to observational and scientific subjects in secondary schools in comparison with that given to linguistic, literary, mathematical, and historical subjects, may be illustrated by analysis of the programs of a few typical schools. 1. In a New York high school which maintains the traditional four years' high-school course, and a course intended to prepare for commercial work, the number of recitation periods offered in the four years are respectively 21, 25, 25, and 35—a total of 106; and out of these 106 periods each pupil is required to attend 72 periods, being 18 periods per week throughout the four years. The number of options is small during the first three years, but large in the fourth year. Out of these 106 periods, 24 had some possible element of observational work; but these could all be avoided by any pupil who wished to do so, unless, indeed, the pupil was hoping to enter a college which demanded the elements of some one science for admission. There were in the school no laboratories for physics, chemistry, or biology. The commercial course contained only 77 periods, of which 72 were required. Of the 77 periods 10 had possibly, but not necessarily, some element of observational work. This school has lately come into possession of a new building which contains well-equipped laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology, and is this year (1915–16) offering for the first time a noteworthy course in agriculture which includes 13 periods of English, 10 of history, and 10 of mathematics, but also 10 for science and 30 for agriculture, including laboratory and shop work, field trips, project work at home, and classroom work. The instructor for agriculture is engaged for the entire year, and will spend his summer with the boys who pursue the agricultural course. 2. In an excellent high school in an important western city there were 34 teachers in 1914-15 who gave full time on the weekly program of the school, of whom one taught physics with the laboratory method, one chemistry with the laboratory method, one zoology and physiology with the laboratory method, two mechanical drawing and manual arts, and one free-hand drawing. Thus, about one-sixth of the actual teaching force was teaching subjects which might fairly be called observational. This school maintains a normal course which requires a good two years' course in free-hand drawing, given 5 days in the week, for 40 minutes a day. There being no prescribed outline of work in music, the different high schools in this city make out each its own course in music. One of them maintains an excellent course in music covering the first two years out of the four; but the high school, the composition of whose staff is partially analyzed above, gave no course in music because of lack of accommodations. In general, a course in music is required of pupils in this city only if they select that high-school course which is called the normal course. Free-hand drawing is not required, except in the normal course. Since the city provides in its high schools more instruction than any one pupil can take, it is possible for pupils to graduate creditably from a high school without having devoted even one-sixth of their time to observational studies. 3. In another large western city the high schools provide seven different courses, among which each pupil chooses one. In three of these courses memory studies have the usual preponderance; but in the other four, called Art, Manual Training, Domestic Art and Science, and Commercial, there is an unusual proportion of observational or vocational studies. The city spends money liberally in its high schools for instruction in drawing-both free-hand and mechanical-manual training including joinery, turning, pattern-making, molding, forging, and the domestic arts and sciences knowledge of which is especially desirable for girls, and in botany, physiology, physics, and chemistry. Botany and physiology are only half-year subjects. All science subjects have five periods each per week, usually divided into three recitations and one double laboratory period. In the art course, art drawing is required during the four years, and is given in double periods each second day. In the course called classical, the proportion of observational studies accessible to the pupil is very small; but in the courses called art, manual training, and domestic art and science it is fairly large, while in the courses called general and scientific the proportion of observational studies is identical and approaches one-sixth of the total time demanded from the pupils by either of these courses. In the course called scientific, of the 20 units required for graduation, 4, or one-fifth of the whole, must be in science. In the general course, 18 units being required for graduation, 2 must be in science; and these 2 may be increased to 3 or 4—that is, one-ninth of the total number is required for science, and this proportion may be increased by election to one-sixth or even to two-ninths. Music in these schools consists of chorus singing taught for two periods a week for four years; but music is not enumerated among the studies of the schools, being regarded as extra or outside the regular program. The word "music" does not occur in the printed programs of the seven courses. Art drawing, mechanical drawing, manual training, and domestic art and science require but little preparatory study in connection with the work done in the periods assigned to these subjects on the programs. Physics, physiology, chemistry, and physiography require preparatory study, but not so much as the language studies and the mathematical. It has been proved in the high schools of this city that girls devote more time than boys do to study in preparation for the recitation periods of the high-school programs. 4. In an old secondary school maintained wholly at public expense and devoted for many years to classical learning, the present course of study includes the following observational studies: In the first year 2 periods a week in elementary science and 2 in physical training—these two subjects together having 4 out of 25 periods per week, and being represented in the second and third years in the same proportion. In the fourth and fifth years there is no scientific study whatever. In the sixth and last year of the course physics has 5 periods out of the 25, with lecture demonstrations and laboratory work throughout the year. In the last four years of the course the physical training consists exclusively of military drill—that is, the setting-up drill, the manual of arms, marching, and company and battalion movements. In all the physical training |