110 THE SCHOOL 



destroyed by memoriter methods. In geography, in grammar, in 

 arithmetic, even in nature-study, it is still not unusual to find teachers 

 consuming their pupils' time in memorizing unessential details and 

 a vast redundancy of technical terms. Mr. Frank McMurry lays down 

 the following plain rules for the rejection of superfluous subject- 

 matter in teaching: 



" (1) Whatever cannot be shown to have a plain relation to some 

 real need of life, whether it be esthetic, ethical, or utilitarian in the 

 narrow sense, must be dropped. 



" (2) Whatever is not reasonably within the child's comprehension, 

 likewise. 



" (3) Whatever is unlikely to appeal to his interest; unless it is 

 positively demanded for the first very weighty reason. 



" (4) Whatever topics and details are so isolated or irrelevant that 

 they fail to be a part of any series or chain of ideas, and therefore fail 

 to be necessary for the appreciation of any large point. This stand- 

 ard, however, not to apply to the three R's and spelling." 1 



The intelligent application by teachers of these four rules, together 

 with the more general dissemination of improved methods of teaching, 

 will gradually solve the problem of the " overcrowding of the ele- 

 mentary curriculum." 



The elective system, which has obtained so firm a footing in 

 American colleges and universities, has spread to the secondary 

 schools, while there are not wanting those who argue in favor of 

 introducing it into the elementary schools. Some would go so far as 

 to say that a youth of fourteen should be permitted, while in high 

 school, to pursue as many studies or as few studies, for as long a time 

 or for as short a time, as he pleases. Though there are few who take 

 this extreme view, yet the elective principle has found a firm lodg- 

 ment in the secondary school. For the most part it takes the form 

 of a choice between a college preparatory course, a commercial course, 

 and a manual-training course, or a choice between two or more 

 related subjects of study. If we assume, as I think we must, that the 

 principle of election has been firmly established in the secondary 

 schools, the problem which at once arises is: How shall the student 

 be guided to a wise choice of courses and of subjects? Obviously, 

 when he enters, the teachers of the secondary schools cannot advise 

 him, because when he presents himself at their doors they know 

 nothing of his special aptitudes and little of his previous studies. In 

 the great majority of cases parents are quite as incompetent as his 

 new teachers to give him useful counsel. How is the boy, at the age 

 of fourteen, to determine whether he shall take the college preparatory 

 course, or the commercial course, or the manual-training course? 

 Here is a problem of the first importance. It is of the first import- 



1 Educational Review, May, 1904. 



