82 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW [a :3 _ M arch, 1906 



duct of development or evolution but rather the product of accretion. 

 There has been much added to the formal studies with which it 

 began. Adaptations to the more complex demands of society have 

 not been made by adjustment but by addition, until now the curricu- 

 lum is fearfully over-crowded. For this reason the present scheme 

 seems to some of us to be deficient in several important respects. 

 In order to see the bearing our subject has in general on the curricu- 

 lum it will be worth while to notice briefly some of these deficiencies : 



(a). In the present scheme there is little or no opportunity for 

 practical experience in the use of formal studies. The method gen- 

 erally in vogue is the drill method to the exclusion of a working 

 method. Formal studies are mere tools for working out life prob- 

 lems. Yet there is little or no practice in the use of them as such. 

 For example : Arithmetic is taught mainly by the use of hypotheti- 

 cal situations instead of actual situations. There are about five years 

 devoted to this subject in the elementary schools, but when the aver- 

 age child gets through he is not as efficient in its practical use as one 

 who has spent three months in a good business college. 



(b). There is little or no opportunity for acquiring new expe- 

 riences. It is assumed that the pre-school life of the child and his life 

 outside of school hours are sufficient to afford concrete data for the 

 development and understanding of all school subjects. This defi- 

 ciency has long been recognized, as is shown in the various attempts 

 to introduce object studies. These attempts have failed, for the most 

 part, because the objects have not really entered into the child's active 

 life. In school the natural method of acquiring knowledge by direct 

 experience is suddenly dropped and an entirely new method substi- 

 tuted — the book method. Learning words takes the place of real 

 knowledge. 



One time I undertook to find out just where in the school life of 

 the child this method began to make itself felt. I was surprised to 

 find it stunting natural expression as low as the second grade at the 

 very beginning of the use of written language to convey thought. The 

 children of this grade had been very much interested in their little 

 gardens. I requested their teacher to have them write just how they 

 took care of their gardens. Here are two little essays that illustrate 

 the result : 



" I planted some seeds in my little garden. I have a nice garden. 

 Is your garden nice ? Did you plant some seeds in your garden ? 

 I planted some in mine." Clara. 



