EDUCATION FOE EFFICIENCY. 367 



grants in unsanitary quarters have aided the establishment of the 

 most serious obstacle yet discovered to the upward progress of public 

 education. 



In the second place, the feeling of disappointment with the results 

 of the newer studies arises from the fact that these studies were intro- 

 duced before the teachers were prepared to teach them; that for too 

 long they were concerned chiefly with uninteresting formal processes 

 rather than with interesting results; that they were not related to 

 real needs of school and home ; and were not properly coordinated with 

 other phases of the curriculum. Much yet remains to be done to 

 assimilate the environment of the school to the environment of the 

 world. 



And yet, while we may feel discontented with the situation, and 

 regret the increased difficulties of our work, there is no reason for 

 discouragement. I have no hesitation in saying that in general intel- 

 ligence, in all-round efficiency, in power of initiative, the pupils whom 

 I see are superior to those of a quarter of a century ago. If the ob- 

 stacles before us are more . formidable, if the problems are more com- 

 plicated than those presented to our predecessors, the teachers of 

 America are better organized and better equipped to overcome the 

 obstacles and to solve the problems. He who has sailed in a modern 

 steamship through an ocean storm has seen the mighty vessel cleave 

 the billows and scarcely slacken her speed in the teeth of the hurri- 

 cane. Down in the depths of the ship men are piling coal on the 

 furnaces and releasing a force — the imprisoned sun-power of uncounted 

 ages — that baffles the waves and defies the whirlwind. And so it is 

 with our ship of state. Come what storms of ignorance or wickedness 

 there may, teachers are supplying the fuel of knowledge and releasing 

 the force of intelligence that will hold our nation in the straight course 

 of progress. 



And yet, the teachers of America are still far from satisfied with 

 their achievements. They are dissatisfied with the elementary cur- 

 riculum, because it seems crowded by the new studies that have been 

 added without diminishing the number of the old. They are dis- 

 satisfied with the high school curriculum because the old-style lan- 

 guage, mathematics and science course, however suitable it may be 

 for admission to college, does not precisely meet the needs of boys 

 and girls who are going directly into life. They are dissatisfied with 

 the specialized high school, because it seems lacking in some of those 

 attributes of culture in which the old time school was strong. And 

 they are dissatisfied with the college course, because the elective sys- 

 tem which has taken the place of the old, prescribed course does not 

 seem to give a strong, intellectual fiber to the weaker students who, 

 too often, follow the path of least resistance. And they are dissatisfied 

 because there is less intelligence, less efficiency and less helpfulness in 



