130 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ignores most of the principles that control people in practical affairs. 

 Under its operation, it compels the teacher to lay the greater emphasis 

 upon the similarities among pupils, and to ignore differences, and it 

 places a premium upon uniformity. The more closely the school grade 

 approaches its ideal, the more strictly must each pupil work for him- 

 self; while the closer we approximate the grouping required by the 

 social ideal, the more earnestly must the individual strive for the whole. 



The school grade aims at a certain dead level of uniformity in 

 three things, namely, age, knowledge and skill. These rigid conditions 

 have imposed the stamp of their own arbitrariness upon the selection 

 of subject-matter and methods of instruction, and they render it im- 

 possible to realize the highest ideals of social and civic life in the 

 school. The grading system was established long before child-study 

 opened the eyes of teachers, and it represents the quantity idea in edu- 

 cation as opposed to that of quality. 



In school, not all of the teaching is done by the teacher ; the younger 

 children are constantly learning from the older. Experience shows 

 that when pupils have the opportunity to organize themselves for work 

 they form groups which in many instances utterly ignore the age limits 

 set by the grade. The younger pupils gain in skill and knowledge, and 

 the older have lessons in consideration for others and in responsibility 

 that in a graded system must remain forever untaught. 



It is equally undesirable to grade pupils on the basis of equality of 

 knowledge. Outside of school such an aggregation of people would be 

 considered a stupid company, with but little chance for improvement. 

 It would distinctly improve the situation to bring together in some 

 common enterprise pupils who differ widely in both knowledge and 

 experience. This applies especially where the pupils are employed in 

 doing rather than in talking. The less capable learn from those who 

 know more, and the latter will learn to work from the strongest stimu- 

 lus that can move anyone — the necessity of making knowledge immedi- 

 ately intelligible and available for others. The nearer the conventional 

 grade is approximated, the less there is of such a motive; for a simi- 

 larity of knowledge makes each one useless and uninteresting to every 

 other. 



The same argument applies against the requirements for a parity 

 of skill. Every pupil has a certain skill of his own, and his work 

 should so relate him to others that he may make the most of it. He 

 need not be ' graded ' with those having equal skill in the same direc- 

 tion. This point finds illustration in the building of a house. In this 

 there may be six or eight different kinds of workmen employed. No 

 two have quite the same skill, in no two is it required. Each one does 

 what is needed and what he is best able to do. The group is so 

 organized that the house-building progresses rapidly and well; but the 



