WASTE IN EDUCATION 51 



First, cut off one year from the college course, without lowering the entrance 

 requirements; secondly, in view of the far greater efficiency of the secondary 

 school, reduce the entrance requirements to college, and retaining the four year's 

 course, permit the boy to enter college a year younger; thirdly, drop one year 

 from the college course, increase the length of the actual weeks of residence and 

 instruction to thirty-eight or forty, and endeavor to disabuse the mind of the 

 average collegian of the belief that college is a place to dawdle and loaf four 

 years for the sake of a degree that he does not earn, but which he generally gets 

 just the same. 



The discussion has recently been resumed by President Judson of 

 the University of Chicago. It is fair to interpret his laconic statement 

 that " The best thing to do with the freshman year is to abolish it " as 

 meaning that the period of secondary instruction should be reduced by 

 one year. Whether this be done by shortening the periods now admin- 

 istered by the high school or the college is of less importance. 



The problem is clearly stated: assuming that two years must be 

 eliminated from the period of elementary and secondary education, find 

 the years. It is plain that this can be done only by a careful study 

 of the material and methods employed and a reorganization of the work 

 of the period involved. It is a study involving not only the twelve years 

 which have preceded the college course, but also the earlier part of the 

 college course itself. Having found it possible to eliminate one year 

 from the elementary school, the problem is reduced one half. I am 

 confident that conferences of high-school and college teachers in foreign 

 languages, English, mathematics, history and science, going over the 

 materials and methods of secondary work in the same careful manner 

 employed by the departments in the university schools above described, 

 could easily eliminate a year by the avoidance of duplication and closer 

 coordination of courses. 



In the matter of foreign languages all will agree that it is much 

 better for the elementary work to be done in the high school. In fact, 

 there is abundant evidence m the practise of European countries and in 

 some schools in this country that the study of foreign language may be 

 begun advantageously before the high-school age. With improved meth- 

 ods in the high school and better correlation between high school and 

 college, it should be possible for students to complete the elementary 

 work in foreign language and either drop the study on entering college 

 or go on with more advanced work without the repetition of any work 

 already done. Against the elimination of elementary work in foreign 

 language in college it may be urged that with the great variety of sub- 

 jects included in the high-school curriculum many students will com- 

 plete their high-school courses without foreign languages, and as colleges 

 require a certain amount of foreign language of all candidates for a 

 degree, they must either offer elementary courses or throw the student 

 back upon the high school for a still longer period of preparation. But 

 as the student who goes to college must either present foreign language 



