WASTE IN EDUCATION 55 



number of pages in a text-book we shall find that the actual accomplish- 

 ments measured in material mastered will be greater, that school work 

 will be done with far greater zest, and, what is more valuable, that the 

 pupils will have acquired methods of study which will greatly increase 

 their efficiency in the more advanced work of later years. It is this 

 method of teaching instead of hearing recitations which, more than any 

 other single cause, characterizes the work of the German schools and 

 makes possible the greater accomplishment during the period of second- 

 ary education. 



Our present school day and year could be considerably lengthened 

 with great gain in efficiency and without danger of overtaxing the 

 pupil's strength. Much recreational and occupational activity has been 

 added to the work of the school without any corresponding addition to 

 the time spent in school. With the greater variety and interest secured 

 by improved methods of teaching, and with much less work assigned for 

 home study, a longer day would add greatly to the pupil's attainment in 

 a given number of weeks. If, in addition, the long period of vacation 

 with its accompanying dissipation of the results already secured, could 

 be reduced, it is not unreasonable to expect that three years would be 

 sufficient for the accomplishment of what is now done in four. The 

 large number of pupils who now voluntarily attend vacation schools in 

 our large cities suggests the conclusion that many students would wel- 

 come such an extension of the school year. 



To summarize this discussion briefly. Waste in our elementary and 

 secondary education is due chiefly to: (1) a lack of coordination be- 

 tween the separate parts of our school organization; (2) to the lack of 

 training of teachers; and (3) to the short tenure of position of teachers. 

 A remedy may be sought in: (1) a readjustment of our school organ- 

 ization; (2) in the elimination of unnecessary reviews and repetitions; 

 (3) in improved methods of instruction; (4) by furnishing substantial 

 incentive to better work on the part of the pupils; (5) and by lengthen- 

 ing the amount of time given to instruction during the school year. 



Any effective treatment of the problem will depend upon the recog- 

 nition of the fact that we are dealing with a unified process extending 

 through the entire period of elementary and secondary education. The 

 problem can be solved only when teachers employed at every point in the 

 process, including the instructors in the early years of the college 

 course, devote serious attention, not merely to the small sphere of their 

 immediate activity, but to the materials and method of the entire period 

 involved. 



