president's address — SECTION J. 239 



of collective teaching rests. Both English and American investi- 

 gators have shown how very different are the facts from this 

 assumption. Says Burt, " By the ordinary methods of school 

 organization the variation of a class is reduced to about cne-half 

 that of an age group. By an ideal classification for each subject 

 separately, it could theoretically be reduced to about one-third."* 



The amount of heterogeneity will vary for different subjects, 

 depending on the subject or subjects which have determined the 

 class grouping. But clearly, collective teaching will be less effec- 

 tive for these subjects where the heterogeneity of the group is 

 greatest. There is need to supplement this method by forms of 

 individual or group teaching. If we retain our present one-fold 

 method of class grouping, we mvist introduce more individual and 

 groupi teaching. 



Not only are age groups and class groups heterogeneous in 

 scholastic ability, they also overlap, and the overlapping of both 

 age groups and class groups is much greater than has been sup- 

 posed. The amount of overlap j:ing of classes varies for different 

 subjects, and will be least in those subjects which have determined 

 the class grouping. It would seem desirable to reduce this over- 

 lapping SO' far as possible, and it can be dene by the same methods 

 as are indicated for the reduction of heterogeneity in the class 

 group. More flexible methods cf promotion and reclassification 

 for special groups of subjects appear desirable. 



For which subjects or groups of subjects, then, is reclassificati<in 

 desirable? This problem has been investigated by Burt, who has, 

 from a study of the specific correlations between the school sub- 

 jects, grouped them into the following four groups: — ■ 



1. An arithmetical group — including mechanical and {iroblema- 

 tic arithmetic. 



2. A manual group, including handwork, drawing, and writing. 



3. A linguistic group, including dictation and reading. 



4. A composition gi'oup, including history, geography, science, 

 and composition. 



Says Burt, " If children are reclassified for dictation, the re- 

 classification may serve also for reading : similarly, the reclassi- 

 fication for arithmetic (rules) may serve verv largely for arith- 

 metic (problems). But neither dictation, arithmetic, nor general 

 educational ability will yield honicgeneous classes in drawing or 

 handwork. The subjects, therefore, for which reclassification 

 seems desirable are those which show a high specific correlation 

 with one another. These, as we have seen, fall into three or four 

 main groups. If then the main classification is based lai'gely upon 

 work in the composition group, reclassification may be desirable 

 for manual, perhaps for linguistic, but above all for the arith- 

 metical subjects." t 



* Burt, ibid., p. 74. 

 t Biirt, jbifl., p. 67. 



