EDUCATION 



1940 



EDUCATION 



learning shall 'be laid in this way. After the 

 beginning has been made, the normal child will 

 be able to undertake the systematic and pro- 

 gressive mastery of recorded knowledge with a 

 fair hope of success; but modern education 

 believes that, even in the later stages, when 

 knowledge can be assimilated in a somewhat 

 "abstract" form, the use of this knowledge 

 its application to the solution of human prob- 

 lems should always be an important phase of 

 the teaching. 



Emphasis upon the Social Phase of School 

 Life. Another striking difference between 

 modern education and the education of the 

 past lies in the emphasis that is now being 

 given to the social, or group, phases of school 

 life. It was not so very long ago that practi- 

 cally all of the teaching in the lower schools 

 was individual teaching; that is, although chil- 

 dren were brought together and placed under 

 the instruction of a teacher, the children did 

 not participate as a group in the school exer- 

 cises. On the contrary, the teacher called the 

 pupils to him, one at a time, "heard" their 

 lessons, and sent them back to their benches 

 for independent work. The method of class 

 instruction (or the "simultaneous" instruction 

 of a group of pupils) was an important forward 

 step, although, like many other forward steps, 

 it had certain disadvantages. It is difficult, 

 for example, to make class instruction meet the 

 needs and the capacities of every member of 

 a group. Some pupils are naturally '"bright," 

 others are naturally "slow"; class instruction 

 tends to reduce them all to the same rate of 

 progress, and this is likely to work an injustice 

 both to the brighter pupils, who might proceed 

 very much more rapidly, and to the slower 

 children, who find themselves handicapped even 

 by attempting a rate of progress which the 

 average pupils can readily attain. 



Several methods have been devised to over- 

 come these difficulties of group-instruction: 

 one plan employs two teachers for each class- 

 room, and gives one teacher charge of the 

 group-work, while the second teacher "coaches" 

 the individuals who fall behind, or gives added 

 instruction to the brighter pupils who can 

 make more rapid progress; another plan segre- 

 gates pupils into groups, according to their 

 ability, and permits each group to progress at 

 a favorable rate; still another plan practically 

 returns to the older method of individual in- 

 struction, abandoning class organization and 

 permitting each pupil to advance as rapidly 

 as he may. 



On the whole, however, group-instruction, in 

 spite of its disadvantages, has brought into 

 school work a very important socializing in- 

 fluence. Children work together, learning from 

 one another, competing with one another, 

 sharpening one another's wits. And the more 

 recent developments have been in the direction 

 of still further organizing and utilizing these 

 important social forces. It is the aim of mod- 

 ern education to make not only the school 

 .s-/ uti ic, s but also the school life of the pupils an 

 important educative force. The school is to 

 be looked upon as a miniature community, and 

 the problems of this community are to be 

 regarded as matters of deep concern to the 

 pupils themselves. It is believed that by utiliz- 

 ing these opportunities a great deal may be 

 done to cultivate in the pupils certain qualities 

 which will make for social cooperation and 

 which will do much to prepare them for the 

 duties and responsibilities as well as for the 

 privileges of citizenship. 



Health and Physical Development. A third 

 characteristic of modern education is its empha- 

 sis upon health and physical development. In 

 the more progressive school systems, physicians, 

 dentists and nurses are regularly employed to 

 look after the health of the children. Careful 

 physical examinations are made at stated inter- 

 vals. Especial care is taken to detect and 

 remedy physical defects that have been found 

 frequently to be at the basis of mental back- 

 wardness adenoids, enlarged tonsils, decaying 

 teeth and defective hearing and eyesight. 

 Some systems of schools also employ clinical 

 psychologists who look after the health of the 

 mind very much as the physicians, nurses and 

 dentists look after the health of the body. 



The modern school plant also includes abun- 

 dant facilities for physical training and games. 

 Ample playgrounds are especially important, 

 and the expert supervision of the plays and 

 games of children is now thought to be as 

 essential as the provision of space and appara- 

 tus for play. The modern school plant also 

 includes gymnasiums, swimming pools and 

 shower-baths. Still another indication of the 

 increased emphasis upon health is to be seen 

 in the provision for school lunchrooms and 

 "cafeterias." 



The Fundamental Arts. All of these and 

 many more changes and improvements in the 

 organization of education do not mean, how- 

 ever, that the modern school has neglected the 

 work which the old-time school emphasized. 

 The fundamental "arts" that made up the 



