THE EXPRESSIVE WORE OF THE SCHOOL. 239 



determined by their form or the relation of their parts, 

 they have been called formal studies. Arithmetic ex- 

 presses the quantity and proportion of things, and does 

 this through or by means of the proper relations of the 

 units used. Hence it is a formal or instrumental study. 



This division into content studies and formal stud- 

 ies is somewhat artificial. Language and drawing may 

 have much content, but not as studied in elementary 

 schools. For such schools the classification is helpful. 



In the schools of the past, and in not a few of the 

 schools of to-day, all emphasis has been placed on the 

 formal studies, reading, writing, arithmetic. Even 

 geography, mainly a content study, has often had most 

 of the content taken from it. It has been a mere 

 memorizing of a description of the earth's surface, 

 rather than a real study of the earth's surface. 



We are learning to-day the wisdom of placing more 

 emphasis on content studies, not to take the place of 

 formal studies, but to serve as a basis for these, and to 

 make these more effective. We are discovering that 

 when we take time, in the elementary school, to have 

 our children gain ideas about their environment, na- 

 ture, man, and God, they learn to express, to read and 

 write and draw, in less time than when they gave all 

 their attention to formal studies. They have ideas to 

 express. Instead of merely studying about the instru- 

 mental studies, the pupils learn to use them by using 

 them to express ideas, just as the carpenter learns to 

 use his tools. 



Not merely is the work in the expressive studies 



