December 8, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



645 



may note the following: it becomes possible to 

 apply in teaching the pedagogical maxim, 

 "Keep each student at his highest level of 

 achievement." This will result in the setting 

 up of fair standards for quantity, quality, con- 

 tent, and method of work adapted to a fairly . 

 homogeneous group. This in turn will estab- 

 lish a fair basis for praise and blame. The 

 introduction of fair standards of achievement 

 creates morale in a class. There will therefore 

 be a larger output at all three levels; for such 

 grouping is as advantageous to the untalented 

 student as to the talented. Such progressive 

 segregation is one of the hest means of dis- 

 covering and motivating the gifted student; ibe- 

 cause he is thrown into vital and effective com- 

 petition, works at his highest level of achieve- 

 ment, and enjoys fi-eedom for initiative in self- 

 expression, and these associations are likely to 

 awaken in him desire for progress, a sense of 

 joy in achievement, and a feeling of fellowship. 

 The introduction of this method, if properly 

 managed, will not increase the cost of instruc- 

 tion, but may reduce it.^ I have pointed out 

 in two articles on this topic^ that there is no 

 insuperable dififieulty in tie way of conflict of 

 hours and cooperation of staff and that every 

 institution that has given the method a fair 

 trial is continuing it. 



2. Honor courses. Let each department in 

 which there are progressive teachers set out 

 one or more courses to which admission may 

 be gained only upon evidence of fitness. The 

 principal factor to take into account should be 

 high scholarship, or creative achievement, or 

 both together with health. The standard for 

 passing should be much higher than in an or- 

 dinary course. The class may well be socialized 

 and the work so arranged as to challenge the in- 

 dividual to wide reading, verification and de- 

 fense of his findings, experiment, independent 

 thinking and self-expression. Under no cir- 

 cumstances should the course be limited to lec- 



2 1 am, of course, speaking of the larger in- 

 stitutions; indeed, tie very necessity for differ- 

 entiating students may prove to be a decided dis- 

 advantage to the small college. 



3 In School and Society. 



ture or textbook; nor should formal essays or 

 papers be read by the student. It should not 

 furnish an opportunity for the instructor to 

 recite the findings of his researches, although 

 the subject of study will most profitably lie 

 within or around his field of research. 



Admission to these courses should be in the 

 hands of a scholarship committee to which re- 

 commendation for admission and reports of 

 achievement should be made by teachers. As- 

 suming as a unit of credit >three year hours; 

 ■i.e., six semester hours, the exceptional student 

 might 'be permitted to take one course in the 

 sophomore year, two in the junior year and 

 three in the senior year, but not more than one 

 course of this kind each year in a given de- 

 partment. Thus the amount of credit in such 

 courses might furnish a better basis for de- 

 signing honor students for graduation than the 

 present basis of mere credits in ordinary 

 courses. The existence of such courses would 

 act as a stimulus to the gifted student who 

 might otherwise be disposed to loaf. Dozens 

 of varieties of honor courses are being tried in 

 different institutions. This plan 'has the ad- 

 vantage of flexibility, simplicity of administra- 

 tion and a salaible proposition to the student. 



3. Individual work. Shall the freshman 

 who has read current literature and history 

 extensively and lives in it 'be forced to ruminate 

 the cud of predigested pellets which form the 

 diet of freshman general history'? Shall the 

 gifted student, who, given the freedom of the 

 library, can read vip in one half to one fifth the 

 time what is doped out in lectures on special 

 topics, be forced to acquire a specialized knowl- 

 edge -in that specific form and ait that set pace? 

 Shall" the student who, if given free hands, 

 could pass all college examinations required in 

 a year or two be required to mark time for 

 four years? Or, granted that it is good for 

 him 'to be in college for four years, shall his 

 horizon be limited to the scope of course units? 

 Shall the gifted student who can learn the two 

 hour assignments in science or history or lan- 

 guage in fifteen minutes be encouraged to loaf 

 or play the rest of the time? Or shall he be 

 given a different assignment? Shall the gifted 

 student who can do independent work in li- 



