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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 949 



been recognized, and efforts have been 

 made to suppress it as far as programs of 

 study go. Thus there are the classical 

 courses, the scientific courses, the technical 

 courses, each of which is supposed to min- 

 ister to a definite type of mind. But here 

 again the idol has but been broken into 

 smaller pieces, each fashioned after the 

 form of the whole. This arrangement has 

 again proven unsatisfactory, and the elect- 

 ive system has done much to shatter it. 

 A perfectly rigid course is found at pres- 

 ent only in highly specialized professional 

 schools. 



But the idol of uniformity still persists 

 in the specifications of each single course. 

 It is manifestly so great an administrative 

 convenience to have a unit of phj^sics mean 

 the same thing — at least superficially — 

 whether the work is done in Florida or in 

 Oregon. So the idol has been shattered 

 into still smaller fragments and each of 

 these, fashioned in the likeness of the orig- 

 inal, sits enthroned in some class-room. 

 In this diminiitive, unobtrusive, almost un- 

 noticed form, the idol still holds sway over 

 the greater part of the work of the schools. 

 We have become so used to him that we do 

 not recognize the fact that he sits between 

 us and our goal, and effectively prevents 

 our bringing about the long-sought union 

 between education and life. 



Is it any less absurd to suppose that every 

 class in physics can be taught successfully 

 in one set way, than it is to imagine that 

 every mind can be trained successfully by 

 the same grind or every malady cured by 

 the same treatment? The experiences in 

 the lives of the children of New York City 

 and of those in Urbana are very different. 

 Can one and the same physics be doled out 

 to both with any hope of bringing physics 

 close to the daily lives of both ? Certainly 

 not; any more than you can grow oranges 

 and bananas at the North Pole. Then why 



do teachers usually take great pride in the 

 nearness with which their course coincides 

 with the standardized forms set up by so- 

 cial convention in defiance of the natural 

 processes of the youthful mind? Were it 

 not far better to take pride in the close 

 adaptation of a course to the needs of the 

 environment in which it is given? Hence 

 the first essential for bringing physics close 

 to the daily life is that the teachers free 

 themselves from the servitude of this idol 

 of uniformity. We must become icono- 

 clasts long enough to smash these diminu- 

 tive images into fragments. 



The credo of the idol of uniformity is 

 the syllabus. Strange as it may seem, there 

 are numerous syllabi, all claiming to be 

 authentic. When not enforced by some 

 pontifex maximus of the idol of uniform- 

 ity, these syllabi are fairly harmless. 

 Their chief danger lies in the fact that they 

 tend to focus the attention of teachers on 

 subject matter. In this the syllabus is a 

 just possession of the idol of uniformity, 

 since the latter is only an image, possessing, 

 it is true, the form of a man, but devoid of 

 life, of soul, of spirit. Therefore following 

 the precepts of a syllabus gives a merely 

 superficial uniformity — it creates an ex- 

 ternal resemblance among physics courses, 

 but does not necessarily assure them an 

 inner similarity, a spirit of investigation, 

 clear judgment, scientific imagination, or 

 unity. In the matter of bringing educa- 

 tion close to life, syllabi are as useless as 

 the idol that inspired them. 



Once we have freed our minds from the 

 obsession of the idol of uniformity, we are 

 ready to advance to the organization of a 

 course of study that will have some chance 

 of bringing physics and the daily life of 

 the pupils who are to pursue it into close 

 union. It is, however, useless to make out- 

 lines until we are well rid of the idol. 

 Assuming that this has been accomplished, 



