June 18, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



955 



shall, of course, have to solve this problem 

 by experiment. We have got to learn first 

 of all to apply the methods of our subject 

 to our teaching problem ; we must each and 

 all of us preserve a frankly open-minded 

 and questioning attitude tov?ard our work, 

 and be ever ready to experiment and to 

 make changes in our methods when we find 

 them faulty. "We must not cease asking 

 ourselves test questions like those given 

 above, and should regard the students as 

 our real materials for investigation. 



But the problem before us, as thus far 

 stated, is too general and vague. We must 

 be more specific, and show just where im- 

 provement is most needed. Before making 

 the problem more specific, I want to point 

 out that there are two serious obstacles that 

 confront every teacher who wishes to un- 

 dertake experimental scientific work along 

 this line. One of these obstacles is an ad- 

 ministrative one, due to the school system 

 in general; this obstacle is controlled by 

 forces outside the teacher. The other is a 

 psychological obstacle, due to the past hab- 

 its of the teacher himself; and to the fail- 

 ure on the part of teachers generally to 

 have definite notions of the meanings of 

 words like interest, discipline, qualitative, 

 quantitative, mathematical, abstract, phys- 

 ics, law, principle and so on. 



Time forbids that we discuss these ob- 

 stacles in detail. Yet they must be re- 

 moved before the physics teachers will be 

 free to attack their real problem effectively. 

 I will merely state specifically what they 

 are and what is being done to remove them. 

 The first obstacle consists in the systems of 

 regulations that exist for the purpose of 

 securing uniformity of work, whether for 

 college entrance or otherwise. They are 

 not aimed at securing uniformity of good 

 teaching— if they were, there would be no 

 complaint. They attempt to secure uni- 

 formity of subject matter. To any one who 



studies the system from the point of view 

 of educational value to the individual stu- 

 dent, it can not fail to appear injurious 

 and subversive of the ends it tries to reach, 

 namely, vital study. It makes but little 

 difference whether such systems are main- 

 tained by examination, or by accrediting, 

 or by state law. The injury comes from 

 the fact that the subject matter of the 

 course of study is specified in minute detail 

 by some authority outside the school and 

 hence unfamiliar with local conditions, par- 

 ticularly the motives and interests of the 

 particular students concerned. The out- 

 side authority may be either a board of 

 regents, a committee of some association 

 or a group of colleges, without in any way 

 lessening the evil effect of seriously ham- 

 pering the teacher in the use of his own 

 initiative and in his attempts to meet local 

 and individual needs. A certain degree of 

 uniformity is certainly desirable; but a 

 bare outline of the larger phases of the 

 subject suffices for this, and avoids the very 

 grave injury that is sure to result to the 

 students from a long and detailed syllabus 

 enforced by an authority outside of the 

 school. 



Perhaps the best statement of the funda- 

 mental fallacy of this strife for uniformity 

 is that given by Professor Dewey in the 

 pamphlet mentioned above (page 16), when 

 he says : 



I know of no more demoralizing doctrine — when 

 taken literally — than the assertion of some of the 

 opponents of interest that after subject-matter has 

 been selected, then the teacher should make it 

 interesting. This combines in itself two thorough- 

 going errors. On one side, it makes the selection 

 of subject-matter a matter quite independent of 

 tne question of interest — and thus of the child's 

 own native urgencies and needs; and further it 

 reduces method in teaching to more or less ex- 

 ternal and artificial devices for dressing up the 

 unrelated material so that it will get some hold 

 upon attention. In reality, the principle of 

 " making things interesting " means that subjects 

 shall be selected in relation to the child's present 



