956 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 755 



experience, powers and needs; and that (in case 

 lie does not perceive or appreciate this relevancy) 

 the teacher shall present the new material in such 

 a way as to enable the child to appreciate its 

 bearings, its relationships, its necessity for him. 



Tills qiTotation also makes clear why 

 those who believe in extended and detailed 

 syllabi can think of interest only as syn- 

 onymous with amusement, so that they 

 strive for a supposed discipline which Pro- 

 fessor Dewey shows to be subversive of true 

 discipline as follows ■? 



The absurdity of much of the current concep- 

 tion of discipline is that it supposes (1) that 

 unrelated difficulties, tasks that are only and 

 merely tasks, problems that are made up to be 

 problems, give rise to educative effort, or direc- 

 tion of energy; and (2) that power exists and 

 can be trained at large apart from its application. 



This first obstacle of administrative sys- 

 tems was considered at length at the recent 

 meeting (February, 1909) of the Depart- 

 ment of Superintendence of the National 

 Educational Association by Superintend- 

 ents Stratton D. Brooks, of Boston; C. E. 

 Chadsey, of Denver; W. E. Chancellor, of 

 South Norwalk ; C. P. Gary, of Wisconsin, 

 and R. J. Aley, of Indiana. There was a 

 striking unanimity in their recognition of 

 the injurious nature of present practises. 

 All made constructive suggestions for im- 

 provement, and those who are interested in 

 this matter should read their papers, which 

 will be published soon in the proceedings. 

 You should also read the able papers on 

 this topic by Professor J. M. Coulter in 

 the School Review for February, and by 

 Professor F. N. Scott in the same journal 

 for January. The Carnegie Foundation 

 for the Advancement of Teaching is de- 

 voting considerable attention to this matter, 

 and several state legislatures are consider- 

 ing bills relative to it. 



The second obstacle— that of the lack of 

 understanding among teachers of certain 

 terms— is being rapidly removed by the 



"L. c, p. 32. 



discussions now being held at meetings of 

 teachers' associations and at conferences 

 like this. I am sure we shall soon come to 

 understand each other better, provided all 

 can recognize that the discussion is a 

 wholly impersonal one, carried on solely in 

 the interests of the coming generations. 

 "VVe may therefore pass on to the more defi- 

 nite specification of the real educational 

 problems that now confront the physics 

 teachers. 



The first important problem is that of 

 the preparation of the child for science. 

 There is at the present time practically no 

 science in the elementary schools. In the 

 earlier years of the high schools there is 

 very much less science than there should 

 be. Suitable courses in elementary science 

 must be devised for and presented in the 

 earlier years of the elementary schools, in 

 order to store the child's mind with an ade- 

 quate supply of concrete experience with 

 the materials of science. In solving this 

 part of their problem, physics teachers will 

 have to cooperate with the nature study 

 and the industrial education movements, 

 since it is through these that the elementary 

 basis will be laid. This is the most impor- 

 tant and difficult problem. When it is 

 solved, the nature of the high-school course 

 will in large measure be determined; not, 

 as at present, by what may come after, but 

 by what has gone before. The college 

 courses in turn will have been modified to 

 fit the high-school courses, and not the 

 reverse. 



The solution of this problem will require 

 much time and a large amount of scientific 

 experiment. In the meantime, we can do 

 much to make the present one-year course 

 in the high school much more efficient than 

 it is in yielding clear and definite concepts 

 and in training in clear thinking. How 

 may this be done? 



The chief reason for the present failure 



