278 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1104 



The fault I have in mind has to do with the 

 long summer vacation. In my opinion this is 

 placed in an entirely false relation to the 

 school year. Long-established custom has fixed 

 it in elementary and secondary schools, in 

 colleges and universities between two separate 

 and independent school years. The student 

 finishes a course and drops books and habits 

 of study for a period varying from two to 

 nearly four months. At the end of the vaca- 

 tion he returns to a new class, to new teachers, 

 to new studies. It takes him a considerable 

 time — in the professional schools of a univer- 

 sity, as I know from my own classes, from a 

 week to ten days — until he gets properly 

 oriented, which still further increases the un- 

 used hiatus. 



I am not criticizing the length of the vaca- 

 tion. In our climate it is almost a necessity 

 for teacher and student to have surcease from 

 school work during the long heated term; but 

 I believe the vacation is wrongly placed. It 

 ought to come within the school year, not at 

 its close. In its present position there can 

 be no work assigned, for, speaking generally, 

 the teachers of the completed year have no con- 

 trol over the student in the year he will begin 

 in the autumn. If a student is industrious 

 he may carry on work in the continued 

 branches, but will do and can do little or noth- 

 ing as regards new studies — Greek, higher 

 mathematics, physiology or what not — in the 

 mysteries of which he has not yet been in- 

 ducted. The loss in momentum and direction 

 is tremendous, and if we add it up for all the 

 vacations during school life from the first 

 year to graduation from the university this 

 potential loss becomes vast and staggering. 



What is the remedy? There are two; one is 

 the all-year-round school such as is in vogue 

 in the University of Chicago, with its four 

 trimesters. In the South and the mid- Atlantic 

 region, a summer trimester is almost out of 

 question. It would, for example, be well-nigh 

 impossible to keep all the departments of a 

 university in fuU swing during July, August 

 and September. There is another remedy, and 

 that I want now to propose. I would not do 

 away with the long vacation, but I would place 



it in the mid-period of the school term, by 

 making the scholastic year begin in February 

 or March instead of in September. The school 

 year would end in February with promotions 

 and graduations and a new year would begia 

 after a brief recess of not more than ten days 

 or a fortnight. The student would remain in 

 the new class for at least three months before 

 the summer holiday, more than enough for 

 a good start. The long vacation might then 

 be utilized for valuable and purposive study, 

 partly assigned, partly optional. 



I am aware of the existence of a certain 

 pedagogic prejudice against burdening chil- 

 dren with school work during the long vaca- 

 tion. What I am advocating is not the pro- 

 jection of the school year with its tasks and 

 mental circumscription into the vacation, for 

 I myself believe that one of the advantages of 

 our long recess is that it gives the child's indi- 

 viduality a chance to develop. I maintain, 

 however, that the assigning of a small amount 

 of work does not interfere with the child's 

 freedom. In the lower grades a very small 

 amount suffices to keep up an interest and to 

 preserve a continuity of thought, which is all 

 that we need strive for. In the case of older 

 pupils and certainly of college students we 

 could well ask not merely the preservation of 

 the mental status quo but enough work, pro- 

 portionate to the length of the vacation, to 

 carry the student a little beyond where he left 

 off — and this again without materially infring- 

 ing on our youth's traditional claim to a care- 

 free holiday. When student and teacher meet 

 in the fall, work could commence at once with 

 the accumulated energy resulting from a sane 

 combination of work and play during the 

 summer. There would be no loss, but instead 

 a great gain in momentum. Consider the 

 totality of gain in the period from the first 

 grade iintil the close of the four years' college 

 course, a matter of fourteen or sixteen years. 



The change I have suggested is applicable to 

 all schools, elementary, high school, college 

 and university, and can be brought about 

 without doing any violence to the fundamental 

 principles of our educational system. I know 

 of no other reform comparable to this in prac- 



