DFC 27 1917

ten or more.)

Whatever other good may come from "The School of Tomorrow" demonstration by the General Education Board in connection with Teachers College, Columbia University, it has rendered invaluable service by provoking Dr. William H. Allen

and the Institute for Public Service to collect and publish the noblest body of facts and figures ever brought together, regarding Educational Progress in the United States.

BASIS OF DR. ALLEN'S REPORT. To learn how far, if at all, existing schools in different sections of the country had already incorporated the 111 different elements of method, content, and purpose which are to be experimented with in the new General Education Board and Teachers College school, the Institute for Public Service asked a selected list of city and state superintendents of public instruction, and the heads of a few private schools, how much of the promised tomorrow they have in their schools today.

The signers of the request for information were. Hon. Charles D. Hine, Connecticut; H. W. Carpenter, Carpenter School, New York City; Superintendent Albert Leonard of New Rochelle; H. L. Brittain, director of the Toronto Bureau of Municipal Research, who in 1912 directed Ohio's state-wide school survey; Professor James E. Lough, New York University; William E. Grady, supervisor of pre-vocational schools of New York City; Superintendent L. P. Benezet, Evansville, Ind.; Edward Mandel, president of the Men Principals and Teachers Association of New York City; Superintendent A. N. Farmer, Evanston, Ill., who in 1913 directed the survey of Wisconsin's normal schools; and the director of the Institute for Public Service.

The testimony here recorded by figures and by written or photographic illustration relates directly to about 2,200,000 pupils in about 15,200 schools.

We print in italics the claims of the "School of Tomorrow" and then give the facts as they are Today.

The school of tomorrow will give high school diplomas without ancient languages, algebra, geometry.

Schools of today report:

1,168,000 pupils in 14,101 schools where ancient lan

guages,

941,000 634,000

5,075 4,132

66

66

algebra,

are not required for graduation.

It is the exception not the rule for high schools in 1917 to require ancient languages for graduation.

Emancipation from ancient language requirements

is older than the General Education Board. "Latin and Greek will be taught to establish a contact with the literature of the language" and to "result in a practical mastery useful for other purposes."

Schools of today report:

807,000 pupils in 5,402 schools where Latin, 718,000 4,765 Greek, are taught for contact with literature and 1,033 pupils in 6,942 schools where the teaching of these languages results in a practical mastery for other purposes.

Long before the General Education Board was founded complete and convincing demonstration had been made of this now prophesied improve

ment.

The school of tomorrow will include "grade reading of ancient classics in translation.” Schools of today report:

1,790,000 pupils in 6,455 schools where the course of study actually includes the reading of ancient classics in translation.

The school of tomorrow will teach formal grammar "only in such amounts and at such periods as real need for it is felt and clearly required." Schools of today report:

1,600,000 pupils in 9,285 schools where formal grammar is taught only in such amounts and at such periods as real need for it is felt.

1,575,000 pupils in 8,232 schools where formal grammar is taught only as clearly required.

The school of tomorrow will study the industries "growing out of the fundamental needs of food, clothing and shelter."

Schools of today report:

1,510,000 pupils in 12,139 schools are studying the industries growing out of the fundamental needs of food, clothing and shelter.

In 1899 Professor John Dewey wrote of work then being done in the University of Chicago elementary school.

"The children are first given the raw materialthe flax, the cotton plant, the wool as it comes from the back of the sheep. (If we could take them to the place where the wool is sheared so much the better.) Then a study is made of these materials from the standpoint of their adaptation to the uses to which they may be put. For instance, a comparison of the cotton fibre

FINISHED

graphs showing country boys and girls learning by doing and innumerable descriptions of city and town boys and girls learning by doing real tasks.

The school of tomorrow will "reduce home study to a minimum."

Schools of today report:

1,700,000 pupils in 14,257 schools in which home study is already reduced to a minimum. Supervised study at school is one of the educational tendencies of the day.

Private schools for many years have widely advertised their supervised study at school without home study.

The school of tomorrow will make science "prominent."

Schools of today report:-

1,200,000 pupils in 5,577 schools in which science is prominent.

Children will become "acquainted with objects, animate and inanimate; they will learn to know trees, plants, animals, hills, streams and rocks." Schools of today report:-

1,030,000 pupils in 5,284 schools where trees,
1,100,000
1,300,000

66

66

66

5,077 8,630

66

66

66

plants, animals,

Schools of today report:-

1,700,000 pupils in 13,924 schools engaged in real

tasks,

are being observed and studied.

The school of tomorrow will teach children to "care for animals and plants and follow their life cycles."

Schools of today report:

1,244,852 pupils in 7,460 schools where the care of

animals,

In 1899 Professor John Dewey, now of Teachers College, wrote: "We find that one of the most striking tendencies at present is toward the introduction of so-called manual training, shopwork, and the household arts-sewing and cooking."

The tendency of 1899 has become an accepted and well settled condition in the schools of today. Courses of study in industrial and domestic arts are found from the university to the one-room rural school.

515 universities, colleges and technological schools conferred degrees in household economy in 1915. Manual and industrial training is provided by law in many states.

The school of tomorrow will employ "carefully planned experiments to contribute to the development of a curriculum adapted to modern conditions."

Schools of today report:

1,143,000 pupils attending 3,022 schools where different elements of the curriculum are evaluated. 1,117,000 pupils attending 3,428 schools where methods of instruction are determined through carefully planned experiments.

1,121.000 pupils in 3,439 schools where experiments contribute to the development of a curriculum adapted to modern conditions.

1,069,000 pupils in 3,838 schools where individual capacity determines advancement. The school of tomorrow will permit pupils to emphasize mathematics "if their special abilities or future interest relate to mathematics." Schools of today report:

1,020,000 pupils in 11,854 schools in which pupils are permitted to emphasize mathematics if their special abilities or future interest relate to mathematics.

In many schools opportunities for a choice in electives permit emphasis upon mathematics. The school of tomorrow will "connect the study of mathematics with its use." Schools of today report:

1,016,000 pupils in 5,493 schools where the study of mathematics is connected with its use.

The school of tomorrow will teach history and civics to the end of developing intelligent attitude and responsibility towards the affairs of civic and social life of community, city, state."

Schools of today report:

1,454,000 pupils in 9,172 schools where history, 1,439,000

"8,302

civics,

1,013,000

is included in the study of art.

tion of good pictures,

the observation of good

statuary,

The school of tomorrow will correlate "classwork" with "frequent individual, class and school excursions."

Schools of today report:

1,166,000 pupils in 5,000 schools where classwork is correlated with frequent individual, class and school excursions.

In 1912 a long list of cities was published where such correlation was far developed.