RECENT BOOKS he read the "Count of Monte Cristo" in nine hours, and that he read Wells' "Outline of History" in three evenings, whereas his wife, a college graduate who had learned reading by the phonetic method, required much longer. In order to test Mr. Edison's skill in reading, I took books from his shelves at random, had him read a page while I timed him, and then examined him on the contents. I found there was no makebelieve about his speed. I found, curiously, also, that he read ideas rather than words. Some of the chapters in Mr. Smith's book, such as "The Importance of Education," "What is Education," "Interest in School Work," "Studying the Individual," and "Marks and Marking," are not so much new material for the progressive in education as a statement for the benefit of American parents of positions already defined by progressive educators. He calls his methods "new" because they are not yet familiar to Americans in general. It takes one or two generations for a fundamental idea to become current in America. 43 hope discovers values already existing or potential in human personality, but does not create values. Our hope and belief in the value of freedom and creative possibility in children discovers values which already existed, which needed opportunity to come into flower, but which were denied by old-line "disciplinarians." The extent to which interest, aspiration, and desire for self-mastery exist actually or potentially in children can be made known only by experiment. The experimental method used with intelligent open-mindedness discovers values not before realized, and also checks us in our tendency to run into impractical idealism and to impute to children potential degrees of virtue and possibility which are not parts of their inheritance. The experimental method refuses to consider as authoritative either past tradition or the untried dreams of the idealist. It is inspired by a conviction that we know far too little about human personality, and by a determination to explore cautiously but open-mindedly for undiscovered human wealth. That such exploration is not without result is evidenced by the real quality of the children's poems included in the chapter, "Appreciation and Expression." The development of appreciation, expression, initiative, and self-control is one of the chief claims of the modern or experimental school. I believe that this claim is well-supported by evidence of increased power of pupils in these schools. Nothing is more disheartening to a college faculty than the effort to awaken curiosity and initiative in boys and girls who for twelve years of preliminary schooling have accepted assigned tasks and have not been called upon for the exercise of these vital qualities. Mr. Smith is entirely sound in presenting them as of higher value than spelling and pronunciation. It is an interI have a favorite belief to the effect that esting fact that as a rule pupils of experi Mr. Smith's book is chiefly valuable in that it presents in a concise, interesting manner many of the present standards, methods and principles of progressive education. I particularly like its sanity. It does not claim for any one small group called "progressive educators" the credit for developing modern methods. As everyone knows, thousands of men and women over the country are working consciously and intelligently toward the development of newer and better technique. There is no small group of the elect to which the credit for educational advancement must be given. Also, he develops the theory that education to a considerable extent is an empirical field. We must determine our policies by the results and not by some abstract theory of human values. mental schools compare very favorably indeed in subject matter with those of conventional schools where subject matter is almost the only consideration. Mr. Smith's opinions on the controversial subject of discipline are sound. He says: "Many people still have a feeling that character can be formed only by disagreeable experiences There seems to be a confusion here between the thing that is difficult and the thing that is disagreeable. It is true that one gains strength by overcoming difficulties. It is not true that one necessarily becomes strong by doing that which is simply disagreeable, particularly if the reason for doing it comes not from one's self but from outside force, so that as a consequence it leaves only a determination to avoid that kind of thing in the future. "There is no doubt, nevertheless, that young people should be taught to take pleasure in striving with difficulties and in overcoming them. School work, or any other kind of activity, that can be carried on without effort, soon loses both interest and value. The school or teacher, therefore, that wishes to keep the interest of the pupils must of necessity see that they have tasks commensurate with their abilitiesones that seem to them worth doing and that really try the strength of each. "Many of the tasks that are undertaken with interest, and are carried through because they seem worth while, contain more drudgery and other disagreeable features than any teacher would plan for a pupil. They are done nevertheless, and are done with a will, because they do seem worth while. On the other hand, meaningless drudgery, carried through because one is ordered to do it, arouses resentment and makes a child neither more ready nor more willing to undertake things for himself." The chapter on "College Preparation” is to the point. Little by little we are coming to see secondary school education as valuable for its own sake, and not as a hurdle for eliminating those who should not go to college. No sooner do we construct artificial hurdles like college entrance examination, than clever people devise ways of circumventing them. Of American secondary school pupils, perhaps two per cent go to private schools and ninety-eight per cent to public schools. Of freshmen entering one of our most prominent Eastern universities, according to information received directly from the institution, eighty-five per cent come from private preparatory schools. Is eighty-five per cent of the quality of American youth found in the, perhaps, two per cent that go to private preparatory schools, or does the ability to pay a thousand dollars a year for private school assistance buy that specialized sort of training which enables boys to pass college entrance examinations? Antioch College. ARTHUR E. MORGAN. SANDERSON OF OUNDLE. The Macmillan Company. It was a daring thing for an English school to appoint a "Doctor of Physic" headmaster in the sixteenth century, somewhat less daring to introduce technical science into the curriculum of 1796, and perhaps not astonishing to have a Physics master from Dulwich College appointed to the Headship in 1892. If these innovations at Oundle, in Northhamptonshire, had meant the downfall of cultural and liberal studies, they would have been cause for tragedy; but under the guidance of this distinguished Briton-commemorated by over fifty anonymous contributors-they flourished the more intelligently and proved, RECENT BOOKS as one of the writers remarks, "that Homer and Hydrostatics are not incompatible." By what modern name Progressive Educationists would entitle Frederick William Sanderson's work it would be hard to say. Mr. H. G. Wells has twice written of it, and has served in an advisory capacity to the school: in view of his advocacy one might almost call it Futurist, but Futurist in the best sense of the word. At any rate, it antedates most of our terminology. Gary, Antioch, Dalton and many other theories, seem to be represented in some aspect, but with a thoroughness which our American practice seems at times to lack. The conclusion at which a sympathetic reader arrives is that Sanderson's definition of himself is satisfactory enough: "A Headmaster who walks about." It is the man rather than the system that strikes us so forcibly. 45 guages, and a really inspiring method of research in modern history and literature. He even insisted on employing, at great expense, a group of Cambridge physicists and engineers to conduct college examinations, to install apparatus, and to see that amateur bungling was reduced to a minimum. He is said, after his school had grown to command wide-spread resources, to have spent £1,000 on this single item in a single year. By such care the school grew from 92 boys in 1892 to over 500, with a three-year waiting list. There were doubtless defects, and some of the collaborators plainly say so. But there was progress. At the time of his dramatic death in 1922 Sanderson had demonstrated that it is possible to be scientific without losing culture and "the humanities." Every teacher should consult this book. Especially to be recommended are the courses given on pp. 123 ff and 155 ff. Chapter VII, on the Temple of Vision, is as provocative of inspiration as Longfellow's "Gleams and Glooms that Dart Across the Schoolboy's Brain." Finally, every reader will note the progression, in Sanderson's career, from concrete details to the abstract principles on which a great institution can be built up and followed by others. The William Penn He had studied theology without ever taking orders in the church—a fact which a wise bishop overlooked when Sanderson insisted upon taking a leading part in the religious services of the school. Again, he compromised between extreme individualism and large classes by the "squad" method of study, sorting boys by co-operative handfuls for library or shop work. "Conversaziones," clubs, dramatizations, concerts, and language research, were thus carried on. To him the ordinary text-book Charter School. was anathema, and every teacher was urged to elaborate his own with the passing years. During the war horse-shoes, timber work and torpedo gear were made to order by the boys in their own shops. Every boy was expected at least to attempt mastery of musical theory-until he proved himself incapable of it. Had this sort of thing been all, the result would have been commonplace, ending in a crop of semi-specialized apprentices; but Sanderson encouraged mathematics, ancient and modern lan RICHARD M. GUMMERE. HUMANIZING OF KNOWLEDGE. By James Harvey Robinson. During the Renaissance, Europe rediscovered a body of knowledge mellowed by time to which has been given the name humanities because of its humanizing influence. These humanities have from that day to this remained the corner-stone of cultural education. Now a vast new body of knowledge has come into existence, the modern sciences, which have neither been mellowed by time nor adapted sufficiently to the needs of cultural education. It is Robinson's thesis that this new knowledge should be humanized. The argument is incontrovertible to those educators who are seeking a unified and catholic basis for a modern education; the truth dawns that in some way the sciences must serve cultural as well as technical ends. Ellwood Hendrick in his delightful Percolator Papers has raised the call for greater human interest in science. Sarton, who brought his vision of a new curriculum from the scholastic retreats of Belgium to the hospitable shores of America, is enunciating from Harvard a plan for making the history of science the basis of all cultural education. And now James Harvey Robinson, with that characteristic charm and lucidity of his which makes his arguments so convincing that even he who runs may read, elaborates succinctly the need of humanizing knowledge. "This," he says, "is the supreme problem of our age." "Our knowledge of man and his world must be re-ordered and re-stated. It must be re-synthesized. At present, vital knowledge is torn up into fragments. "In the enterprise of re-humanizing knowledge, it is necessary first to recognize that specialization, so essential in research, is putting us on the wrong track in education. "There is a failure not only on the part of the busy mass of mankind but on the part of men of letters, economists and even scientists themselves, to appreciate the tremendous import of our accumulations of knowledge. We are all shamefully uneducated, whether we be learned in some particular field or not. This is the inevitable out come of transplanting into our educational system the technical divisions of scientific research. "There is a rapidly increasing and altogether encouraging discontent with schools and colleges, which shows itself even among the hitherto docile student bodies. At present going through college rarely makes any decisive change in the mood and outlook of the graduate. The whole substance and aims and methods of education need a thorough overhauling and re-consideration. Something' should be devised to replace the old liberal arts courses. "What we need most is a new intellectual mood, a new tolerance of intelligent divergence of opinion, a new appreciation of the role of knowledge in human planning. Our knowledge must be recast and humanized so as to become a part of our daily reckonings. Minds of the requisite temper, training and literary tact must be hunted out, encouraged and brought together in an effective if informal conspiracy to promote the diffusion of the best knowledge we have of man and his world." These quotations express, in brief, the important truth set forth in this short and highly readable volume. It is a message for both layman and educator, which if taken to heart would revolutionize education, making it adequate for the needs of this day and generation as the education of the Renaissance was adequate for the centuries immediately subsequent to the Middle Ages. Chevy Chase Country STANWOOD COBB. Day School. PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION. By George Mirick. Houghton, Mifflin Company. Any attempt to give an adequate review of George A. Mirick's book, PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION, must of necessity be ap RECENT BOOKS proached from his own different levels of appreciation. Broadly speaking there are two main classes of people who will read this book. It will be eagerly read by those whose experience in progressive education has been rather limited, but whose interest is now fully alive. And it will be carefully and critically studied by those who are and have been for some time carrying on experimentation in education with the utmost freedom. We are in accord with the author's opinion that one's capacity for appreciation will be limited by the reader's past experiences in this particular subject. To the first class of people mentioned above, this work on progressive education will come as a timely stimulation to an awakening interest. The author's presentation of the Scientific Point of View is so clear and convincing, and his many analogies and illustrations are so applicable and useful that it is difficult to conceive how any teacher can fail to be influenced in the right direction. Certainly no reader will ever lapse back into the old narrow beaten track of an autocratic class "boss" devoid of the needed personal and human interest in the material with which he or she works. To those people whose chief interest in life is this problem of progressive education, and whose business it is to search for and assimilate new knowledge on the subject, Mr. Mirick's book serves a very commendable twofold purpose. First, it is a careful summary of the reasons for progressive education. The author's plea for the rights of the individual pupil and the individual school is unmistakably clear and convincing. He makes us feel that we have only just begun to see the possibilities of our problem. And he points out how the numerous and ever-changing influences to which our pupils and our schools are subject will keep us scientifically minded for 47 years to come. The child is still declared a riddle, even if we have solved one or two things about him. Second, Mr. Mirick gives us some very wholesome and instructive views on the relative value of the many methods of progressive education now in use and all seeking ultimately the great aim in Self-education. His chapter on the "Life of the School" is provocative of many queries as to the wisdom of certain practices and methods now used in progressive schools. On such questions as Discipline, Supervised Study, Socialized Recitations and Projects, the author leaves much for discussion and further speculation. His final chapter on Educational Measurements is full of valuable information and interest, and again raises many questions. He commends and upholds the General Intelligence Tests, and predicts soon a specialist on these tests for every High School. A backward glance over Mr. Mirick's book leads us to ask how we can ever have dependable standardized tests in Subject Matter, and hold fast to the claim that schools cannot be standardized and that there are no two pupils constituted alike. |