eaaleeuue

MONDAY. Widening

continued from can I

mistake ui weeken thin function by imposing on the school: an elaborate array of courses designed to provide facilities which exist in much better form mil-lide of school. The schools should do a flaw things well rather than many uilnu poorly, especially at a time when teachers are scarce and sal- aries are low.

The Curriculum

One of the most frequently ex- pressed cri” ' of education in the tendency of theorists to advo- cate too varied a curriculum. Thll plan has often failed because too much from the basic iiubyccta had to be sacrificed for the sake of trimmings which are useless with- out the basic subjects and because rurriculum expansion took Pl-100 without the personnel and funds to make it work. It has also been found that competence requires much the same qualities in all fields work and lhmldht. and that students don't learn to work and think by sampling a variety of soft options and doing a little bit of everything and not much of anythuig.

This type of curriculum is some- times recommended because "every- one is not going on to university" or because certain subjects will not be "useful" to Ceflilln students. On the first point, many observers are finding that there is no dif- ference whatever between the re- quiremente of a university and the preparation useful for a. good job. On the second point options are dangerous at the high school level. for students are not ready at that. stage to decide what they want to do, or to know what will be useful to them later; nor will they knew what Jobs are available to them when they graduate. To be practical, how many men of forty are doing the kind of work which at fourteen they anticipated they wniild be doing? students must get. some experience in life before theyl decide what to do I

What are the "real needs of that high school gaduate going into' industry?" It is a Vice-President of Canada Packers, not a university official. who listed them as langu- age. mathcmatim. physics. chemis- try. history. geography and basic economics. "Acttially". says that Vice-President in charge of per- sonnel of the Inland Steel Coni- pany, "the complexities of busi- ness are such that someone who understands history, literature and philosophy. vibe is in a position in do KllSClDllflFt'l thinking. has the :vpo- nl mind that will ultimately iucceed".

The same situation applies in practically every field of employ- ment, for the best. equipment for coung iob hunters is not a special- l7Pd collection of facts and skills Jill the trained mind and the deve- lopPd common sense. It is a com-. man mistake to judge the valuel of sohooling by what I pupil will 'use'' later on. Actually. the decid- ing factor is the extent to which the subjects trained him to use his capacities Education, it is said. is really what is left over after. most subjects are forgotten.

Standards

Much has bccn said about stand- ards, and space is too limited to discti.-is them iicre. One rtile should be remembr-rad, and there are very, few cxcepwiiis in it the lowerl the standarrls the higher the fail-i .ire ratn. Automatic grading. too l'Tlllf'h cmphasis nn SON, l.e.. on work lialf done, and fear of the possible "trust:-iiiiiin" of failure is .he poorest possible preparation for life iiself. The boy who makes Hit? in high school arithmetic uill navn in make 100'; in his arith- rr,-.tlc when he goes into the bank. And a bank clerk won't be "grad.-

ed” to the next level until he nia-its-,i-ii his unrk. The girl who, just passes in high school typing and shorthand uill be expected to work at the 100"; level by her future boss. Teen-agers who arei being lriiiiicil to think will later.

be the mm who Will have to build bridges and buildings to exact; lpvclllrnllfins, perform surgery on patients with precise skill. put. on al roof that uill not leak, haiidlei public husincss uiih rare and re-i aponsibility. or wire a house withl Ibaolute accuracy. Care at schooll

will save trouble later, for life cant. be lived well at the 507.. level.

A school which passes evcryone

whether he ivoiks or not is simply deceiving its students and forcing them to postpone their real educa- tion until they get out into em- ployment. The same applies to a school where the marks are too high. for example where practically everyone makes 7596. or more. Ex- perienced employers and colleges to which these students are sent. have become increasingly aware that. the value of matriculation certificate depends. not on the sub- Jeefs taken. but on standards of the school from which the stu- dents come, not on the lcnitth of t1nie.epent. in school. but on the work actually done. 0 O

l

I recall an experience which il- lustrates this point. A well-known wmniin whose hobby in educational reform called on me one morning several years ago to dilcun her View that high school standards should be lowered. That same afternoon her husband. ii promin- ent'buIIneIui man. came in to seek students who would be leaving high school and who might be interested in entering his firm. What kind of students did he want? meet an phrases he used: "Hard workers": "able to assume re- Qonslbilitr; "top third of the clan"; "no run-of-the-mill stuff”. I mentioned his wife's idea , and he ii tiiei. he had often told her wouldn't last long in busi- nen if she put he theories inui

Just one lvord about failure - hr it in a bin subject. ii is far better for a few who don't werlr iafallategoodaehoolorln s then -for all to you

Ifrustration so much that they be-l

Educational

at a weak school or in I soft course. A boy. parent, or edu- cator who thinks that it is "aca- demic" to talk of standards should rrad Dun and BradItreet's recent survey which pointed out that nearly half the businesses estab- lished in Canada from l9-I9 to 1952 it time of comparative pros- perity) failed. and failed to a sub- stantial degree through ”incom- petence." O I 0

Some petlagogists call lllli school of thought hard and uiitlemocraiic. if they are right. so is the process by which a boy "makes" a hoc- key team. becomes an officer in a cadet corps, wins a debating con- test. A n if so is the process hr! which a man succeeds in employ- merit or supports a wife and sev- eral children; and so is the effort required by I woman to run a home if married or have a career if single. There is nothing un- democratic about standards. But at the present time, says HIP Montreal Gazette. ”ihere ,is a curiously real possibility that democracy is coming to he identi-

fied with mediocrity. As a re- sult the 4-diicational process is in some danger of being kept so well within the rap.icit,v of thc

mediocre that the child of unusual irtelligence must almost be en- couraged to assume iuediocrit,v." If education, says Lord Ma('Mil- lan, who has had wide experience uiih education and biisiness." is to inspire our yoiilh to face life uiih courage and hl1pDll'lPSS, it must concern itself viith the ideals

of duty and service rather than with securing an easy shelter from all risks."

On education and politics, IV. S. Army Secretary Fianx Pace vom- mcntcri that ”if gov:-innient is to accomplish all we export it to . .., then it will need a constant in-. flux of young men and women of the highest caliber, and repre- sentative of the l'lP!( that . education can produce.” "To con- front the world we are moving into," says Saturday Night. "we l'.lllt have either a virile faith or shpi-r barbaric courage. The son- timcntality which seems to iinrler-

lie so much of our modern sclinol- that the continuity Hf P0mD9'""

my gives us in-ither." Again and ”'""I”'””" ” Fnmllmlfdr 7'91""

Mm," W, hi." nu," dam H”. liips such plans will work. per-

uarning that the greatest danger "ails ””'-l' ””'"l3 M 1935' W9

to modern democracy is the possi- "M015 -"muld bi Dnmltled Y0

hliiy of its becoming soft and "Y ”'""- . .

that the educational system should

"Oi "'""””g' H1” da"z"' The prcsciit teaching of other , , lrnguagi-s is also open to ques- c'mc"'7 0' fnum tion. Young people are not in-

id 19- - i . 0"” "I H" mm: hmupnul lIllInlll:::'dalt': abloeundr;w:I.veL::irrau:f heard criticism of some iheorics of ant 1's this we nght method, education is that they undcr-esti- Au,hnmiel n" we bum hay; "a" H” "pawns "I tm”"g Fwy iiidicatcd that language: should "1" Th” "9"" I""'”" H "M actually be taught in ihc first ” Mb)" hm ' "urmus "M MN" grarli-s vi'IlPn the areas in Ihe gt-tic young citizen wlinse brain h ' h ,h d ..,h and hm”. "9 H Hwir peak ."( ahfiiinrolliidiunicaklirlinwalre J?:'u:lx'i: ciipacily. )-lc islcapalile of sustain- hp” mndmon IO rnpond. Dr ed effort and direct reasoning and wlldpr Pennpm has "tenth; he WI” respond xienlallkahly yuan (houn flint. the brain of a, child in work and responsibility proxid- "P M ”w age of m '0 M ,9”! ed his intelligence and capacitv Ni ..M.pecinm. Eda ”,d M3 the nie invoked and given ample h'nmi'ng 0r'Iangua2”.. wmrus

scope. He will not respond imaii never did respond) to being ovcr- mothared. over-taught, nvcr-amiis- ed, and under-worked. "We siii ncalnst children." says a well- known teacher. "by insulting lhcir iiilclligcncb. The tic:-past lnslinr. live desire of the young human animal is in try things hr-yond his powers. and lo strclch his mental as well as his physical muscles. ii is thus he grows. You can kill his growth by doing things for him: you can bore him to rlcnth ll” asking him to do any ihings.'

This argument. criniint ha cnr-, ricd lo extrcniu. for school is not. a workhouse. Rut tlicrc is far, inn great a 'P7lflFlll'j' to miter. dinxn the ciirriciilurn, to what sturlcnts

call.l "cinch courses." and in bring ir-xij book! down to the level of the! slowest student. Some ialk oil

Oll!l'.' themrclvcs

tin in is frus-

lraied.

assume everyone .'ii'tually the real fru:tra-i lion in Nliicaiion is that which results from unsatisfied curiosiiy and unused energy.

It is significant to note that this view is rapidly replacing the pedagogy of ten years ago. In fnct the results of this ppdagnm hive been condemned so often that, says the Minister of Ediica-,' iion for Ontario, "public opinion ' aniazingly emphatic and pi-ac-l iically unanimous."

l'n "Young pco-l pic." he adds. "like hard work in cihool and I see no reason xvlii” ii-by should not he drillcd and. drilled well in fundamentals , i ii is a niysicry to me why anynn-i should wish to lake liartl work; and competition out of our school: when the young pcoplc must favc. both of those as soon as they l-xve st-liool. W i not preparr tbcm for real life?"

This viewpoint is riflrn lalicleil bv pedagoglsts as an atinmpt ioi "turn back the clock" or to re-. vcrf, in "the good old days" andi they attack if by recall ng the dis- advantages of the old sysivni. Actually it attempts to bring c(lu- cafion a little closer to the rci-iii"

ties of life, to aid the proccss by which boys and girls bccomc YVlI"l and women in a hard world, an'l to prevent leaching from hnr-nni- ing a fu7.7.,v sort of do-gnodirigj and schools from hccorring I kind,

of educational convoy in which all proceed at the pace of tho -ltiwesf. "Education," says Presl-

dcnt Sidney Smith. "can be a great adventure. but if is a tough adveniure- mountain climbing. not s'eIgh riding." One might add that sleigh riding always requires it long walk back uphill.

Many observers have indicated that children don't gel, enough to do in the early grades. that games. projects. and audio-visual aids havi- replaced reading. thinking and homework. it has often been pointed out that so much time is spent in "interesting" pupils that elementary work gets pushed further and further into the up- pcr grade! and pupils loiio inter- est because the work seems in them to he childish. Perhaps there is some t in these criticisms: whatever the situation Is, it should be thoroughly exam- ined and it should be examined by elementary. high school and university teachers. with the pure- ly rupplenieniary and ronauliiiiivo

on (not the direction and

iilirce Ris

supervision) of "experts" who plan theories but don't teach children. . e .

Language work is a good ex- ample of the need for caueful study and experiment in schools. The latest methodology for teach- ing English is most elaborate and it require: much time and many work books. But by the end of the course does the pupil really know how to read. does he want to read, and does he read?

And can he write in reasonably ccrrect and readily understood English? This subject is debat-

able, for many teachers and em- plo) era are complaining that Enz- lish is the weakest subject in the srhools today and the emphasis on remedial English seems to in- dicate that something has been left out somewhere.

The natural years for learning are from birth to the early teens. Young minds are like sponges ready and able to absorb. and they should be given enough to absorb so that when the age of reason comes in the teens there will be a good foundation of knowledge with which to reason. There is some indication that too much elementary work is crowding the high school years because too much precious time is being wasted in the early

giadcs. The upper years will be "hard" if the fundamentals are not mastered in the early grades.

.V-any difficulties would disappear if a way were found by which the student with weaknesses were pi-rmitted to start back where he first got into trouble and over- come the weaknesses. He will gain time in the long run and uill benefit more from such a plan than from aiitnmstic grading or from shifting to other sub- Jcct.-R.

One way of doing this is ”.'.'roup" grades. for example to out grades 2, .'f, and 4 in one class and 5, 6 and 7 in nnothc". Pupils can lhcn so-e vihat's ahead and behind, the teacher can han- din Slllijefll over a lrngcr range of time and content, and. if it should be necessary, the fast pupil can do 3 years in 2 and the slow pupil 3 years in 4 rath- er than skip or repeat grad:-s. Another way is to entrust all the arithmetic in one teacher. all the French to another. and so on. so

to

after ihzit stage it "gradually, in- exliably seems to become rigid. slcw and less'rct'eplive." "VVhy, he asks. "should foreign lan- guages make their first appear- iince long after a boy or girl has lost full capacity for language learning?” .Vlost teachers will r"?ree. for Dcdagogisis have been tragically wrong in postponing language training iiniil its ef- ficiivr-ncss is rcdiiced or lost.

Another qucction requiring care- ful study ls uh:-ihcr or not. mod- ern pcdngnily is paying sufficient. alicntion to developing pupils” capacities to work for themselves at distinct from teaching them As one obs!-Ivrr puts it, does the irnclicr do the work and the pupil licar lIlP it-aclicr or does ii.c pupil do the uorkland the lfii('I1l'T the hearing? Too much teaching and not enougli working rcsiilts in a brain which can re- ciive bcllcr than it can produce.

The result of'noi irriining and cxcrr-ising the brain, indicates a neurologist, Dr. W. Grey Walter, is a situation where "it seems in be rlcgcncraiing into something more like a spinal cord, able to rcrcivc instructions and imple- ment reflex co-ordination hut in- capable of initiating any indo- pciidcnt or original idea." George Bernard Shaw was more than half serious when be indicated flliil "if you wash a cat. it will nivcr again wash itsclf if you lEiil'll a man anything he will never learn ii." if there is any f:uth in the accusation that "the in our schools today stand for Rest, Relax, and Ro- crivc," then the prescnt meritori- ology rt-qiiircs careful and crit- ital examination.

Administration of Education The main target of current ci-iiicisni is the rigid hiircaiicracv which is the chief feature of North Amcrican cduculion. Some- hnw. vilihnut the public appreci- ating what was going on, the di- rcclion of education became cen- trali7cd during the 1930's and 1940's in the hands of officials and "experts" instead of trustees and teachers. In an era when Ainnrica and Canada were fight- ing for the freedom of democracy. i'inir Pl'lllFBl.lOI'llI systems went loialiiarian, until by 1950 lbs frccdom of the schools was lost and old school and home Mid School and public relationships wni-c destroyed.

No profession or public activity has been so hldehound by impos- arl dll'f'PllOnl. regulations. curric- iila and theories. and. as these increased. the initiative of the iuichor and the contributions of public opinion declined. "Educa- tIr.niil administration" became the

thing to do. and the enrollment in the normal schools dropped sharply. More current criticism

of the educational system in both Canada and the United States in ii hcalihy democratic reaction to

the efforts, not of teachers or schools. but of "professional ex- prrlx." A prominent professor of

education has recently called the problem "lhc chief weakn a public education ln' Canada." Many authorities have become concerned over this development, not. only he visa or the mis- ieltee which have been made. but

..T HE GUARDIAN.

so sharply revealed during two world wara., that dlctatorshla, whether Nazi or Communist, al- wnyl begins with educational bureaucracy and cultural stand- ardization. It is no exaggeration to say that at the present time one man or group strategically placed can control an entire edu- cational system. This simply vion't do in a troubled world es- pecially in a country which val- ues freedom. The same point ap- plies to controlled uniformity; schools and teachers are differ- ent and to try? to force them into the same mould servcs only to defeat the aims of both education and democracy.

Education is like dcinocratit: politics or free enterprise in business. It requires self-reliance

and initiative. freedom for thought and experimentation. recognition of the dignity and worth of the individual. it does not thrive on centralization and siantlni-rlizaiion. on rigid formula of material anti method. or on the tyranny of mediocrity which always results from forced uniformity. There is only one OHPFHVP relationship which brings results in crliicationl and that is direct and trusting association between sclinol trus- tees and public Opllltin on the

orie hand and the staffs of in- divldual schools on thn othcr. The 'l'cai-her

The last fun ilcvziilcc have shown that the plaiiiiiiig of plus- lcal facilities and Hip tinl.--ring with curricula has hm-n boili in-

effective and dang:-i--iiis witlioiit .1 substantial change in tho status of the tear-lici-. 'lilir- plivsiciil school just kccps out the wcatlicr and houses cquipiiicnt; ilic rur- riculum is, or should bc. merely a guide to what is living (lone iii- side. Good buildings and courses are useful only in so far as they ltelp good tcavliers to lcarh. - barn with a rcal lcwlicr a better school than a TllFinHni'1 with a poor one.

This point was lnxi for a iliiic

or

nitikcii

rovlde bulld- .audlo-

in a tendency to Inga. slanting black oards. v:sual aids. and "extra , good things in their places. but pure luxuries u long as teach- ers were. in the words of Hugh

E. ..

MacLennan, "the most exploited. neglected. a ti d underprivileged class in Canada.” Indeed some

areas have added extra facilities and courses or even duplicated facilities when existing arrange- ments were not working through lack of teachers. Recently there

have been encouraging signs of change. For example. the On- tario Department of Education

announced more than a year ago that it would not contribute to- ward the cost of duplicating ex-

isting facilities or providing ex- has or frills. The Mayor of Saskatoon stated the matter bluntly: "lfva gadget in a school or an additional expense does not directly nor indirectly promote hitter teaching: then such things

crinnot be justified for a moment. In other words. what we should be concentrating on today should be better selection of teachers, a more liberal arts program for teacher training. much less em- pna.-iis on methods and on psy- chology. better treatment of ttachers which will of course in- clude better salaries. and more freedom for teachers to do what is their obvious buslnessiname- '1)". teaching." By tnd large the quality of education which the public may expect depends direct- l.' on the quality of the teachers. and the latter depends in turn or proper training. appropriate isalaries and reasonable working; 'cnnditlt-ns. l I O C y