Charles Hubbard Judd
Introduction to the scientific study of education
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Table of contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER I EXTENDING THE PUPIL’S VIEW OF THE SCHOOL
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER II SCHOOLS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND OF OTHER TIMES
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER III EDUCATION AS A PUBLIC NECESSITY
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER IV INVESTING PUBLIC MONEY IN A NEW GENERATION
CHAPTER V DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY FOR CARRYING ON SCHOOLS
CHAPTER VI THE SCHOOL BUILDING
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER VII GROUPING PUPILS IN CLASSES
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER VIII THE TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM AND ITS REORGANIZATION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER IX SPECIALIZED EDUCATION VERSUS GENERAL EDUCATION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER X EXTENSION OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XI PRINCIPLES INFLUENCING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CURRICULUM
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XII INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XIII PERIODICITY IN THE PUPIL’S DEVELOPMENT
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XIV SYSTEMATIC STUDIES OF THE CURRICULUM
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XV STANDARDIZATION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XVI METHODS
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XVII CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XVIII SELECTED ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XIX PLAY
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THIS CENSUS
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XX HEALTH SUPERVISION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XXI SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XXII THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION
EXERCISES AND READINGS
CHAPTER XXIII PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS
EXERCISES AND READINGS
APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION
GENERAL DIRECTIONS
GENERAL QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN EACH REPORT
FOOTNOTES:
PREFACE
This
book is the result of eight years of experimentation. In 1909 the
Department of Education of The University of Chicago abandoned the
practice of requiring courses in the History of Education and
Psychology as introductory courses for students preparing to become
teachers. For these courses it substituted one in Introduction to
Education and one in Methods of Teaching. This move was due to the
conviction that students need to be introduced to the problems of
the
school in a direct, concrete way, and that the first courses should
constantly keep in mind the lack of perspective which characterizes
the teacher-in-training.In
the years that have elapsed since 1909 the conviction has gained
almost universal acceptance in normal schools and colleges of
education that the History of Education is not a suitable
introductory course. Psychology has grown in the direction of a
scientific discussion of methodology, and the demand for a general
introductory discussion of educational problems from a scientific
point of view has often been expressed by teachers in normal
schools
and colleges. In this period the writer has had frequent
opportunity
to try out various methods of presenting such an introductory
course.
The results of this experience are presented in this volume, which
is
designed as a textbook for students in normal schools and colleges
in
the first stages of their professional study.The
teacher who uses this book can expand the course to double the
length
here outlined by introducing schoolroom observation and
supplementary
reading. The questions and references offered at the end of each
chapter and the references in the footnotes are intended to
facilitate such further work. A set of questions is given in the
Appendix as a guide to classroom observation.The
obligations which the author has incurred in the preparation of the
book are numerous. Almost every member of the Department of
Education
of The University of Chicago has at some time or other given the
course to a division of students, and all have contributed
suggestions and criticisms with regard to the organization of
material. Special obligations should be noted in this connection to
Professors J. F. Bobbitt, S. C. Parker, F. N. Freeman, H. O. Rugg,
and W. S. Gray. To Professor E. H. Cameron the author is under
obligation for suggestions made after reading the manuscript. To
the
authors and publishers whose works have been drawn upon for
extensive
and numerous quotations, special thanks are due for courteous
permission to use their material. Finally, it is to the students
who
have from year to year passed through this course that the largest
obligation should be acknowledged because of the suggestions which
their reactions have given to the writer.
CHAPTER I EXTENDING THE PUPIL’S VIEW OF THE SCHOOL
The
Pupil’s View LimitedMost
people think of school matters from the pupil’s point of view. When
they learned arithmetic and grammar, or later when they studied
algebra and Latin, each course was presented to them as though it
were a perfect system. The teacher did not confide in them that
arithmetic probably ought to be revised by the omission of many of
its topics, that formal grammar is a very doubtful subject, and
that
both algebra and Latin are on the point of losing their places as
required subjects. The pupil sees the front of the school scenery;
the machinery behind is known only to those who conduct the
performance.It
would be possible to multiply indefinitely examples which show that
the pupil’s view of the school is very limited. What pupil
understands the duties of the principal or the superintendent, or
of
the still more remote and mysterious board of education? Where does
the daily program come from? Who decides about textbooks? Why are
school buildings commonly planned with large study-rooms? Most of
these questions are never thought of by pupils. Everything in
school
life seems to have a kind of inevitableness which raises it above
question or even consideration.Conservatism
in the Community as a Natural ConsequenceThe
narrowness of the pupil’s view would have less serious consequences
if it were not for the fact that the pupil becomes in mature life a
member of a board of education or adopts teaching as his
profession.
Then trouble results, because there is machinery which must be kept
running if schools are to be efficient, and this machinery suffers
if
intrusted to the hands of those who do not understand its
complexities.One
school superintendent, who encountered vigorous opposition to the
introduction of changes in the course of study, wrote as
follows:The
average American citizen whose schooling was limited to the primary
and grammar grades looks with reverence upon the subjects there
taught, and refuses to concur in a change of the course of study
for
the elementary school. Associated with the average citizen is a
heavy
percentage of the teaching faculty of both elementary and high
schools throughout the country.1Another
superintendent, who was more successful in bringing about reforms,
makes this statement:People
are more conservative in their attitude towards educational
innovations than toward new adjustments to meet the demands of
changing modern life in any other field of activity. Each adult is
inclined to overvalue the particular type of training he received
and
to regard with suspicion any change which will tend to discredit
this
sort of training received at such an expenditure of time and money.
The schools are, therefore, the last institution to respond to the
changing demands of modern life.2Demand
for a Broad Scientific StudyIf
schools are to be progressive and efficient, they must be studied
very much more broadly and comprehensively than they can be from
the
pupil’s point of view. The suggestion naturally arises that this
broader study is a part of the professional duty of the teacher. So
it is; but it will not be enough merely to exhibit the intricacies
of
education to teachers. The whole community must be shown by
scientific methods that the school is a complex social institution,
and that its conduct, like the conduct of every other social
institution, requires constant study and expert supervision. In
this
movement of opening the eyes of the community to the needs and
nature
of education, the school officers must be leaders; but their
methods
must be impersonal and exact.Beginnings
of the Science of EducationDuring
recent years the demand for a thorough and comprehensive study of
schools by scientific methods has led to a number of investigations
which can be offered as an optimistic beginning of a science of
education. It would, indeed, be far beyond the truth to assert that
science has settled all the problems of teaching and of school
organization. There is, however, a very respectable body of fact
which has been clearly enough defined so that it can in no wise be
set aside. In certain details the requirements of a scientifically
valid educational scheme are known and can be described. The method
of studying schools can safely be said to be established. It is the
work of the future to take up, now this problem, now that, and by
progressive stages to work out a complete science of school
management and classroom organization.It
will be the purpose of subsequent chapters to define fully certain
of
the leading problems with which the science of education deals. The
remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a brief statement of
certain typical studies, which will make more concrete and definite
the contention that the pupil’s view of schools is narrow and that
the teacher’s view must be extended, as must also that of the
community at large, if educational conditions are to be
improved.Effectiveness
of Studies of RetardationFirst,
we may refer to investigations which have been made of the rate of
promotion of pupils through the grades.Whenever
a pupil fails to complete the work of a grade in the appointed
time,
it is evident that there is some kind of maladjustment. The pupil
may
be incompetent to do the work required of him because he is
mentally
deficient. On the other hand, it may be that the work is ill chosen
and in need of revision. The following statement from one of the
leading students of education in the United States describes with
clearness the problem and the progress made in meeting it.Just
ten years ago the distinguished superintendent of schools of New
York
called attention to the fact that 39 per cent of the children in
the
schools of that city were above the normal ages for their grades.
This aroused widespread investigation, which showed that similar
conditions obtained in other cities throughout the country. Soon
studies of this phase of educational efficiency showed that the
same
conditions which resulted in our schools being crowded with
retarded
children also prevented a large proportion of these children from
ever completing the elementary grades.About
seven years ago this became one of the most widely studied problems
of educational administration, and in the past four it has been one
of the prominent parts of the school surveys. During the entire
period hundreds of superintendents throughout the country have been
readjusting their schools to better the conditions
disclosed.In
these seven years the number of children graduating each year from
the elementary schools of America has doubled. The number now is
three quarters of a million greater annually than it was then. The
only great organized industry in America that has increased the
output of its finished product as rapidly as the public schools
during the past seven years is the automobile industry.It
is probable that no other one thing so fundamentally important to
the
future of America as this accomplishment of our public schools has
taken place in recent years. There is every evidence that this is
the
direct result of applying measurements to education. If the school
survey movement now under way can produce other results at all
comparable with this one, we need have no fear for the
outcome.3The
quotation does not tell us how the reform has been worked out. That
is a long story. In some cities better teachers were needed and
have
been employed. In a great number of cases the course of study has
been revised. Sometimes smaller classes have been provided. So on
through a long list of details, one might enumerate the reforms
which
have resulted from a careful study of the one fact that pupils in
the
schools were older than they normally should be.A
Study of High-School CoursesA
second type of study can be borrowed from the reports of the North
Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. This
Association has as its practical purpose the inspection of the
secondary schools and colleges of the northern states from Ohio to
Colorado. The inspectors of high schools in seventeen states
brought
together in the report of 1916 a number of exact statistics
regarding
1128 approved schools.4
One set of these facts may be selected for special comment.Fig.
1. Average
number of high-school units in the approved schools of the various
states of the North Central AssociationThe
full-drawn lines are proportional in length to the number of units
offered in academic subjects; the dotted lines, to technical
subjectsThe
number of units, or courses, offered in high schools has increased
rapidly in recent years. Especially marked is the addition to the
school program of technical subjects, such as home economics,
manual
training, and commercial courses. The report here under discussion
states that in all the approved schools of the association there is
an average of 21.13 academic units, that is, units in such subjects
as languages, history, mathematics, science, and English; and an
average of 9.41 units in technical or vocational subjects.When
we examine the individual states, we find that Minnesota, which has
a
large state fund, much progressive legislation on high schools, and
a
vigorous state department of education, shows averages of 23.87
academic units and 12.65 units of vocational subjects. South
Dakota,
where the school system is new and economic conditions are much
less
favorable, has averages of 17.62 academic units and 6.46 vocational
units. The more striking differences are those which arise not from
economic conditions but from clearly indicated differences in
educational policy. Ohio has an average of 22.24 academic units,
which is high, and an average of only 7.26 vocational units, which
is
low. On the other hand, Kansas has 22.9 academic units, or just
about
the same as Ohio, and 10.13 units in vocational subjects.Finally,
if we carry the comparison into still further detail by examining
the
schools in a single state, we find in Ohio one city with a high
school of 870 students offering 18 academic units and 5 vocational
units, while in another city, where the student body numbers 710
students, the school offers 24 academic units and 22 vocational
units.The
comparisons are illuminating in several respects. It is probable
that
most communities are ignorant of the fact that their own high
schools
differ from others. The publication of definite facts with regard
to
the practices of schools would stimulate wholesome thinking on
school
problems. The whole life of a school depends in very large measure
on
the course of study. When there are such wide divergences as are
here
indicated, there is clear evidence of differences in educational
policies in different states and communities. At the present time
the
accepted policies are often the products of tradition or accident.
They should be made subjects of careful study and either confirmed
or
revised.Fig.
2 A. Pauses made
in silent readingThe
vertical lines, Figs. 2 A, 2 B, show where the eyes of an adult
reader paused during the reading. The numbers above the vertical
lines in the two figures indicate the order of the
fixationsFig.
2 B. Pauses made
in oral readingAn
Experimental Analysis of a Fundamental SubjectAs
a third type of scientific study we may take certain recent
laboratory investigations of reading. Reading is the most important
subject taught in the schools; yet there are the widest differences
in the results secured with different pupils. It is the duty of the
schools to find out what constitutes the difference between good
readers and bad readers, in order that both classes may be
improved.The
method of these studies consists in photographing the reader’s eyes
as they travel along printed lines. The number and length of the
pauses are thus determined. It is found in general that competent
readers see more at a glance than do poor readers. Furthermore, it
is
found that different types of reading are radically different; thus
there is a marked difference between oral and silent reading. The
importance of distinguishing these two types of reading lies in the
fact that most of the teaching of reading in the elementary schools
is by means of the oral method. Most of the demands of later life,
and all of the demands made upon pupils when they study textbooks
in
geography and history and the other subjects of the school course,
call for ability in silent reading. The results of investigations
can
be briefly stated in the following averages: the average numbers of
pauses per line in oral reading for adults, high-school pupils, and
elementary-school pupils, reading passages of different grades of
difficulty, are 8.2, 8.6, and 8.1, while the corresponding averages
for silent reading are 6.5, 7, and 6.3. These figures mean that the
eye makes more pauses along a printed line when the reader is
reading
orally than when he is reading silently. Oral reading is therefore
a
more laborious, difficult form of reading. Furthermore, the time
spent in each pause is greater in oral reading. The averages in
thousandths of a second for oral reading for the three classes of
readers are 380.8, 372.9, 398, while the corresponding figures for
silent reading are 308.2, 311.1, and 314.5
These figures show that oral reading is slow as well as
laborious.It
would require more discussion than is appropriate at this point to
bring out the full meaning of such facts as these. Enough appears
on
the surface of the results, however, to make it quite evident that
the school ought not to emphasize oral reading in the upper grades
as
it does to-day. The daily oral-reading drill in the seventh and
eighth grades imposes on the pupils a slow, clumsy form of reading
at
a time when they ought to be cultivating the power of rapid silent
reading.It
is by means of investigations of this kind that each of the
subjects
of instruction is being examined, and as a result schoolwork is
increasingly developing effective methods of cultivating children’s
intellectual powers. The work of analyzing each of the subjects
will
be slow and will require the coöperation of many investigators, but
in several subjects, especially in the elementary schools, an
encouraging beginning has been made.A
Study of the Relation of Education to General Social LifeA
fourth and final example can be borrowed from studies made in the
city of Minneapolis of the opportunities for trade training in that
city, of the number of workmen needed in each of the trades, and of
the kind of preparation required for efficiency in each branch of
labor. An industrial and educational survey of the community was
undertaken for the specific purpose of adapting educational
organization to the practical needs of the community.6
Such a study recognizes the fact that the school is but one among
many social institutions and that the school must find its proper
place in community life through a thorough scientific study of
other
more general social activities.The
Scientific Study of Educational ProblemsHere,
again, it is by no means asserted that the solution of the problem
of
training workers for the industries has been found. It can,
however,
be stated with complete assurance that both the school and the
community will proceed with greater intelligence if the facts are
carefully canvassed in advance.The
spirit of patient, detailed scientific study is more and more
dominating the schools. There are some who, impatient at the labor
involved in such studies, would rush forward to radical
experimentation. Fortunately, even such rash reformers are becoming
convinced that they need to keep records of their results in order
to
prove the success of the changes which they have made. As a result,
they too are taking on some of the forms of science, though they do
not adopt the full program of patient study of conditions.The
result of a scientific movement such as is under way in education
will be the cultivation of a broader conception than was ever
possible from any individual point of view. The pupil’s view is
narrow because he comes in contact with the school only at the
point
of application of educational methods to his own life. The
scientific
view of education is broad because it places the school in its
proper
relations to other social activities, because it defines the
relation
of the pupils and teachers to one another and to the material used
for instruction, and because it opens up all the results of school
work to full inspection and evaluation. This broad scientific view
is
the one which the teacher and the community at large should
adopt.
EXERCISES AND READINGS
In
every school certain changes are introduced from time to time in
spite of the conservatism of the community. Let the student find
examples of (1) new courses of study, (2) new methods of appointing
or promoting teachers, or (3) new forms of organization, such as
the
junior high school or departmental teaching. After discovering
innovations, let him find how they were brought about.
What
are the usual forms of school records and reports known to the
student? How could records be made of more value? Suggest methods
of
presenting the facts of daily attendance so that they can be
readily
interpreted by a community. What are some of the interpretations
that
ought to be put on failures and nonpromotions in different kinds of
cases? Is repetition of a course desirable for a pupil who has
failed? Are failures more common in required courses than in
elective
courses? When a required course is described as essential to the
education of everyone, what is meant?
Let
the student test his own rates of reading. How should a college
class
differ from a high-school class in ability to read? Go to a library
or study-room and watch the people read. Report the differences
between individuals.
The
readings which are most stimulating to students who have never
faced
the problems of school organization are those which call in
question
present school practices.
Dewey,
John. The School and Society. The University of Chicago Press. This
is one of the most stimulating demands for a reorganization of the
school which has ever been written.
Rousseau,
Jean Jacques. Émile. D. Appleton and Company. This is a book of
great historical significance. It is an indictment of formalism in
education and a vigorous advocacy of naturalism.
Spencer,
Herbert. Essays on Education. D. Appleton and Company. This is a
demand for a thorough reform of the school curriculum. It is now
nearly sixty years old, but it is modern in its spirit.
CHAPTER II SCHOOLS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND OF OTHER TIMES
The
Comparative and Historical MethodsThe
scientific methods of studying school problems, which were
illustrated in the last chapter, can be supported and supplemented
by
a comparison of the schools of the present with the institutions of
earlier times, and by a comparison of the schools of different
countries with one another. Such comparisons seldom serve as an
adequate basis for the reorganization of school practices, because
the conditions in one generation and in one country are so unlike
those of others that direct transfer of methods of procedure is
dangerous. Comparison serves, however, to set in clear perspective
the characteristics which distinguish each situation from every
other. If an American wishes to see the school system with which he
is familiar from a new point of view, the comparative method
furnishes a kind of outside station from which he may look back and
see facts which were by no means clear in their meaning when viewed
from near at hand.The
American Textbook Method of TeachingOne
very impressive difference between the schools of the United States
and the schools of Europe is to be found in the fact that class
exercises in our schools are commonly based on assignments in
textbooks, while in Europe the chief method of instruction is oral
exposition by the teacher. The word “recitation,” which is often
employed in describing a classroom exercise, is an American term.
It
originated at the period when devotion to the textbook was even
greater than it is now,—when the pupil was expected to repeat
verbatim the passage from the text. In British books on education
the
word “recitation” appears only when referring to American
practices, and usually takes the form “the American recitation.”
In the German educational vocabulary the word has no
equivalent.The
unique American method of reciting lessons learned out of a book
can
be contrasted with the European method by taking a concrete case.
If
one goes into a geography class in a German school, one finds in
the
hands of the pupils no book, except that in the schools for the
richer classes there may be an atlas; commonly the wall map serves.
The teacher lectures on some section of the country, and follows
the
lecture by questions which the pupils answer. The advantages of the
European method are that the pupils become trained, attentive
listeners, and are able in answering questions to talk coherently
for
long periods, imitating the continuous discourse of the teacher.
The
disadvantages are that the information supplied is limited by the
individual teacher’s training, and the pupils cultivate little or
no independence in the collection and sifting of information. The
influence of the teacher is always dominant—often oppressively
so.
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
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Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollst?ndigen Ausgabe!
