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CHAPTER VI.

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

By THOMAS H. BRIGGS,

Associate Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

CONTENTS.-General survey-Why improvement of high schools is slow-Pioneer efforts at improve ment-The high school in the surveys-The junior high school.

So far as the number of secondary schools is concerned, the great majority are undoubtedly continuing traditional activities without. serious consideration of the needs of the pupils or of the results actually obtained. The reactionary principals and teachers are of two classes-those who thoughtlessly follow traditions that were established many years ago for a more homogeneous group of children, and those who through thought are satisfied that the same rigid discipline is needed for all. The former class are always a deadweight to any movement; the latter are serviceable, even when wrong, in that they prevent a too rapid modification of what experience has found not wholly bad and in that they discourage the promulgation as ultimate cures of partial or erratic programs.

It is peculiarly unfortunate that the small secondary schools, especially those in districts that must make real sacrifices for their support, should continue to be so ill-adapted to the obvious needs of their communities. It is difficult to see how the majority of them are justified, either by aim or by achievement. The larger secondary schools can afford to experiment, to offer to various homogeneous groups of pupils work differentiated according to their abilities and ambitions, and to add various extra-class activities which nearly simulate real life; but the smaller schools, on account of the limited number of pupils, of incomplete equipment, and of teachers who because of the salary are inexperienced or inefficient, offer what is usually a rather weak college preparatory course. It is no reflection on the adequacy of this course for its peculiar purpose to say that when administered poorly and to all pupils alike, regardless of capacities, interests, or aims, it is extremely wasteful. The smaller secondary schools, which constitute one of the monuments to the American belief in education, beautiful even if often blind, need perhaps more than any other part of our educational system wise

reorganization. A satisfactory result is not likely to be gained merely by a change in the program of studies or in the curriculum; the teachers themselves must be improved. Whether this end be achieved by a system of rewards offered by the State, as proposed in Massachusetts, for continued and improved service in the same position; by centralized senior institutions to which many of the present struggling high schools will act as feeders, as recommended by the Vermont commission; by enlarging the high-school district and providing transportation for the pupils, as has been done in the Middle West; or by providing sufficient funds to support schools fitted to local needs, as in a number of small communities of the far West-whether this end be achieved by one of these means or by some other, local conditions must decide. We can not afford to continue sacrificing the children so that the small secondary school may be little more than a stepping stone for the inexperienced or a haven for the incompetent teachers.

WHY IMPROVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOLS IS SLOW.

Improvement in secondary schools is hampered for several reasons. In the first place, a majority of principals and teachers do not possess a philosophy of education which is satisfactorily based on the newer principles of psychology and sociology. A persistent belief on the part of many that because a subject or a part of a subject is difficult or distasteful, it is therefore educative, that habits acquired in one field are surely transferred to all others, and that native individual differences can be ignored or destroyed, makes progress all but impossible. Furthermore, much of the philosophy that has in it most promise for the future is stated in general terms which win verbal acceptance, but are not thereafter applied to the details of curriculum or teaching. The psychologist and the sociologist have already made contributions that will vitally affect secondary education, and to these they will doubtless add; it is the opportunity and the duty of schoolmen, when they comprehend and accept the new principles, fearlessly to apply them to the work of the schools. An attempt to do so will inevitably result in active opposition by those who are indurated in tradition regardless of its worth, and passive opposition by those who do not have the fundamental training and a vision; but if the principles are sound, the ultimate result can not be doubted. A notable effort to adjust the secondary schools of a State to its needs has been made by New Hampshire.1

Improvement is hindered, further, by the apparent lack of definite purposes in daily teaching. For a long time it was common belief

1 An outline of the plan was presented by Deputy Commissioner H. A. Brown in The School Review, March and April, 1914.

perhaps it still is-that if a person knows the facts in his subject he can teach it. Undoubtedly subject matter is the first essential, but it is not the only one, in the making of a good teacher. To it certainly must be added specific, well-based purposes for every lesson. It is hopeful that the statements of purposes in educational literature are growing more and more definite. Perhaps the most promising immediate reform is likely to grow out of the work of the Commission of the National Education Association on the Reorgenization of Secondary Education. A preliminary report was published as Bulletin No. 41, 1913, of the United States Bureau of Education, and the various subcommittees reported further at the Richmond meeting of the Department of Superintendence. The work of this commission has recently been fortified by the publication of such composite books as "High School Education" and "The Principles of Secondary Education," edited by Profs. Johnston and Monroe, respectively, and several volumes in the Riverside Educational Monographs.

PIONEER EFFORTS AT IMPROVEMENT.

It is not to be understood that all secondary schools are satisfied to perpetuate traditions. Perhaps the most important one impression gathered from a visit last year to more than 150 high schools in 24 States, representing all sections of the country, is that of dissatisfaction with present conditions, a dissatisfaction not merely with the administration of the details of schools as they exist, but also with the general organization and its achievements. This has resulted in the introduction side by side with the old studies of many new ones-from Roman customs and culture to tinsmithing all of which may be counted as credit toward graduation, and in hopeful experimentation with the course of study in each individual subject, with the program of studies as a whole, and with various phases of the school organization. The small high school manifests such independent effort at reorganization only rarely, when a vigorous principal is for some reason held beyond the usual brief term. Usually a change is caused by imitation of a neighboring city high school or through the influence of a new textbook. Among the larger high schools 90 per cent are probably earnestly trying to improve methods of instruction, while of these, perhaps one in four is, in the eyes of the conservative, dangerously revolutionary.

Pioneer work in various subjects is being attempted in many parts of the country as never before, usually with the intention of relating subject matter more intimately and more consciously with actual life. Some notable attempts at improvement may be noted

73226° -ED 1914-VOL 1-9

as follows: In English are those undertaken by the National Council of Teachers of English and reported, for the most part, in the English Journal. In Latin, the direct method, especially in the first year, is used in an increasing number of places-e. g., Jamaica High School, New York; the Horace Mann Schools, Columbia University; and the Lincoln High School, of Portland, Oreg. The Woodward High School, Cincinnati, is developing a course in Latin that should be of peculiar value to students in the commercial department who will take only two years of an ancient language. In a number of schools there have been exhibits stimulated by Frances E. Sabin's "The Relation of Latin to Practical Life." Better still, the influence of these exhibits has obviously made itself felt in classroom instruction. In Oak Park, Ill., and the Hollywood High School, of Los Angeles, rooms have been supplied not only with pictures and busts of great Romans, but also with furniture in imitation of that used in Rome. The Hollywood and Grand Rapid Schools have given annually in Latin one or two short dramas. In the modern languages the teaching is more and more, apparently, by the direct or semidirect methods. The increase in the number of schools offering Spanish, especially as a preparation for foreign trade, is marked. Foreign languages, especially German, are begun in the lower grades in a number of cities-e. g., Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio; Gary and Richmond, Ind; and Buffalo, N. Y. The Rochester (N. Y.) East High School publishes monthly a German magazine, "Der Deutscher Kamerade," and several schools-those at Los Angeles, for example-give public performances of dramas in German or French.

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In music there are four lines of development that are achieving significant results. The first is the teaching of the history and appreciation of music. This work is presented in such places as Springfield and Chelsea, Mass., Oak Park, Ill., Richmond, Ind., Kansas City, Mo., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Los Angeles, Cal., usually with the aid of phonographs and mechanical player pianos. The second, which supplements the first and reaches many more students, is the lecture on musical instruments, forms, and composition, followed by a performance by the local orchestra. This is found in larger cities. like St. Louis and Minneapolis. The third is the organization of school orchestras and brass bands, participation in which usually carries school credit. Oakland, Cal., probably leads in this movement; it has recently expended $10,000 for band instruments. The fourth is the increasing tendency to allow credit for music taken outside school under approved teachers."

1 See Bulletin No. 3, 1913, of the United States Bureau of Education.
2 See Educ. Bull. No. 33, 1914.

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