File:Report of Committee on school inquiry, Board of estimate an apportionment, city of New York (1913) (14740261396).jpg

Identifier: reportofcommitt01newy (find matches)
Title: Report of Committee on school inquiry, Board of estimate an apportionment, city of New York ..
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: New York (N.Y.). Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Committee on School Inquiry
Subjects: School organization and management
Publisher: City of New York
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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to ask. What standards wereactually followed? That question brings us back to the elementary school working theorythat was stated to be an important factor in determining the quality ofclassroom instruction (page 249). The influence of that theory upon the curriculum and syllabi shouldbe noted. The first article—belief in the necessity of unlimited uni-formity—explains why 650,000 children, representing all kinds of en-vironment and ability, are given substantially the same curriculum, to becovered in the same time; why classroom method is reduced as far aspossible to formulae; why both these formulae and the numerous othersuggestions are based on personal authority rather than on the aimsand principles of instruction; why, in brief, scarcely any attempt hasbeen made here to provide for the individuality of either teachers orchildren. The second article—the belief that the core of instruction consists inthose facts and kinds of skill that are automatically usable—explains why
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^ 1^ THE COURSE OF STUDY 321 the underlying principles and richer subject matter in many of the sub-jects, such as geography, shop work, and music, for instance, have beenneglected for the more formal portions. The third article—the belief that the most desirable element in schol-arship is accuracy in details—accounts for the remarkable lack of or-ganization in the subject matter. Details being, individually, the centerof interest, their association either by correlation of studies or by care-ful grouping of facts within each study becomes a negligible matter.The only phase of organization that has received much attention is thatof sequence within particular studies; but that is confined to a few ofthe studies, and the sequence secured is one for adults (logical) ratherthan one for children (psychological). The fourth article—the belief that the content of curricula shouldbe selected with reference to the distant future—accounts for the wantof subject matter that appeals non t

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