What the Schools Teach and Might Teach Part 6

8. A new course of study in geography is now being put into use. The work as laid out in the old manual and as seen in the cla.s.srooms has been forbiddingly formal. It has mainly consisted of the teacher a.s.signing to the pupils a certain number of paragraphs or pages in the textbook as the next lesson, and then questioning them next day to ascertain how much of this printed material they have remembered and how well. The new course of study recognizes, on the contrary, that the proper end of geographical teaching is rather to stimulate and guide the children toward an inquiring interest as to how the world is made, and the skies above, and the waters round about, and the conditions of nature that limit and determine in a measure the development of mankind. To attain this ideal will require in every school 10 times as adequate provision of geographical reading and geographical material as is now found in the best equipped school.

9. Drawing and applied art have been taught in Cleveland since 1849. The object of the teaching is to develop an understanding and appreciation of the principles of graphic art and ability to use these principles in practical applications. Where this work is done best, it shows, in both the elementary and high schools, balanced understanding and complete modernness. What is needed is extension of this best type of work to all parts of the city through specially trained departmental teachers.

10. Where teaching of household arts is at its best in Cleveland, it is of a superior character and should be extended along lines now being followed. Manual training for boys should be extended and broadened with a view to giving the pupils real contact with more types of industry than those represented by the present woodwork.

11. Elementary science finds no place in the course of study of Cleveland. The future citizens of Cleveland will need an understanding of electricity, heat, expansion and contraction of gases and solids, the mechanics of machines, distillations, common chemical reactions, and the mult.i.tude of other matters of science met with daily in their activities. The schools should help supply this need.

12. Teaching in matters pertaining to health is a.s.signed little time in the elementary schools, and the time that is a.s.signed to it is frequently given to something else. The subject gets pushed off the program by one of the so-called "essentials." A course in hygiene should be drawn up, and practical applications of the work should be arranged through having pupils look after the sanitary conditions of rooms and grounds. The school doctors and nurses should help in this teaching and practice.

13. Physical training is given about as much time as in the average city, but without adequate facilities for outdoor and indoor plays and games. At present the work is too largely of the formal gymnastic type. Desirable improvements in the course are being advocated by the directors and supervisors of the work. They are recommending and introducing, where conditions will permit, the use of games, athletics, folk dances, and the like. The movement should be promoted in every possible way.

14. In the elementary schools Cleveland gives more than the average amount of time to music, but in the high schools the subject is developed only incidentally and is given no credit. It is a question whether this arrangement is the right one, and in considering possible extensions it should be remembered that there are other subjects of far more pressing immediate necessity.

15. It is impossible in this brief report to discuss adequately so complicated a matter as that of the teaching of foreign languages in the high schools, but some of the most important of the questions at issue have been indicated as matters which the school authorities should continue to study until satisfactory solutions are reached.

16. Where school work in Cleveland is backward, it is because it has not yet taken on the social point of view. Where it is progressive, it is being developed on the basis of human needs. There is much of both kinds of work in Cleveland.

17. In a city with a population so diversified as is that of Cleveland, progress should be made steadily and consciously away from city-wide uniformity in courses of study and methods of teaching.

There should be progressive differentiation of courses to meet the widely varying needs of the different sorts of children in different sections of the city.

CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY REPORTS

These reports can be secured from the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. They will be sent postpaid for 25 cents per volume with the exception of "Measuring the Work of the Public Schools" by Judd, "The Cleveland School Survey" by Ayres, and "Wage Earning and Education" by Lutz. These three volumes will be sent for 50 cents each. All of these reports may be secured at the same rates from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City.

Child Accounting in the Public Schools--Ayres.

Educational Extension--Perry.

Education through Recreation--Johnson.

Financing the Public Schools--Clark.

Health Work in the Public Schools--Ayres.

Household Arts and School Lunches--Boughton.

Measuring the Work of the Public Schools--Judd.

Overcrowded Schools and the Platoon Plan--Hartwell.

School Buildings and Equipment--Ayres.

Schools and Cla.s.ses for Exceptional Children--Mitch.e.l.l.

School Organization and Administration--Ayres.

The Public Library and the Public Schools--Ayres and McKinnie.

The School and the Immigrant--Miller.

The Teaching Staff--Jessup.

What the Schools Teach and Might Teach--Bobbitt.

The Cleveland School Survey (Summary)--Ayres.

Boys and Girls in Commercial Work--Stevens.

Department Store Occupations--O'Leary.

Dressmaking and Millinery--Bryner.

Railroad and Street Transportation--Fleming.

The Building Trades--Shaw.

The Garment Trades--Bryner.

The Metal Trades--Lutz.

The Printing Trades--Shaw.

Wage Earning and Education (Summary)--Lutz.