Graves, In Modern Times (Macmillan, 1913), chap. X; and Great Educators (Macmillan, 1912), chap. XIV; Monroe, Textbook (Macmillan, 1905), chap. XII; Parker, Modern Elementary Education (Ginn, 1912), pp. 331-340. Popular accounts of the growth of science can be found in Buckley, Arabella B., A Short History of Natural Science (Appleton), and Williams, H. S., Story of Nineteenth Century Science (Harper). Spencer’s Education and Huxley’s Science and Education should be read. Further arguments for the study of science can be found in Coulter, J. M., The Mission of Science in Education (Science, II, 12, pp. 281-293); Dryer, C. R., Science in Secondary Schools (Prize Essay in The Academy, May, 1888, pp. 197-221); Galloway, R., Education, Scientific and Technical (Trübner, London, 1881); Norton, W. H., The Social Service of Science (Science, II, 13, pp. 644ff.); Pearson, K., Grammar of Science (Macmillan, 1911), chap. I; Roberts, R. D., Science in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1901), chap. VII; Sedgwick, W. T., Educational Value of the Method of Science (Educational Review, vol. V, pp. 243ff.), and especially Youmans, E. L., Culture Demanded by Modern Life (Appleton, 1867).
CHAPTER XXVII
PRESENT DAY TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION
OUTLINE
At the present time there is great progress in industrial, commercial, and agricultural training in the schools of Europe and America.
For a quarter of a century the educational systems of Europe have been giving attention to moral training, and of late there has been some discussion of the subject in the United States.
All the great nations now provide for the training of mental defectives, and for some time training has been afforded those defective in some sense organ.
The attempts at improved methods of teaching are witnessed by the study of industries in the experimental school of Dewey, by the formulation of a curriculum in terms of normal activities of other elementary schools, and by the ‘didactic apparatus’ and the devices for learning the ‘three r’s’ of Montessori.
Methods of mental measurement are being devised for the elementary school subjects by Thorndike and others, and systems of measurement are being utilized in administration.
Darwin’s theory of evolution has revolutionized our attitude, imagery, and vocabulary in education.
There is also a great variety of other educational movements in all grades of education.
Recent Educational Progress.—Because of the notable development of science and invention, which has been noted in the last chapter, the nineteenth century has often been referred to as the ‘wonderful’ century. Such a term affords no better description of material achievement than of the remarkable progress that has taken place in education. Previous chapters have indicated the extent to which, through various movements, education has advanced and broadened in conception, but the near future of education will probably witness a much greater development. At the present time there are Constant efforts at a reconstruction of education. constant efforts at a modification and a reconstruction of education in the interest of a better adjustment of the individual to his social environment and of greatly improved conditions in society itself. It would, of course, be impossible to describe all of these movements even in the briefest manner, but some of the present day tendencies that appear most significant should now engage our attention.
The Growth of Industrial Training.—The movement that is perhaps most widely discussed to-day is the introduction of vocational training into the systems of education. Social reasons for industrial education. There is now an especial need for this type of training. Since the industrial revolution and the development of the factory system, the master no longer works by the side of his apprentice and instructs him, and the ambition of the youth can no longer be spurred by the hope that he may himself some day become a master. His experience is generally confined to some single process, and only a few of the operatives require anything more than low-grade skill. Nor, as a rule, will the employer undertake any systematic education of his workmen, when the mobility of labor permits of no guarantee that he will reap the benefit of such efforts, and the modern industrial plant is poorly adapted to supplying the necessary theoretical training for experts. Hence an outside agency—the school—has been called upon to assist in the solution of these new problems. To meet the demand for industrial education, all the principal states of Europe have maintained training of this sort for at least half a century, and the United States has in the twentieth century been making rapid strides in the same direction.
Industrial training of the continuation schools in Germany.
Industrial Schools in Europe.—In Germany, where this training is most effective, the work has for fifty years been rapidly developing through the Fortbildungsschulen (see Fig. 55). The course in these schools at first consisted largely of review work, but the rapid spread of elementary schools soon enabled them to devote all the time to technical education. Training is now afforded not only for the rank and file of workmen in the different trades, but for higher grades of workers, such as foremen and superintendents. Girls are likewise trained in a wide variety of vocations. During the last twenty-five years there have also been developed continuation schools to furnish theoretical courses in physical sciences, mathematics, bookkeeping, drawing, history, and law. In North Germany there is a tendency to confine the courses to theoretical training, and leave the practical side to the care of the employers, but the South German states generally combine theoretical and practical work, and develop schools adapted to the industries of the various Work of Kerschensteiner. localities. Through the work of Kerschensteiner, Munich has even included an extra class in the elementary schools, to bridge the gap between school life and employment.
No apprenticeship in France, but all training in continuation schools.