Fig. 57.—Specimen No. 13 taken from the ‘Thorndike Writing Scale.’ This specimen constitutes the approximate quality of handwriting that may reasonably be expected of pupils in the seventh or eighth grade. In the complete scale the specimens are numbered from 4 to 18.
Moreover, by the use of the improved statistical method and of scales, studies of greatly increased value Other mental and social measurements, have been made of fatigue, retardation, elimination, and of other social and mental phenomena of individual children. And in 1911, with the reports of Paul H. Hanus of Harvard University and Ernest C. Moore of Yale University upon the school systems of Montclair and East Orange, New Jersey, there began to be instituted and ‘educational surveys.’ those measurements and consequent criticisms of whole school systems, known as ‘educational surveys.’ These scientific reports have been extended to the educational work of a large number of cities and states throughout the Union. They are intended to enable school officers and patrons to comprehend with more definiteness the absolute, as well as the relative, achievements of their children.
New attitude toward intelligence.
Education and the Theory of Evolution.—A most characteristic influence in education to-day has come through the theory of evolution of Darwin ([Fig. 51]). This fruitful hypothesis came to be generally accepted during the last quarter of the nineteenth century as the guiding principle of education, and has constantly increased the illumination it has shed upon the educational process. It has given an entirely new meaning to education, and has greatly modified the course of study and revolutionized the method of approaching educational problems. It has wrought very much the same changes Studies of mental development in the race and individual. in the treatment of intelligence that it did in the biological sciences. Consciousness is no longer regarded as a fixed set of entities, but as a developmental process. Instead of classifying and cataloging mental processes in fixed groups, efforts are made to study their growth from the standpoint both of the race and of the individual. Studies of mental development in the race, begun by Darwin’s Descent of Man, which recognized ‘sexual’ and ‘social selection,’ as well as ‘natural selection,’ have been continued by numerous investigators, and equally extensive researches have also been latterly made in genetic psychology, child study, mental development, and adolescence. Both observation and experimentation have been introduced into the study of mental processes. Even more revolutionary than this actual increase in Change in imagery and vocabulary. knowledge, however, is the change that has taken place in the conception, imagery, and terminology of education. Writers upon education constantly employ the language of evolution. Educational discussions are now filled with such terms as ‘variation,’ ‘selection,’ ‘adjustment,’ and ‘adaptation,’ and such concepts dominate all educational thinking. If educational leaders of half a century ago could be present to-day at a gathering of educational thinkers, they would find themselves listening to what would seem to them almost a foreign language.
Enlarging Conceptions of the Function of Education.—Such are a few of the chief tendencies and advances that are being made in education to-day. There is also a great variety of other educational movements, almost too numerous to be mentioned. In the organization and administration of the public schools there is a decided tendency toward centralization in educational activities, Centralization; corresponding to the centralization in industrial and political affairs. The United States Bureau of Education and the various State Departments of Public Instruction have had their functions much enlarged and their activities greatly increased. There are also such school hygiene; matters as the new procedure in school hygiene, arising from the modern attitude toward the prevention of disease; new health regulations, as a result of having so many children housed in the same buildings; medical inspection, open-air schools, and better nourishment; and school architecture; new tendencies in school architecture. Likewise we find progressive legislation on compulsory school attendance; more extensive training of teachers; a rapid recognition professionalization of teaching. of education as a profession; the organization of various types of teachers’ associations; and the development of educational journalism. Secondary education is also Reorganization of secondary and higher education. being greatly extended and largely reorganized. ‘Junior high schools,’ combining the upper grades of the elementary school with the lower grades of the secondary school, and thus bridging the gap, are being widely introduced into American cities, and a variety of propositions for a six-year course are being seriously entertained. In connection with higher education there are such new tendencies as university extension, correspondence courses, summer sessions, university interest in the practical problems of the people, the correlation of the first two years of college with the secondary school, more flexible entrance requirements, an increasing number of fields of professional work, and, above all, the professional training of teachers through Departments of Education, Teachers Colleges, and Schools of Education. With this is connected the scientific study of Education, both in graduate courses and independent investigations.
Similar efforts to secure economy, guard health, improve Other progressive tendencies. method, and cause education to serve democratic ideals are everywhere apparent. Educational theory and practice are in a constant flux, and have entered upon a most distinctive epoch of experimentation, change, and improvement. While such a situation is not without its perils, and each proposal should be carefully scrutinized before acceptance, the present tendencies are in the main a sign of progress and life.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
Graves, In Modern Times (Macmillan, 1913), chap. XI; Monroe, Textbook (Macmillan, 1905), chaps. XIII-XIV. For the special tendencies mentioned, the following works may be consulted: Cooley, E. G., Vocational Education in Europe (Chicago Commercial Club, 1912); Hanus, P. H., Beginnings in Industrial Education (Houghton, Mifflin, 1908); Haskins, C. W., Business Education and Accounting (Harper, 1904); Adler, F., Moral Instruction of Children (Appleton, 1895); Palmer, G. H., Ethical and Moral Instruction in Schools (Houghton, Mifflin, 1909); Goddard, H. H., Education of Defectives (Monroe’s Cyclopædia of Education); Bell, A. G., Deaf Mute Instruction in Relation to the Work of the Public Schools; Armitage, T., Education and Employment of the Blind (Harrison & Sons, London, 1886); Dewey, J., The School and Society (University of Chicago Press, 1899), and Elementary School Record (University of Chicago Press, 1900); Montessori, Maria, The Montessori Method (Translated by Anne E. George, Stokes Co., New York, 1912); Kilpatrick, W. H., The Montessori Method Examined (Houghton, Mifflin, 1914); Ayres, L. P., Measuring Educational Processes through Educational Results (School Review, May, 1912); Strayer, G. D., Standards and Tests for Measuring the Efficiency of Schools (Report of the Committee of the National Council of Education in the United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 13); Thorndike, E. L., The Measurement of Educational Products (School Review, May, 1912).