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Page 46
It appears from the analysis made in Chapter VI of the pupils'
capability and fitness relative to the school failures that it is
impossible to make any definite apportionment of responsibility to the
pupils, until we have first frankly faced and made an effective
disposition of the malfunctioning and misdirection as found in the
school itself. It does not follow from this that any radical
application of surgery need be recommended, but instead, a practical
and extended course of treatment should be prescribed, which will have
due regard for the nature and location of the ills to be remedied.
Anything less than this will seem to be a mere external salve and leave
untouched the chronic source of the systematic maladjustment. It is not
assumed that a school system any more than any other institution or
machine can be operated without some loss. But the failure of the
school to make a natural born linguist pass in a subject of technical
mathematics is perhaps unfortunate only in the thing attempted and in
the uselessness of the effort.
We must take into account at the very beginning the fundamental truth
stated by Thorndike,[54] that "achievement is a measure of ability only
if the conditions are equal." Corollary to that is the fact that the
same uniform conditions and requirements are often very unequal as
applied to different individuals. The equalization of educational
opportunity does not at all mean the same duplicated method or content
for all. That interpretation will controvert the very spirit and
purpose of the principle stated. Any inflexible scheme which attempts
to fashion all children into types, according to preconceived notions,
and whose perpetuity is rooted in a psychology based on the uniformity
of the human mind, simply must give way to the newer conception which
harmonizes with the psychic laws of the individual, or else continue to
waste much time and energy in trying to force pupils to accomplish
those things for which they have neither the capacity nor the
inclination. It is accordingly obligatory on the school to give
intelligent and responsive recognition to the wide differentiation of
social demands, and to the extent and the continuity of the individual
differences of pupils.
1. ORGANIZATION AND ADAPTATION IN RECOGNITION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES IN ABILITIES AND INTERESTS
If the school failures are to be substantially reduced, the teaching of
the school subjects with the chief emphasis on the pupil must surely
replace the practice of teaching the subjects primarily for their own
sake. This 'subject first' treatment must give place to the 'pupil
first' idea. No subject then will overshadow the pupil's welfare, and
the pupil will not be subjected to the subject. Education in terms of
subject-matter is well designed to produce a large crop of failures.
Neither the addition or subtraction of subjects is urged primarily,
but the adaptation and utilization of the school agencies so as to make
the pupils as efficient and as productive as possible, by recognizing
first of all their essential lack of uniformity in reference to
capacities and interests,--not only as between different individuals,
but in the same individual at different ages, at different stages of
maturity, and in different kinds of subjects. This conception precludes
the school employment of subjects and methods for all alike which are
obviously better adapted to the younger than to the older. Neither does
it overlook the fact that the attitude of more mature pupils toward
authority and discipline is essentialy different from that of the
younger boys and girls; that a subject congenial to some pupils will be
intolerable and nearly if not quite impossible for others; or that an
appeal designed mainly to reach the girls will not reach boys equally
well. In brief, the treatment proposed here is neither radical nor
novel, but it is simply the institution of applied psychology as
pertaining to school procedure. What the more modern experimental
psychology has established must be utilized in the school, at the
expense of the more obsolete and traditional. Psychology now generally
recognizes the existence of what the general school procedure implies
does not exist, namely, the wide range of individual differences.
The situation clearly demands that our public schools shall not, by
clinging to precedent and convention, fall notably behind industry and
government in appropriating the fruits of modern scientific research.
As the doctor varies the diet to the needs of each patient and each
affliction, so must the school serve the intellectual and social needs
of the pupils by such an organization and attitude that the selection
of subjects for each pupil may take an actual and specific regard of
the individual to be served. The change all important is not
necessarily in the school subject or curriculum, but rather a change in
the attitude as to how a subject shall be presented--to whom and by
whom. The latter will also determine the character of the pupil's
response and the subject's educational value to him. By securing a
genuine response from the pupils a subject or course of study is
thereby translated into pupil achievement and human results. The
authority of the school is impotent to get these results by merely
commanding them or by requiring all to pursue the same subject. An
experience, in order to have truly educational value, must come within
the range of the pupils comprehension and interest. Quoting Newman,[55]
"To get the most out of an experience there must be more or less
understanding of its better possibilities. The social and ethical
implications must somewhere and at some time be lifted very definitely
into conscious understanding and volition." The pupil's responsiveness
is then much more important both for securing results and for reducing
failures than is any subject content or method that is not effective in
securing a tolerable and satisfying sort of mental activity.
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