CORRELATION

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STUDIES

RErORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE
OF THE

{~mmittee of f!ifteen

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Com. WM. Tr.HARRIS, Chairman
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Su~.J.M.GRBBNWOOD

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Supt. C. B. GILBBRT
Supt. L. H. JONBS
Supt. W. H. MAXWBLL

WITH

ANNOTATIONS
BY

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BLOOMINGTON, ILL. :
PUBLIC-SCHOOL PUBLISHING CO.

1895.

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COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN.·
REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON THE, CORRELATION
OF STUDIES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

The undersigned Committee agrees upon the following report, each member reserving for hims.e lf the expression of his
individual diverge~ce from the opinion ,of the majority, by a
statement appended. to his signature, enumerating the points
to which exception is taken and the grounds for them. 1
I. CORRELATION OF STUDIES.

Your Committee.understands ,by correlation of studies:

1. Logical order.. of topics: and ·branches.
First, the arraugement of topics in proper ·sequence in the
course of study, in such a manner that each · branch develops
in an order suited to the natural and · easy ·progress of the
child, and so that each step is taken at the proper time to
help his advance to the next step in the ·same branch, or to the
next steps in other related branches of the course of study. 1

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1 The author of this report uses . the . word Correlation In its genera lly accepted sense of· reciprocal relation. The things .here related are
th e studies in the school, and l!!e in the social order._ What are the
mutual r elations between these? Evidently .tl)ose of '!rnie,.nce to art. ·
The SOl!ial order Is the .art of which the school studies are the ,science.
The problem of the school IS .to so master- tties'e scie.rices tha,t . th.eli: appli,cation to the art of living shall be easy aµd n.atur.al. •; .TJie-1\fe of the
community is these schQol .s!tudies animated, by will . aJ;ld touched . with
feeling. What is the value of each study In. prep,ar.lng for living in the
civilization of which the child Is a member? The chief purpose.of this
report Is to answer this question : The full dlsciissipn .'o f :th,ese vaJ.ue's
demands that some cqnsideration be given to co-.or~inii.tion of these
studies in the school and the method of teaching them, and this is don e
throughout the report, though ·VElrY briefly and imperfectly: .
2 This first definition Is very imperfect 1ri th ~t it ' considers o'n ly the
order of the sequence of topics within the respective. grpups Q! like subjects; for example, Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry In Ma.thematics:
But having determined what studies in ea.ch group · should go Into the

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation oj Studies.

2. Symmetrical whole of st·udies in the world of human
learning.
Second, the adjustment of the branches of study in such a
manner that the whole course at any given time.represents all
the great divisions of human learning, as far as is possible at
the stage of maturity at which the pupil has arrived, and that
each allied group of studies is represented by some one of its
branches best adapted for the epoch in question; it being implied that there is an equivalence of studies to a greater or
less degree within each group, and that each branch of human
learning should be represented by some equivalent study; so
that, while no great division is left unrepresented, no group
shall have superfluous representatives and thereby debar other;
groups from a proper representation. a

4. Correlation of pupil's course ·of study with the world in which

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3. Psychologicalosymmetry-thf; whole mind.
Third, the selection and arrangement of the branches and
topics within each branch considered pyschologically with a
view to afford the best exercise of the faeulties of the mind,
and to secure the unfolding of those faculties in their natural
order, so that no one faculty is so overcultivated or so neglected as to produce abnormal or one-sided mental development.'
elementary schools, the questions in what order, and at what stage of
progress each shall be introduced becomes important as questions of
method.
s The second definition considers Correlation on th e basis of the
co-ordination of the different groups of studies, so that the pupil's view
of life may be comprehensive at every step · and not limited to the
studies of a single group. Let the pupil look through all "of the five
windows of the soul" at every stage of his progrnss. The relative lmportaBce of the view from each of th•se five windows Is not considered.
That Is, the actual value of each study In the art of living Is ignored.
The same time and energy might be given to the representative study
pursued in each group, without disregarding this definition of Correlation.
' The third basis of correlation Is taken from the point Of view of
the mind to be educated. It Is therefore purely subjtlctive, the child's
relation to the world not being considered. The question here is what
studies, and in what order, will best develop the different faculties?
It ls considered of minor importance what thil content of the studies

he live11-his spiritual and natural environment.
Fourth and chiefly, your Committee understands by correlation of studies the selection. and arrangement in orderly
sequence of such objects of study as shall give the child an
insight into the world that he lives in, and a command over its
resources such as is obtained by a helpful co-operation with
one's fellows. In a word, the chief consideration to which all
others are to be subordinated,, in the opinion of your Committee, in this requirement of the civilization into which the
child is born, as determining not only what he shall study in
school, but what habits and customs he shall be taught in the
family before the school age arriv.e s ; as well as that he shall
acquire a skilled acquaintance with some one of a definite
series of trades, professions, or v9cations in the years .that follow school; and, furthermore, that this question of the relation
of the pupil to his civilization determines what political duties
he shall assume and w,hat religious faith or spiritual ai'!pirations
shall be adopted for the conduct of his life.
To make more clear their reasons for the preference here
expressed for the objective and practical basis of selection o~
topics for the course of study, rather than the subjective basis
so long favored by educational writers, your Committee would
describe the psychological basis, already mentioned, as being
merely formal in its character, relating only to the exercise of
the so-called mental faculties.
It would furnish a training of spiritual powers analogous
to the gymnastic training of the muscles of the body. Gymnastics may develop strength and agility without leading to
any skill in trades or useful employment. So an abstract
psychological training may develop the will, the intellect, the
imagination, or the memory, but without leading -to an exercise c1f acquired power in the interests of civiUzation. The

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may be, provided they give the discipline needed a.t the particular
period of growth considered. In this view It is one's theory of the
nature and activities of the mind a.nd of their mutual rela.tlons that
would determine the studies he should select. ·The purpose of the correlation here considered Is to form the mind without much regard to
furnishing it. It Is the reciprocal rela.tion between the studies and the
mental faculties that Is regarded.

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Report of Committee of Fijteen.

game of chess would furnish a good course pf study for the
disaipline of the powers of attention and calcu_tation of abstract
combinations, but it would give its possessor little or no
knowletige of man or nature. The psychological ideal which
has prevailed to a large extent in education has in the old
phrenology, and in the recent studies in physiol'ogical psychology, sometimes given place to a biological ideal. Instead
of the view of mind as made up of faculties like will, intellect,
imagination, and emotion, conceived to be all necessary to the
soul if developed in harmony with one another, the concept of
nerves or brain-tracts is used as the ultimate regulative principle to determine the selection and arrangement of studies.
Each part of the brain is supposed to have its claim on the
attention of the educator, and that study is tho'ught to be the
most valuable which employs normally the larger number of
brain-tracts . This view reaches c; n extreme in the direction of
formal as opposed to objective or practical grounds for selecting a course of study. While the old psychology with its
mental faculti es concentrated its attention on the mental processes and neglec ted the world of existing objects and · rel~tions
upon which those processes were directed, physiological psychology t ends to confine its attention to the physical part of
the process, the orga nic changes in the brain cells ·and their
functions .
Your Committee is of the opinion that psychology of both
kinds, physiolog ica l and introspective, can bold only a subordinate place in the settlement of questions relating to the
correlation of studies. The branches to b.e studied, and the
extent to which they are studied, will be determined mainly
by the dem a nds of one's civilization. These will prescribe
what is most us eful to make the individual acquainted with
physical nature a nd with human nature so as to fit him as an
individual to perform his duties in the several institutionsfamily, civil society, the state, and the Church. But next" after
this, psychology will furnish important considerations that
will largely determine the methods of instruction, the order of
taking up the several topics so as to adapt the school. work to
the growth of the pupil's capacity, and the amount of work so
as not to overt.ax his powers by too much or arrest the development of strength by too little. A vast number of subor-

Correlation· of Studies.

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dinate details belonging to the pathology of education'. such
as the hygienic features of school architecture and furm~ure,
programmes, the length of study .hours and of class exer~1ses,
recreation, and bodily reactions against mental effort, will be
finally settled by scientific experiment in the department of
physiological psychology.
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Inasmuch as your Committee is limited to the cons1de~at10n
of the correlation of studies in the elementary school, ·It has
considered the question of the course of stu~y in. gene~al only
in so far as this has been found necessary rn d1scussrng the
grounds for the selection of studies for t.he period of school
educatio.n occupying the eight years from six to fourteen years,
or the school period between the kindergarten on the one hand
and the secondary school on the other. It has not been possible to avoid some inquiry into the true distinction b~tween
secondary and elementary studies, sine~ one of the most u:nyortant questions for:ied upon the attent10n of. your Committee
is that of the abridgment of the elementary course of study
from ·eight or more years to seven or even six . yea~s, and the
corresponding increase of the time devoted to studies usually
assigned to the high school and supposed to belong to the secondary course of study for some intrinsic reason. 6
'This is a wonderfully clear, though brief, presentation of the function of the school and o! psychology in realizing that function. It will
be accused of giving too little ·importance to physiological psychology.
The author of this report has elsewhere elaborated more fully the relative values of the old and new psychology. (See article In PublicSchooi 'J ournal, June, 1895.)
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·In none of these definitions of correlation has the report considered
that use of the word which holds It to mean such an organization of
the studies In the practice of teaching as will' make one or more centers
around which the other studies may be grouped. Some of the Herbart·
ans so-called would make history and literature the core studies in the
cur~lculum, f~r example,- and teach· all the others ·a.s, in a measure,
subordinate to these. What ma.n has thought and done is held to be
the most valuable knowledge-conient for education, and the Instruments that he has used Iii his thinking and doing are of subordinate
value. Others would make the nature studies the Important, or,
M least the Initial studies, and learn. arithmetic, language, literature,
etc., as 'the study· of ~clence s'ul{gests. Others, still, ·would make thr~e
groups-nature ·studies, human studies, a.nd · ma.thema.tics~a.nd tie
these groups together where they touch each other. It was the
understanding of those who were ma.king a study of correlation In

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.
II.

THE COURSE OF STUDY-EDUCATIONAL VALUES.

Your Committee would report that it has discussed in detail the several branches of study that have found a place in
the curriculum of the elementary school, with a view to discover their educational value for developing and training the
faculties of the mind, and more especially for correlating the
pupil with his spiritual and natural environment in the world
in which he lives.

A. Language studies.
There is first to be noted the prominent place of language
study that takes the form of reading, penmanship, and grammar in the first eight years' work of the school. It is claimed
for the partiality shown to these studies that it is justified by
the fact that language is the instrument that makes possible
human social organization.
It enables each person to communicate his individual experience to his fellows and thus perthis sense that the report of this Committee was to discu~s chiefly
this meaning of correlation . Much of the opposltfon that followed the
presentation of the report to the convention of superintendents at
Cleveland arose from this misunderstanding. The report really discusses the function of the studies with occasional reference to the
method of realizing their values In the school. The other view would
have made the method of realizing these values the subject of the report,
with occasional reference to the function of the studies in education.
It may be well to suggest, in view of some published criticisms on
this report, that the author had in mind that the school should prepare
for what is Ideally involved in our civilization, rather than suojection
to Its actual limita tions. Some seem to have supposed that he would
make the school the means of perpetuating the Imperfections of
the social orga.nism rather than ·of removing them.
(See editorial in 1'he New York School-Jtmrnai of April 6, 1895.) . The
Ideal to which th e present civilization points Is certainly a fitting
aim for the schools to seek to realize. John Stuart Mills' definition of
tho aim of ed ucatlon, tha.t it shonld seek to maintain the advancement
that has been made and, If possible, improve it, is similar to the
one involved in this rnport. The civilization of a.ny period is an
exponent of the average Intellectual and moral character of the
citizens. This average is to be raised by making the · ideals of the
civilization, as well as its present established order, subjects of study
In the education of the child and In the subsequent education of the
adult.

Correlation ·.of•· Studies.

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mits each to profit by the experience of all. The written and
printed forms .of speech preserve human knowledge and make
progress in civilization possible. · · The ·conch.i.sionis .reached
that learning to read and write should be.: the leading study of
the pupil in his first four years of school.• .
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Reading and writing are not so much ends :in themselves
as means for the acquirement of all other human learning.
This consideration alone would be suffiCient to justify their
actual place in the work of the elementary schooL But these
branches require of the learner a difficult process of analysis.
The pupil must identify the separate words in the sentence he
uses, and in the ne/(:t ·.place ·must recognize the ~eparate sounds
in each word: It requires a consider~ble . effort for the child
or the savage to analyze ' his sentence ' into ·its· constituent
words, and a still greater: effort to discrimina.te .i ts elementary
sounds. Reading, .writing, and spelling fo ,their ri:wst.elementary form, therefore; constitute a severe · training · in mental
analysis for the child ·of six :to ten years of age . ..we are told
that it is far more .disciplinary. to. the mind than any species of
observation of differences among material things, because of
the fact that the word has a .twofold character_:__addressed to
external sense as spoken sound to the ear, or as written and
printed words to the eye-but containing a meaning or sense
addressed to the understanding and only to be seized by introspection. The pupil must call up the corresponding idea by
thought, memory, and imagination, or else the word will cease
to be a word and rernaiii only a · sound or character.
On the other hand, observation of things and movements
does not necessarily involve this twofold act of analysis, introspective and objective, but only the latter_:__the objective
"The author's defillitlon of language, which is·"asynthesis of thing
and thought-of outward sign a.nd lnwa.rd 's ignification;" should be.kept
prominently In mind In studying •this sectfon on language studies. It
is in the light of this definition that the author's statement that the
leading study of the pupil In the first four years is reading and writing,
must be interpreted . Indeed; the leading purpose of the entire school
course Is to enable the pup!ls to read, nieanln'g by that to interpret the
printed page. It Is because children cannot interpret the printed page;
even after they graduate from the high school, that the young people
of today find so little ·interest in · reading good books, and find their
school course of so little value to them.

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Repor:t of Committee of Fifteen.

analysis. It is granted that we all have frequent occasion to
condemn poor methods of instruction as teaching words, ratheli
than things. But we admit that we mean empty :sounds or
characters rather than true words.
Our suggestions for the
correct method of teaching amount in this case simply to laying stress on the meaning of the word, and to setting the
teaching process on the road of analysis of content rather than
form . In the case of words used to store up external observation the teacher is told to repeat and make alive again the act
of observation by which the word obtained its original meaning. In the case of a word expressing a relation between facts
or events, the pupil is to be taken step by step through the
process of reflection by which the idea was · built up. Since
the word, spoken and written, is the sole instrument by which
reason can fix, preserve, and communicate both the ·data of
sense and the relations discovered between them by. ·reflection, no new method in education has been able to supplant· in
the school th e branches, reading and penmanship.
But· the
real improvements in method have led . teachers to lay greater
and greater stress on the internal factor of the word, on its
meaning, and have in manifold ways shown: how to repeat the
original experiences that gave the meaning to concrete words,
and the original comparisons and logical deductions by which
the ideas of r elations and causal processes arose in' the mind
and required abstract words to preserve- and communicate
them.'
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It has been claimed that it would be better to have first a
basis of knowledge of things, and secondarily and subsequently
a knowledge of words.
But it has been replied to this , that
the progress of the child in learning to talk indicates his ascent
out of mere impressions into the possession of true .knowledge.
For he names obj ects only after he has made some synthesis
of his impressions and has formed general ideas.
He recognizes the same object under different circumstances of time
7 This di scussion must not be interpreted as an argum ent against
the observation of external· things and movements; but as a defense of
language study against the wild assertions and declam~tio_ns that have
been made a gainst it in recent years. These declamations. should be
-directed toward the poor teaching of language. It is not by burning
the grammar but by properly tea ching it that our language instruction
is to be improved.

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and place, .and also reGognizes : oth.e.r~Qbj.ec..t;.& helon.ging. to the
same class by apd, V!it.h_,µa.in.es. ,; :!Jenc.e ,: the ,.use 9f ·the word:
indicates a hi~her d~gree 9(, .sAlf-a,cti·vity.,.,_t}le ·stage . of mere ·
impressions without .words; Ol' signE! ·being a cpmp~rati:vely. pas- .
sive state of mind .. What v,ve wean. by thi.ags ·first: and words
afterward, is, therefore, not the apprehension of objec,t s by pas- .
sive impressions so much as the active in yestig~tion and experimenting which come after worqs are used _.and the higher
forms of analysis are called into being oy that invention of rea- .
son known as language, which, as bef?re said, is a synthesjs
of thing and thought~ of outward sign and ill ward sig!1ificatiop;
Rational investigation ca.n not p.recede tbe invention· of
language any more than blacksmithing can pr.ecede ·the invention of hammers, anvils1and pincers ~ ' " For language is · the
necessary tool of thou~l,tt used" in·the 'conduct cif the analysis
and synthesis of invest~gation. 8 ,
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Your Committee would sum .u p these.c onsiderati9ns by saying that language rightfully ,forms ·the center of instruction in
the elementary school, but. ~hat ·progress in'. m.ethods of. teaching is to be made, as l:).ither.to, ~hief).y by laying:n,iore str!'lSS on ,
the internal side of the word, ,its meaning; using better graded
steps to build up the· chain ·of experience or the train of
thought that the word expresses. •
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The first three year's work. of the c_h ild i.$. o~cupied mainly
with the mastery of the printed and.·, writ.ten.· forms · of the
words of his colloquial vocabulary; words . that .,he ·is already
familiar enough with as. so11nds ad.dressed to · the · ear~ He has to
become familiar with the n{)w forms addr.essed tc;> the eye; and it
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This criticism _on the maxim, "Things betop:i V(Ords," ls a valid
one. The maxim is directed t9ward .a ,t 90 prevalent ·practice of the
study of words without ~hings ~ · and ; ·1.lke all maJtlms, it is .as false as the
thing against whi ch 1.t Is directed. What w'e are really ~eeklng is th.e
m·eaning and the word. One Is or: no value without the other In the
education of the child. · · T here Is no.such thing 'as a \ia1iiab1e·observli.tion and inves~igatlon of naturlj-1 Q,bj~ct~ wit.ho'u t 18,ng~al!'.~ \!l°")vhich to
embody the results at every step.
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Thls Is substantl-ally .the vie~ of ~he l1er~arti11ins ,, a,8 reg~~ds · the
fQnction of language stud.Jes. It conta\ns. )).,o~evei;,, an lmpllecj. , ~ritlcism :.
on the cla.i m, so. often set up, that what-good .tel)chers hav.~ .b,e.e n doing
and are doing has no :v.l!-lidlty. W.hat ~he.lapgµage J p.!!tJ,"qctjoJ;J _ needs
Is . that greater stress be. . la.id upon .the. vu;ani:ng. of.Jang_u age.. Th~
methods of doing this may differ, but au ·agree that it must be done.• ..

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation ,·of . Studies.

would be an unwise method to require him to learn many new
words at the same time that he is learning to recognize his old
words and their new shape, · But as soon as he has acquired,
before three years, some facility in reading what is ·printed in
the colloquial style, he may go on to selections from standard authors. 10

The literary selections should be graded/ and ~re graded·in
almost all series of readers-usi;id in ou·r elementary schools, in
such a way as to bring.those con-t aining the fewest words outside
of the colloquial vocab:ulary1~nto :the lower books of the series,
and increasing the difficulties step by step as the pupil grows
in ~aturity . The selections are literary worlJ:s of art possessing the required organic unity and a proper reflection of this
unity in the details, as good works of art must do. But they
portray situations of .t he soul, or scenes of life, or elaborated
reflections, of which the child can obtain some grasp t·hrough
his capacity to feel and think, although in scope and compass
they far surpass his range. They are adapted, therefore, to
lead him, out of and beyond himself, as spiritual guides. ·
Literary style ~mploys, besides words common to the colloquial vocabulary, words used in a semi-technica.l sense expressive of fine shades of thought and emotion. .T he literary work
of art furnishes a happy expression for .some situation of the
soul, or some train of ·reflection hitherto unutterable in an
adequate manner. If the pupil learns this literary production,
he finds himself powerfully helped _to understand both himself
and his fellow-men. The most practical knowledge of all, it
will be admitted, is a knowledge of human nature-a knowledge that enables one to combine with his fellow-men and to
share with them the physical and spiritual wealth of the race.
Of this high character as humanizing · or civilizing, are the
favorite works of literature found in the school readers, about
one hundred and fifty English and American writers being
drawn upon for the material. Such are Shakespeare's speeches
of Brutus and Mark Anthony, Hamlet's and Macbeth's soliloquies, Milton's L' Allegro and . II Penseroso, Gray's Elegy,
Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade and Ode on the Death
of the Duke of Wellington, Byron's Waterloo, Irving's Rip
Van Winkle, Webster's reply to Hayne, the trial of Knapp,
and Bunker Hill oration, Scott's Lochinvar, Marmi0n, and
Roderick Dhu, Bryant's Thanatopsis, Longfellow's Psalm of
Life, Paul Revere, and The Bridge, O'Hara's Bivouac of
the Dead, Campbell's ~ohenlinden, Collins' How Sleep the
Brave, Wolfe's Burial of Sir John Moore, and other.fine prose
and poetry from Addison, Emerson, Franklin, The Bible,
Hawthorne, Walter Scott, Goldsmith, Wordsworth, Swift,

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Most good teachers will enter a strong protest against the first sentence of this paragraph. To them It will seem to advocate the dead formalism that is blighting so many prlinaryschools. If th9 statement had been
that the first three years' work is occupied mainly with the mastery.of
printed composition of an in terestinp; anded ucative·con tent, expressed in
words of his colloquial vocabulary, and with the oral and written expression of his own thoughts concerning 't his and other matters, while emphasizing the fact that a knowledge of form must keep pace with the knowledge of meaning in accordance with the suggestion in the preceeding
paragraph, . ~hey would have been accepted it witbout protest. It is such
statements as this, which occur occasionally In this report, that give
comfort to the mechanical teacher who is satisfied with the mere forms of
knowledge, and that make those grieve who are striving to interest the
child in both meaning and form from the beginning of his school life.
That the early months of the child's school experience must be mainly devoted to the new sight forms of language Y(hich the school is to use l.s true,
but that three years are to be spent chiefly in the mastery.of the printed
and written forms of his colloquial vocabulary is past all believing!
It would seem as if the declaration that a child ahould learn no ·new
words for three years would need no refutation. It is a proposition too
absurd for serious consideration. The fact is that with good teaching
the , child learns many new words, both form and content, that are 1;1ot
in his colloquial vocabulary, in the first year of his school life.
The commanding purpose of this and the following paragraph is to
establish the value of tbe ordinary tell;t-book in reading. It is an able
defense of the prominent place it has held for years among school material. It will be noted that it bases the value of the reading book upon
the fact that the selections in it are literary wholes, as well as upon the
artistic excellence of the selections. It has been the argument of those
who have opposed the "sc;ra,ppy reading books" that they did not contain complete literary wh,oles. There seems to be no dUfer~nce of
opinion between this report and those who oppose the reading book as
to the desirableness of complete works of literature for use in the reading classes. The question raised by th.e report is whether the seler.tions in the readers are such literary wholes as are best fitted for
the purpose for which they are used.
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The foolish practice of substituting the reading of current events
for literature In the upper grades of our elementary schools, which prevails In some localities, is not thought worthy of mention. It ls one of
those unwise efforts to counterac.t poor teaching by introducing worthless material, because it is supposed to be more interesting to young
people.

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Milton, Cooper, Whitti~r, ~owell, and the rest. The reading
and study of fine selections m prose and verse furnish the chief
resthetic training of the elementary school. But this should
-be r~-enforced by some study of photographic or_other reproduct10ns of the v:or~d's great masterpieces of ·architecture,
sculP.ture,. and pamtmg. The frequent sight .of these reproductions.. 1~ good ; the attempt to copy or sketqh them with
the penml is better; best of all is an resthetic lesson on their
composition, attempting to describe in words the idea of the
.whole :that gives the work its organic unity, and the devices
adopted by the artist to reflect this idea in the details and
re"enforce its strength. The resthetic taste of teacher and
pupil can be cultivated by such exercises, and once set on the
-road of d~velopment this taste may improye through life. 11
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A third phase of language study in the elementary school
is formal grammar. The works of literary art in the readers,
re-enforced as they ought to be by supplementary reading at
home of the whole works from · which the selections for the
school readers are made, will educate the child.in the use of a.
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The absence of any reference here or elsewhere in this report to
the use or that material known as child literature, other than what
!Day be found in ~he reading books, will be criticised by many. The
·idea of literature Jn this discussion seems to be limited to the best that
_h as been thought, clothed In artistic form. It will be considered an
.error not to recognize the helpfulness in education of the best juvenile
llterature also. There is, besides, a prevailing Idea that there are
s.ta.ges In the child's growth so different as to call for a special kind of
hterat~,re In ea.ch. How much of truth there Is In this ~d.ea. of "culture
epochs Is not yet clearly ma.de out, but that there is some truth in it
all_ admit. Whatever may be true or our advanced readers It is cer·
tarnly true that th e primary readers are "scrappy" and have a content
of little literary worth. Th ey are too often constructed for the sole
purpos_e or teaching the child "the printed forms of the words In his
coloqu1al vocab?lary " ~nd for nothing_else. The .reading a.nd telling of
folk-lore a.nd fairy stori es, fables, stories of adventure and the like are
an Important part or language studies In the lower grades. Then, too,
as Is pointed out by Mr. Gilbert, a member of this sub-committee, the
need of training In oral and written composition In the lower grades Is
!lot mentioned. These omissions seem to Indicate a want of recognition
JD this report or recent Improvements In methods of teaching language
unless we fill out to Include these what ls Involved in the general state~
ment that "progress In methods of teaching is to be made as hitherto
chiefly by laying more Stress on the Internal side of ihe word It~
meaning."
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()orrelatioiL of · Studies.

1:5

higher and· better ·English style . .. Technical grammar .never
can do this. . Only..fr.miliarity with fi,ne English · work~ will
insure ·one a good and correct style .. · But grammar )s the
science ·Of language, .and· as .the first ·o f the seven liberal arts it
has long held swa·y in .school as tpe disciplinary :studypar
excellence. A survey of its educational value, subjective and
objective, usually produces the con:viction that it is to retain
the first place in the future. Its . chief objective advantage is
that it shows the structure of language, and the logical .forms
of subject, predicaie, and modifier, thus revealing the . essential nature of thought itself, the most .important of all objects
because it is self-object. On the subjective or psychological
side, grammar demonstrates its title to the first place by its
use as a discipline in subtle analysis,- in logical . division and
classification, in the art of qµestioning, and in the mental
accomplishment of making exact definitions. Nor is this an
empty, formal discipline, for its subject matter; language,is.a
product of the reason of a people not as individuals but as a
social whole, and-the · vocabulary holds in its store of. w.ords
the generalized experience of · that people, including sensuous
observation and reflection, feeling and emotion, instinct and
volition. 12
·
1 a This statement of the value of grammar, in a scheme or education, Is both able a.nd convincing. The danger of pursuing the technical study of It to the neglect of the more important literary content
which these ·language forms embody Is a.lso clearly. set forth and IR a
timely warning. Would It be too much to say that no better defense of
grammar In the school curriculum has ever. been made?. It was evidently written In reply to a ·d.emand that grammar. be enpunged from
the common school course, and Its influence · .w!ll be to- establish this
study firmly In some stage of school Instruction. But In wha.t stage?
When we examine the programme of daily recitations recommended
by this report we discover that the text-book study of formal
grammar Is to begin in the middle .of the fifth · year a.nd extend to the
end of the seventh. But few will accept this recommendation. Oral
grammar with composition lessons to the middle of. the fifth year, and
·text-book study, five lessons per week, till the eighth! The pupil must
'bring to this study a maturity that comes from age, and thP organization or a pretty large mass or appercelving Ideas If he Is to come Into a.ny
mastery of It. The.report .declared, on page 11, that the child must not
'be asked to -read matter containing new words before he Is ten years of
age because he cannot learn new ideas and , new forms at the same
time. But when he is only one year and a half older he is thought abfo

16

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

.Correlation .of ·studies.

No formal labor on a great objective field is ever lost
wholly, since at the very least it has the mer.it of .familiarizing
the pupil with the contents of some one extensive_province that
borders on his hfe, and with which he must come into correlation; but it is easy for any special formal discipline, w:hen con,
tinued too long, to paralyze or arrest growth at that stage.
the overcultivation of the verbal memory tends to arrest the
growth of critical attention and reflection. Memory of accessory details too, so much prized in the school, is also cultivated
often at the expense of an insight into the organizing principle
of the whole and the causal nexus that binds the parts.
So
too, the study of quantity, if carried to excess, may warp the
mind into a habit of neglecting quality in its observation . and
reflection.
As there is no subsumption in the quantitative
judgment but only dead equality or inequality (A is equal to or
greater or less than B), there is a tendency to atrophy in the
faculty of concrete syllogistic reasoning on the part of the person devoted exclusively to mathematics. For the normal syllogism uses judgments wherein the subject is subsumed under
the predicate (This is a rose-the individual rose is subsumed
under the class rose ; Socrates is a man, etc.) Such reasoning
concerns individuals in two aspects, first as concrete wholes
and secondly as members of higher totalities or classes-species
and genera. Thus, too, grammar, rich as it is in its contents,
is only a formal discipline as respects the scientific, historic, or
literary contents of language, and is indifferent to them. A

training for four or. ;five. years in parsing and g,ranimatical analysis practiced on literary works of art {Milton, Shakspeare,
Tennyson, Scott) is a training , of the ·pupil intci habits of indifference toward and neglect of ;the .genius: displayed in the
literary work of art, and intci habits of impertinent and trifling
attention to elements employed as material or texture, and a
corresponding neglect •of the str.uctural · form . which alone is
the work of the artist. -A parallel to.this would be the mason's
habit of noticing only .t he brick , and mortar, or the stone.and
cement, in his inspection .of the architecture, say of Sir Christopher Wren. A child overtrained to , analyze and classify
shades of color-examples of this one finds occasionally in a
µrimary school whose specialty is "objective teaching"-might
in later life visit an art gallery'and makesan inventory of colors
without getting even a glimpse of a painting as a work of-art.
Such overstudy and misuse of grammar ·as one finds. in the
elementary school, it is feared ; exists to some extent ·in secondary schools and · even in colleges m the: work of . mastering
the classic authors. 11
Your Committee is unanimous in the conviction that formal
grammar should not be allowed to usurp the place of a study
of the literary work of art in accordance with literary method.
The child can be gradually trained to see the technical ''motives" of a poem or prose work of art and to enjoy the resthetic
inventions of the artist. The analysis of a work of art should
discover the idea that gives it organic unity; the collision
and the complication resulting ; the solution and denouement .
Of course these things must be reached in the elementary
school without even a mentiOn of their technical terms. The

to enter upon the te xt-book study of formal grammar, with the view of
obtaining from this study the culture described. Of course this recommendation was made with a full knowled ge of the kind of text-books in
grammar that are supplied the schools. It would require a skilled
teacher in every case to prevent the dull, mechanical, worthless grammatical (?) grind that is now a positive curse in so many schools. The
formal teach er will s helter hims elf behind this re commendation, and
go on in the same old way, worse than wasting both time and energy.
Let it oe born e in mind that this report defines grammar to be the
sctenoe of language. It is th e least concrete of:all the school stutlies,
as this discussion shows. Certainly much can be done before the
seventh school year, incidenta lly to the literature and language study
adapted to the child's intelligence, to give the pupil a knowledge of the
technical vocabulary and of the construction of sentences, but a formal
text-book study of English grammar will be of little value in grades
below the seventh.

isNever in the history of pedagogical writing has.rn clear and convincing a statement been made of the disastrous results to the child of
formal dis cipline in paralyzing his powers or arresting his growth when
continued too Jong. It is a new analysis and criticism of the dead formalism that is blighting elementary education In so many places. This
is an application of psych9logical knowledge not before made that will
give this report great influence In improving our educational methods.
Every thoughtful teacher can see at once how It is true that a study of
the common school branches may be made- a curse to the children by
making bond slaves of them. Col. Parker has said repeatedly that ·to
limit the teaching in the common schools to the three R's was to en.slave the children and not to liberate them. This paragraph shows why

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subject of the piece is brought out; its reflection in the conditions of the time and place to heighten interest by showing its
importance; its second and stronger reflection in the several
details of its conflict and struggle; its reflection in ;the .denoue.
ment wherein its struggle ends in victory or defeat anf;l the
ethical or rational interests are vindicated-and the results
move outward, returning to tbe environment again in. everwidening circles-something resembling this is to be found in
every work of art, and there are salient features which can be
briefly but profitably made subject of comment in familiar language with even the youngest pupils. There is an ethical and
an resthetical content to each work of art.
It is' profitable to
point out both of these in the interest of the child's growing
insight into human nature.
The ethical should, . however, be
kept in subordination to the resthetical, but for the sake of the
supreme interests of the ethica_l itself. · Otherwise the i;tudy of
a work of art degenerates into a goody-goody performance,
and its effects on the child are to cause a reaction against .the
moral.
The child protects his inner indiVLduality against
effacement through external authority by takix,g an attitude
of rebellion against stories with an appended moral. Herein
the superiority of the cesthetical in literary art is to be seen.
For the ethical motive is concealed by the poet, and the hero
is painted with all his brittle individualism and self-seeking.
His passions and his selfishness, gilded by fine traits of bravery
and noble manners, interest the youth, interest us all. Thee~­
tablished social and moral order seems to the ambitious hero to
be an obstacle to the unfolding of the charms of individuality.
The deed of violence gets done, and the Nemesis is aroused.
Now his deed comes back on the individual doer, and our sympathy turns against him and we rejoice in his fall.
Thus the
cesthetical unity contains within it the ethical unity. The lesson of the great poet or novelist is taken to heart, whereas
the ethical announcement by itself might have failed, especially
with the most self-active and aspiring of the pupils. Aristotle
pointed out in his Poetics this advantage of the· resthetic unity,
which Plato in his Republic seems to have missed. Trage9y
purges us of our passions, to use Aristotle's expression, because
we identify our own wrong inclinations with those of the hero,

·.Corr.elation of -' Studies. · ,
anf;l by sympathy we suffer wu.h him .and: see our intended deed
returned upon -us with ·tragic iiffe'ct, .anQ.1-are· thereby· cured. 1 ~ ·
Your. cqmmittee: has· dwelt upon ithe rest>hetic 's ide of li.ter'. ature in this · explicit·. ma~ner because ithey cbelieve ·; that the
general tendency in• elementary scliools is ·to neglect -; the literary ;art for ·the•literary :formalities wliich! concern the mechan'ical . material rather than ·the spiritual · 'form. • Those formal
·studies should not be d.i scontinued, 1 but ·subordinated to the
higher study of literature.
'.
Your Committee 'resArves the .subject· of language lessons,
composition writing; and what relates ·to the child's expression
-0f ideas : in writing, · for consideration under Part 3 of this
Report, treating of progr'.l'rri . .

B. Ar.ithm.etic,
.
Side by side with language study is the · study of 'mathematics in the schoqls, claimin'g the secorid :place in importance
of all studies. It has 1;>een pciirited· out ·th'a t: mathematics concerns the laws of time and s'p'ace~thei'r structural form, 'so to
speak-and hence that it formulates the logical condi_tions of
all matter both in rest and in motion. Be this as ·it may, the
14 This presentation of the way to realize . the ethical Influence of
literature a nd other a.rt creations through the absorption of the pupil
In the resthetic element in them is worthy of the highest praise. A
beautiful thing must be studied for its boouty of'form and content and
not for the moral lesson it teaches, if it shall tea.ch · ·its mor~I les;,on
effectively. The formula ·"This fable teaches," · is not. the way to use
a.rt to promote morals.
.
. ..
·
. There is one omission in this discussion of lan.gua.ge studies that
will· be noticed by many · readers, and ' has been · referi:ed to already In
these comments. Whi!e ·it urges the ·early studv of classic literature it
is silent about child literature. It seemq to assume that the former Is
the only grade of lite1atµre wortpy of the ·name. We believe it is a mistake to ignore the recent movement In educatfon which seeks· to Interest
the children in the "best" that .has· been thought and said" on the plane
of child culture and experience. There Is a· realm ·of the common-place
-and another of the higher life qui Le as real in cl;lildren .as in. a.d~lts. In
other words, there is a child-literature relatively as artistic and
inspiring to children.as literature , proper is- to men ana women . It is
by stimulating and nourishing the lmma.ture ·artjsticand moral i11stincts
of th e child, that he comes to love the beautiful and the good In later
yea.rs. The. best educational practice in the conntr-y .has -recognized In
fairy tales and stories for children a phase of language study whlch this
report seems to ha.ve overlooked.

20

Report of Committee of Fijteen.

Correlation , of . Studies.

21

high position of mathematics as the science of all quantity is · indispensable first step toward all science of nature is obvious.
universally acknowledged. The elementary branch of mathe- But psychologically its , importan_c e further : appears in this,
matics is arithmetic, and this is studied in the primary and that it begins with an.important step: in analysis; namely, the
grammar schools from six to eight years, or even longer. The detachment of the idea of quantity from the concrete whole
relation of arithmetic to the whole field of ·mathematics has which includes quality as weq as quantity. To count, one
been stated (by Comte, Howison, and others) to be that of the drops the qualitative arid considers only the quantitative
final step in a process of calculation in which results are stated aspect . . So long as the individual differences (which are qualinumerically. There are branches that develop or derive quan- tative in so far as they distinguish orie object from another) are
titative functions: say geometry for spatial forms, and me- considered, the objects cannot be counted :together. When
counted, the distinctions are dropped out of sight as indiffel'chanics for movement and rest and the forces producing them.
As counting is the fundamental operation of arithmeOther branches transform these quantitative functions into ent.
such forms as may be calculated in actual numbers; namely, tic, and all other arithmetical operations are simply·, devices
algebra in its common or lower form, and in its higher .fol'.rn for speed by using remembered counti_n gs instead of going
as the differential and integral calculus, and the calculus of through the detailed work again each time, the hi.n t is furnished
variations. Arithmetic evaluates or finds the numerical value the teacher for the first lessons in arithmetic . . This hint has
for the functions thus deduced and tr'ansformed. The educa- been generally followed out and the child set at work at first
tional value of arithmetic is thus indicated both as concerns ' upon the counting of objects .so ·much alike that the· qualitative
difference is not suggested .to him. · He c9nstructs gradually
its psychological side and its objective practical uses .in correlhis tables of addition, subtraction, and .multiplication, and
ating man with the world of nature. In this latter respect as
fixes them in his memory. Then he takes . his next higher
furnishing the key to the outer world in so far ~s the objects
step; namely; the apprehension of the fraction. This is an exof the latter are a matter of direct enumeration,-capable of
pressed ratio of two . numbe~s, and therefore a much more combeing counted,-it is the first great step in the conquest of
nature. 16
·
·
plex thought than he has rµet with in dealing with the simple
numbers. In thinking five-sixths he first thinks five and then
It is the first tool of thought that man invents in the work
six, and holding these two in mind thinks the result of the first
of emancipating himself. from thraldom to external forces.
modified by the second. Here are three st~ps instead of one,
For by the command of number he learns to divide and con·
and the res.u lt iF> not a simple number but an infer~nc~ resting
quer. He can proportion one force to another, and concentrate against an obstacle precisely what is needed to overcome
on an unperformed . operation. This psychological analysis
shows the reason for the embarrassment of the child on his
it. Number also makes possible all the other sciences of naentrance upon the study of fractions and the other operations
ture which depend on exact measurement and exact record of
that imply ratio. · The teacher finds ~11 his resources iri the
phenomena as to the following items: order of succession, date,
way of method drawn . upon to invent steps and half-steps to
duration, locality, environment, extent of sphere of influence,
aid the pupil to make continuous progress here. All these
number of manifestations, number of cases of intermitten'ce.
devices of method : consists in steps by which the pupil deAll these can be defined accurately only by means of number.
scends to the simple. n·~.n;nber and returns to the complex. He
The educational value of a branch of study that furnishes the
turns one of the terms into a qualitative unit and thus is en15
Arithmetic Is the science of the numerical valuation of quantity.
abled to use the. other as - ~ simple number; d · The pupil takes
As a n art it Is finding how many times the unit of measure 11an be apthe denominator, for example, and makes clear his conception
plied. The correlation between arithmetic and social life Is so evident
that, In the past, a large portion of the pupil's time has been spent In
of one-sixth as his qualitative unit, then five-sixths is as clear
mastering It.
to him as five oxen.
But he has to repeat this return from

22

Repor.t of Committee of Fifteen.

r.atio to simple numbers in each of the elementary operations~
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and -in the
reduction of fractions-and finds the road long and· tedious at
best. In the case of decimal fractions the psychological process
is more complex still; for the pupil has given him one of the
terms, the numerator, from which he must mentally deduce
the denominator from the position.of the decimal point . . This .
doubles the work of reading and recognizing the fractional.
number. But it makes addition and subtraction of fractions
nearly as easy as that of simple numbers and . assists also in
multiplication of fractions.
But division of decimals is a
much more complex operation than tha.t of. common fractions.
The want of a psychological analysis of these · processes
has led many good t eachers to attempt. decimal.fractions with
their pupils before taking up common fractions. In the end
they have been forced to make introductory steps to aid the
pupil and in th ese steps to introduce the theory of the common fraction. They have by this refuted their owri theory. 18
Besides (a) simple numbers and the four operations with
them, (b) fractions common and decimal; there . is (c) a third
step in number ; namely, the theory of powers and r.oots . . Itis
16
Thl s di stin cti on betw een the qu alitative and th e qu a ntitative
uni t Is Important to th e underst a.nding of t h is discussion of the education a l value of arithm eti c. A member · of this sub-committee, Mr.
Greenwood, di sse nts fr om t he statement here made that a fractjop Is
much more di ffic ul t 'fo r t he ehild to co mprehend t ha11 an integer, because In thinki ng a fr ac ~ion three steps a re . fnvolv ed. Be affirms ' that
the child gets th e id ea of half, third , etc. ,even before entering sch.ool.
This Is tru e, but th e half which he thinks is a quaiitative unit a.nd not
a fr ac tion .' It is one of th e two equ al .parts o.f some cop crete thing.
The two units ca ll ed ha lves make up th e one unit called a wl\ole. A
fraction proper is t he ratio between two numbers. It Is the ratio or 5
to 6, and not fiv e of the qual!tatlve r.inlts, each call a. sixth, that
makes a. fraction . The teachings of the report arf'I undoubtedly true
on this poin t )lut we believe that the child does a.II his thinking-of fractions for some years by th e use of qualitative vn /ts. If th8<t be true,
Mr. Gree nwood 's objection to th e method suggested In ' the report ls
well tak en. T o a pprehend wh a t Is Involved in the ; ·word . "ratio" r e;
'quires the matur ity of 7th a.nd 8th grade pupils; a.nd ' by this report;
these have finis hed t he stud y of arithmet ic.
·
,
.. - .· The d iscussion of t hP. relat ion of arithmetic. to algebra.-, geome~ry,
and mech a nics, in th e fi rst part of this sect ion on arithmetic, is · of
grea t val ue and ver y suggestive, and ought to be understood by every
teach er ; e ven if som e tim e and study a re r equired to· master !t.·

·Correlation of .Studies. ,_

23

a further step in ratio, namely· the relation of a simple num~
ber to itself as power and root. · The mass of· material . which
fills the arithmetic used in the elementary school consists of
two kinds of examples, first, those . wherein thet·e is a direct
a:pplication of simple numbers, fractions ,. and powers, and secondly the .class of examples involving! operations in :reaching
numerical solutions through indirect data and consequently
involving more or less transformation of, functions. Of · this
character is most of the so-called higher arithmetic and such
problems in the text,book used;in .the ·e lementary scho~ls as
have, not inappropriately, been called (by- General ;B'rancis A_·
Walker in his criticism on common-school arithmetic), numerical "conundrums." Their. difficulty is not found in -the strictly
arithmetical part of the process of: th.e, solution (the t,hird phase
above described), but rathedn the:transformation of the quantitative function given into .the : function that can readily be
calculated numerically. · The tra nsformation of .functions be~
longs strictly to algebra. Teachers who love arithmetic, and
who have themselves success in working · out the · so-called
numerical conundrums, defend with .much earnestness the cur·
rent practice which uses so .much time foJ' arithmetic. They
see in it a valuable training for ingenuity and logical analysis,
and believe that the industry .w hich discoveJ'S . arithmetical
ways of transforming · the functions given in :such -problems
in to plain numerical operations of adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing is well b_estow.ed. On the other hand the
critics of this practice contend that there sh.o uld be no merely
formal drill in school for its own sake, and that there should
be, always, a substantial content to be gained." · The.fcontend
that the work of the pupil in· transforming quantitative functions by arithmetical methods is wasted, because the pupil
needs a more adequate expression .than number for this purlTThls. criticism upon the pra~tlce In many goofi schools of makln'g
what ls called a "thorough mastery" .or ·one topic or subject before taking up a nother Is convincing a;i!d '. opportune. · The psychological effect
of overtra!ning in any field o( mental activity ls s~t forth here and elsewhere In this report with gr~at clearness. A false Idea. of thoroughBess used to be practiced In certain normal schools where al,l exhaustive
study of addition continuing .tor weeks· was m_ade ~efc;mi subtraction
was be.gun , etc. Tlie psychological principle of apper,c eptlon ls 'to furnish th e key for the solution ·of more than ·or.e pedagogical problem, It
Is plain.
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pose; that this has been discovered in algebra, which enables
him to perform with ease such quantitative- transformations
as puzzle the pupil in arithmetic. They hold, therefore, that
arithmetic pure and simple should be abridged and elementary
algebra introduced after the numerical operations in powers,
fractions, and simple numbers have been mastered, together
with their applications to the tables of weights- and measures
and to percentage and interest; In the seventh year of the
elementary course there would be taught equations of the first
degree and the solution of arithmetical problems that fall
under proportion or the so-called "rule of" three/' together
with •other problems containing complicated conditions-'-those
in partnership for example. In the eighth year quadratic
equations could befoarn ed, and other problems of higher arithmetic solved in a more satisfactory manner than by numerical
methods. It is contended that this earlier introduction of
algebra, with a sparing use of letters .for known quantities,
would secure far more mathematical progress than is obtained
at present on the part of all pupils, and that it would enable
many pupils to go on into secondary and higher education who
arenow -kept back on the plea of lack of preparation in ar_ithmetic, the real difficulty in many cases being a lack of ability
to solve algebraic problems by an inferior method. 18 ·
Your Committee would report that the practice of teaching
two lessons daily in arithmetic, one styled "mental" or "in tel~
1 aThe wisdom of th e recommendation tha~ algebra take the place
of arithmetic in th e seventh and eighth grades wfll be questioned. It
ls true that th e elementary number processes can be mastered below
the seventh year, together with the simple applications to weights jLnd
measures, percentage, and interest, as the report suggests. It Is also
true that m any of the " numerical conundrums" can be solved more
easily by the numerical algebraic method suggested. But Is it not a
question whether the educational value of the study of arithmetic to
the child is exhausted by the time he Is twelve or thirteen years of _age?
The arithmetical problems are something more than "numerical
conundrums." It is probable that most, if not all, elementary schools
_that Introduce algebra will postpone It to the eighth year. There are
some things in education that can be established only by experience,
and it would seem that the experience of the past bas . confirmed the
practice of beginning algebra at a later period than the seventh year.
It is probable, however, that the discussion In this report will start experiment along a new lin e, for the purpose of testing the validity.of the
psychologic theory h ere se t forth.

'.: _.-

25
lectual" and' the either 11written1' · arithmetic (because its exercises are written out -with !;pencil; or. -pen) is still continued in
many schools. By this device the pupil is made to•give 'twice
as much time to arithmetic ·as to any other, branch. It is- contended by the -opponents ~Qf' 1 this-pi:actice;: -with· so~e show of
reason, that two lessons ~ day in the ·study of- quantity have a
tendency to give · the\ mind' a•ben"t .·or· set ip.r the:· direction of
thinking quan.titatively 'w ith .a cor.responding ·neglect of the
power to observe, and ·, to · reflect· upon,. qualitative· and causal
aspects. For mathematics -does ··not 1take·· account of causes,
but only of ·equality•and · difference ' in •~ magnitude. · It is further objected that the -attempt to secure what is calle~ _tho:oughness in the branches taught in the elementary schools is
often carried too far; in fact, to· such an extent · a·s to produce
arrested development -(a sort of mental paralysis) in the
mechanical and formal stages of growth. The mind in that
case loses its appetite for higher methods and wider generalizations. . The law of- apperception; we are tcild, proves that
temporary methods of solving problems should not be so thoroughly mastered as to be used involuntarily or as a matter of
unconscious habit, for the , reason that a higher and a more
adequate method of solution will then be found more difficult
to acquire. The more thoroughly a· method is learned, the
more it becomes part of the mind and the greater the repugnance of the mind toward a new method. For this reason
parents and teachers discourage young children from the practice of counting on · the fingers; believing that it will cause
much trouble later to root out this-vicious habit and replace
it by purely · mental processes.. Teachers should be careful,
especially with precocious - c_hildren, .not to _cont.inue too l.on_g
in the use of a process that :is· becommg 'mechamcal; for it is
already growing into o. secorid 'nature,. and · becoming a part of
the unconscious apperc~ptfve process by .w hich the mind reacts
against the environi;nent 1 recognizes· its pres~nce, and ~xplai~s
it to itself. The child -that has been overtramed ·in arithmetic
reacts apperceptively against his· environment chiefly by noticing its numerical relations-he counts·. and · adds; his other
apperceptive reactions being feeble, he neglects qualities and
causal relations . . Another child who has been drilled in recognizing colors apperceives the shades of color to · the · neglect of

26

Report of Committee. of Fifteen.

all else. A third child, excessively trained in form studies -by
the constant use of geometric solids and much practice -in
looking for the fundamental geometric forms lying at -the
basis of the multifarious objects that exists in the world, will
as a matter of course apperceive g<=vmetric:. formr;;, ignoring
the other phases of objects.
.
It is, certainly, an advance on immediate sense-perception
to be able to separate or analyze the Concrete, whole expression, and consider the quantity apart by itself. But if arrested
mental growth takes place here the result is deplorable. That
such arres t may be caused by too exclusive training in recognizing numerical relations is beyond a doubt.
Your Committee believes that, with the right methods,
and a wise use of time in preparing the arithmetic lesson in
and out of school, five years are sufficient for the study of
mere a ri th me tic-the five years beginning with the second
school yea r and ending with the close of the sixth year; and
that the seventh and eighth years should be given to the
algebraic method of dealing with those problems that involve
difficulties in the transformation of quantitative indirect functions into numerical or direct quantitative data.
Your committee, however, does not wish to be understood
as recommending th e transfer of algebra, as it is .understood
and taught in most secondary schools, to the seventh year or .
even to th e eighth year of the elementary school. The algebra
course in the secondary school, as taught to pupils in their
fifteenth year of age, very properly begins with severe exercises with a vie w to discipline the pupil in analyzing complex
literate expressions at sight and to make him able to recognize
at once th e factors that are contained in such combinations of
quantities. The proposed seventh-grade algebra must use
letters for th e unknown quantities . and retain the numerical
form of the known quantities, using letters for these very
rarely, except t o exhibit the general form of solution or what,
if stated in words, becomes a so-called "rule" in arithmetic:
.T his species of algebra has the character of an introduction or
transitional step to algebra proper. ·. The latter should · be
taught thoroughly in the secondary school. Formerly it was
a common practic.e to teach · elementary algebra of this sort in
the prepa ratory schools and reserve for the college a study of

27
algebra proper. But)11 . t~i1>, paS!l :~Q.i:ire , wa!) often a n.eg~e(.lt_ of
suffjcient practice ~p , ~f!.C~,Q.J,"\ng M~rate qµaµti~ies, a,n d as ac9nsequence the P1:1Pi~ ! sµlf~ff:!sl , ,eIP,,b arras$ment in his mo.r:e
advanced mathematics, for example . in an,a.ly.t ical geometry,
th.e diffe.rential calqulµs, and,. mecl;l,anics. , Tl;le proposition of
your Com~ittee is ipteAqeq 1to remedy the t ,y;ro evils alre.a dy
named: first to aid the pu,pils in ~pe elementa.r y school to
solve, by a higher me~hoq, , ~qe more .difficult pr()blems that
now find place in ,ad,-..:anciid argbmetic·.; and secoµdly, to _prepare the pupil for .a:..: tl;lc;>r,ap,gl;i. , course_i11 pure algebra in the
secondary school.
·
.
Your Committee is of the ,Qpiniqn thi_i.t th~ so-calfed mental
arithmetic should be made ~q alternatEl /~vith. .w ritten arithmetic
for two years and thijot tl;lere .sho),lld not , b,e , ~wo ,daily lessons
in this sµbject. 19
.· ..•. ,

c: Geograp"1y.
The leading branch of the seven liberal ·arts was grammar,
being the first of the Trivium · (grammar, rhetoric, and logic).
Arithmetfo, however, led the second division, the Qu adrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and ·astronomy). We have
glanced at the reasons for the place •of grammar as leading
the humane studies as well as for the place of arithmetic as
leading the nature studies . Followipg arithmetic as the second
study in importance among the branches that correlate man to
nature is •geography, , It is · interesting. •to ·note that the old
quadrivium of the Middle ,Ages included geography; under the
title of geometry,as.the branch following arithmetic in the enumeration; the subject matter .of their so-called' 'geometry" being
.chiefly an abridgment of. Pli-ny ls geography 1 to .which were
added a few definitions of · geome~ric forms;' something like the
primary course in geometric solids in our elementary schools~
So long as there has ..been.elementary education.1.here- has been
something of geography iqcluded." The Greek education laid
stress on teaching the second book of 'Honrnr containing the
10
·
The wisdom of this suggestion will not be· questloried by an·y
unless It be ·by those who are specialists In arithmetic,'- And H Is probable that the report's suggestion· of a .distorted &iP.per,.ceptlon· which Is
the result of ~arly edu,catl,q n , ,a nd n11-~µr11-l. 1 ~ent, i'YHl. .a..ccoup~ !or their
dissent.
.
.,.
. .
.
. . ,
.

28

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

29

Catalogue of the Ships and a brief mention of the geography
mountains, 1v:alleys, _anq . R~~\~i;; ,. 1 t,hfl , is.l~y9s~, ; v;Qlc~n~c ac~iqn, the
and history of all the Greek tribes that took part in the Trojan
winds, the rain-distxi_b,i,l;t1~m:r., ,.B,Ht ~P,e. rf3tu,d y,9f. ci~ies, tb.e ir
War.
History remains unseparated from geography and
location, the purpose& ; i~iey, s,~r;ye, t~ -pqqe,cting, manufactur.ing,
geometry in the Middle Ages. Geography bas preserved this
and. distributing cen.ter~ 1 )~,l/o!is1 91o~t ~ir.ectly t 0 the immediate
comprehensiveness of meaning as a branch of the study in the
purpose of geography .iµ,. the,. i}le)ll!'ln tary. school. :E'rom thi.s
elementary schools down to the present day. After arithbeginning, and .holding. to ·,!t . ~s, ~ , per~~.n~nt i_ntere~t, .the inmetic, which treats of the abstract or general conditions of . quiry into c.aus~~ anct ,c9~ditio.n1> -. 1 procee\}s co,i;icentrically to
material existence, comes geography with a practical study of
the sources of the r.aw matfilrials, the -methods_of their producman's material habitat and its relations to him. It is not a
tion and the plimatic,, geplog ~y , 1 aµd-, q~per ,reasons that explain
simple science by itself, like botany or geology or astronomy,
their location and the,ir: , g.rpw_~J:h,·!,i, .. .. ,; , . :, : .· ,: , .:
·
but a collectio11 of sciences levied upon to describe the earth as
In recent yea.rs, espepiflgy throug_4: ,t he , SQ.ientifj.c study of
the dwelling-place of man and to explain something of its more
physical geography, .t he .pr.o,q_e sses ,that go to the forq:i_ation of
prominent features. About one-fourth of the material relates dimate, soil, ,a_nd , ge,ner.a l, cpnpgur.atiqn . of 11).)1.d . masse~ . have
strictly to the geography, about one~half to the inhabitants,
been accurately determi.ne!fn and :. the .wethod,~ of .teac?iag so
their manners, customs, institutions, industries, productions,
simplified that it is posifible to lead _o ut from ·~he central idea
and the remaining one-fourth to items drawn from the sciences
mentioned to the physic;:al ,expl~µations .ot - ~he ele~f?nts of
geographical differen~e quite _e~rly in ;the course of , st~Q.y.
of mineralogy, meteorology, botany, zoology, and astronomy.
This predominance of the human feature in a study ostensibly
Setting out f~om the .isiea ,,of. .the -use .made of the earth by
relating to physical nature, your Committee considers necessary
-civilization, .t he pupil ~n theAftl;i .and, sixth ,year_s of his sphooland entirely justifiable. The child commences with what is
ing (at the age of eleven qr ~welve) may extend his inquiries
nearest to bis interests, and proceeds gradually toward what is
quite profitably as ·far ~s 1tp~ plJ.ys,\c~l , explanflo~.i9ns, of,landremote and to be studied for its own sake. It is, therefore, a
shapes and climates. In the se~_entlJ. and eighth year of school
much more may be done in this direction. But it is believed
mistake to suppose that the first phase of geography presented
that the distincti:vely human interest 'c'o nnected with geogto the child should be the process of continent formation. ,He
must begin with the natural differences of climate and lands
raphy in the first year~ of its s~udy shquld not yield to the
and waters and obstacles that separate peoples, and study the
purely scientific one of physiclilol proce~ses" until . the pupil has
taken up the study of history. ,
·
.
methods by which man strives to equalize or overcome .t hese
The educational value of geography, as it is and ha~ been
differences by industry and corµmerce,to unite all places and all
people, and make it possible for each to share in the productions
in elementary schools, is obvious.ly very great;'. ' It makes posof all.
The industrial and commercial idea is therefore the
sible something like acc.u,racy in, tl'!e ,pictµring pf ,di1>;tant places
first central idea in the study of geography in the elenentary · and even ts and removes a lal'ge tract of -mere superstition from
schools. It leads directly to the natural elements of differencii
the mind. 'In the days of newspaper ·Teading one's stock of
gt;iographical informationJs 'i? ~oqs~ant req_uisi'tiq_n_ .;.._ war qn
in climate, soil, and productions, and also to· those in· race~
.interest in
t ,he opposite side of the, glob.e .~s followed with
religion, political status, and occupations · of the inhabitants,
with _a view to explain the grounds and reasons for this
th is year than a · war near. our o.wn borders before the era of
the telegraph.
The· gen.e ral: knowledge of •the locations and
counter-process of civilization which struggles to. overcome .the
differences. Next comes the deeper inquiry into the process
boundaries of n~tion,s,, ' o,f ' tqj:li,r. ~~at~~)n ch:ili~ation and their
natural a<lvantages for cont~ibµting to the.. world ,m arket, is of
of continent formation, the physical struggle between the
process of upheaving or upbuilding of continents and that of
great use to the citizen· in for.ming .correct ;ideas from his daily
reading.
·
their obliteration by air and water; the explanation of the

_mpre

30

·correlation' ofl·Studie8: · '\ .',\

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

. . The e.ducationa~ value of geography is even ·more apparent
if we a?m1t the ~la1~s of those who· argue· that the pr~serit
epoch. is t?e begrn~mg of an ~ra · in which public opinion is
organized mto. a ruh~g force ' by ·the agency of periodicals and
books. ~~rtamly neither the newspaper nor the book can influ,
ence an illiterate people; they can do little ·to form opinions
where the readers have no knowledge ·or geography. 20 ·
·, • ,. '
. As to the psyc?ologi~al value of geography little need b'e
said: It_ exe:c1se~ m ~am~old · ways ~lie memory ()f forms and
the ~magmat10n; it brmgs mto exercise the thhiking :·power 'iri ·
tracmg back toward unity the various series .of causes: What
educative value t~ere ~s in geology, meteorology, zoology,
ethnology, economics, history, and politics is to be found · in
the mor? profound study of geography, and, to a proportionate
extent, m the study of its merest elements.
'
·
Your Committee is of the opinion that there has been a
vast improvement in the methods of instruction· in this branch
in.recent y~ars, due in large measure to the geographical soci ~
eties of. this and other .countries. At first there ·prevailed
what might be ~amed sailor geogrnphy. The pupil was compelled to memorize all the capes and headlands, bays and harbors, mouths of rivers, islands, sounds, and straits around the
20
T he doctrine of this section upon the educative value of geo~r~~
phy a.nd Its relation to. human life will be accepted by most teache.rs.: ·
The elementary school must study the earth as the home of man. This
gives emp~asis to the Industrial a.rid commercial fea.tureR of the study:
The tea.chrngs of the report a.re in substantial accord with those of the
Herbartians. We study physical geography .that we may know better
our fellow men and our r elations to them. The relation of this branch
to history on th e one side and to science on the other Is a notable 'ex~
ample of that idea of correlation which would teach each sub3ecnn
the light of the knowledge of all others to which it· is ·natura.lly related.
The social order combi nes geography, history, natural science, the In·
dustrles, and the characteristics of the people Into a very close unity,
The Herba.rtians and all good teachers demand ' that this unity shall be
recognized In the school. The demands that some are making to have·
the emphasis pl aced upon the nature element rather tha·n· upon th&
human element are not sanctioned by this report. Geography Is In part
a natural-science .study and In part a sociological study. :;ioclology and
nature are so Intimately related In It that much of the latter must be'
known In order to understand the former. The time has certainly
come for expunging much of the "sailor geography" from onr course of
Instruction.

1

31

He enlivened this to· sdme ·extent by brier' mention of
and odditje~ \q :t\le 1 W!lo:Y;Qf 1 ~~alj§gts;)Va,~er-gaps,
c.aves, strange animal~, publig b4-Udiqg~,, pictui;~squE! cos.tumE)s,
national exaggerations,~ ap.d;J S,1,ICh ,nWatt~r~ r a.s,1}VQi,tld. furpisJ;i
go13d themef> (o,:: sailors.' y:a.i:.o,s~ 0 .:):.i~tl.e jo,r! 1noj;J;i.Ji:I.g ·w as taught
to give unity to the isolateq 9.e~l'!oi.ls.. t.1p;p.~!)h.~tl . in , ~ndless num-.
ber. · ,J.t was an ir;npr9vemep~ ,' c;>p.,.ithi.~ , ,WQeµ ; ~h~ f~e,thod : of mem-.
orizing capital citief.!. and . 1~oijt,icahboi.ip.qar}es1 ..@Rceei;l~1L . With
this came the ei;a of . r;nap:, c1raw~ng1 1, .T,}!~§~µpy . of , .. w~tersbe(js
and commercial roµtes, ,.p,{ 1 ~P,<;11,lstr,i,al,. 1prJ9.c;J,µct,i9µs an!l centers
of manufacture and comrµer.w~ , q.~1:1)>~E}P.i l}<AQP~~d ·~P.. . the better
class of schools.
Instru.c tiqn i.o, ,·geog'"~~l;i;y · jf? gr,o.wiI;ig,,be,~ter .
by the constant introduction of new de:viGes,to,.µiak.e:plain, .a nd
intelligible the determi.o,ing infl,ue1,1ce o( physic~!: causes 1iP..:producing the elerµen ts of . Q.j~er,e1gie, ,a:Qd .the CQµ,n_ter ~ process of
industr:y and commerce_ l::!y wh.~ch : ~acl:i differe.o,ce is rendered
of use to the whole worl<;l an9. ,ea.ch lqcality ma<;le ,a participator
in the -productions of al),. T,\ ::,' ,, _
,
·. , . .
world.

tb~ .curiosities

2 1 The program of studies·on a. •fo]Jowlng page, recommends that a
text· book In geography be: used •after the middle of the third .year. The
wisdom of this; suggestion :w:lll qepend UJlOnr ~he .~ind : ()f .~ext-boo~ used.
The doctrine of the author of ~his report Is tha.t children shal.l begin the
use of text-books early In the study of all subjects, In order that they may
acquire ability to interpret 'the ·prlrited page as soon as possible. It Is·
true that a. good teacher can lead .the pupil~ to make .a profitable use of
the book early In their s.chool course. 'l;'~e ~ea.d _ forin.a!ism that Is
blighting the schools tb,rougQ.out the coµntry re~ults . from t):i.e uee of
t ext-books by poor teachers. 'rt these teachers(?) were deprived of the
book fhey would be compelled to Invent some other method of tei1.chlng
than· that of giving a. certain · portion of the text to . be learned by rote
ea.ch day. Any change fr()m this, lifeless, memoi:lter grind would be for
the better. Assuming that the teacher know~ how to usi:i .a. .b ook It Is
not Important to set ' a.ny limit to th'e time of introducing it. · This
question Is one of method, and the condition must always determine the
method.
.
One Is tempted to ca.JI ·attention again to a. seeming Inconsistency
In this report which puts. a.' text· book In geography Into ~he hands ·of
the pupW when he Is not 'a,ble (a.ccordlng ·to the teachings of It on Ian·
guage studies), to read any other than a colloquial vocabulary. Every
t ext-book uses ·words that are technical and many others that do not
belong to the child's every day cqnversation .. But during the first three
years of school life new wor4s. a.re. not to be in trod need ~or the reason
that the child cannot . learn form · and content at the same time. See
page 11.
··
·
'

32

Repor,t of Oomn:i,ittee Pf Fifteen,

33

n. · History ..

·,: .

Th.ene~t study,
school is ~istory .

····· .

.

•

b

•

0

.

0

ranked in order of value, for the elementar·y:
But, as wiU b_e seen, tbe ·value of history,·
both practically and psychologically, is less in the· beginning
~nd~gre:i-ter at the end than geography. For it relates ·to the
mst1tut10ns of men, and especially to the political state and its
evolution. While biography narrates the career of the indi~·
vidual , civil history records the careers of nations ,' The
natioD; has been c~mpare d to the individual by persons interested m the edi.:cat10nal value of history. Man has ·two ·selves ..
they say, the individual self, and the collective self of th~
organized state or union. The study of history is then the
study of this larger, corporate, social, and civil 'self. 'The
import.ance o~ th.is idea is thus brought out more clearly in its
educational significan ce. For to learn this civil self is to learn
the substantial condition which makes possible the existence
of civilized man in all his other social combinations...:.....the'
family, the Church, 'and the mo.nifold associated activities of
civil society. For the sta te protects these combinations from
destruction by violence. It defines the limits of individual
and associated effort, within which each endeavor re-enforces ·
the endeavors of all, and it uses the strength of the whole
~ation to prevent such actions as pass beyond these safe
limits and tend to collision with the normal action of the other
individuals and social units. Hobbes called the state a Leviathan, to emphasize its stupendous individuality and organized
self-activity. Without this, he said, man lives in a state of
"constant war, fear, poverty, filth , ignorance and wretchedness; within the state dwell peace, security,' riches, scien.ce,
and happiness." Th e sta te is the collective man who "makes
possible the rational development of the indivi.d ual man, like
a mo.r tal God, subduing his caprice and passion and compelling
obedience to law, developing the ideas of justice, virtue, and
religion, creating property and ownership, nurture and educati.on." The education of the child into a knowledge· of this
higher self begins early within the nurture of th.e family.
The child sees a policeman or some town offic.er, soine public
]:.>uilding, a court house or a jaq; he sees or hears ,of an act of
vi~lence , a case of robbery or murder followed by arrest
the·
guilty. The omnipresent higher self, which has been invisible·

of

hitherto, .n()w becotnes -:v.isible.1to him in its ·,sy:m.bols -ap.¢1, still
, "" ••
more in its .a cts.
,
· ... , ·1
· , History in school; 1 i~ . is .coµte.J).ded, ;-J>)lo,ulih be t\le, special.
branch for education in the du.ties ..of·, ~it.i~en.ship. · TJ:iE:r.e.:is.
groi.md for .this claim . . History gives •i&• SE)nse.oLbeloi;iging.t<i
~ -· hig4er social: un,ity. ,w:hiqp, --possess.e s 1,tJ?.e ; .i:igh t 1 of,,aip5ohite
~ontrol over .perso,n and p,roperty -;~n .tpe,. 1 in~iirest :of Jhe safety
of the whole. -~his, of i cour~ e" .i& the oasis of.citizenship ; the
individual must"teel this or. sei:i tqis solidarity pf the s.ta.te an.d
recognize i.t s supreme authority. ,);Jut h.i stQry; .E!l:lows t.b.'e col-'
lisions of nations, . and ,t \l.e victory of· one .polit;icaljdeaJ. · accom-.
panied by the defeat of aQother . . Histoxy ·rev,e als an · evolution
of forms of government ·r hat a.re,,b.e~t.er: arid ,petter ad.i;i,pti:id to
permit indi v,id ual freedpm., ,~nd. , the, partici patioQ: of all ~i tizens
in the administration of the governmep.t itself. . , ·
...
People wh_o make .th1;1ir own, gov:ernment. h!).V!'l !lo . special
interest in the spectacle of political ·evQluti.on a~ .e~hH:>ited in
history.
But it must J:>e admitted ·that this evolution .hafl not
been .well presented .by popula,r ; historian,~,. ,,Take, for instance,"
the familiar e~aI!lple of:old, time. pedagogy, wherein the Roman
republic . was conceive!! as a freer. gover.nment than the Roman
empire that followed it, by ·p.e rsons apparently misled by the.
ideas of representativ.e self-gover:11ment associated with the
word republic. It was the beginning of a new epoch when this
illusion. was dispelled, and .. the,college, student · became aware
of the true Roman meaning of .republic, namely, the supremacy
of an oligarchy on the .Tib.e r that :ruled distant provinces in
Spain, Gaul, Asia Minor, Germany, and Africa,. for its selfi.sh
-ends and with an ever~increasing arroganci:i. . The people at
home in Rome, not . having a ·share,.i_n the campaigns on the
borderland, did not appreciate the.qualities of the great leaders,
who, like Cresar, subdued the nati.ons .by j9.r:bearance, magnanii;nity, trust, and the re~ognitiQJl ,Of ·a ·sp'Qere of . freedQll,l se~ured to .the conquez;ed by the Roman civ.il laws, which were
rigidly enforced by th,e·conquer'or, as iriuch as ' by the violence
-of arms. The change fi;oi;D... republic tQ eJilpire nieaJ:?.t the final
subordination of this 1tyrannical ,Roman oligar.chy, and the
recognition of the r,i ghts .~f the provinces to Roman freedom.
This illustration' shows: how easily ·a.poo.r teaching of history
may pervert its good influence or 1p11rp,ose fnto .a)a,d 9ne:, , ;For

.

'

''

p

N

'.

''

'y.-"s

.

'·

''

34

Repor.t of Committee of Fijteen.

the · Roman monarchy under the empire secured a " degree of
freedom never before attained under the republic, in spite of
the election of such tyrants as Nero and Caligula to the imperial
purple.
The civil service went on as usual administering the
affairs of distant countries, educating them· in Roman cjurisprudence, and cultivating a love for accumulating private p·roperty.
Those countries had before lived communisticaHy ·after the style
of the tribe or at best of the village commun{t!y. Roman private property in land · gave an impulse to the development of
free individuality such as had always been impossible·under ·the
social stage of development known as the village community.·
To teach history properly is to dispel this shallow illusion.
which flatters individualism, and to open the eyes of the pupil
to the true nature of freedom, namely the freedom through
obedience to just laws enforced by a. strong government. 22
Your Committee has made this apparent digression for the
sake of a more explicit statement of its conviction of the importance of teaching history in a different spirit from that of
abstract freedom, which sometimes means anarchy, although
they admit the possibility of an opposite extreme, the danger
of too little stress on the progresSive element in the growth .of
nations and its manifestation in new and better political devices
for representing .all citizens without weakening ·.t~e central
power.
·
That the history of one's own nation is to be taught in the
elementary school seems fixed by common consent.
United
States history includes first a sketch of the epoch of discoveries
and next of the epoch of colonization. This fortunately suits
the pedagogic requirements. For the child loves to approach
the stern realities of a firmly established civilization througll
its stages of growth by means of individual enterprise. Here
is the use of biography as introduction to . history. · It treats
of exceptional individuals whose lives bring them in one way·
22 The reader will take not9 that the studies In the order of their
educational values are Language studies, Arithmetic, Geography, and
History. Language and Literature introduce to human science and art~
Arithmetic . to the science of nature, and Geography .occupies both
fields. We now approach History which Is an account of the greatest
of human Institutions, the state. This able analysis o~ · the idea of the
state Is valuable to the student tor other reasons than that It suggests
the true spirit in which history should be taught.

1

·correlation; 10.f'•"Studies: · · ',,

35·

or another into national · or· ·even·· world-historic.at..:l"elstions.·
They throw light on the,,nature·an~''rie,~i:ty·-Uf -governments,
and are in turn illuminated l by.:-i.~; q-fghtj throwri back on them
by the institutions w:hich·~eyJ promote' .or ~hibder. '' ·The ·e ra of
semi-private.a<lventu:r.e with EWhich<lAinerician 1history; begins is
admirably adapted for -stUdf •b'yLtliei;pupil in : the;_ 1elementary·
stage of his education, 1.· SO'·ltoo ithel•next"epoch; that :of colonization. The pioneer is a degree•'n e'a rerlto1civili;mtionthan is the
explorer and discoverer. · In· the colonial history the -pupil interests himself in the enterp_ris~ 'of' 'aspiring· 'individualities; in
their conquest over obstacles of:elimate--and•soil'i theili 'conllicts
with the aboriginal population;",th~ir choice of land for settle•
men t; the g<owth of the_ir cities; a.b ove all, their several attempts and · final success ' in · forming1 a •constitution 1 securing
local self-government-.• · An epoch ·of,•growing inte~relation· of
the colonies succeeds, a tendency to ·u nion on11 a ·!large -scale
due to the effect of :murope·a n wars· which involved1 England,
France, and other countries,- iand-•affected the ·relations of their
colonies in America. : : :TMs·• epoch too abounds · in · heroic · per-·
sonalities, like Wolfe, Montcalm, and Washington; and -perilous
adventures, especially -in ~the 'lndian«wai:fare:. 28 : • ,, • ''
.. · ·
The fourth epoch is the;Re.v olution·, by which the Colonies
through joint effort secured their independence and afterward
their union in a nation . . The subject ·g rows ·rapidly'more complex and tasks severely the powers of the pupils in the eighth
year of the elementary school. The formation of the Constitution, and a brief study of the salient features · of the Constitution itself, conclude the study of the portion · of the history
of the United States ·t hat is . sufficiently remote to. be treated
after the manner of an. ~qu~atiq~f1-l 9l~~sic ., , ~v~ryt~in,g ~P ~o this
2•The emphasis placed upon pioneer 'h.lstory ·and "the.stories of the
adventures of the . herolis' who. discovered.' i;i.nd . explored ·A m~rlca, ' as an
introduction to the study of the history of the· growth of the American
commonwealth, Is In harmony wlth 'the ~ea·chinit of hist9ry· 1n ' the best
schools at the present time. The new movement ' in . educ&.tion, including all the schools of reformers, Is In full &ccord with tlie doctrln·e
here set forth. The Herbartlails carry the ' thought a step :tu'r ther and
urge th.a t when any particular section of · the unlori ; as, for" Instance,
the Mississippi valley, or ·New ·England, or 'the gulf ' reglon;has an especially rich and Interesting ·pioneer history, the schools should begin
with the stories of the heroes of' their respective sections and proceed
from that as a starting point to the history of other sections.

'

J

36

Repor.t of Committee of Fifteen,

point stands out in strong individual oµtlines and is admirably
fitted for that elementary course of study. Beyond this point,
the War of 1812 and the War of the R,eb()Uion, together with
the political events that led to it, are matters of memory with
the present generation of parents and grandparents, and are
consequently not so well fitted for intensive .stuc1y in school as.
the already classic period of our history , But these later..and
latest epochs may be and will be read at home not only in .the
text-book on history used in the schools, but also in the .numerous sketches that appear in neyvspapers, magazines, and ,in
more pretentious shapes. In the intensive study which should
be undertaken of the classic period of our history, the pupil
may be. taught the method appropriate to historical investigation, the many points of view from which each event ought to
be considered. He should learn to discriminate between the
theatrical show of events and the solid influences that move
underneath as ethical causes. Although be is too immature
for very far-reaching reflections, he must be helped to see the
causal processes of history. . Armed .with this . qisciplin.e . in
historic methods, the pupil will do all of his miscellaneous read.ing and thinking in this province with more adequ!;!ote intellectual reaction than was po'!sible before the intensive study
carried on in school. 24
The study of the outlines of the Constitution, for ten or
fifteen weeks in the final year of the elementary school, has
been found of great educational value. Properly taught, it
fixes the idea of the essential threefoldness of the consti.tution
of a free government and the necessary independence of each
constituent power, whether legislative, judicial, or executive.
24This distinction made between the "classic" period In our history
and that which has not yet lrncome classic, will be regard ed by many as
a little overdrawn. But the thorough mastery of this "classic" period as a cultivation of thP historic sense through which our more mod~r·u history will be better comprehended, Is sound pedagogy.
This report on the value of history is one or gre.a t. ablllty and suggestiveness. It touch es the field of method very lightly, .and for that
reason, perhaps, will he generally accepted without protest. Method
has not yet become sufficiently "classic" to admit of such treatment as
will bring all to one conclusion. It is when this report leaves the discussion of education:1l values and enters the realm of method for the
realizing of the values in the education of the child .that .we · begin .to
bear protests against its teachings.

37
This and some idea or · the maimer and mode' of filling •the official places in these -three. department's \! and of; the , character of
the duties · with which each department ·is"charged, lay foundations for an intelligent citizenship. · "'
··
Besides this intensive· study cof the ·history of the United
States in the seventh and eighth years;: your committee would
recommend oral lessons on ·the salien.t points of general 'history,
taking a full hour of ·sixty minutes ·weekly-and preferably all
at one time-for the sake of the more systematic treatment of
the subject of the lesson and · the · deeper impression made on
the mind.of the pupil. '
·
·

E. Other branches.
Your committee has reviewed the staple branches of the
elementary course of study in the light of their educational
scope and significance. Grammar, literature, arithmetic, geography, and history are the five branches upon which the disciplinary work of the elem()ntary school.is con.centrated. Inasmuch as re~ding is the fir.s t of the scholastic arts, it is
interesting to note that the whole elementary course may be
described as an extension. of the process of learning the art of
reading. First comes the mastering of the colloquial vocabulary in printed and script forms. ·Next come five incursions
into the special vocabul!;!ories required (a) in literature to
express the fine shades of emotion and .t he more subtle 0.istinctions. of thought, (b) the technique of arithmetic, (c) of geography, (ii) of grammar., (e) of history.
·
In the serious work of mastering these !;\eve.r al technical
vocabularies the pupil is assigneil .daily tasks that he must prepare by independent stucly. The class . exercise or recitation
is taken up with examining and critiQising the . pupil's orai
statements of what he has learned, especial car.e being taken
to secure the pupil's explanation of it in his own words. This
requires paraphrases and"'d.e finitions of the new words and
phrases used in techn.ical and literary senses, with a view to
insure the addition to the mind of the new ideas ,corresponding
to the new words. The misunderstandings ·are corrected and
the pupil set on the way to use more critical alertness in the
preparation of his succeeding lessons. The pupil learns as

,·

, c

:38

Repqrt of Oommitte.e of Fijteen.

much by the recitations of his fellow-pl,lpils as 4e learp13 f.1'.0Jll
the teacher, but not the same ~hings. He sees in the impiir.fect statements of his classmates that they apprehended th.e
lesson with different presuppositions and c~nsequently have
seen some phases of the subject that escaped his .observation, .
while they in turn have missed points which he bad noticed
quite readily. 'l'hese different points of view become .more or
less his own, and he may be said to grow by adding to his own
mind the minds of others. ·
It is clear that there are other branches of instruction that
may lay claim to a place in the course of study of the elementary school; for example, the various branches of natural
science, vocal music, manual training, physical culture, drawing, etc.
Here the question of another method ofinstruction is suggested. There are lessons that require previous preparatio'n
by the pupil himself-there are also lessons that may be taken
up without such preparation and conducted by the teacher,
who leads the exercise and furnishes a large part of the information to _be learned, enlisting the aid of members of the class
for the purpose of bringing home the new material to their
actual experience. Besides these there are mechanical exercises for purposes of training, such as drawing, penmanship)
and calisthenics.
In the first place there is industrial and resthetic drawing,
which should have a place in all elementary school work. By
it is secured the training of the hand and eye. Then, too,
drawing helps in all the other branches that require illustration. Moreover, if used in the study of the great works of art
in the way hereinbefore mentioned, it helps to cultivate the
taste and prepares the future workman for a more useful and
lucrative career, inasmuch as suparior taste commands higher
wages in the finishing of all goods. 05
·
26 This report distinguishes between the five disciplinary .studlel!
and the other branches that are valuable for the practical information
they give. The ground for this distinction may lie in the fact that· the
five studies (grammar, literature, arithmetic, geography,. and history)
represent what th e author has elsewhere called the five great departments of human knowledge . . That is, they represent the five dist.l.n .c t
fields of activity In the world, viz: thought, art, Inorganic n_ature, organic nature, and society. The thorough mastery of these branches

·. JJ<rrn,daUr;n., pJ:. : ~tu,4ifJ8,. .1_ ,•;._

3,9

Natµral s~ience ,, c;l.!!o.ii;ns. ,~ pl.ac~ . jq the. ~eiµei;i,i;~n;y schpol
not so much -as a discipligai:); st.u<;ly l sid~ oy fiide w,itµ gramma,r,
.arithmetic, and hi~ypry, ~s ~ . ~rain.ing , ip ·:1+ab.i~!>. of , qbs.e rvatiop.
.and in the use of: t~e, te.c hniqµe .Qy' ~h\ch , such sciences are expounded. With a l,cn_o,wl~d.ge of, . 1 ~he te,qhn,ical· terms and some
:training in the metho.d s ,ot origi;ial .i}tv,e,i;;tigf,l.~ion employe.d in
the sciences, the pupil , Qr,-0aden:s.~his, .views .of. the world and
greatly increases his . cap~~ity,to acq,µ ire ,new. knowle9,ge. For
the pupil who is unacqµainted,' _with tlte technique ,<;>f science
has to pass witbou~ . i:n~pta~ profit ~be nur:µerpus . scientific
allusions and items of ~nfor;matio:µ · ;which _more and more
abound in all our .literature, whether of an .,ephemeral or a
permanent character. In ~n . ,age . w;hose prou,dest boast is the
progress of science in all doma.\nfi, there shou~d be in the elementary school, from the first, a cour~e i~ the ;elements of the
s ,c iences.
And this is .quite. pos~ible; for , e?och science
possesses some phaf!eS ~b,1;1.t1 Ii~; v._ery ~~.ar ,to,: th~ .child's life.
-organizes the Individual mind In· harmony with human cfv)llzatlon. In
the language of the Herbartlans ' the"'concept-mass," or the self, becomes attuned to the !IlOVement.of.. !the.external world of nature and
society. This 1.s what ;w,e.commo.q 1 pe_qP,le ,. Illean .by, the ."~wmation -0f
character." Discipline 1.s the .name of the J/rocE)SS l;>y whlc4 the mind
becomes thus organized and ten'd encies ·a nd · habits of ac.t loµ established. The ground upon which · the· five . studies · named are disthi.guished as discipiinary above ot.h ers . seems to be that __a "larger share of
the energies of the pupil are devoted to learning thell!. : . In other
words, "as the twig Is bent thA tr,e e's Inclined." But It mu·s_t b,e true that
-every knowledge activity that enters 'Into _the organ.izatlcin of -the self
in education must perform Its part In building charactflr and thus be
disciplinary. That Idea which seemed once: to prevail, that discipline
was for forr(11l1n,g the:, child's mind, _a nd .tqat It was ito be fii~ed .subse-quently with a content th11<t should be of p_ractlcal use In .lire does not
now prevail. It would ·oe a· misfortune If (l.ny·_one 'should Interpret th!~
report to mean other· than that all of· the 1educatjTe ·effor·t s of ·the school
.are disciplinary and help· in ,t he -. formation ohchli.racter. ·:or course·,
thero Is grollt difference between . the di~cip!Jn1ny ,v.l!'l.ue o~ ~hat study
·in which the pupil solves his. own .difl,l~ultie~ , and, that teac;hlpg In
which the teacher accompanies 'the pupil ; supplying the needed l.nformation or suggestion at every step 'o f · his ~ progress, The latter Is
not worth much .for character. building, .for the reason that it is not apt
to become a part of the organlzed.s.e lf. . There Is much of knpwledge or
Information, so-called, that Is simply ~he present posse,s slon of the carrying memory and never becomes assimilated with the self: It may l>.e
-of temporary use 'but is .not of per·m anent ' value . . · The school'· cannot
..afford to expend much energy in a.cq~lrlng such knowledge.

40

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

These familiar topics furnish ·the doors through . w hieh. t~e
child enters the various special departments. Science, it is
claimed, is nothing if not systematic. Indeed, science itself
may be defined as the interpretation ~f ~a.ch fact t~r~ugh ~H
other facts of a kindred nature. Adm1ttmg that this is so, it
is no less true that pedagogic method begins with the frag.mentary knowledge possessed by the. pupil. and· pr?cee~s to
organize it and build it out systematically m all. directions,.
Hence any science may be taken up b.est on. the. side ne.arest
the experience of the pupil and the m vestigation ~ontmue.P
until the other parts are reached . ·Thus the pedagogical order
is not al ways the logical or scientific o~der: In this respec~ it
agrees with the order of discovery, which is us~ally someth~ng
quite different from the logical order, for that is the la.st. t.hmg
discovered. The natural sciences have two general divisions:
one relating to inorganic matter, as physics and chemistry,
and one relating to organic, as botany and zoology. There
should be a spiral course in natura.l science, commencing each
branch with the most interesting phases to the child. A first
course should be given in botany, zoology, and physics, so as
to treat of the structure and uses of familiar plants and ani.mals, and the explanation of physical phenomena as seen in
the child's playthings, domestic machines, etc. A second
course covering the same subjects, but laying more stress on
classification and functions, will build on to the knowledge
already acquired from the former lessons and from his recently
acquired experience. A third course of wee~ly lessons, c?nd ucted by the teacher as before in a conversational style, w.ith
experiments and with a comparison of the facts of observation
already in the possession of the_ children, will go far to. helping them to an acquisition of t~e results of natu:a.l ~cience.
Those of the children specially gifted for observation m some
one or more departments of nature will be stimulaLed and encouraged to make the most of their gifts.
In the opinion of your Committee there should be set
apart a full hour 10ach week for drawing and the same amount
for oral lessons in natural science.
The oral lessons in history have already been mentioned.
The spiral course, found useful in natural sc.ience because ~f
the rapid change in capacity of comprehension by the pupil

. Oorrelation of Studies.

41

from his sixth to his fourteenth year, will also be best for the
history course, which will begin with biographical adventures
of interest to the child, and possessing an important historical
bearing. These will proceed from the native land first to England, the parent country, and then to the classic civilizations
(Greece and Rome. being, so to speak,. the grandparent countries of the American colonies). These successive courses of
oral lessons adapted respectively to the child's capacity will do
much to make the child well informed on this topic. Oral
lessons should never be mere lectures, but more like Socratic
dialogues, building up a systematic knowledge partly from
what is already known, partly by new investigations, and
partly by comparison of authorities.
The best argument in favor of oral weekly lessons in natural science and general history is the actual experiences of
·teachers who have for some time used the plan. It has been
found that the lessons in botany, zoology, and physics give
the pupil much aid in learning his geography and other lessons relating to nature, while the history lessons assist very
much his comprehension of literature, and add interest to
geography. 86
HBut most educationists will obj ect to Including natural science,
vocal music, manual training, physical culture, and drawing in the ephemeral knowl edge described In the preceding paragraph. The educational value of these ls stated, or clearly Implied, in the text of the report.
But there w!ll be not a little dissent from the method suggested for reali zing these valu es in the school. One exercise per week of sixty minutes duration does not seem to be the best arrangement, even though some have
found it to be valuable. (See program.) It Is better than nothing, without
doubt. But that any discipline, or character, either physical or mental,
shall result from these studies, there Is need of a more frequont return
to them than one oral lesson per week implies. Perhaps sixty minutes
per week may be all the school time that the program will permit, but
It will be better that this hour shall h A broken up Into twonty-mlnute
recitations three times per week. Nor will sixty minutes Include all of
the time tlurin g the week which tho pupils should devote to such a
study as natural science. A teacher that can use, profitably, one hour
Jor a single recitation In a we<ik can use three periods of twenty minutes each to a much better advantage, In an elementary school.
It ls through frequent return to a subject, and Intense activity
upon it for short periods, that It "soaks In" and becomes lntluential In
the building of character. Especially ls this true If the principles of
appercept!on and concentration are not forgotten by the teacher in
working upon the "disciplinary" subjects.

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation of Stuf!ies.

It is understood by your Committee that the lessons in
physiology and hygiene (with special reference to the effects
of stimulants and narcotics) required by State laws should be
included in this oral course in natural science. Manual training, so far as the theory and use of the tools for working in
wood and iron are concerned, bas just claims on the elementary
school for a reason similar to that which admits natural science. From science have proceeded useful inventions for the
aid of all manner of manufactures and transportation. The
child of today lives in a world where machinery is constantly
at bis band. A course of training in wood and iron work, together with experimental knowledge of physics or natural philosophy, makes it easy for him to learn the management.of such
machines. Sewing and cookery have not the same but stronger
claims for a place in school. One-half day in each week for
one-half a year each in the seventh and eighth grades will suffice for ma nual training, the sewing and cookery being studied
by the girls, and the wood and iron-work by the boys. It
should be mentioned, however, that the advocates of manual
training in iron and wood-work recommend these branches for
secondary schools , because of the greater maturity of body,
· and the less lik elihood to acquire wrong babi ts of manipulation,
in the third period of four years of school.
Vocal music has long since obt!tin ed a well-established
place in all elementary schools. The labors of two generations
of special teachers have reduced the steps of instruction to
such simplicity that whole classes may make as regular progress in r eading music as in reading literature.
In regard to physical culture your Committee is agreed
that there should be some form of special daily exercises
amounting in the aggregate to one hour each week, the same
to incluue th e main features of calisthenics, and German, Swedish, or American syste ms of physical training, but not to be
regarded as a substitute for the old-fashioned recess established to permit the free exercise of the pupils in the open air.
Syste matic physical training bas for its object rather the will
training th a n r ecreation, and this must not be forgotten. To
go from a bard lesson to a series of calisthenic exercises is to
go from one kind of will training to another. Exhaustion of
the will should be followed by the caprice and wild freedom of

the recess. But systematic physical exercise bas its sufficient
reason in its aid to a graceful use of the limbs, its development of muscles that are left unused or rudimentary unless
called forth by special training, and for the help it gives to the
teacher in the way of school discipline.
Your Committee would mention in this connection instruc tion in morals and manners, which ought to be given in a brief
series of lessons each year with a view to build up in the mind
a theory of the conventionalities of polite and pure-mfoded
society. If these lessons are made too long or. too numerous,
they a re apt to become offensive to the child's mind. It is of
course understood by your Committee that the substantial
moral training of the school is performed by the discipline
rather than by the instruction in ethical theory. The child is
trained to be regular and punctual, and to rei:'train bis desire
to talk and whisper-in these things gaining self-control day
by day. The essence of moral behavior is self-control. The
school teaches good behavior. The intercourse of a pupil with
bis fellows without evil words or violent actions is insisted on
and secured. The higher moral qualities of truth-telling and
sincerity are taught in every class exercise that lays stress on
accuracy of statement.
Your Committee bas already discussed the importance of
teaching something of algebraic processes in the seventh and
eighth grades with the view to obtaining better methods of
solving problems in advanced arithmetic; a majority of your
Committee are of the opinion that formal English grammar
should be discontinued in the eighth year, and the study of
some foreigJ.:J. language, preferably that of Latin, substituted.
The educational effect on an English-speaking pupil of taking
up a language which, like Latin, uses inflections instead of
prepositions, and which further differs from English by the
order in which its words are arranged in the sentence, is quite
marked, and a year of Latin places a pupil by a wide interval
out of the range of the pupil who bas continued English grammar without taking up Latin. But the effect of the year's
study of Latin increases the youth's power of apperception in
very many directions by reason of the fact that so much of the
English vocabulary used in technical vocabularies, like thosE,i
of geography, grammar, history, and literature, is from a Latin

42

43

45

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

source, and besides there are so many traces in the form and
substance of human learning of the hundreds of years when
Latin was the only tongue in which observation and reflection
could be expressed. 27
Your Committee refers tot.he program given later in this
report for the details of co-ordinating these several branches
already recommended.

year of the elementary course-your Committee has come face
to face with the question of the intrinsic difference between
elementary and secondary studies.
Custom has placed algebra, geometry, the .history of
English literature, and Latin in the rank of secondary studies;
also general history, physic~I geography, and the elements of
physics and chemistry. In a secondary course of four years,.
trigonometry may be added to the mathematics; some of the
sciences whose elements are used in physical geography may
be taken up separately in special treatises, as geology, botany,
and physiology. Th.ere may be also a study of whole works of
English authors, as Shakspere, Milton, and Scott. Greek is
also begun in the second or third year of the secondary course.
This is the custom in most public high schools. But in private secondary schools Latin is begun earlier,_ and so, too,
Greek, algebra, and geometry. Sometimes geometry is taken
up before algebra, as is the custom in German schools. These
arrangements are based partly on tradition, partly . on the
requirements of higher institutions for admission, and partly
on the ground that the intrinsic difficulties in these studies
have fixed their places in the course of study. Of those who
claim that there is an intrinsic reason for the selection and
order of these studies, some base their conclusions on experience in conducting pupil's through them, others on psychological grounds. The latter contend, for example, that algebra
deals with general forms of calculation, while arithmetic deals
with the particular instances of calculation. Whatever deals
with· the particular instance is relatively elementary, whatever
deals with the general form is relatively secondary. In the
expression a+b=c algebra indicates the form of all addition.
This arithmetic cannot do, except in the form of a verbal rule
describing the steps of the operation; its examples are all
special instances falling under the general form givAn in
algebra. If, therefore, arithfifetic is an elementary branch,
algebra is relatively to it a secondary bran(\h. So, too, geometry, though not directly based on arithmetic, has to presup, pose an acquaintance with it when it reduces spatial functions
into numerical forms, as, for example, in the measurement of
surfaces and solids, and in ascertaining the ratio of the circumference to the radius, and of the hypotenuse to the two

44

The difference between elementary and secondary studies.
In recommending the introduction of algebraic processes
in the seventh and eighth years-as well as in the recommendation just now made to introduce Latin in the eighth
27 Perhaps the most startling Innovation in this report is that which
substitutes Latin for English Grammar in the eighth grade. Dr. Harris has frequently affirmed that if one hundred young men of equal
ab!lity were to start a new colony, fifty of whom had spent six months
in the study of Latin, wh!le the others had studied some other subject
instead, the fifty who had studied Latin would soon occupy all the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of the government. This
seems to most persons to be a very extraordinary statement. Language forms partake In a measure of the genius of the people who invent them, it is true, but will they lnnocurate another a,nd al!en people
with that genius simply by a six months' study of them? Ideas, knowledge, feeling, are practically the same In all men. Is It not an undue
appreciation of the influence of form, which gives to one nation the individual characteristics of another "merely through a six month's
~tudy of the other's language?"
There is a less occult reason for learning the Latin In the fact that
the English is so largely composed of Latin words. By learning the
concrete meanings of these words in the Latin tongue, the English
words cease to be mere abstrac~ dead symbols, and become filled with
their original concrete meaning. This is a sufficient reason for one
who would know the English to study the Latin, and if he Is to make
an extended study of science he ought to have some knowledge of the
Greek for a similar reason.
The recommendation of the committee that Latin be substituted
for English Grammar in the eighth grade will not be generally accepted in that form. It is probable that the influence of this report
will start a line of reflection in the minds of the educational public
wh!eh will result in giving more prominence to the study of the history
and derivation of words and the mastery of Latin roots in the grammar
grades. We cannot think that the peculiar form of the Latin sentence
will do more for the pupil than the form of the German sentence would
do, and the influence of either is not great. Would It not be better to
advance natural science to a "disciplinary" study than to Introduce
Latin into the elementary school as such a study?

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

other sides of the right-angled triangle. Geometry, moreover, deals with necessarv relations; its demonstrations reach
;iniversal and necessary ~onclusions, holding good not merely
lil such material shapes as we have met with in actual experience, but with all examples possible, past, present, or future.
Such knowledge transcending experience is intrinsically sec- .
ondary as compared with the first acquaintance with geometric
shapes in concrete examples.
In the case of geometry it is claimed by some that what is
called "inventional geometry" may be properly introduced into
the eler;rientary grades. By this some mean the practice with
blocks m the shape of geometric solids and the construction
of different figures from the same; others mean the rediscovery by the pupil for himself of the necessary relations demonstrated by Euclid. The former-exercises of construction
wit.h h~ocks-are well enough in the kindergarten, where they
ass~st m learning number, as well as in the analysis of material forms. But its educational value is small for pupils advanced into the use of books. The original discovery of Euclid's
d~monstrations, on the other hand, belongs .m ore properly to
higher education than to elementary. In the geometrical textbooks recently introduced into secondary schools, there is so
much of original demonstration required that the teacher is
greatly embarrassed on account of the differences in native capacity for mathematics that develop among the pupils of the
same class in solving the problems of invention. A few gifted
pupils delight in the inventions, and develop rapidly in power,
while the majority of the class use too much time over them,
and .thus rob the other branches of the course of study, or else
fall mto the bad paractice of getting help from others in the
preparati0n of their lessons. A few in every class fall hopelessly behind and are discouraged. The result is an attempt on
the part of the teacher to correct the evil by re4 uiriuK a lllore
thorough training in the mathematical studies preceding, and
the consequent delay of secondary pupils in the lower grades of
the course in order to bring up their "inventional geometry. "
Many, discouraged, fail to go on; many more fail to reach
higher studies because unable to get over the barrier unneces-·
sarily placed before them by teachers who desire that no pu-

pils except natural geometricians shall enter into higher
studies. 28
Physical geography in its scientific form is very properly
made a part of the secondary course of study. The pupil in
his ninth year of work can profitably acquire the scientific
technique of geology, botany, zoology, meteorology, and ethnology, and in the following years take up those sciences separately and pl,lsh them further, using the method of actual
inv13stigation. The subject-matter of physical geography is of
very high interest to the pupil who has studied geography in
the elementary grades after an approved method. It takes up
the proximate grounds and causes for the elements of difference on the earth's surface, already become familiar to him
through his elementary studies, and pushes them back into
deeper, simpler, and more satisfactory principles. This study
performs the work also of correlating the sciences that relate
to organic nature by showing their respective uses to man.
From the glimpses which the pupil gets of mineralogy, geology, botany zoology, ethnology, and meteorology in their
necessary connection as geographic conditions .. he sees the

46

47

28 This paragraph Involves a sharp criticism of the idea prevalent
in high schools that pupils must reach a "passing" standard in all subjects before being allowed to pass on or pass out. A pupil that has no
capacity for mathematics, tor example, must procure one before he Is
permitted to graduate, although he may excel in other studies. This
is another instance of the dominance of formalism in our education ,
and of a wrong conception of what is meant by harmonious development. Why not refuse a man the honors of society in real life merely
because he is not a good accountant?
It is moreover,•a stern rebuke to that educational malpractice which
does not distinguish between the elementary and the secondary phases of
knowledge. The elementary phase includes what may be termed the
sense-relations of things (the kindergarten stage,) and those simpler
and more concrete thought-relations that.belong to and make up the
experiences of common life. This Is the so-called "practical knowledge,"
so much in favor with the general public. The elementary LexL-books
are supposed to occupy this field. This is the period for accumulating
a mass of "apperceiving ideas," both of things and their relations
which make secondary knowledge possible. Secondary knowledge is
knowledge of the relations of relations. All knowledge Is knowledge
of relations. Whether It be elementary or secondary depends upon how
far the relations considered are removed from the objective reality
known as the world of nature and humanity.

48

49

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

scope and grand significance of those separate inqmnes. A
thirst is aroused in him to pursue his researches into their domains. He sees, too, the borderlands in which new discov.
eries may be made by the enterprising explorer.
Physics, including what was called until recently ".natural
philosophy," after Newton's Principia (Philosophice naturalis
principia mathematica), implies more knowledge of mathematics for its thorough discussion than the secondary pupil is
likely to possess. In fact, the study of this branch in college.
thirty years ago was crippled by the same cause. It should
follow the completion of analytical geometry. Notwithstanding this, a very profitable study of this subject may be made
in the second year of the high school or preparatory school,
although the formulas can then ba understood in so far as they
imply elementary algebra only. The pupil does not get the
most exact notions of the quantitative laws that rule matter
in its states of motion and equilibrium, but he does see the action of forces as qualitative elements of phenomena, and understand quite well the mechanical inventions by which men
subdue them for his use and safety. Even in the elementary
grades the pupil can seize very many of these qualitative aspects and learn the explanation of the mechanical phenomena
of nature, and other applications of the same principles in invention, as for example, gravitation in falling bodies: its
measurement by the scales; the part it plays in the pump, the
barometer, the pendulum; cohesion in mud, clay, glue, paste,
mortar, cement, e tc.; capillary attraction in lamp-wicks,
sponges, sugar, the sap in plants; the applications of lifting
by the lever, pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and screw; heat
in the sun, combustion, friction, steam, thermometer, conduction, clothing, cooking, etc; the phenomena of light, electricity, magnetism, and the explanation of such mechanical
devices as spectacies, telescopes, microscopes, prisms, photographic cameras, electric tension in bodies, lightning, mariner's
compass, horseshoe magnet, the telegraph, the dynamo. This
partially qualitative study of forces and mechanical inventions
has the educational effect of enlightening the pupil, and emancipating him from the network of superstition that surrounds
him in the child world, partly of necessity and partly byreason
of the illiterate adults that he sometimes meets with in the

persons of nurses, servants, and tradespeople, whose occupations have more attraction for him than those of cultured people.
The fairy world is a world of magic, of immediate interventions of supernatural spirtual beings, and while this is proper
enough for the child up to the time of the school, and in a les.
sening degree for some time after, it is only negative and harmful in adult manhood and womanhood. It produces arrested
development of powers of observation and reflection in reference to phenomena, and stops the growth of the soul at the
infantine stage of devolpment. Neither is this infantinestage
of wonder and magic more religious than the stage of disillusion through the study of mathematics and physics. It is the
arrest of religious development also, at the stage of fetichism.
The highest religion, that of pure Christianity, sees in the
world infinite mediations, all for the purpose of developing independent individuality; the perfection of human souls not
only in one kind of piety, namely that of the heart, but in the
piety of the fo.tellect that beholds truth, the piety of the will
that does good deeds wisely, the piety of the senses that sees
the beautiful and realizes it in works of art. This is the Christian idea of divine Providence as contrasted with the heathen
idea of that Providence, and the study of natural philosophy
is an essential educational requisite in its attainment, although
a negative means. Of course there is danger of replacing the
spiritual idea of the divine by the dynamical or mechanical
idea and thus arresting the mind at the stage of pantheism
instead of fetichism. But this danger can be avoided by further education through secondary into higher education, whose
entire spirit and method are comparative and philosophical in
the best sense of the term. For higher education seems to
have as its province the correlation of the several branches of
human learning in the unity of the spiritual view furnished by
religion to our civilization.
By it one learns to see each
branch, each science or art or discipline, in .t he light of all the
others.
This higher or comparative view is essential to any completeness of education, for it alone prevents the one-sidedness
of hobbies, or "fads" as thev are called in the slang of the
day. It prevents also the bad effects that flow from the influence of what are termed "self-educated men, "who for the most

50

Correlation of Studies.

part carry up with them elementary methods of study, or at
best, secondary methods, which accentuate the facts and relations of natural and spiritual phenomena, but do not deal with
their higher correlations. The comparative method cannot, in
fact, be well introduced until the student is somewhat advanced, and has already completed his elementary course of
study dealing with the immediate aspects of the world, and
his secondary course dealing with the separate formal and dynamical aspects that lie next in order behind the facts of first
observation. Higher education in a measure unifies these separate formal and dynamic aspects, corrects their one-sidedness,
aud prevents the danger of what is so often noted in the selfeducated men who unduly exaggerate some one of the subordinate aspects of the world and make it a sort of first principle. 29
Here your Committee finds in its way the question of the
use of the full scientific method in the teaching of science.in
the elementary school.
The true method has been called the
method of investigation, but that method as used by the child
is only a sad caricature of the method used by the mature
scientific man , who has long since passed through the fragmentary observation and reflection that prevail in the period of
childhood , as well as the tend encies to exaggeration of the
importance of one or another branch of knowledge at the
expense of the higher unity that correlates all; an exaggeration that manifests itself in the possession and use of a hobby.
The ideal scientific man has freed himself from obstacles of
this kind, whether psychological or objective.
What astronomical observers call the subjective coefficient must be ascertained and eliminated from the record that shows beginnings,
endings, and rates.
There is a possibility of perfect specialization in a sciP-ntific observer only after the elementary and
secondary attitudes of mind have been outgrown. An attempt

to force the child into the full scientific method by specialization would cause an arrest of bis development in the other
branches of human learning outside of his specialty. He could
not properly inventory the data of · his own special sphere unless he knew bow to recognize the defining limits or boundaries
that separate his province from its neighbors. The early days
of science abounded in examples of confusion of provinces in
the inventories· of their data. It is difficult, even now, to decide
where physics and chemistry leave off, and biology begins.
Your Committee does not attempt to state the exact proportion in which the child, at his various degrees of advancement, may be able to dispense with the guiding influence of
teacher and text-book in his investigations, but they protest
strongly against the illusion under which certain zealous advocates of the early introduction of scientific method seem to labor.
They ignore in their zeal the deduction that is to be made for
the guiding hand of the teacher, who silently furnishes to the
child the experience that he lacks, and quietly directs his
special attention to this or to that phase, and prevents him
from hasty or false generalization as well as from undue exaggeration of single facts or principles. Here the teacher adds
the needed scientific outlook which the child lacks, but which
the mature sci1mtist possesses for himself. so
It is conte nded by some that the scientific frame of mind
is adapted only to science, but not to art, literature, and religion,
which have something essential that science does not reach;
not because of the incompleteness of the sciences themselves,
but because of the attitude of the mind assumed in the observation of nature. In analytic investigation there is isolation of
parts from one another, with a view to find the sources of the

29 Many students and admirers of this report will regret that it
waits to introduce this idea of correlation until the pupil reaches the
secondary school. It should be in thA mind of the teacher in every
grade, and every grade should be taught in the light of it. The secondary school may be th e place where the child first comes to a
full consciousness of it, but it should be in his sub-consciousness long
before. This is the definition of correlation for which the so-called
Herbartian movement is contending-the unification of all studies in
the life of the individual, and the recognition of this unity In the world

.
~

.

51

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

• 0 The distinction Involved In this discussion between the method of
discovery and the method of Instruction, In teaching elementary science, is an Important one. The child cannot pursue the study of science
by the method of discovery with profit until he has accumulated a body
of apperceivlng science Ideas that w!ll guide him in his attempts at original discovery. Before this time he must discover(?) under the leadership
of teacher or text: book. In other words, he must learn elementary science
by the method of Instruction which Is so applied as to teach him the
way by which he shall pursue original discovery later. The organized
knowledge of teacher or text-book must gnide him in getting ready to
pursue the method of Investigation In acquiring new knowledge.

52

'~

Report of Committee of . Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

influences which produce the phenomena shown in the object.
The mind brings everything to the test of this idea.
Every
phenomenon that exists comes from beyond itself, and analysis
will be able to trace the source.
Now, this frame of mind, which insists on a foreign origin
of all that goes to constitute an object, debars itself in advance
from the province of religion, art, and literature as well as of
philosophy.
For self-determination, per1wnal activity, is the
first principle assumed by religion, and it is tacitly assumed by
art and literature, Classic and Christian. The very definition
of philosophy implies this, for it is the attempt to explain the
world by the assumption of a first . principle, and to show that
all classes of objects imply that principle as ultimate presupposition. According to this view it is important not to attempt
to hasten the use of a strictly scientific method on the part of
the child. In his first years he is acquiring the results 9f
civilization rather as an outfit of habits, usages, and traditions
than as a scientific discovery. He cannot be expected to stand
over against the culture of his time, and challenge one and all
of its conventionalities to justify themselves before his reason.
His reason is too weak.
He is rather in the imitation stage
of mind than in that of criticism.
He will not reach the comparative or critical method until the era of higher education.
However this may be, it is clear that the educational
value of science and its method is a very important question,
and that on it depends the settlement of the question where
specialization may begin. To commence the use of the real
scientific method would imply a radical change also in methods
from the beginning. This may be realized by considering the
hold which even the kindergarten retains upon symbolism and
upon art and literature. But in the opinion of a majority of
your Committee natural science itself should be approached,
in the earliest years of the elementary school, rather in the
form of results with glimpses into the metho'ds by which these
results were reached. In the last two years (the seventh and
eighth) there may be some strictness of scientific form and
an exhibition of the method of discovery. The pupil, too,
may to some· extent put this method into practice himself. fo.
the secondary school there should be some laboratory work ..
But the pupil cannot be expected to acquire for himself fully

that the world and its history is a sort of antiphonic hymn in
the scientific method of dealing with nature until the second
part of higher education-its post-graduate work. Nevertheless this good should be kept in view from the first year of the
elemen.tary school, and there should be a gradual an<l continual approach to it. 81
In the study of general history appears another branch of
the secondary !course. History of the native land ~s assu~ed
to be an elementary study. History of the world i~ certam~y
·a step further away from the experience of the child. It is
held by some teachers to be in accordance with proper method
to begin with the foreign relations of one's native land and to
work outward to the world-history. The European relations
involved in the discovery and colonization of America furnis~
the only explanation to a multitude of questions that the pupil
has started in the elementary school. He should move outward from what he has already learned, by the study of a new
concentric circle of grounds and reasons, according to thi~ vi~w.
This however is n<Jt the usual course .taken. On begmnmg
seco~dary history the pupil is set back face to face with t~e
period of tradition, just when historic traces first make their
appearance. He is by this arrangement . broken. off from the
part of history that be bas become acquamted v.:itb and. made
to grapple with that period which has no relat10n to bis previous investigations. It is to be said, however, that gen~ral
history lays stress on the religious thread of connection,
though less now than formerly. The world history is a conception of the great Christian thinker, St. Augustine, who held

53

BlThis is an interesting discussion of the influence of the study of
science upon the young. That a serious study of science In the e!ementary and high schools debars the mind from the province of religion art and literature Is a startling conclusion. Is it not Dr. Harris
hl~self; who stoutly affirms that one of the direct roads to the insight
that the ultimate principle of the universe is a person lies through the
study of science? If the study of nature by a logical necessity leads to
the conclusion that conscious self-activity Is the core and essence of all
things we may well be startled when we are told that the study of
scienc~ at any age debars the mind from religion. Is It not the faul~y
teaching of science that does it? Is it not because development is
arrested by too little reference to that higher unity to which science
points, that the study of scien.c e as a discipline In elementary and
secondary schools tends to debar the mind from the province of
religion?

Correlation of Studies.

which God reads his counsels, and the earth and man read the
responses. He induced Orosius, his pupil, to sketch a general
history in the spirit of his view. It was natural that the Old
Testament histories, and especially the chapters of Genesis,
should furnish the most striking part of its contents. This
general history was connected with religion and brought closer
to the experience of the individual than the history of his own
people. To commence history with the Garden of Eden, the Fall
of Man, and the Noachian Deluge was to begin with what was
most familiar to all minds, and most instructive, because it concerned most nearly the conduct of life. Thus religion furnished
the apperceptive material by which the early portions .of history were recognized, classified, and made a part of experience.
Now that studies in archreology, especially those in the
Nile and Euphrates valleys, are changing the chronologies and
the records of early times and adding new records of the past,
bringing to light national movements and collisions of peoples,
together with data by which to determine the status of their
industrial civilization, their religious ideas, and the form of
their literature and a.rt, the concentric arrangement of all this
material around the history of the chosen people as a nucleus
is no longer possible. The question has ·arisen, therefore,
whether general history should not be rearranged for the
secondary school, and made to connect with American history
for apperceptive material rather than with Old Testament
history. To this it has been replied with force that the idea
of a world history, as St. Augustine conceived it, is the noblest
educative ideal ever connected with the subject of history.
Future versions of general history will not desert this standpoint, we are told, even if they take as their basis that of
ethnology and anthropology, for these, too, will exhibit a plan
in human history-an educative principle that leads nations
toward freedom and science, because the Creator of •nature
has made it, in its fundamental constitution, an evolution or
progressive development of individuality. Thus the idea of
divine Providence is retained, though made more comprehensive by bringing the whole content of natural laws within his
will as his method of work. 8 2

These considerations, we are reminded by the partisans of
humanity studies, point back to the educative value of h~story
as corrective of the one-sidedness of the method of science.
Science seeks explanation in the mechan.ical conditions of, and
impulses receiv:ed from, the environment, w?ile history k.eeps
its gaze fixed on human purposes, and studies the &'enes1s of
national actions through the previous stages of feehngs, convictions, and conscious ideas. In history the pupil has for his
object self-activity, reaction against environment, instead of
mechanism, or activity through another.
The history of English literature is another study of the
secondary school. It is very properly placed beyond the elementary school, for as taught it consists largely of the
biographies of men of letters. The pupils who ~ave not yet
learned any great work of literature should not be pestered
with literary biography, for at that stage the greatness of the
men of letters cannot be seen. Plutarch makes great biographies because he shows heroic struggles and great deeds. The
heroism of artists and poets consists in sacrificing all for the
sake of their creations. The majority of them come off sadly
at the hands of the biographer, for the reason that the very
sides of their 'lives are described which they had slighted and
neglected for the sake of the Muses. The prophets of Israel
did not live in city palaces, but in caves; they did not wear
fine raiment, nor feed sumptuously, nor confprm to the codes of
polite society. They were no courtiers when they approached

The abov e is a new argument for the beginning of the study of
history with the near rather than the remote. In this suggestion the
82

·<~

55

Report of Committee of Fi.fteen.

5!

report is in accord with the teachings of the Herbartian movement
which would begin the study of history with the institutional life that
is the child's environment, and proceed to the study of the pioneer life of
that eHvironment· and from thence to the study of one's own country
and so on to the history of ancient times.
It ts Interesting to note, also, that this movement tends to begin
the study of literature with fairy stories and the legendary ta1es of
-anctent times. The fanciful and imaginary, was the stage of development of literature among the ancients. Hegel calls the Greek period
the boyhood of the race. There is something, as has been said before,
fo this Idea of culture epochs that can be made useful in education.
How much, It remains yet to be seen. But the idea of this movement
·seems to be tba.t through acquaintance with ancient myths in childhood
the pupil becomes somewhat familiar with one phase of the life of the
ancient peoples-the aesthetic and religious-and so Is better prepared
to understand their !nstitntional life later, when he has attained the
age of reason.
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57

Report of Committee oj Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

the king. They neglected all the other institutions-family,
productive industry, and state-for the sake of one, the Church,
and even that not the established ceremonial of the people,
but a higher and more direct communing with Jehovah. So
with artists and men of letters it is more or le.ss the case that
the institutional side of their lives is neglected, or unsymmetrical, or if this is not the case it will be found prosaic and
uneventful, throwing no light on their matchless productions.
For these reasons should not the present use of literary
biography as it exists in secondary schools, and is gradually
making its way into elementary schools, be discouraged, and
the time now given to it devoted to the study of literary works
of art? It will be admitted that the exposure of the foibles
of artists has an immoral tendency on youth: for example,
one effects to be a poet, and justifies laxity and self-indulgence
through the example of Byron. Those who support this view
holdothat we should not dignify the immoral and defective
side f life by making it a branch of study in school. 88

this kind, instead of being a deeper correlation such as is found
in all parts of human learning by the studies of the college and
university, is rather a shallow and uninteresting kind of correlation that reminds one of the system of mnemonics, or artificial memory, which neglects the association of facts and events
with their causes and the history of their evolution, and looks
for unessential quips, puns, or accidental suggestions with a
view to strengthening the memory. The effect of this is to
weaken the power of systematic thinking which deals with
essential relations, and substitute for it a chaotic memory
that ties together things th:i:.ough false and seeming relations;
not of the things and events, but of the words that denote
them . .
The correlation of geography and arithmetic and history
in and through the "llnity of a work of nction is at best an
artificial correlation, which will stand in the way of the true
objective correlations. It is a temporary scaffolding mride for
school purposes. Instruction should avoid such temporary
structures as much as possible, and when used they should be
only used for the day, and not for the year, because of the
danger of building up an apperceptive center in the child's
mind that will not harmonize with the true apperceptive center
required by the civilization. The story of Robinson Crusoe
has intense interest to the child as .a lesson in sociology, showing him the helplessness of isolated man and the re-enforcement that comes to him through society. It shows the importance of the division of labor. All children should read this
book in the later years of the elementary course, and a few
profitable discussions may be had in school regarding its significence. But De Foe painted in it only the side of adventure
that be found in his countrymen in his epoch, England after
the defeat of the Armada having taken up a career of conquest on the seas, eading by colonization and a world commerce. The liking for adventure continues to this day among
all Anglo-Saxon peoples, and beyond other nationalities there
is in English-speaking populations a delight in building up
civilization from the very foundation. This is only, however,
one phase of the Anglo-Saxon mind. Consequently the history of Crusoe is not a proper center for a year's study in
school. It omits cities, governments, the world commerce,

56

Correlation by synthesis of studies,
Your Committee would mention another sense in which the
expression correlation of studies is sometimes used. It is held
by advocates of an artificial center of the course of study.
They use, for example, De Foe's Robinson Crusoe for a reading
exercise, and connect with it the lessons in geography and
arithmetic. It has been pointed out by critics of this method
that there is always danger of covering up the literary features
of the reading matter under accessories of mathematics and
natural science. If the material for other branches is to be
sought for in connection with the literary exercise, it will distract the attention from the poetic unity. On the other hand,
arithmetic and geography cannot be unfolded freely and comprehensively if they are to wait on the opportunities afforded
in a poem or a novel for their development. A correlation of
88 This argument against the serious study of the biographies of
authors in connection with the study of their works, Is both unique
and forcible. Th~y are not to be studied because they are not worth
knowing at that stage of the pupil's growth.

Report of Committee of Fifteen .

Correlation of Studies.

the international process, the Church, the newspaper and book
from view, and they are not even reflected in it.
Your Committee would call attention in this connection to
the importance of the pedagogical principle of analys;s and isolation as preceding synthesis and correlation. There should be
rigid isolation of the elements of each branch for the purpose of
getting a clear conceptioi;i of what is in~i vid ual ~nd pecul~ar in a
special province of learnmg. Otherwise one will not gai~ from
each its special contribution to the whole. That there 1s some
danger from the kind of correlation that essays to teach all
branches in each will be apparent from this point of view. 84

term, which is about two hundred days, exclusive of vacations
and holidays. Five days per week and five hours of actual
school work or a little less per day, after excluding recesses for
recreation, give about twenty-five hours per week. There
should be, as far as possible, alternation of study-hours and
recitations (the word recitation be~ng used in the United
States for class exercise or lesson conducted by the teacher
and requiring the critical attention of the entire class.) Those
studies requiring the clearest thought should be taken up, as a
usual thing, in the morning session, say arithmetic the second
half hour of the morning and grammar the half-hour next
succeeding the morning recess for recreation in the open air.
By some who are anxious to prevent study at home, or at least
to control its amount, it is thought advisable to place the
arithmetic lesson aft~ r the grammar lesson, so that the study
learned at home will be grammar instead of arithmetic. It is
found by experience that if mathematical problems are taken
home for solution two bad habits arise, namely, in one case, the
pupil gets assistance from his parents or others, and thereby
loses to some extent his own power of overcoming difficulties
by brave and persistent attacks unaided by others; the other
evil is a habit of consuming long hours in the preperation of a
lesson that should be prepared in thirty minutes, if all the
powers of mind are fresh and at command. An average child
may spend three hours in the preparation of an arithmetic
lesson. Indeed, in repeated efforts to solve one of the socalled "conundrums," a whole family may spend the entire
evening. One of the unpleasant results of the next day is
that the teacher who conducts the lesson never knows the
exact capacity and rate of progress of his pupils; in the
recitation he probes the knowledge and preparation of the
pupil, plus an unknown amount of preparatory work borrowed from parents and others. He even increases the length of
the lessons, and requires more work at home, when the amount
already exceeds the unaided capacity of the pupil.
The lessons should be arranged so as to-bring in sucaexercises as furnish relief from intellectual tension between others
that make large demands on the thinking powers. Such exercises as singing and calisthenics, writing and drawing, also
reading, are of the nature of a relief from those reCitations

58

III. THE SCHOOL PROGRAM.

In order to find a place in the elementary school for the
several branches recommended in this report, it will be necessary to use economically the time allotted for the school
•4Thls section of th e report has been thought to assail the principle
of concentration which is emphasized so strongly by the Herbartian1.
It is reported that such an artificial center as Robinson Crusoe has been
advocated by some German pedagog ues who call themselves Herbartians but was not advocated by Herbart himself. No such dactrlne is
taught by any Herbartian in this country who has ability enough ~o
gain a hearing and a following. But there is one serious attempt m
this country to teach all the common school branches, or a large number of them, with nature <tud y as the core. The ~erbartians choose
language, literature, and history as the central st_nd.ies. It Is their doctrine that each branch is to be mastered as a d1strnct group of ideas,
but their contention is that the differences between the studies is too
often emphasized to the exclusion of their unity. In much of our
school practice parts of a subject, as arithmetic, or geography, are so
·eparated fram other parts of the same study that the pupils fall to see
~hem as parts of one whole. The school studies may be classified n?t only
Into groups of kindred studies as the mathematics, the natural smences,
and the like, but some of these groups have a closer kinship tha~ have
others; such as language, literature, and history for example. This kln!:!hip can be recogni zod in the Interest of an organized unity of know.l edge
even in the lower grades. But the Herbartians should .not be forced, even
by the misrepresentation of the critics, to go to the ~ther extreme from
that which now prevails so generally, and teach either in theory or
practice, that a thorough mastery of .each study as 8'. distinct body of
knowled~e and a distinct discipline 1s not to be insisted upon .
The
contention is that arithmetic can be better ma.stered as artthmeti~ In
the elementa.ry grades when it is seen in its concrete relations to life;
that is, to the other subjects of study In the school.

59

60

Report of Committee of Fijteen.

Correlation of Studies.

that tax the memory, critical alertness, and introspection, like
arithmetic, grammar, and history.
YourCommitteehasnot been able to agree on the question
whether pupils who leave school early should have a course of
study different from the course of those who are to continue
on into secondary and higher work. It is contended, on the
one hand, that those who leave early should havea more practical course, and that they should dispense with those studies
that seem to be in the nature of preparatory work for secondary and higher education. Such studies as algebra and
Latin, for example, should not be taken up unless the pupil
expects to pursue the same for a sufficient time to complete
the secondary course. It is replied on the other hand, that it
is best to have one course for all, becaus.e any school education
is at best but an initiation for the pupil into the art of learning, and that wherever he leaves off in his school course he
should continue, by the aid of the public library and home
study, in the work of mastering science and literature. It is
further contended that a brief course in higher studies, like
Latin and algebra, instead of being useless, is of more value
than any elementary studies that might replace them . The
first ten lessons in algebra give the pupil the fundamental idea
of the general expression of arithmetical solutions by means
of letters and other symbols. Six months study of it gives
him the pow er to use the method in stating the manifold conditions of a problem in partnership, or in ascertaining a value
that depends on several transformations of the data given. It
is claimed, indeed, that the first few lessons in any branch· are
relatively of more educational value than an equal number of
subsequent lessons , because the fundamental ideas and principles of the new study are placed at the beginning. In Latin,
for instance, the pupil learns in bis first week's study the to
him strange phenomenon of a language that performi:: by
inflections what his own language performs by the use of prepositions and auxiliaries. He is still more surprised to find that
the order of words in a sentence is altogether different in Roman usage from that to which he is accustomed. He further
begins to recognize in the Latin words many roots or stems
which are employed to denote immediate sensuous objects,
.while they have been adopted into bis English tongue to

signify fine shades of distinction in thought or feeling. By
these three things his powers of observation in matters of language are armed, as it were, with new faculties. Nothing
that he bas hitherto learned in grammar is so radical and
far reaching as what he learns of his first week's study of Latin.
The Latin arrangement of words in a sentence indicates a different order of mental arrangement in the process of appre"
hension and expression of thought.
This arrangement is
rendered possible by declensions. This amounts to attaching
prepositions to the ends of the words, which they thus convert
into adjectival or adverbial modifiers; whereas the separate
prepositions of the English must indicate by their position in
the sentence their grammatical relation. These observations,
and the new insight into the etymology of English words having a Latin derivation, are of the nature of mental seeds which
will grow and bear fruit throughout life in the better command of one's native Lougue. All this will come from a very
brief time devoted to Latin in school.

61

Amount of time .for each branch.
Your Committee recommends that an hour of sixty minutes each' week be assigned in the program for each of the
following subjects throughout the eight years:
Physical
eulture, vocal music, oral lessons in natural science (hygiene
to be included among the topics under this head), oral lessons
in biography and general history, and that the same amount
of time each week shall be devoted to drawing from the second
year to the eighth inclusive; to manual training during the
seventh and eighth years so as to include sewing and cookery
for the girls, and work in wood and iron for the boys.
Your Committee recommends that reading be given at
least one lesson each day for the entire eight years, it being
understood, however, that there shall be two or more lessons
each day in reading in the first and second years, in which the
recitation is necessarily very short, because of the inability of
the pupil to give continued close attention, and because he
has little power of applying himself to the work of preparing
lessons by himself. In the first three years the reading should

62

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Correlation of Studies.

be limited to pieces in the colloquial style, but selections from
the classics of the language in prose and in poetry shall be
read to the pupil from time to time, and discussions made of
such features of the selections read as may intP-rest the pupils.
After the third year, your Committee believes that the reading
lesson should be given to selections from classic authors of
English, and that the work of the recitation should be divided
between (a) the elocution, (b) the grammatical peculiarities of
the language, including spelling, definitions, syntactical construction, punctuation, and figures of prosody, and (c) the
literary contents, including the main and accessory ideas 1 the
emotions painted , the deeds described, the devices of sty le to
produce a strong impression on the reader. Your Committee
wishes to lay emphasis on the importance of the last itemthat of literary study-,-which should consume more and more
of the time of th e recitation from grade to grade in the period
from the fourth to the eighth year. In the fourth year and
previously the first item--that of elocution, to secure distinct
enunciation and correct pronunciation-should be most prominent. In the fifth and sixth years the second item--that of
spelling, defining, and punctuation - should predominate
slightly over the other two items. In the yeal's from the fifth
to the eighth there sho uld be some r eading of entire stories,
such as Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Rip Van Winkle,
The Lady of the Lak e, Hiawatha, and similar stories adapted
in style and subject-matter to the capacity of the pupils. An
hour should be devoted each week to conversations on the
salient points of the story, its literary and ethical bearings. 85

Your Committee agrees in the opinion that in teaching
language care should be taken that the pupil practices much
in writing exercises and original · compositions. At first ~he
pupil will use only his colloquial vocabulary; but as he gams
command of the technical vocabularies of geography, arithmetic, and history, and learns the higher literary vocabul~ry of
his language, he will extend his use of words accordmgly.
Daily from the first year the child will prepare some lesson or
portion of a lesson in writing. Your Committee has included
under the head of oral grammar (from the first to the middle
of the fifth year) one phase of this written work devoted to the
study of the literary form and the technicalities of composition
in such exercises as letter writing, written reviews of the
several branches studied, reports of the oral lessons in natural
science and history, paraphrases of the poems and prose literature of the readers, and finally compositions or written essays
on suitable themes assigned by the teacher, but selected from
the fields of knbwledge studied in school. Care should be
taken to criticise all paraphrases of poetry in respect to the
good or bad taste shown in the choice of words; parodies
should never be permitted.••
· thought by your Committee that the old style of

••rt seems pretty evident that this report r e~a rds the t ext-book in
reading as the chief source of material for tha study of literature in
elementary gra.des. Th ere is a phase of literature study that Is analytic and another in whi ch synthesis is the 1Padi 11!f rnov em Pnt.. For
the former th e suggestions in this rPport are worthy of universal appro~a.l. The selections in Appleton 's Fourth R ea der indicate the grade
of lllerature that the author has in mind. Th e writer bas known a
thou~htful teacher to spend six weeks lo the study of "The Bare-foot
Boy." The author of this report. wonld not approve of that, to be surP,
but on e can gain from the outlines of study appen ded to the selections
in Appleton's Fourth and Fifth readers the sort of study be. bas in
view. There is a large class of very thoughtful teachers who do not
find in this ~ort of study all or nearly all that the school should do to
cultivate a taste for good reading. But they generally stand firm in

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

, .'

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L ....e. .co•n•v-.i•c~tion that the reader should have the

most prominen t place
as material for use in teaching the children language and literature.
The pupil must learn how to study masterpieces by an analytic
method In which the Isol a tion of parts prepares for their final unity.
But too much of this analysis has the general effect of the grammatical
analysis and parsing of " Th e Lady of th e Lake." There should be an
equal amount of study of literature in which synthesis Is the leading
procass. Here the mastery of the content Is the leading purpose and
the study of the form Is incidental. It Is but. slowly that a child 11:rows
into an appreciation of the form in literary masterpieces. But the
ethical an.d thought content they can master sooner and it Is by way of
the madtery of these th a t thE>y eventually come into an appreciation of
the beauty of form. The read er is In the sc hool~ for a ll time. It is
equally important that other literary masterpieces, and lu the lower
grades, juvenile literature, be read with only so much analytic study
as will make sure of the meaning and leave the beauty of form to produce wh a t effect it may.
urn Interpreting this paragraph the reader must be care ful to distinguish between paraphrase and pGIT'ody. The latter Is ne ver to be encouraged. The former Is of doubtful value except when employed for
the purpose named in the report.

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.
-composition writing was too formal. It was kept too far away
from the other work of the pupil. Instead of giving a written
account of wh::i.t he had learned in arithmetic, geography,
grammar, history, and natural science, the pupil attempted
artificial descriptions and reflections on such subjects as
·' •Sprin_g," '•Happiness," '•Perseverence," '•Friendship," or
somethrng else outside of the line of his school studies.
·
Your Committee has already expressed its opinion that
a g0od English style is not to be acquired by the study of
grammar so much as by familiarity with great masterpieces
of literature. We especially recommend that pupils who
have taken up the fourth and fifth readers, containing the
selections from great authors, should often be required to
make written paraphrases of prose or poetic models of style,
using their own vocabulary to express the thoughts so far as
possible, and borrowing the recherche words and phrases of
the author, where their own resources fail them. In this way
the pupil learns to see what the great author has done to enrich the language and to furnish adequate means of expression
for what could not be presented in words before, or l:l.t least
not in so happy a manner.
Your Committee believes that every recitation is, in one
aspect of it, an attempt to express the thoughts and information of the lesson in the pupil's own words, and thus an ii:J.itial
exercise in composition. The regular weekly written review :
of the important topics in the several branches studied is a
more elaborat.e exercise in composition, the pupil endeavoring
to collect what he knows and to state it systematically and
in proper language. The punctuation, spelling, syntax, penmanship, choice of words, and style should not, it is true, be
made a matter of criticism in connection with the other lessons,
but only in the language lesson proper. But the pupil will learn
language, all the same, by the written and oral recitations. The
oral grammar lessons from the first year to the middle of the
fifth year, should deal chiefly with the use of language, gradually
introducing the grammatical technique as it is needed.to describe
accurately the correct forms and the usages violated.
Your Committee believes that there is some danger of wast- .
ing the time of the pupil in these oral and written language
lessons in the first four years by confining the work of the

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Correlation of Studies.

65

pupil to the expression of ordinary coµJ.mqnplace · ideas not
related to the subjects of bis other lessons, especill.HY when the
expression is confined to the colloquial vocabulary. Such.
training bas been severely and justly conden:m ed as teaching
what is called prating or gabbling, rather than a noble use of
English speech. It is clear that the pupil 1>hould have a dignified and worthy subject of composition, 1,1.nd, what is so good
for his purpose as the themes he has tried to master ·in his
regular lessons?
The reading lessons ;will give matter for
literary style, the geography for scientifi.c style, and the arithmetic for a business style; for all styles should be learned.
Your Committee recommends that selected lists of words
difficult to spell be made from the reading lessons and mastered
by freq~ent writing and oral spelling during the fourth, fifth,
and sixth years.
Your Committee recommends that the use of a text-book in
. grammar begin with the second half of the fifth year, and continue until the beginning of the study of Latin in the eighth
grade, and that one daily lesson of twenty-five or thirty minutes be devoted to it.*
For Latin we recommend one daily lessor;. of thirty minutes
for the eighth year.
For ari.t hmetic we recommend number
work from the first year to the eighth, one lesson each day, but
the use of the text-book in number should not, in our opinion,
begin until the first quarter of the third year. We recommend
that the applications of elementary algebra to arithmetic, as
hereinbefore explained, be substituted for pure arithmetic in
the seventh and eighth years, a daily lesson being given..
Your committee recommends that penmanship as a separate
branch be taught in the first '3ix years at least three lessons per
week. 87
Geography, in the opinion of your Committee, should begin
with oral lessons in the second year, and with a text-book in the .
87 There is too much time wasted on teaching penmanship in our
graded schools. This recomm.endation that penmanship as a· separate
branch cease with the sixth grade ought to be adopted. The writer recently visited an eighth grade taught by. the principal of a large building in one of the prominent smaller cities of the central states. He was
a good teacher of long experience and taught penmanship by the ap.proved methods, using a good deal of practice paper, the pupils putting

- - . See comment on a preceding page,

:;...

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

third quarter of the third year, and be continued to the close of
the sixth year with one lesson each day, and in the seventh and
eighth years with three lessons per week.*
History of the United States with the use of a text-book,
your Committee recommends for the seventh and the first half
of the eighth year, one lesson each day; the Constitution of
the United States for the third quarter of the eighth year.
The following schedule will show the number of lessons per
week for each quarter of each year:
Reading. Eight years, with daily lessons.
Penmanship. Six years, ten lessons per wee k for first two years, five
for third and fourth, and thr ee for fifth and sixth.
Spalling Li8tS. Fourth, fifth, and sixth years, four lessons per week.
Grammar. Oral, with composition or dictation, first year to middle of
fifth year, text-book from middle of fifth year to close of seventh
year, five lesso ns per week. (Composition writing should be included
under this head . But the written examinations on the several
branches ~ho uld be oountod undor the head of composition work.)
Latin or French or German. Eighth year, five lessons per week.
Arithm etic. Oral first and second year, text-book third to sixth year,
five lessons per week.
Algebra. Seventh and eighth year, five lessons per week.
Geography. Oral lesso ns secon<l year to middle of third year, textbook from middle of third year, five lessons weekly to seventh year,
and three lessons to close of eighth.
Natural Scifince and Hygien11. Sixty minutes per week, eight years.
History of United States. Five hours per week seventh year and first
half of eighth year.
Constitution of UnitPd States. Third quarter in the eighth year.
General. History and Biography. Oral lessons, sixty minutes a week,
eight years.
Physi cal Culture. Sixty minutes a week, eight years.
Vocal Music. Sixty minutes a week, eight years.
Drawing. Sixty minutes a week, eight years.
Man11a.l Training, Sew ing, and Cooking. One-half day each week In
seventh and eighth years.
their best efforts on the copy-book-a few lines at each lesson. The
school had been doin g this for eight months and had that day finished
the copy-books. On inspection of the books its was discovered that· in
thrPe cases in four, and, probably in . five cases In six, the first page
written last September was distinctly better in every respect than the
last pages written in the following May. Sixty hours or twelve soliq
days of the school time of the year had been worse .than wasted.
The pupils all wrote well enough in September. It is quite probable
that they wrote well en ough when they finished the sixth grade. Let
this excellence be ma intain ed in the written exercises of the school and
use the writing hour for something else.

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Correlation of Studies. ·

67

. Your Committee recom!!'.lends recitations of fifteen minutes
in length in the first and second years, of twenty minutes in
length in the third and fourth years, of twenty-five minutes in
the fifth and sixth years, and of thirty minutes in the seventh
and eighth.
The results of this program show for the first and second
years twenty lessons a week of fifteen minutes each, besides
seven other exercises occupying an average of twelve minutes
apiece each day; the total amount of time occupied in the continuous attention of the recitation or class exercises being
twelve hours, ·or an average of two hours and twenty-four minutes per day.
For the third year twenty lessons a week of twenty minutes each, and five general exercises taking up five hours a
week or an average of one hour per day, giving an average
time per day of two hours and twenty minutes for class recitations or exercises.
In the fourth the recitations increase to twenty-four (by
reason of four extra lessons in spelling) and the time occupied
in recitations and exercises to thirteen hours and an average
per day of two hours and thirty-six minutes.

t.

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,.Correlation of Studies.

Report of Committee of Fi/teen.
BaANCnEs.

/ u t year/ 2c1 year/sa year/4th ye'r/5th ye'r/ath ye'r 17th ye'rl8th ye'r

Reading ... ...... 110 lessons a w'kl

5 lessons a week

\';riting . ...... . , 10 lessons a w'k,5 lessons aweekl3 lessons a week

!

I

Spelling Li sts ... ,

/

4 lessons a week

Oral, with composition lessons

English
/
Grammar

I

I

5 lessons a w eek with text-book

/

Algebra .. ....... 1

I

/

15 lessons
a week with/
text-book

Latin ..... .... . . ,
minArithmetic ...... , Oral,
ntes afOweek

I

I

I
I

15 les'ns

15 lessons a week

Geography . . .... , Oral , 60 min'ts a week/•5 lessons a week witll text· /3 lee sons a week
book
Natura! Science I
.
.
+ Hygien e
Sixty mmutes a week
U .S. History . . . ·

I

---,,-5- 1-es-s-on_s_a_/_
week

I I /1:~.

U S. Con stitut'n /
General History . I
Physical
Culture

Oral. sixty m inutes a week

j

Sixty minutes a week
Sixty minutes

Vocal Music ... I

Manual Train .
or Sewing +
Cook e r y

I
20
+7
daily
exer.

1

tutions
L ength
or Reci-

12

I

week divided into tour le•sons

/one-halt day ea .

No. or Lessons . . 20+7
daily
exdr.
Total Hours or
Recitations

11

Sixty minntes a week

Drawing ....... I

I

12

I

20+5
aily
exer.
11 %

I

I
/

I

24
+5
daily
exer.
13

I

27+5
daily
exer.

/ 16li

I

I
I
I

27+5
dally
exer.
16 li

I
I
I

23+6
daily
exer.
17!4

I
I
I

23+6
dally
exer.
17 Y.

15 min. 15 min. 20 min. 20 min. 25 min . 25 min. 30 min. 30 min.
•Begins in second halt year

In the fifth and sixth years the number of recitations increases to twenty-seven per week, owing to the addition of
formal grammar, and the total number of hours required for
all is 161, per week, or an average of 3t per day.
Jn the seventh and eighth years the number of lessson
decreases to twenty-three, history being added, penmanship
and special lessons in spelling discontinued, the time devoted
to geography reduced to three lessons a week.
But the recitation is increased to thirty minutes in length. Manual training occupies a half day, or 2t hours, each week. The total is
19 hours per week or 3-! per day.
The foregoing tabular exhibit shows all of these particulars.
IV.

I

69

METHODS AND ORGANIZATION.

Your Committee is agreed that the time devoted to the
elementary school work shoul.d not be reduced from eight
years, but they have reccommended, as hereinbefore stated,
that in the seventh and eighth years a modified form of algebra
be introduced in place of advanced arithmetic, and that in the
eighth year English grammar yield place to Latin. This
makes, in their opinion, a proper transition to the studies of
the secondary school and is calculated to assist the pupil
materially in bis preparation for that work.
Hitherto, the
change from the work of the elementary school has been too
abrupt, the pupil beginning three formal studies at once,
namely algebra, physical geography, and Latin.
·
Your Committee has found it necessary to discuss the question of methods of teaching in numerous instances, while considering the question of educational values and programs,
liecause the value and time of beginning of the several branches
depends so largely on the method of teaching.
The following recommendations, however, remain for this
part of their report:
They would recommend that the specialization of teacher's
work should not be attempted before the seve:pth or eighth
year of the elementary school and in not more than one or two
studies then. In the secondary school it is expected that a
teacher will teach one or at most two branches. In the ele-

70

l:orrelation of Studies.

Report of Committee of FiJteen.

men tary school, for at least six years, it is better, on the whole,
to have each teacher instruct his pupils in all the branches that
they study, for the reason that only in this way can he hold an
even pressure on the requirements of work, correlating it in
such a manner that no one study absorbs undue attention.
In this way the pupils prepare all their lessons under the
direct supervision of the same teacher, and by their recitations
show wh?'t defects of methods of study there have been in the
preparat10n.
The ethical training is much more successful under this
plan, because the personal influence of a teacher is much
greater when he or she knows minutely the entire scope of the
s~~ool _wo;k:
In the case of the special teacher the responsibi_hty is d1 v1ded and the opportunities of special acquaintance
with character and habits diminished. 88
.
W~th ?ne teacher. who supervises the study and hears all
tern recitat10ns, there is a much better opportunity to cultivate
~he two kinds of attention . .T he teacher divides his pupils
mto two cld.sses and hears one recite while the other class prepares f?r the ne~t lesson. The pupils reciting are required to
pay strict attent10n to the one of their number who is explainmg the point assigned him by the teacher-they are to be on
the alert to notice any mistakes of statement or omissions of
ii;nportant data, they are at the same time to pa.y close attent10n to the remarks of the teacher. This is one kind of
attention which may be called associated critical attention.
The pupils engaged in the preparation of the next lesson are
~msy, each o~e by himself, stu~ying the book and mastering
its f~cts and ideas, and comparmg them one with another, and
ma~10&" the e_ffort to become oblivious of their fellow-pupils, the
recitat10n gomg on, and the teacher. This is another kind of
attention, which is not associated, but an individual effort to
master for one's self without aid a prescribed task and to resist
all distracting influences. These two disciplines in attention
are the best formal training that the school affords.••
8
~ ~his. is a brief but very satisfactory disposition .of the question of
spec1ahzat10n In teaching in the elementary schools. It ls not best for
either t e acher or pupils that specialization sball prevail below the high
school.
8
•This paragraph disposes of the craze for that "individualism" in
t eac hing which discards class exercises. The distinction between lndi-

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71

Your committee has already mentioned a species of faulty
correlation wherein the attempt is made to study all branches
in each, misapplying Jacotot's maxim, "all is in all" (tout est
dans tout).
A frequent error of this kind is the practice of making
every recitation a language lesson, and interrupting the arithmetic, geography, history, literature, or whatever it may be,
by calling the pupil's attention abruptly to something in his
forms of expression, his pronunciation, or to some faulty use of
English; thus turning the entire system of school work into a
series of grammar exercises and weakening the power of continuous thought on the objective contents of the several
branches, by creating a pernicious habit of self-consciousness
in the matter of verbal expression. While your Committee
would not venture to say that there should not be some degree
of attention to the verbal expression in all lessons, it is of the
opinion that it should be limited to criticism of the recitation
for its want of technical accuracy. The technical words in
each branch should be discussed until the pupil is familiar with
their full force. The faulty English should be criticised as
showing confusion of thought or memory, and should be corrected in this sense. But solecisms of speech should be silently
noted by the teacher for discussion in the regular language
lesson. 40
The question of promotion of pupils has occupied frum time
to time very much attention. Your Committee believes that in
many systems of elementary schools, there is injury done by
too much formality in ascertaining whether the pupils of a
vidualistic attention and associated attention is here well set forth.
Individualism In teaching seems to rest upon thP false theory that a
person as Individual has nothing in common with his fellows. On the
contrary, what he ho.s In common with others Is the largest and best
part of him as individual. The Individual Is the "undivided" self, and
the self Is both universal and particular; both many o.nd one; both man
and a man.
40 No more important suggestion as to method of teaching has been
made in this report. The divided attention of the pupil between the
thing to be said and the manner of saving It, when the pupil Is called
upon to do his best thinking, Is one or the worst evils In many good
schools. When the pupil is IQer'-lly reciting what he has already In
mind he can be held .to strict responsibilty for the form in which he expresses it.
·

72

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

given class have completed the work up to a given ar~itrarily
fixed point, and are .ready to take up the next apport10nment
of the work. In the early days of city school systems, when
the office of superintendent was first created, it wa~ thought
necessary to divide up the graded course of study mto years
of work and to hold stated annual examinations to ascertain
how m~ny pupils could be promoted to the next grade or
year's work. All that failed at this examination were set ba~k
at the beginning of the year's work to spend another year m
reviewing it. This was to meet the convenienc~ of. the supe~­
intendent who, it was said, could not hold exarmnat10ns to smt
the wants of individuals or particular classes. ]'ro:m. this arrangement there naturally resulted a great deal of what is called
"marking time. " Pupils who had nearly completed the work of
the year were placed with pupils who had been till no:v a 1ear's
interval below them. Discouragement and demorahzat10n at
the thought of taking up again a course of lessons learned
once before caused many pupils to leave school permaturel?'-.
This evil has been remedied in nearly one-half of the cities
by promoting pupils whenever they have completed the work
of a grade. The constant tendency of classification to become
imperfect by reason of the difference in rates of adv!l'ncement
of the several pupils, owing to disparity in ages, uegree _of
maturity, temperament, and health, makes frequent reclas~1fi­
cation necessary.. This is easily accomplished by promotmg
the few pupils who distance the majority of their classmates
into the next class above, separated as it is or ought to be, by
an interval of less than half a year. The bright pupils thus
promoted have to struggle to make up the ground covered in
the interval between the two classes, but they are nearly
always able to accomplish this, and generally will in two year's
time nPed another pro.r otion from class to class.
The procrustean character of the old city systems bas
been removed by this device.
There remain for mention some other evils besides bad
systems of promotion due to defects of organization. The
school buildings are often with superstitious care kept ap_art
exclusively for particular grades of pupils. The central building erected for high school purposes, though only half filled,
is uot made to relieve the neighboring grammar school,

73

Correlation 'of Studies. '

crowded to such a degree that it !'.Jannot ,receive the biasses
which ought . to be promoted :from ' the~ primary sch.ools. · ' I;t
has happened in_ su?h case.s ~h~t ..this ,~,~~er~,ti~ioil Pfe~ailed s.o
far that the pupils m the primary _scllool;,l?u,i,l dmg w~re f~Pt at
work on s.tudies alreadv· finished-, ·beca11se ·they eo'u ld'·no_t be
transferred to the ·grami:;:iar s~h'ooL' ~ · ··,,:; · '' ~ · '' : · · · · ·
In all good school sy~tems ·the ; pupils take 'up new ·work
1
when they have completed . the old, and 't'be brig~t 'pupil's are.
tra~sferred to higher classes· wh~n 't hey 'have so· far ' ~is_tariced
th_e1r fellows th~t the amoi,mt ;of work ·{\xed : for the --ave,rage
ability Of the Class does not give th'e m 'en'ough "tO 'db. , 0 ' i I ' ' . ·
In conclusion your Committee ' wo'ul~'' state; ' bfw.ay"of explanation, that it ·has been led 1 into' inany-digressfons; in illustrating the details of its recommendations in . this report,
through its desire to make clear the' grounds o,n which it has
based its conclusions and through the hope · that such details will call out a still more thorough-going discussion of the
educational values of branches proposed for elementary'schools,
and of the methods by which those branches may be successfully taught.
·
With a view to increase the interest in this subject your
Committee recommends the publication . of selected . passages
from the papers sent in by invited auxiliary committees and
by volunteers, many of these containing valuable suggestions
not mentioned in this report. 41
WILLIAM T. HARRIS, Chairman,
United States Commissioner of Education, Washing~on, D.C.
0

I dissent from the m.a jority report of the Committee ·in
regard to the following points:

Arithmetic,
1. As to fractions: In teaching arithmetic there does not
exist any greater difficulty in getting small childr~n to grasp
41 It is an interesting fact that the chairman is the only. member of
the committee who signed this -report without dissenting from some of
its doctrines. It will be observed that the non-concurrence of the other
members of the committee is not in the estimate mape of the educational
values of the studies so much as in the method suggested for realizing
these values in the school.
·
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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

the nature of the fraction as such than . in getting them to
grasp the idea of the simpler whole numbers. It is true that
the fractions 1, t, t, etc., as symbols, are a little more complex
than are the single digits; but as to the real meaning, when
once the fractional idea has been properly developed by the
teacher and the significance of the idea apprehended by the
pupil, it is as easily understood as any other simple tr~th. '
Children get the idea of half, third, or quarter of many thmgs
long before they enter school, and they will as readily learn to
add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions as they will wh~le
numbers. In using fractions they will draw diagrams and pictures representing the processes of work as quickly and easily
as they il!u<;trate similar work with integers. It i~ of c~ur<;e
assumed that the teacher knows how to teach arithmetic to
children or rather, how to teach the children how to teach
themsel~es. There is really no valid argument why children
in the second, third, and fourth years in school should n_ot
master the fundamental operations in fractions. Not only this,
they will put the more common fractions into the technique of
·percentage, and do this as well in the second and third ~rades
as at any other time in their future pr~gress. There ~s on~y
one new idea involved in this operation, and that consists in
giving an additional term-per cent-to the fractional symbol.
When one number is a part of another, it may be regarded as
a fractional part or as such a per cent of it. A great deal of
percentage is thus learned by the pupils early in the course.
Children are not hurt by learning. Standing still and lost
motion kill.
Every recitation should reach the fulls wing of the learner's
mind, including all his acquisitions on any _given to~lc_. But
if the teaching of fractions be deferred, as it usually is m m_ost
schools, the time may be materially shortened by teachrng
addition and subtrac tion o'f fractions together. This is simple
enough if different fractions having common denominators are
used at first such as t
t = ?, and t--i =? Then the next
step, after s~fficient drill on this case, is to take two fractions
(simple) of different units of value, as t
t ?,_ and
t--t=? Multiplication and division may be _treated su~ilarly.
In decimals, the pupil is really confronted by a s_impler
form of fractions than the varied forms of common fractions.

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75

Devices and illustrations of a material kind are necessary
to build up in the pupil's mind at the beginning a clear concept
of a tenth, etc., etc., and then to show,.that . one~tenth written
as a decimal is only a short hand"'ay . o~ ."9'riting ·n as .,a ·common fraction, and so on. He sees v.e r.y ,soon that .the decimal is only a shorthand - common f,r;-action, and this notion
he must hold to. This is _tpe . vital poin~ in decimals. The
idea that they C!L!l be cqanged ).nto.-i coo;i.mon .,fractions :and
the reverse at will, establishes tl;ie !,act i,n,. the .. pupil'.s mind
that they are common fractioqs and . not uncommon ones.
Fixing the decimal point will, in a , sho.r:t time, , take . care of
itself.
In teaching arithmetic the steps are: (1) developing the
subject till each pupil gets a clear conception of it; (2)
necessary drill to fix the process; · (3) :connecting the subject with all that has preceded it; (4) its applications; (5)
the pupils ability to sum up clearly and concisely what he
has learned.*
2. As to abridgment: Under this head, I hold that a course
in arithmetic, including simple numbers, fractions, tables of
weights and measures, percentage and interest, and numerical
operations in powers, does not fit a pupil to begin the study of
algebra. That while he may carry the book under his arm to
the schoolroom, he is too poorly" equipped to make headway
on this subtect, and instead of finishing up algebra in a reasonable length of time he is kept. too· long at it, with a strong
probability of his becoming disgusted with it. There are subjects, however, in the common school arithmetic that may be dropped out to great ·advantage, to-wit,
all but the simplest exercises in compound interest, foreign
exchange, all foreign moneys (except reference tables of
values,) annuities, alligation, progressio~; and the entire subjects of percentage and . interest should be condensed ·into
about twenty pages.
Cancellation, factoring, proportion, evolution, and involution should be retained. Cancellation and factoring should be
strongly emphasized owing to their immense ·value in
shortening work in arithmetic, algebra, and in more ad-

* See comment on a preceding page.

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Gorrela&ion of Studies.

vanced subjects. Some drill in the Metric System should not
be omitted.
3. As to mental arithmet-ic: Till the end of the fourt.h year
the pupil does not need a text-book of mental arithnietiq . .· ~o
far his work in arithmetic should be about equ~lly' ' divided
between written and mental. At the beginning 'of ''tlie fifth
year, in adition to his written arithmetic, he shouid begin a
mental arithmetic and continue it three years, recitin'g at least
four mental arithmetic lessons each week. The length of the
recitation should he twenty minutes. !>. pupil. well Qrilled in
mental arithmetic at the end of the seventh year, if.'tbe school
age begins at six, is far better prepared to study algebra than
the one who has not had such a drill. There are· a few problems
in arithmetic that can be solved more easily by algebra than by
the ordinary processes of arithmetic, but there are many numerical problems in equations of the first degree that can be more
easily handled hy mental arithmetic than by algebra. To attack
arithmetical problems by algebra is very much like using a
tremendous lever to lift a feather. Those who have found a
great stumbling-block in arithmetical "conundrums," have, if
the inside facts were known, been looking in the wrong direction. A deficiency of "number-brain-cells" will afford an
adequate explanation.
4. Rearrangement of subjects : There should be a rearranging of the topics in arithmetic so that one subject naturally
leads up to the next. As an illustration, it is easily seen that
whole numbers and fractions can be treated together, and
that with United States money, when the dime is reached i.s the
proper time to begin decimals, and that when "a square" in
surface measure first comes up, the next step is the square of a
number as well as its sqitare root, and that solid measure logically lands the learner among cubes and cube-roots. When he
learns that 1728 cubic inches make one cubic foot be is prepared to find the edge of the cube. What is meant here is
pointing the way to the next above. All depends upon the
teacher's ability to lead the pupil to see conditions and relations. My contention is that truth, so far as one is capable .of
taking hold of it when it is properly presented, is always a
simple affair.
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1.

5. As to algebra: If algebra be commenced at the middle of
year, let the pupil go at it in earne~t, and keep at
it till he has mastered it. Here the best oppor~unities will be
afforded him to connect his algebraic knowle'ge · to his arithmetical knowledge. He builds the one on fop of the other.
The skillful teacher always insists that the learrier shall establish and maintain this relationship between the two subjects.
To switch around the other way'appears to i:ne to be the same
as to omit certain exercises in the common · algebra, · because
they are more briefly and elegantly treated in the calculus. It
is admitted Lhat a higher· branch of mathematics . often throws
much light on the lower branches, but these side-lights should
be employed for the purpose of leading the learner onward to
broader generalizations. Unless one sees the lower clearly, the
higher is obscure. Build solidly the foundation on arithmetic-written and mental-and the higher branches will be
more easily .mastered and time saved.
~he.seventh

History of the fJnited States.
In teaching this branch in the public schools; there does not
appear, so far as I can see, a.ny substantial reason why the
pupils should not study and recite the history of the Rebellion in the same manner that they do the Revolutionary War.
The pupils discuss the late war and the causes that led to it
with an impartiality of feeling that speaks more for their good
sense and clear judgment than any other way by which their
knowledge can be tested. They · may not get hold of all
the causes involved in that conflict, but they get enough to
understand the motives which caused the armies to fight so
heroically, and why the people, both North and South, staked
everything on the is.sue. Just as the men who faced each
other for four years and met so often in a death grapple will
sit down now and quii;itly tal'k over their trials, sufferings, and
conflicts , so do their children talk over these same stirring
scenes. They, too, so far as my experience extends, are
singularly free from bitterness and prejudice. It is certainly
a period of history that they should study.

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Report of Committee oj Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

The spelling-book.

reading, writing, drawing, making, and modeling. The relation
of content and form is that of principle and subordinate, the
latter receiving its chief value from .the former. In a true
education they are so presented to the mind of the child th~t
he instinctively and unconsciously grasps this relation and is
thereby lifted into a higher plane of thinking and living than
if the various arts are taught, as they too ~ommonly are, without reference to ;a noble content. This relation of form to
content is vaguely referred to in the report, but nowhere
definitely treated . It seems to me that it is a true form of correlation, and, as such, deserves special and definite treatment.
Moreover, it is at ' present much in the minds of the teachers
of this country, often in forms that · are misleading and harmful. The fact that it adds the important element of interest
to the dry details of common school life makes it especially
attractive to progressive and earnest teachers, and this
Committee should recognize its importance and make such .an
utterance upon it as will guide the average teacher to a clear
comprehension of its meaning and to a wise use of it in the
school-room.
·
Second, there is a still higher form of correlation which is
definitely referred to later in the report as that "of the several
branches of human learning in the unity of the spiritual view
furnished by religion to our civilization." This in the report
is assigned abolutely to the province of higher education.
While I do not wish to dissent wholly from this view, since it
is doubtless true that this higher unity cannot be comprehensively stated for the use of a child, yet a wise teacher can so
present subjects to even a young child that a sense of tbe unity
of all knowledge will, to a certain degree, be unconsciously
developed in his mind. Jn regard to certain of the great divisions of human knowledge, this relation is so evident that they
cannot be properly presented at all unless the relations be
'made clear. Such studies are history and geography.
2. The recommendations upon the subjec~ of language
should be broadened to cover the production of good English
by the child himself, with .the suggestion of suitable topics and
proper methods. This report confines itself to the absorptive
side of education and ignores that development of power over
nature, man, and self, which comes from free exercise of facul-

In addition to the "spelling-lists," I would supplemen ~
with a good spelling-book. So far, no "word-list," however
well selected, has supplied the place of a spelling-book.
All those schools that threw out the spelling-book and
undertook to teach spelling incidentally or by word.lists failed,
and for the same reason that grammar, arithmetic, geography,
and other branches, cannot be taught incidentally as the pupil
or the class reads Robinson Crusoe, or any other similar .work.
It is an independent study and as such should be pursued.
JAMES M. GREENWOOD,
Superintendent of Schools, Kansas City, Mo.

While affixing my signature to the report of thi.s Committee
as expressing substantial agreement with most of its leading
propositions, I beg leave also to indicate my dissent from certain of its recommendations and to suggest certain additions
which, in my judgment, the report requires.
·
1. There are other forms of true correlation which should
be included with the four mentioned in the first p~rt of the
report and which should be as clearly and fully treated as. are
these four .
The first is that form of c()rrelation which is popularly
understood by the name, and which is also called by some
writers, concentration, co-ordination, unification, and alludes
in general to a division of studies int.:> content and form; by
content meaning that upon which it is fitting that the mind of
the child should dwell, and by form the means or modes of
expression by which thoughts o.re communicated. Or, it may
be thus expressed: The true content of education is, (1), philosophy or the knowledge of man as to his motives and hidden
springs of action indicated in history a~d liter.ature,. and (2),
science, the knowledge of nature and its manifestations and
laws. Its form is art, which is the deliberate, purposeful, and
effective expression to others of that which has been produc~d
within man by contact with other men and with nature, and is
commonly referred to as divided into various arts, such as

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Correlation of Studies.

ties an~ free expression of thought. The study of language as
so°;lethm~ for the child to use himself, the great means by

company arithmetic in the seventh and eighth grades. I do not ·
refer particularly to invel).tionalgeometry, to which t.h e Committee accords a slighting atten tio.n ; 1 but to c;on~tructi ve geometry and the simplest propositions .in demonstrative geome.try,
thus involving the comprehension of ~he .el~mentary geometric
forms and their more obvious relat.ions. .'+l;lis Stl,ldy m~y be
made of especial interest in connection '_w ~ th- . manlial training
and drawing, while it presents fewer diffic_ulties :to the immature mind than the abstract.ions of algebra, s.ince it connects
more directly with the concrete, by w~ich its presimtation may
often be aided.
· 6. While agreeing fully with a majority of the Committee
th ~ t the full scientific method should npt be applied to the
. study of elementary science by young children, yet I aw compelled to favor more of experimentation and observation by
the child, and less of telling by the teacher than the report
would seem to favor.
7. I would go farther than the majority of the Committee,
an.d insist that, except in ra.re cases, there should be no specialization of the teaching force below the High School, and that
even in the first years of the High School, so far as possible,
specialization should be subordinated to a general care of the
child's welfare and oversight of his methods of study, which
are impossible when a corps of teachers give instruction, each
in one subject, and see the student only during the hour of
recita tion .
8. While in the main I agree with the bald statements under
the h ead '•Correlation by synthesis of studies, " since reference
is made to only a very artificial mode of synthesis not at all in
vogue in this country, I must dissent emphatically from this
portion of the report as by inference condemning a most important department of correlation, to which I have referred
earlie r. The doctrine of concentration is not. necessarily artificial; rather it refers to ·the higher unity, of which this Committee has spoken in glowing terms as belonging to the province of higher education. It also includes the division of the
school curriculum into content and form , which this Committee
inferentially adopts in its treatment of language. I do not
believe, any · more than do the majority of the Committee,
that the entire course of study can be literally and exactly

which he is to assert his place in civilization, and exert his influence for good, is nowhere referred to except in the vaguest
way. This statement in regard to language applies almost
equally well to drawing, and here is made evident the importance of the form of correlation to which I have just referred.
The proper material for the trainir>g of the child in expression
is that which is furnished by the study of man and nature.
His mind being filled with high themes, he asserts his individuality, expresses himself in regard to them, and thereby gains
at once both a closer and clearer comprehension of what he
has studied, and also the power by which he may become a
factor in his ~e nera tion .
3. I would wish to omit the word ' ' weekly" where it occurs
in the ~iscussion of the s ubjects of general history and science,
unless it be und erstood to mean that an amount of time in the
school year equivalant to sixty minutes weekly be given to
each of these subjects. It is often better to condense these
studies into certain portions of the year, giving more time to
them each week and using them as the basis, to a certain degree, of language work. I believe that, especially with young
children, clearer con cepts are produced by such connected
study, pursued for few er weeks, than by lessons seven days
apart.
4. In my judgment manual training s hould not be limited
to the seventh and eighth grades, but . should begin in the
ktndergarten with th e simple study of form from objects and
the reproduction in paper of the objects presented, and should
extend, in a s eries of car efully graded lessons, tbrough all the
grades, leaving, h owe ver, the heavier tools, such as the plane,
for the seventh and eig hth grades. By these means an interest
is kep~ up in th e various human industries, sympathy for all
labor is created, a nd a certain degree of skill is developed;
moreover the interest of the pupils in their school is greatly
en~anced.
Manual training has often proved the magnet by
which boys at the restless age have been kept in: school instead
of leaving for some gainful occupation.
5. I desire to suggest that geometry may be so taught as to
be a better mathematical study than algebra to succeed or ac-

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83

Report of Committee of Fifteen.

Correlation of Studies.

centered about a single subject, nor do I believe in any artificial correlation; but there is a natural relation of all know!~
edges, which this Committee admits in various places, and
which is the basis of a proper synthesis of studies, according
to the psychological principal of apperception .
·
9. If by the term '•oral," as applied to lessons in biography
and in natural science, the Committee means, as the word would
imply, that the instruction is to be given in the form of lectures by the teacher, I cannot in full agree with the Committee's conclusions. As I have already stated, in natural science
the work should be largely that of observation, and in history
and biography , while in the very lowest grades the teachers
should tell the children stories, as soon as it is possible .the
desired in formation should be obtained by the student through
reading. To this en d the reading lesson in school should be
properly correlated with his other studies, and he should be
advised as to his hom e reading. The information . thus
obtained should be the subject of conversation in the class,
and should furnish the material for much of the written language work of the children .
10. I must dissent emphatically and entirely from that portion of th e report which recommends that a text-book in
grammar be in trod uced into the fifth year of the child's school
life. It is a question in my mind whether it would not be
better if th e t ext-book were not introduced into the grades
below the High School at all. Certainly it s hould not appear
before the seventh year. Such knowledge of grammar as will
familiarize th e child with the structure of the sentence 1 the
basis of all 1-ang uage, and as will enable him to use correctly
forms of speech which the necessities of expression require,
should be given orally by the teacher in connection with the
child's written work , when needed ; but against the introduction
of a t ext-book upon grammar, the most abstruse of all the subjects of the school c urriculum, when the pupil is not more than
ten years old, I must protest. _ Instead of that the child
should devote much time, some every day, to writing upon
proper them es in the best English he can command, furnish·ing occasion to the teacher to correct such errors as he may
make, and acquirin g by use acquaintance with the correct
forms of gramma r . If, as will doubtless be the case in most

cities, local conditions render the intr~duction of Latin into
the eighth grade inadvis~ble, .this s.tudy o.f grammar may be
made in that grade somewhat more mtensive.
. .
. · 11. If by a text-book i'n geography is rne~nt that which i.s
commonly understood by th~ term, an~ not simply geog~aphi­
cal reading matter, in my Judgment, it should not be mtroduced earlier than the fifth year.
These suggestions and expressions of dissent, i~ approved
by the Committee, would necessitate some ~hange rn the program submitted, the most important of ~hich. would be the
making room for the production of English rn the grades.
This could be provided in the first and seco~d grades °?Y taking some of the time devoted to penma~ship and domg the
work partly in connection wi.th the readrng classes. In .the
third and fourth grades it should take .some of. the time
devoted to penmanship and should be studied also m con?ection with geography and readinp;, an~ in the fifth and sixth
grades it should take all of the time given to grammar . .
I regret to be compelled.to express dissen: upon so many
points, but as most of them appear to me vi~al and as the
differences appear to be not merely superficial but fundamental, affecting and affected by one's entire educational creed,
I cannot do otherwise. To most of the report I most gladly
give my assent and approval.
CHARLES B. GILBERT,
Superintendent of Schools, St. Paul , Minn.

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I agree most heartily with the main features of the f?regoing report of the sub.committee on c?rrelatlon. of. studies.
It is so admirable in its analysis of subJects and m J~.R s.ta~e­
ment of comparative education values, and so suggestive m its
practical applications to t:aching, tha.t I regret .to find myself
appearing in any way to dissent from its c?nclusion~. I?deed
my principal objection is not again~t an~thrng con tai~ed rn. the
report (unless it be against a possible rnference which might
be drawn at one point), but it refers rather . to what seems to
me to be an omission.

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

In addition to all the forms of correlation recommended in
the .report., it seems to me possible to make a correlation of
~ubJects in a program in such way that the selectio~ of sub.
Ject-matter may be to some extent from all fields of" knowledge.
These selections should be such as are related t.o one an.o ther
so as t? be mutually helpful in acquisition. They should be
the mam fea~ures of knowledge in the different departments.
.
These different departments from which the chosen subJects .should be taken must be fundamental ones and must be
sufficiently numerous to represent universal culture. The
report itself indicates conclusively what these are.
Reference is made in the report to various attempts that
have been m'l.de to correlate subjects of study.
.
A very just criticism is made upon that attempt at correlat10n by the use of the story of Robinson Crusoe as a center of
correl~tion. It is d~stin ct ly pointed out in the report that the
experiences of. Robmson Crusee are lacking in many of the
e~ements of uDiversal culture, and in many elements of educat~on needed ~o adjust the individual properly to the civiliza.
t10n of our trme and.country. It is equally evide!1 t that the
attempt to make this story the center of correlation leads
directly to trivial exercises in other subjects in order to make
them ''correlate" with Robinson Crusoe. It is also shown in
the report t~at it naturally leads to fragmentary knowledge
of many subJects very much inferior to that clear, logically
co?ne~ted .knowledge of a subject which may be had by pursmng it without reference to correlating it with all others.
.
It i.s at this point that in my judgment a wrong inference
1s permitted by the report.
. It does not, as it seems to me, follow that, because correlat10n based on Robinson Crusoe is a failure all correlations
having the same gen er al purpose will n ecessarl 1y prove failures.
For my own part I do not believe that correlation needs any
"center," outside the child and its natural activities. If
h?wever, it seems. wi~er t.o give special prominence to an;
given field of acquisit10n, it should, in my .judgment, be accord~d to la~~uage and its closely related subjects-reading,
spellmg, writmg, composing, study of literature, etc., etc.
Indeed lan.gu~ge ~s a m~de of expression is organically related to thmkmg, 10 all fields of knowledge, as form is re-

85

Correlation of Studies.

, lated to coiitent. A "syst~.m'' . or '.'program" . of correlation on this basis would 'se'ek for fundament'al ideas in all the
leading branches and · mak~· 1 them · themes; cif~ t~ough and
occasions of language, ef:e·rc,i s.e:11'. 1.' 11'.h e '.'.sere9.t ioils, would, 'omit
all trivialities in all' :supje,d ts; '-'a'n\l '"woµld "riot , attempt to
correlate for the mere · S3'ke ;(if . cofr~latibµ;: ou't ', would see~ · t.o
correlate wherever by sucll. 1 correfa~fon kiridred·thei:;nes may be
made to ilhiminate oii.e anoth1er.'1 ''To illustrate~ cHtl'c rete' problems in arithmetic would be s6i.ight: · ~h~t ''would "'clearly
develop and illustr~te mathematical ideas; 1and:·iheir1 ~pplica­
tion; but in a s~condary'way \lies.a~rp ble~s· w~.ul'~ ' b:e· squglit
for in the ·various departments -of .concre}e knowledge-,geography, history, physics, chemistry,' 1 ,ast.~cinomy,:: meteorology, political, industria.I, or. dou;ies!tic economy. B~t n.o ne of
. these themes would be s.o relied ~ l.lpon _f°.1'. proble.~s as to co.mpel one to choose unreasonable or trivial ,relat10ns .o n which
to base them. The problems themselves should represent
true and important facts and relations of the ?ther ·.subjects
as surely and rigidly as they ·should involve correct mathematical principles; and al~ such exercises should , be rightly
related to the child's education in language. · ·
·
In like manner; when a child. is engaged in nature study of
any kind, some valuable problems in mathematics may be
found rightly related both to the subject directly in hand and
the child's natural progress in arithm~tic, Also many of the
lessons in nature study are directly related to some of the
1 finest literature ever produced, in which analogies of nature
are made the means of expression for the finest and most
delicate of the human experiences. When the child has
mastered the physical facts on which the literary inspiration is
based is the true time to O'ive him the advantage of the study
of such literature. These"' ideas are not only rightly related
to one another, but to the mind itself. It is, so to speak, the
nascent moment when the mind can easily and fully master
what ~ight else remain an impenetrable ,mystery; and all bec.ause subjects and occasion.' have come into happy conjunction.
This is not the place in which to attempt any elaboration
of such a system of correlation. But I feel that its absence
from the report may make many persons feel that the latter,
is so far incomplete.
L. H. JONES,
Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland, 0.

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Report of Committee of Fifteen.

.
With the main lines of thought in this report I find myself
m agreement. With maqy of its details, howev1fr, I am not in
accord. I regret to have to express my dissent from its conclusions in the following particulars;
.
1. The report makes too l!ttle of the uses of · grammar a~
supply.ing canons of critici&ni which enable the pupil to cor. rect h~s own E~g!ish,. and as furnishing a key .(grammatical
analysis) that gives him the po\'.l"er to see the meaning of obscure or involved sentences.
·
· ·
2. For the study of literature; complete w,b rks are to be
preferred to the selection$ found in !)chool readers. .
.
.
3. That species of language exercise known' as paraphrasmg I regard as harmful.
.
4. The study of number should not be omitted from the
first year in school. Practice in the primary operations of
arithmetic should not be omitted from the seventh and eighth
years. The quadratic equation should be reserved for the
High School.
5. The foreign language introduced into the elementary
school course should be a modern language-French or
German. L atin should be reserved for those who have time
and opportunity to master its literature.
6. In the general programme of studies, the school day is
cut up into too many short periods. The tendency of such a
p~ogramme as that in the text would be to · destroy repose of
mind and render reflection almost an impossibility.
7. I des ire to express my agreement with the opinions
stated in Section s 2, 3, 6, and 9 of Mr. Gilbert's dissenting
opinion; and, in the main , with what Mr. Jones says on the
correlation of studies.
WILLIAM H. MAXWELL,
Superintendent of Schoolis, Brooklyn, N. Y.
EDITORIAL NOTE.
By permission of Dr. Harris, we have publisfled his paper
on "The Old Psychology vs. The New," as an appendix to this
repo~t.
It. will help the reader to understand better not only
the d1scuss10n on psychology, but many other things pertaining
to both theory and practice which the report contains,

APPENDIX.
THE OLD PSYCHOLOGY
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NEW.
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I understand that this . q~~stion includes under the term
"new psychology" only two classes of inyestigat~on, namely,
what is known as "physiological pi;ychology" datm~ from the
discovery of Broca in 1861, ~n.d what is k,nowi;i as child-study,
including the researc4e.s . 9f ,;professor Preyer . and ..of Dr.
Stanley Hall, their co-workers and disciples. .
.
All other studies of mind from ancient tunes to the present time whether based on induction or deduction, whether
a priori 'as rational psychology, or a posteriori ~~ empirical
psychology, should be called the "old psychol~gy.
It.seems
to me that . both of these psychologies a.re of immense importance-that neither is a substitute for the other, or to be neglected by the teacher who wishes to know scLentifically the
mind that he is supposed to educate.
. .
.
For I must hold -that there is a constitution of the mmd
common to all rational beings-a rational nature which may
be discovered by introspection. and distinguished from. the
transient and variable characteristics which are determmed
in large manner by environment and conditions of development.
I would name as by far the most important knowledge
from this source, the distinction of the soul into se~eral stages
as that manifested in plant life-called. by. Ans tot.le the
nutritive or vegetable soul; the soul as active rn sens~tion a~d
locomotion, or the animal soul; the rational soul manifested m
imagination, memory, reflection, anil in pure thou~ht. T~e
distinction of active and passive reason made by Aristotle m
his famous treatise on the soul and so often re-d.iscovered or
verified by profound thinkers in the history of Rh~l~sophy-~s
the principle of this classificati?n of sou~-activiti~s. On it
is founded the philosophica.l doctrme of the immortality of the
soul. In fact, not only the ooctrine of immortality but also
the doctrines of theism and the freedom of the will are based
on this rock of the old psychology developed by Aristotle, out

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Appendix.

.Appendix.

of the hints of Plato or Socrates. ,· Q:o,d >' freedom, and immortality are the three good gifts : of pb'.ilosophy according to
Novalis; they are all derived from the insight that finds in
pure thought the independent se.lf-1;J.ctiv:ity of ~he s.Q41 and sees
in it the only possible type of being for a first principle of the
world-a Creator. The idea of self-activity is moreover the
basal idea of free will.
·
The very concept of will is impossible on the basis . of empirical thinking. For the understanding as Coleridge defined
it deals with relations between objects, and finds causal relations everywhere but not self-activity or will. It .tri~s to explain each thing through its environment-and it never rests
until it has traced the phenomena of an object to a ground in
something else outside.
That the fundam ental condition ot introspection is the admission of this idea of self activity is evident, if we consider
that the world of self consciousness contains only feelings, volitions, and ideas. Each one of these is two-fold, implying
subject and object. There are two poles to each; feeling is
nothing unless it have a subject that feels, and unless the self
that feels is the object of the feeling. So volition implies a
self that acts, and moreover a determination or limitation of
the subject issuing in an objective deed-a volition has the
twofold aspect of subject and object. So, too, an idea is always thought as a determination of the self which thinks itor defines it-it is conceived by the mind-it, too, involves
subject and obj ect .
Now, by no possibility can external observation discover
any such twofold objects in space and time. All objects are
dead results, or in a process of becoming through some external
cause.
·
If we discriminate dead objects from living objects and
recognize plants, animals, and men before us, we do it because
we interpret the forms, shapes, and movements before us as
indicative of a self-determining soul within the object. We
transfer to the object by an act of inference, an internality of
life, feeling, volition , or thought such as we know directly only
by introspection, and can only Jfoow thus.
.
To expand this theme one would show the importance of
these distinctions of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Leibnitz, in mak-

ing an account of the spiritual life of man-an inventorying
the principles of his civilization, and making clear and con sistent his views of the world.
To live is one thing, but to give a rational and consistent
account of one's life is a different and difficult matter. The old
psychology succeeded in doing this by these fundamental distinctions, and all new attempts at psychology either prove
abortive or else soon fall into line with the old psychology, so
far as these essentials are concerned-they end· in affirming
self-activity as more substantial than .ma~erial th~ngs, and. in
the admission of various grades -of reahzat10n of this self-acti Vi ty or soul.
.
.
. .
·
Another very important step m this recogmt~on of the
·
contents of self-consciousness which the German thmkers have
added to the old psychology is th~ recognitio~ of. the characteristic of universality and necessity as the criteri?n. of _w hat
is in the constitution of mind itself as contra distmgmshed
from experience or empirical content. By this time and sp~ce,
the categories of quality and qua?ity, the laws ~f. causality,
identity and included middle, the ideas of self-a?tivity, moral
responsibility and religion, all transcend experience and are
formed by introspection..
.
.
It is their application which constitutes. experie~ce: and
experience would be impossible unless the. mmd ha~ m itself
these powers a prio'ri, for these po';ers. ~ake expe~i~nce possible. If we could not furnish the mtmt10m: of rnfimte space
and time we could not perceive objects of experience-nor unless we c~uld furnish the category of causality could we refer
our sensations to objects as causes.
.
.
Universal and necessary ideas are furmshed by the mmd
itself and not derived from experience, although our consciou~ness of them may date from our application of them to
the content of experience.
.
.
Formal logic, with its judgments and syllogisms, its
figures and moods, should be , regarded also as a part of
rational psychology in so far as it reveals to us .the forms of
action of .t he thinking r.e ason.
·
. ·
·
AlHhese contributions of.the old psychology are of priceless value aS: giving us the means _to unders~a~~ th~ place we
occupy in the universe with our ideals of civilization. They

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.Appendix.

furnish u~ direct!v~ po~e~, they give us the regulative ideals
of education, rehgion, Jurisprudence politics and the general
conduct of life.
'
'
·
. Bu~ if the old psychology has furnisheC. these substantial
thmgs, it has not furnished all that is desirable.
'rhere is a realm of conditions which must be understood
before man can be made to realize his ideals.
·
The product of nature is an animal, and not a civilized
man_. How can man react upon nature; how can be ascend out
of his own natu~al conditions-how can he rise from the stage
o_f sense-perception to that of reflection-how from ·mer.e ·reflection to mere thought-how can be put off his state of slavery
to the category of thing and environment and rise to the
category of self-activity? This is to ask h~w can he ascend
from a mechanical view of the world to an ethical view of it?
Certainly he must know the bodily conditions that limit or enthrall the soul. He must be able to recognize what activity
tends to fix th~ sou~ in a lower order of thought and action,
and what exercise will tend to lift it to a higha order.
To en~merate some of these enthralling conditions
throu~h which the soul passes necessarily if it ever comes to
t?e highest culture, we must name the influences and attractions of. one's habitat, its climate and soil, its outlook, its
means _of conn ection with the rest of the world. Then next
there is the race and stock of which one comes-'black · red
yellow, o~ white; ?orthern or southern-European, inhe~iting
all the evil tend e n ?i~s ~nd all the good aspirations. Then the
temperament and id10smcracy of the individual as his natural
talents ?r h~s genius ; how d~ep these all lie as predetermining
causes_ lil his career! If he is alone the efficient cause or the
free _will-at leas t. these conditions of habitat, race, and iltock
furmsh the ~a~erial that he is to quarry and build into the
temple of bis life-a Parthenon, a Pantheon, or only a mud
hut or a snow house
· ·
Then come othe~ natural elements to b~ regarded-those
of se~-:-the seven ages from infancy to seniHty-th~ physicar
conditions that belong to sleep and dreams and the waking:
state_-the health and disease of the body-the insane tendenc1e~--~b.e res~lts of habits in hardening and' fixing : the life
of the md1v1dual 1n some lower round of activity.

Of all these, the laws of growth from infancy to mature
age, especially conc~rn the educator.
.
. There is for man, as contrasted with lower animals, along
period of helpless infancy. Prof. John Fiske has shown the
importance of this fact to the theory of evolution as applied to
man. Basing his theory on some hints of, Wallace · and Spencer, he has explained_how the differentiation of the primitive
sa_vage man from · the animal gi;oi;ps must have been accomphshed. Where psychical life is complex there is not time for
all capacities to · become organized before birth. The prolongation of helpless infancy is required for the development of
ma~'s adaptations to the spiritual environment implied in the
habits and ar..ts and modes of behavior of the social community
into which man is born. He is born first as an infant bodyhe must be born second as an ethical soul or else he cannot become human. The conditions are of extreme complexity.
This is the most important contribution of the doctrine of
evolution to educatioq. Doctor Nicholas Murray Butler has
pointed out that the Greek philosopher Anaximander more
~han two thousand years ago spoke of tbe prolonged period of
mfancy as a reason for believing that in the beginning, man
had an origin from animals of a different species from himself.
Th e Greek did not perceive the relation of this ' prolonged in fancy 'to the adjustment of the complex physical and spiritual
activities of the child to his environment.
In the light of this discovery, 'we may see what an im .
portant bearing the r es ults of child-study and physiological
psychology will have on education. For is it not evide nt, that
if the child is at any epoch of his long period of helplessness
inured into any habit or fixed form of activity belonging to a
lower stage of development, the tendency will be to arrest
gl'Owth at that standpoint and make it difficult or next to impossible to continue the growth of the child into higher and
more civilized forms of soul-activity.
A severe drill in mechanical ·habits of memorizing or. calculating-any over cultivation of sense-perception in tender
years, may so arrest the development of the soul at a mechanical method of thinking, and prevent the further g~owth into
spirit~al insight.
Especially on the second plane of thought, that which fol-

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Appenaix.

lows sense-perception and the mechanical stage of thinking,
namely the stage of noticing mere relations and of classifying
by mere likeness or difference, or even the search for causal
relations, thel'e is most danger of this arrested development.
The absorption of the gaze upon adjustments within the machine prevents us from seeing the machine as a whole. The
attention to details of coloring and drawing may prevent one
from seeing the significance o_f the great work of art.
The habit of parsing every sentence that one sees may
prevent one from enjoying a sonnet of Wordsworth. Too
much counting and calculating may at a tender age set the
mind in a mechanical habit of looking for mere numerical relations in whatever it sees. Certainly the young savage who
is taught to see in nature only the traces that mark the passage of a wild animal or perhaps of a warrior foe, has stopped
his growth of observation at a point not very much above that
of the bound that hunts by scent.
And yet all of these mechanical studies are necessary in
the course of study-they can not be replaced except by
others equally objectionable in the same aspect.
The question is then where to stop and change to other
and higher branches in time to preserve the full momentum of
progress that the child has made.
Professor Woodward bas pointed out that the education
effect of manual training is destroyed by having the pupils
work for the market. It turns the attention towards the
training in skill and the education effect which comes of first
insight is afterwards neglected. The first machine made is an
education to its maker-the second and subsequent machines
made are only a matter of habit. To keep the intellect out of
the abyss of habit and to make the ethical behavior more and
more a ma.tter of unquestioning habit seems to be the desideratum.
Child study will perhaps find its most profitable field of
investigation in this matter of arrested development. If it
can tell the teacher how far to push thoroughness to the
borders of mechanical perfection and when to stop just before
induration and arrest sets in, it will reform aH our methods of
teaching, and it can and will do this. , The new psychology
in its two phases of direct physiological studY. of brain and

".

nerves, and its obseqation of qhild Q.evelopment will show us
how to realize by education the ideals of the highest civilization. The prolonged infancy of man will be in less danger ·
of curtailment through vicious school methods.
·
The orphaned and outcast child becomes precociously
world-wise. But the school can scarcely reclaim the gamin
from the streets of Paris or New York. He has become as
cunning and self-helpful as the water rat, but not in ethical or
spiritual methods. He should have been held back from the
bitter lessons of life by the shielding hand of the family . He
would then have become a positive influence for civilization in
its height and depth. As a gamin, he can live a life only a
little above that of the water rats, and is good only to feed the
fires of revolution.
DR. w. T. HARRIS,
Commissioner of Education..

