tion of teachers of social studies for secondary schools:28 "If it be true that the social studies consist of the elements of economics, government, history and sociology, then the practice of training teachers for the secondary schools in history alone, or economics alone, or government alone, is as wrong as it would be to train them in geometry alone, or trigonometry alone, neglecting the other branches of secondary school mathematics." He goes on further to propose that the college career of prospective teachers of the social studies be directed as those who enter the medical, legal or engineering professions are directed. Doubtless the school and the public will expect more of social science teachers than was expected in the past. It may not suffice, in the future, to say that the teacher has a certain professional training. She may rightly be asked to improve her worth as a teacher and enrich her instructional material from experience gained through contact with the community's problems and the agencies provided by the community to deal with such problems.29 She must expect to face greater responsibilities as the activities of the secondary schools enlarge, and as the importance of the social studies becomes more clearly defined. Surely one is warranted in concluding from this survey that the time has come for the secondary schools and for the social studies therein to fulfill a great mission in the education of the youth of this country, that the secondary schools have come to their own, that they no longer exist as the dependencies of the colleges. Someone has properly spoken of our secondary schools as colleges for the people. The Report of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education appointed by the N. E. A. goes so far as to recommend "that secondary schools admit and provide suitable instruction for all pupils who are in any respect so mature that they would derive more benefit from the secondary school than 28 Bulletin No. 3, 1922, U. S. Bureau of Education. 29 See "The School and the Rest of the Community," Detroit Journal of Education, September, 1921. from the elementary school."30 What a moving spectacle,—these millions of our boys and girls and older students flocking to the doors of the multitude of secondary schools maintained in their behalf. But these boys and girls are the life of the community; they are also its future strength. What they do in the future depends upon what the secondary schools in general and the social sciences in particular do for them now. 30 Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, p. 19. Sonnet To a Pupil of Mine. I sit amid the class-room's sleepy drone, And through the window at the prospect gaze,— And then, depressed, I turn to him alone. Who cheers me through the darkest, dreariest days,- To slip, in doubt, down dark and dismal ways. It is as well that he can never know How much I love him; he is but a boy, One out of many that I daily teach. PAUL MOWBRAY WHEELER. A Conception of a Liberal Education in I American High Schools LESLIE D. ZELENY, STATE TEACHERS' COLLEGE, T is the purpose of this essay to evolve an idea of what a liberal education to be given in American High Schools should be. This will be done by an analysis of the factors given by a number of writers on liberal education, a study of these factors, and the building of a definition based upon these factors. Such a definition should be of more value than one which is made up by any one writer after several hours of cogitation. Let us consider a number of definitions of a liberal education: (1) "It (culture) seeks to do away with classes; to make the best that has been thought and known in the world current everywhere; to make all men live in an atmosphere of sweetness and light, where they may use ideas, as it uses them itself, freely, and not bound by them."1 (2) Mathew Arnold also would include the powers which go to the building up of human nature: "the power of conduct, the power of intellect and knowledge, and the power of social life and manners. . . ."2 (3) "That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained in his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear, cold logic engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order, ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well 1 Arnold, Mathew, "Culture and Anarchy," p. 38. 2 Arnold, Mathew, "Discourse in America," p. 101. as forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of nature and of the laws of her operation; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will; the servant of a tender conscience, who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself. (4) 66 the capacity for constantly expanding the range and accuracy of one's perception of meanings."4 (5) "The problem of education in a democratic society is to do away with the dualism and to construct a course of studies which makes thought a guide of free practice for all and which makes leisure a reward of accepting responsibility for service, rather than a state of exemption from it."5 (6) "We must not only cultivate the child's interests, senses and practical skill, but we must train him to interpret what he thus gets, to the end that he may not only be able to perceive and to do, but that he may know in intellectual terms the significance of what he has perceived and done." (7) "To know, to care about, and to understand the world he lives in." (8) "Not in the things of the past, but in those of the present, should liberal education find its beginnings as well as its results."8 (9) "Consequently, education in a democracy, both within and without the school, should develop in each individual the knowledge, interests, ideals and habits, and powers whereby he will find his place and use that place to shape himself and society toward ever nobler ends." 999 (10) "The present stated objectives of secondary education 3 Huxley, Thomas H., "Science and Education," p. 86. 4 Dewey, John, "Democracy and Education," p. 145. 5 Dewey, John, "Democracy and Education," ch. 7. 6 Flexner, Abraham, "A Modern School." 7 Ibid. 8 Snedden, David. "What of a Liberal Education," p. 117. 9 "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education." are health, command of fundamentals, worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure, ethical character.10 The only statement that seems to be complete, is the one made by the writers of the "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education." Each of the other writers seems to present well some particular point of view. Arnold's idea is clearly colored with the ideals and attitudes of a classical scholar, while Huxley's idea of a liberal education is colored by the scientific point of view. John Dewey thinks chiefly in terms of social service. Flexner wants us to understand the world we live in, and Snedden says that education should find its beginnings as well as its results in the things of the present. The "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education" state that a high school "should develop in each individual the knowledge, interests, ideals, habits and powers, whereby he will find his place and use that place to shape both himself and society toward ever nobler ends." We could discuss and compare these ideas indefinitely; we could make, perhaps, a fine rhetorical statement of liberal education and the aims of the secondary school. Such methods may be interesting, but we propose to adopt a different method. Let us analyze the definition given above. Let us take out all the factors in a liberal education that have been mentioned. A careful reading and study of such a list will lead to an appreciation of the deeper significance of the meaning of a liberal education. List of the Factors to be Considered in Forming an Mathew Arnold, "Culture and Anarchy," p. 38. 1. Do away with classes. 2. To make the best that has been thought and known current everywhere. 10 "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education." |