He finds himself against the world, as it were, and bends his energy on conquering, not alone for mere victory's sake but for life's sake. He must sink or swim. So he masters the technical and finds himself a citizen. DISCUSSION C. B. ELLIS. The author of the paper believes thoroly in the teaching of bookkeeping. So do I. I believe, as he does, that every young man should have the opportunity to learn the principles of bookkeeping, but I cannot quite agree with him in the place in the course to which he would assign the subject. If he is going to cut bookkeeping out of the grammar school, he will deprive a large percentage of boys and girls of the opportunity of studying it. Many boys and girls need to study bookkeeping, not for the purpose of putting it to practical use as bookkeepers, but for keeping records of their own. Not every boy can pay tuition to learn how to keep books, but if you put into the ninth grade of the grammar school a short course in bookkeeping, the boy can learn the principles there. The speaker has given us a strong picture of what may be accomplished by the study of accounts. I believe it all, but if what he says can be accomplished by the study of accounts is true, the study of accounts has a decided disciplinary value. Mr. Rohrbach in his text-book on psychology says: "Accuracy is the chiefest intellectual virtue." Now, the gentleman who read the paper has put special emphasis and value on accuracy, and few subjects develop so much that essential quality of accuracy as bookkeeping. A boy cannot keep books unless he is accurate. Now, if Mr. Rohrbach is right, that accuracy is the chiefest intellectual virtue, then bookkeeping must have a disciplinary value without question. If we accept the gentleman's conclusion, we must wipe out our high-school system. The high school gives above all a preparation for life. It does not matter whether the pupil passes on to college before he goes out into life or not; that high-school training is a part of his training and preparation for life. If he is going to be a professional man, and goes thru the high school and college and a professional school beyond that, still that high-school training is an essential part of his preparation for his work. If a boy who is going to college and intends to enter a profession has a right to that high-school training for four years, then this other boy, who has not the opportunity for going to college, and who perhaps has not the fitness for one of the professions, has the same right to a training which shall fit him for usefulness and help him to go out and earn his bread and butter. The speaker is behind the times here. There is no question but what the trend of educational thought today is that our schools shall, so far as possible, fit boys for lives of usefulness when they have left school. THE DISCIPLINARY VALUE OF STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING AS STUDIES W. H. WAGNER, TEACHER OF STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING, COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES, CAL. The value of a subject for study should be measured by the power it develops in the student to think, plan, and execute. The possibilities of mental development involved in the study of stenography and typewriting are unquestionably very great. As educative forces they have few equals. They are especially valuable, not only as cultural, but as utilitarian subjects. The study of these subjects develops the power of expression, which is the soul of education — that power which asserts itself, makes itself felt, and moves the world. Tho largely vocational, they have a high disciplinary value when correlated with other subjects, and it is in this relation that we shall discuss their educational value. The prevalent idea, which has long obtained, that stenography and typewriting, being practical and having a high commercial value, are not disciplinary, is rapidly being dissipated by their general adoption and correlation with other branches in our schools. They have been regarded as mechanical arts which it required no great amount of mental ability to master; and it has been thought that any person of ordinary ability can learn to be a successful stenographer without much effort. Recent experience in the schoolroom with these subjects has, however changed the views of many leading educators in this regard. It is now conceded that stenography and typewriting as studies and practical arts admit of the widest range of mental action. The student of stenography not only thinks, but he executes, or expresses, his thoughts in words and action. On the practical side its advantages are so obvious as hardly to need mention, and its value too great to be measured in dollars and cents. But its greatest value lies in the mental training which its study imparts. No other subject in the school curriculum can excel it as a means of cultivating quickness of thought and concentration of mind. From the first lesson the student of stenography begins to think more quickly than before and to act more promptly in putting upon paper the picture of his mental impressions. He undergoes mental gymnastics which are a sure cure for sluggish and slovenly mental habits. The mind is awakened, becomes alert, quick, and active; hearing is made more keen, and the hand is trained to execute with precision and rapidity. In mental culture stenography as a study compares favorably with other subjects. In many respects it resembles the study of foreign languages. The mental processes involved are much alike. The same faculties are developed and trained ―reason, memory, observation, comparison, investigation, judgment, and conclusion. Both give the student a better command of his mother-tongue; in both, the grammatical laws of language are the basis of interpretation; both give exercise in spoken. language; both introduce the student to literature. Where correlated with other subjects, such as English, history, and geography, dictations may be given in class which will serve to create a lively interest in the subject in hand, and at the same time afford stenographic practice. The intimate relations existing between the study of stenography and that of English makes these subjects mutually helpful in the course. Το pursue a course in stenography without a good knowledge of English is like building a house upon the sand. Learning stenography is a study of English from the practical side, giving the student specific, utilitarian. training in his mother-tongue. The student of stenography works at his English seriously; he gets the true meaning of words, the relation of phrases, or clauses, to other parts of the sentence, their interdependence, and their force; he comprehends construction, becomes familiar with the use of synonyms, and the relations existing between the derivative words and their roots; he studies the sequence of ideas, the development of thought; he corrects, transposes, separates, and reconstructs—in a measure he creates. The process of working out the thought involved in brief, often imperfect, shorthand notes, turning spoken thought thus recorded back into faultless English and correct print, is an exercise which gives a discipline of the greatest value and a practical command of the mother-tongue which can be gotten in no other way. The study of stenography and typewriting acts as a corrective in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, and style. It also serves to form habits of neatness, accuracy, and form. In an examination recently given for the selection of eight young men for cadetships at West Point and Annapolis, the applicants were all graduates of high schools and were chosen with special reference to their good standing as pupils. Every one of the eight were rejected, however, for lack of thoroness in the elementary English branches. The state representative where the applications were made says there can be no question about the justice of the decisions and declares that the case in point is simply a striking evidence of the fact that the American public-school system is defective. It indicates that not enough attention is paid to the educational foundation and too much to the superstructure, pupils being rushed thru the grammar schools without proper elementary training. Another instance where an examination was given high-school graduates for entrance to a university, nearly one-half failed because they were unable to spell words in common use. The following is quoted from a high-school principal, who testifies to the effectiveness of the study of shorthand as a corrective and having disoiplinary value. He says: I have heretofore held that none of our business studies could be compared in cultural value with our common secondary school studies, but I am getting away from this theory, when I see what good results our school is accomplishing. I appreciate that the study of shorthand, besides the practical gain it offers by being a means of getting certain facts and of noting them with little time or energy as compared with writing, supplements our work in English in the lines of spelling, punctuation, and paragraphing, and particularly in pronunciation. It is of value as it emphasizes the importance of neatness and accuracy, and at the same time demands habits of close and concentrated attention to the matter in hand. I also see how it is helpful to the memory and to a quick-witted presence of mind in the one who seeks to master it. Stenography and typewriting as studies are the antidote for poor spelling. The treatment goes direct to the root of the disease; it applies the right remedy to each individual case. This is the proper and most effective way to teach spelling. The use of the typewriter makes the operator his own critic. It is commonly known what skill in the technique of English the typesetter acquires. The writing machine affords even greater advantages in this direction. The operator not only sets the type, but he also reads the proof. For discipline in practical English there is no training better than that of proofreading. The value of typewriting, considered as an instrument of manual training, is great, but in cultivating rapid thought and quick action, accuracy, neatness, and general utility it serves a yet higher purpose. The general discipline gained in learning typewriting alone places the study among the most important educational agencies of modern times. The study of stenography and typewriting cultivates concentration. In this age of intense mental and physical activity, competition compels the youth to fight the battles of a strenuous life. Our schools should so shape their courses as to develop concentration of the forces of youth. The present tendency is to scatter. Concentration is highly disciplinary; it is the first element of thoroness which is the golden key to success. Our technical schools afford excellent discipline, because in them the student pursues subjects which, from their utilitarian nature, develop concentration. Reporting a speaker requires intense concentration of mind and physical effort. The mind cannot wander nor the hand cease its action. When the mind and hand become fatigued thru this strenuous effort, they move along lines of least resistance. The work is done in the easiest and most natural way. The "touch" method of learning typewriting is valuable in training the mind and hand to work harmoniously. The disciplinary effect is similar to that of learning the piano-forte, with that difference in favor of the typewriter which the utilitarian has over the purely cultural study. There is no more valuable lesson to the beginner in typewriting than being required to produce perfect work. To make a complete page without a single error requires intense concentration of mind and trains the hand in exactness of movement. Perhaps the most important educative feature of the study of stenography and typewriting is that it teaches the student to think. To be able to think is the first element of successful shorthand writing and notereading. The stenographer must think; he cannot be mechanical and succeed. When transcribing shorthand notes there is the greatest necessity for thinking; bad sentences must be reconstructed, grammatical errors corrected, historical facts looked up, literary quotations verified. The pupil should be taught the necessity of following the thought of what is being said as he records the words of the speaker, and in transcribing his notes to take up the thought and hold to it, that he may see the complete, unbroken chain of ideas, the whole thought, from beginning to end. He should be taught to get behind and under his notes, to read between the lines, to see more than mere stenographic characters on the page, to have a clear concept of the subject-matter in hand; and when that is done we can depend upon it that there will be good, intelligent copy. This is the development of power and its consummate result. This is what stenography and typewriting as studies will do for the student under proper instruction. Teachers should carefully guard against placing the stress of their work upon the mechanics of these subjects which must necessarily turn out poor stenographers who might otherwise be an honor to the shorthand profession. The study of shorthand and typewriting does no less for the pupil than any other subject in our school curriculum, but gives him better mental equipment for an active, useful life and for self-support than many others, while it supplements, corrects, and utilizes all subjects in a way which adds strength to the whole course. It assimilates knowledge, clears the mental vision, teaches what to do, and how and when to do it, in the best and quickest way. In the highest and best sense it disciplines, it educates. REPORT OF ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE HELD FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING THE CURRICULUM SUGGESTED IN THE FOLLOWING REPORT BOSTON, MASS., July 10, 1903. To the Department of Business Education, National Educational Association: At the Detroit meeting of this body, the president elect was authorized to appoint a committee, to which was assigned the work of preparing a monograph on commercial education in the American public schools. The following committee was named: Durand W. Springer, director of commercial department, High School, Ann Arbor, Mich. Cheesman A, Herrick, director of School of Commerce, Central High School, Philadelphia, Pa. Allan Davis, principal of Business High School, Washington, D. C. I. O. Crissy, state inspector of business education, Albany, N. Y. J. H. Francis, principal of Commercial High School, Los Angeles, Cal. H. M. Rowe, author and publisher of business text-books, Baltimore, Md. E. E. Gaylord, director of commercial department, High School, Beverly, Mass. T. W. Bookmyer, principal of Sandusky Business College, Sandusky, O. The first meeting of the committee was held at Philadelphia, March 27-28, 1902, the only absentees being Messrs. Bookmyer amd Francis. During one of the sessions we were favored with the presence of Professor Charles DeGarmo, of Cornell, and Dean Haskins of the School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance of the University of New York. A discussion of the general problems involved occupied our entire time, it being agreed that the course of study outlined should be four years in length. The programs for the departmental meetings, at both Minneapolis and Boston, were arranged with the idea of assisting the committee in its work by securing, in the discussion of the formal papers presented, the opinions and experience of a large number of commercial teachers. In connection with the Minneapolis meeting, the committee held three sessions, with six members present, and an open conference meeting, attended by about one hundred |