Of the 15 units offered for entrance at least 7 must be selected from the subjects in groups 1 to 5. Not less than unit may be offered in any subject. The remaining five units may be selected from any subjects for which credit toward graduation is given by the approved school from which the student receives his diploma; but Greek, Latin, French, German (or any language other than English), Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, if offered, but not as above under 1 and 5, must each consist of at least I unit. Latin may not be continued in college unless at least 2 units be offered. SUMMARY OF ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 3 units of English. 3 or more units in a single group, 1–5. 2 or more units in another single group, 1-5. 2 units in subjects selected from any of the groups, 1-5. (Total 10 units in English and groups 1-5.) 5 units selected from any subjects accepted by an approved school for its diploma. Not less than unit will be accepted in any subject. Entrance with conditions is no longer permitted. The plan for curricula within the colleges which was a part of the report from which we have just quoted involves a very careful examination of the work of the first years of the college course. We propose to grade our students so that the inefficient may be eliminated early in the course. We propose to accept the graduates from our co-operating schools and to test these schools thru the efficiency of these graduates. During each of the last two years more than one hundred students were eliminated because they were unable to carry work in the proper way. While it is the desire of the University to have those students who can work effectively in so far as its facilities will permit the University to care for them, it must be understood that the University proposes to increase the standards of scholarship by this careful method of inspection of its own work; also the University has invited secondary-school men to visit the university classes, to inspect the nature and efficiency of the instruction, and to make report to the administration. The reports from secondary-school men will be made the basis of the program for the next annual conference between the University and its co-operating high schools, to the end that both University and high school may have the benefits of co-operative inspection and constructive criticism. The plan adopted further provides for sequences of courses running thruout the four years of the colleges, and details of that statement may be had by those who desire them. DISCUSSION ARTHUR H. CHAMBERLAIN, University of California, Berkeley, Cal.-For years the matter of a closer articulation between secondary school and college has been under consideration. For the most part, however, generalities have been indulged in. President Aley, Dr. Luckey, and Dr. Caldwell have been clean-cut in their statements today and the report of this session will be a valuable contribution. Professor Davis has set forth the new Harvard plan and the report of Mr. Kingsley on "Articulation of High School and College" has been most illuminating. The new program of "Entrance and College Requirements of the University of Chicago," as reviewed by Professor Caldwell, will be far-reaching in its effects. Criticism of the university by the high school has in the past been indulged in frequently. It cannot be denied that, with all its domination, the university has been no small element in raising standards of high schools the country over. Moreover, in many respects our universities are more liberal than are the high schools themselves. At last the time has come to adjust relations and stop talking adjustment. We must cease preaching articulation and begin to articulate. At the expense of being dogmatic and misunderstood I shall, in the interest of time, present to you several propositions. These propositions I shall be pleased to support. Proposition 1.-There should be a closer union of interests than now exists between the secondary school and college. This is a truth universally understood, generally admitted, but seldom practised. To prove it is beside the mark. The man or woman who does not recognize the inadequacy and weakness in the present relations is enjoying to the full the educational slumber-time of the Middle Ages. To awaken such would be a crime. Proposition 2.-To square with the advance thought of the time, both secondary school and college must set their courses toward a common goal. This end must be not only preparation for life but for living today. Education fits for service; hence it must be vocational in the broad use of that term. Proposition 3.-To meet this requirement means that the university must open its doors to every boy and every girl competent to receive instruction therein. The college must, therefore, offer larger opportunities for election. The student must directly, or he must indirectly thru those responsible for his welfare, elect his major or chief subject of study, instead of having this thrust upon him by the college. From related groups of subjects his advisers should then assist him in selecting the remainder of his course. The choice of the major will, in large measure, determine the other subjects to be taken. Proposition 4.-The university shall recognize for entrance any subject pursued successfully in a secondary school of good standing, be that subject Latin or blacksmithing, geometry or domestic science. No definite subject shall be specified for entrance save English alone. Instead of prescribing the subjects that shall be presented for entrance, the college shall take the students as handed over to it by the high school. In the same way the high school shall accept all pupils coming as accredited representatives of the grammar school. Proposition 5.-No teacher, man or woman, who has not had experience in the secondary school should, under normal conditions, be on the instructing staff for Freshmen in the colleges. In the same way no teacher lacking grammar-grade experience should instruct the entrance high-school class. Proposition 6.-The so-called accrediting of secondary schools by colleges must be on the basis of quality of work done, not of the number of subjects offered in the highschool curriculum. The standard of such secondary school may be determined by the progress and fiber of the students as exhibited in their college work. Moreover, the proficiency of the secondary school is determined by the general character of its work, the spirit of the school, and the ability of the pupils. In brief, what we speak of as "atmosphere" is the determining element. The completion of a particular subject or a final ranking in certain required courses is not necessarily a test of fitness. Proposition 7.-Instead of pushing down into the high school from the college certain courses in political science, economics, sociology, mathematics, and pure science, these technical courses must find place in the college. The high school must give greater attention to the fundamentals and to teaching well a few things. It must not spread to the point of superficialty. This means a continued enrichment of the curriculum, but greater freedom in the matter of particular requirements. Proposition 8.-The secondary school is not a fitting-school save for life. The college is not a fitting-school save for the greatest thing in life, which is complete living. The secondary school is a preparation place for an efficient life. In fact, it is an institution in which to live an efficient life here and now without regard to college. The college takes those who are to avail themselves of its privileges and carries them forward to a point of greatest efficiency. Proposition 9.-Under proper adjustment the four years of the secondary school and the four years of the college may be simply blended into eight years of school life. ADELAIDE STEELE BAYLOR, Department of Public Instruction, Indianapolis, Ind.— The maladjustment between secondary schools and higher institutions of learning is one of the vital problems of today in education, and a careful inquiry into causes for these conditions is not only timely, but suggestive of remedies. Many of these causes are plainly in evidence. The pressure from above down, with the good intent of preparing pupils for college, has continually hindered the very thing it attempted to accomplish. Secondary schools have been dominated by college and university requirements, until teachers of high-school subjects have been so absorbed with the letter of these demands that no time has been left to consider the things most needed-the cultivation of individual power of initiative, ability to think and to do. Lack of uniformity among college and university men as to the standards for entrance to these institutions has had its effect. Each man, with an "eye single" to the special requirements for his own department, does not always regard his work in relation to the entire college scheme and other departments. I am of the opinion that there is less common discussion of common problems among the members of faculties of higher institutions of learning, than among those of secondary, elementary, and primary schools. The association that today brings together secondary and college men to discuss questions of common interest is one of the most important educational bodies in the United States, because it is doing more to solve this problem than any other one factor. Again, many university and college men and women are untrained teachers. Standards of requirements have been set for teachers below the higher institutions of learning, but I do not know of any standards that have been set for those within those institutions. When college and university men are trained in the pedagogy of elementary and high-school work, when they have worked in the general lines of school management, the problem will be partially solved. The training, too, of high-school teachers must continually be extended. Scholarship is one of the great things for a teacher to possess, but it will not be of great positive value unless it is tempered and adapted thru a knowledge of children and sane pedagogical methods. In brief-less domination from above down, and more recommendations from secondary-school people; frequent discussion between faculties of both institutions upon common problems, with the attention centered upon the individual rather than subjectmatter and courses of study; better trained teachers in all lines of schoolwork. DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION SECRETARY'S MINUTES OFFICERS President-MISS JANE L. HOXIE, 6021 Woodlawn Ave... .Chicago, Ill. FIRST SESSION.-TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 11, 1911 The Department met in joint session with the Department of Special Education and the Department of Elementary Education. For program see Department of Special Education. Topic: "The School Laggard.” SECOND SESSION.-THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1911 The Kindergarten Department met in Century Hall, at 9:30 A.M. In the absence of the president, Miss Jane L. Hoxie, the session was called to order by the vice-president, Miss Mary E. Gamble. Miss Gamble gave Miss Hoxie's greetings to the assembly, and after a few words of welcome introduced the first speaker, Miss Mari R. Hofer, director of the Chicago Training School for Playground Workers, who read a paper on "Music in the Kindergarten." Miss Katherine Ball, supervisor of drawing in San Francisco schools, followed with an address on "The Development of the Color Sense." She had some very beautiful oriental brocades on exhibition on the walls to illustrate her points. Owing to the sudden death of his mother, Mr. Lester Van Nostrand was unable to appear in person, and his paper on "Milton Bradley" was read by Miss Gertrude Hussay, a representative of Milton Bradley Company. Dr. Richard G. Boone, lecturer on education at the University of California, read a strong paper on "The Kindergarten: Its Influences upon Higher Education." Dr. Boone appeared as a representative of the National Association for the Promotion of Kindergarten Education. A business meeting followed. It was moved, seconded, and adopted that the Chair appoint members to serve on the nominating and resolutions committees, the latter to draw up the resolutions expressing sympathy to Mr. Lester Van Nostrand for the loss of his mother, and also resolutions of regret in regard to the loss of Milton Bradley. Miss Gamble appointed Miss Lucy T. Ellis, of Phoenix, Ariz., Miss Susan Thompson, of Oklahoma, and Miss Mari R. Hofer, of Chicago, Ill., to serve on the nominating committee. Miss Gertrude Hussay was appointed chairman of a committee to be selected by her to draw up the resolutions. Adjournment followed. THIRD SESSION.-FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 14, 1911 Miss Gamble called the meeting to order at Century Hall at 9:30 A.M. and introduced the first speaker, Professor C. E. Rugh, associate professor of education, Univer sity of California, Berkeley, who read a paper entitled, "The Moral Instruction of the Child." Miss Evelyn Pluss, kindergarten training teacher of the Los Angeles Normal School, was next introduced. Her paper was entitled "The Kindergarten as an Ethical Laboratory." The paper on "The Kindergarten as a Factor in Education for Efficiency," by Bertha M. McConkey, supervisor of kindergartens and primary schools, Springfield, Mass., was read by Miss Lucy T. Ellis, director of garden kindergartens, Phoenix, Ariz., as Miss McConkey was unable to come west. Mr. Frank E. Parlin, superintendent of schools, Cambridge, Mass., was detained in the East by the illness of his wife, and Miss Jenkins of Pasadena read his paper entitled "The Kindergarten of the Future." An informal discussion followed, the topic being "The Kindergarten as a Preparation for Life vs. the Kindergarten as a Preparation for the First Grade." Among those who took part were Mrs. North-Whitcomb, of San Francisco, Miss Mary Hannan, of Milwaukee, Wis., Miss Vandergaw, of Oakland, Cal., and Mr. Zelenko, of Moscow, Russia. Mr. Zelenko had recently visited the schools of Brussels, Belgium, and testified to the harmony existing between the kindergarten and the higher grades. The nominating committee then reported the following names: For President-Miss Stella L. Wood, superintendent of kindergarten normal school, Minneapolis, Minn. For Vice-President-Miss Cora B. English, superintendent of public kindergartens, Kansas City, Mo. For Secretary-Miss A. Jessie Davis, kindergarten director, Superior, Wis. It was moved, seconded, and adopted that the Secretary cast the ballot of the Department for these officers. The Committee on Resolutions reported as follows: We, your Committee on Resolutions, beg leave to submit the following report: WHEREAS, Thru Milton Bradley the kindergarten of America was materially strengthened in its early struggles for existence; and WHEREAS, Thruout his whole life he proved a loyal friend and benefactor to our cause; Resolved, That we express our deep appreciation of his friendship and our keen sense of loss in his passing on. Resolved, That we, the members of the Kindergarten Department of the National Education Association, assembled in San Francisco, July 8 to 14, 1911, extend our sympathy to Mr. Van Nostrand in his bereavement thru the loss of his mother. Resolved, That we extend to Miss Mary E. Gamble a vote of thanks for her untiring efforts in promoting the success of the Kindergarten Department of this National Education Association, and to Miss Harriet Huggins for her able assistance; for the day in Oakland, the luncheon, and the many other courtesies extended to us by local kindergartners; to Miss Mayberry for her generosity in lending us the beautiful collection of Japanese tapestries; to Francis Valentine Poster Company for the special kindergarten badge furnished by them. Respectfully submitted, GERTRUDE E. HUSSAY, Chairman The article that appeared in McClure's Magazine for May, 1911, in reference to the New Method of sense training and mental development used by Maria Montessori, of Italy, was mentioned, and Miss Brooks, of Pasadena, reported on a friend's morning visit to one of her schools. Adjournment followed. HARRIET E. HUGGINS, Secretary |