West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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THE SERPENTINE Page ii HE jiinicir liisli school niovemciit dates back for its inception to 1905, wlicn !■ .. W. L ttle. at the National Educational Association, argued that Secondary education shiudd begin as soon as the elementary pupil has acquired the tools with which he may gain a hij hcr edu- cation. Subsequent to this there were conmiittecs appointed and reports upon reorganization made, h ' inally, it was very generally declared by schoolmen that the change to the six-si.x division is inevitable; and it has now taken place in various ways to meet local conditions. The assumptions upon which are based the reasons for establishing the junior high school are both general and specific : it is generally conceded that there is great dissatisfaction with the old regime of eight years of elementary instruc- tion and four years of secondary school work, and the failure of this plan to meet the social and economic demands of the times. .Vnother widelv expressed as- sumption is that the old plan is accidental and dates back to the free academies that sprung up just after the clrse of the revolution, and is, therefore, out of date. There are many charges against the old plaUj a few of which are: the crowded and inHcxible curriculum in the elementary school, little correlation of subjects, n.) close articulation lictueen the elementary school and the high school, teachers are not properly equipped, methods of instruction are un- pedagogical, pupils are influenced by too few personalities, work is not effectively vocational, promotions arc based on unsound iirinciples, insufli- cient attention given to retarded, normal, and accelerated pupils, tlie postpone- ment of many secondary subjects beyond the proper time for presentation, and in general an overniechanizcd system. Arguing that the above charges are all true, most authorities in education claim that a reorganization of the public school system is necessarj ' and offer the junior high school as a remedy. Four major claims are made for the juuii:r high school: first, it provides better for individual differences of pupils; second, it makes an easier transition from the elementary school to the high school; third, it lessens the elimination of pupils from the school system ; fourth, it offers an opportunity for reform in methods of instruction. The need of provision for individual differences in pupils, especially at the adolescent period, is generally recognized by all who are cognizant of the studies made by psychologists in the last few years. The teaching profession is showing signs of reaction against unifomity in methcds of teaching. A belief has arisen that the problem of individuality has become an acute professional one, and that attention should be given to the individual needs of children in our public schools. This along with the child-study movement in education has stimulated the belief that childhood has infinite varietv.

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Page 10 CLASS NINETEEN SEVENTEEN at Harvard University, where he specialized in Latin and Greek inider such famous men as Professors Goodnow, Greenough, and White, and from which he received tiie degree of A.B. in 1892. Immefhately after his graduation he went to the South Jersey Institute to teach Latin and Mathematics. Here he remained three years, acting as Vice- Principal; the next year. 1895-96, he filled the position of principalship of the High-Preparatory School at ALirquctte, Michigan, from which he resigned the following year to hecome principal of the High School at Shamokin, Pa. After one years successfid work there, in 1897 he resigned to accept a position as head of the Latin department at the West Chester State Normal School where he has remained for twenty years. In 1899, when Dr. A. T. Smith was called to the Principalsliip of the .Mans- field State Normal School, he was unanimously elected Vice-Principal of this school, a position he has held ever since, the longest single term (jf service for the V ' ice-P rincipalship at this school. During his entire career here he has pursued his work in the acquisition of knowledge like a true scholar, becoming more and more saturated with his sub- ject matter, and therefore more and more interesting to his students. A period of faithful and earnest application at the University of Pennsylvania in Lducation and Latin under Drs. Graves and Rolfe, respectively, secured for him in 1915 the degree of A.M. Besides his work both as instructor and student, he is actively connected with various organizations for the promotion of knowledge and happiness. He is affiliated with the National Educational Association: with the Classical Associa- tion of the Middle Atlantic States; with the Society for Promotion of Liberal Arts of Philadelphia; with the League for Enforcement of Peace; with the Harvard and Bucknell Clubs of Philadelphia. Quite recently he was honored with the invitation, an invitation he modestly accepted, to become one of the charter members of Phi Delta Kappa, an honor fraternity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition he has always been actively engaged in religious work, both here in the school, where for a while he was vice-president of the Y. M. C. A., and in the town where he is a deacon in the First Baptist Church. In 1899 he was married to . la Mason, a very successful teacher for ten years in lOne of the public schools of Paterson, N. J., the last year of which she acted as principal. Her activity here m the V. W. C. A., both as president, in which capacity she served faithfully for fifteen years, and as advisor, has added dignity and efficiency to that most splendid agency of good. As a teacher Professor Starkcy presents an usual dry subject in an in- teresting fashion, and is sympathetic, patient, uplifting. His exhaustive study of the life and manners of ancient people enables him to interpret that life to his students, and his work in education has taught him to see the essentials of his subject. During his stay here, the work in Latin has developed from a book in Cassar to all of Cicero and all of V irgil, and the proportion of pupils electing Latin here has been verv high. As a student he is ambitious, industrious, thorough, alive to the latest ideas in education and yet not radical. As ' ice-Principal he has been faithful in the performance of his duties. always trying to act on the basis of the greatest good to the greatest number. As a man he is kind, cheerful, a friend of the students, easy of approach and yet dignified, very democratic in spirit, generous and full of the optimism of life; as such he wields an influence for good in the class-room, on the campus, in the home. All unite in wishing him and his loving wife, along with their dauohter Eleanor the realization of all good things. Ira E. Lady.

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Page 12 CLASS NINETEEN SEVENTEEN Professor Thorndike, of Colunibia University, has made a comprehensive study of the individual differences and gives the following causes: influence of sex, influence of race, differences in intellect due to race, the overlapping in the race, the influence of ancestry, and the influence of education, Psychologists say that there is a point where secondary education should be- gin, and that this occurs at a period coinciding with the dawn of adolescence; that this period is characterized by a marked mental change, which should be recognized in both the content and in the mcthud of instruction; and that a six- year high school course would lend itself in the eleventh and twelfth years to a differentiation along lines of business, mechanical arts, pnd professional prepara- tion. Superintendent E. V. Robinson says: Children differ widely at the age of twelve, and to attempt to teach them all everything offered in the grades is a grievous mistake of the pupil ' s time, the teachers energy, and the people ' s money. The second claim that the new organization makes an easier transition from the elementary school to the high school is well founded. It is recommended that a si.x-ycar course, beginning v ' ith the seventh .grade, is the natural turning point in the pupil ' s life, and that an easier transition can be made from the one-teacher regime to the system of special teachers; that by this the result will be a more closely articulated system with a larger percentage of graduates from the high school. At this time adolescents can be more closely associated in a class by themselves and thus form a better wcrking unit. The third claim that the junior high school lessens elimination is based in theory on tlic sharp Ijreak between the elementary school and the high school. President Butler, of Columbia University, says : I have never known a child who needed more than six years in which to complete the elementary course. Professor Briggs, of the same University, says, that the elemination after the seventh, eighth and ninth grades has been one of the greatest reproaches on the American school system. So far as this plan of the juninr high school has been tried, it has proven the assertion of the claim. The last claim for the junior high school is that it jjrovides for reforms in methods of instruction. When the seventh, eighth and ninth grades are congre- gated at central points they may be taught by specialized teachers who will in- troduce some high school methods and so improve conditions generally. To begin high school methods at the age of twelve will meet the needs of pupils who arc at that age restless and seeking larger and more varied aims. This proposed time scheme of organization makes a better economic division between prepara- tion for life and active life. This plan also makes possible the extension of de- partmental work in the seventh and eighth grades, and is desirable in that it gives the pupil daily contact with several personalities and thereby creates a better intellectual atmosphere. While the junior high school is not a cure for all the ills in education, yet it does present an opportunity for exploration — an exploration of the various school subjects and of the capacities of the individual pupils. But an opportunity is all that any progressive schoolman really desires. Foster Henry Starkly.