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

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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.

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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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THE SERPENTINE Page 13