Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/159

 THE ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL CURRICULUM 147

has been felt in many places, and attempts have been made, both in theory and in practice, to supply the need. Many tend- encies in school practice indicate that the time is ripe for more organized effort than has hitherto been possible. There is less tendency than formerly to occupy children with mere "busy- work." There is an increasing eagerness on the part of teachers of all grades to avail themselves of any opportunity by means of which they can substitute for isolated activities occupations vitally related to the content studies of the period. Teachers of manual training are groping about in search of some clue to the problem of how to co-operate with teachers of other subjects and at the same time preserve the integrity of their own work. The same tendency is manifest in the desire to illustrate the content studies by means of various forms of hand-work. Such tendencies as these, although promising with reference to the temper of the times, are superficial and temporary in their effect. They furnish no principle by means of which to unite head, heart, and hand in a process sufficiently broad and far-reaching in its effects to be truly educative.

The many attempts of educational philosophers to discover a unifying principle need not be reviewed at this time. They serve to suggest that, theoretically at least, the need of such a principle has long been felt. Experiment has added the weight of its evidence toward the same end. Many noteworthy con- tributions have been made. But, in spite of all these, the cur- riculum of the elementary school, except in specially favored localities, is in nearly as confused a state as ever.

During the past ten years the attention of the educational world has been focused upon the work of Professor John Dewey. He, more than any other educational philosopher, embodies the spirit of the new age and finds a genuine reconciliation of con- flicting forces within the educational process itself. His work thus stands in marked contrast to previous attempts at unification which have sought a principle of unity in some one phase of the process or from some external source. His analysis of the educational process as to its form and its content is, perhaps, the most remarkable contribution that has yet been made to