Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/373

Rh in unsanitary quarters have aided the establishment of the most serious obstacle yet discovered to the upward progress of public education.

In the second place, the feeling of disappointment with the results of the newer studies arises from the fact that these studies were introduced before the teachers were prepared to teach them; that for too long they were concerned chiefly with uninteresting formal processes rather than with interesting results; that they were not related to real needs of school and home; and were not properly coordinated with other phases of the curriculum. Much yet remains to be done to assimilate the environment of the school to the environment of the world.

And yet, while we may feel discontented with the situation, and regret the increased difficulties of our work, there is no reason for discouragement. I have no hesitation in saying that in general intelligence, in all-round efficiency, in power of initiative, the pupils whom I see are superior to those of a quarter of a century ago. If the obstacles before us are more. formidable, if the problems are more complicated than those presented to our predecessors, the teachers of America are better organized and better equipped to overcome the obstacles and to solve the problems. He who has sailed in a modern steamship through an ocean storm has seen the mighty vessel cleave the billows and scarcely slacken her speed in the teeth of the hurricane. Down in the depths of the ship men are piling coal on the furnaces and releasing a force—the imprisoned sun-power of uncounted ages—that baffles the waves and defies the whirlwind. And so it is with our ship of state. Come what storms of ignorance or wickedness there may, teachers are supplying the fuel of knowledge and releasing the force of intelligence that will hold our nation in the straight course of progress.

And yet, the teachers of America are still far from satisfied with their achievements. They are dissatisfied with the elementary curriculum, because it seems crowded by the new studies that have been added without diminishing the number of the old. They are dissatisfied with the high school curriculum because the old-style language, mathematics and science course, however suitable it may be for admission to college, does not precisely meet the needs of boys and girls who are going directly into life. They are dissatisfied with the specialized high school, because it seems lacking in some of those attributes of culture in which the old time school was strong. And they are dissatisfied with the college course, because the elective system which has taken the place of the old, prescribed course does not seem to give a strong, intellectual fiber to the weaker students who, too often, follow the path of least resistance. And they are dissatisfied because there is less intelligence, less efficiency and less helpfulness in