After more than a year's study the Commission issued a statement setting forth some of the areas which needed exploration and improvement by our schools. it seemed to the Commission that secondary education was clearly inadequate in certain major aspects of its work.

Secondary education in the United States did not have clear-cut, definite, central purpose. It had many goals, not one clear purpose in relation to which all others are of secondary importance. True, the high school diploma led to higher social and economic levels. It was believed that a "high school education" was good for youth but few asked seriously, "Good for what?" Neither society nor education knew certainly what the major purpose of the high school should be. The result was that teachers had no sure sense of direction and that boys and girls had no integrating, deeply satisfying school experience.

Schools failed to give students a sincere appreciation of their heritage as American citizens. The study of the history of the United States usually left students without understanding of the way of life for which we have been s1riving throughout our history; it seldom aroused enthusiasm and devotion. American youth left high school with diplomas but without insight into the great political, social, and economic problems of our nation.

Our secondary schools did not prepare adequately for the responsibilities of community life. Schools generally were excellent examples of autocratic, rather than democratic, organization and living. Since little effort was made to lead youth into a clear understanding of the ideals of democracy, most students left school without principles to guide their action as they sought work and a place in adult life. Not many had developed any strong sense of social responsibility or deep concern for the common welfare.

The High school seldom challenged the student of first-rate ability to work up to the level of his intellectual powers. It was easy for him to "get his lessons," pass his courses. The result was that many a brilliant mind developed habits of laziness, carelessness, superficiality. These habits, becoming firmly, established during adolescence, prevented the full development of powers. Even the conscientious student of superior ability did not often find himself seriously involved in a great intellectual enterprise. Seldom was any student 91set on fire" intellectually,, eager to explore on his own, ready, to conquer-difficulties and go through whatever drudgery might be necessary to achieve his purpose. The individual and society were both losers.

Schools neither knew their students well nor guided them wisely. Not often did teachers know students as young human beings striving to find their way into adulthood. Personal guidance was futile, usually involving only an occasional friendly, chat; vocational guidance was limited to classroom study of occupations; and educational guidance was superficial, consisting chiefly of casual counsel concerning the subjects to be "taken" next semester. Few schools were seriously concerned about those who dropped out before graduation or about what happened to those who did receive diplomas.

Schools failed to create conditions necessary for effective learning. In spite of greater understanding of the ways in which human beings learn, teachers persisted in the discredited practice of assigning tasks meaningless to most pupils and of listening to re-citations. The work was all laid out to be done. The teacher's job was to see that the pupil learned what he was supposed to learn. The student's purposes were not enlisted and his concerns were not taken into account. All this was in violation of what had been discovered about the learning process. The classroom was formal and completely dominated by the teacher. Rarely did students and teacher work together upon problems of genuine significance. Seldom did students drive ahead under their own power at tasks which really meant something to them.

Somehow, eagerness to learn grew less year by year as pupils advanced through school. This was not true of all, but it was characteristic of so many that the members of the Commission were seriously disturbed. They recognized that disintegrating and deadening forces outside school were partially responsible for this deplorable result, but they were quite sure that the content and organization of the curriculum had something to do with it.

The Commission was conscious, also, of the fact that the creative energies of students were seldom. released and developed. Students were so busy "doing assignments," meeting demands imposed upon them, that they had little time for anything else. When there was time, they were seldom challenged or permitted to carry out independent work involving individual initiative, fresh combination of thought, invention, construction, or special pill-suits. Although the creative urge may express itself in any field of endeavor, the arts, which afford unusual opportunity in this respect, were looked upon as "fads and frills," non-existent in many schools, inadequately taught in most others. Art, in its various forms and uses, permeates everyday life. In its higher manifestations, it expresses the finest aspirations of the human spirit. Yet, only a few schools provided for their students enriching and satisfying experiences commensurate with the importance of the arts in our culture.

The conventional high school curriculum was far removed front the real concerns of youth. The subjects studied in the classroom were the curriculum; the activities of the students were the extra-curriculum. These activities, initiated and developed by students, were recognized as significant educational experiences, but they were outside the curriculum. There was little realization that much of the work of the classroom was meaningless to students and that they were doing the work assigned chiefly for the "credit" which would add one more toward the total required for a diploma or admission to college. The molds into which education was poured, rather than its essence and spirit, became the goals of pupils and parents alike. This emphasis upon "credits" blinded even the teachers so that they could not see their real task.

Young people wanted to get ready to earn a living, to understand themselves, to learn how to get on with others, to become responsible members of the adult community, to find meaning in living. The curriculum seldom touched upon such genuine problems of living.

The traditional subjects of the curriculum had lost much of their vitality and significance. The purposes they should serve were seldom realized even in the lives of students of distinguished native ability. The study of a foreign language did not often lead to extensive or searching reading of the great literature in that language; history usually was quickly forgotten, leaving no great concepts of human society, no deep understanding of the forces which mold man's des- tiny; science raised few fundamental questions of the nature of man or the universe; mathematics seldom became an effective tool, and even less frequently did it become a challenge to insight and understanding; the study of literature generally failed to heighten appreciation, deepen comprehension, or aid in the interpretation of experience.

Most high school graduates were not competent in the use of the English language. They seldom read books voluntarily and they were unable to express themselves effectively either in speech or writing.

The Commission found little evidence of unity in the work of the typical high school. Subjects and courses had been added until the program, especially of large schools, resembled a picture puzzle, without consistent plan or purpose. It was customary for a pupil to patch together all sorts of pieces-two units here, one there, a half unit elsewhere. His chief purpose was to collect enough pieces to graduate. If there was basic unity underlying subjects, few students discovered it; subjects of study were isolated, planned and taught without reference to the student's other studies or to any unifying purpose.

| Previous Page | Top of Page | Next Page | | 8 Year Home | Chapter 1 Home | Index | Email Comment |