Thus far in this chapter an attempt has been made - to indicate the kinds of subject-matter change in the participating schools which departed least from convention. In presenting now the more marked innovations which were made in other schools, it is realized that it is impossible to place the schools in sharply divided groupings. This has been attempted more than once, always with unsatisfactory results.

Schools, like persons, possess so many various characteristics that any classification almost surely gives a false and distorted picture. To see any one of the Thirty Schools clearly the reader should turn to Volume V of this Report, Thirty Schools Tell Their Story, where each school has given an account of its own experience in the Study.

Although no definite grouping of the schools is possible, departures from the conventional high school program have been much greater in some than in others. The visitor who might have difficulty in discovering change in some of the schools would realize at once that distinct innovations had been inaugurated in others. In all probability, finding himself with a teacher and class, he would He unable to recognize the subject as Physics or Chemistry or Biology. Certain facts of physics and chemistry and important principles of biology are used in the work going oil, but the center of organization is something other than the internal logic of any "subject." Teachers and students are driving at something more important to them than learning the content of physics, chemistry, or biology. What is this more important goal? It may be that they are investigating the effect of certain vitamins upon growth, or ]low and why the city keeps its water supply pure, or the nature and effect of certain kinds of artificial lighting. The immediate purpose is satisfaction of the pupils' desire to know and understand; but the larger purpose may be to develop habits of critical thinking and intellectual honesty, to search for true cause and effect relationships. In conducting the investigations the class draws upon physics, biology, and chemistry, using facts and principles, regardless of the specific subject or division to which they logically belong.

To illustrate specifically, the following quotation is taken from the report of one of the public schools;

Science gives man, first, a knowledge of himself and his relationship to other living things; then knowledge about the physical universe in which he lives; and last of all, some conception of his place in this universe of time and space.

We have divided our science sequences in the three years into those aspects, which concern all individuals, not just those who are to Be specialists in some scientific field. In the tenth grade we study the human body, its nature, its functions, its evolution; in the eleventh grade we center attention oil the nature of the environment and the uses man has been able to make of natural forces . . . ; in the twelfth grade, we consider the relationship of man to his universe of time and space, including in our study the development of man's knowledge of the earth and other bodies in space, with particular stress oil the constant change that is going on in the universe. . . .

In the tenth grade, activities are deliberately anthropocentric and are focused on the personal life of the individual adolescent boy and girl. These activities concern the daily life experiences of the student, from the diet of the athlete, to the responsibility of the individual for the health of the community. . . .

The eleventh grade course involves a survey of the physical environment and an intensive study of some aspects of the nature of matter, of the changes in matter, chemical and physical, and of the nature of the various energies-heat, electricity, energy waves, both sound and radiant. It includes also a study of the uses man has made of the forces of nature, the effect of these applications of his knowledge on the life of our day; the possibilities of changing still further many conditions of life by further discoveries of the mysteries of matter and energy.

The twelfth grade course begins with an exploration of time and space-the macrocosm-and with a critical evaluation of the methods all(] limitations of science. It includes the study of the nature of the earth and the changes in its surface and in life forms; the atmosphere . . . ; the moon; the planets and their satellites; the sun . . . ; the frontiers of science.

Understandings such as these should result in an appreciation of the interrelatedness of the fields of science; a willingness to experiment and to accept the conclusions reached from experiments; a critical attitude toward authorities; an attitude of suspended judgment; recognition that all theories are tentative and all truth relative; an awareness of the possibilities open to man through his understanding of the laws of life, and an abiding sense of his dependence upon the creative force which lies beyond and above his reach and his vision. ²

Some of the participating schools are committed to this broad-field type of curriculum. The field of science has been used here for illustration, but this same principle guides in determining content and organization in all other fields. Instead of studying meticulously separated courses in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, the student learns the mathematics involved in the solution of the problem in ,band. So, with other fields similarly organized, the curriculum consists of the broad fields of science, mathematics, language and literature, the arts, social studies, health and physical education, instead of the numerous "subjects" of the usual high school curriculum. The advantages and possibilities of this plan are presented forcefully in the Report of the Progressive Education Association's Commission oil The Secondary School Curriculum. ³

Almost all the schools were trying from the beginning of (he Study to find ways of breaking down the artificial barriers which unfortunately separated teacher from teacher, subject from subject. Lowering or eliminating sharply dividing barriers within a broad field such as science, mathematics, social studies, was not uncommon in schools generally. But many of the Thirty Schools and some others attempted to go further by breaking down walls that separated broad field from broad field. Sometimes attempts were made to combine science and mathematics. This plan was usually abandoned early, for it was found that the relatively meager mathematics content needed in the usual high school science courses could be quickly taught when needed and that the attempt to unite the two subjects had no sound basis. The plan most frequently tried was the fusion of English and the social studies. This combination, with the arts sometimes included, proved to be more satisfactory and profitable. A few schools have found ways to fuse English and social studies into genuine unity, but some schools abandoned that scheme because of difficulties of organization. Usually the obvious and accustomed chronological organization of history became the basis of organization of the unified courses. Soon it was discovered that English became "the handmaiden" of history, that the literature of some periods was too scarce to warrant spending much time on it, and that it became necessary to resort to artificial integration which was deemed worse than the evils which fusion sought to eliminate.

Many teachers began to suspect that there was something fundamentally wrong in attempting to "put subjects together.". They were sure that the vicious divisions which kept teachers and students from discovery of the underlying unity of all knowledge should and can be eliminated, but they were equally sure that a deeper and sounder foundation for integration must he established. The visitor would have found in 1933 enthusiasm for fusion of subjects, but bad be come again in 1936 he would have found doubt, discouragement, and search for something better.

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