Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    What the Schools Teach and Might Teach
    What the Schools Teach and Might Teach
    What the Schools Teach and Might Teach
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

    By John Franklin Bobbitt

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

    Related to What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      What the Schools Teach and Might Teach - John Franklin Bobbitt

      The Project Gutenberg eBook, What the Schools Teach and Might Teach, by John Franklin Bobbitt

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

      Author: John Franklin Bobbitt

      Release Date: September 16, 2004 [eBook #13482]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

      ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT THE SCHOOLS TEACH AND MIGHT TEACH***

      E-text prepared by S. R. Ellison, Stan Goodman, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

      WHAT THE SCHOOLS TEACH AND MIGHT TEACH

      by

      FRANKLIN BOBBITT

      Assistant Professor of Educational Administration

      The University of Chicago

      1915

      CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY

      Leonard P. Ayres, Director

      The Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation

      Cleveland, Ohio

        Charles E. Adams, Chairman

        Thomas G. Fitzsimons

        Myrta L. Jones

        Bascom Little

        Victor W. Sincere

        Arthur D. Baldwin, Secretary

        James R. Garfield, Counsel

        Newton D. Baker, Counsel

        Alien T. Burns, Director

      FOREWORD

      This report on What the Schools Teach and Might Teach is one of the 25 sections of the report of the Education Survey of Cleveland conducted by the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation in 1915. Twenty-three of these sections will be published as separate monographs. In addition there will be a larger volume giving a summary of the findings and recommendations relating to the regular work of the public schools, and a second similar volume giving the summary of those sections relating to industrial education. Copies of all these publications may be obtained from the Cleveland Foundation. They may also be obtained from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. A complete list will be found in the back of this volume, together with prices.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

        Foreword

        List of Tables

        Prefatory Statement

        The Point of View

        Reading and Literature

        Spelling

        Handwriting

        Language, Composition, Grammar

        Mathematics

          Algebra

          Geometry

        History

        Civics

        Geography

        Drawing and Applied Art

        Manual Training and Household Arts

        Elementary Science

        High School Science

        Physiology and Hygiene

        Physical Training

        Music

        Foreign Languages

        Differentiation of Courses

        Summary

      LIST OF TABLES

        TABLE

          1. Time given to reading and literature

          2. Sets of supplementary reading books per building

          3. Weeks given to reading of different books in

             High School of Commerce

          4. Time given to spelling

          5. Time given to handwriting

          6. Time given to language, composition, and grammar

          7. Time given to arithmetic

          8. Time given to history

          9. Time given to geography

         10. Time given to drawing

         11. Time given to manual training

         12. Time given to science, physiology, hygiene

         13. Time given to physical training

         14. Time given to music

      PREFATORY STATEMENT

      For an understanding of some of the characteristics of this report it is necessary to mention certain of the conditions under which it was prepared.

      The printed course of study for the elementary schools to be found in June, 1915, the time the facts were gathered for this report, was prepared under a former administration. While its main outlines were still held to, it was being departed from in individual schools in many respects. Except occasionally it was not possible to find record of such departures. It was believed that to accept the printed manual as representing current procedure would do frequent injustice to thoughtful, constructive workers within the system. But it must be remembered that courses of study for the city cover the work of twelve school years in a score and more of subjects, distributed through a hundred buildings. Only a small fraction of this comprehensive program is going on during any week of the school year; and of this fraction only a relatively small amount could actually be visited by one man in the time possible to devote to the task. In the absence of records of work done or of work projected, unduly large weight had to be given to the recommendations set down in the latest published course of study manual.

      New courses of study were being planned for the elementary schools. This in itself indicated that the manual could not longer be regarded as an authoritative expression of the ideas of the administration. Yet with the exception of a good arithmetic course and certain excellent beginnings of a geography course, little indication could be found as to what the details of the new courses were to be. The present report has had to be written at a time when the administration by its acts was rejecting the courses of study laid out in the old manual, and yet before the new courses were formulated. Under the circumstances it was not a safe time for setting forth the facts, since not even the administration knew yet what the new courses were to be in their details. It was not a safe time to be either praising or blaming course of study requirements. The situation was too unformed for either. In the matter of the curriculum, the city was confessedly on the eve of a large constructive program. Its face was toward the future, and not toward the past; not even toward the present.

      It was felt that if the brief space at the disposal of this report could also look chiefly toward the future, and present constructive recommendations concerning things that observation indicated should be kept in mind, it would accomplish its largest service. The time that the author spent in Cleveland was mostly used in observations in the schools, in consultation with teachers and supervisors, and in otherwise ascertaining what appeared to be the main outlines of practice in the various subjects. This was thought to be the point at which further constructive labors would necessarily begin.

      The recommendation of a thing in this report does not indicate that it has hitherto been non-existent or unrecognized in the system. The intention rather is an economical use of the brief space at our disposal in calling attention to what appear to be certain fundamental principles of curriculum-making that seem nowadays more and more to be employed by judicious constructive workers.

      The occasional pointing out of incomplete development of the work of the system is not to be regarded as criticism. Both school people and community should remember that since schools are to fit people for social conditions, and since these conditions are continually changing, the work of the schools must correspondingly change. Social growth is never complete; it is especially rapid in our generation. The work of education in preparing for these ever-new conditions can likewise never be complete, crystallized, perfected. It must grow and

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1