Education: The New Mood

In three major U.S. cities last week there were further signs that the nation is pretty well fed up with the philosophy of education that has dominated the public schools for the last three decades. The theme in all three: the growing need to stress not the social but the intellectual in education.

In Detroit. At the request of School Superintendent Samuel Brownell, a committee of businessmen and teachers tackled the question of just how much vocational training should be given high-school students who will not go on to college. Since the techniques of industry change so rapidly, said the committee, probably the best vocational education is the least vocational. Recommended basic curriculum: "English (literature, composition, grammar) throughout the four years; two years of history ; a year of plane geometry and one year of elementary algebra; a year of biology and at least one year of a physical science; an opportunity to elect trigonometry and solid geometry and a second year of physical science; music and art as electives; physical education and other nonacademic offerings properly subordinated to the academic. This, or a similar program, should be the basic curriculum for any high school — academic, business or vocational.''

In San Francisco. The Teachers Association of San Francisco, oldest and boldest of the city's four teacher organizations, launched a bristling attack upon some other targets. Among them: ¶ Automatic promotion : "The elementary teachers are told that a child must not fail nor be held back because he will be 'unhappy.' But will he be happy when he reaches the upper grades and finds himself still unable to read effectively?" ¶ The dogma that the school is responsible for the "whole" child: "As long as instruction for social living takes precedence over those subjects which are designed to equip the student to take his place as a member of the human race, not just his local community, then education of the individual fails miserably . . . The atmosphere of anti-intellectualism will soon stifle our best young minds. Without a doubt progressive education has failed the American public."

In Chicago. At a meeting of 700 professors and presidents of U.S. teachers colleges, Paul Woodring (Let's Talk Sense About Our Schools) warned that a whole new mood has settled over the country. Once, said he, "we wanted every child to be happy and contented and to have a feeling of success. We thought this could best be assured by de-emphasizing standards, competition and grades, by broadening the curriculum and by eliminating the distinction between curricular and extracurricular activities . . . Today the mood of the people has changed. There is a new stress on values and standards, on hard work and more firm adult discipline . . . There is stress on the re-establishment of priorities in education."