Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 39, Number 283, 8 October 1914 — Page 9

. , ..... ,. ............. . .. S 'Applying Efficiency Iffciples to Edpcatiiig CMdireini

A Noted Efficiency Expert Outlines the Weak Spots of Our School System, and Suggests Scientific Business Methods to Get Full Value for the $600,000,000 Spent Yearly on Our Boys and Girls By J. George Frederick, Vice-President Business Bourse.

THE first thing that a man of efficiency education notices after examining present-day education is how very much It is like the condition of a factory before efficiency has been Introduced. These are the points of similarity: (1) The pupils, like the workers in the Inefficient factory, are treated In a mass, without reference to individual differences. (2) The responsibility for results is placed on the pupil and not upon the teacher just as In the inefficient factory, where responsibility is placed upon the workman rather than upon the foreman, where it scientifically belongs. (3) That there Is an effort in the school, as In the inefficient factory, to get a monotonously similar product, Instead of great encouragement for individual Initiative and progressive organization and development. Here are three significant parallels which demonstrate from a new angle the now widely accepted need for better educational methods. Frankly, the inefficiency of modern education Is something to stir the blood of any man or woman who thinks. Considering the six hundred million dollars spent on education each year (a larger sum than any other nation spends), and the obvious and universally inadequate results from it, la surely a call to Immediate action. The most serious evidence of the inefficiency of present-day education (if any one needs such evidence) Is the fact that in office and factory, where the finished products of the schools appear to start the actual work of life, it is necessary to do a very great deal of unlearning building up of discipline, training into concentration, accuracy of observation and other qualities which schools are supposed to have developed, before such raw material is really worth anything. As a well-known business man said to me. recently: "I am really conducting a free school In my office and pay the pupils while they are learning! I am overjoyed when I find only one young man or woman in twenty who has the qualities which proper school training could give them as well or better than I. The rest of the twenty I am obliged to make efficient at my own expense and teach them about the same studies they were supposed to get in school." It is also pitiful how some of the most simple but vital conditions in pupils are overlooked, and the same uniform, mechanical routine forced down their throats. In my office I found In tears one day a girl who was folding nu enclosing circulars, togeiner witn some oth sr girls. The office manager had scolded ler for not getting nearly as many finished as '.lie other girls. Just a little observation proved the fact that the girl's eyes were defective and that she saw things in a blurred way and lould not possibly do the regular day's work. ?ie was otherwise intelligent, but had been roken in spirit and set back ten years bei use some one as far back as the fourth grade I school had failed to observe the girl's need o optical attention. Other girls I have found are deficient in their muscular co-ordinatfon, a thing which a little special training can remedy, and thus have their school and business careers and their entire life affected.

Why FasHomaMe Society Omglit to Have More CMdremi

(One of a Series of Articles Upon Fashionable Society, Written Under Contract for This Newspaper by the American Arbiter of Society Before His Death, Recently.) By the Late Frederick TownsenJ Martin

TWENTY years ago a much debated question was. How many children should a couple have? To-day it seems to be, so far as the great bulk of society people is concerned, solved. It Is because I do not agree at all with the solution arrived at that I am taking occasion to discuss the matter publicly. With ever more rare exceptions the young women of society are looking upon the matter of having children as an unmitigated evil to be escaped. Far too many view the coming of a child as a misfortune. When I was a young man the birth of a child in a family still gave cause for friendly congratulations. To-day I fear It Is a matter largely for commiseration. This is unnatural, Wrong and furthermore dangerous to the country. What society is doing to-day, other classes of people are likely to do to-morrow. So the question is finally, Do we want the typically American element of our population to decrease to the vanishing point? To any such result I am unalterably opposed. Among the middle and professional classes and also among the more aspiring of our working people there is a valid excuse for this policy. These people maintain that they simply cannot afford, under present conditions, to have children. It seems to take the whole income of a large number of them to maintain their present standard of living. It Is very easy for me to understand why they do not wish to have children whose social and intellectual opportunities and whose standard of living will be lower than their own. With the people possessing wealth and leisure, to whom I here especially refer, this economic factor does not weigh. They have money, and time and can easily secure the knowledge required for the careful bringing up of children. Why, then, do they lack the dedesire to have children? I think that the most evident reason Is that

From the purely mental point of view a great many young men and women come from both school and college not only without training, but with a very distinct handicap; they are without zest, initiative, mental curiosity, concentrated energy, ability to think through to the end of a subject. Not only are these qualities lacking In a large number of such applicants for positions, but they have qualities in their place which are as troublesome as weeds in a garden to eliminate. They have developed a cleverness at making excuses and a habit of imitating; perfunctory performance of work which is exasperating and costly. They are adept in making their work look like the real thing in putting up "a good front." But heaven pity you if you lay any real responsibility on them! It has been the custom to - blame each one Individually for this; but It Is the modern efficiency point of view to hold at least equally as much responsible, if not more so, the teacher, the supervisor, the superintendent. We no'wknow"' In factory and office management that it' is unfair and extravagantly expensive to hire somene, sit them down to their work and telf them to "make good." We know that it Is up't6 direc- ' tors of labor to have so studied the science of the particular labor we ask the worker to do that we can instruct him in the exact methods of achieving the best results. The factory or office worker is in exactly the same position, figuratively speaking, as the pupil in the school. Wa are after a certain desirable result from both pupil and worker,. We are the mental superior of those whom we are teaching and guiding: and the same principles which modern efficiency science has found so valuable in factory and office can well be applied to public education. The efficient general constructive plan should in my opinion be something like this. There should be a radical and fundamental change in the public school curriculum and pedagogical procedure, for the so'e purpose ol conserving the zest and mental curiosity of the pupil; with a careful segregation of types so as to apply the individual stimulation necessary. The grading of the schools should not be alone according to set points iu memory knowledge, but also according to condition and type of pupils. Psychological laboratory examinations should be made upon all pupils to test their mental equipment, and a a -tor evolved from such examinations which would individually modify their examination averages. There should also be very especial development of the school curriculum along the prubably most valuable, but little recognized, element that of social contact. It Is noc nearly so much what children leurn out of books at school that counts toward the real end of education as the educative effects and discipline of contact with others. Humanity, when savage, always remains uneducated and unsocialized. The more socialized it becomes, the more educated it becomes. It is even true of the workmen in a shop. No workman can bbcome a successful foreman before be becomes to a certain degree socialized, by which I mean able to work In effective harmony with others; to get the best response out of others; to be sensitive to ie rights and feelings oi others.

the women of society naturally do not wish to give up, even for a short time, their life of pleasure and assume the burdens of motherhood. Let us make an effort to understand U.eir point of view. We may, perhaps, find that it is neither so sordid nor cowardly as many think. Down until even the last generation children were thought to be "sent" by Divine Providence. To refuse to have them was considered to be among the greatest of sins against the authority of Almighty God. Hence rich and poor alike brought into the world as many children as came in due course of the unimpeded processes of nature. Among all classes of people there has now come to be a change of view in this matter. Questions such as these are asked: Do I really want children? Am I performing a true service to the world in having children? Will the child thank me for having brought it into the world? Are there not enough children already here? Had I not much better devote myself to their education and uplift rather than add to the number? These questions naturally turn the old concepts relating to this subject topsy turvy. So we see to begin with that there are two sides to this question. The second reason why so many women of society object to having children Is a physical shrinking from the physical pain and discomfort of child bearing. Their highly organized lives are busy at every turn with the affairs of social life. Their nervous systems are often oversensitized. Our women simply cannot endure the hardships which our, ancestors faced so calmly. So often I hear the mother; of a single child say "I have had one and I never want another." Such statements put fear in the heart of young women who have none at all. The final reason, which is often hinted at but seldom give complete expression, is the least valid of all. A very unworthy attitude of mind indeed Is that which takes the view

Regular Drill Like This Showing the Children How to Use the Tooth Brush Properly Will Save Their Teeth and Add Twentyfive Per Cent to Their Efficiency in Studies.

It is an astounding fact, but true, that the school has no organized provision for this enormously Important side of education. The average pupil goes through school more or less completely unsocialized, or insufficiently socialized; and it has been left tc the haphazard, artificial and often vicious high school college fraternities and similar organizations to take care of it. Yet these hap-hazard organizations are the only available outlets of a great natural division of education some temperaments want or need. It Is perhaps not too much to say that much of the present-day class bitterness, class war and general misunderstanding between labor and capital reactions from the terrlMy exaggerated, unsocialized individualism that has made a Rockefeller possible has beD due 1o generations of lack of social education. Neither is it too much to surmise that had an intelligent effort been possible to giv3 public education in socialization a generation ago we might not to-day be in the conditions of industrial recrimination and upheaval now on. From the lower grades upward social education not abstract study out of bocks alone, but acti'Pl experimental practise in socio! ontact tu uiri be prominent in the curriculum. The Gaorgc Junior Republic idea should, in a mmb - of particulars, be adapted to the public school, tc throw upon the pupil himself actual 6ncial and c'"1c responsibility. Next and hlghl Important is the ev-ordinatioo while Btill in sfccol between actual work and study. Afpres'eut "r11 our educational svstem is based upon pr?raraticn for college to which actually 80 pr cent never go! For this great mass of 80 per cent there chould be provision for actual co-ordination of study room and workshop. A half day at school and a half day in office, shop or factory Is the ide-il. In Germany, Japan and in Cincinnati, where this has teen tried, the results have b-jei thoroughly satisfactory. The increasingly organized movement among employers for "corporation schools" (there was a large convention of employers on this subject just a few weeks ago at Dayton, O.) shows the reality and intensity of interest there is in commercial education among employers. The oeep interest of that it is "vulgar" and "common" to have children. When I hear this suggestion made I sometimes find it hard to make a calm reply. For only a degenerate mind can be so misled as to make room for it. "Were your mother and your father vulgar , and common when they brought you into the world?" I sometimes ask these poor creatures. To me the bearing of a child presents itself to my mind as the most wonderful and beautiful miracle of life. In the presence of a very young babe and its mother I find myself filled with only the tenderest and noblest emotions. Surely this great experience is so much more full of meaning for the parents than for even the mosr intimate friends, so much more profound Id experiences for the mother than for the father this experience must have in it a psychological and spiritual message for womanhood which they can reject only with the greatest danger. I am not contending, please remember, that families should be extremely large. The time for having eight or ten children is surely past. That was natural to a colonial and frontier people. A century ago the country needed population. Diseases almost unchecked by science carried off great hosts. Wars were still looked upon as inevitable and soldiers were needed. "Who, In your opinion," asked Madame De Stael of Napoleon, "is the most distinguished woman of the country?" "She who has tha most children," replied the First Consul, greatly to the displeasure of the brilliant litterateur, who expected to hear her own name spoken. To-day we do not want boys for the battlefields. Nor do we desire a host of children to be ground up in the mills of Mammon. But we do want those who are gifted with the opportunities for the proper bearing and care of children to present to the nation a sound population for he future. Surely our society has a very adequate opinion of its own Importance. It does not look upon itself as an unworthy element in the nation's life. To those whose view of this matter Is somewhat exaggerated, let me ask In all candor, What is the nation going to do when you are all dead? If the leisure class is so valuable a social asset, and I am taking It for granted that it is, ought it not to be a sacred duty on its part to multiply and replenish the earth with its own kind? Let us take a deeper and most serious view of this aspect of the matter. The people of fashionable society are almost entirely composed of our original American stock. Our census reports show that the percentage of this element in our population is constantly decreasing. There are now great industrial cities where less than fifteen per cent of the entire population are composed of those born of American parents. I, for one, am not at all fearful of the effect of the Immigrant upon American life. Our foreign born fellow citizens and their children have done so much

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-:::-:;::: : -i ' - employes is shown by the extensive patronage of correspondence schools, Y. M. C. 1 evening classes ai' many other speci: sources of educate for concrete work. The trouble Is tb; there are two en phatic opinions helt about education onof which is insisting that all education should be classic and cultured, because opportunity for it wi'l not again occur ; while the other insists that one can teach culture while teaching the prac trZ '. is. jVS& &S His Rent. tical work of life. The whole trend of modern thought, and certainly the trend of efficiency science, is to bring into the daily work of the world all the science, art and culture there is. Business and factory men will rejoice and oniy. too gladly measure up to the responsible ities of sharing in tha nsw kind of education along the efficiency lines, for they are every, where complaining now of the waste foisted upJk them through inefficient eduoaMon. The coining of scientific management almost demands and certainly beckons that opportunity. The better education of tlie worker fo- the i.ew Idea of the co-partnership of labor and capital makes it Impossible toe one to piosper without also the other prcsoering. To recapitulate. th6 constructive efficiency suggestions for education might be outlined as follows: (1) Put every pupil through an examination physically and mentally and socially, to get an Individual basis "or adapting the curriculum ft the pupil, rather than tl.6 pupil to the curriculum. (2) Remake the school curriculum along new principles, adding something of the Montessorl idea and the Johnson "organic education" plan. to make our nation what it Is that any observation casting discredit upon them always find3 me quick to respond in their favor. We need the German and the Irishman, the Jew and the Italian, who with their warmer blood, intenser emotions, and their various and peculiar qualities are performing a great and lasting service in the making of America. Our future American people will be less Puritanical and more artistic, less rigid and formal and more spontaneous and brilliant of mind. Yet I am, at heart, ever true to my American blood and Instincts. American history in its entirety is proof enough of the genuineness of our old American stock. While we may welcome every foreign element we have and feel that they can add to the sum of our national life, we must not forget, after all, that we can perhaps do a little more for them than they can do for us. I view the sura of our American national life and culture as being the best in the world. More than a century ago our great citizen, Thomas Jefferson, while in Paris, was called to counsel with the great leaders of the French revolution. I have faith to believe that what DeTocqueville said of us eighty years ago is to be again proven true In the coming generation. Our country must be the first to solve the world wide problems of this age. To meet these problems with strong hearts and a ready confidence our population needs as its backbone a multiplication of its original Anglo-Saxon element. If our middle and professional class, and our upper class, as well, had given us in the last generation of the nineteenth century two millions more of healthy, educated and highminded sons and daughters, we could to-day face the future with greater confidence. Let us return to this problem, as I see 1 among the people of society with whom 1 associate and among whom my most numerous and lasting friendships are rooted. Let me take up the positive arguments in their order. First of all let us discard one which is quite invalid. We often hear it said that people need children because children are required for the mental and spiritual development of the parents. While not without importance this argument cannot be accepted as having real weight. The purpose of having children is not to satisfy a need of the parents. The birth of a child is a gift to the nation. This is the primary consideration. Will our country and the world profit by the life and services of the newly born? This question should be uppermost in the minds of the parents. I maintain that the members of our leisure class have the money and the time, the opportunity and the intelligence, if the latter Is properly applied, to give to the nation a large number of citisens of whom the future will have great need. W have come to a period in our history when the public service is going to draw an ever Increasing, number of young, men and women, from among those who have inherited wealth.

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-The Child's Abilities Should Be Tested witb the Psychological Laboratory Instruments. Instrument Used in Testing Eyesight

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To One Child This Is Just a Picture of People, While to Another It Is a Poor Old Man Turned Out for Not Paying

One of the Binet-Simon Tests, and make the cultural studies and the science of practical value by utilizing technical, trade, industrial and commercial courses for their development. (Remember that the arts are al ready most successfully taught in practical appiicaiion iu lexuien m rautmcipaim. uiu biw where.) (S) Pay marked attention In the curriculum to social education by adopting something ol the Georp-e Junior Republic idea of miniaturing real life in its social relationships. Mske a pupil's ability to co-ordinate bis actions and bis arguments to the minds and conditions abound him count as much as conjugating Greek verbs. (4) Lay all emphasis and stress upon focuring, not general "smatteration" of '"knowledge," but efficient attitude of mind, zest for conquering difficulties, interest, power of accurate observation and logical deduction in practical affairs. These are the important things which have been assvmed to be "fostered b our present curriculums, but which everyone knows are not fostered, but smothered. We cannot have an efficient nation without efficient education adapted to tne life and spirit of the times. ( ... They will choose the various forms of public service, as do people in similar positions la Europe, because it is honorable so to do. I think I have observed a hundred times that lives of idle folly are no longer fashionable. "What have you done, what are your plana?", asks the young society women, of the man she meets to-day. and his popularity in society is coming more and more to depend upon the measure of his real services to the world. I foresee that in the immediate future we are) going to greatly develop every form of public service. We shall need thousands of strong, educated, efficient men and women who do not care to Tnakp anv mora mnnav Tha will v lnA municipal councils and State legislatures, they will study the law and serve as obscure justices. They will become specialists in applied science and serve upon public boards. They will be clear vlsioned to see both sides of our crucial labor problem. Thousands must be willing to serve with no reward but a sens of duties well performed. Let us come face to face with young women of leisure throughout the country and ask of them have you any right to deny this nation an element which you are so well able to present to it? I submit that if you do not wish to take the tlm to properly train your own children, you had better not have them. These children must have a home environment, invigorating, clean, high minded and public spirited. Are you In a position to give them this evironment? If you are, you should have children three, four, five of them. If you are not fitted for the task then your name and influence bad better perish from the earth. Of course there are exceptions. Divine Providence has not seen fit to let the benedictions of parenthood fall upon alL Some must always seek to make good by giving themselves in service in a more general way. The children should seek to do something for all the children of the land. But this should never be an excuse on the part of healthy young people of society, or of the middle and professional classes. The first need is a transformation of mind. Properly understood and entered into parenthood is most dignified and honorable. In itself it is an act of patriotism and of social service. For one to treat it as a Joke Is to place himself intellectually and morally beneath the beasts of the field. It Is a primary duty which rightly performed multiplies the meaning of life. I am a believer la life, which Is the first part of being an optimist. I rejoice in the fact that the world Is grow ing wiser and better. My heart Is filled with rntttude to the countless generations of our ancestors, who through all the countless struggles in the upbuilding of our civilisation multiplied their kind and gave the world a future. The life process is truly good. - That Is why I always stand uncovered and with bowed head in the' presence of the mother, of the father and of"1 the child. -