If each pupil in the school knows that he may at any time be remanded to the English department for special treatment, he will not willingly become a candidate for the "hospital."1 4. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS. The amazing increase of attendance upon the public high school, combined with the general extension of the course in English over the entire high-school period, has congested the classes of the English teachers, especially in the large city, almost beyond endurance. From Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago come, reports showing that it is common to assign to a single English teacher 5 or 6 classes, each containing from 30 to 40 pupils. When we remember that the success of the English work depends, especially in the case of composition, very largely upon individual guidance and adequate attention to the written papers, we can see that the assignment of such overwhelming numbers to the English teacher is fatal to results. It certainly need not be pointed out that it is destructive of the teacher's health. These conditions are not wholly necessary. Careful investigations carried on by the committee on the labor and cost of English teaching, a committee working under the joint direction of the Modern Language Association of America and the National Council of Teachers of English, show that relatively the cost of English is less than any other subject in the curriculum. The average annual teaching cost for each pupil of English in the country is about $7. In mathematics it is 23 per cent more; in Latin, 42 per cent more; in German, 36 per cent; in history, 18 per cent more; in science, 75 per cent more; in chemistry alone, 170 per cent more. The average number of pupils assigned to a teacher in English is found to be about 130; in German, 99; in mathematics, 115; in history, 115; in Latin, 96; in science, 80; in chemistry alone, 66. The figures for shop work will be found, both in the matter of cost and in the assignment to the teacher, relatively more favorable to that subject than in the case of those just listed. It is evident that the number of pupils assigned to the teacher in English could be lessened by from 50 to 75 per cent without increasing the cost of that subject over some of the others in the high-school curriculum. Certainly no one would contend that instruction in science is of greater value to the pupils of a democracy than instruction in our language and literature. Nor would anyone who is familiar with modern methods of instruction contend that individual work in the laboratory is any more essential in the work in science than similar individual attention in the case of English. The fact is 1 See Charters, W. W. A Spelling "Hospital" in High School. School Review, 18: 192, March, 1910. merely that a tradition has been built up in favor of small classes with adequate apparatus in the case of science, while no similar tra- * dition has become current in the case of English. It is hoped that the careful investigations carried on by the committee under the direc tion of Prof. Hopkins which, in preliminary form,1 have already been widely published in several States, and which will ultimately appear in the form of a bulletin of the Bureau of Education, will bear fruit in the reduction, both in the number and in the size, of classes in English. Indeed, the earnest of such a reform is seen in the case of cities like Grand Rapids, which has already reduced the number and size of English classes, and in the State of North Dakota, which has done likewise. How general and profound the feeling is that this should be accomplished, is shown in the following resolution, which was unanimously passed at the third annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English held in Chicago in November, 1913: The National Council of Teachers of English approves the steps taken by the North Central Association to limit and decrease the number of pupils assigned to English teachers in high schools, and requests the association and all similar accrediting bodies to recommend for immediate action that schools in which the maximum number of pupils assigned to a single English teacher exceeds 100 be not accredited in English; and it also requests the association and all similar accrediting bodies to take further action at as early a date as seems expedient to reduce this maximum to 80, with due provision, as at present recommended, for necessary time for conference and theme reading counted as teaching time. 5. EXTRA CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES. The burden of the English teacher is in most schools increased by certain extra classroom activities that are fully as important in their way as the regular recitations. These include dramatics, the school paper, and various club activities, such as debating, speaking of pieces, and the like. To these is often added a good deal of responsibility for the work of the pupils in the library. The importance of high-school dramatics and the festival is now becoming well understood. The drama is primarily a thing to be acted, not merely to be read, and hence full appreciation of it demands production, or at least, the witnessing of production upon the stage. Moreover, there are personal and social values to be realized through production which can come in no other way. When the members of a class or several classes combine their forces, appoint committees, carry on rehearsals, criticize results, all under direction but still with individual initiative and freedom, they attain to social power which the recitation in the classroom can never produce. Moreover, it is the duty of the school to prepare for the right use of 1 Issued by the Department of Journalism Press, University of Kansas, 5 cents, post leisure as well as for occupation. More and more the theater and its counterpart, the moving-picture play, are becoming the chief source of entertainment of our people. The school, therefore, must undertake to raise the standard of such performances and to increase the appreciation of the best there may be in them. This the school must undertake to do. That the influence of the school may be far-reaching, even to the extent of raising the standard of plays offered to the public, there can be no question. The value of school dramatics has been well summed up by the committee of the National Council of Teachers of English on plays, under the chairmanship of the late Thacher Guild. In the report of the committee made in November, 1914, and published in the English Journal for January, 1915, appears the following summary: A. The aims of such study should be: 1. To develop the power of discrimination which enables one to recognize in the best drama the enduring literary and artistic values. 2. To develop a permanent interest in reading plays. 3. To develop such artistic and emotional qualities as may be appropriately and successfully stimulated in the exercises of dramatic interpretation (i. e., reading and acting). 4. To develop a spirit of active and intelligent interest in contemporary dramatic entertainment. B. The chief means of attaining these ends (in addition to a study of literary values) are: 1. In the study of each play a proper consideration of its dramatic values; emphasis on the need of visualization; recognition of the relation of the play to the theater of its period and to the general development of the drama. 2. Wider reading of plays, including foreign and contemporary drama; such plays to be assigned or suggested by each teacher according to circumstances. 3. Exercises in arranging tableaux and dramatizing scenes from assigned reading. 4. Definite correlation of the school or class dramatics with the regular work in literature and public speaking, recognizing always, of course, that such productions must be thoroughly entertaining if they are not to defeat their own educational purpose. 5. Some consecutive study, preferably in the upper classes, of the development of the drama, with definite consideration of the relation of the contemporary drama to literature and to society. 6. Encouragement and supervision of attendance on dramatic entertainments, with a view to discussion of values and with special reference to the problem of developing the pupils' taste by utilizing their manifest natural interest. C. The committee recognizes the fact that teachers (especially outside of the city schools) may find it difficult to adopt some of these measures, through (1) lack of special training, (2) lack of opportunity to study the acted drama, and (3) lack of a suitable library. It is none the less desirable to adopt these standards and to attempt to meet the special problems as they arise.. 1 D. The committee feels that in teaching drama in the schools one should plan the work so as to take advantage of the natural interest of the pupils and to preserve in their minds an active sense of the vitality of the art. The proper handling of the school play requires financial organiza-tion, which ought to come under the direction of the budget com-mittee of the school as a whole. It involves, also, the handling of crowds, and hence ushering and other duties attendant upon public audience. It demands, too, certain architectural features that are only beginning to be provided in the American high school. These are particularly a suitable stage, with lighting and dressing rooms, an account of which will be found in a very suggestive article by Walter H. Nichols, which appeared in the English Journal for December, 1914. He points out that from 15 to 30 two-hour rehearsals may be necessary for a successful play to be given publicly, and that for such rehearsals adequate conveniences must be provided. These should include something akin to the old-fashioned greenroom, with halls leading to the dressing rooms on each side, and a revolving stage, which would cost very little more than a good automobile turntable. To these must be added the switchboard for color effects and proper curtains and flies. Further details are to be found in an article by O. B. Sperlin, "The production of plays in high school," which appeared in the English Journal for March, 1916. He explains the process of constituting a committee of pupils and faculty to handle the box office and other business arrangements, and suggests that the money which is obtained be spent for articles of value to the entire school, such as paintings for the walls or books for the library. An excellent presentation of other extra-classroom activities will be found in the English leaflet of the New England Association of Teachers of English, for November, 1915. The editor, Charles S. Thomas, emphasizes the value of the school paper in providing an incentive for better work in composition by offering the reward of publication. He thinks great care should be exercised in the acceptance of articles; only those clear in style, wholesome in humor, and original in treatment being allowed a place. The organization of the staff and the editing and the publishing of the paper will give play to a fine spirit of cooperation and will result in the development of efficiency. Mr. Thomas argues also for the value of debating, provided that it is genuine and informal. He evidently favors contests of the type made famous at Lake Forest College, in which the speakers have a limited time to prepare themselves and must be ready to speak on either side of the question. In this case it is good organization of བས J the school as a whole, and not mere drilling by the coach, which in sures success. Many of those now prominent in public life received their first impetus in the literary society of their high school or college. If nothing more is possible, the class itself, as has been done by one teacher in the Central High School of Kansas City, for example, may be organized into a club and may hold occasional meetings for discussion, recitation, and the presentation of original pieces. The provision for all this becomes ultimately an administrative question, and requires both sympathy and good judgment on the part of the principal or other administrative officer. 6. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE THROUGH COMPOSITION. It seems to be generally agreed that pupils in the junior and senior high schools should obtain such an outlook on the various vocations as will give motive to their school work and at the same time save them from drifting unintelligently into some occupation of which they happen to have knowledge. This outlook is to be obtained, however, not by pursuing a school study known as vocational guidance, but by giving due attention to vocations in the appropriate subjects now in the curriculum. Because of the fact that English composition employs of necessity a large body of interesting and valuable content, this subject lends itself particularly to the study of occupations. The following suggestive outline of work, which was compiled by the English teachers of the Central High School of Grand Rapids, will serve to set forth the possibilities.1 SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES. The vocational guidance work of the seventh and eighth grades is taught in connection with English and geography; and all of the exercises are for composition, either oral or written. They cover such subjects as occupations, simple biography, and the value of an education. The pupil is not marked on how much he knows of those subjects, but on how well he tells what he knows. All the exercises have proved of interest to the pupils, and have filled a longfelt want among teachers of composition, because the subjects seem to be vital and enlarge the horizons of the class. The study of some occupations is less likely to interest the girls. A few general subjects under the study of occupations are the following: (1) The study of a home occupation; (2) this occupation compared with the same occupation in foreign countries; (3) the account of a trip through some manufacturing plant, office building, or store. 1 See also Davis, Jesse P. Vocational and Moral Guidance. |