News and Comments
Is Anything Wrong with the Public Evening Schools? Evidently the International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations think that there is, for they put the question to the public in a circular, which they have just distributed. They quote the statement of Dr Thomas M. Balliet, Dean of the School of Pedagogy of the New York University, and former superintendent of schools at Springfield, Mass., who says, “The whole system of public evening schools must be reconstructed at an early date.”
They further quote from an address made by Dr Balliett about a year ago, “I confess I was much puzzled some years ago, when I was superintendent of schools in Springfield, to find that, in spite of all our efforts to improve the evening schools, including a good trade school and classes in mechanical drawing that were well taught, a goodly number of men, instead of accepting the free tuition of the city, would go to the Young Men’s Christian Association classes and pay for their instruction. I have made considertible investigation as to why men should perfer to pay for instruction rather than receive it free in the public evening school. Some of the reasons which I have ascertained and which no doubt explain in part this preference, are the following: ‘’First: Instruction in evening schools usually dfaws a large number of people who are relatively young?that is, boys from fourteen and fifteen up to twenty-five years; mechanics who may perhaps have some reputation in their trade and who wish to perfect themselves in certain technical lines, do not wish to be grouped with boys of that age; they feel that such boys, having come recently from the public schools, are likely to answer some questions better than they can themselves; they may be able to use English better and appear to better advantage. Mature men are often sensitive about the comparisons which the younger members of the class are apt to make at their expense.
“Second: Some men who hold fairly good positions as skilled workmen, prefer1 not to have it known among their fellow workmen that they are obliged to attend school to fit themselves more perfectly for their work. In the Young Men’s Christian Association classes, in some cities at least, they are often treated almost as private students, and are given a degree of individual help which is impossible to give in the large classes of the public evening schools, conducted at public expense. “Third: The public evening schools usually aim at teaching a subject quite systematically and are modeled (possibly too much) after the day schools. Men have intensely pi’actical aims when they come to an evening school, and are unwilling to study systematically an entire subject; they demand that the instruction shall lead directly to the specific things which they want to know. If they are put into classes in which they are obliged to spend a month or more on preliminary work, the connection of which to what they are after they do not see, they will not attend. The Young Men’s Christian Association evening classes meet this special demand better than the evening schools at present do. I feel quite sure that even if the public schools were made ideal, there would be a very considerable demand for instruction under the conditions under which it is given in the Young Men’s Christian Association classes.”
Social Education Meetings.
The Social Education Club of Boston has arranged for two meetings in that city, in cooperation with section L (Education) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A public meeting of a popular’ character will be held on the evening of Wednesday, December 29. On the following (Thursday) morning, a scientific and technical session will be held with section L.
The general topic for both meetings will be “The Equalization of Educational Opportunity,” or “How may the School or College best develop in all Pupils their Possibilities of Usefulness as Members of the Community?” The particular subjects to be discussed include the following:
Retardation in the grades, its causes and its remedies.
(2) The recoil from work, due first to asking too great an effort on the part of pupils, and secondly to asking too little. Does equal work demanded of every pupil lead to this result? Do equal tasks equalize educational opportunities? (3) The motive for study. Can the motive for service to their comrades be made a motive for study and expression on the part of pupils? How can this kind of team play be fitted into the ordinary requirements of the course of study? (4) The differentiation of individuals, and the consequent differences of their work as cooperative members of society.
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