Inherited Tendencies of Secondary Instruction in the United States (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1913. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... AIMS AND METHODS OF SECONDARY INSTRUCTION Every institution justifies its existing practice by formulating a sympathetic theory. Institutions maintain as well as change their existing status through the influence of some sort of theory. In this case, both the theory and practice of preparatory instruction were inherited from the seventeenth century. The theory was known as the theory of formal discipline. Although the original form of the dogma of formal discipline was based on the faculty psychology which had been successfully exploded by Herbart and others, yet it was held intact by the colleges and superimposed upon the preparatory schools for nearly a century more. It is the breaking-down of the practise based upon this idea and the inability of the colleges and schools to utilize the best psychology of the day that is leading to so much confusion concerning standards of scholarship in our high schools and colleges at the present time. The character of the curriculum and the instruction of the early Latin Grammar school has already been considered. The record of the first and the last of that type of school, the Boston Latin School, under the mastership of Benjamin A. Gould (18141827) shows the nature of the inheritance soon to be bequeathed to the high schools: "For admission boys must be at least nine years old; able to read correctly and with fluency, and to write running hand: They must know all the stops, marks, and abbreviations, and have sufficient knowledge of English grammar to parse common sentences in prose."1 In regard to the methods of instruction in the Latin School, Master Gould goes on to say: "The same individuals do not study Latin one part of the day and Greek the other, but each for a month at a time; and so with mathematics, except...