A Brief Course in the Teaching Process (Electronic book text)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Chapter Xix MEASURING RESULTS IN EDUCATION Efficiency in any line of human endeavor depends upon our ability to evaluate the results which are secured. No one would question the progress which has been made in education during the past hundred years; but one may very justly inquire concerning the efficiency of the work that has been done from the standpoint of the money which has been spent, and the effort and devotion of those who have engaged in teaching. In the mercantile pursuits it has been noted that seven out of every ten failures can be charged directly to a lack of knowledge of facts. Such investigations as we have had in education tend to prove that a like situation is to be found in this field. The failures in education, whether due to a lack of economical use of the funds available, to an inefficient system of organization, or to unintelligent practices in method, are, on the whole, not to be charged to a lack of devotion on the part of those who have given their lives to the schools. Until it is possible to measure the results achieved, the facts of success or failure cannot be established. Of course, no one would deny that real progress is made by the process of trial and success, both in the art of teaching and in the practice of administration. It is true, too, that we shall have to depend in considerable measure upon demonstration as a means of bringing about improvement in current educational practice. It is none the less true, however, that scientific work in education will furnish the basis for the more rapid elimination of the mistakes in current practice, as well as point the way for improved organization of teaching. The science of education will, in its development, occupy relatively thesame position with reference to the art of teaching that the science of medicine occupies with res...