Читать книгу The New Education - Scott Nearing - Страница 6

“Everybody is doing it,” said a high school principal the other day. “I look through the new books and I find it; it stands out prominently in technical as well as in popular magazines; even the educational papers are taking it up—everybody seems to be whacking the schools. Yesterday I picked up a funny sheet on which there were four raps at the schools. One in particular that I remember ran something like this—

“ ‘James,’ said the teacher, ‘if Thomas has three red apples and William has five yellow apples, how many apples have Thomas and William?’

“James looked despondent.

“ ‘Don’t you know?’ queried the teacher, ‘how much three plus five is?’

“ ‘Oh, yes, ma’am, I know the answer, but the formula, ma’am—it’s the formula that appals me.’

“Probably nine-tenths of the people who read that story enjoyed it hugely,” continued the schoolman, “and they enjoyed it because it struck a responsive chord in their memories. At one time or another in their school lives, they, too, bowed in dejection before the tyranny of formulas.”

This criticism of school formulas is not confined to popular sources. Prominent authorities in every field which comes in contact with the school are barbarous in their onslaughts. State and city superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, employers—all have made contribution to the popular clamor. On every hand may be gleaned evidences of an unsatisfied critical spirit.