The Story Of The Eight-Year Study With Conclusions And Recommendations Volume I

129226

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION PIJBLICATIONS
Commission on the Relation of School' and College

ADVENTURE

IN
AMERICAN EDUCATION

Volume I
The Story of the Eight-Year Study

-AUV : ENXURE : -IN ; ''.MERICAN EDUCATION

6^f//^^AjW^^
T>!^v^vvv^K\^yvV^^^

Volume I
Tfi&fitory of the Eight-Year Study

by
Wilford M. Aikin

Volume II
Exploring the Curriculum

The Work of the Thirty Schools
from the Viewpoint of Curriculum Consultants

by
H. H. Giles, S. P. McCutchen, and A. N. Zechiel

Volume III

Appraising and Recording Student Progress

Evaluation, Records and Reports

in the Thirty Schools

by

Eugene R. Smith, Ralph W. Tyler
and the Evaluation Staff

Volume IV
Did They Succeed in College?

The Follow-up Study of the
Graduates of the Thirty Schools

by

Dean Chamberlin, Enid Straw Chamberlin

Neal E. Drought and William E. Scott

Preface by Max McConn

Volume V

Thirty Schools Tell Their Story

Each School Writes of Its Participation

in the Eight-Year Study

The Commission on the tlelatiita t> Schbul* arid Cofi&ge

;! V n **o s o n ' a

;0tr ; s;;^ ^\ x
The Progressive Education Association

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION

Walter Raymond Agard John A. Lester

Wilford M. Aikin, Chairman Max McConn, Secretary

WiUard Beatty Clyde R. MiUer

Bruce Bliven *Jesse H. Newlon

C. S. Boucher W. Carson Ryan

*A. J. Burton Harold Rugg

Flora S. Cooke *Ann Shurnaker

Harold A. Ferguson Eugene R. Smith

Burton P. Fowler Perry Dunlap Smith

Josephine Gleason Katharine Taylor

Thomas Hopkins Vivian T. Thayer

Leonard V. Koos Goodwin Watson

W. S. Learned Raymond Walters

Robert D. Leigh Ben D. Wood

After originating and organizing the Eight- Year Study, the Commis-
sion in 1933 gave full responsibility and authority for the supervision
of the Study to the Directing Committee.

DIRECTING COMMITTEE OF THE COMMISSION

Wilford M. Aikin, Chairman, Director of the Study
Willard Beatty Robert D. Leigh

Boyd H. Bode Max McConn, Secretary

Burton P. Fowler *Jesse H. Newlon

Carl Brigham Marion Park

Will French Eugene R. Smith

Herbert E. Hawkes J. E. Stonecipher

John A. Lester x john B. Johnson

Elizabeth M. Steel, Secretary to the Director

* Deceased.
1 Resigned.

ADVENTURE IN

THE STORY

of the
EIGHT-YEAR STUDY

With Conclusions and Recommendations

WILFORD M. AIKIN

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS

New York and London

- YEAR SXUI5Y

2 IZM J&arper ? 'Brothers
&jiftt?ql States of America,
AM rights in this 'booh are reserved.
~p~(&fe Zrf the book may ~be reproduced in any
ftrie** "what 'soe-oer tvithout tvritten permission
except in the case of ~brief quotations embodied
in critical, articles and reviews. For information
address Harper <b~ brothers

The Progressive Education Association

the Commission and the Schools
gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness

to
CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YOEK

and to the

GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD
for the funds which made this Study possible

During the first year the Commission had no funds except $800
contributed in equal amounts by the Francis W. Parker, John Bur-
roughs, Lincoln, and Tower Hill Schools. From the beginning of
1932, generous subventions from Carnegie Corporation of New
York supported the work, except that in evaluation, through 1936.
Much larger grants from the General Education Board financed
the work of the Evaluation Staff, the Curriculum Associates and,
since 1936, all the activities of the Commission.

Neither Carnegie Corporation of New York nor the General
Education Board is author, owner, publisher, or proprietor of
this publication. They are not to be understood as approving by
virtue of their grants any of the statements made or views ex-
pressed therein.

The Progressive Education Association

the Commission and the Schools
gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness

to
CABNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK

and to the

GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD
for the funds which made this Study possible

During the first year the Commission had no funds except $800
contributed in equal amounts by tfte Francis W. Parker, John Bur-
roughs, Lincoln, and Tower Hill Schools. From the beginning of
1932, generous subventions from Carnegie Corporation of New
York supported the work, except that in evaluation, through 1936.
Much larger grants from the General Education Board -financed
the work of the Evaluation Staff, the Curriculum Associates and,
since 1936, all the activities of the Commission.

Neither Carnegie Corporation of New York nor the General
Education Board is author, owner, publisher, or proprietor of
this publication. They are not to be understood as approving by
virtue of their grants any of the statements made or views ex-
pressed therein.

Halation :of School and College

COMMITTEE : jQN EVALUATION AND RECORDING

Helen M. Atic&sqn *Frances Knapp

Frederick H. Bair Robert D. Leigh

E. Gordon Bill Max McConn

Burton P. Fowler Eugene R. Smith, Chairman

Ben D. Wood

EVALUATION STAFF
Ralph W. Tyler, Research Director
Associate Director Associates

Oscar K. Euros, 1934-35 Bruno Bettelheim Louis M. Heil

Louis E. Raths, 1935-38 Paul B. Diederich George Sheviakov

Maurice L. Hartung, 1938-42 Wilfred Eberhart Hilda Taba

Harold Trimble

Assistants

Herbert J. Abraham Paul R. Grim Carleton C. Jones

Dwight L. Arnold Chester William Harris W. Harold Lauritsen

Jean Friedberg Block John H. Herrick Christine McGuire

Charles L. Boye Clark W. Horton Harold G. McMullen

Fred P. Frutchey Walter Howe Donald H. McNassor

Secretaries: Cecelia K. Wasserstrom, Kay D. Watson

Sub-Committees 1 on Records and Reports
Committee on Behavior Description

Helen M. Atkinson Anna Rose Hawkes Rollo G. Reynolds

E. Gordon Bill ^Frances Knapp Eugene R. Smith

Carl Brigham Robert D. Leigh John Tildsley

Oscar K. Euros W. S. Learned Ben D. Wood

Cecile Flemming John A. Lester Stanley R. Yarnall

John W. M. Rothney

Committee on Teachers' Reports and Reports to the Home

Helen M. Atkinson Rosamond Cross Elmina R. Lucke

Derwood Baker Burton P. Fowler Eugene R. Smith

Genevieve L. Coy I. R. Kraybill John W. M. Rothney

* Deceased.

1 In addition to those who were continuing committee members, at least
400 others from the schools and other institutions cooperated.

Commission on the Relation of School and College

C- CCC KC C<C C- < K<- <CC < KC- C<C- CCC<' CCfrCCfr K< CC<- <KCC- <- C<C- C<C-

Committee on Form for Transfer from School to College

Victor L. Butterfield Ruth W. Crawford Eugene R. Smith

Genevieve L. Coy Burton P. Fowler Herbert W. Smith

Albert B, Crawford Elmina R. Lucke Arthur E. Traxler

John W. M. Rothney

General Committee on Study of the Development
of Pupils in Subject Fields

Helen M. Atkinson Edith M. Penney

Genevieve L. Coy Eugene R. Smith

Harry Herron Arthur E. Traxler

G. H. V, Malone John W. M. Rothney

CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES

H. H. Giles S. P. McCutchen

A. N. Zechiel

The following served as special curriculum consultants at various times:

Harold B. Alberty Henry Harap

Paul B. Diederich Walter V. Kaulfers

John A. Lester

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Harold B. Alberty Burton P. Fowler

C. L. Cushman Max McConn

Thomas C. Pollock

Commission on the Relation of School and College
< c<o c-frcc-c :<: < ( ccm-Kc- << ccc ceo

THE PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

School
Altoona Senior High School, Altoona,

Pa.
Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Beaver Country Day School, Chest-
nut Hill, Mass.

Bronxville High School, Bronxville,
N. Y.

Cheltenham Township High School,
Elkins Park, Pa.

Dalton Schools, New York, N. Y.

Denver Senior and Junior High
Schools, Denver, Colo.

Des Moines Senior and Junior High
Schools, Des Moines, Iowa

Eagle Rock High School, Los An-
geles, Cal.

Fieldston School, New York, N. Y*

Francis W. Parker School, Chicago,

ni.

Friends' Central School, Overbrook,

Pa.

George School, George School, Pa.
Germantown Friends School, Ger-

mantown, Pa.

Horace Mann School, New York, N. Y.
John Burroughs School, Clayton, Mo.

Lincoln School of Teachers College,

New York, N. Y.
Milton Academy, Milton, Mass.
New Trier Township High School,

Winnetka, IU.
North Shore Country Day School,

Winnetka, 111.
Radnor High School, Wayne, Pa.

Head 1
(Levi Gilbert) Joseph N. Maddocks

(Miss Elizabeth Johnson) Miss Ros-
amond Cross
Eugene R. Smith

Miss Edith M. Penney
I. R. Kraybill

Miss Helen Parkhurst

(Charles Greene) (C. L. Cushman)

John J. Cory
(*R. C. Cook) J. E. Stonecipher

Miss Helen Babson

(Herbert W. Smith) (Derwood

Baker) Luther Tate
(Miss Flora Cooke) (Raymond Os-

borne) Herbert W. Smith
Barclay L. Jones

George A. Walton

(Stanley R. Yarnall) Burton P.

Fowler

(Rollo G. Reynolds) WiU French
(Wilford M. Aikin) Leonard D.

Haertter
(* Jesse H. Newlon) (Lester Dix)

Will French
W. L. W. Field
Matthew P. Gaffney

Perry Dunlap Smith
Sydney V. Rowland

1 Many changes in administration occurred in the schools during the
period of the Study. Such cases are indicated by names in parentheses given
in chronological order of service.

* Deceased

Commission on the Relation of School and College

<<C<<CKC^^^C<C<C(CKC-^^

School Head

Shaker High School, Shaker Heights, R. B. Patin

Ohio

Tower Hill School, Wilmington, Del. (Burton P. Fowler) James S. Guern-
sey
Tulsa Senior and Junior High (Will French) (Eli C. Foster) H.

Schools, Tulsa, Okla. W. Gowans

University of Chicago High School, (Arthur K. Loomis) P. B. Jacobson

Chicago, 111.
University High School, Oakland, ( George Rice ) Paul T. Fleming

Cal.
University School of Ohio State Uni- (Rudolph Lindquist) (Harold B.

versity, Columbus, Ohio Alberty) Robert S, Gilchrist

Winsor School, Boston, Mass. (Miss Katharine Lord) Miss Frances

Dugan

Wisconsin High School, Madison, (H. H. Ryan) (Stephen M. Corey)
Wise. (Gordon Mackenzie) Glen G. Eye

CONTENTS

I. The Eight-Year Study Is Launched 1

II. The Schools Choose the Democratic Way 25

III. The Curriculum Heeds the Concerns of Youth 46

IV. The Schools Study their Pupils 87
V. What Happened in College? 102

VI. This We Have Learned 116

Appendix 140

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY

Chapter I

THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY IS LAUNCHED

&^^^

In April, 1930, two hundred men and women were assem-
bled in the nation's capital to consider ways by which the
secondary schools of the United States might better serve all
our young people. The Progressive Education Association,
which had stimulated great change in elementary education,
was asking in this annual convention, How can the high
school improve its service to American Youth?

In that group were gray-haired principals and teachers
who had worked long years with boys and girls, young
teachers recently out of college, eager to learn how to help
their students more effectively, parents deeply concerned
that their sons and daughters should have experiences in
high school that would develop their powers and equip
them to assist in the rebuilding of our already profoundly
disturbed national life. In the course of the two-day discus-
sion many proposals for improvement of the work of our
secondary schools were made and generally approved. But
almost every suggestion was met with the statement, _^Yes,~
that should be done in our high schools, but it can't be done
without risking students* chances of being admitted to col-
lege. If the student doesn't follow the pattern of subjects and
units prescribed by the colleges, he probably will not be
accepted."Under these^conditions not many schools were
willing to departve^far from the conventional high school
curriculum. They could not take chances on having their
candidates rejected by the colleges.

2 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

The meeting was about to end in a sense of futility and
frustration. However, someone with courage and vision pro-
posed that the Progressive Education Association should be
asked to establish a Commission on the Relation of School
and College to explore possibilities of better co-ordination of
school and college work and to seek an agreement which
would provide freedom for secondary schools to attempt fun-
damental reconstruction.

The Commission was established the following autumn,
October, 1930. Mr. Burton Fowler, then president of the
Association, asked the writer to become chairman. Everyone
invited to serve on the Commission was known to be con-
cerned with the revision of the work of the secondary school
and eager to find some way to remove the obstacle of rigid
college prescriptions. Of the twenty-six members chosen,
some had been active in the Washington meeting of the
previous spring. Others were high school and college
teachers; high school principals; college deans, presidents,
and admission officers; evaluation specialists; educational
philosophers; and journalists. 1 This group met from time to
time, each member at his own expense, over a period of
about two years. Although almost every educational interest
and point of view was represented, all members agreed that
secondary education in the United JStetes. needed experi-
mental study and comprehensive re-examination in the light
off tiller knowledge of the learning process and of the needs
of young people in our society.

All members of the Commission were conscious of the
amazing development of our secondary schools in the first
three decades of the century. They realized that the number
of boys and girls in high school had grown from less than

1 For Commission membership, see introductory pages.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 3

million to almost ten millions; that about 70 per cenP
of all American youth of high school age are in school; that
billions had been invested by states, cities, towns, counties,
and townships in imposing buildings and modern equip-
ment; that these communities were gladly taxing themselves <
to pay the salaries of nearly 300,000 high school teachers;
and that the faith of the American people in education W
mained unshaken.

Many in this group had shared in these thirty exciting years
of American education. They had seen the limited curriculum
consisting chiefly of history, foreign languages, mathematics,
science, and English extended to include the social studies,
commercial subjects, the arts, home economics, shop work,
and other courses of many kinds. They had participated in
changing the content of traditional subjects and methods of
teaching them. They had encouraged the development of
student activities in speech, dramatics, music, athletics, pub-
lications, and a score of other fields. They had helped make
the high school an orderly place of good feeling between
teachers and pupils a place to which most pupils went
gladly because of pleasant association with others and inter-
est in the general life of the school. They had seen the high
school diploma become the magic key to doors of social and
economic preferment.

These representative educators were vividly aware of the
great achievements of our high schools. They shared the
people's pride in them, but they were not satisfied. They
were conscious of defects and determined, if possible, tc
correct them. They knew that of six who enter the higl
school only three graduate; of the three who graduate, onl;
one goes on to college. For five out of six, then, high schoo]
is the end of formal schooling. For these five as well as for

4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the one, the secondary school years can become a profoundly
significant experience, said these educators.

Schools and Colleges
Face the Facts

After more than a year's study the Commission issued a
statement setting forth some of the areas which needed
exploration and improvement by our schools. It seemed to
the Commission that secondary education was clearly inade-
quate in certain major aspects of its work,

Secondary education in the United States did not have
clear-cut, definite, central purpose. It had many goals, not
one^cleaf "purpose inTelatfon to which all others are of sec-
ondary importance. True, the high school diploma led to
higher social and economic levels. It was believed that a
'liigh school education" was good for youth but few asked
seriously, "Good for what?" Neither society nor education
knew certainly what the major purpose of the high school
should be. The result was that teachers had no sure sense
of direction and that boys and girls had no integrating,
deeply satisfying school experience.

Schools failed, to ginv st<nde.ni_s a sincere appreciation of
their heritage as J^eri^nj^tizens. The study of the history
of the United States usually left students without under-
standing of the way of life for which we have been striving
throughout our history; it seldom aroused enthusiasm and
devotion. American youth left high school with diplomas but
without insight into the great political, social, and economic ,
problems of our nation.

Our secondary schools^d_not^prepare adequately for the
respoimbilities of community life. Schools generally were
excellent examples of autocratic, rather than democratic,

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 5

organization and living. Since little effort was made to lead
youth into a clear understanding of the ideals of democracy,
most students left school without principles to guide their
action as they sought work and a place in adult life. Not
many had developed any strong sense of social responsibil-
ity or deep concern for the common welfare.

Thajrif^ $nh.f>ol x0J.rI.nrn. rhqUenged the student of first-
rate ability to work up to the level of his intellectual
It was ea's^o^mn to "get EisTIe'ssons/' pass his courses.
The result was that many a brilliant mind developed habits
of laziness, carelessness, superficiality. These habits, becom-
ing firmly established during adolescence, prevented the full
development of powers. Even the conscientious student of
superior ability did not often find himself seriously involved
in a great intellectual enterprise. Seldom was any student
"set on fire" intellectually, eager to explore on his own,
ready to conquer difficulties and go through whatever drudg-
ery might be necessary to achieve his purpose. The indi-
vidual and society were both losers.

Schools neither knew their students well nw^guidedjhejn,
wisely. Not often did teachers know students as young
human beings striving to find their way into adulthood. Per-
sonal guidance was futile, usually involving only an occa-
sional friendly chat; vocational guidance was limited to class-
room study of occupations; and educational guidance was
superficial, consisting chiefly of casual counsel concerning
the subjects to be "taken" next semester. Few schools were
seriously concerned about those who dropped out before
graduation or about what happened to those who did re-
ceive diplomas.

Schools fail&c^^

In spite of greater understanding of the ways in

6 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

which human beings learn, teachers persisted in the dis-
. credited practice of assigning tasks meaningless to most
pupils and of listening to re-citations. The work was all laid
out to be done. The teacher's job was to see that the pupil
learned what he was supposed to learn. The student's pur-
poses were not enlisted and his concerns were not taken into
account. All this was in violation of what had been discov-
ered about the learning process. The classroom was formal
and completely dominated by the teacher. Rarely did stu-
dents and teacher work together upon problems of genuine
significance. Seldom did students drive ahead under their
own power at tasks which really meant something to them.

Somehow, eagerness to learn grew less year by year as
pupils advanced through school. This was not true of all,
but it was characteristic of so many that the members of the
Commission were seriously disturbed. They recognized that
disintegrating and deadening forces outside school were par-
tially responsible for this deplorable result, but they were
quite sure that the content and organization of the curricu-
lum had something to do with it.

The Commission was conscious* also, of the -fact that the
creative energies of students wew^et^mJL^egj^and de-
veloped.^ Students were so busy "doing assignments/' meet-
ing demands imposed upon them, that they had little time
for anything else. When there was time., they were seldom
challenged or permitted to carry on independent work in-
volving individual initiative, fresh combination of thought,
invention, construction, or special pursuits. Although the
creative urge may express itself in any field of endeavor, the
arts, which afford unusual opportunity in this respect, were
looked upon as "fads and frills," non-existent in many
schools, inadequately taught in most others. Art, in its various

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 7

forms and uses, permeates everyday life. In its higher mani-
festations, it expresses the finest aspirations of the human
spirit. Yet, only a few schools provided for their students
enriching and satisfying experiences commensurate with die

importance of Jfagjufe.fa-nnr piilf-iira.

Tlw^coiM^ was jar removed

/torn thejreal concerns of youth. The subjects studied in the
classroom were the curriculum; the activities of the students
were the extra-curriculum. These activities, initiated and
developed by students, were recognized as significant edu-
cational experiences, but they were outside the curriculum.
There was little realization that much of the work of the
classroom was meaningless to students and that they were
doing the work assigned chiefly for the "credit" which would
add one more toward the total required for a diploma or
admission to college. The molds into which education was
poured, rather than its essence and spirit, became the goals
of pupils and parents alike. This emphasis upon "credits"
blinded even the teachers so that they could not see their
real task.

Young people wanted to get ready to earn a living, to
understand themselves, to learn how to get on with others,
to become responsible members of the adult community, to
find meaning in living. The curriculum seldom touched upon
such genuine problems of living.

traditional subjects of the curriculum hadjQ_st^ rtwch
j)itality and significance. The purposes they should
serve were seldom realized even in the lives of students of
distinguished native ability. The study of a foreign language
did not often lead to extensive or searching reading of the
great literature in that language; history usually was quickly
forgotten, leaving no great concepts of human society, no
deep understanding of the forces which mold man's des-

I ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

tiny; science raised few fundamental questions of the nature
of man or the universe; mathematics seldom became an
effective tool, and even less frequently did it become a chal-
lenge to insight and understanding; the study of literature
generally failed to heighten appreciation, deepen compre-
hension, or aid in the interpretation of experience.

Most high school^md^Mes^were nqt competent in the use
. They seldom read books voluntarily

and they were unable to express themselves effectively either
in speech or writing.

The Commission -found little evidence of unity in the, work
ofJhe typical ^^_school. Subjects and courses had been
added until the program, especially of large schools, re-
sembled a picture puzzle, without consistent plan or pur-
pose. It was customary for a pupil to patch together all sorts
of pieces two units here, one there, a half unit elsewhere.
His chief purpose was to collect enough pieces to graduate.
If there was basic unity underlying subjects, few students
discovered it; subjects of study were isolated, planned and
taught without reference to the student's other studies or to
any unifying purpose.

Teachers worked alone or in subject departments. The
teacher of English limited his vision and concern to his own
field; the teacher of science labored only to teach a certain
body of scientific fact and skill. Seldom did they confer, and
when they did, the results were usually unsatisfactory be-
cause neither understood the other's interests or problems.
The division of labor, even in the intellectual field, had been
carried so far that common language and community of pur-
pose were in danger of being lost. Specialization in teaching
in the secondary school had made it almost impossible for
any teacher to become himself a person of broad culture.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 9

Teachers' lives were needlessly and unfortunately narrowed
and impoverished.

The absence of unity in the work of the, secondary snhnnl
mas almosL-matched hy the lank-of continuity. The student
jumped from semester to semester, from year to year, seldom
going anywhere in particular. His work of one year had
little relation to that of the preceding or following year.
Because neither he nor his teachers had definite, long-time
purposes for his work, he had no clear road to follow or
compass to guide him in finding his way through the tangled
underbrush of the curriculum.

^}^^ generally ten

Elementary education had been revolutionized
since the beginning of the century, but the high school was
still holding to tradition. It was rather well satisfied with
itself. Minor curriculum changes were frequently made, but
there was little serious questioning of purposes, practices, or
results. Lavish financial support and blind faith on the part
of the people encouraged schoolmen to conclude that all
was right with their world.

Teachers were not well equipped for their

They lacked full knowledge of the nature of youth of
physical, intellectual, and emotional drives and growth.
They understood little of the conditions essential to effective
learning. Relation of the school to the society it should serve
was only dimly perceived. Democracy was taken for
granted, but teachers seldom had any clear conception of
democracy as a way of living which should characterize the
whole life of the school. Very few were capable of leading
youth into an understanding of democracy and its problems,
for they themselves did not understand.

Only here and there did the Comrnission find principals
nf ffy^r mnrk in farms nf democratic leader-

io ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

of the community, teachers, and students. Usually the
principal was a benevolent autocrat or a "good fellow/* let-
ting each teacher do as he pleased as long as neither parents
nor pupils complained. Most principals were constantly
busy just "running the machine"; they seldom stopped long
enough to ask themselves, Why are we doing this or that?
What are we driving at? Where are we going?
Principals and teachers labored

; hut uwidly^mthnnt any mmprehej^tipg^wlimtinn of
the results Q^jfcd^-^^o^fer^Fhey knew what grades students
made on tests of knowledge and skill, but few knew or
seemed really to care whether other objectives such as
understandings, appreciations, clear thinking, social sensi-
tivity, genuine interests were being achieved.

The high school diploma meant only that the student had
done whatever was ^necessary to_ accumulate the required

~nub$ $ .-.units. Graduation from high school found most
boys and girls without long-range purpose, without voca-
tional preparation, without that discipline which comes
through self-direction, and without having discovered for
themselves something which gives meaning to living. Youth
knew its rights and privileges, but often missed the rich sig-
nificance of duty done and responsibilities fully met. Un-
selfish devotion to great causes was not a characteristic
result of secondary education.

Finally, the relation of school and college was unsatisfac-
tory toJostihJtt}^^ In spite of the fact that formal edu-

cation for five out of six of our youth ends at or before
graduation from high school, secondary schools were still
dominated by the idea of preparation for college. The cur-

riculum was still chiefly "college preparatory/' What the
college prescribed for admission determined, to a large

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY n

extent, what the boys and girls of the United States could
study in school.

In large city high schools there was a wide range of fields
of study, many of them designed for those who were not
going to college; but parents and students looked upon the
"college preparatory" subjects as the most "respectable."
Thousands who had little or no aptitude for the work lead-
ing to college were engaged in it simply because it was the
traditional thing to do. In the small high school of five or
six teachers, with a necessarily limited offering of subjects,
college prescriptions shaped the curriculum. When we real-
ize that 60 per cent of all high school students are in schools
of 200 or less, the importance of the influence of the college
upon secondary education becomes apparent.

Most communities still judged the success or failure of the
high school upon the basis of the school's standing with the
colleges. When a student failed in his work in college and
returned to his home community branded as a failure, the
prestige of the school suffered severely in the eyes of its
patrons. The failure of one student in college did more harm
to the reputation of the school than its failure to adjust a
hundred students who did not go to college to the work aiid-
responsibilities of life in the community. Because of this,
the school placed undue emphasis upon preparation for
college, to the neglect of its responsibility to those who were
entering directly into the life of the community.

It was in no spirit of sweeping condemnation that the
members of the Commission viewed the work of the second-
ary school in the United States. Their criticism was not so
much of others as of themselves. They realized that many
shortcomings were due to the amazing growth of our

12 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

schools, to the nece^^^Tergj^oying inadequately prepared

time to adjust the work of the school

to new responsibilitiesT J3ut ^ iin3erstandingc)f the conditions
which produced weaknesses in our schools did not lessen
the Commission's conviction that earnest attempts to remove
them should be made at once. The co-operation of more than
300 colleges and universities was sought and secured in 1932.

Schools and Colleges
Join Hands

The plan of co-operation between schools and colleges
provided that a small number of representative secondary
schools, to be selected by the Directing Committee 2 of the
Commission, would be released from the usual subject and
unit requirements for college admission for a period of five
years, 3 beginning with the class entering college in 1936.
Practically all accredited colleges and universities agreed to
this plan. Relatively few colleges require candidates to take
College Entrance Board Examinations. In such cases, these
examinations were waived by all except Harvard, Haver-
ford, Princeton, and Yale. These four men's colleges, with
this one reservation, accepted the proposal and agreed to
co-operate. The Directing Committee was especially appre-
ciative of the full co-operation of the women's colleges.

It was agreed that admission to college during the experi-
mental period would be based jipon the following criteria: 4

A. Recommendation from the principal of the co-operating sec-
ondary school to the effect that the graduating student (a) is

2 The Commission had become too large to work" effectively. The Direct-
ing Committee was charged by the Commission with the responsibility of
conducting the Study to its conclusion. For membership of Directing Com-
mittee, see introductory pages.

8 This period was later extended to eight years.

4 From "A Proposal for Better Coordination of School and College Work/'
For complete document, see Appendix, pp. 140-146.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 13

possessed of the requisite general intelligence to carry on college*
work creditably; (b) has well-defined, serious interests and pur-
poses; (c) has demonstrated ability to work successfully in one
or more fields of study in which the college offers instruction. /

B. A carefully recorded history of the student's school life and
of his activities and interests, including results of various types
of examinations and other evidence of the quality and quantity of
the candidate's work, also scores on scholastic aptitude, achieve-
ment, and other diagnostic tests given by the schools during the
secondary school course.

It is intended that the tests used will be of such character that
the results submitted to the colleges will give a more adequate and
complete picture of the candidate than is given by methods now
in use. A special Committee on Records is now at work endeavor-
ing to determine:

1. what information the college needs for wise selection and
guidance of students;

2. how that information can best be secured;

3. in what form it should be recorded and presented to the
colleges.

The co-operating colleges will not be obliged to admit under
this agreement all such students as meet the new requirements.
However, during the experimental period and from the limited
group of cooperating schools, the colleges agree to accept stu-
dents under this plan without regard to tbe.ormrsft and imfr
requirements now generally in force for all students, and without
further examination. The colleges, for this period, agree, also,
thatstudents applying, for admission under the new requirements
will be considered without discrimination in comparison with
students applying from other schools where present requirements
are in effect.

The Directing Committee approached the task of select-
ing the secondary sphools to participate in the Study by
asking school and college officials in strategic positions in
various parts of the country to recommend schools which
would contribute to the improvement of secondary educa-
tion if given the opportunity provided by this agreement

i 4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

with colleges and universities. About two hundred schools
were suggested. Every member of the Committee then occu-
pied a full-time, responsible post. No one was free to give
the time necessary for careful investigation, but acting as
wisely as possible under the circumstances, the Committee
chose twenty-eight schools which seemed well-qualified to
promote the purpose of the Study. Later two California
schools were added.

In making selection, the Committee decided to include
both private and public schools, large and small schools, and
schools4epresenting different sections of the United Statesy
But the chief concern of the Committee was to choose com-
petent schools which were dissatisfied with the work they
were doing and eager to inaugurate exploratory studies and
changes which could not be undertaken without the freedom
granted by the colleges. The schools 5 finally chosen to co-
operate in the Study are:

Altoona Senior High School Des Moines Senior and Junior

Altoona, Pennsylvania High Schools

Baldwin School Des Moines, Iowa

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Eagle Rock High School

Beaver Country Day School Los Angeles, California

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Fieldston School

Bronxville High School New York, New York

Bronxville, New York Francis W. Parker School

Cheltenham Township High Chicago, Illinois

School Friends' Central School

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Overbrook, Pennsylvania

Dalton Schools George School

New York, New York George School, Pennsylvania

Denver Senior and Junior High Germantown Friends School

Schools Germantown, Pennsylvania

Denver, Colorado

B In 1936, one of the original 28, Pelham Manor, withdrew with the
consent and approval of the Directing Committee.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY

Horace Mann School

New York, New York
Jnfcn Burroughs School

Clayton^JMissouri
Lincoln School of Teachers
College

New York, New York
Milton Academy

Milton, Massachusetts
New Trier Township High
School

Winnetka, Illinois
North Shore Country Day
School

Winnetka, Illinois
Radnor High School

Wayne, Pennsylvania
Shaker High School

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Tower Hill School

Wilmington, Delaware
Tulsa Senior and Junior High
Schools

Tulsa, Oklahoma
University of Chicago High
School

Chicago, Illinois
University High School

Oakland, California
University School of Ohio State
University

Columbus, Ohio
Winsor School

Boston, Massachusetts
Wisconsin High School

Madison, Wisconsin

The schools began their new work in the fall of 1933.
Each developed its own plans and decided for itself what
changes should be made in curriculum, organization, and
procedure. The Directing Committee had decided that the
independence and autonomy of each school must be care-
fully guarded. It thought that significant developments could
come only out of each school's sincere attempt to serve
better the boys and girls in its own community. The Direct-
ing Committee attempted through its membership, through
sub-committees, and through specialists in the fields of eval-
uation, records and reports, and curriculum to render every
possible assistance sought by the schools, but to avoid any
thought or action. Tljat policy gave to

the schools the freedom and responsibility which belong to
them. Without preventing essential unity of purpose, this

!6 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

thoroughly democratic procedure has led to desirable variety
in organization and procedure.

The Schools Plan for Use of
their New Freedom

In 1933, shortly after the participating schools were
chosen, the principals met with the Directing Committee to
plan together for eight years of difficult work. Everyone had
a strong sense of sharing in a great adventure; few antici-
pated fully the hard work, the problems, the discourage-
ments, and the eventual satisfactions which were to come.
No one present at that first conference will ever forget the
honest confession of one principal when she said, "My
teachers and I do not know what to do with this freedom.
It challenges and frightens us. I fear that we have come to
lave our chains! 9 Most of us were just beginning to realize
that we were facing the severest possible test of our initia- ,
tive, imagination, courage, and wisdom. No one of the group
could possibly foresee all the developments ahead, nor were
all of one mind as to what should be done.

Members of the Commission and representatives of the
Thirty "Schools continued to meet_annually to think and^plan
together. Although each school would decide for itself what

v?

to do with this new freedom, everyone was eager to have
the benefit of the thinking and experience of all others. The
reader should keep in mind always that the principals and
teachers of the Thirty Schools were striving, groping, search-
ing constantly in their attempts to decide what to teach and
how to teach. The schools did not all start from the same
place or go in the same direction. It is difficult, therefore, to
report their purposes and plans both briefly and accurately.
However, it can be stated that they became convinced, in
the course of reconsideration of their own work, that two

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 17

principle should guide their efforts at reconstruction.

The first was that the general life of the school and^meth-
ods nfteaching should conform n mb/it fa _ftca0 knoton

about the watjs^in which human Jiprng^leafn^nn/J, gcoto.

Until recent years learning in school has been thought of
as an intellectual process of acquiring certain skills and of
mastering prescribed subject matter. It has been assumed
that physical and emotional reactions are not involved in
the learning process, but if they are, they are not very im-
portant. Thejiewer concept of learning holds that a human
being develops through doing those tilings jwhjcb_ have
rnparirng to him: that the doing involves the whole person
in all aspects of his being; and that growth takes place as
each experience leads to greater understanding and more
intelligent reaction to new situations.

Holding this view, the participating schools believed that
the school should become a place in which young people
work together at tasks which are clearly related to their
purposes. No longer should teachers, students, or parents
think of school simply as a place to do what was laid out to
be done. Nor should schooling be just a matter of passing
courses, piling up credits, and, finally, getting a diploma.
The school should be a living social organism of which each
student is a vital part. It should be a place to which one
goes gladly because there he can engage in activities which
satisfy his desires, work at the solution of problems which
he faces in everyday living, and have opened to him new
interests and wider horizons. The whole boy goes to school;
therefore school should stimulate his whole being. It should
provide opportunities for the full exercise of his physical,
intellectual, emotional, and spiritual powers as he strives to
achieve recognition and a place of usefulness and honor in
adult society.

i8 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

The Thirty Schools realized that many changes in ways
of teaching, as well as in organization and curriculum, were
necessary if attendance at school was to become the stimu-
lating, meaningful experience it could be for each student.
They knew that the classroom should become a place of
co-operative activity in which teacher and students would
seek together to achieve results which they believed impor-
tant. Only as society's demands and student concerns were
united in school objectives could education become an ex-
perience of vital significance. Only then would eager out-
reach for knowledge and understanding supplant credit
accumulation. Only then would earnest, hard work be done
gladly and intelligently. For then the student would be seek-
ing the essence and substance rather than the forms and
husks of education.

The second major principle whwh ^uidedjfwj^jork, of the
participating schools was that thejiigh school in the United
Sj^e^shu^nMTre'discover its chief reason for existence. It is
not enough to create better conditions for learning. It is
equally necessary to determine what American youth most
need to learn. Out of their searching study the Thirty
Schools came to realize that the primary purpose of educa-
tion is to lead our youn

CJLaj&^aadJxi live the kind of life-foy-which wo-as a. people
bavejpeen striving throughout^ Other things are

important but only relatively so. It is necessary to teach the
three "R's," science, language, history, mathematics, the arts,
safety, vocations, and most of the other subjects that now
crowd the curriculums of the schools; but unless our young
people catch the vision which has led us on through all
generations, we perish.

Year after year the conviction became clearer and deeper
that the school itself should become a demonstration of the

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 19

kind of life in which this nation believes. The Commission
and the schools said that the most important service the
school can render youth is to give them understanding and
appreciation of the way of life we call democracy, and that
the best way to understand and appreciate is to live that
kind of life at school every day.

It was soon discovered that application of principles of
democracy to the life of the school would cut deep. To de-
velop a sense of worth in each individual, to promote full
participation by each one in the affairs of the school, and
to lead everyone to think for himself would demand radical
change in many aspects of the curriculum and ways of teach-
ing. Nevertheless, the Thirty Schools, holding these ideas,
set to work to put them into practice.

They were ctutte suro-^hc^-the spirit and practice of exper-
and ff#pj^*<y#on should characterize secondary
m a democracy. The schools in the Eight-Year Study
came to be called "experimental" schools. Most schools were
fearful of such appellation. The term had come to connote
foolish, careless, haphazard changes made without serious
study and concluded without painstaking evaluation of re-
sults. The Thirty Schools entered the Study to make honest
attempts to find better ways of serving their students.
Thoughtful investigation and planning preceded each inno-
vation, and careful measurement of results followed. If re-
sults were not satisfactory, further change was made in the
light of fuller knowledge. In this sense the Thirty Schools
were and are "experimental" and they believe that every
school in a democracy should be, also. No aspect of any
school's work should be so firmly fixed in practice or tradi-
tion as to be immune from honest inquiry and possible im-
provement. It is only in this way that life and vigor are
maintained and progress achieved.

20 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Many in the Study thought tJyrtJfe^^
should "be undertakjmjonly. after thou^lful^O'J?perative re-
con^wati^ community

jtserves. They believed that no change in any part of the
curriculum should be made without consideration of its
effect upon the whole program of studies. They realized
that this would require time, organization, and leadership.
As the schools began their studies preparatory to revision
of their work, j^yw ere sure $uti the curriculum of the
secondary school shoulS^deaf'^^^frthe present concerns^ of
ijpn^yeln^ skills, under-

standings? and appreciations which constitute our cultural
heritage. There was no~Hisposition to undervalue or elim-
inate from the curriculum the accumulated, well-organized
experience of civilization. But there was widespread recog-
nition of the fact that much of the conventional high school
curriculum had become inert and of little value and that
many vital needs of youth were not being met effectively.
Many of the schools thought that the problems common to
young people growing. jup in the United States should con-
stitute the heart and center of the curriculum for all, whether
they are going to college or not.

Every school in the Study sought from the start to develop
grejtfw^^

that artificial barriers, which separated subject from subject
and teacher from teacher, had been erected in schools gen-
erally. In all the proposals for change submitted by the
schools in 1933, there were devices for bringing subjects to-
gether and for teachers to plan and work co-operatively. It
was thought that these changes would enable students to
see the relationship of one subject to another; teachers and
students would begin to glimpse the underlying unity of all
knowledge.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 21

Continuity was to be found by arranging courses in better
sequence. In a few of the schools it was realized at the be-
ginning that really significant continuity of experience can-
not be achieved by any fixed pre-arrangement of courses
alone. This year's work must build upon last year's, but no
two groups or individuals are the same. Therefore, some
schools with unusual insight and understanding attempted
to secure continuity of growth by enlisting the students in
the work of planning each unit of study in relation to the
experiences which had gone before.

Because of their concern for the individual as well as for
the whole group, the schools realized that they must know

guide him wisely. They said they

should know each one as a person, not just as a student of
English or mathematics or as halfback on the football team.
Some teacher should know him in these and all other phases
of his life, including his home. That teacher should be sen-
sitive, understanding, and wise enough to bring all the ap-
propriate resources of the school and community to bear
upon the task of guiding the student in meeting his personal,
educational, and vocational problems,

From the beginning the Commission and the schools rec-
ognized their responsilnRty for measuring, recording^ and
results o/jfegjr^^rfe.'TEey~knew this would

be difficult They realized that neither they nor any other
schools really knew much about the results of school expe-
riences in the lives of their students. They had means of
measuring accretions of knowledge and development of
skills, but they could not be sure of the achievement of other
equally important but less tangible purposes. They expected
that fuller appraisal of results would facilitate curriculum
revision, revealing weaknesses and strengths and providing
a sound basis for further change.

22 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

As the Study got under way, the Thirty Schools hoped
fh^tj^ rd/dtons imth ^olle^S^und univ&rsi-

ties-uiould be developed. Some schools were sending almost
all graduates to college; from others only one in five or six
continued his formal education. All the schools were eager
to improve their service to both groups. Theoretically, sec-
ondary schools were free to meet the needs of the non-
college-going student in any way they wished; but, as has
been pointed out, college requirements fixed in most schools
the program of studies for all. It was acknowledged that
high schools did have a limited range of freedom, but it had
to be admitted that they did not use the freedom they pos-
sessed and that college prescriptions were often only an
excuse for stagnation and inaction.

Now that these requirements were no longer binding on
the Thirty Schools, they were under the necessity of proving
that they could use freedom creatively and wisely. They
were eager to do this, for they believed that the larger
measure of freedom which they now had should characterize
school and college relations generally. Tjfeggjloubied that
success in college depends t^^uZie^i^fT^f^gr^^n subjects
fnr ajcertain lenPtKof time.. They questioned the basic as-
sumption upon which college-school relations were based:
that only by the study of English, foreign language, mathe-
matics, science, and history could a student be prepared for
the work of the liberal arts college.

The schools believed that there are^m^my-^different ave-
nues^study and experience hy ^vayofwhich youngpeople
could develop the skill, understanding, and intellectual ma-
turity necessary for satisfactory achievement at the college
level^TEey were convinced that work in school should have
meaning for each student because of its pertinence to his

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 23

concerns and that such work would develop the powers
needed in college. In the formal proposal to colleges and
universities, the Commission stated, "We are trying to de-
velop students who regard education as an enduring quest
for meanings rather than credit accumulations." The schools
were confident that this could be done by basing the second-
ary school curriculum upon the needs of youth in our society.
If the high school helped students to find the meanings of
their life experiences, they would go on to college to seek
deeper and broader meaning in their maturing experiences.
To this end traditional studies would have to be revitalized
and re-oriented; much new content would have to be in-
cluded in the curriculum of school and college.

The schools involved in the Study were quite sure that
they could really prepare students for the life and work of
college. Most "college preparation" consisted of doing what
was necessary to get in. Little thought was given by the
student or his teachers to the real purposes in going to col-
lege or to the problems of living and working there. These
schools took their eyes off the college gates and looked to
the fruitful fields beyond.

Everyone involved in the Study was convinced that some
means should be foundry which teachers in the schools and
professors in the colleges should work together in mutual
respect. confidmftCj and iindftrfifdnffing Unless tEiFcouHTBe
done, the Thirty Schools knew that honest, realistic co-ordi-
nation of school and college work would not be achieved.

And so the adventure in pioneering was begun. To some
teachers even in the participating schools the Study was an
unnecessary and dangerous innovation; to some college pro-
fessors "Progressive Education now had enough rope to

24 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

hang itself"; and to some parents the Study was a source of
uneasiness and dissatisfaction. But to most of the teachers
in the Thirty Schools and to thousands of educators and
parents throughout the nation, it held great promise for the
future.

Chapter II
THE SCHOOLS CHOOSE THE DEMOCRATIC WAY

jy-x xxXj f/ff* fC* (* (.<* '(*(*{ {<? {* f^f*- f^f* + &{* ff '*{{* *- {* (f (ff* f^f f^f*-

Those were exciting days in 1932, 1933, and 1934 when the
Thirty Schools were planning and inaugurating their new
work. Principals, teachers, and students were caught up in
the spirit of adventure and exploration. "Now/' they said,
"we can make school what it ought to be. We are free from
outside domination; no one is telling us what we ^tst do.
We shall re-create our school We are part of a nation-wide
project; the eyes of the educational world are upon us. The
colleges trust us. We have a great privilege and responsi-
bility."

The Schools Start in Many
Different Directions

ThejBrst meeting of representatives of the schools with
the members of the Commission was held in_March, 3^3.
College presidents, deans and professors, school principals
and teachers were there. For two days morning, afternoon,
and evening schools told what they expected to do with
their freedom.

The schools look back now upon that first meeting with
some amusement and with realization of the inadequacy of
their preparation at that time for the hard tasks ahead. The
proposals for their new work ranged over a wide field, all
the way from plans to teach "The Progress of Man through
the Ages" to instruction in "Football from the Spectator's
Point of View," Most of the plans were quite ambitious,

25

26 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

stated in glowing, general terms. One school proposed to do
these two things: "The school will present to its students
the opportunity for fullest development as individuals, both
in their formative years and in adult life; it further will con-
tribute to the progress of society through increasing the
value of their participation in present and future situations/'
Another school proposed this for its work in English: "The
literature which grew out of the life of the peoples who par-
ticipated most actively in the development of the new pat-
terns of civilization in the last 300 years will be studied."
That would seem to be a sizeable job, but another school
proposed "to study primitive man and to continue over a
three year period to include the history of our own country
together with problems of international scope/ 7 Another
school set for itself an even larger task: "Our program at-
tempts to aid pupils to come to an understanding and appre-
ciation of what civilization has meant from time to time in
different cultures and continues to mean in terms of social
organization, production and consumption, standards of
living, order, individual liberty, group co-operation, ethical
standards and achievements in the arts and literature/'

Other changes proposed were of a quite different nature.
Illustrative of these were plans announced by various schools
"to include social dancing in the curriculum," "to eliminate
the motive of individual competition/' "to provide for dis-
tribution of time for each student as follows: major field of
interest or ability, 40%; minor field of interest, 15%; physical
recreation and health, 20%; social studies, 15%; maintenance
of basic skills, 10%." Several schools planned to provide for
longer class periods with less rushing from room to room.
Many expected to eliminate the division between curricular
and "extra curricular" activities. One school proposed to

graduate stuffa-ofs^ nnf y/hpn the fffriffani-Jiflrl-agra^

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 27

sixteen credits, but when, in the judgment of teachers, par-
etfts, and the student himself his growth would be promoted
more effectively in college or in a vocation. A few of the
schools which had been established as "experimental schools''
proposed to use the freedom granted by the colleges to
expand new work already under way.

Anyone familiar with the numerous demands made upon
schools in the United States will not wonder that the Thirty
Schools began in some confusion and with diversified pur-
poses. Many teachers, looking back upon those early days,
feel with the one who says, "At the beginning of the Eight-
Year Study all of us were rather frantic in our new under-
taking. We wanted to do everything, omit nothing. That, of
course, was wrong. We have learned so much from this fine
experience that it makes one laugh sometimes at the way
we started out."

Uncertainty there surely was. One private school was even
uncertain of its continued existence because of the discon-
tinuance of a large annual contribution of funds by one of
its founders. However, those beginning proposals indicated
a significant move away from the conventional college pre-
paratory curriculum.

Varying Conditions
Affect Progress

Many factors conditioned each school's participation in
the Study. The schools whose patrons are prosperous, well-
satisfied with life generally, and therefore conservative, had
to move cautiously and slowly. Some schools, finding it dif-
ficult to realize that the colleges really meant what they said,
failed to take full advantage of their freedom. In some cases
administrative leadership was inadequate; in others, the
teachers were divided in rival and antagonistic groups. On

28 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the other hand, some of the schools were fortunate in having
strong, intelligent parent co-operation and support. Most
schools had unusually capable educational leadership and
teachers who habitually worked together in effective co-
operation.

Even more marked were other differences among the
schools. Here, for example, is a private school of 300 pupils
and 30 teachers. It is located in the country just out of the
city. The surroundings are delightful: fresh air and sunshine,
trees, flowers, grass, abundant playing space, adequate
equipment, a charming library of many books, a long school
day with time for individual consultation, all sorts of student
activities, and at least an hour of play every day. In this
school the pupils almost all come from homes of high social
and economic privilege, and intelligence quotients range
from 90 to 160+, with a median of 120. Salaries are ade-
quate to attract and hold superior teachers, and the average
teaching load is 5 classes per day of 25 students each. Almost
all students go on to college.

In sharp contrast is a city high school of 2500 students
and 80 teachers. It is located in an old, dingy, smoky section
of the city. There is no play space at the school; an "athletic
field" is two miles away, but there are no means of transpor-
tation. The building is old, with dark rooms and long, nar-
row corridors connecting the many additions erected without
plan from time to time. The library is unattractive; the class-
rooms are formal and forbidding. The students come from
the lower middle and lowest economic and social groups,
with several rather large racial minorities. Intelligence quo-
tients range from 60 to 160+, with a median of 90. Twenty
per cent of the students score below 80. About 10 per cent
go on to college. The usual teaching load is 40 pupils per
class, 6 classes per day. The city salary schedule is some-

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 29

what better than average, and teachers find it possible to
live in fairly comfortable circumstances.

The other schools in the Study stand between these ex-
tremes. Six are officially connected with universities as dem-
onstration or laboratory schools. In many ways they are well
equipped and strategically located for educational experi-
mentation, but their responsibility for teacher education
often makes pioneering difficult.

Under these varying circumstances the Thirty Schools set
out upon their eight-year journey of exploration and trail-
blazing. It is obviously impossible to record here all that
happened on the way. The story is told more in detail in
the other four volumes of the Commission's Report. Only the
high lights can be reported in this volume. The next chapter
tells of the changes in curriculum and methods of teaching.
But a school is something more than curriculum and teach-
ing. It is a^ociety in itself^composed of young people and
adultsjiving andjgprking together. This school-society has
general characteristics and ways of functioning which have
great educative force in the lives of its members. This chap-
ter records some of the major developments in the general
life and work of the schools.

Out of Uncertainty Comes
Sure Sense of Direction

When they began their journey, the Thirty Schools had
many common goals. This fact is clearly revealed in their
first statements of purposes. For example, they^ all sought
adaptation of work to r individual needsL. greater mastery of

opportunity for release of nreativa^i^rg^ marev
r^ |earning 7 greater unity of^school experiences
It is equally clear, however, that in the early years few
schools had any dominant purposSsto which all .other pur-

3 o ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

poses were related. One searches their original statements
in vain for indication of central jpurpose. But out of great
tribulation they found it. Statements of objectives were re-
vised again and again. "Out of all the possible experiences
which the high school should provide for youth/' they asked,
"which ones should we select? How shall we decide?" From
those early attempts to discover the direction in which they
should travel, there emerged one great central purpose.

It must be emphasized that this sense of the need for
basic, guiding principles came gradually in the schools of
the Study. Although many important and worthy objectives
are to be found in the first proposals, it was notjuntil about
1937jbhaLaLE^^ expressed in the phi-

losophy of Ae^nemboT-schools. Even as late as 1935 there
was still reluctance on the part of many representatives of
the schools to devote any considerable portion of the annual
meeting of school Heads and the Commission to considera-
tion of fundamental principles of American education. At
the conclusion of a session devoted to search for the mean-
ing of democracy, several school principals said, "This has
been very interesting, but let's give no more time to phi-
losophy. What we need is discussion of the practical job of
curriculum revision/' But two years later everyone recog-
nized the need of a sound philosophy for reconstruction of
American secondary education.

Theyfound what they sought in^the democratic ideal, in
*Jie_ American way of life^ "The hig;h school in the United
.Siaigs?" they said, "should be a demonstration, in all phasj^s.
gf its activity, of the kind of life in which we as a peoiple
believe." If the reader will turn to the final school reports
in Volume V, he will discover that the chief concern of
every school now is to maintain and promote the American
way of life. Two extracts from these reports make this clear.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 31

One is taken from the report of a university school; the
other, from a large public school.

The democratic way of life is based upon the assumption of
resgectfor human personality, . . .

On the physical side the democratic way of life means proper
nourishment, shelter, clothing, medical care, and conditions of
work that are conducive to normal growth and development.
On the mental side it means freedom to plan one's life and to
carry out these plans with due consideration for the consequences
to oneself and others; to utilize the cultural contributions of the
race for the purpose of enriching life; and to utilize intelligence
in reconciling conflicts, understanding self and society, and in
determining conduct.

A distinctive personality cannot be developed in isolation.
It develops^ only when there is free interplay wittLother^ person-
alities. julLand free_garticipation within a given group, and
among groups, is the best-way of promuongi desirable individual
development in a complex, interdependent society^ Jjyhi'lfi whole-

is the^ better means of arh^"'ngjt. The test of every social and
political organization is the effect which it has upon the individ-
uals who are touched by it. If it enhances and enriches human
personality it is desirable; if it tends to destroy or narrow op-
portunities for development, it is undesirable, and hence contrary
to the ideal.

The development and enrichment of human personality,
through living and working together for common purposes and
ends, implies the use of intelligence as a method; for only as in-
dividuals and groups are free to formulate plans and to carry out
programs of action upon the basis of reflective thinking, can
human institutions be progressively refined. 1

This school's report then shows by illustration how the work
of that school evolves from its philosophy of life and educa-
tion.

1 University School, Ohio State University, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell
Their Story.

32 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

In a city school system the necessity of finding central
purpose is equally insistent. Here is a frank statement from
a city in which ten junior and five senior high schools are
participating in the Eight-Year Study.

It was not until the experiment had been under way for four
years that the need for a clearer relationship between the pur-
poses of the Study and the curriculum to be provided became
apparent. . . .

. . . The following statement of the philosophy of the Denver
schools as a whole is the outgrowth of the Eight- Year Study and
was planned by a committee representative of the elementary
schools and the junior and senior high schools of the city.

"In formulating its philosophy, a school must determine its
own beliefs concerning the nature of the individuals with whom
it works and the character of the society which it serves. The
Denver Public Schools regard human beings as dynamic and
purposive, with a capacity for growth and the ability to develop
through experience. The schools of Denver believe that a demo-
cratic society is the society most congenial to the optimum de-
velopment of such individuals. Democracy, so conceived, is a
way of life. This includes at all times (1) the free play of in-
telligence, (2) respect for the worth of individuals, that is, plac-
ing human values first, and (3) the participation of all individu-
als in social living, which is broadly interpreted to include all
human relationships.

"The chigLfunctlnrT L nf tbe-schools kua jderorK^c&^^
servgjm^^ life. The Denver Public

Schools maintain that they can best undertake such a responsi-
bilitvby

making the life concerns of pupils the central theme of the
curriculum;

recognizing that individual concerns and social concerns
are interdependent;

making functional guidance an integral part of all educa-
tional activities;

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 33

evaluating the school program in_tenns of the personal

anosociai growtbuot pupils;

organizing the school program to reveal the relationships

of learning;

providing a close, direct, woriong^ relation gMp-Jw^h- the

This philosophy has guided the Denver schools in setting up the
objectives of their program. . . ." 2

The chief developments in general school life in the
Eight- Year Study grew out of i^^e^rgjngjgoncegt^T dem-
ocratic life and education. It gave direction to changes in
school administration, in home-school relations, in the
teacher's role in the school, and in the student's part in the
life of the school-society.

Administration Becomes
Democratic Leadership

School administration in the United StatesJhas

cratic^b}andLlaxge, rather than democratic. Administration
in the schools chosen for the Study ranged all the way from
autocracy to laissez-faire, with here and there real democ-
racy in action. These differences are illustrated in the ways
in which the original proposals for curriculum change were
prepared.

In one place the principal, a brilliant and courageous edu-
cator, prepared an outline of a curriculum departing rad-
ically from that of the conventional high school. It was
passively accepted by the teachers. About one-third of the
teachers and pupils followed the new plan while the other
two-thirds continued with the traditional work. In another
school the principal gave permission to 6 of the 90 teachers
to inaugurate curriculum changes which they had planned.
Two hundred and twenty pupils in the school of 2500 were

2 Denver Schools, ibid.

34 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

involved. The principal had not shared with the teachers in
the thinking which led to changes in the curriculum, nor did
he understand very clearly what the new plans involved.
However, the six teachers were among the best in the school,
so he told them to go ahead. In a third school the principal
and teachers had met for two hours each week for a year to
reconsider the school's purposes and practices and to plan
together the changes which should be made for all students.

The history of these cases is illuminating. The brilliant
plan conceived by the first principal came to grief because
the teachers did not believe in it. It was his, not theirs. In
the second case, the work of the six teachers was severely
handicapped because of misunderstanding and criticism by
other teachers and parents, and because of the principal's
unwillingness or inability to give the pioneering teachers the
support they needed. The plans of the third school were car-
ried on satisfactorily, with modifications from time to time
as the principal and all teachers continued to study, plan,
work, and evaluate co-operatively.

The role of democratic leader is more difficult than that
of benevolent autocrat. The school Heads found that it ex-
acted patience and wisdom. Especially did it require faith
in the intelligence and good will of teachers, pupils, and
parents. One group of teachers writes this of their relation-
ship with their principal: "The principal works co-opera-
tively with the faculty. It is his responsibility to free teachers
for the best use of their talents/' 3 This statement now char-
acterizes the spirit of most administrators in the Thirty
Schools and indicates, in part, the role they attempted to
play as democratic leaders.

In such a role, most of them realized that teachers, like
other human beings, need a sense of security in their work.
8 Tower Hill School.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 35

Tenure security of livelihood is not enough. The admin-
istrators in the participating schools saw that they must
create conditions in which teachers dared to be honest in
expressing their convictions. The spirit of adventure was
encouraged. Teachers in most of the schools were made to
realize that they were not in danger of disapproval or criti-
cism if they tried new ways, even if they did not always
succeed. In most cases, they knew with certainty that every
serious, well-considered departure from the conventional
way of doing things had the backing of the principal and
that he would stand with them if criticism followed or if
the results were not all that were expected.

In all aspects of the school, admmistrajiQiii&^
hindrance to progresses, one school superintendent writes,
"Administration frequently, by its inertia, its traditional pat-
terns and solutions, has held up the development of the
work of teaching and guidance to which it owes its sole
excuse for being. It is inevitable that some change in admin-
istrative organization must be effected before many vital
changes in the curriculum can be accomplished." 4

From the beginning, one of the most pressing of adhninis-
trative problems was that of providing time for teachers to
study arid pl qn together. Tn most schools principals and
teachers are fully occupied in the school day. There is little
opportunity for conference. Every teacher knows that an
hour late in the afternoon is not a good time for constructive
thinking. Here, then, was a problem calling for imagination
on the part of the administrator.

One school solved the problem with some satisfaction by
meeting for two hours one evening each week. This meet-
ing was preceded by a late afternoon hour of exercise, then
dinner together. Another device found satisfactory in sev-

4 Sydney Rowland, Radnor High School.

36 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

eral schools is that of beginning school in the morning at,
say, nine o'clock instead of eight-fifteen. Teachers come at
eight and have an uninterrupted hour for conference as a
whole faculty or in committees. Students take responsibility
for building and playgrounds before nine. Other arrange-
ments have been worked out in other schools. Whatever
plan is adopted, the importance of finding time for delibera-
tion cannot be over-emphasized.

If it is essential that the staff of an individual school co-
operate in setting up purposes and in planning ways to
achieve them, it is equally necessary that the schools which
comprise a city school system should find ways of working
together for common ends. Although there should be dif-
ferences among the schools, growing out of differences in
home background, interests, needs and purposes of the
student body, the major goals should be the same through-
out the city. To secure the necessary co-operative planning,
various administrative devices have been developed among
the Thirty Schools. One of the most effective plans is The
School Policies Council, functioning in somewhat different
ways in Denver, Tulsa, Des Moines, and Shaker Heights. 5
Representatives of all the schools unite with the superin-
tendent and central administrative group to bring essential
unity into the work of the schools.

The strength of such an organization depends largely
upon the sincerity of the superintendent's belief in demo-
cratic principles and processes. One important tenet of dem-
ocratic administration is that action should follow full de-
liberation. Sometimes after teachers and administrators had
studied a problem at length and had decided upon a course
of action, nothing was done. The changes agreed upon were
not made and no explanation was forthcoming, The inevi-
5 Vol. II, Exploring the Curriculum, Chap. VI.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 37

table result was a feeling on the part of teachers that their
time and energy given to co-operative planning were wasted.
On the other hand, when changes were made as planned,
teachers were encouraged to further creative thought and
action.

The resources of administration were challenged in an-
other area as the schools attempted to know their boys
and girls better. How could teachers be "free for the best
creative use of their talents" in this respect? Everyone real-
ized in schools generally, especially in the larger ones, that
many a pupil failed and no one knew why; that many a girl
dropped out of school and no teacher knew why; that
many a student accomplished much less than his ability
called for and no one knew the reason. Many a boy, perhaps
undernourished, perhaps emotionally upset, came to school
from an unhappy home, but no one at school knew.

The Thirty Schools recognized that some way must be
found by which each pupil should be well known by atfleast
one teacher. They took seriously this obligation of knowing
their students well, and several effective ways were found
to meet it. Such arrangements as these were devised in vari-
ous schools:

The counselor or home-room teacher h^^mo^JfrQ the

teacher of his home-ronm grrmpin pn^ nr mnm...snhjftcts.

The counselor continued with the same group of stu-
dents, not just for a semester nr year, hiitipr two and
often three years.

Instead of a formal report of grades sent to the stu-
dent's home without his previous knowledge, ^care-
fully written^ateg^nt of his progress wasjrepared

jointly by adviser and student. This often led to a con-

j .,,.- , ,/ , . ,^M^ ....................... ...I .I, _

ference attended by counselor, parents, and pupil, re-

38 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

suiting almost always in greater knowledge and under-
standing.

The counselor visited each student's, home,, at least

if

Organization of teachers around groups of students
with whom they all were working supplanted, to a con-
siderable extent, the traditional departmental organiza-
tion around subjects.

In some of the large high schools a smaller school
within the larger one was organized. Thus 6 teachers
became responsible for 210 students for the greater
part of the school day. Each teacher was counselor of
35 students, and the 6 teachers and the 210 boys and
girls worked together as a unit. The schedule was ar-
ranged so that there was flexibility in class grouping
and so that the six teachers had an hour together for
conference every day.

Teachers have learned much about their students by
^ -the

JStudy^JBy using these instruments of evaluation, de-
signed to measure growth in reflective thinking, social
sensitivity, extent and depth of interests and apprecia-
tions, teachers discovered many significant facts which
might not have been revealed otherwise.

Perhaps the most effective way of knowing and coun-
seling individuals has been found by those schools
which have developed core programs dealing with the
common concerns and problems of their students^ Jhe
counselor is also the "core" teacher. Two hours each
day are usually devoted to the units which comprise
the core cumculum. 7 Thus the counselor inevitably

6 See Chap. IV; also Vol. Ill, Appraising and Recording Student Progress.

7 For discussion of the core curriculum, see Chap. Ill, pp. 57-61.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 39

becomes aware of the students' concerns, for they are
the subjects of study and investigation. And as he enters
into their lives through helping them with their prob-
lems of living, he becomes truly their counselor, guide,
and friend.

Home and School
Work Together

The creation of a high school appropriate to democratic
society involves not only fundamental change in school
administration, but also ejffectiyff ^coUabpration of home and
school Few "rf the Thirty Schools realized fully in the be-
ginning that changes in the school cannot "be^satisjFactorily
madej&dii^ parents.

Most parents of the present high school generation went
to high school for at least a year. They think of it as they
knew it when they were students. Anything different from
their own school experience tends to disturb them. When
their sons and daughters tell of "integrated subjects," "core
courses/' "culture epochs/' excursions for community study,
teacher-pupil planning, and the like, parents wonder what
in the world is going on at school. They are inclined to have
confidence in the teachers, but these strange things cause
doubts to arise. Most parents want schools to be alive and
to make progress, but they want to be sure that established
curriculums and ways of teaching are not changed without
good reason and that the new ways are sensible and sound.
Of course, every school has a few patrons who object vio-
lently and noisily to any change from "the good old days
of the little red school-house on the hill."

If principal, teachers, and students have one concept of
education and parents quite another, misunderstanding, con-
flict, and unhappiness are inevitable. To avoid such misfor-

40 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

tune, many of the Thirty Schools arranged frecjuent conf er-
with pnrnnts for full explanation of ohftPgSSLJjo JKat
flnrl gfTinnT -might work in harmony. More important
still, some of the schools 8 brought parents into effective par-
ticipation with teachers and students in studying the func-
tion of the school in the life of the community and in formu-
lating guiding principles. Where this was done, school and
home moved forward together. 9

Through general parent-teacher meetings, grade parent
conferences, small group discussions, and individual teacher-
parent interviews the school's work was interpreted so that
doubts were dissipated through understanding. Some of the
schools have organized parent groups to study major educa-
tional issues. Out of such study the most reactionary parent
often becomes a vigorous advocate of change and a strong
supporter of innovations in school practice. Usually the ex-
treme conservative in education is one who does not know
young people well. He has not entered into their lives or
faced with them the serious problems which confront them.
The schools startled many a hidebound parent and teacher
out of his complacency by having him visit a few of the
miserable homes from which some boys and girls come to
school.
Belief in education and faith in its

universal in American life. No phase of our common life
has greater appeal to our people. In every community there
are many men and women able and ready to serve the cause
of education. Schools are learning through experience how
to draw upon these rich human resources for counsel and
support.

8 Bronxville, Dalton, Des Moines, John Burroughs, Shaker Heights, Tower
Hill, and others.

9 Vol. II, Exploring the Curriculum, Chap. VI.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 41

Teachers Attain New Dignity and
Worth through Participation

The teacher has always had the leading role in schools
everywhere. In democracy's high school his part becomes
even more important. He does not merely play his assigned
part; he helps select the play and is concerned with the
whole production. Less figuratively, democratic education
involves the individual teacher in the whole program oFflie
school. He no longer, works in isolation. He shares with
administrators and other teachers in determining the school's
principles and purposes, in formulating policies and in put-
ting them into practice, and in building the curriculum.

In a school governed by the autocratic tradition the
teacher was assigned a subject to teach. He was told by the
"authorities" what textbook to use, the number of pages to
be assigned, the amount of work to be "covered" by the end
of the term. He was seldom invited to consider anything
outside his immediate task, and almost never was he per-
mitted to offer any sort of criticism, no matter how construc-
tive it might be.

In the Thirty Schools teachers were brought into full shar-
ing in the general life of the school. This involved much
more co-operative thought and action than before. Many
teachers found this difficult. Some few were unwilling or
unable to work happily with others, but the great majority
did, to the advantage of the school and themselves. _Bj2
studying and planning with others, teachers widened their
o\vn^bgrizons andgnnched their own lives. Narrow subject
specialization had limited their interests. Collaboration en-
abled them to understand other fields more fully and to see
the relationship ot their own ^Pgg^gJ^ 5 ^ to the whole work
of the school.

It was in curriculum revision especially that the teachers

42 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

entered more significantly into the general life of the school.
To make curriculum changes intelligently it was necessary
to reconsider the educational principles^which thg^school
.hefd and the practices which, it followed. Participation by
the teacher in this fundamental reconsideration of the whole
range of the school's activity gave him a sense of whole-
school responsibility.

In almost all of the participating schools the changes that
have been made in curriculum and teaching procedures have
come through such faculty collaboration. Syllabi for courses
are no longer prepared in the superintendent's or principal's
office and handed out to teachers. In some of the member
schools no decision affecting the general life of the school
is made except by faculty consideration. In a few schools
an elected committee of teachers shares with the principal
in allocating the school's income even in such matters as
teacher's salaries. This more extensive participation in cur-
riculum building, policy making, and school management
adds to teachers' loads, but they testify that it is worth much
more in growth than it costs in time and energy.

Students Meet the Challenge
of Responsibility

As application of the democratic principle of participation
to general school life has expanded the realm of teacher
action, so it has given the students a larger share in their
own education. Because they know that young people de-
velop strength bv taking responsibilities, tSe Thirty Schools
have provided greater opportunit}HFor them ^o^shs^J^
*6cfyool management and curriculum ^%ming. Of the many
ways of v ^aj^_re.ST^|jbil^g_jo--called "* < stu3ent'^govern-
ment" is most conmion. In tfie schools of the Eight- Year
Study students work with teachers in co-operative rather

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 43

than student government. Education demands all the wis-
dom that young people and adults together can bring to
the task.

Students share in many different activities suclTas pro-
tecting younger pupils at street crossings, regulating student
use of automobiles, caring for school property, serving as
hosts to school visitors, managing dining halls, corridors and
study rooms, setting up exhibits of school work, interpreting!
the work of the school to parents, planning school assembly
programs, developing cordial relations with other schools,
and planning for the general social life of the whole school.
In some places student committees serve jointly with faculty
committees on such an important problem as curriculum re-
idslon. Students welcomeTEEe opportunity to co-operate~with
teachers in trying to find solutions to the most difficult sorts
of problems, and their contributions are invaluable. ^_ r _

The^most significant aspect of student sharing in the
Thirty Schools is la bgJoundJnJB^
generally pupil participation has been limited to affairs else-
where. At the door of the classroom the student entered
into another world in which he did more or less well what
he was told to do. "Why," teachers asked, "shouldn't the
students take an active part in planning the work to be
done? After all, they are the ones most concerned." Not in
all classes, but in many of them, the democratic principle
of sharing has become established in practice. Pupils join
with the teacher in deciding what goals are to be sought, in
selecting the steps to be taken to reach the desired ends,
and in setting up tests or measures to find out whether ob-
jectives have been reached.

This change in the pupil's place in the general life of the
school and in the classroom enhances his sense of his own
worth, develops his habit of responsibility, and challenges

44 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the most vigorous use of his intelligence. A notable example
of such results is found in one of the schools of the Study.
When the Student Council learned that the faculty was
studying the democratic way of life in relation to the work
of the school, the Council members embarked upon a
study of the same topic. Out of this study there came a
statement entitled The Philosophy of the Student Council.
In this remarkable document the young men and women
of the Council set forth their own concepts of democracy
and proposed steps which the Council and school should
take in order to achieve a more satisfactory school-society.
They stated that ''there are two fundamental aspects of de-
mocracy which are generally accepted. First, democracy is
based upon respect for the worth of fh fi individual. . . .
Second, democracy is a theory and a system for co-operative
living." Then the council listed the ways in which they
could promote individual welfare throughout the school,
develop more opportunities for social relationships, ease fi-
nancial burdens for those whose participation in school af-
fairs was limited or denied because of lack of money,
increase voluntary obedience to necessary regulations,
encourage participation in public affairs, and develop in all
students respect for the rights and opinions of others. These
high school youth were thinking as seriously as their teachers
were, and they felt as deeply their responsibility for the wel-
fare of the school.

No one of the Thirty Schools has yet achieved democracy
in every phase of its life. They are not complacent; they
are still striving for clearer understanding and better ways,
but they know more surely where they are going than they

10 New Trier Township High School, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell Their
Story.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 45

did eight years ago. They have progressed in making the
general life of the school consistent with the democratic
ideal. In administration., in home and school relations, in the
roles of teachers and students the American dream is find-
ing greater realization.

The spirit of adventure which gave a tingle of excitement
to the work of the early years grew less and less as the
teachers came to grips with the difficult problem of trans-
lating an inspiring ideal into daily practice. They had
"mounted up on wings as eagles"; soon they had to have
the fortitude to "walk and not faint." The next chapter tells
the story of their struggle with the great daily problem of
what to teach and how best to teach.

Chapter III

THE CURRICULUM HEEDS THE CONCERNS
OF YOUTH

C <CC C ( C- C g- ( KO C ( C<( KC ( C<C < C- < C C < < C- C-

By this time the reader is probably asking, What, changes
in studies did the Thirty Schools actually make? Is the work
of the classroom really different from what it was before
the Study began? If a visitor were to happen into one of
these schools, would he soon know that something new was
afoot?

Traditional Subjects Gain

New Vitality

It must be confessed that a stranger would need some
time and insight to discover in some of the schools anything
significantly different from what he would find in any live
high school. He would almost certainly note an atmosphere
of friendly, informal co-operation and many changes in ways
of teaching, but the subject matter might seem to be the
same as always. He would observe classes in science, foreign
language, mathematics, history, and English as elsewhere;
but investigation would probably reveal many departures
from the conventional content of these courses. For ex-
ample, the science class might be studying the technique of <
solving problems, not only in the field of science but in
many other phases of life. The class in Spanish might be in-
vestigating the influence of geography upon the life and
character of South American peoples. The group in mathe-
matics might be applying principles of logic to an analysis
of a local problem of housing or conservation. The class in

46

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 47

history might be drawing up a statement for the next school
assembly, outlining the issues involved in the annual elec-
tion of student leaders. The English class might be analyz-
ing recent newspapers and magazines to discover ways and
means by which propaganda molds public opinion.

The visitor would find, of course, that the worthwhile
content of traditional courses had been retained, but Jig
would learn that the teachers had re-examined their workLin
the light of clearerpurpose and that niuch new subject
{natter had supplanted that which Ead ceased to be of inter-
est or value"t6 students^ An illustration of enriched content
of traditional subjects is found in one school's report on its
work in Latin. This school writes:

Latin forms and grammar were never taught here for their own
sakes but instead for the purpose of reading Latin as readily as
possible. . . . Already ,much effort was expended on English,
derivations from Latin words and roots.' 'Tills "concern wife Eng-
lish vocabulary now has become one of our major interests in
these first years of Latin. As much time is expended on this as
onthe Latin itself^

Finally the content of these courses is based on reading of
material of some significance to later work in history and other
subjects. It is not ... a year (or two) on Latin forms, grammar,
sentences, and idioms followed by a year of Caesar. We long
ago reduced the Caesar content to a hah year and selected mate-
rial of real use: the stories of his crossings into Britain and his
accounts of Gallic and German customs, et cetera.

For a number of years, the material to be read in the junior
Latin class . , . has been the subject of searching experiment. It
is years since such stupid material as the Catiline Orations has
even been looked into. We use the best parts of three ably written
and edited texts of Latin writers. . . . We read a number of
Cicero's letters twenty or twenty-five and about the same
amount of material from Pliny's letters in the early Christian

48 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

period. We chose essays, anecdotes, philosophy, political and
legal speeches; and most interesting of all the first two and
a half months of the junior year are spent on a fascinating and
interesting period in Cicero's legal career. . . , 1

Here one finds many changes from the traditional first year
of grammar, second year of Caesar's Commentaries, and
third year of Cicero's orations.

It would be discovered, also, in some schools which
seemed to have changed only slightly, that gach older stu-
dent was engaged in^a serious, independent, long-time in-
vestigation^

advises selection of a topic which requires personal investi-
gation, interviews, and work with one's hands. The report of
the investigation is not always in writing; it may take form
in an art product, in a musical composition, an original play
production. Schools report investigations dealing with the
Maine coast in literature, Philadelphia housing, examples of
good and bad thinking ranging from a Supreme Court opin-
ion to a vitriolic editorial, American Negro poetry, plans for
a modern house, making a motion picture on conservation,
co-operatives, community health, and numerous other sub-
jects of genuine student concern. The schools in which these
extended investigations and elaborate reports are encour-
aged emphasize their value as experience in methods of
elementary research and in seeing a long, hard task through
to completion.

The visitor would find in many of these more conservative
of the Thirty Schools somewhat less required work in for-
eign language and mathematics; but some students, having
marked aptitude and interest in these studies, go far beyond
requirements and enter college ready for sophomore work
in these fields. More_opportunity is proyicld-fe* L -stedy of the

1 North Shore Country Day School.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 49

natural and social sciences and the arts, including public
speaking, dramatics, home economics, and industrial arts.
There is also greaterprovision for continuing subjects for
B3&re tharfone year. Because most colleges would allow only
one entrance credit in chemistry, for example, the secondary
school limited that subject to one year. Now the student with
special scientific bent often has a second year of chemistry
before going to college.

These and other changes in content of courses have been
made in the schools which have taken least advantage of the
freedom granted to participants in the Study. They may seem
of minor importance, but no one can fail to be impressed by
the testimony of principals and teachers in these schools.
They say emphatically that changes run deep, far beneath
anything which casual observation can discover on the sur-
face. One school writes, "There are few if any of our class-
rooms which have not been enriched and invigorated from
the participation of the school with the Experiment/' An-
other reports: "It will be seen that our set-up is essentially
traditional, but a great change has come in the spirit of
teaching. In certain subject areas little progress has been
made. In others much progress has come about. The school
has grown educationally and spiritually during the years of
the Study."

Barriers Are Broken Down

Thus far in this chapter an attempt has been made to in-
dicate the kinds of subject-matter change in the participating
schools which departed least from convention. In presenting
now the more marked innovations which were made in
other schools, it is realized that it is impossible to place the
schools in sharply divided groupings. This has been at-
tempted more than once, always with unsatisfactory results.

50 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Schools, like persons, possess so many various characteristics
that any classification almost surely gives a false and dis-
torted picture. To see any one of the Thirty Schools clearly
the reader should turn to Volume V of this Report, Thirty
Schools Tell Their Story, where each school has given an
account of its own experience in the Study.

Although no definite grouping of the schools is possible,
departures from the conventional high school program have
been much greater in some than in others. The visitor who
might have difficulty in discovering change in some of the
schools would realize at once that distinct innovations had
been inaugurated in others. In all probability, finding him-
self with a teacher and class, he would be unable to recog-
nize the subject as Physics or Chemistry or Biology. Certain
facts of physics and chemistry and important principles of
biology are used in the work going on, but the center of
organization is something other than the internal logic of

any "subject." T^Wc; qnrl ^j^nJ-g arP driving jifjinmp-

thing rnm^ifi^Qjf*^ *^ *TiAm jfoo^ learning the content of
physics, chemistry, ftf Km|ngy What is this more important
goal? It may be that they are investigating the effect of cer-
tain vitamins upon growth, or how and why the city keeps
its water supply pure, or the nature and effect of certain
kinds of artificial lighting. The immediate purpose is satis-
of the uilsclesire to^know

^
the larger-purpose mayj^-Q ^velopJaabits of criticaTdiink-

^

effect relationships. In conducting the investigations the class
raws upon physics, biology, and chemistry, using facts and
principles, regardless of the specific subject or division to
which they logically belong.

To illustrate specifically, the following quotation is taken
from the report of one of the public schools:

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 51

Science gives man, first, a knowledge of himself and his relation-
ship to other living things; then knowledge about the physical
universe in which he lives; and last of all, some conception of
his place in this universe of time and space.

We have divided our science sequences in the three years into
those aspects which concern all individuals, not just those who
are to be specialists in some scientific field. In the tenth grade we
study the human body, its nature, its functions, its evolution; in
the eleventh grade we center attention on the nature of the en-
vironment and the uses man has been able to make of natural
forces . . . ; in the twelfth grade, we consider the relationship
of man to his universe of time and space, including in our study
the development of man's knowledge of the earth and other
bodies in space, with particular stress on the constant change
that is going on in the universe. . . .

In the tenth grade, activities are deliberately anthropocentric
and are focused on the personal life of the individual adolescent
boy and girl. These activities concern the daily life experiences
of the student, from the diet of the athlete, to the responsibility
of the individual for the health of the community. . . .

The eleventh grade course involves a survey of the physical
environment and an intensive study of some aspects of the nature
of matter, of the changes in matter, chemical and physical, and
of the nature of the various energies heat, electricity, energy
waves, both sound and radiant. It includes also a study of the
uses man has made of the forces of nature, the effect of these
applications of his knowledge on the life of our day; the possi-
bilities of changing still further many conditions of life by
further discoveries of the mysteries of matter and energy.

The twelfth grade course begins with an exploration of time and
space the macrocosm and with a critical evaluation of the
methods and limitations of science. It includes the study of the
nature of the earth and the changes in its surface and in life
forms; the atmosphere . . . ; the moon; the planets and their
satellites; the sun . . . ; the frontiers of science.

Understandings such as these should result in an appreciation
of the interrelatedness of the fields of science; a willingness to
experiment and to accept the conclusions reached from experi-

52, ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

ments; a critical attitude toward authorities; an attitude of
suspended judgment; recognition that all theories are tentative
and all truth relative; an awareness of the possibilities open to
man through his understanding of the laws of life, and an abiding
sense of his dependence upon the creative force which lies beyond
and above his reach and his vision. 2

Some of the participatingschools are committed to this
brogcFEeH type ofjiLLDicuEmi. The field of science has been
used here for illustration, but this same principle guides in
determining content and organization in all other fields. In-
stead of studying meticulously separated courses in arithme-
tic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, the student learns
the mathematics involved in the^solution of the problem in

id. SSoTwMi oSierfields similarly organized, the curricu-
consists of the broad fields of science, mathematics, lan-
guage and literature, the arts, social studies, health and
physical education, instead of the numerous "subjects'" of the
usual high school curriculum. The advantages and possibili-
/ties of this plan are presented forcefully in the Report of the
Progressive Education Association's Commission on The Sec-
ondary School Curriculum. 3

Almost all the schools were trying from tTi^4^g 1>nl ling^ of
the Study to find ways of Tweakin pwn_jhb.a... art-ifipial bar-

iers w

Dwering or eliminating sharply divid-

ing arriers wHEn^a broad field such as science, mathe-
matics, social studies, was not uncommon in schools gener-
ally. But^man^ of the Thirty Schools and some others
attemp?5STogo fnrfTi^ fo/ firming down

teobroad field from hmadjEeli Sometimes attempts were
made to" combine science and mathematics. This plan was

2 Bronxville High School, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell Their Story.

3 V. T. Thayer, Caroline B. Zacby, Ruth Kotmsky, Reorganizing Second-
ary Education, D. Appleton-Century Company, New York, 1939.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 53

usually abandoned early, for it was found that the relatively
meager mathematics content needed in the usual high school
science courses could be quickly taught when needed and
that the attempt to unite the two subjects had no sound
basis. The planmost frequently tried was the fusion of Eng-
lish and the social studies. This combination, with the arts'
sometimes included, proved to be more satisfactory and
profitable. A few schools have found ways to fuse English
and social studies into genuine unity, but some schools aban-
doned that scheme because of difficulties of organization.
Usually the obvious and accustomed chronological organiza-
tion of history became the basis of organization of the uni-
fied courses. Soon it was discovered that English became
"the handmaiden* 7 of history, that the literature of some peri-
ods was too scarce to warrant spending much time on it,
and that it became necessary to resort to artificial integra-
tion which was deemed worse than the evils which fusion
sought to eliminate.

Many teachers began to suspect that there was something
fundamentally wrong in attempting to "put subjects to-
gether/' They were sure that the vicious divisions which
kept teachers and students from discovery of the underlying
unity of all knowledge should and can be eliminated,Jbpt
they were equally sure that a deeper and sounder foundation
for integration must be estabHshgd. The visitor would have
found in 1933 enthusiasm for fusion of subjects, but had he
come again in 1936 he would have found doubt, discourage-
ment, and search for something better.

Students Learn the Ways
of Other Peoples

In more recent years the visitor would have discovered in
several schools that a whole culture had become the subject

54 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

of study. Teacher and students together had decided to try
to see and understand life in the Eastern Mediterranean
about 500 B.C., France of the thirteenth century, or Mexico
of the last twenty years. Of course, no complete or exhaustive
study of any culture is possible by high school students, just
as no complete or exhaustive study of Greek life is possible
in the conventional course in ancient history. However, by
investigating the ways in which a people got their daily
bread, provided their clothing and shelter, organized their
communities, dealt with offenders against the common good,
educated their youth, defended themselves against their ene-
mies, amused themselves, and conducted their home life,
the high school student identifies himself with the people
studied and becomes one of them for the time being. Above
all, he enters into the thought and ideas of the people he is
studying. By reading what they wrote, by understanding
what and how they worshiped, and by seeing the products
of their self-expression in art, the student begins to know, in
a truly significant way, a civilization that is related in many
ways to the culture of his own place and time.

One school in its unit on China studied "Chinese poetry
and drama, modern books about China, Chinese painting,
sculpture, ceramics and architecture. . . , The class was
privileged in having personal experiences with Chinese peo-
ple, as for example, Mme. Lin Yutang, wife of the Chinese
philosopher, Chinese dancers and musicians, and Chinese
students . . . who talked with the class about the problems
which the Chinese people now face/' 4 In a neighboring
school a class "spent eight to ten weeks being Greeks. . . .
They did not merely study Greece; they were Greeks. They
lived, worked and thought as Spartans, Athenians, Corin-
thians, Syracusans, Thebans and Milesians. There was no
4 Horace Mann School.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 55

costume play acting. It was their minds that they 'dressed up/
and the major problems arising out of Greek life were imme-
diately given modern American application. One question,
for example, which occupied the group was why there had
never been a United States of Greece, although there had
been a Greek democracy." 5
The schools which have developed this Culture-Epoch

study constantly to our own life and time. The common prob-
lems of life must be faced by every people in every genera-
tion. America faces them today. Are we solving them more
wisely than other peoples did in other times?

No wonder the visitor to a class which is exploring a cul-
ture finds it impossible to identify the "subject." It is lan-
guage and literature, art, music, civics, history, economics,
mathematics, science, and more. No one teacher is fully com-
petent to lead the class in the exploration of all the major
aspects of any culture. Therefore, the visitor may be sur-
prised to find two or more teachers collaborating in guiding
the work. He might learn that every department of the high
school is involved before the study is finished.

Careers Shape the
Curriculum

In preference to the study of cultures, jjj:ew schools hold
that the^^idaniLS^EI^Q^i 11 ^ 11 ^ interest in a career provfdes
basis for genumejntegration. Each boy and girl is
encouraged to find "some field of human activity in which he
takes a special interest, for which he feels he has special
aptitude and in which he sees adults earning their living in
the real world outside school. These fields may be concrete

5 Lincoln School, Democracy's High School, Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1941. See also Six Greek Cities by
B. J. R. Stolper and Henry C. Fenn, Bureau of Publications, Teachers Col-
lege, Columbia University, 1939.

56 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

fine arts, business administration, pre-engineering, euthenics
and they may be as conventionally intellectual as mathe-
matics, French, Greek or history." 6 For the student whose
vocational interest is art, science obviously becomes signifi-
cant in relation to his career. Other subjects take on new
meaning as he sees their implications for his work. This de-
sirable result is obtained only when the program of studies
is arranged so that adaptation of work to each individual's
predominant interest is made possible.

The visitor who wants to see all the members of the senior
class of a certain participating school 7 would have to travel
all over town, for many are at work in various places and
occupations for two weeks at a time throughout the senior
year. They are working at all sorts of jobs, from general
clerking to pattern making. These are students who are not
going to college. They are trying to make places for them-
selves in the economic life of the community. Jjift school is
trying to help them, first, by arranging for experience on the
job; second, by relating their school w

school they are studying labor unions,
collective bargaining, social security, old age pensions, un-
employment insurance, housing, hospitalization, propa-
ganda, possible uses of leisure time, crime, intelligent buy-
ing, and numerous other topics directly or indirectly related
to their future work and citizenship in the community. The
employer reports to the school concerning thejpupiTs native
ability ,in th,e jsyojjc he is^dqing^his^prQgress, adaptability,
initiative, politeness, ability to get alpng ^th fellow workers,
willingness to take adviqe ap4 orcJerSy. ability to work inde-
pen3ently without waiting for suggestions, and desire to

6 Fieldston School, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell Their Story.
7 Radnor High School. For complete details, see report of Radnor High
Schoolj ibid.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 57

lean^and^advance. These reports combined with school re-
ports provi3e^tEebasis for genuine guidance and profitable
conference with the student and his parents. School studies
come to focus on the student and his career. English, social
studies, mathematics, science, the arts are no longer isolated
fields of doubtful value. They become related sources of
knowledge and understanding as they contribute to the stu-
dent's purposes of making a living and doing useful work in
which he finds growth and satisfaction.

The Common Problems of American Youth
Become the Heart of the Curriculum

If the reader could spend a year in the Thirty Schools, he
would doubtless linger in certain ones where other strange
things are going on. There he would see a group of boys and
girls meeting for two hours or more every day with the same
teacEerTThe chances are that they have been meeting thus
with this teacher for two, perhaps three, years. What have
they been doing with all this time together?

Let us suppose that this is a class in a Denver high school.
The teacher has been studying and planning for a long time
with other teachers from his own school and from the other
14 junior and senior high schools of the city. Together they
prepared for the "core curriculum/' Although the teacher
and his classes would plan together for their work and make
final selection of the topics to be studied, the following quo-
tation from the Denver report indicates the range and
wealth of possibilities of their work:

In order to understand the kinds of experiences which the core
curriculum attempts to provide for high school pupils, one must
recognize that the program is concerned with a continuous at-
tack upon the problems which are persistent in the lives of
adolescents as members of a democratic society. Units developed
around such significant problems become the program of studies.

58 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Each unit is an organizaf^ a

development, andTan enjL Eaclxairn> bj^jj^^ to which

tbe^$geriences chosen. . are related; The problems or areas of
activity listed below are those which have been used by all five
senior high schools in planning units for the core program. No
one high school has attempted to cover them all; but during the
last three years of the Study, units in every area have been de-
veloped somewhere in the system. No attempt has been made in
Denver to allocate these units finally to any grade level. They
have implications for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The em-
phases of the unit developed to meet the problem depend upon
the needs, interests, and capacity of the group of pupils who are
concerned, the resources available, and the creative ability of the
teacher or teachers who direct the study. 8

Space does not permit more than a sampling of the exten-
sive list of activities which comprise this program. 9 However,
the following problems, "arranged according to areas of liv-
ing, are indicative of the character of the work undertaken
in the various core curriculums of Denver.'*

A. Personal Living

1. Understanding ourselves through

a. Discovering our interests, aptitudes, and powers

b. Measuring the extent of our information in important
areas of knowledge

c. Analyzing our use of time and effort and planning for
more constructive ways of living

d. Becoming aware of our vocational interests and general
vocational aptitudes

2. Developing interests and appreciations which we already
have and exploring others in such fields as

a. Reading

b. Gardening

c. Painting, modeling

d. Singing, dancing

8 Denver Schools, ibid.

9 For complete list, see Denver report.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 59

e. Nature study

f. Physical sciences

3. Developing maturing appreciations of the resources which

make life worth living, in

a. The creative expression of others in the fields of plastic-
graphic arts, music, drama, literature, etc.

b. The world of nature and science

c. Learning how to make the most of ourselves in appear-
ance, poise, and social adequacy, through emphasis upon
health, grooming, cleanliness, order, and fitness

4. Developing a philosophy of life.

B. Immediate personal-social relationships

1. Orientation to the school through

a. Becoming acquainted with the pupils in the group and
with those who are leaders in the student life of the
school

b. Becoming acquainted with the teachers and admin-
istrators

c. Considering the meaning of education in a democracy

2. Exploring the problems of living in a modern family through

a. Determining the responsibilities of every age group in
such a relationship

b. Considering the economic problems of the home and
the budgeting and spending of the family income

c. Studying the origins of family standards, traditions, and
beliefs

3. Studying the problems of human relationship, including

a. Boy-and-girl relationships

b. The personal problems of boys

c. The personal problems of girls

d. The nature and obligations of the small groups to which
one belongs

4. Surveying and evaluating activities and resources for recrea-
tion of the family or small group

C. Social-civic relationships

1. Knowing the community through a study of such areas as
a. The history of the city and its racial character

60 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

b. Government of the city, including taxation . . . and
the like

c. Providing for the cultural growth of the people through
libraries, symphony societies, museums, schools, and
the like

2. Discovering the unique characteristics of American democ-
racy and comparing them with the other methods of
political and social organizations of the world . . . This
would include a study of

a. The documents of democracy

b. The lives of our democratic leaders

c. The place of minority groups in the nation

3. Facing and attempting to help in the solution of social
problems

4. Gaining some grasp of international relations and what it
means to be a citizen of the world, with emphasis upon the
current scene

5. Learning how public opinion is formed and the sources of
information upon which we tend to rely

D. Economic relationships

1. Studying ways in which clothing, shelter, food, water, and
power are produced and distributed

2. Recognizing and learning how to deal with consumer prob-
lems

3. Realizing the impact of machine production upon living
and the possibilities of improving living conditions under a
machine civilization

4. Studying the conflicting economic systems of the world and
the various ways of providing for production and distribu-
tion

5. Studying the vocational opportunities in the community
and the nation and studying the individual's special abili-
ties and capacities in terms of a vocation

6. Studying the problems of employment in

a. Training for a job

b. Applying for a job

c. Employer-employee relationships

d. Finding the cultural aspects of vocational life

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 61

With topics such as these our teacher and his boys and
girls have been engaged. The visitor will note quickly that
they are unusually busy. As he examines the program for the
core curriculum, he realizes that it has substance, that here
are topics of great import to youth which would challenge
their best abilities and their powers of hard, continuous ef-
fort. Of course, they could not study all topics that are sug-
gested. They have selected according to their developing
concerns and needs. They have read, explored, investigated.
Together they have searched for knowledge and under-
standing.

As this new work developed, it became necessary to find
some term to designate it. Since it was not just English or
social studies or science, but all of these and more, it could
not be called by any of the conventional subject names _Same
schools began to use the terms "Stem Course " "Basin
Course, "General

iiation "Core Curriculum.^ None of these terms is entirely
sfactory, but General Education and Core Curriculum,
jost frequently found in the school reports, are used
her^^ionymously.

After the visitor has found out what a group of studenta
do together with oneleacher two hours every_ day for two

or three years, he will doubtless attempt to learn what these

boys and girls do with the rest of the school day. Usually
high school pupils are in school about six hours. What do
they do with the other four?. $r

That depends upon the individual. All students share jin
thfi units of shiHy w>nr^^
cation course. For the rest of his work each student's pro-

f. From the whole range of studies offered
by the school, choice is made of what is best for him. It
should be emphasized that the student does not select his

62 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

courses haphazardly or on his own responsibility. There
have been frequent conferences involving student, parents,
and advisor. Their combined wisdom is brought to bear
upon the planning of the student's program.

For one individual, in addition to his two hours of "gen-
eral education/' there may be courses in shop-work, mathe-
matics, and English; for another, the four hours may be
given to work in foreign language, science, and one of the
arts. A third, being a slow worker, may need more time for
/study, so his additional work may be limited to English and
mathematics. These individual programs change from time
to time as certain needs are met and others develop. Always
the student has the guidance of his "core" teacher, not only
in choosing subjects of study and various sorts of student
organizations, but in matters of more intimate, personal
nature.

are ^ e tyP es f curriculum revision the visi-
tor would find in the participating schools. In some the
changes are limited to the content of conventional subjects.
In others new content is found in the broad fields type of
curriculum. In still others the new content is included in
the study of whole cultures. New subject matter is intro-
duced in some schools to promote the student's predominant
career interest. The most marked innovations are found in
those schools which have developed core curri^^ffis) Strict
classification of every school into one of these five groups is
impossible. Several schools, for example, have developed the
core curriculum, and, at the same time, have modified the
content of conventional subjects. Since the schools were free
to inaugurate new programs of study, naturally differences
among them resulted.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 63

OTHER CUKEUCULUM DEVELOPMENTS

Although there are differences in emphasis and in the
nature of the new subject matter, one finds in all the mem-
ber schools other curriculum developments designed to serve
purposes which every school deems important.

Youth Study and Share the Life
of the Community

First, the school is drawing close to its community. More
and more time is given by every school to exploration of the
physical and human resources of the places in which the
students live. What the community does and how it func-
tions are subjects of direct, first-hand study.

One of the Thirty Schools states that "the value of the
community as a vast reservoir of social, cultural, vocational,
economic, industrial, and recreational resources is steadily
gaining the attention of secondary education in California. 10
Visits to newspaper plants, factories, farms, libraries, muse-
ums, social-service and governmental institutions are com-
mon practice in schools generally. To be of ^greatest value,
the Thirty Schools have found that such first-band investi-
gaijpns should be part of a well-planned^study with definite
purposes clearly understood. In one school, located in Bos-
ton, the work of the ninth grade centers upon the study of
the history and present life and problems of that community.
"We use the city we live in," they say, "as a kind of demon-
stration laboratory for elementary economics, civics, science
and architecture." 11

Another school has carried first-hand study far beyond the
boundaries of the local community and reports as follows:

A week end proved necessary for senior high school students

10 Eagle Rock High School, ibid.

11 Winsor School, ibid.

64 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

to study certain geological phenomena beyond Manhattan. The
longer time proved equally valuable for glimpses of rural econ-
omy. Eight days at the height of a congressional fight in Wash-
ington were barely enough to introduce juniors and seniors to
certain aspects of our federal government. A week's trip proved
an effective experience for twenty-five ninth graders in New
England country life in the spring; eight days were used when
fifty ninth graders participated in farm activities as the Berkshire
farmers prepared for the winter. Eleven days were spent by
fifty twelfth graders traveling nineteen hundred miles to study the
socio-economic planning of the Tennessee Valley Authority and
of certain government and co-operative enterprises in Georgia,
North Carolina, and Maryland. About the same length of time
permitted an industrial study in the bituminous coal fields of West
Virginia. In all these recent enterprises, as much participation
as possible has been included with observation. 12

That last sentence suggests a related development: par-
ticipation. Study of the community often creates a strong
desire in young people to do something about conditions
which they have discovered. Usually, however, they find
their hands tied they can discover no way in which, they
are permitted to act.

Ther Thirty Schools have recognized this needjrfyouth
in A^~adnlt worjji. One schooT re-

ports 131 that, in connection with the study of recreation in
the community, a group of students representing the six
class sections of the high school made a tour of four of the
city parks. On the trip damage to park property was noted.
Previously smaller groups had visited these parks and listed
the improvements needed in each. Following discussion, a
program of action was agreed upon, and each class section
elected a member to serve on a park committee.
The committee drew up a letter to the Park Superintend-

12 Lincoln School of Teachers College, ibid.

13 Daniel Webster High School, Tulsa.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 65

ent pledging to protect park property and asking for die
improvements which had been agreed upon as reasonable.
A number of conferences with adults and with several adult
organizations followed. The co-operation of these groups
with the students and the Superintendent of Parks resulted
in these improvements: putting tennis courts in good playing
condition, installing new playing equipment, making new
softball diamonds, putting in new horseshoe pitching
grounds, and planting shade trees.

In a somewhat different realm, students in another school
have taken responsible leadership in certain community
affairs. This school writes:

During the study of a unit of War and Peace in the senior
Enterprise, the students wishing to "do something about it all"
decided that they could perhaps be most effective in the area of
creating, or moulding, public opinion and prepared a program
involving some drama and an explanation of world conflicts
through the use of maps, which they presented to school and
adult audiences totaling approximately three thousand peo-
ple. . . .

Students also have attended adult conferences in Philadelphia
which have been held on the subjects of housing and peace. They
have from time to time been invited to neighboring women's clubs
to conduct discussions concerning such subjects as Americanism,
relations of movies to education, and ways and means of educat-
ing for peace. They have also been attending both the adult ses-
sions and the school round-tables of the Foreign Policy Associa-
tion. 14

The Schools Help Young People
Get Ready to Earn a Living

Besides greater use of community resmirces arffl inrrfif*^
participation by students in local affairs, all tk^ member
schoolsj^re concernedL^jflijhe^ problem of p

14 Friends' Central School, ibid.

66 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

people to earn a living, jn the private schools, which send
almost ^iTgraduates to college, this problem is not as imme-
diate- or insistent as it is in the large public school. However,
tke student who goes to college with a well-defined voca-
tional interest profits thereby, even if he changes his choice
of career while in college.

The reader will recall the fact that of six who enter junior
high school three drop out before completing senior high
school; and of the three who graduate, only one goes on
with formal schooling. For five out of six, then, getting a job
upon leaving school is the number one problem. For millions
of them there were no jobs. There were few places for them
in our economic life. The nation's defense program now
provides work for them. They are needed now. Will they be
needed when our defenses are completed? Whatever em-
ployment conditions are at any time, the school admits the
inescapable responsibility of helping all six the five as well
as the one to prepare for economic self-support and useful
service to the community.

Few schools anywhere have met this responsibility fully.
All of the Thirty Schools have developed more effective pro-
cedures in voca5onargui5aiice/inm places this includes
the study of vocations, conferences with leaders in various
occupations, and direct investigation of conditions under
which men and women earn livings. One school holds an
annual three-day conference on vocations in which pupils,
parents, and teachers participate. 15 Another, a large public
high school, arranged for each senior to work each afternoon
for six weeks in the vocation which he hoped to follow. 18
Students left school at noon and worked until closing time
on the job. Their school work was related as closely as pos-
sible to the job experience. In most cases this work experi-

15 Dalton School, ibid.

16 South High School, Denver.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 67

ence confirmed students in their vocational choices, but for
some it served to reveal lack of aptitude or distaste for the
chosen work, thus making possible another choice before it
was too late. A somewhat similar plan, cited previously in
this chapter, 17 helps students in another of the Thirty Schools
to find jobs before leaving school.

One of the most thorough-going curriculum developments
designed to help young people get ready to earn a living is
found in a public high school 18 which sends less than 20
per cent of its graduates to college. A faculty investigation
revealed that all the others were under the necessity of
getting jobs promptly. The teachers learned also that almost
allgraduates^ of earlier classes had married within thre^
^years after leaving school? vVlth these facts before them,
the teachers declared thatJSe school must prepare these
boys^and girls tor the twogreat steps just ahead: making
^Sstablishing a home.

The result was that the study of these two topics became
jjjie cbre currigulum QJLthe senior year. The problems ap-
proach was used and the units of the course were stated in
the form of student questions, such as,

How do men and women earn their living in this city

and region?
For what general field of work am I best fitted by ability,

aptitude, and interests?
How does one go about getting a job? How can I hold

one when I get it? What causes failure?
How can I learn and grow by means of my job?
What shall I do with the money I save?
How can I use my free time profitably without much

cost?

17 Pp. 56-57.

18 High Schools, Oakland, California.

68 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Other questions relative to marriage and home are con-
sidered and the concluding unit is "Finding Meaning in
Life."

To find answers to their questions the boys and girls made
first-hand investigations in the community., consulted authori-
ties, and read extensively. The reading lists contained many
books for pupils of limited reading ability, but it included.,
also, many mature volumes that would challenge the best
thought of the ablest high school student.

Instances such as these that have been cited indicate the
importance which the Thirty Schools attach to vocational
preparation. Some of the schools have taken the position
that the work of the secondary school is not completed
until each student is satisfactorily established in employ-
ment or in college. To achieve this they are ready to con-
tinue to serve youth in many ways far beyond the usual
time of graduation from high school.

Gifted Intellects Are
Stimulated and Challenged

In their concern for all pupils, the schoolsoftihe_ Eight-
Year Study have not neglected the student who is endowed
with jbigli qnalitms nf intftlWi-. The gifted intellect is chal-
lenged as never before. Because of the freedom which the
participating schools have had for eight years, they have
been able to adapt their work more appropriately to in-
dividuals. They have realized fully that many literary, scien-
tific, and professional fields require intellectual equipment
and discipline of a very high order. The schools have come
to see more clearly than ever that potential leaders must
become, in greater numbers, actual leaders in the various
aspects of the intellectual life of the nation if it is to survive
and flourish.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 69

The schools in the Study have tried to find better ways of
developing the habits of mind and qualities of character
upon which high intellectual achievement in any field de-
pends. As soon as thegiftedjtudent's jrnajor interests and
abilities indicate whatHSs fieldjof^work is likely tojbe, the
school provides opportunity for hjm_to__Liy^jhe

_

foundations of knowledge and skill. The schools have en-
couragedstudenft to engage" in elementary research which
demands careful discrimination, to follow the leadings of a
subject, to explore new fields of thought. Moreover, they
have provided time and facilities for students to do these
things. Without permitting over-specialization, the student
is encouraged while still in high school to develop his spe-
cial interests and abilities far beyond the usual secondary
school level.

To meet fully the needs of these able students, altera-
tions in the curriculum are often necessary. In some cases
it is expanded to include geology and astronomy in the field
of science, Greek in language, unusually mature works in
literature, and courses in higher mathematics usually re-
served for college. In other cases gifted individuals are pro-
vided greater opportunity to develop mature appreciation
and high quality of creative expression in the arts. Able
students often develop the power of self-direction and in-
dependent study long before graduation from high school.
Many of the schools do not hesitate to give such students
a large measure of freedom. Theyare frequently released
from soTTifi^nf the nsnflj requirements and permitted, to
some extent, to make their own curriculum. -

The Thirty Schools know society's need for intellectual
leadership in all walks of life. They are striving for bette^
ways of discovering, fostering, and developing uniques
powers of mind. Above all, they try to lead the gifted indi?

70 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

vidual into full realization of his social responsibility so that
his strength will be used, not for selfish gain, but for the
common welfare.

The Arts Belong to
All the People

The "artistically gifted" were the only ones who had a
chance for experience in the arts in the traditional secondary
school, and that experience was distinctly limited. In the
Thirty Schools the arts now occupyja much more important
glaceL-One school emphasizes that its major course in art
and its major course in music are "comparable to the work
in any academic field" and are "offered for entrance to col-
lege on a basis equivalent to that of any academic subject." 19
This school continues:

In some ways more important than the advanced work carried
on by those preparing for professional training or for presenting
art as a subject for entrance to college is the creative use of art
by practically all pupils in connection with their other activities.
The teachers in this department use every opportunity to relate
their work to what is going on in the other departments, and the
pupils themselves, with the encouragement of teachers in other
fields, use their arts and crafts to enrich and give meaning to
whatever they are doing. 20

Other schools, also, are convinced of the value of the
arts for all students and have provided time in the program
for them. One school reports:

Teachers of secondary school art in Des Moines do not conduct
their classes merely for the talented few. They believe that those
who build, who design furniture, cars, locomotives, dresses,
cooking utensils, etc., are often greater artists than the creator of
easel pictures. . . .

Art students have participated in a great variety of projects:

19 Beaver County Day School, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell Their Story.

20 Ibid.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 71

doing murals; experimenting with color; making masks, stage-set
designs, and costumes; designing panels for class parties; dec-
orating plates and platters; block printing and screen printing
Christmas cards.

Some of the stores of Des Moines co-operate with the art classes.
Once a year they hire two or more high school artists to draw
for the ads in the newspaper. Twice a semester art students co-
operating with salesmanship and merchandising students, draw
and compose the ads for the school newspaper. 21

Anediejs^chool likewise emphasizes th^opportunities pro-
vided in the arts for students not necessarily "gifted" in
them. In a discussion of courses closely associated with the
core curriculum, the following is said about the arts:

In one core course three weeks spent in exploring special in-
terest fields such as crafts, games, dancing, painting, drawing,
and clay modeling produced such an enthusiasm for creative
manual activities that during the next year new semester courses
were offered to meet the demand. In this high school and in
others, such exploration of special interests had led to increased
enrollment in home economics, in industrial arts, in machine
shop, and in mechanical drawing. . . .

Closely associated with the developing core curriculum is the
open laboratory in the arts which is set up to meet the needs of
pupils who are not necessarily "talented,' 7 or who have not time
to take a semester course. Pupils who wish to make class con-
tributions in some form other than writing find the art laboratory
a welcome resource. In addition to opening a general laboratory
for the needs of many different kinds of pupils, new classes have
been formed in commercial art, stage design, drawing, painting,
and art expression in many media for advanced students. 22

This increasing emphasis upon the arts in their various
forms is the result of clearer understanding of their im-
portance in the lives of young people. Teachers who are
close to youth say that

21 Des Moines, ibid.

22 Denver Schools, ibid.

72 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

1. Experience in the arts gives most boys and girls sheer enjoy-
ment

2. Through making something with their hands students express
themselves in media other than words. This gives genuine
satisfaction especially to the one to whom words do not come
easily.

3. By doing, as well as by reading or listening, young people gain
great satisfaction and grow in strength and self-reliance.

4. Creative self-expression often provides release from emotional
tension and promotes mental and emotional balance and health.

5. Understanding and increased enjoyment come best through
experience in self-expression.

6. By discovering through experience certain problems in any
one of the arts and trying to solve them, the pupil becomes
a keener observer of professional works and has greater ap-
preciation of them.

These and other values are all emphasized in this state-
ment by an arts teacher 23 of unusual insight:

I see over and over again the need for self-expression. The
change from indifference to vivid interest when the student
changes from the passive to the active in a learning situation is
inescapable. Moreover, in teacher-pupil planning groups the
students themselves recognize this need "This term's art survey
was better than the last one because the students talked and took
part, instead of just listening." In dramatizing and acting one
can see eager satisfaction as this need is met.

Also, self-expression in creative ways satisfies the needs of the
imagination. This need is not found in the so-called "creative
type" of student only.

Self-expression then, as I have seen it, satisfies the need to be
active instead of passive, and also to say or paint or dramatize
one's imaginings.

Youth Search for
Life's Meaning

Along with the urge for expression by doing, youth are
segldng some sure^fi^^ajion^ ^Every

23 Mabel D. Ely, Shalcer High School, Shaker Heights, Ohio. ^

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 73

study of adolescent concerns reveals youth's need to find
meaning in life^ Some express this desire morefoeel}^ -than
others, but it seems to be a deep-seated concern of all young
people. They feel the mystery of the universe. Their thoughts
dwell often upon birth, life and death, eternity and im-
mortality. They say they want something to believe in,
"something to live by/*

Most of the participating schools^ in corporation with
home and church, arej^ng^tojc^i_tiiis_jieed. There are
marked differences Tn their attempts to help young people
to find meaning for their lives. Some teachers are able to
help students with this problem through the subjects they
teach. The English teacher draws upon literature for what
others have thought and written about the meaning of
existence. The science teacher helps his students to consider
the facts and laws of science in relation to human life. The
history teacher leads his students to inquire into the mean-
ing of man's long struggle to survive and control his en-
vironment. Through these and other approaches students
are sometimes able to develop a satisfying personal philoso-
phy or point of view.

In some of the core cuniculums there are units of study
designed to help students reach their own tentative con-
clusions relative to the meaning of existence. A few schools,
in response to student requests, provide forjsoin-. study of
religions by attendance attendees in varirw* churcbes-and
bY-discussions pf beliefs^with religions leaders. Three of
the Thirty Schools were founded and are now conducted
by religious societies. 24 In these schools and in a few other
private schools, religious instruction is an essential part of

24 Friends' Central, George School, Germantown Friends. For discussion
by these and other private schools, see Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell Their
Story.

74 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the curriculum. None of the schools attempts to impose a
set of beliefs upon its students, but every school recognizes
its responsibility for helping young people in their search
for design in living.

Two Forces Unite to Determine
ibt Curriculum

Perhaps the reader now has at least partial answer to his
question concerning changes in the organization and content
of the curriculum. But he may be asking, "How were these
schools guided in determining the content_of_the curricu-
lum '^"CEieflv there wereTwo criteria: th^jfornanris of adult
society and the concerns of adolescentsOThe influence of
these criteria varies from school to school and from teacher
to teacher.

Some give great weight to analyses of what adults do.
They argue that schools should know clearly the sorts of
activities in which adults engage and the kinds of problems
they have to meet. Then the work of the school, they say,
should prepare youth to engage in those activities and to
meet those problems. An excellent statement of social de-
mands is found in "The Mississippi Program for the Im-
provement of Instruction/' 25 Nine areas of human activity
and problems of living are listed as the basis of curriculum
construction: (1) Protecting Life and Health (2) Getting
a Living (3) Making a Home (4) Expressing Religious Im-
pulses (5) Satisfying the Desire for Beauty (6) Securing
Education (7) Co-operating in Social and Civic Action
(8) Engaging in Recreation (9) Improving Material Con-
ditions.

This is one of several such lists of adult activity which
have been widely used by schools in many states as the

25 Bulletin No. 5, State Department of Education, Jackson, Mississippi.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 75

guide to curriculum revision. An examination of the pro-
grams of the Thirty Schools reveals that they, also, have
been influenced by the social demands of adult life.

The other criterion, adolescent concerns, has likewise in-
fluenced the participating schools. It was fortunate that re-
sults of the studies of the Commission on the Secondary
School Curriculum 26 became available while the Thirty
Schools were seeking solid-rock foundations for curriculum
rebuilding. These studies asserted the importance of needs
of youth as the source of the curriculum in this statement:
"The purpose of general education is to meet the needs of
individuals in the basic aspects of living in such a way as
to promote the fullest realization of personal potentialities
and the most effective participation in a democratic so-
ciety/' 27

The emphasis here is upon the problems which young
people face while they are still young people, upon the con-
cerns of high school students while they are still in high
school. At this age the student is concerned with such ques-
tions as these: What should I do to make a living when I
leave school? How may I decide what I am best fitted to do?
How should I prepare for a job, get it, and hold it? How
may I become a self-sustaining, useful citizen? I want to
become a person of recognized usefulness in the world
of adults. How may I do this? How can I develop better
relations with my parents and brothers and sisters? How
can I help with the family financial problems? I need friends.
What must I be and do to get on well with others? I don't

26 Science in General Education, Progressive Education Association, D.
Appleton-Century Co., 1938. Language in General Education; Mathematics
in General Education; The Social Studies in General Education, Progressive
Education Association, D. Appleton-Century Co., 1940.

27 Science in General Education, p. 23.

76 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

understand myself. Why do I feel, think, and act as I do?
Am I normal physically, emotionally?

I am a citizen of the United States. What are my rights
and duties as a citizen? What is democracy? What does
it mean? How is it better than other ways of life? I must
be sure of something. What can I believe in? Is there any
meaning in life? How can satisfaction in living be achieved?

It is obvious that these present concerns of youth reach
out into the future. He realizes that he is becoming what
he is to be. He has his problems which must be solved
today, but he has other long-time concerns which carry
over into the years ahead. He is thinking of himself as a
man in the world of men and he wants to play a man's part
when the time comes. But he is still a youth with youth's
own immediate task of solving the exciting puzzle of grow-
ing up in a very perplexing world. None of the Thirty
Schools would deny that preparation for the responsibilities
of adulthood is important and that there certainly should
be a long look ahead; but the business of living satisfactorily
now at age seventeen is equally important, they say. Per-
haps the best possible ^eparationjooneetrng^b^^emands
of jydjQlflSjTis foUve successfully now at seventeen.
^ Guided b^somejudbJ'hiTikirtg, as thiyjjipjhirty Schools
were convincedjhat both present needs j^f^YQiith-^td adult

Any attempt to cfenve the curriculum from only one of these
sources, they said, would result in neglect of important
values. Traditionally secondary schools in the United States
have based their work upon custom or upon certain demands
of adult life which have been accepted without much ques-
tion. The Thirty Schools have re-examined society in an
attempt to learn what adult life really requires of youth.
At the same time they have tried to discover youth's common

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 77

concerns and to help them in their immediate perplexities.
These studies have led to the core curriculum and to most

tthe innovations in the participating schools, whatever
e plan of organization may be.

CHANGES IN WAYS OF TEACHING

It should be clear to the reader that no sharply defined
body of new subject matter has emerged in the Thirty
Schools, but its general substance and scope should be evi-
dent. Although the emphasis thus far in this chapter has been
upon changes in what is learned, there have been incidental
indications of changes in ways of learning. Innovations have
involved not only the content of the curriculum, but methods
of teaching as well. The two cannot be reported in complete
separation, but attention is directed now to changes in the
procedures by which the new work is carried on.

Democratic Processes Enter
the Classroom

It is still possible to find here and there in the Thirty
Schools the traditional practice of textbook lesson assign-
ment and hearing of recitation. In such cases the pupil's
problem is how to learn the lesson and recite it to the teach-
er's satisfaction. The "problem" may have no other meaning
for him. It has been set by the teacher. The student has
had no part in choosing it, and it may not touch his real
purposes or concerns in any way. However, in most of the
classesj:o be found in the Thirty Schools there is a funda-
mentally differentj:elfltinrt<;hip^^S;^n tr.nr.Tirr anrl pnpiL

To one accustomed to the traditional classroom scene,
many procedures in the participating schools may seem
strange and without order or organization. Upon entering a
room, one may find the teacher lecturing to the class, but

78 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

this does not happen often. One is more likely to see stu-
dents working singly or in groups, moving about as the
work irThand requires. The teacher may be at his 3esk hold-
ing 'one'" brief "conference after another with individuals or
with small groups. The chances are that he is going from
person to person or from group to group as their work calls
for his assistance or guidance. It is possible that the teacher
is not in the room at all. He and some members of the group
may be making an investigation in the library, laboratory,
shop, or even downtown, but the work goes on in his
absence.

It goes on because the students are working, not for the

d give, but for purposes which

they think important. The purposes are theirs as weirirthe
teacher's. They have shared with him in selecting the goals
and in planning the steps to be taken. They have taken
time to consider together what to do and how to do it. This
wise teacher has learned how to share honestly with his
boys and girls in planning their work together. He has made
the difficult change from authoritarianism to democracy,
not only because more and better work is done by students,
but chiefly because he knows that they should learn how
to share responsibility and to co-operate in achieving ob-
jectives which they and he have set up. This is the way of
democracy.

The teacher and class have been through some unhappy
days and trying times together. In the bcginniBg-Jhey
"mulled around.^ Neither teacher nor pupils knew very well
how to move ahead together. This was a new experience
forjdl. fof one thing they are now sure they talked too
muchTThere was endless discussion of topics without the
"knowledge necessary to make discussion profitable. Stu-
dents wanted to discuss these topics which were of such

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 79

vital concern. They had ideas and questions which they
were eager to express. However, they began to realize after
much talk that their ideas were < half -baked" and that some
of their questions were unimportant, some could easily be
answered by a little reading, and some could be answered
by no one.

Gradually everyone, even the most talkative, came to
realize that discussion may be boring and certainly futile
unless facts are obtained, assumptions examined, opinion
thoughtfully "arrived at/' or conclusion clearly established.
If the stranger should sit in on a group discussion now, he
would find insistence on the part of the members of the
class that the speaker should have something to contribute,
that he should stick to the point, cite the sources of his data,
and draw only such conclusions as the facts may warrant.

New Materials for Learning
are Essential

When the class had had enough of talk and settled down
to real study and investigation, they discovered that the
information they needed was often hard to get. Seldom
could they find a textbook which served their purposes.
Perhaps out of a dozen textbooks they could gather valuable
data, but they soon learned that libraries must be searched
for all sorts of books, reports, bulletins, pamphlets. The
materials collected in advance by the teacher were useful,
but often essential knowledge was not to be found in print
at all. This forced investigation away from the school
building. Sometimes men and women came to the school to
tell the class what it wanted to know, but more often the
teacher and students went out into
and

To find pertinent and accurate information on many of

8o ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the topics or "units" chosen for investigation was a pressing
problem for the teacher. His resourcefulness was severely
taxed. In this dilemma he was helped by attendance at
Workshops 28 in the summer. Here, with other teachers hav-
ing the same problem, he prepared for each unit a file of
materials to be used by him and his pupils when the need
arose. Thus he was partially prepared for the new work.

He turned eagerly to motion pictures and radio for further
materials of instruction, and in them he found content of
great usefulness. By looking ahead and planning carefully,
the group could capitalize upon an important radio broad-
cast. Much more practicable, however, is, the use of radio
recordings which are becoming systematically available.
The recording can be used whenever it contributes to the
study of the topic at hand. Likewise, motion pictures can be
used when the theme of the picture is pertinent to the study
under way. The great possibilities of these two new means
of learning are only beginning to be realized, but already
the teacher and his students have found them invaluable.

As the new work has developed during the last two or
three years, the teacher's file of materials for each unit has
grown larger and richer. In fact, there is now so much in
the file that no class can use all of it, This is as it should be,
for it affords a range of study and investigation for each
succeeding group of boys and girls whose needs may differ
in some respects from the present group.

The school library, also, is adding constantly to its store
of useful reading matter. But it is now not only a library of
books, bulletins, reports, and the like; it is a library of
reproductions of great pictures, drawings, sculpture, models,

28 For discussion of Workshops, see Vol. II, Exploring the Curriculum,
Chap. VIII. Also Heaton, Camp, Diederich, Professional Education for Ex-
perienced Teachers: The Program of Summer Workshops, Progressive Edu-
cation Association, University of Chicago Press, 1940.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 81

specimens, motion picture films, and radio recordings. The
school librarian is no longer the forbidding guardian oi the
sacred books; she has become just about the most useful
person on the school staff. She shares with teachers as new
units are planned and brings to the classroom, as well as
to the library, a wealth of materials garnered from the four
quarters of the earth.

If the reader is a teacher, he or she may be saying that
these things cost money and that they are possible only in
schools that have abundant financial resources. Teachers
in the Thirty Schools would reply that the resources needed
are not so much financial as creative. The teacher who sees
the need of such material things usually has resources of
mind and spirit sufficient to find ways of securing essential
things. Much of the most valuable printed materials of in-
struction may be had free of charge from agencies of local,
state, and federal government, Citizens are glad to give their
services. Parent and student organizations raise funds in
various ways. Their help can be enlisted. In some of the
Thirty Schools each pupil contributes annually a dollar or
two to a fund which makes possible rich resources for
students* investigation and learning. Even those schools with
the most limited financial resources found ways of over-
coming difficulties caused by the dearth of materials of in-
struction.

Problem Solving Develops the Habit
of Reflective Thinking

^A fiijrmcr iTiflnRnce in shaping methods of teaching in the
Thirty Schools has been the conviction that young people
should develop the habit of reflective think-

! .^'^L. i^,_^,,i..a-TT-na, T

ing and skill in solving problems. Jnsteaa ot a lessonta be
learned, the work_is more often a problem to be solvej. As

82 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the curriculum came to consist more and more of youth's
problems of living, emphasis upon techniques of problem
solving inevitably grew stronger. Since the solution of diffi-
cult problems involves reflective thinking, much of the work
in all subjects and courses, especially in mathematics and
science, was designed to give pupils experience in clear,
logical thinking in probleirrsebrog^ One of the participating
schools gives unusual emphasis in its report to the develop-
ment of critical thinking:

Critical or reflective lEffilang originates with the sensing of a
prnKlpm. Ttjs a quality of thought operating in an effort to solve
the problem and to reach a tentative conclusion which is sup-
ported by all available data. It is really a process of problem
solving requiring the use of creative insight, intellectual honesty,
and sound judgment. It is the basis of the method of scientific
inquiry. The success of democracy depends to a large extent on
the disposition and ability of citizens to think critically and re-
flectively about the problems which must of necessity confront
them, and to improve the quality of their thinking is one of the
major goals of education.

The faculty recognizes that the acceptance of this responsi-
bility has very important implications for both content and
method. The problems studied should have their origin in the
daily living experience of the students, and they should be studied
in a manner conducive to the free play of intelligence. A student
is not likely to enter actively into discussion on any point unless
he knows that his honest opinions will receive respectful con-
sideration. Nor is the cultivation of reflective thinking the special
responsibility of any one subject matter area. It is rather the
concern of all areas in the school. . . , 29

Then follow illustrations showing how experience in critical
thinking is constantly involved in all areas of this school's
work. Here are two instances:

29 University School, Ohio State University, Vol. V, Thirty Schools Tell
Their Story.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 83

In the arts area, for example, an individual student or a group
of students selects a problem on the basis of carefully considered
values which have been defined through the combined thinking
of both student and teachers. Before undertaking a project in
any one of the arts laboratories such questions as the following
are considered:

Will it provide a new and worthwhile experience? Will it serve
the purpose for which it was intended? Will the completion of
this project require more time than can be justified? Will the
needed materials and equipment, such as tools and machinery,
be available? What will be the cost of the materials and how
will it be met?

Once a student has an idea which he would like to express
through the medium of the arts, such practical questions as these
require him to exercise judgment in defining the actual nature
of his problem.

An illustration will show how reflective thinking develops in
social studies. The members of one class became conscious that
their prejudices, attitudes, and beliefs were operating to obstruct
their thinking about certain socio-economic problems. Some one
raised the question as to how these ideas originated and this led
to a study of public opinion. The problem was defined as "Under-
standing How Public Opinion is Formed, and particularly How
our own Opinions Came About." Once the problem had been
defined, students took active part in planning for its solution.
Suggestions were carefully considered, ideas awkwardly ex-
pressed were refined and clarified, and the whole process was
utilized as an opportunity for teaching effective methods of
problem solving. 30

Pioneering Is Hard
but Gratifying

To teach new content in new ways, teachers found them-
selves inadequately prepared. To become a competent
teacher of a core curriculum group was especially difficult

90 Ibid.

84 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

The "core" teacher may have been a teacher of any "subject."
He still retains his special field of interest and scholarship,
but he is the leader of a group of young people because
he has become a person of sympathy, insight, and wisdom,
devoted to the service of youth in the whole range of their
interests and concerns.

He has not been this kind of teacher always. He has been
a good teacher of his subject, and he has always been in-
terested in boys and girls; but he thought, until a few years
ago, that his responsibility was fulfilled when he did his
best as a teacher in his own field of specialization. Then
about 1933 he found his school and himself involved in
this Eight- Year Study. With his principal and colleagues he
engaged in serious reconsideration of the school's service
to its boys and girls. That re-examination revealed important
needs of young people which were not being met by the
school or by any other agency in the community. It was
decided that the school should attempt to provide for cer-
cted concerns of youth. Because this
^ shidfiinF^ progres-

sive and creative in his outlooE upon^education and life,
he was chosen to be the leader of one of the student groups.

He did not consider himself ready for his new and wider
responsibilities, as, indeed, he was not. But no other teacher
was any better prepared for the new work. He and other
teachers like him set out with great courage to go along
with boys and girls on the high road of youth's adventure
in living. They would do the best they could, and they
would learn month after month and year after year how
better to lead their boys and girls into fuller and more satis-
fying living. They knew the task would be difficult trail-
blazing always is but they were confident that they could
become competent in their new work.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 85

Hundreds of them did become competent in their larger
and more significant responsibilities. In all the schools many
teachers have had a new birth of freedom. Their lives,
professionally and personally, have been immeasurably en-
riched. Teaching has become a thrilling, absorbing experi-
ence. This new life has not been won without cost. They
have spent long hours in hard study and in almost endless
conference with other teachers, with students and parents.
But they all testify that their present joy in their work, their
deep sense of satisfaction in knowing they are serving youth
more vitally are worth all the cost and more. 31

No small part of the increasing strength of the schools and
the growth of teachers is due to the work of the CTOJCulTOV.
Associates. In response to requests from the schools for help,
men who were themselves distinguished teachers were
selected to serve as consultants in their fields of special
competence. They came to the schools, not as authorities
with ready-made solutions, but as experienced students of
curriculum problems, willing and ready to work with the
local teacher in the solution of his problems. They were
without official authority; their influence depended wholly
upon the worth and applicability of their ideas. Under these
conditions the schools welcomed their coming and profited
steadily year after year from their assistance.

What to teach and how to teach these are the constant
concerns of education. The Thirty Schools have tried to teach
more important things in better ways. This chapter indicates
briefly, of necessity, what they did and how they did it.
Volume II of this Report, Exploring the Curriculum, tells the
story in much greater detail, and Volume V, Thirty Schools
Tell Their Story, records each school's report of its work and

81 Vol. II, Exploring the Curriculum, Chaps. VII and VIII.

86 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

manner of working. The schools participating in the Eight-
Year Study have not come to the end of the high road of ad-
venture. Although the Commission's work ends with the
publication of this Report, the work of the schools goes on.
They know that much pioneering is yet to be done. They
know, also, that some of the trails they have blazed are
good paths to follow.

Chapter IV

THE SCHOOLS STUDY THEIR PUPILS
< ceo ccc- K* ccc- c<c- c<c- c- c ccc ccc ccc- ccc- ccc- ccc- ccc ccc ccc- ccc- ccc- ceo ccc- ccc- ccc-

From the beginning of the Study the Commission and the
participating schools have recognized their responsibility for
appraising the results of their work. They were not willing
that the value of ten years of concerted effort should be
judged by vague impressions or individual opinion based
upon partial evidence. The Eight- Year Study had been
launched in sincere hope that student growth toward de-
sired objectives would be accelerated while students were
still in secondary school and that those who went on to
college would do well there. It was realized that abundant
data concerning student development should be secured,
recorded and reported so that the students themselves, their
teachers and parents, colleges, and prospective employers
might be fully informed. This chapter tells what was done
to measure, record, and report student progress in secondary
school; the next chapter reports the study of the success of
students in college and the significant results obtained. The
Commission regrets that its resources did not permit a simi-
lar study of the graduates of the Thirty Schools who did
not go to college. It is expected, however, that such investi-
gations will be made by many of the member schools.

How Did T|iey Evaluate
Their WorJfc?

Schools have always measured results in some fashion.
Examinations have always been a part of school life. Even

87

88 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

in an earlier day when the function of the school was lim-
ited to the teaching of the Three R's, it was difficult to
measure with accuracy the proficiency of pupils in reading,
writing, and arithmetic. But in this day, when the schools
are attempting to meet many diverse needs of youth, the
task of appraisal has become extraordinarily difficult.

During the last two or three decades measurement in edu-
cation has received increasing emphasis; numberless tests
have been devised, published, and used in schools, yet for
many important aims of education no instruments of evalua-
tion existed when this Study began. Most of the tests used
by schools were designed to measure chiefly accretions of
information and proficiency in certain skills. However, no
school limits its objectives to these two. Every school has
other purposes that it believes to be equally, if not more,
important.

The Thirty Schools took the position that evaluation is im-
portant only in relation to purpose. Unless objectives are
clearly

jrfjSSiJts^Aij unc piixcipal said, "The results^sought by a
school must be constantly before the faculty as a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night." With goals, even
moving ones, clearly seen, measurement of progress be-
comes possible.

Perhaps the most fruitful experience of the Thirty Schools
in the early stages of the Study was that of thinking through
and stating plainly the results they hoped to achieve. They
wanted, for example, to helpTytrtHigpeople to understand
thems^lves,^tirieaniTiow fd'^wtrrk^satisfactorily with others;
to read, intelligeil%_and express the
and itr-writing, to loam how teuauzBStig^^
low its-kadings^a"bFoaden^SLnd .deepen- their interests.

Then the Thirty Schools asked, How can we know

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 89

whether such results are being attained? Not many of the
tests in general use in 1933, when the participating schools
began their new work, were helpful. Standardized tests
were usually based upon the traditional content of conven-
tional subjects. As the schools developed new content and
types of curriculum organization designed to achieve their
purposes, it was soon discovered that new instruments and
more comprehensive programs of appraisal were needed.
To meet this need the evaluation service of the Study was

From the beginning the Evaluation Staff worked in-
timately with the Thirty Schools. Its task was to help de-
velop effective ways to find out what changes were pro-
duced in students by their school experiences. Let it be
emphasized that this was done co-operatively* Teachers in
the schools participated in formulating every plan and in
devising every test. Always evaluation was related to pur-
poses which teachers considered important, and always
the product of technical test-construction was subjected to
the searching criticism of unusually competent teachers.

The director and members of the Evaluation Staff began
their work by analyzing the purposes that the schools had
listed when they entered the Study. It was found that the
schools were concerned with these ten major types of ob-
jectives:

/"l. The development of effective methods of thinking*

2. The cultivation of useful work habits and study *
skills

3. The inculcation of social attitudes x

4. The acquisition of a wide range of significant in-
terests

x. 1 Vol. Ill, Appraising and Recording Student Progress, gives a complete
account of Evaluation in the Eight- Year Study.

9 o ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

5. The development of increased appreciation of music^
art, literature, and other aesthetic experiences

6. The development of social sensitivity .

7. The development of better personal-social adjust-
ment

8. The acquisition of important information

9. The development of physical health

10. The development of a consistent philosophy of life

The schools were saying to the Evaluation Staff, "We do
not know surely whether our work is producing the results
we desire. We need to know. Can you help us find out
whether or not our efforts produce in students effective meth-
ods of thinking; a wide range of significant interests; in-
creased appreciation of music, art, and literature; social
sensitivity; and a consistent philosophy of life? If our teach-
ing is not bringing about these results, we shall change our
curriculum and teaching methods in the hope that we can
accomplish our purposes. Then we shall examine results
again/'

The answer was, "We will try, but you must work with
us. The task is difficult. Many technicians have said that it
is impossible to devise reliable measures of progress toward
such intangible objectives. We think it can be done. It will
take time. The first instruments we construct may not be
satisfactory. If you will try them out in your classes, we will
discover wherein the tests are faulty and try again. We
hope that eventually we shall be able to provide instru-
ments of evaluation that will be useful to you in appraising
the results of your work."

In the course of the seven years the Evaluation Staff
devised about two hundred tests that were used experi-
mentally, refined, and tried out again and again. Some of

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 91

them were finally discarded as inadequate., but others have
proved to be useful to the schools and satisfactory to the
Staff. They have been used with thousands of students,
and their helpfulness and reliability have been established.
Sixteen of these evaluation instruments have been used
most widely in secondary schools. They are listed here with a
brief description of the nature and purpose of each:

Test 2.52. Interpretation of Data

This includes a series of exercises which require the student
to formulate reasonable generalizations from data largely
drawn from fields of the sciences and the social studies, s

Test 1.3b. The Application of Principles of General Science

This includes a series of exercises in which the student is
required to explain various scientific phenomena in terms of
relevant facts and principles.

Test 1.42. Social Problems

This includes a series of social problems in which the student
is asked to select a course of action and to support it in terms
of social science generalizations and in terms of his own social
beliefs.

Test 1.5. Application of Principles

This involves a series of social problems, the explanation of
which rests more closely upon facts and generalizations and
less upon social beliefs than in the case of Test 1.42.

Test 5.12. The Application of Certain Principles of Logic

The exercises in this test require the student to determine
what conclusions follow logically from the premises.

Test 5.22. The Nature of Proof

These exercises require the student to identify basic defini-
tions and assumptions and to judge their plausibility.

Test 7.1. Familiarity with Dependable Sources of Information
These exercises require the student to indicate sources of
information on questions for study in various subject fields.

Test 7.2. Use of Books and Libraries

These exercises require familiarity with the organization of
books and school libraries.

92 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Test 7.3. Use of Books and Libraries for Junior High Schools
This is similar to Tests 7.1 and 7.2, but is less difficult.

Test 4.21 and 4.31 Scale of Beliefs

The exercises in the two parts of this test give evidence of
the liberalism or conservatism of the student's belief on
various social science issues, and also give some measure of
consistency of these beliefs.

Test 3.31. Questionnaire on Voluntary Reading

This questionnaire gives an indication of the types and in-
tensity of the student's reactions to literature.

Test 3.9. Seven Modern Paintings

This test and questionnaire gives some evidence of the stu-
dent's reaction to a sample of modern paintings.

Test 3.10 and 3.11. Finding Pairs of Pictures

This is a non-verbal test requiring the student to select pairs
of pictures which seem to him similar in important respects.
It provides evidence of the range and maturity of his sen-
sitivity to aesthetic aspects of pictures.

Test 8.2a. Interest Index

This questionnaire gives evidence of the range and maturity
of the student's interests in activities related to various school
subjects.

Test 3.1. Record of Free Reading

The free reading of students is appraised in terms of range
and maturity by means of a list of fiction authors classified
by types and by levels of maturity.

Test 8.2b and c. Interests and Activities

These questionnaires throw some light on the personal-
social adjustment of adolescents in terms of their likes and
dislikes for various types of personal and social experience.

Appraisal of results i^the Thirty Schools was not limited
to written exammations^As the Director of Evaluation states,

. . . Any device which provides valid evidence regarding the
progress of students toward educational objectives is appropriate.
As a matter of practice, most programs of appraisal have been
limited to written examinations or paper-and-pencil tests of some
type. Perhaps this has been due to the greater ease with which

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 93

written examinations can be given and the results summarized.
However, a consideration of the kinds of objectives formulated
for general education makes clear that written examinations are
not likely to provide an adequate appraisal for all of these objec-
tives. A written test may be a valid measure of information re-
called and ideas remembered. In many cases, too, the student's
skill in writing and in mathematics may be shown by written
tests, and it is also true that various techniques of thinking may
be evidenced through more novel types of written test materials.
On the other hand, evidence regarding the improvement of
health practices, regarding better personal-social adjustment of
students, regarding interests and attitudes, may require a much
wider repertoire of appraisal techniques. This assumption em-
phasizes the wider range of techniques which may be used in
evaluation such as observational records^necdotal records^'ques-
tionnaires, interviews, check lists, 1 ' records of activities, products
made, and the like. The selection of evaluation techniques should
be made in terms of the appropriateness of that technique for the
kind of behavior to be appraised. 2 ^

It wasntleTtEer desirable nor possible for the Evaluation
Staff to devise tests for all kinds of new courses and units
developed by the schools. They constructed instruments of
appraisal in areas of most common concern. Moreover, the
Staff rendered another service equally important: they
taught hundreds of teachers how tcx^eviseAeirovmtest
The effect of a unique unit of work, designed to bring about
certain changes in students, should be measured by a test
specifically made for that situation. Therefore, teachers were
assisted in Workshops, at evaluation headquarters, and in
their own schools in the techniques of test construction, in
the use of instruments of evaluation, and in the interpreta-
tion of results.

The ways in which the schools used the contributions of

2 Ralph W. Tyler, Vol. Ill, Appraising and Recording Student Progress,
Chap. I.

94 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the Evaluation Staff and the results of such use are recorded
in Volumes III and V of this Report. It should be reported
here that, to a greater or less extent, the schools in the
Study have now developed comprehensive programs of
evaluation. Perhaps no school has yet found ways of securing
all the knowledge it should have concerning the effects of its
efforts. However, every participating school now attempts
to appraise its own work more intelligently and comprehen-
sively than it did when the Study began. Freedom from
college requirements has definitely increased each school's
sense of responsibility for knowing the consequences of its
endeavors.

In the Thirty Schools evaluation and teaching belong to-
gether. They react upon each other continuously. Step by
step in the process of learning, the teacher and student
measure the distance traveled, learn just where the student
is and how far he has to go to reach the desired goal. If,
as in many of the Thirty Schools, the student has shared
with the teacher in determining objectives and planning
how to attain them, he is just as eager as the teacher to
learn what progress he has made. Teacher and students
together plan the work, carry it through, and test results.
In bringing teaching and evaluation into closer co-operation
the Evaluation Staff has rendered the Thirty Schools dis-
tinctly valuable service. In developing instruments of evalua-
tion in areas previously neglected, they have made an im-
portant contribution to progress, not only in the participating
schools, but in schools everywhere.

What Did They Put
on the Record?

What goes on the high school record is of concern to the
student, his parents, the college admission committee, the

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 95

prospective employer, and others. Those who have been in-
volved in the Eight- Year Study have emphasized continu-
ously the importance of what is recorded and reported about
high school boys and girls. Students know that what the
school writes down reveals its real objectives much more
clearly than the usual catalog "statement of purposes."
Therefore, they work for the things the school records; they
want "a good record/ 7

The obligation to secure, record, and report pertinent data
concerning candidates was inherent in the agreement with
the colleges. The schools had promised to provide the col-
leges with evidence of the candidate's readiness for college
work. They wanted to give colleges more significant informa-
tion than the student's record of units and grades. It was
their hope that each applicant would be so completely de-
scribed that the college would have a much better basis for
selection and guidance than ever before. If this could be
done, the transition from school to college would be facili-
tated and the student's educational experience in school and
college could have both unity and continuity.

Recognizing the importance of recording and reporting,
the Directing Committee formed the Committee on Records
and Reports when the participating schools began their
new work in 1933. All of the work of this committee, and
of the special recording committees formed later, has been
done under the direction of Dr. Eugene R. Smith, Head-
master, Beaver Country Day School. The Committee on
Records and Reports was asked to aid the schools in de-
termining s ^_^^

1. what information the college needs for wise seleJ\-
tion and guidance of students;

2. how that information can best be secured;

96 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

3. in what form it should be recorded and presented
to the colleges.

The Committee had not gone far with its work before it
was realized that the task it had assumed was difficult and
extensive. Although its original purpose was to assist the
Thirty Schools in furnishing colleges needed information,
the Committee was soon asked to help the schools in the
whole field of evaluation for all pupils, whether they were
going to college or not. Therefore, it became necessary to
secure additional service and to divide the work. To assist
the schools in collecting evidence of each student's progress,
the Evaluation Staff was organized with Dr. Ralph W. Tyler
as Director. Its work is reported in the first section of this
chapter and in Chapter V. The responsibility for assistance to
the schools in recording and reporting evidence remained
with this Committee. The major aspects of its eight years of
work are presented here. 3

For its own guidance the Committee set up general pur-
poses and working objectives of recording. They are given
here for the aid they may be to others in the same field.

GENERAL PURPOSES OF RECORDING

1. Adequate records provide a sound basis for under-
standing and counseling individuals.

2. Records furnish the material for intelligent home and
school co-operation.

3. Records reveal whether the individual is ready for
new experiences. They are essential at points of transition,
such as from school to college or from school to employ-
ment.

4. Records that grow out of the major purposes of educa-

3 The full account is to be found in Vol. Ill, Appraising and Recording Stu-
dent Progress, Section II.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 97

tion serve to stimulate teachers and to keep important goals
steadily in view.

WORKING OBJECTIVES FOR RECORDS AND REPORTS

1. Any form devised should be based on the objectives
of teachers and schools so that a continuing study of a
pupil by its use would throw light on his successive stages
of development in powers or characteristics believed to be
important.

2. The forms dealing with personal characteristics should
be descriptive. Therefore "marks" of any kind, or place-
ment, as on a straight line representing a scale from highest
to lowest, should not be used.

3. Every effort should be made to reach agreement about
the meaning of trait names used, and to make their signifi-
cance in terms of the behavior of a pupil understood by
those reading the record.

4. Wherever possible a characterization of a person should
be by description of typical behavior rather than by a word
or phrase that could have widely different meanings to
different people.

5. The forms should be flexible enough to allow choice
of headings under which studies of pupils would be made,
thus allowing a school, department, or teacher to use the
objectives considered important in the particular situation,
or for the particular ^Dil,

6. Characteristics studied should be such that teachers
would be likely to have opportunities to observe behavior
that gives evidence about them. It is not expected, however,
that all teachers will have evidence about all characteristics.

7. Forms should be so devised and related that any school
would be likely to be able to use them without an over-
whelming addition to the work of teachers or secretaries.

98 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

8. Characteristics studied should be regarded not as inde-
pendent entities, but ratbear-as-facets--of-%ehavior shown by
a living human being in his relations with his environment.

With these guiding purposes and working objectives the
Committee has produced record-forms in many areas for
varying uses. Forms customarily used by schools provide
for only a few aspects of development. This Committee at-
tempted to make provision, on the forms devised, for more
comprehensive reports of youth's developing powers. How-
ever, any record-form runs the risk of imposing limitations.
For example, it may not provide for all the data which
should be written into the story of a student's activities.
The Committee has sought to avoid this danger by making
provision for recording a wide range of information and
by leaving spaces on the forms for additional data not called
for by the topics and headings listed.

The necessity for a considerable measure of uniformity
for reporting is obvious. Any report that is really significant
requires careful reading and interpretation by the one who
receives it. Parents, college admission committees, and em-
ployers welcome reports that are not difficult to interpret
and that are reasonably uniform. The Committee on Records
and Reports finds that its record-forms are being used widely
and with increasing satisfaction. It is hoped that they will
serve to bring some measure of order out of the chaos
caused by the multiplier::/ cf record-forms now in use.

The forms that have been developed are known as "Be-
havior Description/' "Reports to Parents," "Transfer from
School to College," and "Development of Pupils in Subject
Fields." The first, Behavior Description, should receive some
comment here. This form provides for description of the
student under these headings: Responsibility-Dependability,
Creativeness and Imagination, Influence, Inquiring Mind,

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 99

Openmindedness, Power and Habit of Analysis, Social Con-
cern, Emotional Responsiveness, Serious Purpose, Social Ad-
justability, Work Habits. Because words have varying
meanings, the form indicates the meaning of each heading
and provides for a report upon the degree or extent to
which the term is descriptive of the student. Here is an
illustration.

Openmindedness

(The student is)

DISCRIMINATING: Welcomes new ideas but habitually sus-
pends judgment until all the available evidence is ob-
tained.

TOLERANT: Does not readily appreciate or respond to op-
posing viewpoints and new ideas, although he is tolerant
of them and consciously tries to suspend judgment re-
garding them.

PASSIVE: Tolerance of the new or different is passive, aris-
ing from lack of interest or conviction. Welcomes, or is
indifferent to change, because of lack of understanding
or appreciation of the new or of that which it replaces.

RIGID: Preconceived ideas and prejudices so govern his
thinking that he usually ends a discussion or an in-
vestigation without change of opinion.

INTOLERANT: Is actively intolerant; resents any interfer-
ence with his habitual belief s/ideas and procedures.

The Behavior Description record-form is the product of
the long-time labor of many able school and college repre-
sentatives who served on the Committee with unselfish devo-
tion. They attempted to provide a way of presenting a word-
sketch, a profile of the student. They did not consider the
words they used for captions as designations of disparate

ioo ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

traits. With great care the committee members chose words
that indicate characteristics, qualities of mind or character
that schools generally try to develop in their students. With
equal thoughtfulness, hundreds of teachers and administra-
tors from schools and colleges have contributed to the work
of the many special sub-committees which have devised
these various means of reporting the growth of young human
beings.

The Chairman and all members of the Committee on
Records and Reports and of all special committees em-
phasize the tentative structure of the record-forms as they
now stand. Although many have been used in thousands of
cases, it is expected that further experience with them will
reveal ways in which they can be improved. Those who have
served in this phase of the Commission's work stress, also,
the need of study and investigation looking to the develop-
ment of records for use in helping, especially, those boys
and girls who leave school directly for employment. Such
records and reports are essential for intelligent vocational
guidance and placement.

While the Committee believes that the forms developed
will prove suitable for many institutions, particularly in
view of the flexibility of the forms, it realizes that for other
institutions they may need modification, while for still others
they may prove suggestive only in details or principles.
Some of the individual co-operating schools, recognizing
particular conditions or needs of their own, prepared record-
forms that seemed suitable for their particular purposes.
These schools may be able to help other schools having con-
ditions much like their own.

The work reported in this section is an integral and essen-
tial part of the whole Eight- Year Study. Better relations be-

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 101

tween schools and colleges, vitalized curriculums, more
skillful and inspiring teaching, more significant and compre-
hensive evaluation these and all other developments of
the Study are intimately related to the records the schools
keep and to the reports they make.

Chapter V

WHAT HAPPENED IN COLLEGE?
<<<<<<<<< c<<-c<<<<c<<c<<<<<<<-^^^^

Among the important purposes stated by all high schools
"preparation for college" is always to be found near the top
of the list. Even though a small minorityjg^to college, the
school is vividly a^yare nf tVn'sj^Kj^^Hv^ All of the Thirty
Schools stated that they expected to send young men and
women into college well ready for the responsibilities they
would meetjih^ser The schools in the Study, believing that
therefore many different kinds of work through which stu-
dents may develop the skills, habits, and qualities essential
to satisfactory achievement in college, made such changes
as are reported in Chapters II and III. Many of these inno-
vations were marked departures from the conventional pat-
tern prescribed as preparation for college. These changes
were made to meet more fully the present, as well as future,
needs of students. School work was brought much closer to
students' lives; their concerns while in high school became
content of the curriculum for all, whether they were going
to college or not.

It has long been assumed that adequate preparation for
the work of the liberal arts college depends upon proficiency
in certain studies in high school. The colleges and universi-
ties have been saying something like this to prospective col-
lege students: "To be ready for the work that will be ex-
pected of you here, you should study English during your
high school course. If you do well and secure good grades,

1 02

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 103

you will have 3 or 4 credits to present for admission. You
should also study algebra for at least one year, preferably
two, and geometry for one year. That will add 2 or 3 ad-
mission credits. It is necessary for you to know at least one
foreign language; therefore you must spend at least two
years in the study of a foreign language. But we advise
you to spend two more years in the study of that language,
or two or three years in studying a second foreign language.
That will provide from 2 to 5 more entrance credits. You
must study history, preferably ancient history, for one year,
and science, preferably physics or chemistry, for one year.
There you have 2 more credits. You now have accumulated
at least 9 entrance credits which we require; but if you
have followed our recommendations, you have 14 of which
we heartily approve. We require for admission a total of 15
credits. To secure the required number you may present
other subjects which you have studied in high school, but
we advise you to present additional credits in those fields
of study we have recommended. If you wish to offer credits
in some other subjects such as mechanical drawing, art,
or music your school must have its courses in these sub-
jects approved by this college."

Colleges differed, of course, in the rigidity with which they
adhered to these prescriptions. Some prescribed more, some
less. A few colleges imposed no credit prescriptions what-
ever, but required entrance examinations in at least the four
subjects studied in the senior year of high school.

The Thirty Schools set out upon their explorations with
the consent of practically all colleges and universities. From
many the schools received sympathetic understanding.
Taken by and large, the institutions of higher education have
kept the agreement in letter and in spirit. In all cases. the

io 4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

participating schools were freed from subject and credit pre-
scription and in most cases from entrance examinations.
Hundreds of young men and women entered college from
the Thirty Schools without having studied all of the usual
required subjects. Some had taken such subjects, but for
shorter time than is usually required.

The Commission and the Schools
Ask Questions

It seemed to the Commission and the schools that an at-
tempt should be made to learn whether departures from the
conventional pattern of college preparation handicapped
students in their work in college. The relation of school and
college in American^d^ the assump-

tion that thejldllrJ^Q^edge, discipline, habit of mind, and
idingessential for success in college depend upon
the study in high^ for certain

periods-of time. Here was an opportunity to test that assump-
tion. If the graduates of the Thirty Schools were not ready
for college work, it would indicate that the assumption is
sound; if they did well, there would be evidence that the
assumption is untenable and that a sounder and more realistic
basis of school and college relations should be established.

Other related questions called for answer. Will these sec-
ondary schools use their new freedom wisely? Can they be
trusted? Will their standards of work suffer? If these thirty
schools prove that they can be trusted to use freedom sanely
and creatively, will it be safe for colleges to extend such
freedom to other schools? Is it possible to give more attention
to present concerns of all high school pupils without sacri-
ficing adequate preparation for those going on to college?
Can practicable ways be found for colleges and schools to
work together more effectively for common purposes?

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 105

The Investigation
Is Planned

According to the agreement made with the colleges, the
first class to be included in this plan would enter college in
September, 1936. Therefore, preparations were made to
study the graduates of the Thirty Schools as they pursued
their careers in college. Volume IV of the Commission's Re-
port, entitled Did They Succeed in College? gives a detailed,
complete account of this investigation and of the findings
that resulted. Here, in this over-all report of the Eight- Year
Study, the way in which the college study was conducted
and the findings thereof are reported in summary only.

The college investigation was made under the immediate
direction of Dr. Ralph W. Tyler, Chairman of the Depart-
ment of Education for the University of Chicago. Respon-
sible, impartial members of college faculties who knew how
to work with college students were chosen to make the
study. 1 It should be understood that this college staff ap-
proached their work without prejudice and without com-
mitments to the Progressive Education Association or to the
Commission.

Their task was a challenging one, for the first questions
they had to answer were these: What does success in col-
lege mean? Upon what basis shall judgment be rendered?
What are the significant aspects of the student's life at
college? How can we discover and record the important
evidences of his growth and development?

1 John L. Bergstresser, Assistant Dean, University of Wisconsin, repre-
sentative for the state universities, July, 1936 to July, 1937; Dean Chamber-
lin, Assistant Dean of Freshmen, Dartmouth College, representative for the
eastern men's colleges; Enid Straw Chamberlin, Instructor in English, Welles-
ley College, representative for the eastern women's colleges; Neal E.
Drought, Assistant Dean, University of Wisconsin, representative for the
state universities from July, 1937 until the end of the Study; William E.
Scott 7 Assistant Dean of Students, University of Chicago, representative for
the endowed coeducational colleges; Harold Threlkeld, University of Denver,
special representative for colleges in the Denver area.

io6 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

After spending the summer of 1936 in conference among
themselves, with members of the Commission and the Com-
mission's Staff, with teachers and principals in the Thirty
Schools, with college deans, professors, and graduates, they
drew up this set of criteria for their guidance:

1. Intellectual competence

2. Cultural development; use of leisure time; apprecia-
tive and creative aspects

3. Practical competence; common sense and judgment;
ordinary manual skills; environmental adaptability

4. Philosophy of life (pattern of goals)

5. Character traits (pattern of behavior)

6. Emotional balance (including mental health)

7. Social fitness

8. Sensitivity to social problems

9. Physical fitness (knowledge and practice of health
habits)

As the staff making this College Follow-up Study explains,
"Each of these criteria was broken down into more detailed
and specific subdivisions, and opposite each criterion were
listed suggested possible sources of evidence." 2 For exam-
ple, the first criterion, intellectual competence, was sub-
divided as follows: 5

Criteria Sources of Evidence

1. Intellectual competence of

the student

A. Scholarship 1. Official college records

Formal measurement of 2. Honors, prizes
academic achievement

2 Vol. IV, Did They Succeed in College? Chap. I.

3 The other criteria with suggested sources of evidence may be found in
tbid. 3 Appendix.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 107

Sources of Evidence

1. Questionnaires; reading rec-

ords

2. Interviews, interests num-

ber, quality, and variety

3. Samples of written work

4. Reports from instructors

1. Tests

2. Interviews

3. Reports from instructors

Criteria

B. Intellectual curiosity and
drive
Manifestation of interest

and activity in intellec-
tual matters beyond
course requirements

C. Scientific approach
Degree in which his work

and thinking conform
to the usually accepted
characteristics of the
scientific attitude

D. Study skills and habits
Willingness and ability

to employ the tools of
learning

1. Subject-matter placement

tests

2. Oral reading tests

3. Silent reading tests

4. Other tests (library use,

study techniques, etc. )

5. Samples of written work

6. Reports from instructors

a. Research ability

b. Accuracy, thoroughness,

and organization

c. Facility with examina-

tions

d. Request for special aid

7. Interviews and questionnaire

a. Time distribution

b. Study environment

c. Student's own evaluation

8. Official records

a. Excuses and cuts

b. Late papers

c. Remedial records

About 2000 graduates of the Thirty Schools entered 179
colleges in the fall of 1936. It was obviously impossible for

io8 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

the college study staff to go to all these colleges to follow
all students. Selection had to be made. This was done on
the basis of three factors: (1) the number of graduates
of the Thirty Schools enrolled; (2) types of colleges; (3)
the degree of co-operation offered by the colleges to the
Follow-up Staff. The colleges that were agreed upon as cen-
ters for intensive study are:

State Universities

Ohio State University
Oklahoma A. and M. College
University of Oklahoma
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin

Men's Colleges

Amherst College
Brown University
Columbia University
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of

Technology
Princeton University
Williams College
Yale University

Coeducational Endowed Col-
leges and Universities

Cornell University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Denver
University of Pennsylvania
University of Tulsa

Women's Colleges

Bennington College
Bryn Mawr College
Mount Holyoke College
Smith College
Wellesley College

Many other colleges co-operated in the study by distrib-
uting questionnaires and by supplying the college observers
with grades, instructors' reports, and other materials. Among
the colleges thus assisting were: Iowa State College, Uni-
versity of Iowa, Antioch College, Drake University, Colgate
University, Johns Hopkins University, Lehigh University,
Wesleyan University (Connecticut), Barnard College, Con-
necticut College for Women, Mills College, Pembroke Col-
lege, Radcliffe College, Sarah Lawrence College, and
Simmons College. One hundred and twenty other colleges

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 109

willingly supplied grades and other information to the
Follow-up Staff upon request.

It was necessary to establish some just basis of compari-
son if the work of the graduates of the Thirty Schools was
to be judged fairly. Since it was expected that they would
be somewhat above the average college students in native
ability, it would not do to compare their achievement with
average performance. Therefore, a basis of comparison was
established by matching, with utmost care, each graduate
from the Thirty Schools with another student in the same
college who had taken the prescribed courses, had grad-
uated from some school not participating in the Study, and
had met the usual entrance requirements. They were matched
on the basis of sex, age, race, scholastic aptitude scores,
home and community background, interests, and probable
future. For example, here is a boy the son of a lawyer and
a graduate of one of the large, public schools in the Study
eighteen years of age, from a home and community which
afford cultural and economic advantages, unusually able in
mathematics and planning to become an engineer. As his
"matchee," the Follow-up Staff selected in the same college a
boy, eighteen years of age, who had a similar background,
the same vocational interest and scholastic aptitude, but
who had met the customary entrance requirements.

The Staff Study
the Students

The members of the College Follow-up Staff did their
work with painstaking care. They learned all they could
about each student, treating alike the students from the
Study and their matchees. Their sources of information were
official college records, lists of honors or prizes won, reports
from instructors, samples of written work, results of various
types of tests given by the college, and the student himself.

no ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Each student was asked to reply to three questionnaires a
year. After the first, which was filled out early in the school
term, interviews lasting from fifteen minutes to two hours
were held with each student.

The conversation usually began with a discussion of the
questionnaire, which asked about the student's academic,
social, and personal problems; his health; his activities,
athletic and otherwise; his reading, attendance at lectures
and concerts, radio listening, and movie attendance. Also,
the student was asked to discuss his preparation for college
and his reaction to college life as he found it. The conversa-
tion soon shifted to all sorts of topics: from raising puppies
to world affairs. In most cases students welcomed the
chance to talk freely with a friendly person who showed
interest in them. From these written replies to questions,
from long, informal talks, and from information secured
from college records and college instructors, deans, and
other personnel officers the College Staff came to know each
student well. Upon this intimate and abundant knowledge
they base the report of their investigation.

Altogether, 1475 pairs of students were studied those
entering college in 1936, for four years; those entering in
1937, for three; those entering in 1938, for two; and the
class entering in 1939, for one year. A vast amount of data
was accumulated, and the Staff gave their summers and
most of 1941 to analysis of the collected information.

What did they discover?

The Graduates of the Thirty
Schools Succeed

In the comparison of the 1475 matched pairs, the College
Follow-up Staff found that the graduates of the Thirty
Schools

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY in

1. earned a slightly higher total grade average;

2. earned higher grade averages in all subject fields
except foreign language;

3. specialized in the same academic fields as did the
comparison students;

4. did not differ from the comparison group in the
number of times they were placed on probation;

5. received slightly more academic honors in each
year;

6. were more often judged to possess a high degree of
intellectual curiosity and drive;

7. were more often judged to be precise, systematic,
and objective in their thinking;

8. were more often judged to have developed clear or
well-formulated ideas concerning the meaning of
education especially in the first two years in col-
lege;

9. more often demonstrated a high degree of resource-
fulness in meeting new situations;

10. did not differ from the comparison group in ability
to plan their time effectively;

11. had about the same problems of adjustment as the
comparison group, but approached their solution
with greater effectiveness;

12. participated somewhat more frequently, and more
often enjoyed appreciative experiences, in the arts;

13. participated more in all organized student groups
except religious and "service" activities;

14. earned in each college year a higher percentage
of non-academic honors (ofBcership in organiza-
tions, election to managerial societies, athletic in-
signia, leading roles in dramatic and musical pres-
entations ) ;

iiz ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

15. did not differ from the comparison group in the
quality of adjustment to their contemporaries;

16. differed only slightly from the comparison group in
the kinds of judgments about their schooling;

17. had a somewhat better orientation toward the choice
of a vocation;

18. demonstrated a more active concern for what was
going on in the world.

The College Follow-up Staff has this to say about these
findings:

Some of these differences were not large, but wherever re-
ported, they were consistent for each class. It is apparent that
when one finds even small margins of difference for a number
of large groups, the probability greatly increases that the differ-
ences cannot be due to chance alone.

It is quite obvious from these data that the Thirty Schools
graduates, as a group, have done a somewhat better job than
the comparison group whether success is judged by college
standards, by the students 9 contemporaries, or by the individual
students. 4 "

When these results began to emerge, the Directing Com-
mittee and school Heads asked whether this creditable show-
ing might be due to the graduates of those of the Thirty
Schools which had not departed greatly from traditional
patterns and ways of college preparation. To answer this
question the College Staff analyzed the records of the grad-
uates of the six participating schools in which least change
had taken place and the records of the graduates of the
six schools in which the most marked departures from con-
ventional college preparatory courses had been made. Each
of these groups was studied in relation to its respective
comparison group.

4 Vol. IV, Did They Succeed in College? Chap. X.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 113
This investigation revealed that

The graduates of the most experimental schools were strikingly
more successful than their matchees, Differences in their favor
were much greater than the differences between the total Thirty
Schools and their comparison group. Conversely, there were no
large or consistent differences between the least experimental
graduates and their comparison group. For these students the
differences were smaller and less consistent than for the total
Thirty Schools and their comparison group. 5

The College Follow-up Staff comments on these facts as
follows:

If the proof of the pudding lies in these groups, and a good
part of it does, then it follows that the colleges got from these
most experimental schools a higher proportion of sound, effective
college material than they did from the more conventional schools
in similar environments. If colleges want students of sound
scholarship with vital interests, students who have developed
effective and objective habits of thinking, and who yet maintain
a healthy orientation toward their fellows, then they will encour-
age the already obvious trend away from restrictions which tend
to inhibit departures or deviations from the conventional cur-
riculum patterns. 6

In order to refine this particular analysis still further, the
graduates of two of the most experimental schools were
selected for a separate study. One of these schools is a rela-
tively small private school, the other is the experimental
section of a large public school in the Study. In the private
school were small classes, intimate knowledge of each stu-
dent, close contact with his parents, and a fairly homogeneous
economic and social background. In the public school many
of these favorable conditions were lacking. The graduates of
these two schools were contrasted with their matchees. As

5 Ibid.

Q Ibid., Chap. VIL

1 1 4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

a result, the staff reports that "the superiority of these pro-
gressive graduates over their comparison group was greater
than any previous differences reported." 7 The graduates of
these two schools surpassed their comparison groups by
wide margins in academic achievement, intellectual curi-
osity, scientific approach to problems, and interest in con-
temporary affairs. The differences in their favor were even
greater in general resourcefulness, in enjoyment of reading,
participation in the arts, in winning non-academic honors,
and in all aspects of college life except possibly participa-
tion in sports and social activities.

Concerning the different conditions prevailing in these
two schools, the College Staff has this to say:

The products of these two schools are indistinguishable from
each other in terms of college success. Good teaching obviously
was characteristic of both these schools. But good teaching alone
was not responsible for the superiority of the product good
teaching, after all, was characteristic of most of the Thirty Schools,
as well as most of the schools from which the comparison group
was drawn. The other important characteristics of both schools
were: their willingness to undertake a search for valid objectives;
organizing curricula and techniques and setting them in motion
in order to attain the objectives; and, finally, measuring the
effectiveness of curricula and techniques by appropriate evalua-
tion devices. These are basic processes; their utility in any type
of school is proved. 8

The Directing Committee asked a group of distinguished
college officials to examine the findings of this investigation
and to draw any conclusion which in their judgment the
data warrant. This committee prepared a report which was
presented by the chairman to various regional meetings of

7 Ibid., Chap.X.
s lbid., Chap. VIII.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 115

the Association of American Colleges early in 1940. Their
report concludes with these two paragraphs: 9

The results of this Study seem to indicate that the pattern of
preparatory school program which concentrates on a preparation
for a fixed set of entrance examinations is not the only satisfactory
means of fitting a boy or girl for making the most out of the
college experience. It looks as if the stimulus and the initiative
which the less conventional approach to secondary school educa-
tion affords sends on to college better human material than
we have obtained in the past.

I may add that this report to you has been approved by a
Committee of the Commission on School and College Relations
consisting of the following membership: President Barrows of
Lawrence College, President Park of Bryn Mawr, Dr. Gumere
of Harvard, Dean Speight of Swarthmore, Dean Brumbaugh of
Chicago, and myself.

HEBBERT E. HAWKES, Chairman

The major findings of the investigation of the success of
students in college were presented to the colleges in a series
of regional, round-table conferences in the spring of 1940.
The results of the Study, as presented, were not seriously
questioned by anyone. What changes in school and college
relations these conclusive findings will produce remains to
be seen. Many colleges are now giving serious consideration
to their relations with the schools from which their students
come. There is reason to expect that the schools and col-
leges of the country will soon draw more closely together
in a mutually satisfying relationship.

9 For complete report, see Appendix of this volume, pp. 147-150.

Chapter VI
THIS WE HAVE LEARNED

xxx_

? vvv* *i

What can be said now at the end of the Eight- Year Study?
What has been learned through this experience? Have the
hopes and expectations of those who inaugurated the project
been fulfilled?

It should be recalled that the Commission had two major
purposes:

1. To establish a relationship between school and col-
lege that would permit and encourage reconstruction
in the secondary school.

2. To find, through exploration and experimentation,
how the high school in the United States can 'serve
youth more effectively.

Let us consider now the findings of the Study in the realm
of school and college relations. The second part of this chap-
ter presents conclusions based upon the experiences of the
schools in their attempts to achieve the second major pur-
pose: better service to American youth.

Many Roads Lead
to College Success

The proposal for co-operation, which was approved by
colleges and universities generally in 1932, established an
effective co-operating relationship between them and the
Thirty Schools for the period of the Study. It permitted and
encouraged the participating schools to go ahead with their

116

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 117

plans for revision of their work. As stated early in this vol-
ume 1 the Commission and the schools held that

success in the college of liberal arts does not depend
upon the study of certain subjects for a certain period
in high school;

there are many different kinds of experience by which
students may prepare themselves for successful work
in college;

relations more satisfactory to both school and college
could be developed and established upon a permanent
basis;

ways should be found by which school and college
teachers can work together in mutual regard and un-
derstanding.

The study of the college experience of the graduates of
the Thirty Schools was made to secure evidence which
would confirm these beliefs or show them to be unwar-
ranted. The evidence is reported briefly in Chapter V and
in detail in Volume IV of this Report. A careful examina-
tion of the findings can leave no one in doubt as to the con-
clusions that must be drawn:

First, the graduates of the Thirty Schools were not handi-
capped in their college work.

Second, departures from the prescribed pattern of sub-
jects and units did not lessen the student's readiness
for the responsibilities of college.

Third, students from the participating schools which
made most fundamental curriculum revision achieved
in college distinctly higher standing than that of
students of equal ability with whom they were com-
.pared.
1 Chap. I, pp. 22, 23.

n8 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

These facts have profound implications for both school and
college.

First, the assumption that preparation for the liberal arts
college depends upon the study of certain prescribed sub-
jects in the secondary school is no longer tenable. This as-
sumption has been questioned for some time. Earlier studies
threw some doubt upon it. The results of this Study disprove
it. Success in college work depends upon something else.
Real preparation for college is something much more im-
portant and vital than the accumulation of 15 prescribed
units.

School and college relations based upon this untenable as-
sumption are neither satisfactory nor sound. The relation-
ship is an unhappy one. Colleges criticize the schools saying
that students come to college unprepared for their work,
that they are deficient in even the most rudimentary aca-
demic skills, that their habits of work are careless and super-
ficial, and that they lack seriousness and clarity of purpose.
Schools, on the other hand, charge that colleges regiment
students, treat them too impersonally, counsel them inade-
quately, and fail to stimulate them intellectually. Teachers
in secondary schools say that college professors are unwill-
ing or unable to see the great problems of the high school,
thinking of it only as a place of preparation for college and
forgetting the school's obligation to the 80 per cent who stop
their schooling at or before graduation from high school.
Whether these criticisms are warranted or not, they reveal
an unsatisfactory relationship. It does not seem that there
can be much more happiness in either group until a sound
basis of relationship is established.

The customary relations of school and college are un-
sound in that emphasis is placed upon outworn symbols
units, grades, rankings, and diplomas. To stand well with

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 119

its patrons the high school must meet college requirements.
If those requirements are not essentials, both school and
college are forced into false positions. The college is placed
in the position of saying that certain subjects, grades, and
units are essential when it knows that they are not; and the
school is placed in the false position of forcing students
through work which may be of little value to them.

The conclusion mast be drawn, therefore, that the assump-
tion upon which school and college relations have been
based in the past must be abandoned. It is evident that the
liberal arts college has not examined its work thoroughly
and realistically and based on that examination its prescrip-
tion of what is essential in preparation. This Study has
proved that some knowledges and skills heretofore generally
assumed to be necessary are not needed. It has established,
also, that necessary disciplines of mind and character may
be achieved through many other subjects than those formerly
assumed to be the only effective ones.

It does not follow that it is useless or impossible to de-
scribe what preparation is actually required for success in
college. Indeed colleges need to know teachers, pupils,
and parents need to know what knowledge, what skills,
what habits, what attitudes constitute the foundation for
satisfactory achievement in college. When these are deter-
mined, colleges should then require them for admission;
schools could then be intelligent in their important task of
preparation.

But this is more easily said than done. The college can-
not state what preparation is essential unless it knows its own
purposes. It must be said here that liberal arts college facul-
ties seldom state clearly what they mean by liberal or general
education. Perhaps they do not know. Individual professors
often have clearly defined purposes. Sometimes departments

i2o ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

such as English, history, economics have set up goals for
their work. Rarely, however, have whole college faculties
co-operatively thought their problem through and set forth
their purposes and plans.

Although co-operative faculty study of liberal education
is not usual in colleges, in some the faculty as a whole is
attempting to re-define general education and to revise its
work in the light of clearer purpose. One college, 2 which has
been studying this problem seriously, turned last year to
the question of preparation for college. Dean Herbert E.
Hawkes gives this encouraging report of their deliberations:

A few weeks ago I called a conference of all the instructors
of freshmen in Columbia College in order to talk about this im-
portant topic. In the course of the conference I asked them what
kind of students they really wanted in their courses, what kind
of intellectual background, what pattern of preparation, what
areas of competency. The replies were interesting. They reported
with one accord that they wanted boys who could read with
good speed and comprehension, and who knew how to gauge
their reading to the various types of material that they were
called upon to master. They wanted boys who had a reasonable
facility in self-expression, both orally and in writing. So much
for English. Then they wanted boys who knew how to tackle a
hard intellectual job and carry it through to completion a boy
who had acquired the habit and zest for work. You may call this
discipline. Furthermore they wanted boys who knew an idea
when they saw one, who were accustomed to dealing with ideas,
in short, who had reasonable intellectual maturity.

These three points were mentioned again and again in one
form and another. The amazing fact was that very little was said
about the specific pattern of subject-matter preparation. If the
students had gained these fundamental qualities and attitudes
they did not care where they got them. In fact, many of the
instructors in the various freshman courses in social studies, in
humanities and even in science said that they could not tell

2 Columbia College, Columbia University.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY iai

from the way in which a boy took hold of his college work
whether he had passed this or that entrance examination except
insofar as it was reflected in these qualities. To be sure, in the
humanities it appeared that the boy who had good grounding
in Latin had a head start in the reading of the Greek and Roman
classics that are included in this course. But in this course, those
who had received such training could not be distinguished from
those who had not after a few weeks, provided they knew how
to work. The corresponding fact held true in the sciences.

Here is a college faculty declaring that success in college
depends upon skill in the use of the mother tongue, readiness
and ability to work hard, and "reasonable intellectual ma-
turity/* Similar conclusions have been reached by other
faculties. As more colleges re-examine their own purposes
and procedures, and as they reconsider the problem of
preparation for higher education, agreement may be reached
upon some such essentials as those stated by the faculty at
Columbia.

To go further and to conduct such co-operative study
among many institutions is a most difficult task, as the Thirty
Schools have discovered. Yet, if this were done, it would
make possible a sound basis of relationship with schools.
Until colleges and secondary schools know and agree on what
they are trying to do, there is no intelligent way for them
to unite their efforts on behalf of those who expect to go to
college.

It should be emphasized here that it is already possible for
colleges to establish adequate admission requirements that
do not prescribe the content or organization of the second-
ary school curriculum. Prescription of subjects, units, and
requirements of entrance examinations based upon prede-
termined subject matter have undoubtedly fixed the pattern
of secondary education for the great majority of young

122 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

people in the United States. Without intending to do so,
the colleges have handicapped schools in their attempts at
fundamental reconstruction. To move ahead schools must
have encouragement from colleges. To give that encourage-
ment colleges must abandon their present admissions policy.

No one questions the right of colleges to set up require-
ments for admission of students. Quite properly colleges
desire only those students who are equipped to do the work
the college expects. They may justly require evidence of
the candidate's fitness. It is the school's responsibility to pro-
vide that evidence. But all colleges and universities, whether
tax-supported or privately endowed, are public institutions
and, therefore, they have a public responsibility. Accord-
ingly, no college can be justified in setting up requirements
for admission which have been shown to be unnecessary in
preparing students to do college work.

For the Thirty Schools many colleges waived the cus-
tomary entrance examinations, and all colleges granted free-
dom from subject and unit prescriptions. The schools, how-
ever, gave colleges abundant significant evidence of the
student's readiness for college work. Upon the basis of this
evidence colleges selected candidates from the participating
schools. The findings of the Commission's follow-up study
show that the colleges were able to select students intelli-
gently on the basis of the information provided by the
Thirty Schools. These students did their college work at least
as well as otters of equal ability, failed no more frequently,
stayed in college and graduated in equal numbers, and won
distinction more often.

The Eight-Year Study has demonstrated beyond question
that colleges can secure all the information they need for
selection of candidates for admission without restricting the
secondary school by prescribing the cuniculum. ,For this

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 123

purpose, evidence from such sources as the following would
provide ample data:

1. Descriptions of students, indicating qualities of char-
acter, habits of work, personality, and social adjust-
ment. Many of the record-forms prepared by the
Commission's Committee on Records and Reports are
helpful and suggestive in this connection.

2. The results of the use of instruments of evaluation

a. Such standardized tests as are applicable to the
school's work

b. Other types of tests appropriate to the objectives
of the school, such as those prepared by the Eval-
uation Staff of this Study

c. Scholastic aptitude tests that measure characteris-
tics essential to college work and are independent
of particular patterns of school preparation

3. For colleges that require tests given by an outside
agency, records of achievement in examinations that
do not presuppose a particular pattern of content.
An example is the Comprehensive English examina-
tion of the College Examination Board.

An admission plan such as this would not fix the content or
organization of the high school curriculum.

If such a plan were adopted generally by colleges, the
secondary schools of the United States could go about their
business of serving all youth more effectively. Uniformity
would be neither necessary nor desirable in the work of
the school. One student would develop the essential skills,
habits of mind, and qualities of character through studies
appropriate to his abilities, interests, and needs; another
student would develop the essentials of mind and character
through quite different studies. The secondary school would

i2 4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

then be encouraged to know each student well and to pro-
vide experiences most suitable to his development. This,
in turn, would lead to dynamic school curricula, The static,
frozen pattern of subjects and credits would disappear and
secondary education would move ahead with other dynamic
forces toward the achievement of a greater democracy.

The second major implication of the results of the Eight-
Year Study is that secondary schools can be trusted with a
greater measure of freedom than college requirements now
permit. The Thirty Schools, representing secondary schools
of various kinds in many sections, have not abused their
greater freedom. On the contrary, many college authorities
wonder that these schools did not use their freedom more
extensively. It may be thought that the participating schools
were restrained from wild experimentation by the college
members of the Directing Committee, but such was not the
case. In fact, they have constantly urged the schools to
greater adventure. However, custom is deeply embedded in
secondary education. It is not easy to break down traditional
patterns of thinking and acting, nor do teachers create new
ones readily.

Perhaps die chief reason for confidence in the schools*
use of freedom is to be found in the genuine sense of re-
sponsibility which most teachers feel. They are conscious
of the far-reaching consequences of their work. Because of
this sense of duty they do not turn lightly from practices
of proved worth to engage in irresponsible experimentation.
If some in the colleges feared that the Thirty Schools would
use their freedom recklessly, they now know that their fears
were without foundation.

Without exception the colleges involved state that this

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 125

Study has been very much worthwhile. Although there may
be doubt concerning some of the innovations in the schools,
the colleges are unanimous in recognizing the growth which
the schools have achieved through participation in the enter-
prise. The Thirty Schools fervently hope that their new
work can be continued and developed more fully. This
can be done only if their present freedom is not taken away
from them.

The existing agreement between the Thirty Schools and
the colleges expires in 1943. "What will happen then?"
the schools are asking. Will it be necessary to give up the
new work, which the schools kre eager to carry on, and re-
turn to prescribed courses and a static curriculum? Perhaps
the colleges would be willing to extend the agreement with
the Thirty Schools beyond 1943, but neither the Schools nor
the Directing Committee favors continuing an arrangement
involving only these schools... They hope for extension of
the freedom which the member schools now have to com-
petent schools everywhere.

This can be done. As has been suggested in these pages,
three steps should be taken:

First, until the purposes of general education in the liberal
arts colleges are clearly defined and plainly stated, subject
and unit prescriptions and entrance examinations that pre-
scribe the content or organization of the secondary school
curriculum should be discontinued.

Second, the knowledge, skills, habits, and qualities of mind
and character essential as preparation for college work
should be ascertained by colleges and schools co-operatively.

Third, a plan of admission should be adopted which pro-
vides the college with needed information concerning can-
didates, but which does not prescribe the content or organ-
ization of the secondary school curriculum.

126 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Should these three steps be taken great progress would
surely come in both secondary and higher education through-
out the country. Upon this new and sound basis schools and
colleges would develop relations which would bring them
together in mutual respect and understanding. Professors
from the colleges and teachers from the schools would sit
down together often to think and plan for the education
of American youth. They would learn from each other. They
would understand better one another's purposes and prob-
lems. Theirs is a common task, the teachers at one level,
the professors at another. By deliberating together tfiey
would see that task more clearly and perform it more effec-
tively.

During the eight years of the Study many school-college
conferences have been held. They have always resulted in
increased mutual regard and confidence. For many college
professors and school teachers it was a new experience to
spend two days together in an atmosphere of friendly co-
operation around the conference table. This sort of ex-
perience should not be rare; it is as necessary as any other
conference with one's colleagues. Neither the school nor the
college can understand fully or render adequately its service
to youth apart from the other.

The failure of schools and colleges to co-ordinate their
work has resulted in enormous waste of time, effort, and
money. The tragic consequences to thousands of boys and
girls are beyond all measurement. But wastage of the na-
tion's material and human resources need not continue. By
taking time to know each other and by seeking together for
solutions of common problems our institutions of secondary
and higher education can bring their united strength to the
service of the nation.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 127

The Schools Counsel from
tieir own Experiences

Early in the Eight- Year Study the member schools and
the Commission promised to give a frank account o their ex-
periences when the project came to its end. They said they
would tell of mistakes and failures as well as successes, and
they agreed to reveal the difficulties and problems they en-
countered along the way. Anyone who has followed the
story of the Study in this volume or delved more deeply
into the other four volumes of the Report must be aware of
the frankness and sincerity of the hundreds who have been
engaged in this attempt to find better ways of serving Ameri-
can youth. Although the schools* experiences have differed
in many ways, it is possible to record some that have been
fairly common and to draw out of them some lessons which
may be helpful to other schools about to undertake the
difficult task of reconstruction.

Before summarizing the experience of the Thirty Schools,
let it be said again that they do not pose as model schools.
They do not claim to have solved all problems, nor do they
think they "know all the answers/* They realize that many
other schools, not included in this Study, have been en-
gaged in the same task and that their contributions to the
improvement of secondary education probably are just as
important as the achievements of the schools which have
participated in this project.

The members of the Directing Committee and the teachers
and administrators in the Thirty Schools have learned from
the experiences of these eight years that effective secondary
school reconstruction requires thorough preparation.

This takes time. The schools which plunged into change
without taking time to think their problems through often
found it necessary to go back to the beginning and start

128 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

over. This caused confusion and uneasiness which might well
have been avoided.

Thorough preparation demands co-operative deliberation.
Piecemeal revision by individual teachers or subject depart-
ments usually is disappointing. Every teacher's work is
significant in its relation to the whole effort of the school.
Therefore, any important change in any part of the school's
work should be made only as one move in a comprehensive
plan. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students should
unite in the thinking and planning which should precede
any revision of the school's work.

All teachers should participate. When the Eight-Year
Study was started, some schools selected a few members of
the faculty for the new work; the others, who were not con-
sulted, felt left out. This resulted in division and misunder-
standing. In some schools it led to jealousy, bitterness, and
sabotage of the new work. This unhappy state of affairs has
long since disappeared in almost all of the schools, but it is
a danger which can and should be avoided by giving every
teacher an opportunity to share fully, to advocate or oppose
change, to voice his convictions whatever they may be.
Complete agreement is desirable and is sometimes reached
by means of thorough discussion. However, unanimous de-
cision is not essential. New work may be developed satis-
factorily and without faculty dissension if every one shares
in the deliberations which lead to change.

Parents, too, must share in preparation for high school
changes. The schools which did not draw patrons into the
planning which preceded revision encountered parental
misunderstanding. Unwarranted criticism and opposition
were the results. In some instances worthy innovations had
to be abandoned because of censure. This could have been
avoided if these schools had taken pains to secure parental

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 129

participation in the thinking which led to change in the
curriculum. Moreover, these schools did not have the good
counsel that many thoughtful laymen can give. Others of
the member schools took parents into their confidence, con-
sulted with them as plans were developed, and gained the
strength of their support in new undertakings. Out of these
happy and unhappy experiences the Thirty Schools have
learned that no school is fully prepared for reconstruction
unless the co-operation of parents has been secured.

Adequate preparation involves research. Before any school
revises its work the faculty should study the community the
school serves and the needs of youth in that community.
The results of research elsewhere should be studied care-
fully for their application to the local situation. The services
of specialists and experienced curriculum consultants should
be secured if possible. Above all, the faculty should re-
examine the democratic tradition, clarify its meaning, and
consider its implications for the school in every phase of
its work.

No teacher or school is fully ready for constructive change
until plans for appraising results are carefully formulated.
The school should find out whether changes in curriculum
and methods of teaching achieve purposes more effectively.
The Thirty Schools emphasize the necessity of taking time
to secure all possible evidence of student progress and to
study that evidence searchingly for clues to further action.
Equally important are adequate means for recording and
reporting all significant aspects of pupil development. Eval-
uating, recording and reporting are inextricably interwoven
in the whole fabric of education. Therefore, they cannot be
ignored in any sound preparation for educational recon-
struction.

The Thirty Schools have learned that thorough prepara-

130 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

tion for revision requires honest belief in exploration and
experimentation as a method of educational progress. This
means that principals and teachers must have an abiding
faith in the possibilities of youth. They should be able to see
in each boy or girl the potential self-supporting, well-
adjusted man or woman of individual dignity and worth.
It means, also, that the school believes sincerely in the possi-
bility of continuous improvement of its own work that
nothing is so well done that it cannot be done better. No
teacher is ready to contribute to educational progress unless
he is willing and able to reconsider and call in question
whatever has been taken for granted. Open-minded analysis
of assumptions is a strong stimulant to vigorous, construc-
tive thinking.

Constructive thinking requires the capacity to break up
one's customary patterns of thought and to create new ones.
This is especially necessary in those who would see educa-
tion afresh. Usually education is thought of in patterns of
school buildings, classrooms, classes, textbooks, courses,
grades, credits, diplomas. It is only when these paraphernalia
of education can be pushed into the background of one's
mind that realistic thinking becomes possible. Only then is
the teacher able to see the student as a young human being
growing up in a very complex and difficult world. And only
then can the teacher begin to see clearly and constructively
what the school should be and do.

Experience has taught the participating schools that no
school is ready to advance until teachers have a sure sense
of security in adventure. They are safe in following tradi-
tion; they must be sure that they will be equally secure in
departing from tradition. Only then can they maintain their
personal and professional integrity and grow into the full-
ness of their stature as teachers and personalities.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 131

Pleasant surroundings and favorable working conditions
facilitate preparation for secondary school reconstruction. A
modern, commodious, well-equipped building, spacious
grounds, freedom from traffic noises, adequate libraries,
laboratories, studios and shops, small classes, a homogeneous
student body these are all much to be desired. But it has
been learned that they are not essential. Some of the most
significant contributions coming from the Eight- Year Study
have been made by schools where few of these advanta-
geous circumstances exist. Without strong conviction on the
part of teachers that youth must be better served, no im-
portant changes will be made. With that conviction, with
leadership, co-operation, imagination, initiative, and courage
teachers will move forward no matter how unfavorable the
physical environment and working conditions may be.

Out of their experience the Thirty Schools counsel others
about to revise their work to take time to see where they
are going, to "look before they leap." The high school which
co-operatively re-examines, in an open-minded and realistic
spirit, its service to its students and community always
reaches the conclusion that many important needs of boys
and girls are not being met satisfactorily and that some-
thing should be done. Then these questions always arise:
What part of our work should we surely retain? What part
should be discontinued? What new work is needed? Shall
we adopt this proposal or another? In what direction shall
we move?

Asking these questions, a school faculty might choose an
easy solution by copying what some other school had done.
They might turn, for instance, to this Report and adopt a
revised curriculum which had been developed in one of the
schools. Such a procedure would be a serious mistake and
the results would certainly be unsatisfactory. Genuine re-

132 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

construction does not come that way. All teachers, all
faculties must go through the hard experience of thinking
their own problems through. The experiences of other teach-
ers and schools can be useful in pointing the way, but no
teacher or school can travel for others the hard road of re-
construction. Schools must find their own answers to their
most puzzling questions.

These questions cannot be answered intelligently until
objectives are determined and clearly stated. Therefore, this
difficult task must be attempted. Statements of objectives
often have little meaning. Sometimes they are couched in
such general terms that they provide no guidance. On the
other hand, so many detailed, specific objectives are often
listed that no sense of direction is indicated. The member
schools encountered both of these difficulties early in the
Study. Later when they were asked to restate their objectives
in terms of desirable changes in pupils changes which
could be observed or discovered objectively meaningless
generalization and multiplicity of purpose were much less in
evidence in the revisions. But this searching question re-
mained largely unanswered: What changes in pupils are
desirable? Thus the problem of purpose continued to thrust
itself into the forefront of the thinking of the schools. They
have learned that it cannot be escaped and that sure progress
in reconstruction cannot take place in any school until unity
and clarity of purpose are achieved.

The purposes of the school cannot be determined apart
from the purposes of the society which maintains the school.
The purposes of any society are determined by the life values
which the people prize. As a nation we have been striving
always for those values which constitute the American way
of life. Our people prize individual human personality above
everything else. We are convinced that the form of social

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 133

organization called democracy promotes, better than any
other, the development of worth and dignity in men and
women. It follows, therefore, that the chief purpose of educa-
tion in the United States should be to preserve, promote,
and refine the way of life in which we as a people believe.

This, then, is the conclusion which grew out of the con-
tinuing search for guiding objectives in the Thirty Schools.
This great, central purpose gave direction. What part of
the school's curriculum should be retained? That part which
promotes the kind of life we seek. What changes in young
people are desirable? Those which lead in the direction of
democratic living.

But what is the American way? What are the principles of
democracy? These are the questions which individual teach-
ers and school faculties sought to answer. They had to an-
swer them clearly in order to know what the school should
be and do, for they had become sure that the school should
be a demonstration of democracy in action. This search for
purpose and meaning was the turning point for many of
the participating schools.

The schools affirm that this concept of the chief purpose
of education in the United States leaves no room for pro-
vincialism or narrow, selfish nationalism. Our unique privilege
as a nation is that of working out here, on this rich and
pleasant land, the kind of life of which men of vision, good
will, and noble character have long dreamed. Our roots go
deep into the past. Our present and future are closely in-
terwoven with the fate of all men and nations. Therefore, if
our youth are to know and prize the American way of life,
their studies should take them back to its origins and on
to the great issues before us in a world in which we cannot
live apart.

Because their struggle to achieve clear purpose has proved

i 3 4 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

to be of inestimable value to them, the Thirty Schools urge
every school to search the democratic ideal for principles to
guide thought and action in any attempted revision of ad-
ministration, curriculum, or ways of teaching. That ideal,
they say, sets up the guide-posts which point the sure way
to reconstruction of every phase of American secondary
education.

The school which has prepared itself thoroughly and es-
tablished its central purpose is now ready to proceed con-
fidently with the arduous task of reconstruction. The Thirty
Schools have learned that effective democratic leadership
is essential. The principal is the one who would be expected
to lead. That school is fortunate whose principal has the
capacity and skill to be the educational leader. Some princi-
pals cannot carry this responsibility. They are excellent
executives rather than leaders of thought. Usually such
principals recognize their limitations and turn to others for
the kind of strength they do not possess. That is often found
in some member of the faculty. By close co-operation the
principal and faculty leader are able to unite the school in
thought and action.

Whatever the conditions are, educational leadership there
must be. Although the leader must be a thoughtful educa-
tor, he does not do the thinking for the faculty; he stimu-
lates and challenges their thinking. He respects their worth,
believes in their integrity, welcomes their best thought, and
unites them in the great common cause of making education
more fruitful for every boy and girl in the school. He keeps
all eyes constantly upon the students.

The pupils, too, have an important part in school recon-
struction. To those who have been working with the schools
during the eight years of the Study, it seems that the most
profound change is the shift in emphasis from subject

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 135

matter to the boys and girls themselves. Curriculum con-
tent is still important, but only as it helps young people
with their problems of living in our democracy. What-
ever the school does, finds its value in service to youth.
It follows, then, that they should share in making the
curriculum. Experience has taught that high school stu-
dents are well able to share effectively in school recon-
struction. Many of them have surprised and delighted their
teachers by the mature and constructive thought which
they have brought to the problem when they were in-
vited to think with teachers and parents about the work
of the school.

Therefore, the participating schools advise taking stu-
dents into partnership in changing the general life of the
school and in revising the curriculum. Their ability to
share responsibility in school organization and government
has been demonstrated in schools everywhere, but their
readiness and capacity for participation in curriculum mak-
ing have only recently been discovered. In many of the
member schools students are now habitually consulted
concerning curriculum problems, and teacher-pupil plan-
ning is becoming an established practice.

The reasons for pupil participation are compelling. The
schools have taken the position that the source of the cur-
riculum is to be found in the concerns of youth and in the
nature of the society which the school serves. Therefore,
youth should have opportunity to ask that the schools heed
their needs and to tell what some of those needs are. An
even more vital reason for their sharing is that the kind of
life we seek in America can be achieved only by full par-
ticipation in planning for the common welfare and in meet-
ing common responsibilities. School is the place for youth

136 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

to develop the habit of co-operative thought and skill in
group action.

Even with competent leadership and effective student co-
operation, no school can go very far along the road of re-
construction without freedom to act according to its best
judgment. The schools in the Study have had that freedom
for eight years. A plan is proposed earlier in this chapter
by which all schools may have the freedom essential to
progress. When it comes, schools will learn, as the Thirty
Schools did, that greater freedom entails greater responsi-
bility for wise guidance of youth. But young people cannot
be counseled wisely by the school unless each individual
is well known by some teacher. Ways by which each boy and
girl can be known intimately have been suggested in these
pages.* However, intimate knowledge of a student does not
of itself bring intelligent guidance. Teachers must have
time and opportunity to use that knowledge to the student's
advantage. The wisest teachers should have the largest
measure of responsibility for counseling. Sometimes special-
ized, professional advice is needed, but of one thing the
schools are sure: that guidance cannot be divorced from the
everyday work of the classroom. All teachers share this
responsibility.

But who shall give teachers wisdom sufficient for guidance
of youth? To that question there is no answer, but the
teachers who have become wise through experience say that
preparation for teaching should be quite different from that
usually provided by colleges of Education. Preparation for
teaching in the high school that is emerging should lead
to understanding of young people their urges, drives, con-
cerns, and problems. At the same time it should develop
a clear concept of the democratic ideal and insight into the

8 Chap. II, pp. 37-39.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 137

social problems that must be solved if American society and
education are to approximate the ideals which our people
hold.

Each teacher needs competence in his own field, of course,
but he needs a broader competence. Fusion courses, broad
fields, culture-epochs, career-centered courses, core curricu-
lums all these are designed to meet youth's needs more
directly. They require teacher collaboration. This unity of
teacher effort demands the breaking down of artificial bar-
riers which have separated teacher from teacher and sub-
ject from subject. It also calls for the removal of the limita-
tions which have prevented teachers from becoming truly
educated persons themselves. When they work together,
they learn from each other. When they consider the whole
responsibility of the school, they gain insight into the
implications and relationships of their fields of work.
Whatever the form of curriculum organization, teachers
should work together for common purposes, clearly under-
stood and constantly kept in mind. The Thirty Schools agree,
therefore, that narrow subject specialization by teachers,
which stands in the way of their co-operation with others
and blinds them to youth's needs, should disappear from
secondary education.

With the best possible preparation, the teacher will still
have to learn through experience how to know, understand,
and guide young people. As he works with them day after
day in the classroom, his relationship with his students be-
comes, more and more, that of friendly counselor. To have
that relationship, the work of the classroom must be vital to
students. Therefore the content of the curriculum becomes
extremely important.

What Jiave-the ThJbdty^ the cur-

riculum? They have five, conclusions to report.

138 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

First, every student should achieve competence in the es-
sential skills of communication reading, writing, oral ex-
pression and in the use of quantitative concepts and sym-
bols.

Second, inert subject-matter should give way to content
that is alive and pertinent to the problems of youth and mod-
ern civilization.

Third, the common, recurring concerns of American youth
should give content and form to the curriculum.

Fourth, the life and work of the school should contribute,
in every possible way, to the physical, mental and emotional
health of every student.

Fifth, the curriculum in its every part should have one
clear, major purpose. That purpose is to bring to every young
American his great heritage of freedom, to develop under-
standing of the kind of life we seek, and to inspire devotion
to human welfare.

This report of lessons learned by the Thirty Schools
could be extended indefinitely, but that would be of doubtful
value to other schools. However, one other result of the
Eight-Year Study should be reported as this record of adven-
ture is brought to a close. Participation in the Study has
brought renewed vitality to every school. Whether the school
altered its curriculum and ways of teaching markedly or not,
whether its contributions to the improvement of secondary
education are small or great, each one brings enthusiastic
testimony to the extraordinary value of the experience. Out
of their attempts to meet a challenge, out of searching study
of their own work, out of their struggle to serve youth bet-
ter, the Thirty Schools have grown immeasurably in educa-
tional stature and wisdom.

Throughout the nation there are thousands of high schools,
large and small, in city and country, still following tradi-

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 139

tion. In these schools, faithful teachers are increasingly aware
that their boys and girls are facing urgent problems of liv-
ing with little help from any source. These teachers are
beginning to see that much of the help which youth seeks
must come from the high schools; this means that education
must take on new responsibilities.

To fulfill these wider obligations schools must have a con-
siderable measure of the freedom that the Thirty Schools
have had during these eight years. This freedom was a chal-
lenge to the best that was in them. Who can doubt that other
schools would respond equally well to the same challenge?
As hundreds of teachers in the participating schools discov-
ered in themselves unknown creative powers, so would thou-
sands of others develop new vitality and strength in their
attempts to perform new duties. Surely the freedom which
produces such results will not long be denied.

The ten million boys and girls now in our high schools
cannot carry the nation's burden in this hour of world con-
flict. That burden is ours. We are detennined that the earth
they inherit shall not be in chains. Theirs will be the task
that only free men can perform in a world of freedom. It
will be an even greater task than ours. To prepare them for
it is the supreme opportunity of the schools of our democracy.

Appendix

A PROPOSAL FOR BETTER CO-ORDINATION

OF SCHOOL AND COLLEGE WORK

May, 1932

C C CCC C C C CCC KC C C C C C<C C KC <CC C C CCC C KC C CCC CCC

Students of education in America know that the elementary
school has changed fundamentally in organization, curriculum
and procedure within the last decade, and that profound changes
are taking place in our universities and colleges. But similar re-
construction in the secondary schools is difficult, if not impossible,
under present conditions. Recognizing the need of improvement
in secondary education, and realizing that any significant change
involves the co-operation of the colleges, the Progressive Educa-
tion Association appointed, almost two years ago, a Commission
on the Relation of School and College. Last December, a gener-
ous grant of funds for the work was provided by The Carnegie
Corporation of New York.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION

Mr. Wilford M. Aikin, Director, John Burroughs School, Chairman
Professor Walter Raymond Agard, University of Wisconsin
Mr. Willard Beatty, Superintendent of Schools, Bronxville, N. Y.
Mr. Bruce Bliven, Editor, The New Republic
Dean C. S. Boucher, University of Chicago

*Mr. A. J. Burton, Principal, East High School, Des Moines, Iowa
Miss Flora S. Cooke, Director, Francis Parker School
Mr. Harold Ferguson, Principal, Montclair High School
Mr. Burton P. Fowler, Director, Tower Hill School
Dr. Josephine Gleason, Vassar College

Dr. Thomas Hopkins, Curriculum Research Specialist, Lincoln School
Dr. Leonard V. Koos, University of Chicago
Dr. W. S. Learned, The Carnegie Foundation
President Robert D. Leigh, Bennington College
Dr. John A. Lester, The Hill School

140

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 141

Dean Max McConn, Lehigh University

Mr. Clyde R. Miller, Teachers College, New York

*Dr. Jesse H. Newlon, Director, The Lincoln School
Dr. W. Carson Ryan, Swarthmore College
Dr. Harold Rugg, Teachers College, Columbia University

*Miss Ann Shumaker, Editor, Progressive Education
Dr. Eugene R. Smith, Director, Beaver Country Day School
Mr. Perry Dunlap Smith, Director, North Shore Country Day School
Miss Katharine Taylor, Director, Shady Hill School
Dr. Vivian Thayer, Ethical Culture School

Professor Goodwin Watson, Teachers College, Columbia University
President Raymond Walters, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Ben D. Wood, Collegiate Education Research, Columbia University

The Commission desires to bring about such changes in the
relation of school and college as will permit sound experimental
study of secondary education. It is concerned with all students,
but especially with those who plan to go to college, and it seeks
to establish conditions under which schools may develop more
fully in all students a strong sense of individual and social re-
sponsibility. The Commission wishes, also, to make it possible
for schools and colleges to help each student shape his course
so that it will be best fitted to his needs, and so that his work
will have meaning and significance for him,

PLAN FOR CO-OPERATION

The following Plan is presented for approval:
A. A small number of schools, probably not more than twenty,
will be chosen to carry on experiments in secondary education
appropriate to the purpose of this Plan. The number is limited
so as not to be unwieldy for experimental purposes. There will
be included public and private schools each with funds, faculty
personnel and interest, parental support, and administrative
leadership adequate to the task. Only schools of highest character
and excellence and established reputation will be admitted' to
this group. These schools will enter into an admissions arrange-
ment (described below) with colleges for an experimental period
of five years beginning with the autumn of 1936.

* Deceased.

i 4 2 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

NOTE: As this arrangement permits the schools to change their
curriculums in the fall of 1933, candidates for admission to col-
lege in 1936 will have had three years' experience under the
reconstructed curriculum before leaving the preparatory
school.

B. A Directing Committee has been appointed to supervise
all aspects of the Plan, including the practical co-ordination be-
tween schools and colleges and the securing of effective educa-
tional procedure. The membership of the Committee, which rep-
resents the various types of colleges and schools sharing in the
study, is given in the accompanying letter.

As the work develops, the functions of this Committee, in its
relations to the schools and colleges involved, will become in-
creasingly clear. At the present time it is plain that its respon-
sibilities will include:

1. Selection of the schools to share in the experiment

2. Examination of plans of work and proposed curricula sub-
mitted by the schools

3. Approval, rejection or revision, in collaboration with the school,
of plans submitted

4. Working with each school in the systematic study and develop-
ment of its work as it proceeds and obtaining full and adequate
reports from time to time

5. Determining the degree of uniformity necessary or desirable
in the work of the schools sharing in the plan

6. Bringing the schools and colleges into close co-operation in
guiding each student's work. As soon as a pupil has indicated
his choice of a college, it is hoped that representatives of the
college will work with the school in studying and counseling
the candidates, and that the school will work with the college
after the student begins his college career,

7. Suggesting such modifications in college regulations and pro-
cedure for the students entering during the five year period
under the new arrangement as will conserve the fundamental
educational values of the experiment

8. Systematic observation of these students during college and as
many years thereafter as seems wise, with the idea of evaluat-
ing the work of the schools participating in this study

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 143

SELECTION OF STUDENTS

Admission to college for the experimental period will be based
upon the following criteria:

A. Recommendation from the principal of the co-operating
secondary school to the effect that the graduating student (a) is
possessed of the requisite general intelligence to carry on college
work creditably; (b) has well defined serious interests and pur-
poses; (c) has demonstrated ability to work successfully in one
or more fields of study in which the college offers instruction.

B, A carefully recorded history of the student's school life
and of his activities and interests, including results of various
types of examinations and other evidence of the quality and
quantity of the candidate's work, also scores on scholastic apti-
tude, achievement, and other diagnostic tests given by the schools
during the secondary school course.

It is intended that the tests used will be of such character that
the results submitted to the colleges will give a more adequate
and complete picture of the candidate than is given by methods
now in use. A special Committee on Records is now at work
endeavoring to determine:

1. what information the college needs for wise selection and
guidance of students

2. how that information can best be secured

3. in what form it should be recorded and presented to the
colleges.

The co-operating colleges will not be obliged to admit under
this agreement all such students as meet die new requirements.
However, during the experimental period and from the limited
group of co-operating schools, the colleges agree to accept stu-
dents under this plan without regard to the course and unit re-
quirements now generally in force for all students, and without
further examination. The colleges, for this period, agree also that
students applying for admission under the new requirements will
be considered without discrimination in comparison with students
applying from other schools where present requirements are in
effect.

144 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

UNDEBLYING IDEAS

The educational emphasis in this Plan is based upon a convic-
tion that the secondary schools must become more effective in
helping young people to develop the insight, the powers and
the self-direction necessary for resourceful and constructive liv-
ing. We wish to work toward a type of secondary education
which will be flexible, responsive to changing needs, and clearly
based upon an understanding of young people as well as an under-
standing of the qualities needed in adult life.

We are trying to develop students who regard education as an
enduring quest for meanings rather than credit accumulation;
who desire to investigate, to follow the leadings of a subject,
to explore new fields of thought; knowing how to budget time, to
read well, to use sources of knowledge effectively and who are
experienced in fulfilling obligations which come with member-
ship in the school or college community.

To this end we should like to provide, more fully than the
present organization of secondary education permits, for changes
such as are indicated under the following headings:

A. Greater mastery in learning:

acquisition of such techniques as reading with speed and compre-
hension, observing accurately, organizing and summarizing informa-
tion; ability to work with many kinds of materials; capacity to see
facts in their relationships; ability to state ideas clearly; techniques
essential as a foundation for later advanced study.

B. More continuity of learning;

the elimination, wherever advisable, of limited, brief assignments and
courses; a more coherent development of fields of study; provision for
more consecutive pursuit of a particular subject through several years;
encouragement (including the devising of ways and means and the
allowance of sufficient time in the school schedule) of the desire to
investigate; development of the power and impetus to pursue a sutject
beyond the school requirement, and stimulation of the desire to put
ideas to use.

There should he less emphasis on subjects and more on continuous,
unified sequence of subject matter, planned on a four-year or six-year
basis. English is the only course that at present even approximates

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 145

this aim. Continuous courses in the sciences and social sciences would
take the place of such fragments of subject matter as chemistry or
modern European history. Chemistry has its biological, geological, or
astronomical implications that should not be overlooked if the whole
of science is to have significance. Similarly, such cultures as those of
South America and Asia should have a place in history courses, for
comparative study, as well as those of Europe and the United States.
Mathematics and foreign languages also, would be reorganized in a
manner to enable the pupil to get a 'long" view of these fields of sub-
ject matter.

C. Release of creative energies:

through experience and training in various arts, including both practice
and appreciation (ex: painting, modeling, writing, drama, music);
through the encouragement, in all work, of independent, individual
thinking and of fresh combining of thought; through providing oppor-
tunities, with guidance, for young people to exercise their desire to do
something "on their own" (ex: tinkering, inventing, constructing, spe-
cial pursuits in reading, instrumental music).

D. Clearer understanding of the problems of our civilization, and the
development of a sense of social responsibility:

through including, in the curriculum, studies bearing upon specific
problems of American civilization and that of the modern world, and
the outstanding individual and collective efforts to solve these prob-
lems; through using every opportunity to help students to realize the
interdependence and inter-relationships of human lives; through help-
ing students to develop social responsibility, in feeling and in practice
as well as in appreciation of the issues involved, by means of such
activities as participation in school community life with concern for
the general welfare, discussion groups on social and economic prob-
lems, field trips to study industrial processes, housing conditions, or
the machinery of government; a model league of nations, or assembly
programs which require, as do all the foregoing activities, much read-
ing and investigation in the broad fields of social relationships.

E. Revision of curriculum materials and their organization:

besides the changes in curriculum materials to be inferred from the
above-mentioned changes in practice, such other experiments as:
reorganizing the sequence of material in different fields of knowledge,
for secondary education (ex: mathematics, science, history, language);

146 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

unifying the subjects of study and removing some of the boundaries
now existing between closely related fields (ex: history in its relation
to the facts of economics, geography, literature and fine arts); addi-
tion of new materials from fields of knowledge not hitherto included
in typical secondary school curricula (ex: certain materials from the
fields of economics, anthropology, geology).

F. Guidance of students:

The function of guidance in education needs much greater study
and emphasis. While it is important that the student should have as
much independence and responsibility as he can use wisely, counsel
of the best sort should be available when he needs it. Some one should
know him well and be able and ready to examine his problems with
him and to help him solve them. He should be helped to see his career
through school and college as a developing experience, with each
phase in a definite relationship toward the whole.

Under the Directing Committee, plans will be worked out to
achieve this purpose. The program will include: more thorough study
of the needs of individuals, with corresponding adjustment of the
school program to their needs; record-keeping for later analysis; more
intelligent preparation of the student for the use of the opportunities
provided by the colleges.

G. Teaching:

It is evident that the changes in secondary education suggested in
this memorandum cannot occur without teaching of a very high qual-
ity. This would be true of any experimental work. We fully recognize
the scarcity of teachers who are qualified in background, in training
and in personality for this type of work. There are, however, some
teachers now at work who could successfully carry through the sug-
gested program. Some of these are already studying its possibilities.
Others will be discovered as the work is begun.

Schools, colleges, and universities that are undertaking the training
of teachers will be interested in helping select the most promising
candidates and in training them in the best possible ways for this
work. We fully realize that the discovery and training of better teach-
ers must go hand in hand with wise experimentation, and that experi-
ments must move slowly enough to keep within the limits of available
good teaching.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 147

(NOTE: This Committee's analysis was made before the Study
was complete, but final results confirm the conclusions drawn
by these well-known college officials.)

REPORT BY HERBERT E. HAWKES

DEAN, COLUMBIA COLLEGE

MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN

COLLEGES

PHILADELPHIA JANUARY 10, 1940

Some seven years ago the Commission of the Progressive Edu-
cation Association on School and College Relations was organ-
ized under subventions from the Carnegie Corporation of New
York and the General Education Board. One of the most impor-
tant questions on which this Commission, which is usually re-
ferred to as the Eight- Year Study, wished to obtain reliable
evidence was that of the relation between the pattern of the
preparatory school program and college success. Thirty schools
of various types were selected for participation in the Study,
some of them known as very progressive, others as relatively
conservative. Liberal arts colleges from every part of the country
were almost unanimous in expressing their willingness to admit
from these schools, during the eight-year period of the Study,
students who seemed competent to carry the work of the college
successfully, without reference to specific requirements for ad-
mission.

Seven of the eight years have passed, and many students who
entered the Thirty Schools when the Study started have now
completed three years of college work. Students in the following
years have completed two and one year respectively, of college
residence. There is now available a wealth of information as to
the college success of these students who received their prepara-
tion in the Thirty Schools. Many predictions were ventured at
the beginning of the Study, but only recently do we have a real
ground for conviction.

It should be stated that many of the Thirty Schools modified

148 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

their curriculum radically after entering the Study; others have
made only slight changes. So far as I know, none of the colleges
which these students have entered have modified their curriculum
or requirements for their degrees for these students as a group.
That is, we have light on the question as to whether the work
of these schools which most of us would classify as progressive
schools, and the character of the teaching and general experience
in these schools, fits or misfits students for college work.

About 2,000 students from the Thirty Schools entered college
in September of each year from 1936 to 1939 inclusive. Of these
students, 1,475 were enrolled in about 30 colleges in sufficiently
large groups to justify a detailed following of their success during
their college residence. It should be mentioned that the Thirty
School graduates score distinctly higher on aptitude or intelli-
gence tests than tibe average entering student. So far as one can
judge, their mean is in about the 65th percentile. It was there-
fore necessary in determining the college success of these stu-
dents, to set up a control or comparison group in each college
in which each Thirty Schools student is matched as exactly as is
humanly possible in terms of age, sex, race, aptitude, interests,
size and type of home community, and family background. It goes
without saying that such a comparison group does not furnish
a perfect statistical control, but it is probably as nearly perfect
as the measurement of college success in terms of instructors*
grades.

The earliest basis for comparison appears when these students
present themselves for placement tests in order to determine
whether they ought to be promoted above or demoted below the
point that their raw entrance records would indicate. Results on
this point are only fragmentary and from three liberal arts col-
leges in state universities. In these three institutions, 41 Thirty
School graduates were exempt from the usual freshman courses
in English, foreign languages, history, or chemistry, as against
26 in the comparison group. Six Thirty Schools students were
required to repeat courses on the basis of the placements, while
two of the comparison group were so required. This is not a
complete or a surprising result, since the Thirty Schools grad-
uates might be expected to have concentrated more intensely

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT-YEAR STUDY 149

during their preparatory school course on the subjects of their
greatest interest.

In order to obtain a comparison between the Thirty Schools
graduates and their mates in the control group, members of the
staff of the Eight- Year Study have visited the institutions where
any considerable number of the students were registered in order
to become personally acquainted with them and with their con-
trols, so that they might reach as well considered opinions as
possible regarding their adjustment to the work of the college,
and the measure of success that they attained, both in their
studies and in their social relations. Comparisons in each of the
major fields of study between the Thirty Schools graduates and
their control mates have been made with scrupulous care. I will
not go into the statistical results at this time. .(Sufficient to say
that a comparison of the 1,475 students from the Thirty Schools,
which were about evenly divided between the sexes, indicates
very little difference in college grades between them and their
controlsXOn the whole, the students from the Thirty Schools
were superior to the control group. Those who have been in col-
lege for three years excelled slightly in the humanities, the social
sciences, and the physical sciences. The grades were almost ex-
actly even in English and the biological sciences. They were
distinctly inferior in the foreign languages, but distinctly superior
in such subjects as fine arts, music and the like^I will not at-
tempt to analyze the results for those who have had only two
or one year of college experience, except to say that the students
from the Thirty Schools who entered in 1938, and whose college
records for only one year are available, excel their controls from
the other type of school in every field of study, notably in Eng-
lish, humanities, physical sciences, and mathematics. This may
reflect the careful job that the faculties of the Thirty Schools
have done during the past three years in improving their cur-
riculum, and affording a more adequate intellectual training for
their students .N

One further observation is interesting. A report on the college
success of the graduates of the six of the Thirty Schools whose
programs differ most from the conventional pattern is compared
with that of their comparison groups. A complementary report

150 ADVENTURE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

has been made on the college success of the graduates of the
six of the Thirty Schools which differ least from the conventional
pattern as compared with their matched pairs. There were 361
students from the least conventional six schools, and 417 from
the most conventional schools. It turns out that the students from
the least conventional schools excelled their controls by a score
that may roughly be expressed as 27 to 7, while the students
from the most conventional schools of the Thirty were excelled
by their control group by a score that may roughly be expressed
as 14 to l&J-Jhat is, so far as these data are significant, the stu-
dents from the schools whose pattern of program differed most
from the conventional were very distinctly superior to those from
the more conventional type of school/"

I should add that in extra curricula interests non-athletic in
character, the graduates of the Thirty Schools were markedly
more alert than their comparison group.

The results of this Study seem to indicate that the pattern of
preparatory school program which concentrates on a preparation
for a fixed set of entrance examinations is not the only satisfac-
tory means of fitting a boy or girl for making the most out of the
college experience. It looks as if the stimulus and the initiative
which the less conventional approach to secondary school educa-
tion affords sends on to college better human material than
we have obtained in the past.

I may add that this report to you has been approved by a
Committee of the Commission on School and College Relations
consisting of the following membership: President Barrows of
Lawrence College, President Park of Bryn Mawr, Dr. Gummere
of Harvard, Dean Speight of Swarthmore, Dean Brumbaugh of
Chicago, and myself.

HERBERT E. HAWKES, Chairman

Index

<frC<<<<^^^

Administration, 33-39; democratic,
34-37; different types of, 33-39;
leadership in curriculum change,
33-39; problems of, in reconstruc-
tion, 35

Administrator (see also Principal);
faith by, in others, 34

Admission to college (see College
admission)

Adolescent concerns (see Concerns
of youth, Needs of youth, Prob-
lems of youth)

Adult society, demands of, as cri-
teria for curriculum, 74, 76

Adventure, spirit of, in the Study,
25, 45

Adviser (see Counselor)

American way of life (see also De-
mocracy); co-operative planning
in, 135-136; examination of, in
preparation for reconstruction,
132-134; maintenance and pro-
motion of, as school concern, 30;
meaning of, 31-32, 133-134; taken
for granted, 9; understanding of,
lacking, 4

Appraisal (see Evaluation)

Areas of Adult Activity, curriculum
built on, 74

Areas of Living, core curriculum
based on, 58-62

Arts, the, for all, 70-72; enrich other
activities, 70; in the core cur-
riculum, 71; as "fads and frills,"*
6; importance of, in life of youth,
71-72; reflective thinking in, 83;
release of creative energy through,
145

Associated living, as a means of in-
dividual development, 31

Association of American Colleges,
implications of the Study reported
to, 150; report of the Study to,

115, 147-150; results of the Study
reported to, 114-115, 150

Assumptions regarding college prep-
aration, questioned, 22, 104

Authoritarianism, by administrators,
33-34; change from, to democracy,
by teachers, 78

Autocracy of schools, 4-5

Autonomy of Thirty Schools, 15

Basic course (see Core curriculum)

Behavior Description Report, 98-100

Beliefs, Scale of, test, 92

Broad-fields curriculum, 50-53; con-
tent and organization of, 52-53;
difficulties and mistakes in, 53;
science in, 51-52

Carnegie Corporation, grant to Com-
mission, 140, 147

Career-centered curriculum, 55-57

Changes (see also Reconstruction,
Curriculum reconstruction); par-
ents' participation needed for, 39;
in pupils, as purpose of schools,
132; needed in school-college re-
lations, 115; sought by the Study,
18, 144-147; in subject matter in
conservative schools, 46-49

China, unit on, in culture-epoch
course, 54-55

Civilization, understanding problems
of, 145

Classroom, co-operative activity in,
18; democratic processes in, 77-
79; discussion in, 79; pupil-teacher
planning in, 43; purposes (larger
and immediate) in, 50

College admission (see also Col-
lege, preparation for); arts and
music courses offered for, 70;
criteria for, 12, 143; information
(sources of) for, 123; prescrip-

152

INDEX

tions for, abandonment of, desir-
able, 122, 125, continuing sub-
jects beyond, 49, credits as, 102-
103, as excuse by schools for
inaction, 22, schools freed from,
22, 104, unnecessary, 122-123;
proposed plan for, 122-124; rec-
ords (desirable types of) for, 95;
tests for, 143

College credits, as admission pre-
scriptions, 102-103; as school
goals, 7

College, preparation for, Columbia
instructors* preference of, 120-
121; conventional, assumptions
concerning, questioned, 22, 104,
concepts of, 102-103, schools
dominated by, 10, 102, not most
satisfactory means, 115, 150; co-
operative planning for, by schools
and colleges, 125-126; depends on
college purposes, 119; description
of, essential, 119; true meaning of,
23

College, purpose of, not deter-
mined, 119

College Study (College Follow-up
Study) (see also "Matchees," Col-
lege, success in); colleges co-
operate in, 107-109; conclusions
of, 112; findings of, 109-114, 117,
122, 149-150; findings of, ana-
lyzed by college officials, 114-
115; report of, to the Association
of American Colleges, 148-150;
Staff of, investigates Thirty School
graduates and "matchees," 108-
115

CoEege, success in, criteria for, and
sources of evidence for, 105-107;
subject matter's role in prepara-
tion for, 120-121; Thirty Schools'
graduates, 108-115, 148-150

Colleges (see also Association of
American Colleges); approval of
the Study's results, 114-115, 124-
125; criticism of, by conventional
schools, 118; sympathetic under-
standing of, in the Study, 103-104
Columbia College, instructors* prep-
aration preferences, 120-121

Commission on the Relation of
School and College (see also
Eight- Year Study); members of,
140-141; and schools question
conventional college preparation,
104; and schools, beliefs of, re-
garding school-college relations,
117

Committee on Records and Reports
(see also Records), 13, 95-101,
143

Communications, competence in,
high school graduates lacking in,
8; as a purpose of the curriculum,
138

Community, as laboratory for stu-
dents, 63; life of, students not
prepared for, 4; and school, closer
relations of, sought, 63; stores in,
co-operate with arts classes, 71;
students desire to "do something"
about affairs in, 64-65; study of,
in reconstruction preparation, 129

Concerns of youth (see also Needs
of youth, Problems of youth); as
basis of curriculum content, 138;
as basis of college preparation,
22-23; as basis of core curriculum,
57-62; as criteria for determining
content, 74-75; 'long-time/' 76;
present, 75-76

Conferences (see also Co-operative
planning); of counselor, parents,
and pupil, 37; school-college, 126

Conservative schools in the Study,
changes in, 48-49; graduates of,
in college, compared with others,
112-115

Constructive thinking, need for in
reconstruction, 130

Continuity, of experience in school,
21; of learning, 144-145; of work
in school, lack of, 9

Control group (see "Matchees")

Co-operative planning ( see also Con-
ferences); by administrator and
teachers, 33-36; by counselor,
parents, and pupil, 37, 128; for
reconstruction, 128-137; by
schools and colleges, 12, 125-126;
see also School-college relations

INDEX

153

Co-ordination of School and College
Work, a Proposal for Better, 140-
146

Core curriculum ^ the arts in, 71;
based on Areas of Living, 58-62;
based on concerns of youth and
demands of adult society, 74-77;
based on problems of youth, 57-
62; counseling in, 38; relationship
problems studied in, 58-60

"Core" teacher, 62; as counselor, 38

Counselor, as "core" teacher, 38;
continuity of service with same
group, 37; every teacher a, 136-
137

Creative energies of students, not
developed, 6; release of, 145

Creative self-expression (see Arts,
the)

Critical thinking (see Reflective
thinking)

Culture-Epoch courses, 53-55

Curriculum (see also Curriculum re-
construction); and concerns of
youth, 7, 20; see also Concerns of
youth, Needs of youth, Problems
of youth; prescription of, by col-
leges, 104, 122-123; purpose of, 5

Curriculum Associates, work of, 85

Curriculum reconstruction, continu-
ous courses sought in, 144-145;
criteria for determining contents
in, 74-77; experimentation, belief
in, necessary for, 130; guiding
principles of, 17-18; 'long view"
necessary in, 145; materials neces-
sary in, 145-146; parent participa-
tion in, 128-129; preparation for,
18, 33-36, 129; see also Co-opera-
tive planning; pupil participation
in, 134-135; subject matter in,
46-62; teacher participation in,
33-36, 42, 130-134; Thirty
Schools' conclusions regarding,
137-138; types of, conventional,
new content in, 46-49, broad-
fields, 49-63, culture-epoch, 53-
55, career-centered, 55-57, fusion
of courses, 52-53, based on prob-
lems of youth, 57-62, see also
Core curriculum

Defense program, youth needed in,
66

Democracy (see also American way
of life); appreciation of, through
school as demonstration of, 19;
in classroom, 77-79; function of
schools in a, 32-33, 135-136; re-
flective dunking in a, 82; schools'
opportunity in a, 139; student
concepts of, 44; taken for granted
by teachers, 9; teacher in a, 41

Diploma, conventional meaning of,
10

Directing Committee of the Study,
co-operation of colleges with, 12;
dictation avoided by, 15; func-
tions of, 142-147; guidance plans
of, 146; and principals meet, 16;
selection of participating schools
by, 13-14

Discipline of mind and character in
coflege, 119-120

Discussion in classroom, 78-79

"Do something/' students 7 desire to,
about community affairs, 64-65

Earning a living (see Vocational
guidance, Work-study curriculum )

Economic relationships, as problem
for study in a core curriculum, 60

Education, complacency in, 9; guid-
ance, function of, in, 146; mean-
ing of, 23, 144; new responsibili-
ties of, 139; purposes of, 18, 75,
133

Eight- Year Study (see also Com-
mission on the Relation of School
and College); analyzed by col-
lege authorities, 147-150; begin-
nings of, 1-24, 140-147; changes
sought by, 144-147; Directing
Committee of (see Directing
Committee); Evaluation Staff of
(see Evaluation Staff); explora-
tory studies by, 116; implications
of results of, 118-125, 150; school-
college co-operation planned in,
12; renewed vitality of Thirty
Schools in, 138; Records and Re-
ports Committee (see Records

154

INDEX

and Reports, Committee on); re-
port of, to the Association of
American Colleges, 147-150; "un-
necessary and dangerous," 23

English, as example of continuous
course, 144-145

English and history in the broad-
fields curriculum, 53

English language (see also Com-
munications); competence in, de-
sired, 120; incompetence of stu-
dents in, 8

Evaluation (see also Tests); devices
and techniques of, 92-93; lack of
comprehensive, 10; as a means of
"knowing" students, 36; prepara-
tion for, in reconstruction, 129;
relation of purpose to, 88-89; re-
sponsibility for, 21; student par-
ticipation in, 94; and teaching,
linked, 94

Evaluation Staff, work of, 89-94;
see also Evaluation; and Com-
mittee on Records and Reports;
teachers helped by, to construct
own tests, 93; tests devised by,
91-92

Faculty, college, co-operative think-
ing by, 120

Faculty, school (see Teachers)

Field trips (see Visits)

Financial resources for materials, 81

Follow-up Study (see College
Study)

Freedom from college prescriptions;
abuse of, lacking, 124; extension
of, 125, 139; responsibilities en-
tailed in, 136; teachers' inability
to use, 16, 22

Fusion courses, 52-53

"General Education" (see Core

curriculum )
General Education Board grant to

Commission, 147
Gifted intellects, curriculum revision

to meet needs of, 68-69

Goals (see also Purposes); college
credits, as, 7; common, of Thirty
Schools, 29; evaluation, impor-
tance of, 88

Growth, continuity of, 21; by Thirty
Schools, 49

Guidance (see also "Knowing" stu-
dents, Vocational guidance); func-
tions of, in education, 146; needs
of students, basis for, 146; all
teachers responsible for, 136

Hawks, Dean Herbert E., report of
the Study by, to the Association
of American Colleges, 115, 147-
150

Health, student, school's responsi-
bility for, 138

History courses, comparative studies
in, 145

History of student, a criterion for
college admission, 13, 143

Home-making, preparation needed
for, 67-68

Home-room teacher, as subject
teacher, 37; see also Counselor

Home-school relations, changes
needed in, 39; see also Parents

Interest Index Test, 92
Interpretation of Data test, 91

"Knowing" students, inadequacies
of, in conventional schools, 5;
necessity for, 21, 136; ways of,
37-39

Laboratory, community as, 63; arts
and general, in core curriculum,
71

Latin, enriched content in, 47-48

Leadership, administrative, in cur-
riculum reconstruction, 33-39;
democratic, 36-37; educational, in
reconstruction, 134; intellectual,
school's responsibility for, 69-70;
reconstruction progress affected
by, 27-28; student, in community
affairs, 65

Learning, continuity of, sought, 144-
145; concepts (new and old) of,

INDEX

17; greater mastery in, sought,
144; new materials for, 79-81

Liberal education, failure of col-
leges to define, 119-120

Librarian, school, important role of,
81

Libraries, value of, in learning, 79-
81, 92

Library, school, expanded resources
of, 80-81

Life's meaning, sought by youth,
72-73

"Long" view of subject matter,
144-145

"Marks," abolition of in records, 97
Marriage and home-making, prepa-
ration for, 67-68

"Matchees" (Control group); Thirty
School graduates compared with,
in coUege, 109-115, 148-150
Materials of instruction, 79-81; fi-
nancial resources for, 81; motion
pictures and radio as, 80; school
library services as, 80-81
Measurement (see Evaluation)
Motion pictures, use of in learning,
80

Needs of youth (see also Concerns
of youth, Problems of youth, Cur-
riculum); as source of curricu-
lum, 75; bases for guidance, 146

Open-mindedness, meaning of, in
Behavior Description Record, 99

Parents (see also Co-operative plan-
ning, Home-school relations, Pa-
trons); conferences with, 40; in-
terpreting school to, 40; participa-
tion of, in reconstruction plans,
128-129; and school, collabora-
tion of, 39-40

Participation, of students, in com-
munity Me, 64-65; of students, in
evaluation, 94; of students, in gen-
eral life of school, 41-42; of
teachers, in general life of school,
41-42

Patrons, schools must satisfy, 118-
119

Personal characteristics, records of
students', 97-98

Personal living, as problem in core
curriculum, 58-59

Personal-social adjustment, test of,
92

Personality, development and en-
richment of, 31

Philosophy, need for in reconstruc-
tion, 30-31

Placement tests, Thirty Schools'
graduates' results on, 148

Prestige, schools', based on gradu-
ates' college records, 11

Principals (see also Administration,
Administrator); democratic lead-
ership of, 9-10, 33, 134; and Di-
recting Committee planning, 16;
inability to lead in reconstruction
work, 134

Problems of youth, 57-62; see also
Concerns of youth, Needs of youth

Problem-solving, technique or, 82-
83

Progressive schools, graduates of,
compared with others in college,
112-115, 149-150; true meaning
of, 19

Pupils (see also Classroom, Teacher,
Teacher-pupil relations); investi-
gation of own topics, by, 48; par-
ticipation of, in evaluation, 94;
participation of, in reconstruction,
134-135; purposes of, not enlisted
in conventional schools, 6; and
teacher, planning, 43, 77-79

Purposes, clarification of, by teach-
ers, 47; in classroom, 50; of edu-
cation, 18, 75, 133; of Eight-Year
Study, 87, 116; in reconstruction
preparation, 131-134; of records,
96-98; of schools, as place for col-
lege preparation, 102, as social
organism, 17, as a society, 29;
of school and society, linked, 132;
of students not enlisted, 6; of
tests, 88; of Thirty Schools, 29,
30, 88-90

i 5 6

INDEX

Radio, use of, in learning, 80

Reading, competence in, needed, 8,
138; tests on voluntary and free,
92

Reconstruction of schools (see also
Curriculum reconstruction ) ; ad-
ministrator's role in, 35; prepara-
tion for, 127-137; constructive
thinking in, 30, copying other
schools unsatisfactory in, 131-132,
determination of purposes in, 131-
134, parent participation in, 128-
129, physical environment in, 131,
pupil participation in, 134-135,
teacher participation in, 128,
time needed for, 131; progress of,
factors affecting, 27-29

Records ( see also Evaluation ) , flexi-
bility of, needed, 97, 100; forms
of, 97-98; meaning of words, in,
99-100; objectives revealed by,
95; purposes and working objec-
tives of, 96-98; schools devise
own, 100; to all school work, re-
lation of, 100-101; uniformity,
necessary in, 98

Records and Reports, Committee on,
13, 95-101, 143

Records of Thirty Schools' graduates
in college, 112-114

Reflective thinking, developing habit
of, 81-83; in a democracy, 82; in
social studies, 83

Religions, study of, provided for by
schools, 73

Report to Association of American
Colleges, 115, 147-150

Reports (see also Records); Be-
havior Description, 98-100; joint
preparation of, 37

Research, in preparation for recon-
struction, 129; by student, of own
topic, 48

Revision of curriculum (see Curric-
ulum reconstruction)

Scholastic Aptitude Tests, 123
School, function of in a democracy,

32-33, 135-136
School-college relations, Committee

to Study, 2; co-operative plan-

ning for better, 125; Co-ordina-
tion of, Better (Proposal to
Study), 140-146; poor co-ordina-
tion of, results of, 126; future,
115; improvement of, as purpose
of the Study, 116, 140-141

School Policies Councils, 36

"School within a school," 38

Schools, conventional, and college,
relations between 22-23, 104, 118-
119; changes needed in, 140; con-
tributions of, 127; criticism of, by
colleges, 118; extension of free-
dom from college prescriptions to,
125; graduates of, in college, as
control group, 109-115, 149-150;
inadequacies of, 3-11; prepara-
tion by, for college, 118-119; re-
construction of (see Reconstruc-
tion, Curriculum reconstruction);
superior student not challenged
by, 5; unity of working lacking in,
8

Science, broad-fields curriculum in,
51-52; continuous courses in, 144-
145; general, test in, 91

Security, sense of, needed by teach-
ers, 34-35, 130

Self-expression (see also Arts, the),
72

Social-civic relationships, as a prob-
lem in the core curriculum, 59

Social Problems test, 91

Social responsibility, 145

Social sciences, continuous courses
in, 145

Social studies, reflective thinking in,
83

Specialization, subject, abolition de-
sirable, 137; teachers impover-
ished by, 8-9

Stem course (see Core curriculum)

Student Council, The Philosophy of
the, 44

"Student government," sharing of re-
sponsibilities by, 42-43

Subject matter in revised curricula,
46-62

Superior students, 5

INDEX

157

Teacher-education, 83, 136-137, 146

Teachers, collaboration of, 55, 137;
"core," 62, 83-84; culture-epoch
courses, teachers in, 55; growth of,
through freedom, 124, 139;
'lenowing" and guiding students,
21; in general school life, 41-42;
nature of youth, knowledge of,
lacking, 9; "new life" for, 85, 130;
participation of, in reconstruction
planning, 128 (see also Recon-
struction); security, sense of,
needed by, 34-35, 130; specializa-
tion by, impoverishes, 8-9; and
student collaboration, 77-79, 94,
135; test-construction by, 93

Teaching, and evaluation, inter-
woven, 94; high quality needed
for reconstruction, 146; methods,
changes in, needed, 77-86

Tests (see also Evaluation); con-
struction of, 89-91, 93; placement,
Thirty- Schools' graduates, results
of, 148; purposes of, 88; teacher-
constructed, 93; use of, for col-
lege admission, 123, 143

Thirty Schools (see also Eight-Year
Study); conclusions of, regarding
curriculum reconstruction, 137-
138; graduates of, in college, 107-
115, 148-150; names of, 14-15;
participation in the Study, reasons

for, 19, requirements for, 141;
proposals, original, of, 25-27;
purposes of, 29, 88-90

Time, needed in reconstruction prep-
aration, 131; problem of, for
teacher conferences, 35-36

Traditional studies ( see also Schools,
conventional); content of, re-
tained, 47; devitalized, 7; revital-
ization indicated, 23

Trips (see Visits)

Visits, to community resources, 63-
64, 79; to homes, by counselor,
parents, and teachers, 38, 40; stu-
dent participation as a result of,
63-65

Vocational guidance, 65-69, 100;
see also Career-centered curricu-
lum

"What and how to teach," concern
of faculties, 16; changes in, 46-86

Words, care in choice of, on record
forms, 97, 99-100

Workshops, suggestions for ma-
terials, by, 80

Work-study curriculum, 55-57

Youth, concerns of (see Concerns of
youth, Needs of youth, Problems
of youth)