IA~~u~!~~no 7 tR d s assqR *d - 2; _C of 97 00 (D vPi~*F- ` Iy -~~N -< 4 Le ~~- *4~ -V -~ -4~ ~ -V -~ (w OP. OF%~- ' '< ~ ~ ~ K~4 ~ Tt V'4 'OýP -V - K~-~ -_ <~ ~~~PA w I.v, Or- 0 49 or-.,g ý- k. I --'A-- -7~~a- - 4r A('~- A f~ V -.~fy O, x~ <-1 V-- K)~~~~~~f GA ~ j()K~ K~~, -%.~y I& 7 q&&-s 00 0R 0 -4 E: 00 - 4AN L - b2--L% eL ~ ~f"' r 2 EE: Ef ER V- E ry ERi~r 1~~* 1 16 x4 0 0 f14Q I~4Q0Ik'Z 0IN 91" VE A` ~ c\ E4 i) /5 %4 ~J )c- ~ 0 Ji ~.( E:4S, Io LC S3o0I EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES FOR ADULT EDUCATION A REPORT OF THE EXTENSION ACTIVITIES OF THE PEOPLE'S INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK By PHILIP N. YOUTZ With an Introduction By EVERETT DEAN MARTIN BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ADULT EDUCATION 41 EAST FORTY-SECOND STREET NEW YORK C r I ~Z *e , T Introduction By EVERETT DEAN MARTIN Director of The People's Institute of New York CCORDING to the plan submitted by The People's Institute in the spring of 1926, the Carnegie Corporation, on recommendation of the American Association for Adult Education, granted to the Institute the sum of $10,000, the purpose of which was to develop various reading centers or study groups. The aim was, first, to secure by reading and discussion more serious educational response than could ordinarily be secured by the lecture method; second, to test out the method of group discussion; third, to make an experimental study of various types of group associations to learn in which type there might be the greatest promise for future efforts in adult education; fourth, to provide centers in which adult education was being carried on so that students of this subject enrolled in classes at the New School for Social Research could, in addition to their class work at the School, have some first-hand experience with adult education classes. The Institute was fortunate in three respects: First, in being able to secure the services of Mr. Philip N. Youtz of the teaching staff of Columbia University; second, in the cooperation of numerous local organizations varying as widely as the Y. M. C. A., social settlements, a woman's club, a trade union class, and a Unitarian Church class; third, the Institute was fortunate in securing the General Honors reading course in the humanities, given at Columbia University to selected groups of upper classmen. This course was modified somewhat to meet the needs of non-academic students, and the director of The People's Institute was able to secure for the teaching staff a group of competent young instructors at Columbia who had had experience with the courses as given at that institution. 3 As to the success of this experiment, on the whole it has been very encouraging. It has thrown some light on the problem as to what type of non-academic student can most effectively be encouraged to pursue his education. The centers at the Y, M. C. A. and two out of the three social settlements where the courses were given were doubtful, and one of these settlements was dropped at mid-years. The others have shown interest. The students have improved in their reading habits, the instructors have gained in experience in the technique of this sort of teaching. It is too early to generalize, but perhaps it is significant that a number of the groups have expressed a desire to continue the experiment. Experimental Classes for Adult Education By PHILIP N. YOUTZ Organization Secretary of The People's Institute During the winter of 1926-27 The People's Institute has conducted fifteen experimental classes for adult students. The purpose of the project has been to make a laboratory study of a particular phase of adult education. The study was made possible by an appropriation of $10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation. An experiment which attempts to be painstaking and which aims gradually to build up a group of trustworthy and verified results is apt to rouse the impatience of the professional educator who, like the production man in industry, keeps his eye on a quantity graph showing the number of students turned out by the educational mechanism. Moreover, during the past year a kind of locust plague of books on adult education has descended on the bewildered public. Some of these books are important contributions to educational thought and have been based on many years of experience, but a good many seem to belong to the large class of educational fiction and bespeak creative imagination rather than critical observation and guarded induction. Research rather than promotion is needed in developing the new field of adult education. Any research worker would, of course, feel much hesitancy about recounting results at this stage, even in the form of tentative conclusions, in a project which will require a period of years to produce well-verified findings. The present report, therefore, can only list a number of clues which further experimentation must prove or disprove. The preliminary years' work has laid the necessary foundation for developing a laboratory technique and a plan of procedure in dealing with a singularly complex frontier field of investigation. When the People's Institute began the organization of the new experimental classes for adult education, the first illuminating discovery was that the demand for classes immediately greatly exceeded the number that could be offered on the budget available. Instead of salesmanship or adroit publicity, careful selection of the most suitable groups was required. To ensure accuracy in the final results, the groups were chosen so as to give a crosssection of ages, degrees of education, social level and race. All but three of the classes were open to both men and women. In each class considerable care was taken to gather a fairly homogeneous group. Does adult education mean adulterating education by presenting the subject matter in dilute popular form? Is the average adult able to negotiate courses of the standard offered undergraduates in our better colleges? This seemed to be an important type of question to try to answer. Accordingly, most of the courses offered were adapted but in no way lessened in difficulty from similar college and university work, and most of the leaders were employed from the younger Columbia University faculty. Subject matter was another unknown factor which brought some surprises. A survey of adults interested in the proposed classes showed at once that they did not want anything of the vocational nature. To make the courses of practical value and to sustain interest, subjects allied to the vocational interests of the groups were proposed. But these proposals met with rejections in all cases. Apparently the mature student feels that he has learned his vocation and prefers not to devote his leisure hours to talking shop. What he seems to crave is the cultural type of course that offers him a release from the drudgery of the practical and suggests certain values and ends which make his life richer in meaning and implication. Accordingly courses were suggested in such subjects as Fine Arts, Drama, Economics, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. For these subjects a list of suitable leaders was compiled. This introduced another problem, for very few courses in these subjects given in colleges and universities proved to be the kind of thing adult students wanted. In contrast to the meek undergraduate desire to learn, among these adult students was a desire to think. A good many years of experience with adult groups at The People's Institute had shown that thinking without the grist of new information and new ideas led to a kind of intellectual short circuit in which thought moved in a narrow circle without being harnessed to any productive work. In looking for a subject matter which would supply the netessary content for active thinking, certain reading and discussion courses at Oxford and Columbia Universities seemed to offer suggestions. These consisted in rapid reading in translation of the easier portions of a list of authors whose works constitute sources of western culture. The readings were chosen to summarize classic, medieval, renaissance, and modern thought. A course of this type had the advantage of giving the reader a first-hand acquaintance with a list of important authors of the sort calculated to stimulate thought and discussion. Moreover, a rapid survey which devoted only one or two evenings to an author precluded a detailed academic approach likely to be uncongenial to the layman, yet ensured the impact of many of the formative ideas in our intellectual heritage. To adapt the reading courses to adult groups, a modified outline of readings was prepared. In this course only books readily available were listed. Two of the branch public libraries very kindly cooperated in keeping the entire list of books on reserve for the use of the study groups. Others have now shown a willingness to cooperate. Partly to guard against a one-sided interpretation and partly as a device to encourage vigorous discussion, two leaders were employed in each of the six courses which took up the classics. This plan, which had been tried out in the Columbia College General Honors Courses, produced excellent results in adult education. Debate between the two leaders accelerated the thought of the whole group. To give the meetings a seminar rather than a class-room atmosphere, numbers were in most cases limited to from ten to twenty-five. The classes were scheduled at any hour and place that an individual group might choose. By working through existing organizations, no extra cost was incurred for the meetingplace. There was also the advantage of dealing with groups which were already acquainted and felt some cohesion. In planning to give courses for adults that would rigorously maintain university standards both as to personnel of the teachers and as to the requirements made of the students, a shockingly high student mortality rate appeared to be a foregone conclusion. But here, as frequently is the case, facts go counter to speculation. None of the classes have yet come to an untimely end; several have asked to continue longer than the ten to twenty sessions originally planned. Such vitality suggests that The People's Institute policy of maintaining high academic standards in an 7 unacademic way has been justified. Though a few classes have actually increased in attendance, the average numbers have declined as the courses progressed, but the rate of decline compares favorably with the rate in the average college class that runs through a semester. Among undergraduates a good deal of coercion is customarily used to make the student drink of the fountain of knowledge. Adult students not only cannot be forced to study, but are absorbed in a variety of practical pursuits which occupy much of their time. So the problem of inducing them to do outside reading in preparation for class discussion is rather perplexing. Direct questioning has not proved a reliable method of checking up on reading owing to the evasive nature of the adult mind on matters pertaining to knowledge. But a careful check-up of books purchased and library reading, together with the judgment of the individual leaders, indicates that the adult student will do about as much in the way of class preparation as an undergraduate. He will spend from two to eight hours in reading a week and is by no means as punctilious as the undergraduate in confining his reading within the set boundaries of the assignment. The older reader enjoys browsing through a book, making his own selections. In the first year of experimentation, comparatively little could be done to study the problem of financing adult education. Each group of students has been asked to contribute, in proportion to its means, a definite amount. One class has assumed the entire cost while others are contributing only nominal amounts. To have limited the classes to groups which could afford to pay the entire cost or a major portion of it would have seriously handicapped the experiment. To what extent the various classes will share in the cost of the courses cannot be reported until the end of the school year, when the various treasurers turn in the funds that they have collected. A Brief Characterization of the Individual Classes Christadorc House.-A literary guild composed of young Jewish and Italian students has for some years met during the winter months at Christadora House. Many of the well-known contemporary poets have addressed this group and helped to supply an appreciation and cultural background which the narrowly vocational courses that they were studying in the factory type of college and professional school entirely failed to give them. The guild formed the nucleus of a group which has followed the course in Renaissance and Modern Thought under the leadership of Mr. Houston Peterson and Mr. Charles Prager. When the course began, few of the group were accustomed to any extensive reading. By gradual stages they have been stimulated to read at least one book of the better sort a week. Community Church.-The League of Youth at the Community Church is composed of young men and women, perhaps averaging about thirty years old, who, in nearly every case, have won their education through their own reading without the aid of regular college courses. They are radical and aggressive. But the lack of systematic education occasionally shows in the one-sidedness of some of their reading and their tendency to regard ideas as creeds to be ardently defended or combatted. The course in Renaissance and Modern Thought which they have taken under Mr. Mortimer Adler and Mr. Whittaker Chambers has helped them to weigh ideas in a critical, non-partisan spirit. West Side Y. M. C. A.-For many years the Y. M. C. A. has specialized on vocational courses. Some of their educational leaders were anxious to experiment with the cultural type of course and for this reason a group in Classical and Medieval Thought was organized under the leadership of Mr. Richard McKeon and Mr. Clifton Fadiman. Such a course was a radical innovation in the practical Y. M. C. A. atmosphere. Considering how little preparation most of the students had had for a course that involved critical thinking and appreciation, the experiment seems to have been quite successful. The discussion, though immature, has steadily improved in quality. Charles Sprague Smith Club.-This club, which was organized under the auspices of The People's Institute, is a kind of gym nasium for the intellectually fit of the East Side. Here the champions of opposing philosophic and social views meet for mental bouts refereed by Dr. Scott Buchanan. A group of from ten to thirty occupy the ringside seats and vigorously defend their champions. Dr. Buchanan has been assisted by Mr. John Storck in giving a course in Classic and Medieval Thought at the Club. In such an atmosphere realism plays havoc with academic finesse. In spite of a number of rough sessions and the difficulty of securing systematic reading, however, their virile appetite for knowledge has preserved the continuity of the course and attracted increasing numbers. Greenwich House.-A club of young men at Greenwich House undertook one of the discussion courses. None of these boys had had more than two or three years of elementary school education. Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch's idea in suggesting the course was to do intellectual case work, and attempt to build upon this limited background. Miss Mary Miller and Mrs. Simkhovitch led the discussions, which centered on a criticism of current motion pictures, vocational aims, and other subjects nearest to their everyday life. No reading was attempted. It may be a question whether a course involving manual skill and manipulation would not have been better adapted to the needs of these boys than any type of discussion. Bronx Y. M. C.A.-A course in Psychology under Mr. J. M. Osman and one in Ethics under Dr. Theodore Greene, encountered approximately the same difficulties that were met with at the West Side Y.M.C.A. The number of "Y" men interested in subjects of this kind proved extremely small. Mr. Osman's group, which has completed its course, all expressed the desire to continue their study another year. Dr. Greene reports a number of ethics classes in which the response compared favorably to that of his groups at Princeton. Civitas Club.-A group of Brooklyn Women from the Civitas Club combined with a number of men and women from the Unitarian Church of the Saviour to take the course in Classic and Medieval Thought under Mr. Herbert Solow and Mr. Philip Youtz. Except for a few of the medieval writers, nearly all of the classics were familiar ground for this group, which was largely composed of college and university graduates. Several were able to read the original Greek and Latin, to some extent at least, and 10 nearly all had a broad cultural background as a basis for interpreting the subject matter. The discussion method did not always work out very well with this group, partly because numbers were rather too large. The reading response, however, was very satisfactory. The group originally planned to meet for ten evenings, but by the time these were completed they had become sufficiently interested to vote to continue for ten sessions more. A few criticized the course as a Cook's Tour through the classics, but the rest were unanimous in approving the outline. Nearly all of them preferred the book of the century to the "Book of the Month." "New Student."-Some of the staff and friends of the "New Student" magazine wished to study the background of student thought. Under Mr. Edward Hewes, they elected a course in American History up to 1860. Early American literature, art, social customs, and the development of the colleges claimed first interest. Most of the reading has centered about American source material, and modern re-evaluations of the chief historical characters. Rockaway Forum.-The Forum was an outgrowth of the People's Institute. After a number of years of discussion on contemporary subjects, many of the group began to feel the need of a better historical background. A course in Classic and Medieval Thought, under Mr. Moses Hadas and Mr. Donald Slesenger, was chosen to meet this need. All of the group were Jewish business and professional people who already had a welldeveloped intellectual interest. Few, however, had previously undertaken such a systematic winter's reading. Women's Trade Union League.-Under the direction of Miss Hilda Smith, the Women's Trade Union League is conducting a comprehensive educational program for working girls. In order to be in close touch with this work The People's Institute cooperated to the extent of providing the salary of an instructor in English. Whittier House.-At Whittier House a group of Czecho-Slovakians met under the leadership of Father D'Longin Cehelsky to discuss the national literature of their home country and civic problems of their adopted land. Most of this group had had little education in the old country and were too mature to enter the American educational system. Their course, therefore, had to be 11 based largely on material furnished by their leader in the form of an interpretation of civic and nationalist ideals. Philosophy Club.-Under the leadership of Dr. Scott Buchanan a group of young instructors in philosophy and other students who have read widely in the subject have met for a critical consideration of certain chosen philosophic works. Thomas Aquinas occupied the attention of the first few meetings, but in the end provoked religious dissensions which led to special pleading and partisanship instead of candid argument. At present Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is furnishing the materials of discourse. This group is fairly mature in its viewpoint and the meetings compare favorably with graduate seminars in any American university. Henry Street Settlement.-A Father's Club, under the leadership of Mr. Benjamin Ginsberg, is debating civic problems of the East Side neighborhood. This class is only recently started and it is still an open question whether its raison d'etre is a genuine interest in ideas or simply a desire for activity. Average Attendance Bronx Y. M. C. A.: Ethics............................................. 7 Psychology........................................ 12 Christodora House................................... 12 Civitas Club....................................... 36 Charles Sprague Smith Club.......................... 21 The Community Church............................. 19 Greenwich House................................... 12 The New Student..................................... 6 Rockaway Forum.................................... 16 West Side Y. M. C. A................................. 9 Whittier House..................................... 21 Woman's Trade Union League......................... 16 Henry Street Settlement............................... 5 General Average, 15 Note: Ten is usually considered the most efficient number for a discussion group. While general discussion can be carried on in groups up to twenty or more, above this number the lecture method becomes increasingly necessary with the proportional limitation of student participation in the class. 12 Announcement of New Experimental Courses for Adult Education, 1926-1927 A SERIES OF INFORMAL SYMPOSIUMS FOR MATURE PEOPLE The People's Institute announces a series of courses for 1926-27, running from ten to twenty consecutive evenings, prepared especially for adults. Some of these courses are planned to meet the needs of adults who have received most of their education from reading and living, others are of a type which will appeal particularly to college and university graduates. The courses will aim to do a serious piece of educational work in an entirely unacademic way. They are offered primarily for the small adult minority who lead or desire to lead a frontier intellectual life of adventure, discovery, and progress. The individual groups in each course will be entirely free to fix their own time and place of meeting, to choose their own subject, and to administer their own course as they see fit. In cooperation with the different groups, The People's Institute will pick qualified leaders. The Institute will try to avoid both the well-known type of teacher who substitutes an attractive personality for solid thinking, and the facile lecturer who undertakes to think for his audience. Leaders will be sought who understand the Socratic method of group thinking and group discussion. All of the courses will be liberal, aiming at general enrichment of thought and enlargement of mental horizon. The Institute believes that a narrowly vocational or utilitarian aim is likely to destroy much that is best in education. PROBLEM COURSES Two types of course are offered. For adults who already have definitely shaped interests, the Institute plans a number of courses of from ten to twenty weekly meetings, where the groups may go ahead with their own problem. The Institute is able to recommend leaders for courses in the following subject groups: 13 Fine Arts, Drama, Economics, Labor Problems, Literature, Painting, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology. SURVEY COURSES For adults who have a general interest not yet integrated with a particular problem, the Institute suggests two reading and discussion courses of twenty evenings each, modeled on reading courses at Oxford and Columbia University. One course covers the History of Thought through the Classic and Medieval periods, the other covers the Renaissance and Modern Periods. The courses will be based on a reading list of twenty books each. Classes will take up one book each evening. Two instructors, one particularly acquainted with the literary and historical aspects, the other with the philosophical or social aspects, will lead discussion by the entire group. Reading lists for these courses may be had on application to The People's Institute of New York. All of the books are available in editions costing from ten cents to a dollar. 14 Sources of Western Culture Two reading and discussion courses of twenty evenings each, modeled on the Columbia University General Honors Courses, are offered by The People's Institute of New York as an experiment in Adult Education. Selections from twenty of the following books and authors will furnish the materials for discussion in each of the two courses: I. Classic, Medieval and Renaissance Thought 1. Homer* 20. New Testament 2. Old Testament 21. St. Augustine* 3. Aeschylus* 22. Volsunga Saga 4. Sophocles* 23. Song of Roland* 5. Euripides* 24. St. Thomas Aquinas* 6. Herodotus* 25. Dante* 7. Thucydides* 26. Petrarch 8. Aristophanes 27. Chaucer 9. Plato* 28. Leonardo da Vinci 10. Aristotle* 29. Machiavelli* 11. Cicero 30. Erasmus* 12. Lucretius* 31. Thomas More 13. Virgil* 32. Rabelais* 14. Horace 33. Montaigne 15. Ovid 34. Cervantes* 16. Plutarch 35. Francis Bacon 17. Lucian* 36. Shakespeare 18. Marcus Aurelius* 37. Galileo 19. Plotinus 38. Grotius 39. Hobbes* 40. Descartes 41. Corneille 42. Milton* 43. Moliere* 44. Spinoza 45. Locke* 46. Racine 47. Newton* 48. Swift* 49. Montesquieu 50. Voltaire* 51. Fielding 52. Hume* 53. Rousseau* 54. Adam Smith 55. Kant 56. Gibbon* 57. Bentham II. Modern Thought 58. Goethe* 59. Malthus* 60. Hegel* 61. Schopenhauer 62. Balzac* 63. Mill* 64. Darwin* 65. Thackeray 66. Dickens 67. Karl Marx 68. Dostoevsky* 69. Pasteur* 70. Galton 71. Ibsen 72. Tolstoy* 73. Thomas Hardy 74. William James* 75. Nietzsche 76. Freud * Authors starred were chosen for reading and discussion during 1926-27. 15 10 o~ kV 1,4L. ~ ZYr. 'i >? 'in-'~ 2 JL rq Imm 0.0 F?/~~~~~ 4- iv -v ~ 4-~ v ~ i" Ol? I iv 4 011; 0. 0* ~ ~i0* 1 1 1 (K ~ K) ___ I 0( ~~~ 40N- v40) Z4 i4, iA 1454-;ýrs E ~ li~~5c liar~I 'IV 4-.i 4- iv4Q~Y n(14-: if, )oP4 _NN iv Q [ 4 i 1k I 4- i40 Y ~ (1- 'K~~ ~ i4~) m 0: ma 14,ýriar. ý, -M,-: "~TM N--= _ m -_ ______