* S8UCAT! IY | tad ae OU US ULEAD ORLU_A ER U_LAERU_ED ‘THE HORN BOOK Extra Number EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND QC QI EEF ADIT A VWI OWE AWA Loy TPS. : § 3 oe i ‘ 3S 4 5 ? o a a =: . on y $e 2 1% pos EF 2, a Ae - & ee Gay OA Q Bet Ry, r iio 7 a at 4 \ J 3 * N ne r i i yf h, fi Gon t tt “ 4 teenie PARAAARAPAAS DLE QD CF @ DS EEF QD ES AD DW EE DW DEE A January, 1926 Price, 35 cents BOOKSHOP FOR BOYS AND GIRLS Women’s Educational and Industrial Union Boston, Massachusetts OF QD CFD OF SY OF SDI OF DI OF DWI OD af oe) ae Sabbah art Na ae. 1 8 4 i > ie i a i] , " \ a ay y, ies ii ia aa * BIQAA4 ae Wet e eamante Table of Contents WR 1€ Je 2b INTRODUCTION — The Bookshop and Its Relation to the Schools Experimental Schools in England with Exhibits from Six Schools The New Education, by Beatrice Ensor Exhibits and Descriptions of Schools . Patrick Geddes and His Influence on Education, by Mabel M. Barker Progressive Education in 1925, by Gertrude Hartman Some Outstanding Schools in England Some “ Progressive” Schools in the United States Books on Education . PAGE Af Eileen Soper’s etching “In School”’ is reproduced on the cover through ~ the courtesy of M. Knoedler & Co. f° i9¢3 PePpsJO}J aq P[NOd JaArI 9YyI aJaYyM advzd vv fapey IJdAII ay 0} Aroq AojsuerTy s Sur UMOP Suipeay vay Surry. dy) uO dn Mai3 YOIUM UMOT 9 Hq Ad[surT S$ suryy P SUIpve] ,, POT I,, 24 JY Leal ye oar H ; . ra ; * ae hs 2 DEFY 3y p72 WP FP ~ #9 i ey Sie Wa et ear 4 {2} Ue fonex PL aq? Ynnd é es 7 Ff IVVSD) + Pee Oe ; Sern pitta ; Eo ; Seana rae Be Fron iy : eld 659 le fe ee OKI) Yyo.iocua} q be € * he oe | bed : SKI VOM 7 de Paes EXPERIMEN BAL. SGHOOLS IN ENGLAND Wohi BXEHIBITSS FROM Six SCHOOLS fm DOOK SHOP AND fTS" RELATION LOS GHOOUS S a small contribution toward informing public 4 opinion, The Bookshop for Boys and Girls held its first exhibit in 1922 of children’s own work from new schools—to say to the casual observer, “Look here and see what work in school is like for some children today.” In 1922, 1923, and 1924 the work came from private schools in Boston and New York, but last year’s exhibit (1925) came from Winnetka, Illinois, where the entire school system is conducted along new lines. Last summer, too, The Bookshop showed “free” drawings done by children in all parts of the country. In October, 1925, as the result of a steadily growing belief and absorption in the importance of new education, The Book- shop opened The New Room devoted primarily to books on the care of children and their education with other books which make for increased understanding of human behavior and the possibilities for growth. This room will be a constant publicity channel for new education. Books may be borrowed from it as well as purchased. Already parents, teachers, social-workers, ministers, and students are finding it useful. The Bookshop owes its existence to the interest in educa- tion which is inherent in the traditions of the Women’s Edu- cational and Industrial Union. In the past the Union has always been at work either upon research relating to education or upon definite experiment. It is probable that it will put more and more effort into the movement for improved schools. For its 1926 school exhibit The Bookshop is presenting interesting material from six experimental schools in England: 3 large exhibits from the Garden School.and King’s Langley Priory, with smaller exhibits from St. Christopher’s School, King Alfred School, the Hall School, and Caldecott Commu- nity. The schools and exhibits are described in later pages. It should be understood that many private schools in the United States, the British Isles, and Europe are today trying out new ways based upon our new knowledge of science and our recently increased knowledge of children because they are free to experiment. The schools of the state are not so free. “When we compel the attendance at school of the laborer’s son, and when by taxation we take from the widow’s income, then all phases of our school work are immediately brought under scrutiny, and very properly so. The taxpaying public has a right to demand that the subject-matter selected for school work shall be sufficiently valuable to justify the parent’s ex- penditure of time; and that schoolroom methods shall be effective and economical.” This means that public schools generally cannot experiment to discover better ways. They must use proved and approved methods. So for the most part the pri- vate school must blaze the trail for schools generally. Never- theless more public schools in the United States than we in Boston and New England are aware have broken away from old traditions and have revitalized school work to combine living with learning. Underlying general principles upon which the new or ex- perimental schools proceed today are these: That childhood and youth are entitled to their own privileges and joys, and should not be unduly sacrificed to a future period of life. That small children must be taught exercise of the will through the imagination—in addition to exercise of the body and mind. That education must be planned to develop intelligence, self- control, and independence of action, or in other words, that education is designed to show young people how to learn since learning goes on through life. In the practical working out of these theories small children are surrounded by the environment which insures natural bodily movement and happiness, with materials of advancing degrees of difficulty for self-education. Throughout elementary school years emphasis is put upon the environment which suggests, 1« The Motivation of School Work,’’ by H. B. Wilson and G. M. Wilson. Experimental Schools in England 5 and materials which make possible self-education. During this period boys and girls turn to books for reference work, and to supplement, enlarge, and broaden first-hand experience. They work individually or in groups, each at his own pace, helping one another, and turning to the teacher as friend and adviser. The set-recitation period as the order of the day no longer exists. Subjects are no longer studied separately. The three R’s are not neglected, but have their important natural place in connection with first-hand experiences called “project-work” and other studies. Natural science, geography, and history are re- lated in most of the new schools today. Art work draws upon these studies for much of its inspiration. Music has its im- portant and natural place. Workshops of various kinds exist right up to college and make possible the continuance of in- dividual experiment or the development of individual skill in mechanical, scientific, handcraft or art ways. Joy in work cannot fail to impress the visitor in the new school. Creative effort is at once its aim, its opportunity, and its stimulus. BEM. [OOUDS payyTy Fury ayy, . Cl pasy ‘pacisyor A vpNsIE) Lo INE WwW PE OU CATION By BEATRICE ENSOR (Chairman of The New Education Fellowship, Editor of ‘' The New Era”) aim of Education was to impart as much informa- tion to the child as it was capable of assimilating. aS Today it is recognized by advanced educationists that the primary aim of Education is to release the creative powers of the child. The New Psychology has illumined the path of the educator so that today we realize the importance of the study of the individual child, of providing the right atmosphere in the schools, where, in freedom and joyousness, the child can create spon- taneously from within. This new ideal necessitates a new type of school from which fear has been eradicated and in which punishment and artificial stimuli such as marks and’prizes are unknown. Rigid time- tables and curricula are being abandoned. In these new schools the Arts and Crafts play an important role; they are an integral part of the curricula instead of appearing as handwork for the juniors and extra subjects for the few non-examination pupils, . as is the case in the old type of school. The Arts and Crafts have taken their place as important channels of self-expression; they are seen to be fundamental to the natural development of mind and emotion. Therefore, in the New Schools will be found opportunities for woodwork, pottery, bookbinding, gardening, painting, leatherwork, jewelry and metal work, weaving and the domestic arts. From these the children are free to choose. It is, of course, well known that the brain is developed largely through the hand, and that by finding himself efficient in a practical task the child gains confidence in himself and is more able to tackle mental tasks. Handwork has been found invaluable in helping the backward child. Many emotional dis- turbances can be straightened out through a course of craft work. Imagination, initiative, accuracy, and many other im- portant qualities, are developed through crafts. 7 8 Experimental Schools in England The teacher with a knowledge of psychology is often able to detect in a child’s handwork some of the hidden difficulties in the sub-conscious which may lie behind abnormalities in conduct.' It is becoming more and more realized that one of the great faults of our industrial system is the lack of opportunity for any creative expression in the work of millions of men and women. Since it is unthinkable that it is possible to go back to a state of civilization in which all work is handwork, the only remedy is to develop our machinery still further, to in- crease the output and decrease the number of hours of work, and give to all those engaged in mechanical tasks more leisure in which to live the lives of real men and women and realize themselves in true recreation. It is in the schools that prepara- tion for this leisure should be made and an appreciation of the beauty and creativeness of handwork aroused. The remarkable results obtained from pupils by teachers who have been sufficiently courageous and free to express themselves, have amply demonstrated that there has been an enormous amount of creative power inhibited by wrong methods of instruction in schools, for practically every child has creative ability in some direction. It is the chief function of the New Education Movement to search for methods of releasing this energy and to encourage the new type of school, in which every child is studied and helped to develop along the lines of his own individual temperament. ‘It has been found that in many cases of nervous, overstrung, sensitive children handwork of a certain rhythmic kind, such as weaving, has been found extremely beneficial. Experimental Schools in » England ae 9 List of Exhibits ST. CHRISTOPHER SCHOOL, Letchworth, Hertfordshire. H. Lyn Harris, Principal. (Day School with School House attached for boarders.) Dalton Plan, Montessori Method, Self-Government, Handicrafts, Dra- matic Work, Open-Air Classes. Special attention paid to the develop- ment of the character and individuality of the pupils. Co-education, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Vegetarian diet. Exhibit:—Art Work, including carpentry, metal work, woodcarving, drawing, and design. The Art work of St. Christopher is run on optional lines, each child being at liberty to choose any form of Art which appeals to him. For instance, leatherwork, pewter repoussé, painting of wooden boxes, bowls, etc., weaving and woodwork are done. Imaginary illustration and ab- stract pictures play an important part. These are especially encouraged as a means of developing the child’s individuality, its creative senses and visionary powers. The handwork assists much more in the develop- ment of accuracy and concentrative care. The older children work side by side with the younger, both gaining much from each other’s various expressions and spirit of attack. In close connection with the Art work is the Theater, and often the children assist with the painting of scenery and the making of costumes. H. Lyn Harris. KING ALFRED SCHOOL, Manor Wood, North End Road, London N. W., 11 JosepH H. WicxstTeEeEp, Director. (Day School.) Dalton Plan, Self-Government, Domestic Science, Handicrafts, Special Montessori Section, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Co-education. Exhibit:—Literature about the school. Photographs. Copies of The Alfredian, the school magazine. Drawings. Six clay models. The garden-lover selects his plants from afar to suit his mind. The cultivator of an Oxford lawn eliminates variety and aims at the beauty of breadth and uniformity. But the English woodlands have no selec- tion but Nature’s, and their breadth is only seen from the distant hills. The King Alfred School, founded by men and women who believed thirty years ago that the best servants of the Future would be boys and girls brought up on freedom, like the woods, to grow in the natural rain and sunshine of life, differing in strength and stature and beauty, but nourished by the same earth, conceives the teacher as woodsman rather than gardener. For us teaching, therefore, is something more than an art, more than a science—it is life itself—for which there are no final rules; each must make the venture anew of courageous act and thought, of tireless pressure forward, always cherishing a resolute hope of high success. The few samples of such work as could be sent across the Atlantic can show little enough either of our aims or our accomplishments, but they may serve to suggest the atmosphere of independence and oppor- tunity in which children and elders work in common. JosepH WicKksTEED, Headmaster. “10 ok Experimental Schools is England THE HALL SCHOOL, Weybridge, Surrey. Miss E. M. Gitpin, Director. (Day School.) Group work. Modified Self-Government, Special attention to handi- crafts, including Lithography, and to Dramatic work, which is used in connection with history, literature, and handicrafts. Exhibit:—“The Book of Don Quixote.” Seven scenes from the His- tory of Don Quixote, arranged by the children of the Hall School, from the Shelton translation, and produced by them in 1922. The book contains the verbatim text of the performance. All the illustrations have been designed and drawn on the stones by the children, and some twenty-five of each illustration have been actually printed by them on the school lithograph press. The remainder—the greater part—have been worked off by a firm of lithograph printers. Woodcut and lithograph illustrations for Nativity Play based on old French Noéls. Illustrations for “The Earl of Mar’s Daughter,” a Scotch ballad produced by the Hall School. The Nativity Play, for which some of the original illustrations are shown, was published by Constable, London. History work centers each year about a different subject, and the whole school works upon it. One year it is medieval history, art, legend, and life, with a Nativity Play in French as the pivot. Another year it is the making of the book “Don Quixote”; and still another year it is a trip to Oxford and a study of history through the study of Oxford architecture. The spirit of work and the love of things for them- selves which pervades the school is inspired by Miss Gilpin’s own in- terest in art, literature, and history, in which she is continuously a scholar. B. EM THE CALDECOTT COMMUNITY, Goff’s Oak, near Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Miss P. E. Potrer and Miss L. M. RENpeEt, Directors. Boarding School for the workingman’s child. Exhibit:—Literature about the school, with photographs. It is the object of the Caldecott Community to give, so far as is pos- sible, as fair a start ‘in life to the children of poor parents as is given to the children of the rich. It offers the poor child a field in exchange for a street, and a garden in exchange for a gutter. The school has its own cows, which the children learn to tend and to milk, and its own ducks and hens, in the excellent spectacle of whose lives they find a continual source of interest and pleasure. I see that the founders of the school are now asking for a gift of two young pigs, and I hope they will get them, for young pigs are among the delightful humors of creation. The school has also the advantage of standing in large grounds of its own, with bird-haunted trees and an orchard and a garden, and lawns for games. It may well be that the creation of such a school marks the beginning of a new era in popular education. Its success should give it a thousand stccessors, and should help to bring it home to the mass of men and women that one of the objects of education ought to be to turn every town child into a country child, 1 Written by the Editor from a visiting friend’s note book. The Garden School Design for Costume Lecture a itt whawy ” CA vt ; vivaged Med ee a: Coline 4 ‘ - M4 a i | P : “— ae | . e eg 5 / ’ ; ‘ ‘ e ~ " a oy | | i ce hoe ao ¥} s } vee ol aga es : oar. “) M, baad bo eo. ots has Dee oe “ it j ay 8 . eee wei? Lees * ) : ‘ P a : 1 U ; ‘ r" 4} ; : . | | mae chs : az Experimental Schools in England 13 so that it may begin the battle of life without the drawback either of a starved frame or of a starved imagination... . The children at Caldecott House are encouraged to be happy, but they are encouraged to find happiness in working with their hands and their brains. Those who have visited the school have seen the charming work executed by the children on the handloom, in basketwork, in painting glass, and in other handicrafts. Education through books goes hand in hand with education in character, and discipline is learned through self-government. Rosert Lynp, in Preface to Eleventh Annual Report, 1923-24, The Caldecott Community. THE GARDEN SCHOOL, Ballinger Grange, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. Mrs. C. H. Nicnoris, Miss J. MANvitte, Directors. (Day School and Boarding.) Individual work, Montessori Method, Self-Government. Specializes in creative occupations: Drama, Music, Crafts, House decoration, ete. Affiliated to the Kibbo Kift Kindred (branch of Camp-Fire Girls). Pupils come out during summer if they wish. Village work: School runs a village orchestra and a troupe of players drawn from villagers and the school pupils. Exhibit:—Photographs of School. Copies of Junior and Senior Maga- zines. Illustrations for Lecture on Costume. Posters for Village Plays. Album of Costume and Programme Drawings. Six drawing albums showing the chronological work of individual children. The Garden School Book of Verse. Music Album and book of original music com- positions. Sheets describing science teaching. Kibbo Kift Log Book, Costume, Headdress, Declaration and Two Totems by “The Heron Tribe.” Arts and Crafts Exhibit. The albums of drawings illustrating the development of individual children over a period of years are intended to form the basis of a psychological study. The photographs of various crafts (seven of clay-modelling, one of spinning, one of weaving, etc.) should be exam- ined in connection with the examples of crafts sent. Music is taught at the Garden School by Miss Louisa White, originator of “The Letter- less Method of Music Teaching” and composer of pianoforte-music and songs. The album illustrating “The Letterless Method” is sup- plemented by a little book of “Three Pianoforte Lyrics” by a girl of seventeen who has learned on this method since the age of six. The school bulletin is issued once a term, so that the three numbers bound up in one cover represent school record for one year. The posters announcing village plays represent one phase of the work done by the school for the village. One of several village activities is to run a dramatic troupe of about thirty v@llage children and to help them produce a play once a year. The illustrations for a lecture on ‘“Cos- tume” represent only the second half of the subject, as treated by two girls in a partnership lecture. Unfortunately the other girl, who took the earlier periods of the story of British Costume, has not kept her illustrations. L. WintFrrep NICHOLLS. (The Garden School Exhibit is shown as a whole in The New Room.) 14 Experimental Schools in England KING’S LANGLEY PRIORY, Hertfordshire. Miss M. Cross, Director. (Boarding School.) King’s Langley Priory is a lovely old building, a part of a large Do- minican Priory of the fourteenth century. It had been used for hundreds of years as farmhouse and stables. The life of the school centers about the conduct of the house and farm, in which all children share. They do all housecleaning and sweeping, preparation of meals; care of walks, grass, gardens; raising of vegetables; care of two ponies, eighteen goats, and chickens. Certain tasks last a long term if difficult. Others shift frequently. The vegetarian diet is supplied by the school’s own planting, so that it is almost entirely self-supporting so far as food is concerned. B; EM? There is classroom work in most subjects—French and German; History; English; Mathematics; Science. The Science work has fol- lowed unusual lines, as described below, and as the result of the teaching of Professor Patrick Geddes. Just as house, grounds, and district have been the basis of science study, so the approach to his- tory has been through a study of the Priory and the development of life from that time. Exhibit:—Science work. Regional Survey. A small selection of mate- rial from a large amount collected by the children from the year 1915 to the present time. The work is mounted as shown on ordinary sheets of brown paper and kept in portfolios, labeled, Botany, Meteorology, History, Church, Farms, etc., etc.—the whole forming a study of King’s Langley and its environments, «e., its physical features (Place); its industries and occupations (Work); and its story in time, and the nature of its inhabitants, past and present (People). The necessity of taking, for the exhibit, typical sheets from the portfolios makes it difficult to preserve anything of this. The sheets are selected to illus- trate some point of interest, and not for quality of work. The approach to a study of the Tegion and of regional and general geography for the small children is illustrated by three or four rough plans which they have made after and during many walks. When the whole village has been thus mapped, roughly to scale, they are intro- duced to large scale ordnance maps, and from the twenty-five inch to mile, pass to the six inch, one inch, and one-half inch maps of the locality. These lead to regional geography and to a study of the British Isles—and thence where you will. The work shown from the upper school is sometimes the result of individual research, sometimes the pooled efforts of a whole class, as will be readily seen. It is difficult to show a connected sequence of work, either as to sub- ject or in time: for example, no plant study is sent, and little geology, but it does not mean that none has been done. Some studies of ani- mals are included—scrappy and unfinished, but illustrative of the method of recorded observation by map, plan, and drawing, as well as writing. CoMMUNICATIONS Road, Canal, and Rail have all been tackled. The sheet of Railway study is included as a good example of getting the children to work 1 Written by the Editor from the notes of a friend who visited the School. Experimental Schools in England 15 out from the known and experience environment to the wider environ- ment, e.g., the local station to a railway map of the British Isles, THE VILLAGE The Church has been studied repeatedly, by classes and individuals. Here we send only a sheet showing a brass rubbing. From the church study children have tackled Heraldry, Costumes, Stained Glass, local names, etc., etc. INDUSTRIES The varied (and popular) studies of local industries are shown by a sheet of Public Houses and Stables, by some work in the Flour Mill, and some sheets of agricultural records. The farms have been tackled rather fully, so we include a fairly representative exhibit. The crops have been mapped thus, more or less fully, from 1916 to the present year. Priory There are a few sheets showing various aspects of the fourteenth century (Dominican) Priory buildings in which the school is housed, and which gives a good approach to various aspects of history. Pre- history is emphasized, especially among the little ones (and followed through in the upper school), and much practical work is done in con- nection with it; but their frail pots from clay dug up in our own gar- den and crude efforts at flint chipping and primitive weaving do not convey much when away from their environment and without personal demonstration, so we have not tried to represent this side of our work. OUTLYING VILLAGES We make frequent excursions to places of interest within reason- able reach and attempt to record the results graphically; so we include examples from the portfolios relating to the City of St. Albans, six miles to the east, and the village of Sarratt, about five miles west of us. As a fairly. complete example of work done in its survey time by one class recently, we enclose the whole portfolio relating to the local gravel works. Digging for gravel was begun in the Gade Valley, about a mile and a half from school in 1922, and its progress has been fol- lowed and recorded with much interest. ; A study of wireless brings the survey up to modern times and also serves to show how it can never be a “worked out” method. This map is already out of date and unfinished! A bird’s-eye view of her own district made by a pupil in her holidays is also included. Mase. M. BARKER. Editor’s Note :—Miss Barker’s science work has been directly influenced by the theories and teaching of Patrick Geddes. She is spending this year in further study with him in Montpellier, France. Since much of the present-day school work in science and geography, of Europe and America, is indirectly influenced by Patrick Geddes’ thinking and teaching, we have asked Miss Barker to write the article which follows about him, . yooyps Arong AapsurqT s fury QONSIp swWoY Joy) suOMAU si] pur uddIQ vOIdI]T, Jo Mata a4q-S prrg stopAveN duasy] Son a Pn a rir cweecae AE usb yapa PrN) BISA Koay ree sye0g - 1) Sa OWA ¥ O4 styl a #4 may Sys mey 3 eee eek Fem psig F oy \\ é : ; \ =a ‘ agastoay ys |) Pasney Pua sorunq viral ‘ N fod j AE 4 : dirk : 4 . Wes: J SyuVg H. Si ' Fusrpoy QD” wH olay yer Res oaknl og pun Lt iahete PI ‘ hwy MDAMG 4 < Ne syurg 7 ny 4 SOMA Z | MVsAY v : ee y Ravi ype ae \ serT}y) : 5 peli "i \ be! Seen! ; ae TS Ne ac hey : pire ea 4 ee J f gf fi * , ~. —" es Pree Ber LL bis AND HIS INFLUENCE ON EDUCATION By MABEL M. BARKER T is difficult to give within the compass of a short Wes article any idea of the personality and work of f Us Professor Patrick Geddes; still more, that of huis ever-extending influence, even though the range is limited to some consideration of his connection with modern education. A sketch which treats of him and his work more generally has recently appeared from the pen of Lewis Mum- ford in the “Survey Graphic” for February 1925, as foreword to a series of articles by Geddes himself; but it is tempting to assume that all there touched upon would in point of fact come well within the scope of my title, since the whole wide range of his activities, as town-planner, botanist, sociologist, author, etc., etc., are now having and will have yet more influ- ence upon that most potent factor in the making of the future —FEducation. But to enable us to understand a little how it is that Geddes is so far-reaching a power in the shaping of the lives of others, let us glance very briefly at his own origin and education. Born near the little city of Perth on the Tay, where civic and rural tradition are happily balanced, where highland meets lowland, where the river becomes navigable, and the “Fair City” owes its title more to the beauty and variety of its setting than to architectural merits (though not without these), Patrick Geddes was from the first a keen nature-student. Whatever may have been the contributions to his education of the old Perth Acad- emy (beyond the geometry ever since in use), his real school was the region around, which he and his comrades explored as a whole, and with the radius of their discoveries increasing with their years and walking powers. Geology, botany, zoology, history, folklore—all were one to them; all absorbed by these keen adventurers on the crags of Kinnoul, the giens and for- ests of the Ochils, and the islands and waters of the finest river in the British Isles. At home, helped by the happiest and most sympathetic of conditions, his eager and normal mind devoured unchecked all the literature available. He became a keen gardener and something of a carpenter; and when his 17 18 a Experimental Schools in England activities as chemist spread from bedroom to kitchen, and be- came too much for the rest of the household, his father promptly built a small shed in the garden, thenceforth the laboratory and workshop, where his intensive self-education went on apace. | | These early years are the key to his many-sided after life, and such a full and free education is the heritage which he would recapture for the less fortunate youth of our time. | After a year in a bank—sufficient to strengthen his deter- mination not to pass his life “polishing a stool” on the one hand, and to give him a certain amount of .business education on the other—he, with his father’s consent and help, took up science as a life-work; and studied biology at various univer- sities, making a selection of them truly medizval in its com-— prehensiveness! Having studied chemistry at Dundee, he went to London, and became a student under Huxley, Burdon- Sanderson, and Schejer. From Paris, under Lacaze-Duthiers, he went to the zodlogical station at Roscoff, later to that at Naples, and returning to Scotland and Aberdeen, helped to found one at Stonehaven. He later went to Haeckel in Jena. Nowhere did he trouble to take any degree! His circle of study still widened, and he spent a winter with a brother in Mexico. But here his previous too close application to the microscope and reading resulted in a break- down of eyesight, with a severe threat even of blindness. This, however, became a determining crisis in his life, a time of fruitful opportunity. All the great wealth of impressions and facts collected in these intensive student years had time to germinate as it were, to become henceforth no mere accumula- tion of encyclopedic and static knowledge, but a kinetic and organized force for use in the world. Here, in ten weeks of darkness, he evolved the methods of synthetic thought which he has used ever since with tremendous effect, and which will be his greatest contribution to human progress. Returning to Scotland, he became assistant professor of botany and extra-mural lecturer in zoology in Edinburgh, which from that time onwards has been the center of his work and influence; and from then we may date his direct and in- creasing influence on education, both by his own teaching and Experimental Schools in England sores ei through his students and colleagues. Among the earliest of these were G. F. Scott-Elliott, J. Arthur Thomson, J. S. Hal- dane, W. S. Bruce, the Arctic explorer, and others. Among them also was Anna Morton, whom he married in 1886, and who from then till her death in Caicutta in 1917 was indeed his “life-companion,” and a more efficient and influential col- league than any other. But his student-life continued right through, with ever-increasing intensity and in widening orbits. There was never much money to spend on further travel, but the continent was first explored in vacations by means of wall- ing tours. He visited Athens and Constantinople and Germany ; and in later years, with his wife, Paris (repeatedly), Montpel- lier, Cyprus, America, and India. They carried their joint studies in experimental sociology to the extent of ten years’ housekeeping in an Edinburgh slum, where indeed their first child was born. He became Professor of Botany at Dundee (St. Andrew’s University), a chair which he filled for thirty years. After that he was for five years Professor of Sociology in Bombay. But to return to Edinburgh; in 1887 they organ- ized there the first Summer School in Europe. Now, Summer Schools are so numerous and so widespread, that some of us flee to the mountain tops to avoid them; but they have indeed become a potent influence in education. These initial summer meetings, of which the leading spirits were Scott-Elliott (botany), J. Arthur Thomson (zoology), and Patrick Geddes (social sci- ence), continued to be held in Edinburgh for many years, and were veritable seedbeds for new endeavour in all directions; and there are many who still look back to them as to the determin- ing influence of their lives. In 1892 they, and other initiatives of Geddes, acquired a more permanent home in the Outlook Tower, which Professor Zueblin has called “The World’s First Sociological Laboratory.” Thence, to give one concrete example of the results of the sum- mer meetings, came the introduction in 1900 of Nature Study into the regular teaching curriculum of the elementary schools of Great Britain; and the Tower and its workers have con- tinued to exert their influence towards its better treatment. The school gardens begun in Edinburgh spread to Dublin and further, and its nature study methods went to India with Sister Nevedita and to South Africa with Miss Mary Ritchie. 20 Experimental Schools in England The influence of Geddes, his Outlook Tower and the vaca- tion meetings, has been even more marked in the domain of geography. He was helped at the Tower by Elisee, Elie and Paul Reclus, Edmond Demolins, A. J. Herbertson, Dr. Marcel Hardy, and others too numerous to mention; but all eventually carrying the good work further afield. The “Regional Survey of Edinburgh” took shape, and bore fruit, in direct effort for betterment in the city; and in the Cities and Town Planning Exhibition held in London in 1910, and thereafter in other places, including Dublin, Ghent, and various cities in India. Here, among others, Valentine Bell met with his inspiration; and undaunted—nay, stimulated—by the fact that his work lay in no rural village nor fair city, but in an elementary school in the worst slums of Lambeth, he proceeded to work out Geddes’ methods there, with results cheering in their direct effect, and even more so in their triumphant challenge to the whole of the pessimistic “well, it-can’t-be-done-here-anyway” school! He has since carried the Regionalists’ banner through the trenches in Flanders, to a continuation school in White- chapel, and now to another one in Battersea; and in his “spare time” (?) 1s waving it with unabated faith and vigor to a class in Wormwood Scrubs prison! In 1912-1913 another great educational endeavour took shape at the Tower under Geddes’ direction. The “Masques of Ancient and Modern Learning,’ performed in Edinburgh and in London, were splendid pageants, presenting in glowing color and movement the whole march of education through the ages. And civic masques and pageants in many places owed more to his initiative and suggestion than is generally known (e.g., those of Stafford and Bingley, inspired and _ carried through by his student, Mrs. Fraser Davies). Meanwhile other students had been trying the Survey Method in the Training College and Friends’ School in Saffron Walden; and waking to its tremendous possibilities, they re- vived the Tower Vacation Meetings in the Easter holidays of 1914. From a gathering of some thirty teachers from all parts of the British Isles arose a small but active group, later named the “Regional Association” (now incorporated with Le Play House, London), and having for its object the en- Experimental Schools oa England a couragement and extension of Regional Survey methods, es- pecially in education. It would now be difficult to enumerate the schools carrying on such work; but one is at least safe in saying that many are not in touch with us and more do not know whence their inspiration came. That is as it should be, for the thought and methods of Geddes, while in part becom- ing the focus and direction of ideas already “in the air’ and growing in many kindred minds, have been broadcasted for years like waves upon the ether, and nothing can stop them now, nor need we fear but that they shall take effect. The last ten years have been spent chiefly in India and Palestine ; and have seen the planning of many cities and universities, notably that of Rabindranath Tagore and that of the Zionists at Jerusalem. But his educational method goes a step further than this. The boy in the Perth region sixty years ago was educated not merely by observing and exploring, but by actively helping his parents, and by lending a hand in the real work of the work in friendly workshops and gardens and laboratories then and thereafter, wherever he has gone. He is a biologist who has applied his biological concepts to the study of mankind, and who sees that the true parallel of a society in action is not the one sometimes drawn between an organism and its component cells, but between an organism functioning in its environment and a human group working out its history in its place; that human societies in fact, like functioning life in all forms, have evolved through work. If this be true, if indeed we “learn by living,’ if men’s “hands have made them wise,” is there not here an educational concept deeper than that of mere nature study and observation? It is not enough to survey one’s region; one must also experience it. This idea of bringing the primitive occupations of man into the service of education, an idea which we have not now space to develop further, will probably be the most far-reaching of Geddes’ many and potent influences on our time; and there is hope for civilization in- deed if he, and we his students, can bring home to our war- shattered world the understanding that we must stil learn by living, and that the making of the future is most literally in the hands of the children. PROGRESSIVE" EDUCATION TN GERTRUDE HARTMAN Editor of Progressive Education =¥4HE first quarter of the twentieth century has been productive in developing a new philosophy of education based upon scientific knowledge of child nature and needs. As a result, there is now a great wealth of new educational theory in existence; the problem at the present time is how to translate this theory into terms of actual school procedure. Recently the term “progressive education” has come into use to designate the work of schools which are definitely committed to the task of converting the new theory into practice. Since the early days of Professor Dewey’s experiment at the Uni- versity of Chicago, the number of these schools has increased by leaps and bounds. It is perhaps natural that small, privately supported schools should in general have been more responsive in making these changes than large, cumbersome public school systems. Although the great majority of private schools are still of the traditional type, there are many scattered all over the country from Boston to Florida and from Alabama to California, blazing new trails in trying out new educational ideas: These schools represent a variety of conditions and methods. They range all the way from such large and na- tionally known schools as the Francis Parker School in Chicago and the Lincoln School in New York, to the tiny schools in small, obscure places unknown beyond their own local commu- nities. In their fundamental aims they are, however, in agree- ment in trying out new ways of adjusting the requirements of our complicated social situation to the needs of child life, which constitutes the essential problem of present-day educa- tion. There is no doubt that these private educational labora- tories are doing valuable research work, the results of which will have an increasingly important bearing upon the future of education. But however great advance progressive methods may make in private schools, it is not until they make a definite impres- 22 Experimental Schools in England ei en sion upon public schools that one can feel assured of their widespread and permanent influence upon American education. Too frequently the discouraging opinion is heard that while the new methods may be applicable to private schools, where only a few children are concerned, it is impossible to admin- ister them in the complex public school systems of our large cities. The older view of education saw its goal clearly and moved toward it in ordered fashion year by year, and it has moulded our whole educational machinery into conformity with its aims. The new philosophy is as yet without a technique that can adequately meet the needs of the public school with its great number of children to be educated. The problem central to the educational reconstruction going on at the pres- ent time is the search for this technique. Constructive educa- tors are everywhere at work in public school systems devising ways and means. May the day be not too far distant when the new and enriched educational opportunities now offered here and there to a few scattered groups of children will be available to all the children of the land. Such opportunities are the inalienable birthright of every living child. The education of the public in general is, however, vital to educational advance. The physical difficulties—the large number of children, lack of funds, and so on—are not the real barriers to progress, as is so often alleged. They are only the outward manifestations of an unawakened public opinion. When enough people understand and want the new type of education, ways and means of providing it will not be lacking. It was to assist in spreading knowledge of and interpreting to the public the newer developments in education that the Progressive Education Association was formed in 1919. By uniting in one membership not only professional workers, but the lay public as well, it aims to give support and solidarity and the strength of organization to what would otherwise be uncoordinated effort. Since the organization of the association much material in regard to progressive methods has been dis- tributed, a number of bulletins have been published, and five national conventions held, which have been most fruitful in arousing enthusiasm for and in disseminating information about recent progress in education. : 24 | Experimental Gebiels - England In April, 1924, the association began a new publication, Pro- gressive Education, a quarterly magazine, which should contain the concrete material and actual news of the progressive move- ment. There are in each issue news of new experiments and of outstanding educational events, a department of foreign notes, telling of significant developments in other parts of the world, and reviews of books and brief digests of magazine articles dealing with progressive phases of education. ‘So that the magazine thus forms a running commentary upon current edu- cational problems, bringing together, as it does, material from a wide range of sources, much of which has not up to this time been assembled in convenient form for reference. Through every means at its disposal the association en- deavors to report out the new and significant contributions of those who are working to free the schools from the shackles of old conventions and to push ahead the frontiers of educa- tion, for in the words of the recent program for Education Week, published by the United States Bureau of Education, those who have espoused this cause believe that “Progressive civilization depends upon progressive education.” Epitor’s Note: Membership in the Progressive Education Association is one way of lending support to the movement for better education of children generally. This membership is two dollars a year, and entitles the member to receive the Progressive Education Quarterly. Membership fees should be sent to Progressive Education Association, 110 Jackson Place, Washington, D. C. SOME OUTSTANDING EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOLS IN: ENGLAND * BEDALES Petersfield, Hampshire St. CHRISTOPHER Letchworth, Hertfordshire St. GEORGE’S SCHOOL Harpenden, Hertfordshire FRENSHAM HEIGHTS Near Farnham, Surrey ABBOTSHOLME Near Rocester, Derbyshire Duncan House 4 Rodney Place, Clifton, Bristol CLAYESMORE Northwood Park, Winchester KinG ALFRED SCHOOL Manor Wood, North End Rd., London, N. W. 11 THe Hartt ScHOOL Weybridge, Surrey Kinc’s LANGLEY PRIoryY King’s Langley, Hertfordshire THE GARDEN SCHOOL Ballinger Grange, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire MALTMAN’S GREEN Gerrard’s Cross, Buckinghamshire THE VINEYARD Longbridge Lane, Northfield, Worcestershire BEMBRIDGE SCHOOL Bembridge, Isle of Wight PERSE SCHOOL Cambridge DOME ~ PROGRESSIVE]. SCHOOLS ING THE UNTDEED STATES ANTIOCH COLLEGE AND ANTIOCH SCHOOL Yellow Springs, Ohio BEAVER CountTRY Day SCHOOL Brookline, Massachusetts BEAVER~ SCHOOL Boston, Massachusetts Brookwoop WoRKERS’ COLLEGE Katonah, New York CARSON COLLEGE Flourtown, Pennsylvania CHAzY SCHOOL Chazy, New York CHEVY CHASE Country Day ScHoot Chevy Chase, Maryland CHILDREN’S UNIversITy ScHoot New York City, New York City AND CouNTRY SCHOOL New York City, New York EDGEWOOD SCHOOL Greenwich, Connecticut ETHICAL CULTURE SCHOOL New York City, New York FAIRHOPE SUMMER SCHOOL Greenwich, Connecticut 1 There are many more schools in England of which we in the United States should know. 25 26 Experimental Schools in England FAIRHOPE ORGANIC SCHOOL Fairhope, Alabama FRANCIS Scott KEy SCHOOL Baltimore, Maryland Francis W. PARKER SCHOOL Chicago, Illinois GARY SCHOOLS Gary, Indiana Junior ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Downers Grove, Illinois KEYSTONE SCHOOL Harrisburg, Pennsylvania LINcoLN SCHOOL OF TEACHERS COLLEGE New York City, New York THE LirrtE Rep ScHoot House New York City, New York Loomis INSTITUTE Windsor, Connecticut MANUMIT SCHOOL Pawling, New York | MERRILL-PALMER SCHOOL Detroit, Michigan THE MopERN SCHOOL Stelton, New Jersey MontTcLatir OrGANIC ScHoot Upper Montclair, New Jersey MoraAINE PARK SCHOOL Dayton, Ohio Oak LANE Country Day ScHoot Philadelphia, Pennsylvania OOTAT® VALLEY >CHOOL Ojai, California Ortp ORCHARD SCHOOL Leonia, New Jersey THE Park SCHOOL Baltimore, Maryland THE PARK SCHOOL Buffalo, New York Tak PARK SCHOOL Cleveland, Ohio PETERBOROUGH SCHOOL Peterborough, New Hampshire PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC SCHOOL Pua@se ANNA THORNE SCHOOL Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania PorTER RURAL SCHOOL Kirksville, Missouri RAYMOND RiorDAN ScHooL Highland, Ulster Co., New York SCARBOROUGH SCHOOL Scarborough-on-Hudson, New York ScHooL OF NATURAL DEVELOPMENT New York City, New York SHaApy Hitt ScHOOL Cambridge, Massachusetts SILVER Bay SCHOOL Silver Bay, New York SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS Springfield, Massachusetts SuNSET H1LL SCHOOL Kansas City, Missouri THE UNIVERSITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Columbia, Missouri TEACHERS COLLEGE EXPERIMENT FOR GIFTED CHILDREN UnouowaA SCHOOL Startfield, Connecticut WALDEN SCHOOL New York City, New York WINNETKA SCHOOLS Winnetka, Illinois THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL New York City, New York A FEW BOOKS ON EDUCATION (These books will be found in The New ‘Room of the “Bookshop) Davidson Dewey Henderson Adams De Lima Smith Moore Pickett-Boren Coe Stevenson Yeomans Badley Mackinder Wells Woods Young Education as World Building (1925) School and Society (rev. ed. 1924) What is it to be Educated? (1914) Modern Developments in Educational Practice (1925) Our Enemy the Child (1925) Education Moves Ahead (1924) The Primary School (1925) Early Childhood Education (1925) ae" 2m982 200 0 0 2 sre est Law and Freedom in the School (1924) The Project Method of Teaching (1924) Shackled Youth (1921) EN GUISH SCHOOLS Bedales, a Pioneer School Individual Work in Infants’ Schools Sanderson of Oundle The Story of a Great School Master Experimental Schools in England New Era in Education Pw $1.50 1025 2.00 1.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 an, 1.80 1.60 20 iy>0 4.00 1.50 3.50 i225 wate oe m ae on Wy a an Decent as , { Vis al it Bo ype Poul wre ita of y , <5 1m, “ti 4 : 2 SAE ; ; . oe eb A A \ Y na i. r) ° uy 4 ‘ y , " ' re@ Gin’ > Lo ae ry ‘ '} : ile . ere a, ' vd ' : ’ yi P i < ) : an 7 . 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