{ AR A Had tin Wet WAHT if SSS 7 ape ne a ar Hy ju iin i i anh i ath i U Hing antyyh THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 370.95! C36e © Sim adi) ee a SUse tt , Return this boox on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. University of Illinois Library L161—H 41 Education for Modernization in China A Search for Criteria of Curriculum Construction in View of the Transition in National Life, with Special Reference to Secondary Education By PENG CHUN CHANG, Ph.D. Teachers College, Columbia University Contributions to Education, No. 137 Published by Teachers College, Columbia Antbersitp New York City 1923 Copyright, 7923, by Penc Coun Cuaneo PREFACE THIS essay is an attempt—preliminary in intent and character—at a critical interpretation of the bewildering process of modernization that China is going through, with the purpose in view of discovering some form of effective educational content for the transforming pe- riod. It takes up the analysis of the nature and direction of the tran- sition rather than the exposition of the old and existing culture in China. Hence it has drawn freely from the wisdom of modern West- ern thinkers especially in regard to the characteristics of the modern world. The chief interest of this inquiry is to develop a new line of ap- proach, a re-oriented point of view. As to the concrete details of school procedure which this theory implies, much remains to be worked out in the process of actual experimentation. I wish to express my indebtedness to Professors Kilpatrick, Dewey, Monroe, and Kandel, of Teachers College, Columbia University, who have been in charge of this study. It has been chiefly due to the clarifying guidance and sympathetic interest of Professor Kilpatrick that the initial impulse of a search has been conducted into the chan- nels of systematic research. Penc CHUN CHANG New York City May 1, 1922 544191 a a ie Ne at CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION II. Tue GovERNMENT MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND ATTEMPTS AT REFORMATION III. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRANSITION AND AIM OF EDU- CATION IV. Cuter CONDITIONING CIRCUMSTANCE OF MODERN PROGRESS . V. FRONTIER EXPERIENCE IN MODERN EDUCATIONAL EN- DEAVOR , é i ; : é. s : VI. Proposep CRITERIA FOR CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION IN THE EDUCATION FOR MODERNIZATION VII. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS IN A PROGRAM OF CuUR- RICULUM CONSTRUCTION VIII. A SuGGEsTtTeD CONTENT FOR THE EARLY STAGE OF LEADERSHIP EDUCATION AS A BASIS FOR EXPERI- MENTATION : i : ‘ ; ? ; APPENDIX I. CERTAIN ATTEMPTS THAT ILLUSTRATED IN A MEASURE SoME ASPECTS OF THE PLAN HEREIN DISCUSSED II. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CHIEF CONDITION- ING CIRCUMSTANCE OF MODERN PROGRESS . : Les, 17 26 33 56 69 81 87 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Modern education in China is yet new and without a firm founda- tion. There is a national system that has been in force for over fifteen years, but on account of the lack of settled order in the political situa- tion the new education has had, especially in the last four or five years, a rather checkered career. The military governors and the poli- ticians who live on them are controlling for the time being the taxes and public properties. Why should they direct to the schools the money which might more conveniently go to their private purses? Are not the schools the places where the trouble-makers—the young irresponsible agitators—are produced? From their point of view and for their own ends, they are justified in cutting off educational funds. No settled order, no funds, no definite body that can enforce a per- sistent policy—under such circumstances one may well question the future of new education in China. Yet even a casual visitor to China to-day can readily discern the enthusiasm and faith in education of the people of the whole land. Education is being looked upon as a god of salvation. The interest is so strong and widespread that pathetic willingness to seize upon every wind of doctrine and im- ported pattern is in evidence on every hand. But borrowed practices from other lands are beginning to reveal the need for better digested readaptation. We are witnessing that the products of the modern schools are among the unemployed and piti- fully ineffective in society. These products of modern schools know something of the modern subjects as taught in the schools. They have learned little or nothing that is practical, and even those who are fortunate enough to find employment are not using in their work what they have studied in the schools. Criticizing the graduates of the middle schools, Huang Yen Pei’ recently writes: “Just look at the graduates of the middle schools of the whole country. Every- where there is a general state of perturbation. They all complain that there is no way to progress further. If you ask for the reason, they will say that the curriculum of the middle schools was originally made 1The New Education, Vol. 11, No. 1, Sept. 1919. 2 Education for Modernization in China for the preparation of students to go to higher technical schools and universities, but at the present time the higher institutions are not sufficient to supply opportunities for all the middle school graduates ; thus to study further for the middle school graduates becomes a difficult proposition. When the graduates turn to society and look for employment, they find that what they have studied in the schools during the four years is by no means sufficient or fitting to meet the demands of the various vocations in society. Thus to obtain employ- ment also is difficult. Because of these two difficulties, we have to-day a large number of middle school graduates turning into drifting and perplexed youths that fill the ranks of the unemployed.” Dr. Paul Monroe has recently stated at a conference of educators in Peking: ‘The middle schools in China are the most important but the weakest in the whole school system. The situation needs serious consideration since the defects of secondary education pro- duce bad results in many ways. Higher education is largely condi- tioned by the preparation made in the middle school. And for those students who do not attend higher institutions after graduation, the middle school should provide enough training to enable them to become leaders in the different professions.” * It is generally agreed that the secondary school curriculum—as well as that of other grades—needs modifications badly and that efforts should be directed to the working out of a more effective content in view of the urgent needs of the transition in China. It 1s the purpose of this inquiry to evolve certain criteria for curriculum construction in this transitional period of education. The task of con- structing a new curriculum is not the task for any individual worker. It will demand cooperative effort on the part of many working in the field, Furthermore, whatever is theoretically worked out should go through the scrutiny of concrete experimentation. The criteria re- sulting from this inquiry will, we hope, have some value in guiding the evaluation of current practice, the analysis of the textbooks used to-day, and the provision of the essentials of a new and more effec- tive content. But it is by no means the aim of this study to devise a priori a program of studies for any schools. After making an analysis of the government curriculum still in force and of the attempts at reform, the inquiry naturally leads us to determine, if we can, the immediate aim of Chinese education in view 1 Reported in Peking Leader, Dec. 29, 1921. Introduction a of the vast transition in national life, to ascertain the educational implications of the aim, and to formulate criteria governing cur- riculum construction. An exposition of the criteria arrived at by this method of procedure will be given, and this will be followed by the suggested ways of application of the proposed criteria in a program for curriculum construction in secondary schools. This program will include the three steps of investigation, careful and critical planning, and experimentation. CHAPTER I] THE GOVERNMENT MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND ATTEMPTS AT REFORMATION * THE GOVERNMENT CURRICULUM When the Republican régime came into being in 1912, the courses of study for the schools underwent some inevitable changes.’ The middle school decree was promulgated by the Ministry of Education, September 28, 1912, and the regulations concerning the detailed sub- jects of the curriculum were issued March 19, 1913, This course of study was originally constructed mostly out of borrowings from foreign school practices, among which the Japanese was the most influential. The Ministry of Education has prescribed the detailed topics to be included in the various subjects as well as the subjects themselves. The curriculum in outline is as follows: CuRRICULUM SUBJECTS YEAR HOURS PER GENERAL TOPICS’ WEEK Ethics 1 1 Individual conduct Social conduct 2 1 Responsibility to the nation Responsibility to society 3 1 Responsibility to self and family Responsibility to humanity 4 1 Essentials of the science of ethics Special characteristics of the mo- rality of the nation Chinese 1 7 Explanation, reading, composition, handwriting 2 (boys) 7 Same as first year (girls) 6 History of the language 3 5 Same as first year Elements of grammar 4 5 Same as third year History of Chinese literature * See discussion on the Place and Function of the Middle School in the System, Chap. vit. 1See Kuo, P. W., The Chinese System of Public Education, Chap. v1, Reorganization of Education under the Republic. * These are not the detailed topics, which amount to hundreds under each subject and are followed by the textbook writers. SUBJECTS Foreign Language History Geography Mathema- tics Nature Study Physics Chemistry Civics and Economics Drawing HOURS PER WEEK (boys) 7 (girls) 6 (boys) 8 (girls) 6 (boys) 8 (girls) 6 (boys) 8 (girls) 6 bo bo bh NS bo bo bo bo (boys ) (girls) (boys) (girls) (boys) (girls) (boys) (girls) nO WwW WwW Ww AU HU ie) (boys) 2 (girls) 1 The Government Curriculum 5 GENERAL TOPICS Pronunciation, spelling, reading, translation, dictation, conversa- tion, grammar, handwriting Same as first year Construction of sentences Same as first year Composition Same as first year History of literature Chinese history, ancient and me- diaeval Chinese history, modern History of Eastern Asiatic nations History of Western nations History of Western nations Introduction to geography Chinese geography Chinese geography Geography of foreign nations Geography of foreign nations Physical geography Political geography Arithmetic, algebra Algebra, plane geometry Algebra, plane geometry Plane and solid geometry Plane trigonometry Botany, zoology Zoology } Physiology and hygiene Mineralogy and geology Physics-mechanics, heat, sound, light, magnetism, electricity Chemistry, inorganic and organic Elements of civics Elements of economics Freehand drawing—copying and drawing from objects Same as first year Same as first year Geometrical drawing Same as third year Artistic drawing 6 SUBJECTS Handwork’ Home Eco- nomics and Gardening Sewing Music Physical Training’ Total No. of Hours Education for Modernization in China YEAR — Bwhy |= PWD HS me & Ww bO bo HOURS PER WEEK 1 1 1 1 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 (girls) 2 a oY (boys) 3 (girls) 2 Same Same Same (boys) 33 (girls) 32 (boys) 34 (girls) 33 (boys) 35 (girls) 34 (boys) 35 (girls) 34 GENERAL TOPICS Bamboo and wood work Wood and clay Clay, plaster, and metal Same as third year Vocational knowledge Household management, household hygiene, laundering, cooking Planting of vegetables, flowers Nursing, household accounting, laundering, cooking Gardening same as second year Same as third year Cutting, sewing, mending Same Same Same Singing Singing and note-reading Same as second year Singing and instrumental music Common exercises Military drill Same Same Same A perusal of the curriculum as stated here in outline is sufficient to reveal its characteristics to anyone acquainted with the develop- ment of secondary curricula in other countries. We sum up a few of the most doubtful assumptions as follows: 1. It provides one uniform course without options or electives. It assumes that all students are of about equal ability and need the same kind of preparation. 2. It takes for granted that both the higher institutions and the 1 Handwork for girls consists of embroidery, spinning, making of artificial flowers, etc. 2 Physical Training for girls consists of dancing, games, etc. The Government Curriculum 7 various vocations in society require the same kind of preliminary education. 3. The subjects in the course are supposed to be elements of knowledge that a man with a general education should have. Its assumption here is that by studying the various subjects in a disconnected, unrelated manner the students will somehow turn out to be educated men. Education, therefore, is identified with the mastery of certain branches of knowledge in such a way as to be able to reproduce the facts in all of them. 4. The Ministry of Education determines the topics to be em- bodied in the textbooks which are required to be approved by the Ministry. It is assumed that what is left for the students to do is to remember slavishly the content of the subject in order that they might successfully pass the required examinations. Such established routine may not be altogether unnecessary or undesirable, but surely the attitude encouraged in the students is one of forced memory, annoyed hatred toward the prescribed subjects, and antipathy towards teachers and administrators who personify the authority of unrea- sonable demands. Criticisms of such an incoherent and inflexible curriculum have been numerous and widespread in recent years. In October 1918, a Conference of the Middle School Principals’ was called by the Minis- try to meet in Peking. There were fifty-eight members aside from those connected with the Ministry. They gathered from all parts of the country. One of the chief problems discussed was the cur- riculum, especially the advisability of gradual introduction of the elective system in the secondary schools. They saw clearly that the products of the middle schools were not qualified, on the one hand, to be readily admitted into higher institutions or, on the other, to earn a living in society. Much discussion took place but, as the mem- bers were administrators in the system and very few of them were qualified to have any new ideas as to ways of reforming current practice and furthermore as the powers of the conference were limited only to deliberation and suggestion, very little concrete result came of the discussion. Attempts at reforms were first inaugurated by the more progressive private schools, such as Nankai School in Tientsin where the elective 1 Proceedings of the National Conference of Middle School Principals, Oct. 1918, pub- lished by the Ministry. \ 8 Education for Modernization in China system was introduced in 1917; the students were given choice from among three courses during the third and fourth years. The courses were Arts Preparatory, Science Preparatory, and Commercial. As the general elective plan has recently been approved by the Ministry in the case of the proposed curriculum of the Middle School of the Nanking Teachers College, the plan as first introduced in Nankai School will not be further discussed. We shall proceed to analyze the Nanking reformed curriculum. THE NANKING REFORMED CURRICULUM In the regulations as submitted to, and approved by, the Ministry of Education, the Nanking Teachers College Middle School has modi- fied both the aim and the organization of studies for the middle school. The aim of the school is stated in a little broader and more specific way than Article I of the decree of the Ministry which says, “The aim of the middle school is to complete a general education and to train for citizenship.” The Nanking modification reads: “The aim of this school is to complete a general education and to prepare stu- dents for higher institutions or for sociat needs, by Diowicine special training in preparatory or practical knowledge and skills.” Subjects in the first two years are all prescribed and in the last two years a part is prescribed and a part elective. Electives are grouped in two departments, Preparatory and Vocational. The unit system is used in crediting work done by the students. One hour per week per term makes one unit, for practice and labora- tory two hours. Graduation requires the completion of 228 units. The first two years require 30 units each term. Students who take 36 units per term throughout the third and fourth years, may grad- uate in three years and half. The slower students who can take but 21 units per term, graduate in four years and half. But the normal period for graduation is four years. 1 The writer was at that time serving as acting principal of the school. 2 By order of the Ministry, Feb. 19, 1921. # Published in Journal of Ministry of Education, April 1921. The Government Curriculum TABLE I REQUIRED SUBJECTS A. FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS SUBJECT First YEAR 1st TERM 2ND TERM SUCRE Pelee Lh. PL roa 1 1 Piveital <1 raining 350). oe: 6 3 3 OO Nineehaie. seg alias Lote 7 7 TORT POE PGE Ae, Dg ony ad enraee 7 V/ MMRNBITATICS§ oo iG ok ue os 6 6 Chinese History .......... 3 3 Chinese Geography ....... a Bs Physiology and Hygiene.. 1 1 PeatU rere Ste van cece ia ie) a, « on ee Bla WINS Mie ao te als ik Cathe rice < 1 1 RA TIRIC ies Ge eek Sake ee sims 1 1 PRAIA OTICE Oo atic Sueg es os me ne Vocational Guidance....... eGtanelinitewreca. 30 30 B. FOR THE THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS SUBJECT THIRD YEAR IsT TERM 2ND TERM Spinecee ae tate. ieee. 3 a PONE SH ge Pie nine ke sae: « 6 6 Mathematics... .fccs ns ss 2 2 CUT Ge yee la em eee Ke a3 itySiCeeco is ao are vse oh ies 4 4 Pivsiale | Paling .c26.!.<.. 2 2 ‘Eotals Uiitss.<.. i v4 17 SECOND YEAR 2ND TERM IsT TERM ww &! AnAnNeY FourtH YEAR 2ND TERM 1sT TERM 3 4 2 4 2 15 3 4 fs 4 2 15 Among the electives, a large variety is offered, distributed among the courses in the Preparatory and Vocational Departments. At the present time the school has only one course in the Vocational Depart- ment, namely, Teacher Training. As illustration, the electives in two of the courses in the Preparatory Department are listed below. SuBJECT English essere eeeeereeree erleeo eee eee e eres TABLE II ELECTIVE SUBJECTS A, ARTS PREPARATORY First TERM eee weer er ere ele ee ee eee eee ere eer ee eeee Sociology and Economics....... Felemerits (Ot LogiCs 8 crs Seeks Elements of Philosophy......... PION Wore’, oe oG ve bee eain es ea eS ew oF 6. 6 + 82.6) Ce 6 Be eee ew wae WNHNMWWiW SEcoND TERM WQNDNWwWwiu 10 Education for Modermzation in China B. INDUSTRIAL PREPARATORY SuBJECT First TERM Seconp TERM Higher “Algebta 47.5. aeetice eae ees ane 3 3 Practical: Mechanicsi; 70, acne seen ee: 3 3 Manual Waele ore eas was Se ae 3 3 MechnnicaliDeaming? i: 3s. ck beens oeas o- 2 2 Engines fands Motors...-533 tt eee ee eee 2 | Material Destme tert tee cat aoe ees s Mechanical Engineering ..........:...... 3 The regulations also indicate the Hens topics in the contents of the various subjects of study. The topics in the subjects of Chinese and Mathematics are given below. CHINESE A. FIRST TWO YEARS. 7 HRS. A WEEK, REQUIRED 1, Reading: (a) Classic literature, artistic and practical. (6) Modern literature. 2. Composition: First year, Composition 3 times a month. Comments and readings once a month. Second Year, Composition and comments twice a month. 3. History of language: Origin of sounds, meaning of words, etc. National tongue and phonetic alphabet. Handwriting. Saree B. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS. 3 HRS. A WEEK. REQUIRED 1. Reading: (a) Classic literature. (b) Modern literature. Z. Composition and comments each once a month. C. GENERAL ELECTIVE FOR THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS. 3 HRS. A WEEK 1. Reading: Selections from classical sources to supplement the required course. 2. Grammar and elementary rhetoric. D. ARTS PREPARATORY ELECTIVE FOR THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS. 5 HRS, A WEEK 1. Reading: Selections from classic artistic literature with a view to lead- ing to a special study of Chinese literature. 2. Literary history: (a) History of Chinese literature (b) History of Western literature. MATHEMATICS A, FIRST TWO YEARS. 6 HRS. A WEEK. REQUIRED 1. Arithmetic: First term first year, 3 hrs. a week. To supplement higher elementary school arithmetic, em- phasizing fractions, percentage, ratio, and square roots. The Government Curriculum | 2. Mathematics: First term, first year, 3 hrs. a week. Second term, 6 hrs. Text: Breslich’s Mathematics, Vol. I, translated. Second year—Text: Breslich’s Vol. II in English. B. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS, 2 HRS. A WEEK. REQUIRED 1. Solid Geometry in third year. Text: Wentworth and Smith’s in English. 2. Plane Trigonometry in fourth year. Text: Wentworth’s in English. C. SCIENCE OR ENGINEERING ELECTIVE FOR THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS. 3 HRS. A WEEK 1. Higher Algebra for third year. Text: Hawkes’ in English. 2. Analytic Geometry for fourth year. Text: Wentworth’s in English. Advances Made. By comparing the provisions in the Nanking cur- riculum with those in the stiff and uniform curriculum decreed by the Ministry of Education, certain distinct advances made may be clearly seen. They are along the following general lines: 1. The aim of the middle school has increased in clearness, speci- fying the two chief functions of the middle school in leadership edu- cation, namely, preparatory to entering higher institutions, and train- ing in vocations for direct usefulness upon leaving the middle school. 2. The course of study is made flexible enough to suit individual interests and qualifications of the students, allowing electives in the third and fourth years and providing for different rates of progress for students of varied talents. : 3. The administration of the subjects of study is improved by the introduction of the unit system so that, if a student fails in one sub- ject, he does not have to repeat all the subjects of the same year. 4. Attention is given to a survey of local conditions and social needs in determining the subjects to be offered in the vocational courses. Here at least a beginning is made in looking away from the formulated studies as such to the vital and changeable needs of the immediate environment. The tendencies as embodied in the Nanking curriculum are very encouraging in the direction of a new content. They are gradually 12 Education for Modernization in China being recognized by the more progressive of the middle schools in the educationally more advanced provinces.’ Vital Questions Not Yet Touched. The problem of an adequate and effective content in secondary education is, however, a very complex one. By looking into the Nanking curriculum a little more closely, we discover vital aspects of the problem that are not at all touched. For instance: 1. The content is still predominantly a knowledge content; that is, the curriculum assumes that, by teaching the students various disconnected and unrelated formulated studies, the powers and abil- ities as required by the concrete and practical needs of the country at the present day will somehow be acquired. 2. There is yet needed a thoroughgoing re-examination of the subject matter to be prescribed or included in the various formulated studies. For instance, is it necessary that the students should study all the various processes and facts in the conventional textbooks of, let us say, arithmetic, geography, history, physics, or economics? And how shall we proceed to discriminate among the topics in these various studies? How can we decide if a formulated secondary school sub- ject, such as mathematics, should be taken over in toto from another country and put directly into the Chinese middle schools? What should be our criteria of judgment for the selection of topics and facts in any branch of study in view of the needs of the present transition? In order to strive for the most economical and most effective content for Chinese education, we need to analyze more clearly the needs of the period that we have called the transition. It is our im- perative task, first, to see what is the significance of this all-inclusive and all-pervasive movement in national life; second, to ascertain the educational implications that can be drawn by looking carefully into the conditioning circumstance of the characteristics that we desire in the transition period; and third, to formulate these implications into criteria for curriculum-making governing the choice of the type of training to be given in the schools as well as the choice of detailed subject matter within a formulated study. 1The National Conference of Provincial Educational Associations at Canton, October 1921, recommended a 6-3-3 plan for the reorganization of the school system. If this plan is finally adopted, the curricula for the Junior and Senior Middle Schools will need to be reconstructed. But this will not alter to any extent the principle of electives underlying the Nanking curriculum. Neither will it affect the criticism of that curriculum made later in this chapter. 2 See discussion on the Uses and Abuses of Formulated Studies, Chap. vit. ® Foreign textbooks used in Nanking Curriculum: Breslich’s Mathematics, Wentworth and Smith’s Solid Geometry, Wentworth’s Plane Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry, ete. CHAPTER III SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRANSITION AND AIM OF EDUCATION Must China Change. How China will be transformed under the present impact of the modern nations, involving as it does a surpris- ingly large section of humanity—about one fifth of the population of the whole earth—will be a matter of no mean importance. But must China change? What is the urge behind such a strenuous and waste- ful process? What is the true import of the transformation? Coming in contact with the modern nations, in the past century especially, China has suffered defeat and humiliation in many kinds of competition, military, political, industrial, and cultural. All the injured dispositions of self-regard and apprehensions of impending danger fiercely force the younger generation to Jook for ways that can make China modern and strong. China is not becoming modern- ized simply because it is the fashion of the world to-day, although there are minor forces that help to augment the desire for change, such as the contagion of comfort and luxury, and the prestige of imported modes. But doubt is still sometimes voiced by our foreign friends whether it is wise for China to change her ways and to enter into the hot caldron of assertiveness and confusion. Recently there appeared in Asia Magazine for May and June, 1921, two articles by Professor Dewey and Mr. J. O. P. Bland, debating the issue, the latter main- taining that a line should be drawn at leaving the moral and social system of the old régime undisturbed. It is, however, only too clear | to any student of sociology that you cannot draw any line between the economical and mechanical devices and the moral and social system in any culture. The simple fact is that when you change one, the other is bound to be affected sooner or later. But what is sinister in suggestions like Mr. Bland’s is in their advocacy, at the same time, . of foreign control of the nation’s financial administration, which be- trays their motivation, intentioned or otherwise. To keep the old social and moral system intact is to give the country no chance of 14 Education for Modernization in China producing a strong and capable leadership that can cope with modern economic problems; because it is the pride of the old system that all individuals should know their places and not be encouraged to grow to such strength as to “rock the balance of the social boat.’ In order to be effective in the present-day world, even as conservatives, each one needs to be equipped with the wide-awake outlook and the strong enlightened individuality which only the modernized social and moral institutions can produce. China must change, and change very rapidly until a state of more or less adjusted equilibrium is reached. But by modernization we do , not imply that China must, even if she could, go through all the stages of change that the modern nations have gone through. For China the | process is readjustment and not mere appropriation or reproduction. \ The products of modernism already formed can serve very well as hypotheses, but should not be too blindly or too closely followed as infallible models. Our main effort should be to reach the real moving current of the stream, if we can, not to be eternally picking up debris on the dry shore. Modernization as an Immediate Aim of Education. China needs men and women that are creatively modern in powers and capacities. This is our most vital need and consequently constitutes the imme- diate aim of education in China. In order to derive educational implications from this aim, it is profitable to quote here Professor Dewey’s analysis of how aims are usually formulated, “Roughly speaking, the course of forming aims is as follows. The beginning is with a wish, an emotional reaction against the present state of things and the hope for something differ- ent. Action fails to connect satisfactorily with surrounding condi- tions. Thrown back upon itself, it projects itself in an imagination of a scene which, if it were present, would afford satisfaction. This picture is often called an aim, more often an ideal. But in itself it is a fancy which may be only a fantasy, a dream, a castle in the air. It becomes an aim or end only when it is worked out in terms of concrete conditions available for its realization, that is in terms of ‘means’.”* “A fancy becomes an aim,” continues the analy- sis, “when some past sequence of known cause-and-effect is projected into the future, and when by assembling its casual conditions we strive to generate a like result. We have to fall back upon what has 1 Dewey, John, Human Nature and Conduct, p. 234. Transition and Aim of Education 15 already happened naturally without design, and study it to see how tt happened, which is what is meant by causation. [The italics are mine.] This knowledge joined to wish creates a purpose.” * The “wish” to become qualified with modern powers is present and very strong in the youths of China. It remains the task of the educa- tors to provide the “knowledge” of how the modern world has become modern “naturally without design.” In the following chapter an attempt will be made to suggest a hypothesis of the dynamic condi- tioning circumstance that has made the modern world modern. But our chief interest in taking up this inquiry is not at all in the thorny and thankless field of the interpretation of history. We are obliged to look for this “knowledge” of how the modern world has become modern in order that the “wish” to become modern may become a properly functioning aim. If we can ascertain—for prac- | tical purposes—the conditioning circumstance or circumstances that | have made the western world creatively modern, then by providing | educational substitutes for these circumstances in our schools, we may hope to induce and develop most economically and effectively the fundamental powers and abilities of modern men in the coming gen- eration of China’s youths. We may also hope, thus, to save ourselves the waste and embarrassment of futilely chasing around in a circle in the desperate “‘wish” to become. modernized. Furthermore, by taking modernization as the immediate aim, we have not only satisfied the urgent demands of the existing conditions, but also provided ourselves with the necessary flexibility in approach- ing the problem of the preservation of the time-honored culture. Modernization is a process. It will call for certain indispensable modern products in the development of the process. But it does not commit itself to uphold any crystallized formulations of the modern © West to the entire detriment of the norms and formulations of the old culture. It emphasizes the process rather than the products. The old culture furnishes the basic experiences to be modernized. Chief Characteristics of Modern Culture. Among the outstanding charactéristic expressions of the modern spirit, the first in importance is generally acknowledged to be the scientific method. Professor Veblen writes: “The characteristic bent of the intellectual life among the peoples of modern Christiandom, as distinguished from what has prevailed elsewhere and in other times, is the animus that shows itself 1 Dewey, John, op. cit., p. 235. 16 Education for Modermzation in China in the mechanistic conception. This may be little to the credit of modern Christiandom, but the fact remains that only at this point has the culture of modern Christiandom outrun the known civiliza- tions that have gone before.” * The strict adherence to sense-data, as finally authoritative, the persistent search for verifiable generaliza- tions only, the logical refinement of the casual mechanism and the industrial applications thereof—these achievements of modern science are too evident to need any further exposition. Another characteristic expression which has been noticed by many _ is the enhancement of the liberties and rights of the individual. From the Renaissance to the present hour there has been a succession of waves of increasing individualization in the rights of the individual to think for himself, to believe according to his own conscience, to obey only the laws in which he has a part in making, and to work in occupations which he can share in managing. Along with the rise of democratic desire there has gone hand in hand a striking growth of confidence in the strength of the individual, in his perfectibility, his educability, his creative intelligence. Science, individuality, and democracy are indisputably the authentic voices of the modern age. The glorious blossoming of modern Europe for the last four hun- dred years, epitomized in such movements as the Scientific Discover- ies, the Industrial Revolution, Nationalism and Democracy, at first bewilders one who comes from another culture. But before this modern period began what was the condition of Europe? Was she far ahead of certain older countries in those days? The only definable answer is no. What seems then to be the conditioning circumstance that has contributed most to the change of direction in modern Europe of the last four hundred years? Was it not Expansion—primarily the sudden and extensive Expan- sion of theEuropearr- peoples following the discovery of America— that conditioned the great marvellous strides of modern Europear progress? Is not this the chief dynamic factor that has necessitated and called forth the scientific method of approach, the democratic desire for equality, and the powerful and self-confident individuality ? The reasons for this surmise will be stated more explicitly in the succeeding chapter. ‘Veblen, T., Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, p. 105. CHAPTER IV CHIEF CONDITIONING CIRCUMSTANCE OF MODERN PROGRESS The Problem Defined. The hypothesis as summarily put forth at the close of the last chapter has perhaps aroused greater anticipa- tion than the content of this chapter can hope to satisfy. It must be stated again that it is not the purpose of this inquiry to in- dulge in historical speculation. The immediate interest in this attempt to ascertain the chief conditioning circumstance of how the modern world has become modern is an extremely practical one, It forms a necessary step in a program of education. The knowledge of the process of modernization of the European peoples is indispensable in view of the intense desire and utter urgency on the part of the Chinese to become modern also. Edu- ) cation is a form of conscious control. It attempts to shorten the natural process in some effective manner. The natural process, therefore, if clearly discerned, may well give valuable sugges- tion as to*how conscious control can be effective. But even a brief glimpse into what the problem involves al- ready suggests bristling diversities of opinion. At the outset, therefore, it is necessary to indicate the method to be followed in the treatment of this chapter. Quotations from modern writers will be liberally resorted to. An annotated and selected bibliog- raphy. is attached at the end of the book for those who are inclined to search further into the validity of the hypothesis. The writer may return to this theoretical inquiry when leisure shall permit, but he definitely refrains from that undertaking in the present connection. Expansion of Europe. As an introduction, it seems best to quote Professor William R, Shepherd.’ Regarding the modern histori- cal movements, Professor Shepherd writes: “The ‘Renaissance,’ the ‘Reformation,’ the ‘French Revolution,’ the ‘Industrial Revo- lution,’ ‘Nationalism and Democracy,’ have been examined, de- 2 Three articles on ‘The Expansion of Europe’’ published in the Political Science Quar- terly, 1919, eel 18 Education for Modernization in China scribed and evaluated with reference to the particular period of which they form a part. But a movement greater than these and contemporaneous with them has been comparatively ignored. Actually they seem to have been born and bred in Europe alone, and thus to have communicated their influence to the rest of the world; and yet, how far were they in reality the product of Europe’s ventures beyond its own frontiers; and if not wholly the product, how far was their inception or development affected by such ventures oversea and overland in distant portions of the earth? This is a question that has remained substantially with- out an answer.” To this question, Professor Shepherd has made more than a suggestive contribution. He outlines the whole field and pre- pares the ground for future investigators. He sees that “the his- tory of the Expansion of Europe . . . includes colonization and vastly more.” It embraces “the indebtedness of the rest of the world to Europe and the indebtedness of Europe to the rest of the world, in all that counts for the general progress of civiliza- tion in modern times.” “The concept is divisible into two phases, of which one may be called the ‘outward,’ and the other the ‘homeward,’ movement, The former concerns the transmission of European ideas and institutions and the modifications they undergo in contact with their new environment. The latter be- tokens the results that follow for Europe itself—the influence of such activities upon European civilization proper, and in par- ticular upon the local life and thought of the nations more direct- ly engaged in the work of expansion.” Discussing the effects of the “homeward” movement, the ana- lysis continues: “From all that expansion has evoked in spirit and attainment—the zest of enterprise, eagerness for adventure, fame, wealth, new scenes and new homes, new places on the earth where a greater comfort and happiness might be assured, the in- troduction of the unknown and an increased use of the known— from its contact, in a word, with new lands and new peoples in America, Asia, Africa and the isles of the sea, Europe has derived new impulses and new developments.” 1Pohtical Science Quarterly, 1919, p. 47. 2 Tbid., p. 61. 3 Tbid., p. 211. Chief Conditioning Circumstance of Modern Progress 19 For the purposes of this chapter, it is unnecessary to follow through all these “new impulses and new developments.” Two phases are singled out for special attention, namely, Science and the Rise of Democracy. These are characteristic expressions of modern culture that have more than transient significance. Expansion and Modern Scientific Method. Concerning the condi- tions that contributed to make the scientific type of thinking pos- sible, Professor Shepherd writes: “The provincialism of an old order, resting on tradition and authority, keeping a section of mankind isolated from its fellows and maintaining it in ignorance and routine, has broken down before a tremendous broadening of contact with different stages of civilization over the entire earth. Ancient, biblical and patristic domination of the mind has been overthrown by the rise of a rational and scientific concept of the universe and the systematization of learning in that regard. From the forces thus engendered the thought of Europe may be said to have been affected in three ways: first, through the im- pulse given to the revival of a secular outlook on life, an appre- ciation of worldly things and human relationships; second, through the arousing of curiosity and interest, which has con- duced to philosophic and scientific inquiry; and third, through the enhancement of credulity and imagination along lines that have assured an acquisition of wider fields of expression in liter- ary and artistic endeavor. “To an age of vague notions about the outer world has suc- ceeded an era of explorers, travelers and investigators who have been able to demonstrate the truth or falsity of such ideas by actual evidence. Verification could thus become a possibility, and from a possibility a habit. [The italics are mine.| Through the re- ports that have been furnished and the things that have been gathered the faculty of close observation has.been developed. It has been practicable, accordingly, to specialize in the examina- tion of what is characteristic of a single phenomenon or of groups of phenomena world-wide in their distribution, and eventually to discuss the supreme problem of the origin and destiny of man and his relation to the universe in which he dwells.’”” To quote from another writer* concerning the influence of (Tbsd., p. 393. 2 Kohl, J. G., A Popular History of the Discovery of America, 2 vols. Translated by R. R. Noel, London, Chapman and Hall, 1862. 20 Education for Modernization in China Expansion on the development of science: “Until the age of dis- covery, natural sciences and geography were confined to very nar- row limits. Until then they were cramped by the doctrines of Aristotle, of Pliny, and Ptolemy, whose rule had endured two thousand years! Natural history had made no progress since the days of Aristotle; and no one had dared to question the astro- nomical system of Ptolemy. “In the middle ages, instead of astronomy, we had astrology; instead of physics, magic; instead of chemistry, alchemy; natural science resembled, so to speak, a mummy tightly swathed in an- cient ligaments, which the learned men had handed down from generation to generation as they had received it from the Egyp- tians and Greeks.” * Developing the same theme, Kohl continued, “The daring voy- age of Columbus across the ocean had burst many bonds, had dissipated many prejudices, awakened a new and bold freedom of thought. On all sides the view became extended, and the spirit of inquiry greatly strengthened. New ideas in one department gave rise to new ideas in another. In the same year in which Columbus died, Copernicus discovered his new system of the universe; in the same year in which Cortez conquered Tenoch- titlan, Luther burnt the Pope’s bull at Wittenburg; at the time when Frobisher attempted to sail round the North of America, Pope Gregory XIII improved the calendar.” ’ As to the influence of expansion on the development of the specific sciences, it is sufficient to give here a list of the sciences that Professor Shepherd analyzed in the last * of his three articles. The list comprises such sciences as the following: geography, historiography, archeology, international law, anthropology, com- parative philology, comparative religion, sociology, astronomy, oceanography, physics, chemistry, geology, palaeontology, biol- ogy, etc. How the development of Science in modern times has been conditioned by the circumstance of expansion may be summed up as follows: 1. Expansion has given a widened basis for analogy and con- 1 Kohl, op. cit., Vol. 11, p. 267. 3 Ibid., Vol. 11, p. 273. 8 Shepherd, of. cit., pp. 392-412. Chief Conditioning Circumstance of Modern Progress 21 trasts. It has extended the possibility for the collection of data. (Witness the coming into existence of museums, zoological and botanical gardens, and Bacon’s idea of Solomon’s House in The New Atlantis.) 2. Explorations and frontier experiences have stimulated the faith in objective sense-evidence. “Columbus, Cortez, and Ma- gellan, and all the other Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, were careful observers of nature. In the new world they found much to attract their attention, for, if some things were similar to those in Europe, yet none were exactly alike, and the greater number entirely different.”* Since that time objective evidences have been increasing in dignity and usefulness. 3. The expansive outlook has inspired hypotheses in Science. Every modern scientist is a romanticist with most exuberant faith in the future. He wills to create a new heaven and a new earth by his magic, for modern science is a form of magic espe- cially in its theoretical basis.’ 4. The demands of practical usefulness as made imperative in frontier existence have stimulated the mechanistic conception in the casual basis of scientific thinking, as well as favored the use and invention of labor-saving devices in the applications of Science. The development of mechanical devices especially among Anglo-Saxon peoples is analyzed by Strong: “The mul- tiplication of machinery is as inevitable as if governed by a law of natural increase and especially is this true among a pioneer people like the Anglo-Saxon. In a new country there is always more work to be done than workmen to do it. A labor-saving de- vice is, therefore, at a premium. Anglo-Saxons have for genera- tions been on the frontier of civilization. By virtue of its train- ing, therefore, the Anglo-Saxon mind naturally travels by the hypothenuse; it insists on the short cut, though that involves tun- neling a mountain or severing an isthmus. It studies economy of time, of distance, of material, of power. In a word, it is inventive of labor-saving machinery and methods. Moreover, invention stimulates invention. The successful application of a principle in one sphere suggests its application in another. A new chemical triumph often prepares the way for a new mechanical triumph.’” 1 Kohl, of. cit., p. 268. 2See Veblen, T., The Place of Science in Modern Civilization, pp. 1-55. 2 Strong, Josiah, Expansion Under New World-Conditions, p. 78. az Education for Modernization in China Expansion and the Rise of Modern Democracy. Kohl indicated the general significance of the New World in the development of democracy; he wrote, “Beginning with Columbus, when he planted his little towns in Hispafiola, it had been seen that a certain equality of rank is necessary to the founding of a colony. This principle, as old as the American colonies, was loudly pro- nounced when the free states threw off the English yoke. In their celebrated Declaration of Independence, they proclaimed that ‘all men are born free and equal.’ This American phrase and declaration acted like oil upon the flames of the French Revolution, and since then, partly receiving it from America, a democratic tendency is perceptible in the human race.” * As to the specific influences of expansion on the emancipation of the masses in the nations of western Europe, Professor W. G. Sumner contributed a very suggestive analysis. He wrote, “In the enumeration of the great forces of class change which oper- ated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, I have reserved one for more special attention. The adventurous voyagers who began to explore the outlying parts of the earth in the fifteenth century thought little and cared less about the peasants and artisans at home; but it was they more than any others who were fighting for the fortunes of those classes in the future. The very greatest, but, so far as I have seen, least noticed significance of the discov- ery of America was the winning of a new continent for the labor class. . . . If you have abundance of land and few men to share it, the men will all be equal. Each landholder will be his own tenant and his own laborer. Social classes disappear. Wages are high. The mass of men, apart from laziness, folly and vice, are well off. . . . The outlying continents affect not only those who go to them but also the whole labor class who stay at home. Even while they stay there the pressure of the whole reachable land-supply weighs upon the labor market and the land market at home; and it makes wages high, food cheap, and the rent of land low, all at once. That is what exalts the laborer and abases the landed aristocrat, working both ways in behalf of de- mocracy and equality.” The same hypothesis is further expounded: “With more land, 1 Kohl, op. cit., Vol. 11, p. 266. 2 Sumner, W. G., Earth Hunger or the Philosophy of Land Grabbing, pp. 41-3 (1896). Chief Conditioning Circumstance of Modern Progress 23 there are higher wages, because no one will work for wages which are convertible into less goods than the laborer could get out of the land when used in the most lavish and wasteful manner. With more land, the manual unskilled laborer is raised in com- parison with the skilled and educated laborer, that is, the masses are raised in comparison with the classes. When there is plenty of land, the penalties of all social follies, vices, and ignorance are light. Each man has plenty of the “rights of man” because he need only be, in order to be a valuable member of society ; he does not need high training and education, as he would in an old and crowded society with a strict organization, high discipline, in- tense competition, and weighty sanctions upon success or failure.” As a concrete case, Becker analyzes the rise of democracy in the back country of early Virginia as follows: “Here there were no great estates, no slaves, and few ‘servants,’ no houses with pretensions to architectural excellence, no leisured class with opportunities or inclinations for acquiring the manners or the tastes of the ‘gentleman.’ Here every man earned his bread by the sweat of his brow, manners were rude and primitive, institu- tions were simple, men lived close to the soil, equality was a fact, and freedom was limited only by the stubborn resistance of nature.” And in regard to the significance of American continental ex- pansion, Becker writes, ‘““The story of this steady advance across the continent is the great epic of American history. . . . But there is more in this story than a tale of adventure; rightly told, it will reveal the secret of American history—the persistence of demo- cratic ideals which flourish in the simple and primitive conditions of a frontier society.” [The italics are mine. ] To sum up the influences of expansion on the development of democracy: 1. Opportunities for expansion have contributed to make so- cial distinctions within the group unnecessary and intolerable. “The idea of equality which the frontier developed was not an equality of rewards and possessions, it was an idea of equality of) opportunity and of reward according to merit." 1 Sumner, op. cit., “p. 45. 2 Becker, Carl, The United States an Experiment in Democracy, p. 37. * Tbid., p. 160. 4 Tbid., p. 172. 24 Education for Modernization in China 2. Expansion experiences have enhanced individual growth and assertion. In order to succeed in primitive frontier life, a man needs to develop his individual initiative. Becker writes, “He had to pit his strength and his resourcefulness against the stubborn resistance and inertia of the uncleared forest or the un- tilled prairie. There was no paternal government to fall back upon, and no settled social custom to direct or to restrain him. At every step he must decide what to do and how to do it; and upon these decisions his success or failure in acquiring the bare neces- sities of life, and often in preserving life itself, depended. In developing the spirit of individual initiative and self-confi- dence, the frontier gave to men a strong sense of individual liberty.”” Furthermore, because of the infinite expansive outlook, a glow- ing future alluring onward, and a promising field for every one who has the desire and strength to expand in, individual will has been greatly enhanced. Hence the origin of the modern worship of the Will, such as the Will to Live, the Will to Power, the Will to Believe, and the Will to Will. 3. Qualities of cooperation within the group have been ele- vated because of challenging opportunities in expansion, and dangers of competition due to expansion. This cooperative side of the moderns should not be overlooked. In contrast to long- settled communities, they have more cause to love the group, just because there are dangers around and adventures ahead. Hence they have been more consciously disposed to adopt measures of group cooperation and improvement. The Practical Use of This Hypothesis. It seems necessary in conclusion to point out that any historical hypothesis, as hypoth- eses in all types of human thinking, is based necessarily on things that have already happened. To maintain that the rise of the scien- tific method and the development of democratic practices and ideals have been conditioned by the experiences of expansion, by no means precludes the possibility of science or democracy when ex- pansion ceases. For the purpose of this inquiry, it is sufficient to know what circumstances have favored the development of science and democracy so that educational substitutes can be set 1 Becker, op. cit., p. 170. Chief Conditioning Circumstance of Modern Progress — 25 up in the Chinese schools in order to promote and stimulate scien- tific and democratic attitudes. To go into the theoretical conten- tion as to whether democracy and scientific method will continue when expansion comes to an end, and what directions they will take in the future, lies outside the province of the present inquiry. Suppose, however, that the chief conditioning circumstance of modern progress is granted for practical purposes and suppose further that educational substitutes for it are provided in the Chinese schools, it might still be questioned whether the Chinese so trained would find room for expansion in their own environ- ment. To this it may be assured that it is quite possible for the methods and ideals produced under a certain set of natural cir- cumstances, once they have been consciously formulated by man, to exist independent of the circumstances that originally pro- duced them. Furthermore, there are in China actual opportuni- ties for expansion, even of the material kind, such as the wide territories in Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet, the vast natural resources waiting everywhere to be developed, the opportunity for the extension of modern means of transportation and communication, the re-building of the cities, the possibilities of manufacturing, of mining, etc. The nation is eagerly waiting for men and women with modern training. There need be no fear whatsoever that there will not be enough challenging opportunities for them to exercise their expansive attitudes, abilities, and ideals. The urgent need is for the effective type of education that can produce such attitudes and abilities. 1 See discussion under Criterion rv in Chapter v1. CHAPTER V FRONTIER EXPERIENCE IN MODERN EDUCATIONAL APPROACH Instead of following through the whole modern period in the chronological order, analyzing how modern tendencies in educa- tional approach from Bacon, Locke, Rousseau, to the prevailing quantitative method of the present day, have drawn upon the experiences of the various phases of modern expansion, such as exploring, pioneering, frontier community-building, large-scale producing and the like, it is deemed advisable to proceed by a less ambitious but more practical path. In the brief space of this chap- ter one specific tendency in educational approach will be dis- cussed. It is typically modern. It_is taken from American expe-_ rience, and it has its close relation especially to the problem of curriculum construction—the field in educational endeavor that concerns directly the purpose of this inquiry. It can best be sum- marized in the Concept of Continuity of Professor Dewey. This will be dealt with not so much as a technique of thought in itself, but as it is related to, and has drawn upon, the experi- ences of modern expansion. It will be the task of the Chinese educators to make use of the valuable modern experiences in terms of our own peculiar needs in the education for mod- ernization. DEWEY AND THE CONCEPT OF CONTINUITY His Place in Educational Thought. One historian of education has named Professor John Dewey “the foremost American inter- preter, in terms of the school, of the vast social and industrial changes which have marked the nineteenth century.”* And an- other has characterized him as being “the one who has done more than any one else’ in the movement that “harmonizes the con- flicting ideas of the old tendencies.”* Professor Dewey is ac- 1 Cubberley, E. P., History of Education, p. 780. 2 Monroe, P., History of Education, p. 755. Frontier Experience in Modern Educational Approach ‘A knowledged by the educational world to-day as the leading edu- cational thinker in recent times. In the intellectual transforma- tion that is going on in China to-day, we can trace the distinct contributions he has made both by his personal visit to China and by his writings. This gives us additional interest in ana- lyzing his views as they may bear upon the needs of a new educa- tion for China’s modernization. The Basic Conception in His Philosophy. Philosophy to Professor Dewey, of course, is never a formal thing. It is “thinking what the known demands of us—what responsive attitudes it exacts. It presents an assignment of something to be done— something to be tried. Its value lies not in furnishing solutions (which can be achieved only in action) but in defining difficulties and suggesting methods for dealing with them.” * Following his own method, let us see what are some of the “difficulties” which he has found most challenging to his thought. No thinker has ever shown so much annoyance toward all forms of dualisms in thought and conduct as Professor Dewey. As an illustration, we list a few such dualisms here below:’ Mind and matter The individual and society Labor and leisure Practical and intellectual activity Culture and vocation Empirical and rational The particular and the universal Doing and knowing Intellect and emotions The motive and the consequences The spiritual and the physical Duty and interest Intelligence and character In contrast to the dualistic types of thinking, Professor Dewey sets up his concept of continuity which is the central message of his philosophy. Underlying his concept of continuity are some very 1 Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, p. 381. 2 These are taken at random from his writings simply as an illustration of his annoyance with all sorts of dualisms. They are, obviously, by no means mutually exclusive. 28 Education for Modernization in China vital and deep-rooted forces in the environment of American life. He does not intentionally and artificially adopt the method of harmony as a formal technique, but the habituated mode of liv- ing and thinking in an expansive and unobstructed environment for the last three hundred years of American life gives him the basis of reality for—and the social readiness to accept—his artic- ulate formulation of the central significance of American experi- ence. The following passage clearly illustrates the need for the appropriate kind of environment in order that feeling for con- tinuity can become real: “When we find the successful display of our energies checked by uncongenial surroundings, natural and social, the easiest way out is to build castles in the air and let them be a substitute for an actual achievement which involves the pains of thought.”’ According to this analysis, uncongenial surroundings, natural and social, are chiefly responsible for the split in thought into dualisms. This split, as Professor Dewey proceeds, “may be more than an incident of particular individual experience. The social situation may be such as to throw the class given to articulate reflection back into their own thoughts and desires without providing the means by which these ideas and aspirations can be used to reorganize the environment.” * Thus “in the early centuries of the Christian era, the influential moral systems of the Stoics, of monastic and popular Christianity and other religious movements of the day, took shape under the influence of such conditions.” In order to avoid the evils of dualisms, proper environment must be such that it is possible for the disposition of desire and thinking to become an “organic factor in overt and obvious, con- duct.” The evils of dualisms “must result whenever individuals, whether young or old, cannot engage in a progressively cumu- lative undertaking under conditions which engage their interest and require their reflection.”” This presupposes an expanding en- vironment which supplies, in a progressive manner, challenging difficulties for the wholesome unification of thinking and doing, and which allows plenty of room for the exertion of individual efforts. 1 Dewey, op. cit., p. 405. 3 Ibid. § Ibid, 4 Ibid., p. 407. 5 Ibid., p. 408. Frontier Experience in Modern Educational Approach rae) His Educational Ideal. No other modern philosopher has stated so explicitly as Professor Dewey the innate unity between philo- sophic thinking and educational endeavor. He writes, “If we are willing to conceive education as the process of forming fun- | damental dispositions, intellectual and emotional, toward nature | and fellowmen, philosophy may even be defined as the general theory | of education.” Furthermore, he conceives of education as “the lab- | oratory in which philosophic distinctions become concrete and are tested.” The problems that confronted the first stages of his experiment in the University of Chicago were stated by himself as follows: “The obvious fact is that our social life has undergone a thorough and radical change. If our education is to have any meaning for life, it must pass through an equally complete transformation.” “The change that comes first to mind, the one that overshadows and even controls all others, is the industrial one—the applica- tion of science resulting in the great inventions that have utilized the forces of nature on a vast and inexpensive scale; the growth of a world wide market as the object of production, of vast manu- facturing centers to supply this market, of cheap and rapid means of communication and distribution between all its parts.’”* — At the end of the nineteenth century when industrial trans- formations were taking place in American life, Professor Dewey saw that the essential powers in the men and women who could succeed in adapting themselves to the new environment were the natural products of the mode of living which we may characterize as frontier community-building that had been going on for three hundred years previously in America. He also saw that the most efficient means to adapt the younger generation successfully to cope with the vast problems around them would be the provision in the schools of the substitutes for the environmental forces which in previous generations of frontier life shaped and made possible the characteristics of initiative, keen thinking ability and cooperative endeavor. The ideal school, therefore, to him was a frontier household 1 Dewey, op. cit., p. 383. / Ibid, p. 384. ven 8 Dewey, John, in School and Society, p. 26. * Ibid., p. 5. 30 Education for Modernization in China enlarged and specialized.’ In the following quotation, it will be seen how the mode of living in a frontier household is raised to a high educational significance. “Those of us who are here to-day need go back only one, two, or at most three generations, to find a time when the household was practically the center in which were carried on, or about which were clustered, all the typical forms of industrial occupations. The clothing worn was for the most part made in the house; the members of the household were usually familiar also with the shearing of the sheep, the carding and spinning of the wool, and the plying of the loom. Instead of pressing a button and flooding the house with electric light, the whole process of getting illumination was followed in its toilsome length from the killing of the animal and the trying of fat to the making of wicks and dipping of candles. The supply of flour, of lumber, of foods, of building materials, of household furniture, even of metal ware, of nails, hinges, hammers, etc., was produced in the immediate neighborhood, in shops which were constantly open to inspection and often centers of neighborhood congrega- tion. The entire industrial process stood revealed, from the pro- duction on the farm of the raw materials till the finished article was actually put to use. Not only this, but practically every mem- ber of the household had his own share in the work. The chil- dren, as they gained in strength and capacity, were gradually ini- tiated into the mysteries of the several processes. It was a mat- ter of immediate and personal concern, even to the point of actual participation. “We cannot overlook the factors of discipline and of character- building involved in this kind of life: training in habits of order and of industry, and in the idea of responsibility, of obligation to do something, to produce something, in the world. There was always something which really needed to be done, and a real necessity that each member of the household should do his own part faithfully and in cooperation with others. Personalities which became effective in action were bred and tested in the me- dium of action, Again, we cannot overlook the importance for educational purposes of the close and intimate acquaintance got with nature at first hand, with real things and materials, with the actual processes of their manipulation, and the knowledge of 1 Dewey, John, op. cit., p. 35. Frontier Experience in Modern Educational Approach 31 their social necessities and uses. In all this there was continual training of observation, of ingenuity, of constructive imagina- tion, of logical thought, and of the sense of reality acquired through first-hand contact with actualities. The educative forces of the domestic spinning and weaving, of the sawmill, the grist- mill, the cooper shop, and the blacksmith forge, were continu- ously operative.” * The school should be a community in itself and education is conceived as life in that community with all its rich opportuni- ties for the development of intellect and character, and not as preparation for some kind of artificial and formal mode of living disconnected with, and unrelated to, the real needs and problems of the school environment. Reasoning from this basis, it naturally follows that “the sub- ject matter of the school curriculum should mark a gradual dif- ferentiation out of the primitive unconscious unity of social life,” ’ and “the true center of correlation of the school subjects is not science, nor literature, nor history, nor geography, but the child’s own social activities’, and that “the primary basis of education is in the child’s powers at work along the same general construc- tive lines as those which have brought civilization into being.” * Finally, “education must be conceived as a continuing recon- struction of experience; and the process and goal of education are one and the same thing.”* In other words, the school should in a very true sense be a frontier community in which every mem- ber has his active share of responsibility and problem solving, and the educative processes thus gone through will best furnish the learners with the adequate equipment for adapting them- selves to the world outside the school. Frontier Commumty-Building Experience in, Education. for Mod- ernization. In the education for modernization, we shall need to provide educational substitutes in our schools for the transform- ing experiences of this stage of modernization. Our youths must be given ample and ever-expanding opportunities to challenge their attention and wholehearted effort. They must unify their 1 Dewey, John, op. cit., pp. 6-7. 2 Dewey, John, My Pedagogic Creed, p. 10. 3 Ibid., p. 11. 4 Ibid, SIGS Palo. 32 Education for Modernization in China life-efforts by effective action that answers the material demands of the environment. It is chiefly from the philosophy of con- tinuity that we have drawn the concrete points for emphasis under Criteria II and III for curriculum construction in the edu- cation for modernization. For example: 1. Does the school activity promote “open-space” (or demo- cratic) social conduct? and 2. Does the school activity unify life-effort through action? These will be discussed in the following chapter. CRAVE RV LE PROPOSED CRITERIA FOR CURRICULUM CONSTRUC- TION IN THE EDUCATION FOR MODERNIZATION All discussions on curriculum-making naturally fall into three parts: (1) the aim or aims of education, (2) the criteria or prin- ciples, guiding the selection and arrangement of the content of the curriculum, and (3) the technique for the provision of de- tailed matter as it will be used in the schools. In the previous chapters of this inquiry, we have endeavored to show that the immediate aim of Chinese education during the period of transition is modernization—not primarily the learning of products already formulated, but rather the experiencing of a process which we hope will produce actively modern men and women, capable of creating new solutions for meeting the prob- lems of China in her adjustment to the modern world; and that the chief conditioning circumstance in the modernization of the western nations has been the extensive process of modern ex- pansion, and that characteristics of modern culture are traceable to this influence. It will be the aim of this chapter to propose certain criteria for guidance in the construction of an effective content in the edu- cation for modernization. Following the thesis of this inquiry, it is but natural that we should derive our criteria by an analysis of the characteristics of the different aspects of modern expan- sion. The criteria thus derived should be of service as a sort of measuring tape to judge whether a certain school activity, or any detailed part thereof, is desirable and effective. They will help in evaluating present-day practice as well as initiating new proposals, as we shall see in the following chapters. They are stated in question form in order to facilitate application. They are general enough to apply to all grades, but the special! field we have in view is the Middle School, which will supply us with the concrete matter for discussion. By “school activity” is meant classroom study, field Sten 34 Education for Modernization in China student organization work, or any kind of exercise going on among the students in the school community. THE PROPOSED CRITERIA CRITERION I. Does the School Activity Encourage the Extension of Environmental Contacts (Both Physical and Social) ? 1. Does the school provide opportunities to foster the desire to explore, to go away from crowded and familiar surroundings, to travel near and far for varied sense-stimuli and for the enlargement of social under- standing ? 2. Does the school activity contribute to physical vitality and stimulate the desire to make use of the same? 3. Does the school activity encourage habits of making comparisons, of set- ting up hypotheses, of verifying them by further search of facts—in general, the habits of alert sizing up of, and ready adaptation to, new situations f 4. Does the school activity contribute to the organizing skill and knowledge needed for self-directed enterprises in the extension of physical and social contacts? CRITERION II. Does the School Activity Promote “Open-Space”’ (or Democratic) Social Conduct ? 1. Does the school activity promote the ideals, skills and knowledges for cooperative endeavor on the basis of equal opportunity for all to participate? i. Does the school activity promote the active qualities of individuality, in- dependence in judgment and in action amidst the conformity required by a “closed-space” long-settled community? CriTERION III. Does the School Activity Unify Life-Efforts through Action? 1. Does the school activity center around things to do, that is, the making of material changes in the environment or the achieving of other kinds of objective ends? 2. Do the products of such doing possess appeals of immediate usefulness to the doers themselves? 3. Does the manner of doing encourage the creation of methods by the doers? 4. Does the organization for doing encourage cooperative endeavor, adjusting individual talents to proper tasks? CriTERION IV. Does the School Activity Contribute to Abilities Needed in Scientific Producing and Organizing? 1. Does the school activity contribute to the development of executive ability and organizing leadership in industrial, political, social and cultural organizations ? Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 35 2. Does the school activity train the scientific attitude and technique for the mastering of situations and problems? 3. Does the school provide for opportunities of experience in real vocations in order to gain concreteness of experience and to guide in the choice of life-vocation? 4. Does the school activity serve as a fundamental and necessary tool in vocations in which the student will engage such as certain linguistic habits, certain social observances, certain processes in quantitative meth- ods, certain principles in organized knowledge, and the like? CRITERION V. Does the School Activity Promote the Ideals and Habits for the “Humanization” of the Aims and Processes of Modern Life and Organization? 1. Does the school activity preserve and readapt the ideals and habits of humanism in the old culture? 2. Does the school activity allow and encourage the searching for “human” values in the products and processes of modern culture? EXPOSITION OF THE CRITERIA CRITERION I. DorEs THE SCHOOL ACTIVITY ENCOURAGE THE EXTEN- SION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTACTS? 1. Does the school provide opportunities to foster the desire to ex- plore, to go away from crowded and familiar surroundings, to travel near and far for varied sense-stimuli and for the enlarge- ment of social understanding ? Of all possible advice to the youths of China to help them realize their aspiration to acquire modern outlook and modern powers, that which seems least in danger of contradiction and incapable of over- emphasis is never to remain tame and comfortable within the poisoned indoors of the crowded decadence of man. They should be inspired at the present era with a love of open space and of the beckoning wonders of nature. The reactions coming to the youth from a broad extension of environmental contacts will work for most healthy atti- tudes and objectives such as we cannot possibly secure in any other way for the purpose of modernization. All things modern should be approached “from the point of view of the explorer and the discoverer. It is only thus that youth can feel the real urgent demand for the creation of a new civilization. This is indeed the authentic call of the modern spirit. That long-settled conditions and continued living in the midst of a 36 Education for Modernization in China dense population largely account for the conservatism of the Chinese has often been noticed by discerning observers from abroad Professor Dewey writes:* “It is beyond question that many traits of the Chinese mind are the products of an extraordinary and long con- tined density of populations.”’ And he continues, “I wonder whether even the Anglo-Saxons would have developed or retained initiative if they had lived for centuries under conditions that gave them no room to stir about, no relief from the unremitting surveillance of their fellows.”’ On account of that lack of freshness and open-space in the environment, “innovation, experimentation, get automatically dis- couraged, not from lack of intelligence, but because intelligence is too keenly aware of the mistakes that may result, the trouble that may arise.” One of the first and most legitimate functions of the school is to provide opportunities by means of which the prison walls of the students’ intellectual, physical and social life can be pushed back and broken down. Without going through this preliminary process, it is our belief that no amount of slavish acquiring of modern products can make a Chinese youth modern. Now as to what kind of excursions and travels can best be em- ployed, this requires a detailed survey of all devices existing in China and elsewhere, or the creation of others according to immediate needs. Those who are familiar with the technique and recent success of the Boy Scout Movement in America and England may wonder whether that movement cannot supply us with some valuable suggestions in spirit and in working tools. Consequently we shall devote the next few paragraphs to an analysis of how the Boy Scout Movement has been introduced into China in the last few years, and what suggestions that movement rightly understood can supply us, not as mere extra- curricular activity, but for regular school procedure. At the present time the Boy Scout Movement, although formally organized as a national organization and officially recognized by the Ministry of Education in 1919, is still a foreign non-indigenous plant that has not taken very deep roots in the Chinese soil. Some schools in large centers, such as Shanghai, Tientsin, Canton, etc.,*have organ- ized scout troops according to prescribed rules, but the formality has been binding and we cannot say that the spirit has been adequately appreciated. Here again, we are afraid, is an instance where the ‘Dewey, John, ‘‘What Holds China Back,” Asia Magazine, May 1920. Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 37 emphasis is misplaced on the learning of certain formulated modern products and not on the experiencing of a vital modern process. A few illustrations will show this point clearly. The Scout Law. Every boy scout has to make a promise or take an oath to do his best to carry out the Scout Law. The English and the American versions are somewhat different in form, and the Chinese version is a translation of the American with certain modifications. The summarized topics of the laws are as follows: ENGLISH AMERICAN CHINESE * 1. A scout’s honor is to be 1.A scout is trust- 1. Honesty. trusted. worthy. 2. A scout is loyal. 2. A scout is loyal. 2. Loyalty. 3. A scout’s duty is to be 3. A scout is helpful. 3. Helpfulness. useful and to help others. 4. A scout is a friend to all 4. A scout is friend- 4. Love. and a brother to every ly. other scout no matter in what social class the other belongs. 5. A scout is courteous. 5. A scout is courte- 5. Etiquette. ous. 6. A scout is a friend to 6. A scout is kind. 6. Love things. animals. 7. A scout obeys orders. 7. A scout is obedient. 7. Obedience. 8. A scout smiles and whis- 8 A scout is cheer- g, Happiness. tles under all difficul- ful. ties. 9. A scout is thrifty. 9. A scout is thrifty. 9. Economy. 10. A scout is clean in 10. A scout is brave. 10. Courage. thought, word and deed. 11. A scout is clean. tie Glasniinece: 12. A scout is rev- ..12. Public virtue. erent. It is interesting to note how in the American version all the laws are “standardized” and in the Chinese they are literally “formalized,” each group showing its own national characteristic! In China there are already too many formal virtues to bind the youths. To borrow this part of the Scout Movement, namely the emphasis on obedience to law, seems to be emphasizing the wrong thing at the wrong Taken from ‘‘Lectures on Scouting,’”’ published by Kiangsu Provincial Education Asso- ciation, 1928. 38 Education for Modernization in China moment. The real contribution and spirit of the Movement are indi- cated in the words of its originator, Baden-Powell: ‘Scoutcraft includes the qualities of our frontier colonists, such as resourceful- ness, endurance, pluck, trustworthiness, plus the chivalry of the Knights.” Again, “with a view to making the subject appeal to boys and to meet their spirit in adventure, I held up for their ideal the doings of backwoodsmen and Knights, adventurers, and explorers as the heroes for them to follow.” * Here we see the ideal is to make the boy follow the footsteps of those “who live face to face with nature and have to do things for themselves.” Consequently all the wood- craft, campcraft, first aid, tracking, “hiking,” and other things in the program are dominated by the ideals and habits of the frontiersman and of the explorer. In this connection it may be pointed out how out-of-door life is inadequately appreciated by the translators of the requirements for the Chinese movement. For the “Second Class Requirements” in the American movement, a scout must, among other things, “track half a mile in 25 minutes; or if in town, describe satisfactorily the con- tents of one store window out of four observed for one minute each.” But the Handbook for Scout Masters cautions that “the window observation test is a substitute which should be used only when cir- cumstances absolutely preclude the tracking test,’ * because it recog- nizes that “a sharpening of the eye and a quickening of the wits— observation, concentration, and deduction are demanded by track- ing and its allied games.” * The Chinese equivalent says, ‘“‘Practice in observation and memory. He should satisfy one of three conditions (1) the window test (same as above), (2) after one minute’s observa- tion, remember 16 out of 24 things, (3) visit a factory or a place of historical interest and make a careful report.’ We can see here that all the alertness of the frontiersman is lost sight of in all three of these conditions. Again, one of the requirements for the “first class” in the Ameri- can Movement is “Make a round trip alone (or with another scout) to a point at least seven miles away, going on foot or rowing boat, and write a satisfactory account of the trip and the things observed.” It is especially specified, “This trip should not be made along city 1 Handbook for Scout Masters, p. 478, Boy Scouts of America, 1920. 2 Ibid., p. 165. 3 Tbid., p. 92. Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 39 streets or automobile roads. The route should follow small country roads and at least a part of the hike should be across country through fields and woods.” The Chinese equivalent says, “Travel alone or with a friend on foot or by boat over 20 li’s (about 7 miles) ; if riding on horseback, 40 li’s. Report condition of the trip.” The dis- tance is shortened, but that is a minor matter. The chief important difference is in the making use of boats and horseback-riding which will not demand the same amount of resourcefulness as travelling through fields and woods, making one’s own path as one goes along. The Scout Movement as a movement, especially with its formalized and sometimes sentimental and unintelligent details—unintelligent to the Chinese who cannot read the literature in the original—will not, unless greatly modified, have a more than limited significance in China. But from the spirit and the technique of the movement we may learn something for the education of youth of the secondary period with the end in view of extending their physical and social contacts. To sum up, suggestions may be drawn from the following points : 1. The kinds and functions of excursions. Excursions may con- sist of the following activities: (a) nature study, which includes observation, specimen collecting, note-taking, comparison, and the generalization of scientific laws; (b) adventure and exploration, using the surprises that come from the meeting of new situations as stimuli for the exercise of resourcefulness, self-control, and intelli- gent and alert adaptation; (c) visitation of industrial and educational institutions such as factories, museums, schools, commercial houses, docks, yards, etc. 2. The teaching of responsibility by trust. When boys are trusted “on their honor,” they become their own disciplinarians. 3. The small unit of organization, the so-called “patrol” system. Organization is in small units in order that personal knowledge may not be lost between the leaders and the men. In cooperating in such small groups, boys learn to lead, and learn to choose whom to follow. It suggests a method for training “character’’ which has been recog- nized by the originator of the movement as being its greatest contribution. 4. The “individual system” in the achieving of definitely set units of objectives. One boy may become a “first-class” scout in three months by passing satisfactorily all the requirements as stated, while 40 Education for Modernization in China it may take another boy a year or more according to his native ability. By allowing free individual advancement, the mediocrity of the mass is not forced upon the specially talented. Some of these devices may profitably be made use of in the modern secondary school in China. 2. Does the school activity contribute to physical vitality and stimu- late the desire to make use of the same? The neglect of physical development is proverbial among Chinese scholars. But in recent years we see already the rising of a new gen- eration that feels keenly the need for a strong body. Athletics and sports are being introduced from abroad, and old forms of exercise such as boxing, archery, sword playing, etc., are being revived and are receiving popular recognition. School athletic meets, district, pro- vincial and national meets, encourage the young athletes to exert their best in physical development. One stimulus is found in the Far East- ern Olympics that have been held for the Far Eastern countries once every two years since 1913. 1913 in Manila 1919 in Manila 1915 in Shanghai 1921 in Shanghai 1917 in Tokio To counteract the emphasis on individual proficiency, certain schools have taken the lead in promoting group activities. Such work, however, still needs much promotion and systematic guidance. On the whole, physical vitality has not been stressed enough, and school studies, as they are organized to-day, chain the students to their desks for altogether too many hours of their waking existence. Espe- cially during the first two or three years of the secondary school period, much emphasis needs to be put on training for vitality, not only for a few but for all. And such training should best be effected through outdoor exertions by means of sports and exercises in which the students can participate without any feeling of formality or self- consciousness. 3. Does the school activity encourage habits of making comparisons, of setting up hypotheses, of verifying them by further search of facts—in general, the habits of alert sizing up of, and ready adap- tation to, new situations? Dr. Charles W. Eliot, in considering the changes needed in Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 41 American secondary education, pointed out: “Unfortunately schools do not drill children in seeing and hearing correctly, in touching deftly and rapidly, and in drawing the right inferences from the testimony of their senses.” ’ The regret should be the more deeply felt in regard to Chinese schools. Sense-training and reliance on objective evidences have been altogether neglected. Consequently, the habits of thought are apt to permit vagueness and inaccuracy, and a lack of the direct, measured and testing-by-result quality which the modern world calls scientific. In connection with excursions and other opportunities for the extension of environmental contacts, definite training should be given in taking notes, making comparisons, setting up hypotheses, search- ing evidences for proof, and checking up by concrete application in actual use. Such habits, if consciously entertained, should contribute to the type of mind that is needed so much to-day. The schools should give the student an all-round bodily vigour, a nervous system capable of coordinated efforts, a widely applicable skill of ear, eye, and hands, and a training in thinking that guid@s him in sensing the significant elements in a problem, in selecting the relevant facts, in forming the fruitful hypotheses, and in checking all inferences by objective use. Such should be the function and ideal of the modern school. 4, Does the school activity contribute to the organizing skill and knowledge needed for self-directed enterprises in the extension of physical and social contacts? In the meeting of new situations, naturally no set rules can be cer- tain of answering the ever-changing circumstances of the situation. Consequently, adventurers and explorers cannot afford to follow set rules and trust to the constant presence of their leaders. The exi- gencies of their situation naturally force upon them the necessity of being able to organize among themselves independent of any set rules and any definite leaders. In fact, it is through the meeting of such exigencies that the natural leaders have been found and made. In a long-settled community, men often make use of advantages and values created by society in order to advance to leadership. Such values and such advantages are often unjust, and when the society is going through a violent transition, they are often obstructive. Under the present circumstances, there is needed a leadership with 1 Eliot, C. W., Changes Needed in American Secondary Education, p. 9. 42 Education for Modernization in China new qualities—qualities such as exploration and the meeting of new situations will demand and create. If the school can provide oppor- tunities for new experiences of the free type, natural leaders with the necessary qualifications will emerge. And a new kind of readjust- ment in human relationship and organization will eventually be crystallized. Further treatment of the objectives and technique of student self- organization will be found in connection with the Criterion II. CRITERION II. Dors THE ScHOOL ACTIVITY PROMOTE ““OPEN-SPACE” (or Democratic) SociaL ConpuctT? 1. Does the school activity promote the ideals, skills, and knowledge for cooperative endeavor on the basis of equal opportunity for all to participate? Cooperative endeavor on the basis of equal opportunity for all to participate is an ideal made conscious in all democratic communities. With such an ideal it becomes possible to draw out the best efforts of every individual. In the workings of the democratic machinery, there are apt to be instances of temporary confusion and perhaps insubor- dination—both of which may produce irritating ineffectiveness—but in the end a society with such a basis has far more potential strength to put forth in face of emergencies and great opportunities. At least in the schools—if it could not be possible for society at large—cooperative endeavor should be organized on the basis of equality of opportunity. Thus and only thus can the varied talents of the students emerge from obscurity through the possibility of exer- cise, and be tested in the midst of real reactions in a social medium. We have called such social conduct “open-space” because it pre- supposes the presence of challenging opportunities ahead and around the individuals concerned, so that they all can feel their interests drawn out by the opportunities which leave them little energy or time for social discrimination and any possible tendencies toward such social vices as mutual jealousy and destructiveness. In order that the school may be successful in practising the ideal of equality of par- ticipation, ample and varied opportunities must be provided so that the students will all feel an “open-spaceness” toward themselves and toward one another—toward themselves hopefulness of future achievement, and toward others tolerance and mutual helpfulness in attaining one another’s goals. Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 43 Thus the school cannot and should not run on the basis of tradi- tional studies alone. It must have opportunities upon opportunities, activities and ever-increasing activities, for the students to try their talents in. This is the secret of morale of the best disciplined com- munities as well as of the best disciplined schools to-day. To illus- trate our point, let us take the student activities in one school and see how they have helped in contributing to the morale of that school. I refer to the organization called the Council of Extra-Curricular Activities of Nankai School, Tientsin. This council is made up of representatives of all the organized activities of the school as follows: The organizations (two representatives from each class) : Self-Culture and Study Society. Social Activities Society. Society for the Support of Poor People’s Schools. The Religious Association. The School Publications. The School Band. The Glee Club. The Chinese Musical Society. The Athletic Association. Each organization has two representatives on the council. The council meets at stated times for the discussion of all school matters outside of classroom studies. They sit together as a deliberative body and delegate the executive power to a board of nine. It is not so important how they organize so long as there are diverse activities in the school. The students are habituated to parliamentary procedure, the choosing and following of leaders, and decisions on policies. Furthermore, they are always on the look-out for the expression of their activities in new channels. Thus, whenever there is a new channel arising either within the school, such as-interest in a certain subject of study, or outside of the school, such as taking care of the famine sufferers and giving their support to the expression of public opinion in regard to national issues, immediately those who are espe- cially interested would follow the natural procedure of action by orderly means and find support in the morale of the whole school. Student activities are gradually being allowed and encouraged in the secondary institutions of the country. Especially since 1919, when the students did their great patriotic service in the historic Student 44 Education for Modernization in China Movement which is known as the “Fourth of May Movement,” stu- dent self-government has been acquiring more and more attention. It is true that the morale in many schools is far from being satis- factory, but the facts seem to show that the responsibility should fall on the teachers and the administrators for not providing more oppor- tunities and activities for the students to exert themselves in. There is no better way, furthermore, to develop civic responsibility than active participation within the schools. 2. Does the school activity promote the active qualities of individu- ality, independence in judgment and in action amidst the conform- ity required by a “closed-space”’ long-settled community? The predominating atmosphere of the school should be that of the pioneer community in its cooperative effort as well as in its individual responsibility and freedom. It is a matter of common observation that there is the need to cultivate the ability to cooperate, especially among the leaders. This has been made very clear by deficiencies in the “‘closed-space” type of social competition. But while social order and control are being stressed, due weight should be given to the development of independent individuality. In China at the present stage of transition, there should be a shaking loose from too tight a traditional social bondage in order to give the individual the important place in a modernized community. Crowd-mindedness is often the fault of too eager a desire to secure popular approval or immediate success. Especially during such times of transition, much of the ultimate effectiveness will depend upon those who can stand most alone. Yet, as Professor Thorndike * has warned us, “Effective independ- ence, initiative and originality are not the negations of dependence, imitation, and fixed habits, but are the continued organization upon a new and higher level.” With his scientific insight, he suggests a new interpretation of some of the active virtues of individuality. He writes, “Finally will it not clear the whole argument somewhat if, in our thinking about education, we replace the word, self-reliance, by reliance on facts, self-direction by rational direction, initiative by readiness and ability to begin to think and experiment, independence by readiness to carry thought or experiment on to its just conclusions 1 Thorndike, E. L., ‘‘Educatieon for Initiative and Originality,” Teachers College Record, Nov. 1916, pp. 405-416. Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 45 despite traditions and custom and lack of company; and if we add to the company of these active virtues an impersonal, objective habit that scorns hopes and fears and neglects self-interest, cherishing only the naked facts of life and the zeal to control them for the common good?” This pregnant and wise passage should be sufficient to allay the timid fears of those who are too ready to identify true independence and shortsighted self-interest. In fact, self-interest is never inde- pendent. Those who are responsible for directing the life of the school community should jealously watch lest the demands for codperative efforts may become so immediately intense as to impose upon the student body a mechanical uniformity and a deadening mob rule. CRITERION III. Dors THE ScHooLt Activity Uniry Lire-Errorts TuHrouGH ACTION? 1. Does the school activity center around things to do, that is, the making of material changes in the environment or the achieving of other kinds of objective ends? An old long-settled community has always had the tendency to neglect action, that is, the effecting of material changes in the object- ive environment. The students in China in the past sadly neglected the unification of their life-efforts through healthy exertion in causing some objectively noticeable changes in concrete things. In the reno- vation of China’s social life and institutions, action—to “do” things —should be recognized as one of the most effective keys to the problem. In recent years students have been influenced by the so-called Literary Revolution; they are acquiring the tools of the critical think- ers of the modern world. Much good has been done in changing the point of view of the thinking class. But the method of attack is literary; that is, by means of symbolistic control. The writers of the new style are still found to be those accustomed to the old style. The new movement has borrowed the modern logical tool and has re- formed the technique of thinking for a small group. Whatever has been achieved thus far should be consolidated and recognized by educators of the younger generation, but there is yet another need deeper and more fundamental than changes in the tricks of thinking. 46 Education for Modernization in China The new generation must be built on a new physical basis. They must learn to use their brains, their senses and their muscles to effect objective changes in the world around them. They must become doers of deeds and not merely thinkers of ideas. It is only by this path that the youths can become real masters in a truly and healthily modern way. In carrying things into effect, three factors are naturally in- volved: (1) the end in view or the objective of the endeavor, (2) the manner of carrying out the purpose, and (3) the medium in which the purpose will be wrought into a deed. 2. Do the products of such doing possess appeals of tmmediate use- fulness to the doers themselves? As to the objective of doing, we believe that it must possess appeals of immediate usefulness to the doers themselves. They must feel the need and the desire to do something about it. Such needs may be of the school community, of the social neighborhood, of vocational worth to the individual, or of national worth to the large group. Activities built around these needs may consist of such things as the making of school utensils, the carrying on of relief work among the famine sufferers, the taking part in an electric plant, or the survey of a city or province with the idea of suggesting concrete measures for social reconstruction. The school should adequately provide things to do, an educational setting, so that through the doing many tools may be acquired for future and more extended use. 3. Does the manner of doing encourage the creation of methods by the doers? As to the manner of doing, methods should be worked out by the doers to answer the special needs of the situation. This procedure undoubtedly will prove slow and often confusing in the first stages of a student’s immature practice. But in the end they will develop the habit of resourcefulness and discrimination which they could not otherwise learn if they were never allowed to use their own free- dom of experimentation. Known tools, however, as worked out through experience and found effective in meeting standardized pro- blems, are by no means neglected. Only they are not to be handed out to the students before they have been forced into a creative act of providing their own solutions to the problems before them. After Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 47 they go through that process, they will appreciate far more a tool worked out by those more capable than they, when that tool or method solves the problem more effectively than their own. 4. Does the organization for doing encourage cooperative endeavor, adjusting individual talents to proper tasks? The carrying out of a purpose into an achievement is done in a social medium, that is, in company with other workers whose presence cannot be ignored. Since modern endeavors are be- coming more and more complex so that individuals have to learn to fit themselves into their proper and rightful places in an or- ganized whole, the school surely should take upon itself the re- sponsibility for training for this type of adjusted cooperation. Each one is encouraged to find out what he can do best and at the same time each one should know his exact place in certain of the major activities of life where he can render the best service to the group. To reach such an ideal adjustment, much experi- mentation is needed, and the school surely should provide oppor- tunities for free experimentation as well as wise guidance to lead the youth into fruitful and adjusted channels of exertion. CRITERION IV. DoEs THE SCHOOL ACTIVITY CONTRIBUTE TO ABILI- TIES NEEDED IN SCIENTIFIC PRODUCING AND ORGANIZING ? The Development of China’s Resources. The development of the natural resources of China by means of modern industrial tools is a vital need acknowledged by all. China to-day has perhaps the largest undeveloped fields of natural resources known to the modern world. The development of the natural wealth of China is inevitable and is bound to be the most important event in the history of the world in the next thirty years. The crucial question for us is who should do the developing. Consequently it becomes the foremost task of education during the transition period to furnish men who can manage and organize and carry on the tech- nical processes of this most immediate and effective form of ma- terial expansion. Industrial transformation is the most effective means of ex- tending the environment to relieve the over-crowded condition that has been surrounding us. Thus Professor Dewey writes: 48 Education for Modernization in China “An introduction of modern industrial methods is the only thing that will profoundly affect the environment. Utilizing energy and resources now untouched will produce an effect that will be the same as an enlargement of the environment. Mining, rail- ways, and manufacturing based upon China’s wealth of unused resources will give a new outlet for energies that now cannot be used without the risk of causing ‘trouble.’ The impersonal and indirect effects of modern production and commerce will create habits that will lessen the importance of appearances and ‘face,’ and increase the importance of objective consequences of facts.” * And Dr. Monroe recently gave at Peking a serious warning to the educators that “as long as China is not able to produce men who will apply modern scientific results and methods in the de- velopment of her resources, that development will be in the hands of foreigners—and China will not be independent.’ Furthermore, the problem of unemployment is becoming more and more acute. Thus, a recent article in Education and Voca- tion’ pointed out that the large number of the undifferentiated office-seekers forms an undisputed factor in temptations to cor- ruption in political circles; and in the industrial and commercial world, those who are looking for positions are so many more than the positions available that unfair means are often resorted to, in order to eke out a bare subsistence. To solve this problem of unemployment, opportunities must be provided for the use of large numbers of men in new enterprises. Nothing can be accom- plished by expostulation and exhortation. A change of condi- tions and of the environment is absolutely needed. This change involves not only the industries, but also the social and political structure. Consequently leaders must be trained not in the industrial field alone, but also in the social, political and cultural fields, and that is a reason why we stated in our criterion “Scientific Producing and Organizing.” In order to see clearly the task of education, the various fields where modern leadership is urgently called for are briefly classi- fied as follows: 1 Dewey, John, ““What Holds China Back,” Asia Magazine, May 1920. 2 Interview reported in the Peking Leader, Dec, 28, 1921. 3 Vol. 111, No. 5, Oct. 1921. Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 49 I. INDUSTRIAL 1, Extractive (the production of raw materials), a. Agriculture and forestry. b. Mining. c. Fisheries. 2. Manufacturing. a. Engineering processes. b. Management processes. 3. Commercial (the enterprises for the exchange of raw and manu- factured products). a. Transportation and communication. b. Import and export. c. Retail distribution. II. Soctar 1. Political organization and methods (including governmental func- tions in various fields). 2. Education for the training of new leaders and a new populace. 3. The new field of journalism. 4. Leaders in social-service professions, such as medicine, social work, and the like. III. CuLtTura The re-direction of literature, philosophy, and fine arts according to the new needs and new tastes. Now let us see how these needs will be met by Criterion IV. 1, Does the school activity contribute to the development of execu- tive ability and organizing leadership in industrial, political, social and cultural organizations? The type of executive depends upon the needs and conditions of the tasks. But what should be regarded as the basis of execu- tive ability? One author answers in the following manner: “Its ultimate source is energy. In withstanding adverse pressure, do- ing large amounts of work, and overflowing the usual, success is linked up with energy.”* Executive ability is a complex phenom- enon. It is based naturally on natural endowment, but the en- dowment can be stimulated by the proper kind of environment and guidance. What are some of the important factors that will permit and facilitate the expression of the natural equipment for leadership? 1 Gowin, E. B., The Executive, p. 14. 50 Education for Modernization in China 1. There should be unusual incentives offered by the environment. It may be in the form of social approval, authority, or the more material objectives. Does the environment supply opportunities for the challenging of extraordinary endeavor? Are those oppor- tunities visualized to such an extent that they can lead men on to at- tempt the seemingly impossible? The welfare of the many de- pends upon the achievements of the few and a supply of effective leadership depends upon the demand for their services. 2. There should be toleration and encouragement of intensity of conviction in strong individuals. Walter Bagehot wrote: “A hot flash seems to burn across the brain. Men in these intense states of mind have altered all history, changed for better or worse the creed of myriads, and desolated or redeemed provinces or ages. We should utilize this intense emotion of conviction as far as we can. Dry minds, which give an intellectual ‘assent’ to conclusions, which feel no strong glow or faith in them, often do not know what opinions are; they have every day to go over the arguments again, or to refer to a notebook to know what they believe, but intense convictions make a memory for themselves, and if they can be kept to the truths of which there is good evi- dence, they give a readiness in intellect, a confidence in action, a consistency in character, which are not to be had without them.” ’* The society in which the individuals live—in our discussion it is the school community—should allow and encourage the ex- pression and the building up of intense convictions. No strong men can ever be called forth if a conformity surrounding them binds them over much. 3. There should be also a general faith in achievement, or in other words, a certain hopefulness in facing the future. Naturally the one who leads should be in advance of the group, yet he can de- velop best and be of most productive service in an environment that has faith in the future. An ardent, confident, onward-looking atmosphere can stimulate a variety of abilities in the different fields where leadership is needed. The schools therefore should strive to build up such an atmosphere. We have indicated a few of the more important factors that can help to stimulate executive ability. Within the school walls, par- ticipation in organization and management should be encouraged 1 Bagehot, Walter, Religious and Metaphysical Essays, Vol. 11, pp. 326 and 338, / Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 51 so that leadership will naturally reveal itself. We have already discussed under Criterion II this phase of the problem. 2. Does the school activity train the scientific attitude and technique in the mastering of situations and problems? The most important element in scientific attitude is the funda- mental problem-solving set of mind. Professor Dewey’s analysis of “How We Think”®* should be consulted at this point. The school community and all the activities carried on therein should provide situations for the development of problem-solving atti- tudes and skills. Continuous opportunity for problem-solving is the most essential sime qua non in the development of scientific mastery. This is fundamental in developing abilities to analyze a problem, to compare the various possible methods of solution, to test critically the hypotheses suggested by the problem, to gen- eralize the conclusions and to know where they can best be ap- plied. The problem-solving ability is what distinguishes the executive, the organizer, the creative thinker from the habit- bound automatic routine worker in all fields of endeavor. 3. Does the school provide opportunities of experience in real voca- tions in order to gain concreteness of experience and to guide in the choice of life-vocations? An article in Education and Vocation for October 1921 gave several reasons why the modern school products are often unwelcome to the commercial and industrial world in China to-day. The rea- sons are very instructive and are summarized as follows: 1. They do not like to perform minor duties. 2. Their theory is vague, but practice not sufficient. 3. They are lazy, depending upon cleverness, not willing to obey orders. ) 4, They complain against conditions of living. 5. They easily shift from one vocation to another. 6. They do not cooperate well with co-workers. 7. Their physical strength is not sufficient to endure hard- ships. 8. They easily fall into habits of extravagance, as smoking, good clothes, etc. 1 Dewey, How We Think, Chapter v1. a Education for Modernization in China Fundamentally it seems that the chief cause for all these com- plaints can be found in the fact that students in schools are given too little opportunity to have any concrete contacts with real vocational conditions. The principle is stated by Bobbitt, “With- out actual work in an atmosphere of work, with the spirit of work alive within the participants, they do not sufficiently enter into work experience. Their activities may have a commendable width and variety, but will be lacking in depth.” And, “There is nothing like responsibility for giving eyes to an individual; and especially eyes for values and relations. It is of immeasurably greater value for a boy to work for a season on a farm or in a store than it is merely to visit idly about the place.” * This fundamental fact has led Walter Rathenau, the German economist and statesman, to recommend what he calls the Inter- change of Labor. He believes in it so much that he writes: “The way to the German mission, to German culture, which is to be no more a culture of the classes but of the people, stands open to all by means of the Interchange of Labor. . . . The manual worker is no longer kept down by over-fatigue, and the brain worker is no longer cut off from the rest of the people.’’” The Chinese scholar has been habitually out of contact with material manipulations. In the education of the new leadership, proper emphasis should be given to concrete knowledge of the vocational world by actual participation. Work that definitely involves a sense of responsibility should be required on farms, in factories, in mines or in offices. Without this training the faults pointed out by the employers of the products of the modern schools are apt to remain without any effective remedy. 4, Does the school activity serve as a fundamental and necessary tool in vocations in which the student will engage, such as certain lin- guistic habits, certain social observances, certain processes of quantitative methods, certain principles in organized knowledge, and the like? The proposition as stated is an obvious fact. It only requires careful survey and analysis of the actual conditions in the various vocations to determine what the fundamental and necessary tools 1 Bobbitt, F., The Curriculum, pp. 104 and 106. 1 Rathenau, Walter, The New Society, p. 127, Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction x0 in each of them are. We can only say in general that the number of such tools will be far smaller than most of the school men think to-day. Many subjects and parts of subjects, which are taught to-day as practical subjects, even such things as commer- cial accounting, not to mention mathematics and the sciences, will be found upon concrete analysis to contain much “dead” ma- terial unrelated to real use. These surveys should be carried on with careful observation and analysis of varieties of experiences. The quantitative technique as used by the “scientific” curriculuin constructors should prove extremely serviceable. CRITERION V. Dogs THE SCHOOL ACTIVITY PROMOTE THE IDEALS AND HABITS FOR THE ‘“HUMANIZATION” OF THE AIMS AND Processes OF MopDERN LIFE AND ORGANIZATION ? 1. Does the school activity preserve and readapt ideals and habits of humanism in old culture? This proposition is easy to state but difficult to define. What is to be included in the humanism in old culture? What are the concepts and institutions that will be preserved? How will they be readapted to a China under modern circumstances? Various answers to these questions are being proposed in cur- rent publications. They are being investigated by scholars,’ as well as being disputed by garrulous producers of journalistic jumble. It is not within the province of the curriculum maker to go far afield in historical research. And while discussion is still in the molten stage, he can but follow the best judgment of re- liable men working in this field. In the process of China’s modernization one of the most funda- mental questions is how to maintain an inner unity within the conscious experience of the race. China is not so compact as Japan, for instance. Both from the need of a wide territory not yet all connected by modern means of communication, and from the need of a healthy continuous readjustment, the inner core of the old culture must be strenuously maintained. The schools have a serious responsibility here. But again, it must be em- phatically pointed out that book knowledge—the mere memory 1 Witness the attempt at re-classifying ancient schools of Chinese thought by Hu Suh in Outlines of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. 1; and the announced publication of the historical work by Liang Chi Chao on the History of Chinese Culture. 54 Education for Modernization in China of the classics and selections from treasured literature—is not an effective means. Whatever ideals, precepts, and social usages that deserve preservation must be incorporated in actual practice in the schools. They must be “lived” by the students. The school environment should supply the adequate situations for the stimu- lation of practices that will demand and lead to the garnered ex- perience of the race. A real and vital revival of old culture must be based upon a re-embodiment of the old truths in the new environment. It is easy to hold on to old faiths and practices, resisting all change. It is also not difficult to be swayed by new patterns and to give up all that is old. In fact, it is often observed that those who hold fastest to tradition will turn to be the the most ardent —and in the same unreasoned manner—worshippers of the new. To be ever open and ready to adapt requires at least intelligence, if not wisdom. To transform old faiths and practices to suit new needs is the task of the adjuster, and consequently the task of the educator. The attitude of adjustment is a close correlative of the attitude of exploration. If the attitude of exploration is en- couraged in the schools, naturally one of the immediate fields to explore is that of old customs, institutions and creations still in practice as well as recorded in books. This is a confirmation of the view of the present inquiry that the education for moderniza- tion, as understood and analyzed in these chapters, actually aug- ments rather than hinders the movement for the preservation of the truly living elements in the old cultural heritage. It is the belief of the writer that it is only by an education that properly emphasizes the process of modernization rather than the products of modernism, can adequate preservation and readaption of old culture ever be accomplished with an effective method of ap- proach. 2. Does the school activity allow and encourage the searching for “human” values in the products and processes of modern culture? By stressing the needs for material development and expansion in China in Criteria IV, the reader may wonder whether the writer is conscious of the disturbing lack of harmony in the modern world. Is China going to reproduce another materialized modern nation? Proposed Criteria for Curriculum Construction 55 The ills of the acquisitive society are not lost sight of in the formulation of these criteria. China must be developed materially because, if she does not do so herself, the aggressive modern na- tions will “expand” in China by means of her resources at her expense. It is still an open question whether China can stop the tide. All the capitalists of the expansive peoples are eagerly plan- ning to turn China into a paradise for profiteers. And while the instincts of possession and self-preservation of the Chinese are thus stimulated vigorously to react, there will be the inevitable tendency and temptation, it is to be admitted, for China to follow the paths of material competition to the extent of increasing the seething contention in the boiling caldron of the modern world. But if we are not pessimists or fatalists, the efforts of “human- ization” of the modern monster—the Great Society—must be shared by the “humanists” of all modern peoples—especially, it seems, the responsibility should fall upon the nations that are foremost in “expansion.” However, as a point for the curriculum makers to heed, the Chinese youth must be allowed and encouraged to go deeper than merely copying modern fashions and methods. He must learn to search for “human” values, and to appreciate that there are prophets and seers of the modern world who are shouting in the wilderness against the crassness and cruelty of the competitive phases of modern material expansion. CHAPTER VII PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS IN A PROGRAM OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION Three Steps in the Program. In education as in other fields of human endeavor, the incentive for change in the habituated mode of organization naturally comes from dissatisfactions of results which are supposed to be due to defects in the form of organization. In the school system of China discontents have been so very pointed and numerous in recent years that some form of reorganization is abso- lutely needed. This is true especially of the curriculum. The discontents, however, may be based on a vague feeling of dis- satisfaction ; and it is quite possible that the alleged defects may have been due to factors quite different from those which have been con- sidered as the causes for the unsatisfactory conditions. Consequently careful investigation must be made before it is quite certain that when these defects are remedied, the resultant dissatisfactions will alse disappear. In making such an investigation, it is but natural that certain standards or criteria must be employed. Here is one of the urgent uses of the criteria proposed. The first step in a systematic program of curriculum making is, therefore, the survey and evaluation of current school activities in the existing schools of China. Such a survey should cover three fields, (1) course of study as prescribed by official ordinances issued by the Ministry of Education, (2) subjects and detailed content of studies as embodied in current textbooks, and (3) school activities as they are actually carried on in various schools. The third field is the most important because such investigation will reveal the real conditions as found in the various schools—to what extent the official ordinances are carried out in letter and in spirit and to what extent the contents © of the textbooks are relied upon as guides for the teachers and as untrespassable confines for the efforts of the students. Investigation in this third field will be difficult, because it deals directly with human reactions going on within the school. Investigation will reveal the concrete defects to be remedied but Preliminary Considerations of is not an end in itself. The second step that should follow is careful and critical planning in the direction of a new school content. Under the present conditions in- secondary education in China this step should consider such crucial topics as (1) the place and function of the middle school in the educational system, (2) the advantages and disadvantages of horizontal grading, and (3) the uses and abuses of “logically” formulated studies. After investigation and planning, the third step should be experi- mentation. Certain schools should be encouraged to try new forms of content in order that the function of the school may be better ful- filled. Whatever results are found through experimentation, will be at the service of the whole educational system to adopt. A sug- gested content is proposed in the next chapter as an illustration of a possible basis for experimentation. In all these three steps of investigation, planning, and experimen- tation, much painstaking effort needs to be put forth. Such work, if deemed important enough to the welfare of the nation at the present hour, should claim the attention and encouragement of educators. The present inquiry is a meagre and extremely limited approach in the direction of the work to be done. It will serve, it is hoped, as a preliminary discussion to this important endeavor, Application of the Criteria. In all the three steps in the program, the proposed criteria as discussed in the preceding chapter should> prove to be of service. From the point of view of application, the five criteria suggested naturally fall into three groups: a. Concerning What to Do, that is, the activities that are concrete and specific in character, that supply content matter as ordinarily understood. Criteria I and IV have to do mostly with this. b. Concerning How to Do, that is, the manner in which the activi- ties are carried on in the schools, or in other words, how the contents as measured according to Criteria I and IV will be “lived” by the students in the school community. Criteria II and III have to do more with this. c. Concerning Why to Do, that is, the meaning of activities as they are carried on in the school, such meaning should inculcate in the student a humanistic point of view that will, on the one hand, counteract the material expressions of the expansive and industrial type of existence, and on the other, preserve and readapt the ethical 58 Education for Modernization in China norms that have been evolved in the Chinese experience. Criterion V belongs here. These demarcations are not strictly mutually exclusive, but they serve to concentrate on particular phases in the school activities when we use the Criteria in investigation, planning, or experimentation. We shall make our suggestions, however, mostly along the What to Do and How to Do, leaving the Why out of explicit discussion, as it should permeate and be expressed in the What and the How. SURVEY AND EVALUATION OF CURRENT PRACTICE 1. School Subjects as Prescribed in the Official Ordinances. In Chapter II we have already discussed the provisions in the middle school curriculum as prescribed by the Ministry of Education. By tracing back to the assumptions more obviously unfounded, we have already seen how inadequate they are in meeting the urgent needs in education to-day. The contents of the official curriculum are of such stereotyped nature that from it can hardly be expected any organic results as required by Criteria I and [V. The subjects are unrelated and each forms a “logical”’ whole by itself, with little or no regard for its use in the students’ activities in school or later in life. It is in the manner in which the activities are carried on that the more unsatisfactory aspects of the official curriculum are revealed. It provides no definite codperative manner of doing that would, on the one hand, train cooperative endeavor on the basis of equal oppor- tunity for participation and, on the other, give opportunities for the development of an effective leadership. Also, there is no definite provision for the emphasis of unifying life effort through action. The official prescription gives one the sense of preponderant import- ance of book learning only. 2. School Textbooks and Their Contents. The school textbooks determine to a great extent the content as well as the method of school activities. This is especially true in conditions where the subject matter is new to the teacher and the students are asked to reproduce slavishly the content in the texts in the order as given. A study in this field should include, (1) what texts are being extensively used in the schools to-day, (2) the space that the texts give to the various topics as prescribed in the official standards for the middle school Preliminary Considerations ao curriculum, (3) the order of treatment of the topics, and (4) the psychological reactions on the part of the pupils to the subject mat- ter and to the order of arrangement. When such a study is carefully made with the support of quantitative methods, the result should prove most illuminating. It should be of use not only to those who put their complete trust in the efficacy of separate subjects of study in the curriculum, but also to those who are disposed to use the texts only as references in connection with what the pupils wish to find out during their activities in school. The importance of textbooks cannot be over-stated and a study along this line is urgent whatever may be one’s belief in regard to the more radical phases of educa- tional reform. 3. Activities as Actually Practised in the Schools. Concerning the method of approach in this field of investigation, there are two correlated and mutually indispensable channels of information, (1) by empirical judgment of trained visitors, and (2) by quantitative data. They should supplement each other and adjust themselves according to the concrete problems to be investigated. The personal judginent is important because it can take care of a large number of factors on the basis of wide comparison and sympathetic insight. The quantita- tive data furnish the impersonal records, objective, convenient, sys- tematic, and ever-ready at the elbow of the administrator. It will be rather unfortunate that either the personal or the quantitative approach should assume the sole authority in any field of investi- gation. In both methods, criteria for judgment and for guidance are indis- pensable. Especially in the quantitative approach should the investi- gator keep constantly in mind the objectives of the activities which he happens to be investigating. A mere meaningless, though skillful, manipulation of quantitative tools neglectful of the human objectives would be a waste of effort and a stimulator of contention.’ PLANNING IN THE DIRECTION OF A NEW CONTENT 1. The Place and Function of Middle Schools in the Educational System Strategic Importance of Middle Schools. Schools of secondary rank are classified according to the course of study. They are (1) 1See Bagley, W. C., “Educational Determinism, or Democracy and the I. Q.,”’ School and Society, April 8, 1922. 60 Education for Modernization in China Middle Schools with the general course, (2) Normal Schools with the teacher-training course, and (3) Class “A” Vocational Schools, including courses in agriculture, industry and commerce. According to the 1916 school census, the number of schools and the number of students are as follows: No. oF SCHOOLS No. oF STUDENTS Middlesschools.-7 2.07) ae. ee eee 444 69,770 Notiiabemchools 2. ti, ates fee ee 211 27,975 nA HY OCATIONAl OCHOOIS saute tim ek ee 96 10,541 Unclassined satan. eee co eee Ar: 359 18,159 ehotal stocks ee ee eee 1,110 126,445 When the census was taken, it was according to the government system of seven-year elementary school and four-year secondary. The National Conference of Provincial Associations of Education, which met at Canton October 1921, recommended a change to a 6-3-3 plan with six-year primary, three-year Junior Middle School, and three-year Senior Middle School. The plan has not been adopted officially and is just in the experimental stage. If adopted, the num- ber of students in the middle schools will be somewhat increased. In the opening address of the National Conference of Middle School Principals, called by the Ministry of Education at Peking in October 1918, the then Minister of Education said: “The elementary education period of our country is much shorter in comparison with other countries, and the vocational schools and continuation schools of the elementary and secondary grade are still very limited in devel- opment on account of lack of funds in the localities. For these reasons, if we hope for the results of a complete general education as well as vocational usefulness in society that comes from a general education, we cannot but rely on the middle schools. Judging from the condition of education at present, to reform the actual content in the middle schools is the key to the educational problems of the country.” * The Middle Schools, especially those in the large educational cen- ters, are the places where the ambitious youths of the land gather. It is in these schools that the leaders of the coming generation will be made or unmade. The Middle Schools in centers such as Peking, Nanking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Canton, etc., are mostly schools with a 1 Proceedings of the National Conference of the Middle School Principals, October, 1918. Preliminary Considerations 61 large percentage of boarders, sometimes approaching eight-tenths of the school population. These come from almost all the provinces and from the inland districts of the province in which the school is situated. For instance, in such a school as the Nankai School of Tientsin, in 1920-1921, out of the total number of 1131 students, 410 are from the province of Chili in which Tientsin is situated, and 721 come from nineteen other provinces. Other middle schools in the large educational centers-may have a relatively smaller proportion of students from outside the province, but it is quite clear that the middle schools in China are not at all like the high schools in the United States, that is, they are not neighborhood schools, but are mostly boarding schools. Hence, the influence of their education on account of.the closer contact of living together is far more potent i . ‘and pervasive. \ Leadership Education. In the classical times in China education was divided into two kinds: (1) general and (2) for leadership. When the system was at its height, all children of the aristocracy and lof the people went to elementary schools for general education at ‘the age of eight. There they were taught the simple etiquette of con- duct and elements of the Six Arts, namely, Ritual, Music, Archery, pe Writing, and Numbers. At the age of fifteen the children of the aristocrats and the promising children of the common people were admitted into the institutions of high learning where they were trained in developing their individual powers, in methods ‘of studying things, in regulating their personal conduct, and in the art of leadership in various social spheres.’ The old type of leadership training became more and more literary in the subsequent dynasties. It was gradually limited to the sphere of scholarship and governmental affairs. The students of to-day are trying their best to break the bonds restricting their activities to the traditional spheres of politics and literary pursuits. As a matter of habit the people still look upon the students in the middle and higher _ schools as the rightful and responsible leaders of the nation. Judging from the ratio of students in the Middle Schools to the total population of the nation—roughly, less than one in 3000—the function of the middle schools in the system should distinctly be the preparation and training for leadership. By leadership is meant not *See Chu Hsi, Introduction to “Ta Hsuch,’? or The Great Learning, one of the Four Books. 62 Education for Modernization in China only in the traditional sphere of the scholar, but also in the modern industrial and commercial activities. The present-day system sets up a ladder from the middle schools up through college and professional institutions for the training of leaders, and the line drawn between the middle schools and the higher institutions is too sharp. There is no objective evidence why such a mechanical ladder should be followed so closely. May not the set pattern of middle school, then college, then professional training, be a waste of time and effort for many of the youths? Even in the United States—a country with a firmly established modern school system—there is the feeling coming to be prevalent that ‘a thorough scrutiny of our educational systems will reveal inexcusable waste of time in the four-year high school and four-year college courses. Compression will make for concentration and real training, instead of merely time-spending.” * And President Angell of Yale writes in connection with the discussion of preparation for students of law. “Due consideration should be given to the successful efforts now being made, especially in the Middle West, to reduce by one or two years the time required for completing a college and high-school course. There is good reason to believe that this can be done with an improvement rather than a deterioration in the training given.” Leadership in various fields makes certain immediate and con- crete demands. These demands can be objectively discovered to determine what kind of training the Chinese youths will need to meet the specific demands of any particular field. To go through a tradi- tional formalism of long standing is bad enough, but to force the youths through a borrowed formalism seems to be an unpardonable mistake. That men of modern powers are needed is undeniable, especially in the various fields of endeavor that have been brought into close con- tact with foreign competition. How men can be trained with the skilled and steady hand, the alert and creative mind, and the firm, daring, and codperative spirit is the supreme problem of the educa- tors of this period. Future leaders must be endowed with certain general abilities and also must have the special training needed in the special fields in which they will do their life work. Leadership educa- tion must aim at direct usefulness. The training must be varied ac- cording to the varied talents and needs. It may be carried on in one 1 Editorial comment, The New Republic, March 29, 1922, p. 139. 2 JTbid., p. 139. Preliminary Considerations 63 institution or in several institutions. It may end after two or three years of training, or it may last for eight or ten years. It may require individuals shutting themselves away from the crowd, or it may require close cooperative adjustment. With all these varied expressions and forms, only a simple fact is being stated, that leader- ship education should correspond, in quantity, quality and kind, as closely as possible to the direct demands as found in the social situa- tion to-day. Inasmuch as nearly all of the schools, so-called middle, should have as their chief function at the present time the training for leaders, there is no justification for a sharply drawn demarcation between the middle schools and the higher institutions. The idea that the secondary period is simply a period of vague “general educa- tion” is a borrowed idea that does not fit either present needs or Chinese historical experience. Under this conception, the middle schools have produced and are producing graduates who know a little of the various branches of school studies, but who are not use- ful in any particular field of productive work. In the careful and critical planning for a new content, therefore, it seems imperative that, first of all, the place and function of the so-called middle schools to-day should be clearly recognized. Whether we approve of it or not, both the public and the students themselves regard the middle schools as places where leadership education is given. Consequently the educators should no longer blind themselves with the idea that the function of the middle school is to complete, in a mystical way, such a thing as “general education.” The middle schools in a new arrangement should recognize clearly their responsibilities in leader- ship training to the students who go to them as well as to the nation that demands leaders to be trained. It is quite possible that after careful consideration we shall find that there is needed in leadership education in the various fields some period of preliminary adjustment and guidance for, let us say, three or four years. In this early period of leadership training the func- tion of the school should include (1) training in leadership qualities needed in all fields, such qualities as strong and well-coordinated bodily movements, sense training, thinking ability, knowledge of men, and historical and political background for present-day problems in the nation, and (3) guidance on the basis of diagnosis of individual students through the furnishing of concrete experiences in the voca- tions which the students are inclined to take up as life work. “é 64 Education for Modernization in China If such a period should be found desirable in leadership education, we should not isolate it as a junior or senior middle school period by itself, but we should closely coordinate the training given during this period with the further training needed by the individual stu- dents. It is during these three or four years that the students should be guided in finding what special field of vocation they are especially fitted for, how long a training that field will require, and when they should advisably leave school training altogether. The experimentation in higher education should begin with this early stage of leadership training. Mere verbal changes in the educa- tional system help no one. A survey should be made of the concrete needs in the various fields of leadership as enumerated, for instance, under Criterion IV in Chapter VI. On the basis of such an inquiry some objective facts can be obtained to determine what higher education is really for. Without such an inquiry all attempts along this line of endeavor are either blind copying or mere guess work, though well intentioned. 2. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Horizontal Grading Children in the modern school systems of the Western World are graded horizontally by groups in the interest of economy for pur- poses of teaching and administration. But mechanization that has come about because of the graded system has shown itself in the neglect of individual talents and in the rigidity and inflexibility of promotion from one stage to another in the course of study. While it is recognized that some system of classification might be a neces- sary measure wherever children are dealt with in large numbers, yet especially in leadership education we must never lose sight of the maximum importance of the individuals under training. In the modern schools of the western nations, various plans have been invented to modify the effects of over-mechanization in horizontal grading, such as follows: 1. Supplementary special classes for the comparatively slow and the comparatively superior children. 2. Provision of parallel groups differing in the rate of prog- ress and with different years for graduation. Individual students may be shifted from one group to another at any time during the course. Such grouping seems able also in taking care of those who progress rapidly at one stage and slowly at another. Preliminary Considerations 65 3. Supplying of an additional teacher in the classroom to look after the slower pupils. This plan is usually coupled by the de- vice of varying the demands made upon pupils for the satisfac- tory completion of any given grade. 4. Increasing use of the elective system of measuring pupil’s progress, not by undifferentiated grade attainment, but by achieve- ment in units. All of these attempts have been found useful in one place or another in alleviating the ill effects of the strictly mechanized method of grading in the schools. But there are those who are not satisfied with the makeshifts and half-way measures of modi- fication. They include not only those who are doing experimen- tation in education, but also some of the more progressive prac- tical administrators in American education to-day.” Whatever may be the intrinsic worth and ultimate effect of this group of reformers, it can safely be said that the graded system as it has been used since about 1850 is by no means a settled issue. All the emphasis in recent years, especially in the higher schools, points to the direction of a more and more individual type of classifica- tion in the schools. While such is the present-day standing of the graded system in the West, some doubt may properly be reserved in our minds as to whether the mechanical device for horizontal grading an- swers the needs of Chinese school conditions, especially in the education for leadership. The traditional practice in Chinese edu- cation has been individual instruction, each pupil advancing ac- cording to his own ability. Such a practice deserves criticism inasmuch as it provides little or no room for cooperative effort on the part of the pupils in the schools. But the importance of individual differences has had its proper recognition in Chinese experience. i While proper attention should be given to the technique of organization where large numbers of students are grouped to- gether—this is the new factor that the traditional system did not have to take into consideration—in the planning of a new con- tent for leadership education, emphasis should be put on indi- 1See article by Superintendent Washburn on “Individual System in Winnetka, IIl., Elementary School Journal, 1921. Also, Dewey, Evelyn, The Dalton Laboratory Plan. 66 Education for Modernization in China vidual variation in the rate of progress. Some plan should be devised by means of which both cooperative activities and indi- vidual freedom will have their proper place in the school. The present-day tendency in the middle schools in China is in favor of more and more elective courses and studies. It is all advance in the right direction. But the distinction between the elective system and the “individual system” properly understood must be borne in mind. In the elective system the individual students do have the freedom of choice of courses or subjects, but within the group where that course or that subject is taken up, the classifi- cation of progress is still limited by mass grading. For instance, when a student takes up a certain subject A, he has to join a class in which A is taught and usually there is a requirement, and a necessary requirement from the point of view of adminis- tration, that a prescribed number of students must elect the sub- ject before it can be offered. After he joins the class, where the subject A is studied, he has to progress at the same rate with the mass of the students in that class. While in a properly ad- ministered “individual system,” a student should have free- dom in choosing any subject of interest to him with the under- standing, of course, that that subject will be of real use in his activities in school or after leaving school—the proper judgment here should be made with the full consent of the teacher and administrator—and he would not have to wait for a certain re- quired number of students sufficiently interested in the same sub- ject. And even if there are others, who are interested in that subject at the same time, his rate of progress need not be slowed or hastened according to the norm set by the class. There are difficulties undoubtedly with the individual system in adminis- tration and in teaching, just as there have been difficulties in the mass grading system, but it has enough concrete results of its effectiveness both in Chinese traditional experience and in recent American experimentation to deserve careful consideration in the reorganization of leadership education in China. 3. The Uses and Abuses of Formulated Studies Professor Dewey writes: “There is a strong temptation to assume that presenting subject matter in its perfected form pro- vides a royal road to learning. What more natural than to sup- Preliminary Considerations 6/ pose that the immature can be saved time and energy, and be protected from needless error by commencing where competent inquirers have left off? The outcome is written large in the his- tory of education. Pupils begin their study of science with texts in which the subject is organized into topics according to the order of the specialist. Technical concepts, with their defini- tions, are introduced at the outset. Laws are introduced at a very early stage, with at best a few indications of the way in which they were arrived at. The pupils learn a ‘science’ instead of learning the scientific way of treating the familiar material of ordinary experience. The method of the advanced student domi- nates college teaching; the approach of the college is transferred into the high school, and so down the line, with such omissions as may make the subject easier.” ’ “The logical order,” writes Professor Kilpatrick, “is taking a mental organization fit for grown-ups, chopping it into pieces, and giving it piece at a time to the child to learn.’”” The psy- chological ineffectiveness of subject matter entirely isolated from any of the meaningful activities in which the students can take a whole-hearted interest has been gradually more and more recog- nized in recent years.’ In the place of the “logical” order, the “psychological” order has been proposed, which is “the order of experience, of discovery, and of consequent learning.” It begins with the experience of the learner and develops from that the proper modes of scientific treatment. “The apparent loss of time involved is more than made up for by the superior understand- ing and vital interest secured. What the pupil learns he at least understands. Moreover, by following, in connection with prob- lems selected from the material of ordinary acquaintance, the methods by which scientific men have reached their perfected knowledge, he gains independent power to deal with material within his range, and avoids the mental confusion and intellec- tual distaste attendant upon studying matter whose meaning is only symbolic.’” 1 Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, p. 257. 2 Kilpatrick, W. H., “Psychological and Logical,” in The Journal of Educational Method, March 1922, p. 281. * See Kilpatrick, W. H., “The Project Method,” Teachers College Bulletin, 1919. * Kilpatrick, W. H., “Psychological and Logical,” loc. cit., p. 280. * Dewey, John, op. cit., p. 258. 68 Education for Modernization in China There is a further reason why separated, uncoordinated, “logi- cally” arranged subjects of study have been found to be ineffec- tive. It is the impossibility of including within the curriculum of the school the increasingly enormous amount of formulated knowledge in the present-day world. The school can no longer aspire to teach encyclopedic knowledge. It has to seek some effective means and some organic unity by which the students can be led to grow in these fundamental powers that will meet the demands of the outside world upon their leaving school. That organic unity which is so pre-eminently important in a world of growing diversity should be found, as we have indicated under Criterion III in Chapter VI, in whole-hearted objective action on the part of the pupils. The “logically” formulated sub- ject matter has its proper use as a tool in the carrying out of vital actions both in school and outside. It surely has lost all magical value it formerly had when formulated knowledge of mankind was limited within a closed space. In the Chinese schools to-day, the old habit of giving too much respect to formulated learning still lingers on. The teachers as well as the students are still apt to stick closely to prescribed subjects and hurriedly prepared textbooks of the mechanical order. They study the subjects and texts with the same reverence as they did the classical books of long standing which formed the principal part of the content of the traditional school. To revere the old classical books is proper, to memorize them to-day is un- necessary ; but to revere and memorize modern textbooks is in- effective and ridiculous. The formulated subject matter deserves its rightful consideration, but it should not be allowed to work more harm than good. . To sum up briefly, the important propositions are (1) that book learning should never be looked upon as an end in itself, (2) that formulated material has its proper place as tools, and (3) that the end in view should always be the successful completion of some intended action to be carried on. If the students acquire this atti- tude while they are going through their activities in the schools, they are not likely to overrate or underrate the proper signifi- cance and practical uses of formulated knowledge. ChAT Re MLS A2SUGGHRSTED CONTENT BOR THE KARLY. STAGES OF DEADERSHIP EDUGATION ASA BASIS FOR BxX:PERIMENTATION What is presented in this chapter is but an outline of school activities devised for the purpose of supplying the experience of modernization in the most effective manner within the possibilities of conscious education for leadership. It will look like the first draft scenario of an elaborate drama. The chief movements and incidents of the drama are here sketched, but the concrete body of the play will have to depend on the actors who will take part in the play and the stage possi- bilities of the theatre where the play will be produced. The significant difference between this educational drama and the plays as given on the “boards” lies in the important fact that the actors will have all the freedom to improvise incidents as well as manners of acting as they proceed from one experience to another, so long as the ultimate aim of the activities is not lost sight of. The Theme of the Play. In one word, the theme of the play is Modernization. The chief movements in the play will be the experi- ences of a new and expanding community in an environment with challenging as well as promising opportunities. The play aims to achieve two things for the actors who go through the experiences in it: (1) To increase in the general qualities and powers of leadership, and (2) To experience beginnings of vocations in order that they might decide on the field oftheir life calling. Actors in the Play. The actors are chiefly the students and the teachers. The students may be 14 or 15 years of age’ when they begin. The play may last three or more years, depending upon individual con- ditions. They come from various social backgrounds and with cer- tain preliminary educational attainments. A large part of them, if 1 They usually leave home to go to the educational centres at about this age. They are mature enough to go through the serious training here outlined. They correspond in age to the senior high school students. 70 Education for Modernization in China \ not all, live in school dormitories, as is the case with most of our middle class schools to-day. The teachers have their part to play, and a very important part it is. Their experience in acting and their knowledge of the technique of acting in various situations naturally make them very valuable coaches as well as co-actors in the play. Furthermore, there is the supreme importance of example. This cannot be overemphasized for the early stages of leadership training. For boys of this age, learning by example is almost mystically power- ful. Only the type of men who deserve to be reproduced should be given the opportunity of teaching in the early period of leadership education. Such a high ideal has always been in the tradition of the teaching profession of China. Only in the modern schools so-called is there evidence to-day of very depressing deviations from the stan- dard set for the high teaching privilege. It is because of the mislead- ing practice of dividing the content of modern education into isolated subjects of study that the pernicious phenomenon of the educational tradesmen has come into our midst. These teachers teach in a school receiving a pay for the goods they deal out, feeling no responsibility for the organic, growing beings that attend their classes; Some of these men try to get as many places to teach as their hours will per- mit because they look upon teaching just as a trade; the more they sell, the more prosperous their business and income. Any teachers who have been contaminated in the least degree by this pernicious practice of cutting up the school content into uncorrelated hits of supposed knowledge should naturally be out of place in an experi- ment such as we propose to carry out. The ancient honors of the schoolmaster in China are being polluted, and it seems that, only by relieving the spirit of the ancient ideal, can we hope to provide our schools with men who are worthy of the task. The Three Parts of the Play. The play may be roughly divided into three parts. They are: Part 1: Exploring and Pioneering; Part II: New Community Building; Part III: Scientific Producing and Or- ganizing. This demarcation is simply for the purpose of giving relative emphasis to the significant movements in the play. Beginnings of all the three movements, for instance, will be introduced in the first year, though the chief emphasis there will be on Exploring and Pioneering. Leadership Education as a Basis for Experimentation 71 Part I will take up approximately one year, and so will Part II. Part III will be one year or longer according to the talents and conditions of the individual students. In the treatment of the content of these parts, the order followed will be: 1. The chief incidents suggested for that part. These need not be followed in full. They are of suggestive value only. In fact, one of the important points for the actors of this play is to invent incidents as they go along. 2. The tools, properties and technique of acting needed in that part. 3. The spirit of the ensemble that should result from the acting in that part. In educational terminology, the order will be: (1) the school pro- jects or activities, (2) the formulated studies that will be called upon for use in the carrying out of the purposed projects as well as organ- ized from these experiences for future use in analogous but wider situations, and (3) the school “tone” or atmosphere as expressed in the social organization and the social ideals. Chances for Production. Before taking up the detailed treatment of the three parts, it is fair to ask that in the turmoil of the transition in China to-day, what are the practical chances of such a scheme being tried out even as experimentation, not to say for wide adoption? It is imperative that this question must be frankly faced, otherwise the whole suggested content can be regarded as a mere fancy, a castle in the air. Some of the forces working for its possible useful- ness may be summed up as follows: 1. The thirst for properly prepared leaders, and the dissatisfac- tion with the present arrangement of leadership education. This is widely felt but there are as yet very few creative solutions proposed. 2. The awakening student body that makes it harder and harder to administer the mechanical type of education by memory and book knowledge only. 3. The beginning of an attempt to think a little below the surface before being satisfied with borrowings from foreign practices. To overcome the obstacles on the way as well as to spread the idea of the new scheme, three measures may be adopted: 1. To educate the public to demand the effective kind of education. vey ips Education for Modernization in China 2. To demonstrate to the students the advisability of a new type of training that takes into consideration all the good things to which they aspire, as well as defines the new kind of discipline they must go through. 3. To train new teachers who are thoroughly acquainted with the needed knowledge, skills and attitudes for the carrying out of the new program. The first two measures require attention to proper publicity by making use of national conferences, writings of popular trustworthy scholars, and private organizations that are engaged in educational research and reformation. The third measure must be attacked through teachers’ colleges, where teachers for middle schools are trained, and through universities that offer courses in education. But the most effective propaganda is by concrete results through experimentation. This can be carried on in connection with some teachers’ college, some university, or some organization interested in educational research. If the proposals should be taken up in actual experimentation in one or more places in China, and if the results of such experimenta- tion should prove fruitful and reliable, it will then be the task of practical administrators to devise the adequate administrative ma- chinery for the effective carrying out of the proposed scheme in a large number of schools. We have indicated the general outline as to how the suggested scheme can be put into practice. The initial motive force must, of course, depend on personal endeavor. Part I, ExPpLoriINnG AND PIONEERING A. THE PROJECTS * 1. To explore the community in which the students happen to live: To survey the physical contour of the surrounding country, to make plane and relief maps as result of survey; to trace one river — near the community to its source; to visit points of interest in some mountain range; or to visit the sea, if accessible. To observe fauna and flora of the surrounding country, to collect specimens for school museum. To observe the chief occupations of people in the commu- nity and of the people living in the country districts near by. 1 These are suggested only. Leadership Education as a Basis for Experimentation 73 2. To take care of their own needs in a pioneering situation: To know where food comes from, to prepare some form of food for themselves; to know how they are sheltered; to know what they wear and where the material of their clothing comes from, to weave and tailor some wearing article of their own; to take care of their own bodies, to practise hygienic habits, to make their bodies strong and agile; to know how to find their way in any new and unfamiliar surrounding; to have three or four weeks of actual experience in camp life. B. THE FORMULATED STUDIES Before enumerating the formulated studies to be used as tools in connection with the acting of Part I, it may be stated here that the students in the process of desiring certain things done will find themselves in need of certain information or tools; they will then go to the teacher or to the books to find the required knowl- edge or the needed implement. After securing it, they will return to use that knowledge or implement in pursuing their immediate activity. After the completion of the activity, they may feel or be brought to see that a certain branch of study or a certain known tool is important enough to deserve a careful investiga- tion in itself, with the object in view of using this formulated knowledge or known implement for the solution of future diff- culties analogous to the one which they have just had the satis- faction of solving. The formulated studies as outlined below are thus always to be regarded as means, never as ends. 1. The Languages. Chinese: Training in oral and written composition through re- ports of things actually seen and experienced; practising hand- writing so that the written reports may be presentable in form; learning simple rules of grammar so that written reports may be correct in construction and style; writing and editing a school paper composed of reports of activities; noting the actual living phrases used by the people in the community and the surround- ing country. English: Reading stories of modern pioneering ; conversing with English-speaking residents in the community, if any; knowing names of materials used in food, shelter, and clothing that come 74 Education for Modernization in China from foreign countries; writing letters to foreign firms at home or abroad ordering such materials; learning simple grammatical constructions in process of writing, practising handwriting so that the letters may be legible and presentable in form. 2. Mathematics: Practising arithmetical calculations in connec- tion with the needs of providing food, shelter, and clothing; learning to keep simple accounts for individual use and for the school community; practising surveying, learning elements of geometry and trigonometry for surveying and map-making; making plans for foundation and structure of some building, learning geometrical drawing in the design; learning simple methods of presenting facts on charts and graphs in the process of making reports. 3. Natural Sciences: WKnowing the flora and fauna of the sur- rounding country, learning classification in order to provide sys- tem in the collected data in the school museum; learning simple facts in astronomy and physical geography in order to find di- rection and to know the signs of changing seasons; knowing the formation of the earth in connection with the tracing of a river to its source and in visiting some mountain range or sea; learn- ing to keep eyes open in the surveying of significant factors in the physical environment; learning to use cataloguing system in collecting observations in preparation for making reports; learn- ing simple physical, chemical and biological facts in connection with the problem of food, shelter, clothing and physical exercise. 4. Social Sciences: Learning the history of the community and environment (including the nation), appreciating the process of ascertaining historical facts and drawing reliable conclusions from them; knowing the history of industries in connection with food, housing, and clothing; knowing the early history of the development of Chinese culture; knowing the beginnings of exploration and pioneering in the history of modern nations; knowing the policies of the governments of the expanding na- tions, in regard to territories, markets, and the conquering of foreign peoples, learning how these policies have affected China; knowing elements of economics in connection with the primary necessities of life; knowing the real conditions—how the surround- ing people live, including poverty, unemployment, the produc- Leadership Education as a Basis for Experimentation 75 tion and distribution of wealth, and the traditional social institu- tions in the social organization. 5. Vocational Skills: Building a house or a part thereof, using the common tools in the building; weaving some kind of cloth- ing material; planting crops for food, including caring of the soil; observing and classifying the prevailing vocations of the com- munity and of the surrounding country; learning how some foreign materials that have come to China are made in their na- tive countries. 6. Games and Recreation: Knowing the real need of strong bodies in a pioneering environment; learning games and sports for the development of strong bodies and cooperative spirit; putting on play dramatizing some phase of pioneering experiences of the modern West. C.. THE SCHOOL ATMOSPHERE 1. Social Organization: Practising self-direction and leadership in small groups; learning knowledge of men and the simple skills of organization. 2. Social Ideals: Expecting each one to do his own job assigned to him by the group to satisfy the demands of the group and his own standard of proficiency; practising strict rules of give- and-take in living together; training in self-dependence by doing without servants for definite periods of time; cultivating a con- sciousness of responsibility toward the fellow-beings living in the community and the surrounding country; learning by living the significance of ancient precepts in cultivating one’s own vir- tue and in appreciating the humanistic traditions of the race. The Staging of Part I. For experimentation the first group of boys going through the experience should perhaps be not more than forty or fifty in number. The number of teachers may be few or many, for the activities will call for expert knowledge that cannot be supplied by only two or three men. Besides the two or three who should give their whole time to the experiment, there should be ready at the disposal of the students men who have the knowledge to supply the needed information and methods. The physical equipment of the school need not be elaborate. We are taking for granted that all or most of the students live 76 Education for Modernization in China in some dormitory of the school. Aside from the rooms where conferences can be held for the discussion of ways and means of doing things—these need not be the formal classrooms with the standard blackboards, desks, and chairs—there should be a spacious room where the books of references are kept. There should be ready in this room the sources of information made easily accessible at the command of the students. Part II]. New ComMuNITY BUILDING A. THE PROJECTS 1. To carry on actual administrative duties for a small sec- tion of the community, distributing the duties among the stu- dents according to their qualifications; to take charge of new functions of a community in the process of building up such as street-planning and -cleaning, the laying of a sewage system, distribution of marketing and arrangements and shopping facili- ties, policing, etc.; to learn to administer the communicative agencies such as telephone, telegraph, post office, street car, licensing of vehicles and the like; to know how to run the machinery involved. 2. To investigate phases of community life, to study govern- ments of the community, of the province, and of the nation; to visit the administrative departments of the local government, and of the provincial and national governments. 3. To discharge the duties of the community toward the less fortunate members. B. THE FORMULATED STUDIES 1. The Languages. Chinese: Training in oral and written composition of things inves- tigated, of plans made, and of results of action; reading documents in connection with the administration of local, provincial, and national governments, and learning to write the same; practising making public speeches to inform the public of the important current issues and to advocate for definite action; writing articles in community newspapers and learning to edit the same; learning necessary rules of grammar and rhetoric in order that the com- position may be correct and forceful in style. Leadership Education as a Basis for Experimentation AL English: Reading phases of life in modern cities, reading accounts of travels through the large cities of the world; writing accounts of community reforms for English reading. public; writing letters to boys in foreign countries with the idea of securing in- formation concerning problems and solutions in local self-govern- ment; practising necessary rules of grammar and rhetoric to make writings clear and presentable. 2. Mathematics: Learning mathematical symbols and functions in connection with planning and construction of city streets, city sewage, city lighting, city telephoning, and the like; prac- tising keeping account of the community including budget- making, book-keeping, and auditing; using graphs and charts in propaganda material and reports. 3. Natural Sciences: Learning uses of sciences in different phases of community life, elements of biology in connection with public hygiene, elements of physics and chemistry in connection with construction plans; gradual beginning in laboratory work and in the study of sciences as logical wholes. 4. Social Sciences: Learning the functions of the various factors involved in local, provincial, and national governments; studying the history of political institutions that have bearings especially on the community government; practising the division of labor in the administration of political institutions, such as executive dispatch, legislative deliberation, and popular financial control ; practising parliamentary procedure and the democratic method of arousing public interest in carrying out needed reforms; learning economic facts and laws in connection with the pro- ductive industries of the community; knowing the history of the political and economic institutions, tracing their development in China as well as in Western modern countries. 5. Vocational Skills: Planning and executing some necessary piece of work which better satisfies needs of life in the community, such as city sewage, street cleaning, city park, tree planting, public markets, and the like; learning to use necessary machines for the doing of work that cannot be done by hand labor. 6. Games and Recreation: Continuing with games and sports for the development of strong bodies and cooperative spirit; learning to provide games and forms of recreation for the people in the 78 Education for Modernization in China community ; supervising play of children in certain localities of the community; organizing festival activities for the social group. C. THE SCHOOL ATMOSPHERE 1. Social Organization: Learning to bear responsibility in the service of people outside of the school group; practising the proper division of labor and function according to special talents; learning how to select public men and where to lead and where to follow. 2. Social Ideals: Practising public responsibility and ideals in- volved; learning to respect rights and opinion of a large group of people and learning to cooperate for community welfare with all the people in the community; studying ideals and habits in traditional social institutions, distinguishing the elements that will adapt themselves to modern situations and those which will not. The Staging of Part II, The general conditions for staging Part II will be about the same as for Part I, only wider fields of informa- tion and skills should be placed at the disposal of the students, and from this stage on individual differentiation will be more and more marked. The section of community where the students will have their practice and responsibility may be chosen within the city or in some village close by. In either case proper arrangements must be made beforehand with the local authorities. Duties assigned to the students must be definite and specific, and must not be beyond their powers. Part III. ScrENTIFIC PRODUCING AND ORGANIZING A. THE PROJECTS 1. To survey and analyze the productive vocations of the commu- nity or of some city near by. 2. To do actual work in two or three of the organizations which may be industries, schools, commercial offices, farms, and the like. B. THE FORMULATED STUDIES 1. The Languages. Chinese: Learning necessary forms needed in the different voca- Leadership Education as a Basis for Experimentation 79 tions, including occupations such as writing, journalism, political administration, etc.; reading literature that deals with problems and conditions in industrial and social relations; using oral and written forms of expression in connection with public issues. English: Reading wonders of modern science and organization in foreign countries; writing English for trade purposes for those who are thinking of engaging in any industry; writing for the expression of opinion for those who are interested in social organ- ization ; writing for the stating of facts and results of experiments for those who are interested in science ; writing for aesthetic apprecia- tion for those who are interested in language and literature as such. 2. Mathematics: Learning mathematical tools in connection with the needs of the different kinds of practical work in the produc- tive vocations according to individual interests and aptitudes. 3. Natural Sciences: Learning the application of sciences to practical needs, paying more attention to the laboratory work in con- nection with scientific research. 4. Social Sciences: Studying social and industrial conditions, his- tory of development. of various modern vocations; tracing the history of vocational practices in China; studying relations of vocations to changes in political practice and social ideals. 5. Vocational Skills: Gaining real experience in two or more fields of actual work in the various lines of endeavor where leader- ship is needed. The theory behind this practice is that only by actual participation can the youths find out what line of vocation they will spend their lives in. 6. Games and Recreation: Realizing more and more the impor- tance of physical vitality as they taste the strenuous life of real productive work; learning to extend games and forms of recrea- tion to the workers in the schools, factories, offices, or farms with whom they may come into contact in their periods of practice. Cc. THE SCHOOL ATMOSPHERE The same social organization and ideals as gradually built up in the first two years will now find a wider sphere and opportu- nity for actual practice. There is still the close unity of spirit of the school group, although they are more and more divided in their interests and fields of experience. Definite activities ¢ 80 Education for Modernization in China should be carried on within the school for the exchange of experiences and for the expansion of mental horizon through vicarious experiencing. The Staging of Part III, The practice in the various offices and shops naturally requires previous arrangement with the people in charge. The students sent over would want to feel the same kind of responsibility as workers of the same standing. The periods of practice may be short or long according to individual cases, but certain teachers should take it as their special respon- sibility to visit the students at work at least once every day, and see how the work is progressing and how much worthwhile and significant experience the student is actually gaining. Careful records should, of course, be kept of the individual cases. EPILOGUE The kind of supervised half-practice and half-study may last for one, two, or more years. The school should be responsible to determine in regard to each individual pupil as to the best kind of preparation he should have—or to stop further schooling —and what kind of higher training institution he should be advised to go to. This training in the early stages in leadership education is the most vital one and hence deserves immediate attention and effort in experimentation. As to how further training should be carried on, we shall leave that to the higher institutions whose task it should be, to survey the needs of leadership in the various fields and to determine the most eff- cient method of training in each. It is hoped that the prelimi- nary suggestions made in connection with this inquiry may introduce a glimmer of some future day when, instead of going ahead by blind copying or vague guessing, we may proceed by the analysis of concrete needs and by the determination of the peculiar aim and methods that the social situation calls for. APPENDIX I CERTAIN ATTEMPTS THAT ILLUSTRATE IN A MEASURE SOME ASPECTS OF THE PLAN HEREIN DISCUSSED 1. The Interlaken School, Indiana The motto of the boys’ school at Interlaken, Ind., is “To teach boys to live.” The chief idea of this experiment is the abolition of textbooks with the old-fashioned reservoir and pump relation of pupil and teacher and the provision of an environment which is full of interest- ing things that need to be done. Here the school buildings have been built by the boys, the plans being drawn, the foundations dug and laid, and the carpentry and the painting of the building done by pupil labor. The boys also run the electric light and heating plant, and a six hundred acre farm with a dairy, a piggery, a hennery, and crops to be sold and gathered. Each boy looks after his own room, and work in corridor and school-rooms is attended to by changing shifts. The boys at the school also publish a weekly paper for the neigh- boring village. All the boys participate in this enterprise according to their various capacities. They do all these things, not because of the direct vocational values, but because to use tools, to meet different kinds of problems, to work and exercise outdoors, and to learn to supply one’s daily needs, are educating influences which develop skill, initiative, inde- pendence, and bodily strength. Most of the boys are preparing for college, but this outdoor and manual work does not mean that they have to take any longer time for their preparation than the boys in the city high school. From Dewey, School of Tomorrow, pp. 87-89. 2. Dalton Plan The plan preserves grouping by grades but pupils work at their own rate of speed, fast in some subjects and more slowly in others but still remaining with their group. Beginning with the fourth 82 Education for Modermzation in China grade the child is assigned for each subject to a “subject laboratory” having special equipment and reference material and having a special- ist in charge. His work in each subject for the month is assigned at the beginning of the month and he may plan his time as he thinks best to accomplish it. The instruction is mainly individual but work with the group is also included. Adapted from Dewey, The Dalton Laboratory Plan (Dutton, New York 1921). 3. Winnetka Promotion of each pupil in each subject whenever he completes the work of his grade in that subject. To this end the specific goals of each grade are determined and set forth so that the child may himself judge his progress in terms of concrete facts to be known, habits to be acquired, or skills to be developed. Complete diagnostic tests are used to show progress, for under an individual system each pupil must achieve 100 per cent efficiency and tests show exactly what he has yet to accomplish. Practice material is afforded for the pupil’s own use, the material to correspond with weakness shown in tests, so that each pupil may correct his own daily work. Sufficient social work is said to be provided to counteract the indi- vidual work. Adapted from C. W. Washburne, Elementary School Journal, 21 :52-68. 4. San Francisco This system depends entirely on individual instruction. The les- sons to teach new principles or processes are constructed upon an elastic plan. There are duplicate exercises and each pupil works as many or as few as he needs to master the principles. Promotion is by subjects, not grades, and a pupil may be advanced at any time when he is fitted to do so. If his progress in some one subject is so far behind the rest, as to make it advisable, he may take from the ‘other subjects the time he needs to make up this one in which he is deficient. Self-instruction bulletins are used by the children in connection Appendix 83 with their texts. They are written directly to the children and are easy to follow. To offset the possible danger from much individual work, group periods daily are devoted to “oral expression’”—exposition, discus- sion and dramatics. Adapted from Frederic Burk, Monograph C, San Francisco State Normal School, 1915. 5. Fitchburg Plan of Codperative Industrial Education “The industrial course is of four years’ duration, the same as the regular high-school course. The first year is spent wholly in school; in the next three years the boys alternate weekly between shop and school. . . . The pupils are paired, and during the first week half of them remain at work while the rest attend school. Those who attend school the first week spend the second week in the shops, and those who remain in the shop the first week attend school the second week. This alternation continues throughout the year. Three summers are spent in the shops, beginning with the close of the first year in June. The first summer is a trial period of two months and is given to each candidate to determine if he is adapted to the particular trade he elects.” The boys receive pay for their actual work, and continuous work during the vacation period is pro- vided for every boy who cares to work. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 50. 6. Beverly Industrial School Plan : This plan follows rather closely the Fitchburg plan of alternate school and shop work, with the difference that the school retains full control of the pupils while they are in the factory. The pupils while in the shop are in a separate department and the same person in- structs each particular division both in shop and in school. Adapted from Leavitt, Examples of Industrial Edu- cation (New York 1912) pp. 209ff. 7. Gary, Indiana “The school program is so arranged that during each morning and each afternoon session of the school one half the pupils have ninety 84 Education for Modernization in China minutes of work in the regular subjects;—English, history and mathematics,—followed by ninety minutes of work in the special subjects,—manual training, science, drawing, music, play, and physi- cal culture. The remaining pupils have the same program, but in the reverse order, the regular work following the ninety minutes of special work. Thus work in both regular and special subjects is being carried on continuously during the day, by special teachers and on the departmental plan, as far as desired, in either group. “A child, if it is for his best interest to do so, may take an extra amount of regular work in place of a portion of the special work, or vice versa. Thus a boy who has failed in English can make up his deficiency by going into another regular English class during his special-work period. A boy whose interests demand that he be given more time in manual training can have a maximum of three hours a day in that subject, if desirable, during the regular school hours.” W. A. Wirt, Quoted in Leavitt, Examples of Indus- trial Education p. 92. 8. New York “Group System” or “Large School Plan” “Because of the large number of pupils in city schools, it is pos- sible to have in each grade three or more classes and to group the pupils according to ability, with the bright students in one class, the slow in another, and the medium in still others. The group system has been worked out in two ways, which are designated as (1) the “Constant-Group System,” and (2) the “Shifting-Group System.” In the operation of the constant-group method, the membership of the class remains the same for a definite period, and promotions are made only at regular and stated intervals. Divisions must be pro- vided in nearly all subjects of the course, and students in the most advanced sections may pass to a higher grade in those subjects in which they are prepared to do the advanced work, without having to be equally well prepared in the other subjects. In the shifting-group method, there may be as many groups in as many subjects as the teacher thinks best, and promotions may take place at any time. The aim in the shifting group is to encourage the bright pupils to do thorough and careful work while the slow pupils are being brought up to the grade standard. The primary aim of the constant-group Appendix 85 method, on the other hand, is to give the bright pupil opportunity to advance as rapidly as possible.” National Society for the Study of Education, Nine- teenth Yearbook, Part II, pp. 16f., 1920. 9. Batavia System Under the Batavia System one half of the time is given to regu- lar recitation and the other half to individual recitation. In the grades, each room has two grades and two teachers, one doing class work exclusively and the other individual work. “The class teacher takes one grade for class work while the other grades are at study; the individual teacher is always to be found at her table with one pupil. . . . The special work of the individual teacher is to find the weak spots.” In the high school the same principle is used. The teacher meets her class at the regular times, having on alternate days recitation and individual work. During the regular recitation period she notes the pupils “who do not appear fully to grasp the subject under treat- ment.” . . . When the class assembles on the following day advanced work is assigned and “the pupils at once take up the new task, each for himself. The teacher seats herself at her desk. She calls to her side the boy or girl whom the discussion of the preceding day’s lesson has shown to be in doubt or distress in regard to any part of the work.” Whatever time is necessary to clear up this diffi- culty is given to this pupil. Another then takes his place. “At the next recitation of the same class the regular work is taken up. Both lessons, the one assigned at the close of the regular recita- tion and the one given out at the beginning of the individual period, are recited.”’ A special individual instructor, in the main study hall, works along similar lines with pupils who by reason of protracted illness or other peculiar difficulties need more time than the class- room teacher can give. Educational Work, 1:6-11 (1906). 10. Recommendations Concerning the Education of Gifted Children. 1. Health should be an important factor in the selection of the pupils. 86 Education for Modernization in China 2. The teacher of gifted children must possess a large fund of general information. 3. The teacher must be characterized by energy, enthusiasm, and an inspiring personality. 4. The teacher should not give redundant explanations and mean- ingless drill; emphasis should be placed on the development of the pupil’s initiative. Attention should be given to a proper perspective of the material of instruction. 5. The teacher need but pay little attention to discipline so long as the pupils are supplied with enough active work to keep them busy. 6. If any of the pupils seem to be developing egoistic tendencies, the teacher should apply the social check. 7. The course of study should be allowed wide latitude in modi- fication in order to fit the purposes of the pupils. The above points are taken from the General Summary in the 19th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education on Classroom Problems in the Education of Gifted Children. They are readily applicable in the education for leadership in China. From the Nineteenth Yearbook, Part II, pp. 112-119. APPENDIX II A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CHIEF CONDI- TIONING CIRCUMSTANCE OF MODERN PROGRESS Note: The two or three books marked (*) at the head of each group have been found to be of especial value in the study of the dynamic conditioning circumstance of modern progress. I. EXPANSION AND ProcrEss A. GENERAL FACTS * SHEPHERD, W.R. “The Expansion of Europe.” Political Science Quarterly, 1919. I, Introduction and the Transit of European Ideas and Institutions to non-European Lands. pp. 43-60. II. The Reaction on European Life and Thought. pp. 210-225. III. The Reaction on European Life and Thought. pp. 392-412. * ApBoTT, W.C. The Expansion of Europe. 2 vol. Holt, 1918. A comprehensive treatise of European history from the Renaissance to the French Revolution from the standpoint of the expansion. * KouL, J.G. A Popular History of the Discovery of America. 2 vol. Chapman and Hall, London, 1862. In Vol. 11, Chap. vi, a very suggestive account of the results of the dis- covery of America to commerce, navigation, science, religion and politics. Cambridge Modern History. Vol. land Ill. Macmillan, 1902-12. GILLESPIE, J. E. Influence of Oversea Expansion on England to 1700. Columbia University, 1920. Happon, A. C. The Wanderings of Peoples. Cambridge University Press, 1912. A brief statement of the general movement of peoples in all continents. Haves, C. J. H. A Political and Social History of Modern Europe. 2 vol. Macmillan, 1916. Jayne, K. G. Vasco Da Gama and His Successors. Methuen, Lon- don, 1910. Chapters I-1v treat the beginnings of modern expansion from Prince Henry the Navigator to Columbus. Mauan, A. T. The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660- 1783. Little, Brown, 1890. pp. 28-58, a discussion on general conditions affecting sea power; and pp. 82-83, on the influence of colonies on sea power. 88 Education for Modernization in China Muir, R. The Expansion of Europe. Houghton Mifflin, 1917. Chap. I. Meaning and Motive of Imperialism. Chap. IV. The Era of Revolution, 1763-1825. Chap. V. Europe and the Non-European World, 1815-1878. POLLARD, A. F. Factors in Modern History. Putnam, 1907. The object of the author is “to stimulate imagination” in the study of history. Good analysis of Colonial Expansion, pp. 236-262. STODDARD, L. The Rising Tide of Color. Scribner, 1920. It marks the beginning of the end of modern European expansion. The author is journalistic and very race-conscious. Taytor, H. O. Thought and Expression in the Sixteenth Century. Macmillan, 1920. A comprehensive survey taking in many complex factors of the complex century. B. THEORIES * SUMNER, W.G. Earth Hunger and Other Essays. Yale University Press, 1913. The title essay, Earth Hunger or the Philosophy of Land Grabbing, was written in 1896. The hypothesis of the ratio of population to land is used to interpret historical movements. Especially penetrating passage on modern colonization, pp. 41-45. *Topp, A. J. Theories of Social Progress. Macmillan, 1918. A careful and exhaustive presentation of the Prophets of Progress. ApvaAms, Brooxs. The Law of Civilization and Decay. Macmillan, 1896. Chaps. x-x1I, on the modern period. ApaMs, H. The Rule of Phase Applied to History, in The Degrada- tion of the Democratic Dogma. Macmillan, 1919. Inference drawn from mathematical physics. Bury, J. H. The Idea of Progress. Macmillan, 1920. ConKLIN, E.G. The Direction of Human Evolution. Scribner, 1921. Part II, Chap. I]. Progress in Human History. Chap. III. Biological Basis of Democracy. It presents the biological interpretation. GumpLowicz, L. The Outlines of Sociology. Trans. by F. W. Moore. American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1899. Theory on the Cycle of Development, and on Progress and Innovation, pp. 205-210. Hosuouse, L. T. Social Evolution and Political Theory. Columbia University Press, 1911. Fine distinction of Evolution and Progress in Chaps. I, 1, VII. Appendix 89 HUNTINGTON, E. Civilization and Climate. Yale University Press, 1915. The basis used for ranking civilization needs revision. But the author realizes the relative importance of one factor in the environment, climate. Lowrie, R. H. Culture and Ethnology. McMuttrie, 1917. A brief popular account. Chap. Iv treats the Determinants of Culture from the point of view of an anthropologist. Mactuus, T. R. Essay on Population. Chap 1: The classical beginning of the struggle for existence theory. Mutver-Lyer, F. The History of Social Development. Trans. by Lake. Allen and Unwin, London, 1921. In Book Iv are summarized the Causes of Progress. SEMPLE, E. C. Influences of Geographical Environment. Holt, 1911. Chap. 111: “Society and State in Relation to the Land,’ and Chap. tv: “Movement of Peoples in their Geographical Significance” are especially applicable for the theory of expansion. Vico, G. B. Article on, in Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition. An account of his Law of Cycle. Warp, L .F. Dynamic Sociology. 2 vol. Appleton, 1883. Vol. 1, Chap. x and x1, on Progress and Action. II. ScrENCE AND INDUSTRIES A. ) SCIENCE * Rospinson, J. H. The Mind in the Making. Harper, 1921. An illuminating study. Chap. vi on The Scientific Revolution and How Scientific Knowledge has Revolutionized the Conditions of Life. * VEBLEN, T. The Place of Science in Modern Civilization. Huebsch, 1919. Chap. 1 and 1, an insight into the visionary character of modern science. Bury, J. H. History of the Freedom of Thought. Holt, 1913. A clear, popular account. : Dewey, J. How We Think. Heath, 1910. Creative Intelligence. Holt, 1917. Influence of Darwin on Philosophy. Holt, 1910. LIPPMANN, W. Drift and Mastery. Mitchell Kennerley, 1914. pp. 269-329 on the need of scientific attitude in modern social organ- ization. Pearson, K. Grammar of Science. 3rd Ed. A. and C. Black, London. PoincarRE, H. Foundations of Science; Science and Hypothesis. Trans. by G. B. Halsted. Science Press, New York, 1913. 90 Education for Modernization in China B. INDUSTRIES *VEBLEN, T. Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution. Mac- millan, 1915. Chap. 1v. The Case of England. Chap. vi. The Industrial Revolution in Germany. *SHEPHERD, W.R. The Expansion of Europe. Vol. I, pp. 210-225. On how the expansion influenced and made possible the industrial and financial revolutions in Europe. Day, C. A History of Commerce. Longmans, Green, 1907. The effect on commerce, manufactures and means of communication, of modern expansion. Chap. xv and XXVIII-XXXI. Det Mar, A. Money and Civilization. George Bell, London, 1886. “Tremendous stimulus afforded by the plunder of America” saved Europe from the stationary condition of the Dark Ages, and the temporary ben- efits of the Renaissance. Chap. 1x, x, XI, and XIII. MeERIVALE, H. Lectures on Colomzation and Colonies. Longmans, Green, 1861. Part 11, Economic effects of colonization on the parent state; effect of emigration on the progress of the population and wealth; effects of the exportation of capital; effects of colonial trade. NicHotson, J. S. A Project of Empire. Macmillan, 1909. A critical study of the economics of Imperialism, with special reference to the ideas of Adam Smith. SEELEY, J. R. The Expansion of England. Little, Brown, 1920. Lecture V. Effects of the New World on the Old. Lecture VII. Phases of Expansion. STRONG, J. Expansion, Under New World Conditions. Baker & Tay- lor, 1900. The analysis of the need of the United States for foreign markets after the exhaustion of the arable public lands. III. INDIVIDUALITY AND DEMOCRACY A. INDIVIDUALITY *Hockinc, W. E. Human Nature and Its Re-Making. Yale Uni- versity Press, 1918. Chap. 1v and v: A Critical Account of Modern Liberators, Rousseau, Nietzsche, to Freud. Also Chap. x1: A Discussion of The Will in Its Modern Aspects. *Dewey, J. AND Turts, J. H. Ethics. Holt, 1908. Part 1, Chap. vu, The Beginnings of the Development of Modern Individualism. Appendix al Fite, W. Individualism. Longmans, Green, 1911. The evolution of the individual, pp. 135-169. The formal principles of Individualism, pp. 170-182. The theory of natural rights, pp. 231-259, Individualism and socialism, pp. 274-291. Hosnovuse, L. T. Morals in Evolution. Holt, 1906. Part 11, Chap. vit, on the antithesis of duty and interest in modern ethics. LaskI, H. J. Political Thought in England from Locke to Bentham. Holt, 1920. On Adam Smith and individualism, pp. 308-312. Le Bon, G. The Psychology of Revolution. Trans. by B. Miall. Put- nam, 1913. Part 1, Bk. 11, Chap. 1: Individual variations in time of revolution. Mitt, J. S. Liberty. Longmans, 1913. The classical mid-nineteenth century exposition. NIETZSCHE, F. Beyond Good and Evil. The Will to Power. WaLtLas, G. Our Social Heritage. Yale University Press, 1921. In Chap. vu, on Liberty, he criticizes the conception of Mill, and advo- cates the many-sided and positive conception of Pericles! B,. DEMOCRACY *BECKER, C. The United States an Experiment in Democracy. Mac- millan, 1920. Recurring illustrations throughout the book of the relationship between frontier and democracy. *Dewey, J. Democracy and Education. Macmillan, 1916. The interpretation of democracy as “primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience,’ whose worth is to be measured by “the extent in which the interests are shared by all its members, and the fullness and freedom with which it interacts with other groups.” Chap. vit. BaGEHOT, W. Physics and Politics. Appleton, 1887. In Chap. 11 and m1, on the Use of Conflict and Nation-Making, he illus- trates the need of inner coherence of the group before and during periods of expansion. Bryce, J. Modern Democracies. 2 vol. Macmillan, 1920. A standard compendium. Part 1, Chap. Iv and v treat the historical evolu- tion and theoretical foundations of democracy. FisHer, H. A. L. The Republican Tradition in Europe. Putnam, 1911. The rise of the protestant spirit and of the French Republic, in Chap, III and Iv. 92 Education for Modernization in China Grippincs, F. H. Democracy and Empire. Macmillan, 1900. It sets up a puzzle, and tries to solve it by imagining back to primitive conditions and a shadowy “ethical like-mindedness.” It neglects environ- ment and the significance of expansion. KROPOTKIN, P. Mutual Aid. LippMANN, W. Public Opinion. Harcourt, Brace, 1922. Part 1v: The Image of Democracy. A discerning analysis. Martin, E. D. The Behavior of Crowds. Harper, 1920. A popular application of the newer psychology to the observation of the behavior of crowds. RusseELu, B. Why Men Fight. Century, 1917. Proposed Roads to Freedom. Holt, 1919. Wattas, G. Our Social Heritage. Yale University Press, 1921. Chap. 1x: World cooperation, is deemed necessary for survival, but it can only be built up by efforts of rational calculation and rationalized conduct. | | | | Mil ll UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA ! 3 0112 064202671 ———