The methods of
teaching that obtained in the school when we were pupils have grooved
themselves into habits of thinking that smile defiance at the theories
that we have more recently acquired. When we venture out from the shore
we want to feel a rope in our hands. The superintendent speaks fervently
to patrons or teachers on the subject of modern methods in teaching,
then retires to his office and takes intimate and friendly counsel with
tradition. In sailing the educational seas he must needs keep in sight
the buoys of tradition. This matter of conservatism is cited merely to
show that our progress, in the very nature of the case, will be slow.
=Schools of education.=--Another obstacle in the way of progress toward
the vitalized school is the attitude and teaching of many who are
connected with colleges of education and normal schools. We have a right
to look to them for leadership, but we find, instead, that their
practices lag far in the rear of their theories. They teach according to
such devitalized methods and in such an unvitalized way as to discredit
the subjects they teach. It is only from such of their students as are
proof against their style of teaching that we may hope for aid. One such
teacher in a college of education in a course of eight weeks on the
subject of School Administration had his students copy figures from
statistical reports for several days in succession and for four and five
hours each day.
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