Perusal of the preceding table reveals that legislatures are becoming increasingly active in prescribing courses of study. In view of the rapid increase of the number of prescribed courses one is led to wonder what the ultimate outcome will be. During the last twenty years the number of prescribed courses has increased by more than 60 per cent. It is evident that a continuation of this legislation will handicap the schools inasmuch as the time schedule is limited. Moreover, with the advancement of human knowledge the expert should be allowed discretion in reference to the choice. The present-day legal restrictions in the teaching of medicine were intended to be beneficent; in reality they are repressive and a handicap as the following quotation indicates: "So repressive have these detailed (legal) restrictions become on medical education that recently the president of the American Medical Association, who is also the president of an American University in the west, argued that improvements in medical education were practically blocked, and that the only possible way to secure relief would Flanders, J. K. Legislative Control of the Elementary Curriculum. Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 195. 1925. "Flanders, J. K. op. cit. p. 175. appear to be to go through the laborious process of remedial legislation in every state of the Union. With this view the president of another university famous for its medical school explicitly agreed."'18 In some instances the method of teaching as well as the subject matter to be taught is prescribed by legislation. Flanders cites some very interesting illustrations of this fact. (p. 180). He maintains that if we continue to increase the number of subjects required and to hedge them about with detailed specifications, it is only a question of time when the legislature will have assumed entire responsibility for the course of study. Teachers may then be forced to choose between obeying the law and serving the child. 5. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS In the past, church and state were identical. cal. Together they dictated. Since the cleavage of these powerful bodies, each has attempted to control teaching. The church has recently attempted to regain some of its former power. Numerous manifestations on the part of the church to establish a hold upon and to influence the schools are seen. One of the most conspicuous examples is the attempt of the church to force an entry through the recent general interest in moral education. Not only the church but other presumably altruistic bodies are attempting to shape and direct the community via the schools. The school system of Batavia, Illinois, had been experimenting with a system of religious instruction for a year when the following announcement was made by the superintendent. "The movement came from the churches and the instruction is given by the churches under the supervision of the various pastors. The school has simply been coöperating. "We dismiss for this instruction on Thursdays. The first and second grades go from 18 Haggerty, M. E. "Training the Superintendent of Schools.' Minneapolis. Bulletin of the University of Minnesota College of Education. Educational Research Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 17, April 6th, 1925. nine o'clock till recess, the third and fourth grades from recess till noon, the fifth and sixth grades from noon till afternoon recess, and the seventh and eighth grades from afternoon recess till four o'clock. The going to religious instruction is purely voluntary and must be asked for by the parent. Those who do not choose to go, remain in school and spend the time in supervised study. About 90 90 per cent. of our children go. "It will be seen that there is no uniform course of study. Each church is a law unto itself in this regard."19 An editorial appearing in the School Review makes the following comment upon the above plan of curriculum construction. "It seems to the writer of this editorial to be a hazardous practice for the public school to relinquish its supervision of pupils without insisting on a definite and adequate guaranty of instruction as well organized as that given by the schools themselves. The state has placed on the schools the obligation of training children with a certain degree of efficiency. To this end the state requires the public-school teachers to reach a certain level of training. The state also requires communities to provide proper quarters for school operations and insists on the preparation of a suitable body of instructional material. There lurks much danger in any plan which admits that in matters of religion pupils may be turned over without supervision to those who may or may not attain to the standards of the common schools."20 Coincident with the attempt on the part of certain Protestant churches to provide voluntary religious instruction, attempts have been made to require Bible reading in the schools by legislative enactment. It is inevitable that such attempts at legislation should be met with resistance by the adherents of faiths which do not subscribe to the tenets of Protestantism. "Professor Clarence B. Skinner of Tufts 19 & 20Quoted by The Elementary School Journal, December, 1920. College, chairman of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the American Civil Liberties Union, said yesterday that his committee was seeking to bring into court a test case to determine the constitutionality of the Delaware law providing for compulsory Bible reading 'without comment' in the public schools of the state. The law imposes a fine on any teacher who omits the Bible reading, according to Professor Skinner, who continued:— 666 'Since it is customary to use the King James version of the Bible and the Protestant version of the Lord's Prayer in public schools, this law would make all religious teaching other than Protestant in the Delaware schools a serious misdemeanor. The law strikes so serious a blow at the religious freedom of teachers and pupils alike that we can well understand how any Catholic or Jewish parent in the state of Delaware would demand that this law be tested in the courts. It is equally probable that the law would be obnoxious to many teachers."" 21 Recently efforts were made in Michigan and in Oregon to abolish all private and parochial schools and to compel all children to attend the public schools. In an article published in the September 1924 issue of the National Catholic Welfare Conference Bulletin there is a vigorous statement of the position of the authorities of the Catholic schools with regard to the above attempt. The following paragraphs are illustrative of the Catholic position. "The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884, decreed as follows: 'We not only exhort Catholic parents with paternal affection, but we command them with all the authority in our power to procure a truly Catholic education for their dear children and to send them to the parish or other truly Catholic schools."22 The final paragraph of the article is as follows: "The parochial school shall not be abolished. It is as good, as efficient, as loyal, The Elementary School Journal, September, 1925. 22 The Elementary School Journal, October, 1924. as American a school as any. To unwarranted interference we must strongly object. Dictatorial control we must resent with all our sense of right and resist with all our lawful might. And while God reigns in Heaven and the Constitution lives in America, we shall never submit to abolition." It is plain that sectarian differences make it quite impossible for the curriculum maker to devise any general system of religious education that will be satisfactory to all religious sects. When a single religious sect attempts to influence the school curriculum legal strife is apt to ensue. The following is illustrative:-As a result of Mandamus proceedings which were brought by the Freethinkers' Society of New York, Supreme Court Justice Pierce H. Russell signed an order requiring Frank P. Graves, state commissioner of education, to show cause why he should not be compelled by a writ of mandamus to stop the use of school time for religious instruction of publicschool children in the state.23 "The problem with which the New York Supreme Court is asked to deal is one which is becoming acute in many school systems. Superintendents and principals find it very difficult to refuse the citizens in their communities who apply to them for permission to carry on religious training during school hours. The people who make the requests are usually the best citizens in the community. They come with the statement that religion is a part of our civilization and that the teaching of religion one day in the week is not adequate. The school officer is aware, on the other hand, that sectarian differences make it quite impossible for him to devise any general system of religious education and that supervision of the methods and the quality of such training as is given is hopeless. The experience of all the older civilizations is that public education is endangered when it attempts to deal with religion and that private education removed in any degree from public supervision is invariably inadequate." & The School Review, March, 1926. 6. POWERFUL ORGANIZED MINORITIES Flanders has shown that there are numerous small but determined and resourceful minorities which are definitely working to induce legislatures to require that certain subjects be taught or that certain phases of subjects receive special emphasis. Several states have enacted similar or exact legislation as a result of the effective work of energetic lobbyists. "There are a number of organizations, national in scope, which are interested in promoting definite programs and have adopted the policy of using the public schools as a means of accomplishing their purpose. The crusade of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union to put into schools the compulsory teaching of the evil effects of alcoholic stimulants and narcotics is probably one of the earliest as it is by far the most successful effort along this line. No one knows how many organizations are attempting similar action. It is safe to say that the number has been increasing in recent years and that there is no assurance that these attempts are all in the real interest of public welfare. It is time to inquire as to the wisdom of allowing our public educational institutions to be used as agencies of propaganda, even when the propaganda is promoted by the highest motives."25 Discussing the influence of powerful_organized minorities upon the curriculum Counts states: "The ordinary industrial city or state is literally alive with these highly organized and articulate groups. Bessie L. Pierce* has recently shown in scholarly fashion how various groups have sought to influence the teaching of history and the social studies in our schools. According to her report, the United Confederate Veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Knights of Columbus, the Steuben Society, the American Bar Association, the American Bankers 25 Flanders, J. K. op. cit. p. 182. *Pierce, Bessie L.: Public Opinion and the Teaching of History. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1926. Association, the American Federation of Labor, the American Legion, the National Security League, and many other organizations have endeavored to modify the curriculum. Every one of these groups is interested in pleading some special cause in the schools. If they are permitted to write our histories, the high schools might as well close their doors." 1726 7. TEXTBOOK MUTILATION In addition to the above powerful forces a host of others are encountered. Most of the representatives of these forces, as previously stated, are not professed curriculum makers. Many of them would vigorously disclaim any desire to make or to affect the curriculum of the public schools. Nevertheless, the influence of such groups is so potent that actual modifications or additions to textbooks are made to accord with their desires. Not infrequently does one find a textbook alteration or mutilation made to appease a powerful organized minority. The New Republic has challenged recently the stand of Texas in regard to textbook eliminations and modifications. A code of ethics has not been agreed upon by writers of textbooks. However, one is sadly needed. What writer of integrity would allow his work to be mutilated or distorted to comply with the demands of bigoted and ignorant politicians or publicity-seeking opportunists? The question is not only one which involves Texas, it is one in which every individual interested in the dissemination of knowledge should take part actively. "The time will doubtless come when authors who are specialists in science will not allow themselves to be dictated to by textbook commissions or politicians. At the present time the historians and biologists are confronted more than any other group with the problem of deciding between professional honesty and royalties. It is to be hoped that the educational profession will learn from the sad exhibition made in 26Counts, George S. "Who Shall Make the Curriculum?" The School Review, May, 1927. Texas that schools will never be respectable until they reach the point where they regard truth more highly than they do commercial candor."27 A part of the editorial from the New Republic follows: "The New York World calls attention to a situation arising in consequence of the action of the Texas legislature against the teaching of evolution. By request of the State Textbook Commission, alterations have been made in biological works to fit them for Texas consumption. In Moon's Biology for Beginners, published by Henry Holt and Company, four chapters dealing with the evolution of man have been cut out, and the word 'evolution' has been replaced throughout by 'development.' In Healthful Living, by Jesse Feiring Williams, published by the Macmillan Company, changes in the text have been made to avoid the use of the hateful word: for example, 'Animals in their evolution from lower to higher forms of life have increased their power to move about' has been changed to 'Through the many generations of their existence animals have increased,' etc." Not only are the textbooks modified to comply with the demands of powerful minorities, but they are often made to comply with national chauvinism. The school may be used legitimately to teach citizenship but facts of history should never be distorted or suppressed in order to comply with chauvinism or national propaganda. J. F. Scott has attempted recently to discover the extent to which a special national bias is reflected in the treatment of historical topics, particularly those topics which concern the relations of one nation with another. His method was to compare the treatment accorded an historical event in the textbooks of various countries. Scott found that just as the church in an earlier age used the school to inculcate "sound" theological doctrine, so the state has used it (and is now using it) to teach "sound" political doctrine. "The darker side of the picture can best be presented through a few quotations. In 27 The School Review, September, 1926. speaking of certain books used in the French schools, the author says that 'the school is helping to perpetuate the myth of the maimed Belgian children.' (p. 73). In other books children are taught that the Germans devastated the lands, burned the harvests, and massacred inoffensive people; that they pitilessly cut down the trees, bombarded the beautiful cathedral of Rheims, set fire to hundreds of cities and villages; 'and that other German brutes boasted of killing the wounded'" (p. 73). According to one of the German textbooks, 'three varieties of lust constitute the original cause of the (world) war; French lust for revenge, Russian lust for power, English lust for wealth' (p. 122). In another German textbook is the following quotation: "Comrades, for the present grievous sufferings of our Fatherland, at bottom we must thank our old hereditary enemies, the French' (p. 124). In England the British Association for the Advancement of Science asserts that 'the British Empire is the greatest human institution under heaven, the greatest secular organization for good' (p. 149). Hundreds of other references could be given from the textbooks of these countries to show how the schools are being used as powerful instruments to foster a narrow nationalism and to make difficult the way of international peace, but these few quotations must suffice."28 Counts points out that in the teaching of patriotism particularly the schools have suffered from a form of social myopia. In attempting to use the school as an instrument of nationalism the facts of history are being distorted to inculcate an unenlightened patriotism and to foster the growth of prejudices. REMARKS In the light of the preceding examples it appears likely that a really scientifically constructed curriculum would have little chance to function in our present-day "Counts, George S. Book Review of J. F. Scott's The Menace of Nationalism in Education. The School Review, February, 1927. schools. It is evident that the curriculum maker must be content to stand aloof as an idealist. In practice he may only supplement the work of the legislator, the lobbyist the propagandist, and miscellaneous busybodies. All these persons are projecting their ideas and prejudices into the curriculum. Sometimes they succeed directly in modifying the practices of the schools and sometimes they must be satisfied with a compromise or indirect fulfillment of their desires. Occasionally propagandists distort or modify worthy objectives so as to include their special demands. Herein is to be seen the inadequacy of such a general educational objective as "good citizenship." Everyone would agree that good citizenship is a worthy educational objective but there is no agreement as to the specific knowledge and skills which the good citizen should have. have. The staunch denominationalist thinks that wholesome citizenship posits church attendance (at any one of a very small number of churches) and that adults ought to know certain denominational tenets. Not being able to put across this ideal at the present time the denominationalist compromises with his fellows, and religious instruction in the schools is the result. Similarly, the lumber dealer thinks that the adult should know more about the uses to which lumber may be put, the banker thinks that thrift should be a more widespread ideal among the populace, and the radio dealer wants children to become habituated to radio entertainment and instruction. The tea and coffee dealers want their commodities known and appreciated. Too, the daughters of the American revolution are of the opinion that certain unpalatable truths should be sacrificed in order that honor may be most fulsomely bestowed upon revolutionary heroes, etc. etc. lectively, such forces determine to a large extent what shall be taught in the schools. Col In the meantime the curriculum maker is permitted to tinker with rather than make the curriculum. It has frequently been said of the curriculum that, like Topsy, it never was made; it "just growed." This |