A NEW EDUCATIONAL METHOD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 80

A NEW EDUCATIONAL METHOD.

By K. fcTL. Something new in the way of instruction by 140 teachers is demonstrated in the Washington living High School,. 2sew York. About 4000 New York girls are learning something new in school, and do quite astonishing things. But the really important part of the business is that the least important of these girls is capable of more than simply following in the wake of hsv teachers. She can do something on her own initiative. Two girls from the business class are on duty during the day in the office of the principal to see how things are done in the Ordinary course outside of the classroom. It is one thing to have an idea of how to meet an office caller, and another thing to do it. One thing to handle the morning mail, and another to dispose of it intelligently. This principle is carried out not only in the office, but in every classroom. In the gymnasium a class of 50 was marching round the room. The principal asked the visitor to pick out some girl—any girl she liked. The tail of the line was passing, so the visitor simply indicated the last girl, very young, without a particle of aggressiveness. The principal halted the line, and .'aid, "Come here, please. Give the class something to do." The girl hesitated, gave her orders a little mixed, at which the girls laughed and shuffled uncertainly. She had been taken by surprise, and couldn't pull herself together. There was no one, to help her out. Instead, the principal gave a short, sharp admonition, "Quick, we're waiting." One could see in her eyes, how the girl pulled herself togetlver. "Form in columns of two and advanoe," etc. This was one thing the girl had never been called on to do before. She had listened to the orders for matching, and had obeyed, but she had to find out how near she was to not knowing these orders, except in a colourless, useless sort of way. That girl will not be taken by surprise again, and what counts still more in the development of her personality, she can do a thing when it confronts her demanding to be done. "That's enough," said the principal, after several evolutions under the d'rection of tho girl. "Take your place; thank you." Then, to the class, "What dance have you been taking?" "An Irish jig-" "Oh, an Irish jig. Well, is there anyone here who can play it?" One girl was pointed out —her features were unmistakable. "All right." This young lady, by the name of Cohen, or some other Irish name like that, will play an Irish jig. Everybody laughed; Miss Coben with tlie rest. There seemed to be no end of gond fellowship among the girls, as well as a lack of those supersensitive feelings which some schoolgirls carry around with them for the sole purpose of getting hurt. Mss Cohen took her place at the piano. The principal pointed to four other girls. "Those four girls come out and dance," he said. They looked as if he had included hot ploughshares in his invitation to the dance, but they came nevertheless, and the Hebrew pianist played, and the cosmopolitan quartet danced the jig bravely and well. It was a good example of the school's methods, which may be summed up briefly : loach every girl to think and act individually. Make her use what she learns. If she has anything to do, get her to do it as well as she can, but at anyrate to do it. Several years ago the principal of the W.I.H. School decided that the principal and the teachers had too much of a monopoly of the star parts—for instance, the calling of the morning assembly, the calling to order, the reading of the Scripture ; everything had been in the hands of the teachers. Suddenly the whole plan was ohanged. The girls them.selves were put in charge of the morning assembly, which they take in turn. A girl who, under the*old regime, would have had a fit, or a faint, if .suddenly asked to mount the platform and in an audible voice and with a semblance of self-possession preside over a roomful of girls with a sprinkling of grown-ups, now does the thing simply and naturally. It was too late for the morning assembly, but that made no difference. The principal interrupted a class in the big room. He pointed to one girl. "I wish this visitor to .see how the assembly is conducted. Please go to the platform and show her." There was the usual startled look, but no sign of begging off. The giii en lied the room to order, read a psalm. Each girl selects her own Scripture rending, and as most of them are Jewish the Old Testament is oftenest drawn upon. And then there was the saint; 1 to the flag. The principal called for the services of a volunteer pianist, and for another girl to hold the big silk banner. All looked surprised, but they went ahead and carried the thing through. Next came a room where a class was having a singing lesson. Now, any girl will sing when a class all round her is singing. Maybe she can do pretty well, too, with the support of other voices. But it is a very different thing to ask any human being—man, woman, or child —to sing alone. That is what those girJi

are asked to do, straight along, and they do it, too. Half of them know they haven't good voices, and they do not pretend to be singers, but it is part of the game to do Whatever they find themselves up against, and to do their best without shirking. In every room something was done to call out the quick-wittedness and self-reliance of the girls. If it was a German class some girl was picked out at random and asked to recite the latest memory test selection, or the class was asked to sing a German song. "You. please, the fourth girl in that row, come out to the front and lead the class. This the girl did without screwing around m her seat or indulging in any of the embarrassed hesitation most girls of her age -would have shown. Perhaps the most surprising part of all this training is that there seems to be no discipline accompanying it. No girl is forced by the threat of penalty to do anything. If a, girl in the back of the room were inattentive or disorderly she would be asked to come out to the front seat. Probably she would come. The spirit of the school would influence her to do it, but if she did not nobody would halt the progress of the class until she came to time and the front seat; but if there should come a-next time she will surely come. That is the new thing these 4000 girls are learning—to do what is up to them to do, whether they like it or not. This has made the W.I.H.S. the largest' in the world, and also the most self-reliant and interesting.

Largely through the help of Mrs Harriman, a fund of 140,000 dollars yearly has been provided to maintain an experimental school for the study of the administration of public business. The school will be started in New York, but the scope is intended to be international. Miss Cypriana Subjain, of Iloilo, on the Island of Panay, one of the few Filipino girls in the United States, has registered as a student in the Medical School of Colorado University. It is her intention to return to the Philippines on the completion of her course, and to devote her life to the practice of her profession among her own people. She made a remarkable record under an American teacher, gaining an average percentage of 91.5. Miss Subjain is an orphan, and of the Visayan tribe. Her father was a Headman of the Province of Iloilo.