[Gutenberg 56903] • Introduction to the scientific study of education

Excerpt from Introduction to the Scientific Study of Education

Most people think of school matters from the pupil's point of view. When they learned arithmetic and grammar, or later when they studied algebra and Latin, each course was presented to them as though it were a perfect system. The teacher did not confide in them that arithmetic probably ought to be revised by the omission of many of its topics, that formal grammar is a very doubtful subject, and that both algebra and Latin are on the point of losing their places as required subjects. The pupil sees the front of the school 'scenery; the machinery behind is known only to those who conduct the performance.

It would be possible to multiply indefinitely examples which show that the pupil's view of the school is very limited. What pupil understands the duties of the princi pal or the superintendent, or of the still more remote and mysterious board of education? Where does the daily pro gram come from? Who decides about textbooks? Why are school buildings commonly planned with large study rooms? Most of these questions are never thought of by pupils. Everything in school life seems to have a kind of inevitableness which raises it above question or even consideration.

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