tions by considering a much larger question, with which
indeed any treatment of. class and pupil control is great-
ly concerned, Wliat are the qualities that we should
desire to see manifested in our boys and girls? Are they
just the same qualities as we require of adults? Would
a society, indeed, be endurable by adults in which the
boys and girls were on an even plane with their elders?
Taken literally, are such phrases as "a manly boy," "a
man with the heart of a child (or of a woman)," "a
motherly girl," or "a boy with the sweet face of a girl"
to be taken as satire or as praise? Is a thoroughly self-
reliant boy one who promises well or not? Do not, in
fact, sex and age modify the requirements? Such ques-
tions are their own answers. Common sense, ā which is
a large part of ethics, ā can permit no other answers.
The best thing that we can say of a little boy or girl
is to call it "an obedient child." We scarcely expect of
it either cleanliness or neatness, tidiness or orderliness,
not even truthfulness. Though we do expect of all
older persons, ā those from four years up, ā decency and
modesty in that sense, yet in the larger sense even
modesty in men is seen to be a limitation upon their
possible usefulness. We admire and praise fortitude
and courage in men, yet in children the same qualities
are seldom better than obstinacy and daring. We have
indeed given bravery so wide a meaning that it is a
virtue appropriate to human beings at any and every
age; but upon consideration, how few the universal
virtues are ! Honor, so greatly admired in men, is rep-
rehended in boys; and loyalty requires too large an in-
193
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
telligence to be possible to them. Truthfulness is an
adult quality, previsioned only in part by the boy- virtue
of truth-telling; but boys themselves often call the
truth-speakers " tattle- tales," making nice distinctions
of honor as to what may be told and what should be
concealed. We applaud fearless men; but we watch
fearless boys lest they come to grief.
Among the "school virtues" ^ are these ā viz.:
1. Silence. 2, Punctuality. 3. Promptness. 4, Regu-
larity. 5. Neatness. 6. Respectfulness. 7. Politeness.
8. Orderliness. 9. Tidiness. 10. Cleanliness. 11. Truth-
speaking. 12. Kindness. 13. Earnestness. 14. Diligence.
15. Attentiveness. 16. Studiousness. 17. Frankness.
18. Patience. 19. Niceness. 20. Sympathy.
Of these, three things may be noted ā viz.:
First: We do not expect some of them in the con-
duct of boys upon the playground or elsewhere out-of-
doors, ā e. g., silence, neatness, tidiness, studiousness,
patience, niceness, sympathy.
Second: Some we do not expect of girls equally with
boys, ā e. g., regularity, orderliness, truth - speaking,
studiousness, frankness.
Third: Some we do not expect of boys equally with
girls, ā e. g., neatness, tidiness, kindness, patience, nice-
ness, sympathy.
Fourth : Of pupils under thirteen years of age, we ex-
pect scarcely any qualities as much as of those above
that age.
Fifth : Some are not desired in full-grown men except
under special conditions in certain occupations, ā viz.:
silence, respectfulness, studiousness, niceness.
' See pages 170-173, above, for a criticism of the term.
194
CONTROL OF THE CLASS AND INDIVIDUAL
In short, we do not desire boys to be "little men" or
men to be "big boys"; we do not desire girls to be
"little women" or women to be "big girls." What we
do hope and pray and work for are these things ā viz.:
First: That the child's quahties shall be the seeds of
the man's qualities and of the woman's. Obedience to
persons is to grow into self-reliance in the light of prin-
ciples used intelligently via the mediate course of obedi-
ence to fixed, certain, uniform and universal laws and
customs. By this dialectic of growth, the child who
obeys becomes the man who commands.^
Second: That since the motive of the school and of
the college is self-culture, in the main but not wholly the
personal qualities shall be developed in them, leaving
the social and altruistic qualities to grow in the atmos-
phere of church and of family and to come to full ma-
turity in the adult's world of affairs.
Third: That not to anticipate the conditions and re-
quirements of the future, but rather to take the child's
present conditions and requirements and himself, to
make at once of these the most that we can is the true
educational course, ā "first the blade, then the ear, last
the full corn in the ear."
Fourth: That the true aim of school discipHne is, upon
consideration of the temperament and capabilities of
each child, to develop him accordingly, not trying the
miracles of converting one temperament into another,
or of making the slow quick or the dull keen but using
each pupil's capital rationally and completely.
And yet for all persons of whatever age, sex or race,
* It was an old saying even in the time of Aristotle, ā " For he who
would leam to command well must, as men say, first of all learn to
obey." ā Politics, Book VII.
14 195
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
virtue in itself consists in rejoicing and in sorrowing, in
loving and in hating aright; and training in virtue
teaches how to form judgments aright and how to
produce delight in good dispositions and in noble actions.
In this sense, education may develop virtue and fill
out the deficiences of nature/
"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowl-
edge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity." ^
''Always add: always proceed: neither stand still nor
go back nor deviate. Be always displeased at what thou
art. If thou sayest ' I have enough,' thou diest." ^
1 Aristotle, On Politics, Books VII- VIII.
^Second Epistle of Peter i : 5, 6, 7. "Virtue" is steadfastness;
"temperance," moderation.
^ Saint Augustine, Sermon, Concerning the Words of the Apostles.
"The surest way for the learner is not to advance by
jumps and large strides; let that which he sets himself to
learn next be indeed the next; that is, as nearly conjoined
with what he knows already as is possible; let it be distinct
but not remote from it ; let it be new, and what he did not
know before, that the understanding may advance ; but let
it be as little at once as may be, that its advances may be
clear and sure. All the ground that it gets this way it will
hold. This distinct, gradual growth in knowledge carries
its own light with it in every step of its progression in an
easy and orderly train." ā Locke, Conduct of the Under-
standing. 1685.
CHAPTER VII
CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING AND
PROMOTING PUPILS
What numbers properly constitute classes in the various schoola
and grades? ā The count-system in marking. ā Four factors in- grad-
ing, ā age, home opportunities, native powers, actual attainments. ā
Conspectus of elementary course of study. ā Frequency of grading. ā
Retardation. ā Machinery versus personality. ā The "trick" of rela-
tive standards versus the justice of absolute standards so far as these
are humanly possible. ā Why the class teachers generally should de-
cide promotions, ā and when they should not do so. ā The precocious,
the normal, the altricious. ā Psychical ages versus physical. ā The
locus of a study. ā Overcrowded curriculums. ā Study - periods at
school.
IN schools of more than one teacher, the classification
of the pupils is never a matter wholly within the con-
trol of any one teacher or school officer. In all schools
with two or more teachers, the classification is a matter
partly of the general organization as arranged by the
higher school officers and partly of mutual arrangement
among the several teachers.^ A few principles, however
respecting the matter are in place here.
First: It is fairly agreed that, in elementary schools,
the first primary grade and the eighth (or last) grammar
grade should have classes smaller than those between.
* Chancellor, Our City Schools: Their Direction and Management,
Chapter IV; also. Our Schools: Their Administration and Super-
vision, Chapter VII,
199
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
To illustrate: ā Kindergarten, 25 pupils per teacher; first
primary, 35 pupils; second to seventh, 40 pupils per teacher;
and eighth grade, 35 pupils per teacher. It is a common
enough saying that third grade is easiest to teach and fifth
hardest to govern. But in respect to this matter, tempera-
ment and training are important factors in the problem of
adjusting teacher and grade.
Second: It is universally agreed in the profession that
teachers with two grades in a room, whether a half year
or a year apart, should have less pupils than one all of
whose pupils are in the same grade. Laymen on boards
of education, however, usually give to the teacher with
mixed grades more pupils than to the one-grade teacher.
Since forty are as many as any teacher should ever
have, a teacher vidth two grades should not have over
thirty-two. A teacher with three grades should not
have over twenty-four pupils.^
Third: It is commonly agreed that mixed classes (of
both sexes) are easier to teach than girls' classes and
that girls' classes are easier than boys' classes. It is
commonly agreed that mixed schools are rather better
than schools for separate sexes, even when in those
schools there are separate classes for each sex. Some
large cities have boys' and girls' high schools, but the
tendency is not to establish such schools. In the same
way, except in the largest cities, the tendency is to es-
tablish high schools with complete curriculums and not
* The State of Maryland provides by law that a district school
with over twenty-five pupils shall employ two teachers; with over
fifty, three teachers, etc. This law, like the tenure of office and
municipal pension laws of the State of New Jersey, the teachers'
salary law of Indiana, and the separate school election laws of the
Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States, should be inscribed in
red letters in every teacher's book of memory.
200
CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING, PROMOTING
to make separate high schools for mechanic arts, for
commerce, etc.
Fourth: In classifying the pupils of small schools with
two or three teachers, there is no fixed rule; but the
tendency is to give to the lower (or lowest) teacher the
larger (or largest) number of pupils, and likewise the
smaller (or smallest) wages. In a three-teacher school,
the intennediate teacher should usually be of the least
experience, receive the least wages, and have the largest
number of pupils; but the lowest teacher should have
the middle amount of wages and the smallest number of
pupils, while the liighest teacher should have the great-
est wages and the middle number of pupils. To this,
there, of course, may be indubitable exceptions.
Fifth: All proposed elementary classifications, such as
placing foreigners in one school (or room) and natives
in another (or room), or setting apart some pupils for
preparation for high schools and others for instruction
in trades, are contrary to sound Americanism. A wide
variety of associates is good for every child, and there
is but one standard educational regime ā from motiva-
tion, to intelligence, into efficiency and up to morality.*
The public school at any rate should be, must be, and
I hope, always will be a universal school. The onl}'^
concession to be made is to alloy; separate schools to
negroes in the South or wherever they are numerous.^
Sixth: Classification in liigh schools and in grammar
schools with departmental organization should, when-
* Chancellor, A Theory of Motives, Ideals and Values in Education,
Chapters XI-XIII.
^ For the argument to abandon the American common school (the
German dream of the einheitschule realized), see Perry's Problems of
the Elementary School, Chapters I-III.
201
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
ever possible, be determined upon these factors and
pnnc'i}jles^i'i2.;
I. Subjects requiring laboratory or library work
should have smaller classes than such recitation-subjects
as the Latin and Greek authors ā e. g., a physics class
should not have over twenty-four pupils, while a Csesar
class may well have forty-two. Mediate between these
extremes are classes in subjects requiring much written
work to be examined by the teacher ā e. g., English.
II. Teachers whose work requires much outside prep-
aration in advance or correction of papers after class
should have both smaller classes and fewer recitations
per day than other teachers.
III. Wlien a teacher has several classes of the same
grade in the same subject, his assignment of number of
recitations and of pupils per class may well be larger
than that of teachers with several different subjects or
the same subject in different grades.*
With the general classification determined, then, by
considerations outside of the teacher's control, there
remain three other allied matters partly within his or
her control, and mainl}^ to be operated by him. Of
these, the first concerns the marking of pupils in respect
to their conduct and to their proficiency in their studies.
In cities, the class teachers mark in accordance with the
directions of the liigher authorities. Even so, however,
* One high school with ISO pupils had 14 teachers; another but
forty miles away had 375 pupils with 12 teachers. But the former
had poor ventilation and the latter excellent ventilation. In a gen-
eral way, the teacher who commands the higher salary can and
should do and usually wishes to do the harder work, ā either more
work with more pupils or more difficult work with more advanced
pupils. The average salary paid in the former scliool, however, was
actually higher than in the latter, showing a wiser community.
202
CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING, PROMOTING
the personal equation of the teacher enters into mark-
ing. In villages, the kind of system used in marking is
usually within the control of the teachers.
Wliere class teachers do control this matter, or are
influential in it, the following principles are likely to be
accepted as reasonable and useful. Marking at all is,
at least in part, "a necessary evil." Praise or censure
of any individual by any other individual is a disagree-
able matter. "Judge not" is a principle by no means
alien from our better human nature. But teachers,
however, are set as judges and dividers among children
and youth; and from some marking, it is impossible to
escape.
1. It is desirable, therefore, to postpone marking as
late in school life as public opinion will permit. To
mark kindergarten or first or second grade children is
scarcely ever required by the parental opinion or by
the professional opinion of a community. In some
places, pupils are not marked until the fifth grade.
2. Both daily work and tests and examinations should
be marked when any mark at all is given. Marking
daily work, however, does not mean marking every day.
It means crediting the pupils' daily lessons in the term
mark. The usual custom is to count daily work half.
It should not be counted less than that in any grade
of elementary or high schools. Two - thirds is a
fair proportion for intermediate grades ; and three-
fourths for higher primary grades, when any mark is
given.
3. When any subject is marked, all others should be,
lest the pupils neglect the subjects not considered by the
teacher important enough to be marked.
4. Averaging all subjects should not be required;
203
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
but when required, the logical studies should be counted
higher than the others.
To illustrate: ā
Subjects
Marks
Co TINTS
Solution
Grade VIII
Arithmetic
7
5
7x5 = 35
PUPIL'S NAME Grammar
5
5
5X5 = 25
George J. Field
Composition
6
2
6x2 = 12
Physiology
9
1
9x1 = 9
Writing
9
1
9x1 = 9
Manual Work
6
4
6x4 = 24
History
7
3
7x3 = 21
Deportment
Geography
9
3
9x3 = 27
B
Music
9
1
9x1= 9
Drawing
9
2
9x2 = 18
Spelling
8
2
8x2 = 16
Current Events
9
1
9x1 = 9
1
2 [93
7.9
30
30|214
7.0
General Average
7.0
In this instance, were all studies counted equally, the
average would be not 7.0 but 7.9/
5. The question of marking is part and parcel of the
question of how often to send reports to parents. In
cities with large foreign populations of ignorant parents,
reports are often worse than useless, ā often quite as
much "bones of contention" as in some American-
descended "old families." It is fairly agreed among
educators that reports should be sent as infrequently as
parental opinion will permit, certainly not more often
than six times a year.
' The question of marking is discussed at length from the viewpoint
of the Superintendent in Chancellor's Our City Schools: Their Direc-
tion and Management, pp. 153-160.
204
CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING, PROMOTING
6. In setting down marks at the beginning of a year,
it is wise to mark low, ā to give the benefit of any doubt
to the teacher. At the end of the grade or year, the
benefit of the doubt belongs to the child. And children
like to feel that they are going up-hill.
The question of marking is not the same as those of
grading, of promoting and of the report sent home, ā
common professional practice and parental opinion to
the contrary notwithstanding.
7. Whether to mark in words or in letters, in per
cents, or on the scale of 10 or in figures (such as 1, 2, 3,
4) has long been a moot question. After trying various
plans in several towns and cities, I have come to the
practice of marking on the scale of 10 and now discour-
age all my teachers from giving decimals except in the
average. One advantage over words, over arbitrary
figures and over letters is that decimals permit easy
shifting of the " passing mark." An advantage over per
cent, marks is that decimal marking does not attempt
fine, impossibly fine, distinctions. Among the obj ections
to "scale of 10 marking" is that ''parents understand
words better"; wliich I do not believe to be the fact.
Another objection is that it tells the parents about their
children too definitely. But why give them vague in-
formation? Let us tell the facts, or say nothing at all.
A thu'd objection is that ignorant parents cannot inter-
pret the scale figures. Tliis is true. They err equally as
to words and arbitrary letters; it is the first objection
in another form. Such words as ''satisfactory," "fair,"
and "excellent" give them much trouble.
The grading of pupils should be with reference in
part to each of four factors, ā their ages, their home
opportunities, their powers and their actual attainments.
205
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
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CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING, PROMOTING
This is a hard doctrine. It means that three several
customary practices of our schools should be given up.
It is unfortunately true that they are not likely soon to
be given up everywhere; but until they are given up,
we shall not have bona fide education.
First: It is unfortunately true that in many cities
there is insufficient housing accommodation for all the
pupils. In such a condition, they drop out of school
as soon as the law allows. Many do this, anyway; but
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0.
THE PRECIPICE
4 5 6 7 6 9 10 U a 13 14 15 16 17 iSYtARS
school-congestion accelerates the process. In most
States, the compulsory education term, fourteen years, is
a precipice that may be accurately set forth in this dia-
gram prepared from the records of over 2,000,000 pupils.^
^ But for the facts that in some States, the term is twelve years of
age, and in others thirteen, and that the laws are not everywhere
enforced, the precipice would be even higher.
^ In this connection, it is highly important to note, first, that when
the grades that enroll pupils above fourteen years of age have abun-
207
CLASS TEACHING AND MANAGEMENT
In consequence of this disappearance, month by
month, of pupils as they reach fourteen years of age,
it is a common practice to pack the higher grades with
pupils not prepared for their studies. One cause is that
the school officers do not like to admit, either to them-
selves or to the public, that so few pupils stay at school
to finish even the grammar grades. Sometimes, I won-
der how many pupils, upon an honest grading with a
course of study intelligently prepared, would actually
reach the grade next below high school, for I know that
many are "pushed up." Another cause is that room
can be made in lower grades for new pupils by taking a
series of groups, ā now three, now ten pupils, ā room by
room, at almost any time in the year and "sending
them on." This affects, often injuriously, the grading
of nearly every class in the school.^
So classifying the pupils as to put really mixed classes
into every room may be necessary, but then labelling
them as uniform standard grades is objectionable on
these several grounds. First, it worries the teachers.
To be specific: The teacher who has thirty seventh-
grade pupils and then is assigned ten more pupils who
are really sixth grade in quality worries because she knows
that she will be adjudged by the public, and fears that
dance of "manual training," the number that' fall over the precipice
is much smaller than elsewhere; and, second, that school systems with
ample kindergarten accommodations both have far less pupils
retarded in grades 1 and 2 and lose less pupils at the precipice than
school systems without ample kindergartens. When he had seen
this hope of liis young manhood as Superintendent of Schools of
St. Louis realized on a great scale. Doctor W. T. Harris expressed
the greatest happiness, for he had reached the vision of the true
function of the kindergarten, ā the awakening of self-activity.
' This is not to be taken as an objection to frequent regrading of
classes, for the discussion of wliich see pages 199-202.
208
CLASSIFYING, MARKING, GRADING, PROMOTING
she will be adjudged by the school authorities, a failure if
the ten do not reach eighth grade along with the thirty.
The second practice of our schools that must be
abandoned in order that we may accept the principle
that age, home opportunity, power and attainment
should all be considered in grading is that of taking
but one of these into account ā viz., attaimnents. To this
practice, there are two objections, one of reason, the
other of expediency. As a matter of reason, of the
attainments of a pupil, ā that is but one term for in-
dicating his actual proficiency in the subjects of the
course of study, and several others are equally good, ā
grading is seriously concerned with but one group ā viz.,
his attainments in the logical studies. How far a pupil
may have gone in history or geography, in music or
drawing or manual training, is of but little concern:
what he knows of number and arithmetic and of read-
ing and grammar is, however, of vital importance. If
attainments alone are to be considered in grading, then
the field considered is still too large, for only English
and mathematics really matter. A pupil may skip
Asia and yet learn Europe in geography or the colonial
period in American history and still learn the national
period; but he cannot learn interest until he knows
fractions or skip the parts of speech and yet learn the
grammar of sentences. The order in the informational