The problem of lengthening school courses

Title

Language

English

Source

Volume XIX (6) June 1967

Year

1967

Subject

Education -- Curricula

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

[Liberal secondary education should be taken up in any additional time for a high school course rather than vocational or specialized education.]

Fulltext

■ Liberal secondary education should be taken up in any additional time for a high school course rather than vocational or specialized education. THE PROBLEM OF LENGTHENING SCHOOL COURSES The most important ques tions to be considered, how ever, in any movement to raise the school-leaving age are: ‘What will be done with the additional period of education, and what pur poses will it serve?’ It is generally agreed that what has traditionally been called ‘elementary education’ does not furnish an adequate in tellectual capital for life. Hence it is doubtful whether an additional year of the same type of education would justify the prolonga tion of the period of com pulsory school attendance. There is, however, another argument against using the extra year for further ele mentary education. This argument is that elementary education, being intended for the masses, is different in quality from the education given to the privileged mi nority in secondary schools. It is a part of the dual sys tem of educational organiza tion which makes very lit tle provision for equality of opportunity. For more than 30 years a movement has been under way to reorganize educa tional systems so as to pro vide a common foundation for all, together with some form of secondary education adapted to the abilities and aptitudes of the pupils. It is as part of this movement that the raising of the school leaving age — for the pre sent to 15 years — acquires significance. The common foundation is to be carried on to about the age of 11, and is to be followed by a variety of types of secondary education for all, occupying about four years. The dif ferentiation of the types of secondary education would be gradual, in order to avoid premature specialization. The issue, then, is whether the unit of secondary educa 2 Panorama tion made possible by the raising of the school-leaving age should be liberal and general in character or vo cational and special. The answer to this question is to be found in the character of modern industry, in which the emphasis is gradually being placed on adaptability rather than on some form of specialized skill. Industry is looking for young persons of intelligence and character, and will itself provide or supervise the specialized training that may be needed. There is, however, a far stronger argument in favour of general or liberal educa tion. This is based on the demands made upon each individual as a citizen, worker, and human being. As 'a worker, he needs a broad education to compen sate for the repetitive activity characteristic of most mo dern occupations. As a citi zen, at any rate in a demo cracy, he is expected to un derstand and participate in political matters which today embrace not only national and international affairs, but social and economic problems of growing complexity. As a human being he enjoys more leisure than ever be fore in history, and should be given a foundation and a start for the cultivation of a variety of interests. Because of the greatly in creased range and variety of intellectual ability, a greater variety of types of secondary education will have to be developed than is at present available. Two difficulties arise here. The first is to avoid imitation of the tra ditional academic types of secondary education, either through inertia or in order to claim the same prestige for the new as for the old types. The second is to de vise methods for discovering the abilities and aptitudes of pupils at the age of about 11 and allocating them to the school best adapted to their needs. The real pur pose of providing equality of educational opportunity may be defeated when it comes to allocating pupils, because of' the prestige en joyed by the older academic types of schools and courses. It will accordingly be neces sary to leave room for the transfer of pupils to the June 1967 3 courses or schools most ap propriate for them if an er ror in allocation is discover ed. This, in turn, means that the raising of the school leaving age, while it makes possible a reorganization of school systems based on the ideal of providing equality of educational opportunity and, therefore, different types of schools or courses adapted to different abilities and ap titudes, also involves the pro vision of arrangements for the guidance of pupils. It may appear that this discussion, which began with a consideration of the ques tion of prolonging education, has traveled far a field. But no other course is possible unless the prolongation is intended as a method of keeping young persons out of the labour market for and additional year, to be devoted to further elemen tary education. The rais ing of the school-leaving age or the prolongation of edu cation cannot be considered without reference to all the other implications involved. Those implications entail so cial and economic as well as educational considerations. In any attempt to answer the question ‘what will be done with the extra time?’ these considerations cannot be neglected. — By I. L. Kandel in Studies on Compulsory Education. GLASSES The old porter looked at the thick lenses of the student’s spectacles and announced proudly, “Sonny, I’m 79 years old and never use glasses.’’ “You should,” the youth advised him. “It is very impolite to drink out of the bottle.” 4 Panorama

pages

2-4

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