In Another Element

The abrupt transition from secondary school to college has for many years constituted a serious problem. That drastic innovations in secondary school education were necessary to bridge the gulf was clearly apparent to the great educational figures of the day. Yet who would be willing to take the first step in a new and dangerous direction? The signal honor fell upon Exeter, when Edward S. Harkness, with superb generosity donated millions to the Academy last fall to inaugurate an entirely new era in secondary school education. The super-generous gift of Mr. Harkness was doubtless inspired by the feeling that the cultivation of the individual was being neglected in the effect to improve the mass.

Considerable doubt was expressed as to whether the Plan would be a success or a dismal failure when the gift was first made public. There is a limit, it was argued, beyond which segregation ceases to serve its purpose. The cultivation of the individual less not consist merely of instilling practical and intellectual knowledge into him it consists of much more than that. The counting out of his personality by contact with the wide variety of his contemporaries for example, is also an object of any really worthy secondary school. It has always been the boast of Exeter that her students have accomplished exactly this by constant mingling in the classroom, on the campus, and on the athletic fields. Will the segregation of small numbers of students be detrimental to the rounding out of personalities?

The full realization of the Harkness Plan, of course, has not yet been achieved, but the "Exonian" feels qualified to comment justly on one phase that has been realized. We refer to the reduction of the size of classroom sections and the introduction of the conference plan. Limited classes have served to facilitate the instruction of the laggard and at the same time to stimulate the desire of the able. Questions can now be discussed more fully and the student is called upon to fall back on his own individual mentality more than ever before. In general, it can be said that it is an approach to the tutorial system rather than any rigid application to the small class formula or any other formula.

The gift of Mr. Harkness has placed a decided emphasis on individualism, which is much to be desired. As Dr. Perry himself aptly termed it, it is a "getting at the individual boy." It has been said of the human being, as has been said of a whole people, that when he ceases to possess "individuality," his progress ends. Mass education makes it all the more possible for this precious quality to be lost. Mr. Harkness's gift to Exeter, on the other hand, has put emphasis on treating the students as distinct individuals, or to quote the principal of the Horace Mann School, "as a good physician would treat their physical growth and welfare."

Thus, after a term of the conference system, the "Exonian" feels that this most recent "experiment in the pure theory of education" has so far proved itself a success and a great improvement over the old and inadequate recitation system. What Mr. Harkness has done in making possible cherished educational ideals carries his educational renovations down into the secondary years where they will no doubt have even greater influence in furthering the "intellectual renaissance," which is at present permeating the college world. Exeter is the leader of the new movement: It now remains for other schools to follow in her footsteps. Then, and only then, will education, primary, secondary and college, become one continuous process, which is as it should be. --The Exonian