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IS IT true, as many say, that our liberal education in the pre-war period has proved itself of questionable value? Some of the reasons given for this belief are, "Students come too slowly to grips with provocative and appealing subject matter; that the first two years of college traverse too identically the last two years of high school; . . . that the problem starts in the secondary school where the last two years need wide revamping and stepping up in the selection of suitable study content and in the method of imparting it."* The article from which the above quotation is taken is concerned with colleges, but, by implication as well as by statement, it is an indictment of the set-up of our educational system. The fact that our high schools and colleges as well as special army training centers offer refresher courses in English, mathematics, science, and social studies indicates that our students have failed in the fundamentals from pure inertia because there was no zest in their learning. The slang phrase, "What's the use," is the answer. There was no incentive apparent beyond marks necessary "to pass the subject." The apathy of the bright students, who grasp quickly and are able to proceed at a good pace, grew as they found themselves outnumbered in classes by the dull and lazy ones who required all the instructor's efforts and ingenuity. The brighter students are handicapped from the first year in high school by the fact that they are not free to progress at their own pace or permitted to concentrate on the content courses in which their interests center. They have to take so many hours of so many required subjects. The students are regimented into a stereotyped program. The students must fit into the same mold. After they have occupied seats in a classroom for a certain number of hours per week for a specified number of years, they receive a high school diploma certifying that they have "graduated" from high school. The brighter students are rewarded with a "cum laude" or "magna cum laude" added on their diplomas. This is education in a democracy where we must not discourage the inefficient for fear that he may get an inferiority complex. But the Army does not hesitate to discourage the inefficient. The Army puts a premium on efficiency. The United States Government has encouraged high schools and colleges to accelerate the brighter students by telescoping the last year of high |
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