our elementary schools ever finish them, and that not more than one-half of them go beyond the fifth or sixth grade." This statement is corroborated by the following sentence from Professor Edward I. Thorndike of Teachers College, Columbia University:—"At least twenty-five out of one hundred children of the white population of our country who enter school stay only long enough to learn to read simple English, write such words as they commonly use, and perform the four operations for integers without serious errors."[1]
The children of America are not in the schools because the schools fail to prepare for life work. They do not assist in complete living, but train their pupils to follow one narrow intellectual path. The parents feel, and justly, that for many children, the school years are well-nigh wasted. The children resent the discipline, despise the curriculum, and eagerly avail themselves of the first opportunity to work.
- ↑ Laggards in Our Schools. By Leonard P. Ayers. New York: Chautris Publishing Committee, 1909. P. 9.
