Word: methodical
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Dates: during 1920-1920
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...certain range of choice was inevitable. The wide expansion of the system, however, which opened up virtually all subjects to the student's choice, was the result of a theory, an educational dogma. This dogma was of Teutonic origin-a result of the "scientific culture" of modern Germany. Method was exalted above character. It was held that all learning was of equal educational value, provided only that it was scientifically pursued. History became a searching of documents; literature became philology. Shakespeare and Chaucer were no more important than the dullest Middle-English dialect. The result was that the field...
offered was a training in scientific method. The character, the mind, and the imagination of the student were ignored...
From the outset of his Presidency at Harvard, in 1909, Lawrence Lowell set his face steadfastly against all this. While still allowing a considerable freedom of election, so that education remained adequately comprehensive, his method required the student to group and organize the major portion of his studies within a single field. It was a step toward the famous "honour schools" of the English universities, in which the student concentrates upon the classics, history, English language and literature, or any one of half a dozen general subjects. A similar step already had been taken in many American universities...
...general examination will crown and fortify this group system. As President Lowell says, the plan "has attracted wide attention, and would seem to be a notable advance in American educational methods." Hitherto, under both the elective system and the ancient curriculum, the examinations have been by separate course, the paper being set by the professor in each of them, and the student being held responsible mainly for such knowledge only as had been imparted in the lectures. They were largely tests of memory, and were scattered through the four years of undergraduate life. As a system it was identical with...
...Wyman makes it plain that "disloyal citizens and spies" are the ones to be "used as targets for a firing squad." In this he is perfectly right, and I know from experience, gained in the last two or three years, that the firing squad is an easy and effective method of getting rid of such traitors and criminals...