The Reconstructed School

The Reconstructed School

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Pearson
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Title: The Reconstructed School
Author: Francis B. Pearson
Release Date: January 3, 2005 [eBook #14567]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
RECONSTRUCTED SCHOOL***
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School Efficiency Monographs
THE RECONSTRUCTED SCHOOL
by
FRANCIS B. PEARSON
Superintendent of Public Instruction for Ohio
Author of _The Evolution of the Teacher_, _The High School
Problem_, _Reveries Of A Schoolmaster_, and The Vitalized School
World Book Company
1921

PREFACE
In our school processes there are many constants which have general
recognition as such by thoughtful people. On the other hand, there are

many variables which should be subjected to close scrutiny to the end
that they may be made to yield forth the largest possible returns upon
the investment of time and effort. These phases of school procedure
constitute the real problem in the work of reconstruction, and the
following pages represent an effort to point the way toward larger and
better results in the realm of these variables. In general, the aims and
purposes of the worker determine the quality of the work done. If,
therefore, this volume succeeds in stimulating teachers to elevate the
goals of their endeavors, it will have accomplished its purpose.--F.B.P.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE TASK BEFORE THE
SCHOOL II. THE PAST AS RELATED TO THE PRESENT III. THE
FUTURE AS RELATED TO THE PRESENT IV. INTEGRITY V.
APPRECIATION VI. ASPIRATION VII. INITIATIVE VIII.
IMAGINATION IX. REVERENCE X. SENSE OF
RESPONSIBILITY XI. LOYALTY XII. DEMOCRACY XIII.
SERENITY XIV. LIFE INDEX

THE RECONSTRUCTED SCHOOL

CHAPTER ONE
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE TASK BEFORE THE
SCHOOL
When people come to think alike, they tend to act alike; unison in
thinking begets unison in action. It is often said that the man and wife
who have spent years together have grown to resemble each other; but
the resemblance is probably in actions rather than in looks; the fact is
that they have had common goals of thinking throughout the many
years they have lived together and so have come to act in unison. The

wise teacher often adjusts difficult situations in her school by inducing
the pupils to think toward a common goal. In their zeal for a common
enterprise the children forget their differences and attain unison in
action as the result of their unison in thinking. The school
superintendent knows full well that if he can bring teachers, pupils, and
parents to think toward a common goal, he will soon have unity of
action. When people catch step mentally, they do the same physically,
and as they move forward along the paths of their common thinking,
their ways converge until, in time, they find themselves walking side
by side in amiable and agreeable converse.
In the larger world outside the school, community enterprises help to
generate unity of thinking and consequent unity of action. The pastor
finds it one of his larger tasks to establish a focus for the thinking of his
people in order to induce concerted action. If the enterprise is one of
charity, the neighbors soon find themselves vying with one another in
zeal and good will. In the zest of a common purpose they see one
another with new eyes and find delight in working with people whose
society they once avoided. They can now do teamwork, because they
are all thinking toward the same high and worthy goal; lines of
demarcation are obliterated and spirits blend in a common purpose.
Unity of action becomes inevitable as soon as thinking becomes
unified.
Coöperation follows close upon the heels of community thinking. In
the presence of a great calamity, rivalries, differences of creed and
party, and long-established animosities disappear in the zeal for
beneficent action. In the case of fire or flood people are at one in their
actions because they are thinking toward the common goal of rescue.
They act together only when they think together. Indeed, coöperation is
an impossibility apart from unified thinking. Herein lies the efficacy of
leadership. It is the province of the leader to induce unity of thinking,
to animate with a common purpose, knowing that united action will
certainly ensue. If he can cause the thinking of people to center upon a
focal point, he establishes his claim to leadership.
What is true of individuals is true, also, of nations. Before they