The Vitalized School

The Vitalized School

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Pearson
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Title: The Vitalized School
Author: Francis B. Pearson

Release Date: January 23, 2006 [eBook #17588]
Language: English
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THE VITALIZED SCHOOL
by
FRANCIS B. PEARSON
Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio Author of "The Evolution
of the Teacher" "The High School Problem" "Reveries of a
Schoolmaster"

New York The MacMillan Company 1918 Copyright, 1917, by the
MacMillan Company. Published February, 1917. Reprinted January,
1918.

PREFACE
The thoughtful observer must have noted in the recent past many
indications of an awakened interest both in the concept of education
and in school procedure on the part of school officials, teachers, and the
public. Educators have been developing pedagogical principles that
strike their roots deep into the philosophy of life, and now their
pronouncements are invading the consciousness of people of all ranks
and causing them to realize more and more that the school process is an
integral part of the life process and not something detached from life.
The following pages constitute an attempt to interpret some of the
school processes in terms of life processes, and to suggest ways in
which these processes may be made identical.
It is hoped that teachers who may read these pages may find running

through them a strand of optimism that will give them increased faith in
their own powers, a larger hope for the future of the school, and an
access of zeal to press valiantly forward in their efforts to excel
themselves.
F. B. P.
COLUMBUS, OHIO, January, 1917.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
TEACHING SCHOOL II. THE TEACHER III. THE CHILD IV. THE
CHILD OF THE FUTURE V. THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN VI.
SUBLIME CHAOS VII. DEMOCRACY VIII. PATRIOTISM IX.
WORK AND LIFE X. WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT XI.
COMPLETE LIVING XII. THE TIME ELEMENT XIII. THE
ARTIST TEACHER XIV. THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL XV. THE
SOCIALIZED RECITATION XVI. AGRICULTURE XVII. THE
SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY XVIII. POETRY AND LIFE
XIX. A SENSE OF HUMOR XX. THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN
INTEREST XXI. BEHAVIOR XXII. BOND AND FEAR XXIII.
EXAMINATIONS XXIV. WORLD-BUILDING XXV. A TYPICAL
VITALIZED SCHOOL

THE VITALIZED SCHOOL
CHAPTER I
TEACHING SCHOOL
=Life and living compared.=--There is a wide difference between

school-teaching and teaching school. The question "Is she a
school-teacher?" means one thing; but the question "Can she teach
school?" means quite another. School-teaching may be living; but
teaching school is life. And any one who has a definition of life can
readily find a definition for teaching school. Much of the criticism of
the work of the schools emanates from sources that have a restricted
concept of life. The artisan who defines life in terms of his own trade is
impatient with much that the school is trying to do. He would have the
scope of the school narrowed to his concept of life. If art and literature
are beyond the limits of his concept, he can see no warrant for their
presence in the school. The work of the schools cannot be standardized
until life itself is standardized, and that is neither possible nor desirable.
The glory of life is that it does not have fixity, that it is ever crescent.
=Teaching defined.=--Teaching school may be defined, therefore, as
the process of interpreting life by the laboratory method. The teacher's
work is to open the gates of life for the pupils. But, before these gates
can be opened, the teacher must know what and where they are. This
view of the teacher's work is neither fanciful nor fantastic; quite the
contrary. Life is the common heritage of people young and old, and the
school should be so organized and administered as to teach people how
to use this heritage to the best advantage both for themselves and for
others. If a child should be absent from school altogether, or if he
should be incarcerated in prison from his sixth to his eighteenth year,
he would still have life. But, if he is in school during those twelve years,
he is supposed to have life that is of better quality and more abundant.
Life is not measured by years, but by its own intensity and scope. It has
often been said