What the Schools Teach and Might Teach

What the Schools Teach and
Might Teach, by

John Franklin Bobbitt
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: What the Schools Teach and Might Teach
Author: John Franklin Bobbitt
Release Date: September 16, 2004 [eBook #13482]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT THE
SCHOOLS TEACH AND MIGHT TEACH***
E-text prepared by S. R. Ellison, Stan Goodman, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

WHAT THE SCHOOLS TEACH AND MIGHT TEACH
by
FRANKLIN BOBBITT Assistant Professor of Educational
Administration The University of Chicago
1915
CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY Leonard P. Ayres, Director
The Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation Cleveland, Ohio
Charles E. Adams, Chairman Thomas G. Fitzsimons Myrta L. Jones
Bascom Little Victor W. Sincere
Arthur D. Baldwin, Secretary James R. Garfield, Counsel Newton D.
Baker, Counsel Alien T. Burns, Director

FOREWORD
This report on "What the Schools Teach and Might Teach" is one of the
25 sections of the report of the Education Survey of Cleveland
conducted by the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation in
1915. Twenty-three of these sections will be published as separate
monographs. In addition there will be a larger volume giving a
summary of the findings and recommendations relating to the regular
work of the public schools, and a second similar volume giving the
summary of those sections relating to industrial education. Copies of all
these publications may be obtained from the Cleveland Foundation.
They may also be obtained from the Division of Education of the
Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. A complete list will be
found in the back of this volume, together with prices.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword List of Tables Prefatory Statement The Point of View
Reading and Literature Spelling Handwriting Language, Composition,
Grammar Mathematics Algebra Geometry History Civics Geography
Drawing and Applied Art Manual Training and Household Arts
Elementary Science High School Science Physiology and Hygiene
Physical Training Music Foreign Languages Differentiation of Courses
Summary

LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1. Time given to reading and literature 2. Sets of
supplementary reading books per building 3. Weeks given to reading of
different books in High School of Commerce 4. Time given to spelling
5. Time given to handwriting 6. Time given to language, composition,
and grammar 7. Time given to arithmetic 8. Time given to history 9.
Time given to geography 10. Time given to drawing 11. Time given to
manual training 12. Time given to science, physiology, hygiene 13.
Time given to physical training 14. Time given to music

PREFATORY STATEMENT
For an understanding of some of the characteristics of this report it is
necessary to mention certain of the conditions under which it was

prepared.
The printed course of study for the elementary schools to be found in
June, 1915, the time the facts were gathered for this report, was
prepared under a former administration. While its main outlines were
still held to, it was being departed from in individual schools in many
respects. Except occasionally it was not possible to find record of such
departures. It was believed that to accept the printed manual as
representing current procedure would do frequent injustice to
thoughtful, constructive workers within the system. But it must be
remembered that courses of study for the city cover the work of twelve
school years in a score and more of subjects, distributed through a
hundred buildings. Only a small fraction of this comprehensive
program is going on during any week of the school year; and of this
fraction only a relatively small amount could actually be visited by one
man in the time possible to devote to the task. In the absence of records
of work done or of work projected, unduly large weight had to be given
to the recommendations set down in the latest published course of
study manual.
New courses of study were being planned for the elementary schools.
This in itself indicated that the manual could not longer be regarded as
an authoritative expression of the ideas of the administration. Yet with
the exception of a good arithmetic course and certain excellent
beginnings of a geography course, little indication could be found as to
what the details of the new courses were to be. The present report has
had to be written at a time when the administration by its acts was
rejecting the courses of study laid out in the old manual, and yet before
the new courses were formulated. Under the circumstances it was not a
safe time for setting forth the facts, since not even the