NEW EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1938, Page 5

NEW EDUCATION

SYLLABUS ENRICHED

The Brooklyn branch of the New Education Fellowship held its monthly meeting ifi the Brooklyn School last week. The^meeting was well attended. The main business was a discussion on '•The Trends of Modern Education."

Mr. G. Ruscoe expressed the opinion that the undue emphasis laid on the proficiency examination and the more or les srigid syllabus of instruction was in no Way conducive to the full development of the child. The emphasis laid on the child's assimilation of facts did not in any way give the pupil any opportunity of developing along lines which would lead him to become a self-reliant and self-con-fident pupil with ability to think, reason, and act for himself.

Today, however, the new freedom given to the teacher had resulted in an enriching of the syllabus of instruction to include many more of the x cultural subjects. The child was no longer required to spend the greater part of his time in a "sitstillery," but was in a schoolroom in which he was given every possible opportunity to develop himself culturally, mentally, and physically. Such development necessitated his spending & large proportion of his time outside the four walls of a classroom. By more intelligent methods of teaching and a truer realisation of the latent talents and ability of his pupils, the teacher would eventually produce a more alert type of child, one whose confidence in his own ability had been awakened.

At the conclusion of the address free discussion followed, after which Mr. Ruscoe was accorded a vote of thanks.

The next meeting of the branch will be held on the last Thursday evening in October, when it is hoped that many new members will be in attendance.