praising or blaming course of study requirements. The situation was too
unformed for either. In the matter of the curriculum, the city was confessedly on
the eve of a large constructive program. Its face was toward the future, and not
toward the past; not even toward the present.
It was felt that if the brief space at the disposal of this report could also look
chiefly toward the future, and present constructive recommendations concerning
things that observation indicated should be kept in mind, it would accomplish its
largest service. The time that the author spent in Cleveland was mostly used in
observations in the schools, in consultation with teachers and supervisors, and in
otherwise ascertaining what appeared to be the main outlines of practice in the
various subjects. This was thought to be the point at which further constructive
labors would necessarily begin.
The recommendation of a thing in this report does not indicate that it has hitherto
been non-existent or unrecognized in the system. The intention rather is an
economical use of the brief space at our disposal in calling attention to what
appear to be certain fundamental principles of curriculum-making that seem
nowadays more and more to be employed by judicious constructive workers.
The occasional pointing out of incomplete development of the work of the
system is not to be regarded as criticism. Both school people and community
should remember that since schools are to fit people for social conditions, and
since these conditions are continually changing, the work of the schools must
correspondingly change. Social growth is never complete; it is especially rapid
in our generation. The work of education in preparing for these ever-new
conditions can likewise never be complete, crystallized, perfected. It must grow
and change as fast as social conditions make such changes necessary. To point
out such further growth-needs is not criticism. The intention is to present the
disinterested, detached view of the outsider who, although he knows indefinitely
less than those within the system about the details of the work, can often get the
perspective rather better just because his mind is not filled with the details.