Books in Brief

The Education of American Teachers, by James B. Conant (McGraw-Hill, $5.00). Teachers, as everyone knows, have no time to learn what they are to teach, since they must put in so many hours learning (ineffectually) how to teach; that is, under the present system teachers are not born, but unmade. Dr. Conant does not, by the symmetrical simplicities some have indulged in, decide that teachers are simply born and cannot be made, that the what precludes any learning of the how. But he would have the latter taught in the one place where it can be learned—in the classroom of a good teacher. He recommends an “interne” system— Kildare picking up the classroom authority of Gillespie. This should be part of the very education of educators, and on it should be based the college’s own certification of its graduate. Even after certification, there should be a kind of “residency” that leads to higher professional status. Educationists are already objecting that teachers cannot be trusted to assess teachers, that the schools cannot be made responsible for their product —but if they can’t, who can? Certainly not those who have organized the present chaos. Dr. Conant’s recommendations could not possibly make things worse; they might well make them better; and beyond a doubt they are going to make them more exciting for several years to come.

G. wills

Featured Tags

The Education of American Teachers, by James B. Conant (McGraw-Hill, $5.00). Teachers, as everyone knows, have no time to learn what they are to teach, since they must put in so many hours learning (ineffectually) how to teach; that is, under the present system teachers are not born, but unmade. Dr. Conant does not, by the symmetrical simplicities some have indulged in, decide that teachers are simply born and cannot be made, that the what precludes any learning of the how. But he would have the latter taught in the one place where it can be learned—in the classroom of a good teacher. He recommends an “interne” system— Kildare picking up the classroom authority of Gillespie. This should be part of the very education of educators, and on it should be based the college’s own certification of its graduate. Even after certification, there should be a kind of “residency” that leads to higher professional status. Educationists are already objecting that teachers cannot be trusted to assess teachers, that the schools cannot be made responsible for their product —but if they can’t, who can? Certainly not those who have organized the present chaos. Dr. Conant’s recommendations could not possibly make things worse; they might well make them better; and beyond a doubt they are going to make them more exciting for several years to come.

G. wills