Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE REFOKT OF THE BAKEB COMMITTEE ON LOSS OP TIME IN EDUCATION AN exhaustive investigation into the causes of our loss of two years in education was begun as far back as 1903 by the National Education Association, but for some years with little or nothing accomplished. In 1907 the effort was renewed with vigor and under the leadership of Mr. James Baker detailed questions were submitted to presidents of colleges, superintendents of schools, professors, teachers and men of business. An immense field was covered; and at last, in 1913, a comparatively full report was reached, which has been published as U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 38. The committee, in effect, decided that there was no reason or excuse for the loss of two years; that the culture or information-giving which caused that loss in the school period was an absurdity; that the college course was two years too long; that it should end with the sophomore year; and that the present junior and senior years should be given to professional study. This would begin professional studyat about the age of twenty and bring it within the years of greatest energy and adaptability. Too long a period of preparation in artificial education unfits for action. There is a great loss of interest and energy in a long preparatory period of un- motivated study. They had great trouble with those horrible words, culture, cultural and culture courses, which have fastened themselves upon us, and are used to prop up all sorts of vagueness. They were, they said, the chief cause of all the waste and loss of the two years. They attempted to define the word culture, but it was found that each member of the committee had a different definition of it, as has everybody else. Why not abandon it altogether, and speak of...