CHAPTER XII

THE DAILY PROGRAMME

I. Importance and Objects.-The making of a programme for any school is a difficult problem, for it involves all the fundamental principles which govern the construction of the course of study and the organization of the school. The programme represents the organized efforts of all the school authorities to accomplish the aims of the school through carefully planned, well-directed, continuous work. Some of the leading objects of the daily programme are:

(1) It is a chief means of keeping the teacher in constant and helpful co-operation and unity with all the classes of the school and all the pupils of each class. It is a general plan of the daily work for every member of the school, including the teacher.

(2) Without such a prearranged and systematic schedule of recitations and study periods, there would be hesitation, delays, great loss of time and energy, and constant temptation to putter over work or shirk it altogether; for at the close of every lesson the pupils would have to stop to think what to do next.

(3) A good programme is a great aid in the easy control of the school, for when pupils know just what their work is, just when each lesson is to be prepared and recited, there is no excuse for idleness and no time for mischief. It is a silent but constant monitor, calling every pupil to

perform the duty nearest at hand. It embodies regular, steady, rational authority, and makes this the guiding principle of the school rather than the spasmodic, irregular, personal authority of the teacher.

(4) Thus the programme becomes a valuable agent in training pupils in habits of regularity, methodical work, obedience to rightful authority, and a sense of personal responsibility. The importance of this function of the programme may be inferred from the following statement by Professor James: "There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision and for whom the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional deliberation."

(5) A good daily programme permits the work of the school to be done with the least amount of noise, friction, and nervous strain; it concentrates the efforts of the pupil upon one thing at a time; it secures the exercise of all the different powers of the child in due proportion, and enables the teacher to make specific daily preparation for every exercise.

II. Factors in the Problem of Making a Programme.While schools vary greatly in the number and age of the pupils, the studies, and the number of classes required, still there are certain factors in all schools that are constant and must, therefore, always be prominent in determining the programme.

(1) The Time Element.-This includes (a) the length of the school year; (b) length of the school day; (c) time to be deducted for recesses and intermissions. In the United States, custom, which has almost the force of law in this case, has fixed the length of the school year at from eight to ten months of twenty days each, or one hundred and

sixty to two hundred school days. The school day is usually six hours, although there is a tendency to shorten this somewhat in the primary grades. There are two recesses of fifteen minutes each and generally one hour for noon intermission. This gives the teacher about five and one-half hours, or three hundred and thirty minutes, each day for actual instruction. It is of vital importance that this time should be used to the best advantage and should be properly apportioned among the various subjects included in the course of study. This leads us to the consideration of the second important factor.

(2) The Subjects and Their Relative Importance.-The subjects are quite generally determined by the school authorities, so that the teacher has very little discretion as to what shall be taught. But since the teacher, as a rule, must determine how much time each subject shall have and what place it shall occupy, the question of the relative value of the various subjects is, in reality, a question to be solved by the teacher. In Chapter IX it was shown that there are six groups of studies included in the curriculum. Now every day's work throughout the elementary course should provide for exercises in all of these six groups— should present, as it were, a cross section of all of them. In determining the time each study shall receive, the teacher should consider: (a) Its importance as a means of the further acquisition of knowledge by the pupil; (b) the degree in which it affords mental training in some specific line; (c) its value as practical and permanent knowledge; (d) its relative difficulty as compared with other subjects.

The following division of the time among the six groups of studies is suggested: Language, including reading, spelling, writing, language, and grammar, 40 per cent. of the whole time; arithmetic, 15 per cent.; science, including

nature study, geography, and physiology, 12 per cent.; history, 10 per cent.; art, including music and drawing, 8 per cent.; motor activities, including handwork, physical culture, manual training, and general exercises, 15 per cent. Reduced to minutes, language would receive about 130 minutes; arithmetic, 50 minutes; science, 40 minutes; history, 35 minutes; art, 25 minutes; motor activities, 50 minutes.

These estimates give the average time for the eight grades and are subject to some modifications. In the lower grades language may fairly claim the one hundred and thirty minutes, for it is the tool which the pupils must learn to use in order to master the other subjects of the course or use books independently. In the higher grades language should receive less time and history and science more time. Again, fifty minutes a day for arithmetic is altogether too much for the first two years of the course, and the time taken from arithmetic should be given to handwork and general exercises. In the same way the time for music and drawing, subjects that require no study period for preparation, should vary according to the grade.

(3) The Succession of Studies.-Not less important than the time devoted to a subject is its place in the programme. Long before child-study specialists had demonstrated the principle that the capacity of children for sustained attention varies greatly with the different periods of the day, observant teachers had discovered that some periods are very much more favorable than others. These facts concerning fatigue in children are pretty well established: (a) Fatigue is caused by overtaxing the brain and may be defined as decreased capacity for mental work. (b) Fatigue differs from weariness, which is simply the result of monotony and lack of interest and effort. (c) The signs

of fatigue are loss of the ability to give attention, decrease of accuracy in all work, weakened power of perception and memory, greater errors in judgment, lack of self-control, lower work rate, and less responsiveness to all kinds of stimuli. (d) The most favorable school periods are shortly after the opening of the morning session up to 10.30 A. M., and from the beginning of the afternoon session to 2.15 P. M. The average difference between the best periods and the poorest ones is from ten to thirty per cent., though with individual pupils it may be much greater. (e) The studies that make the greatest demands upon the nervous power of the pupils are, in order: mathematics, gymnastics, language, history and science, music, drawing, and handwork. Of course this general order would vary according to the grade and the newness of the subject for any special class. Reading, spelling, and drill work are very taxing for beginners. (f) The major offsets to fatigue are sleep and nutrition; the minor offsets are rest, free play, and change of occupation and posture. The teacher should realize, too, that inattention of the pupil is sometimes "nature's safeguard against over-fatigue," and that it is not so much the effort required for study as the manner, method, and spirit of the teacher that is responsible for the amount of fatigue produced by school work.

These facts should be carefully considered in arranging the order of studies in the programme, for to conserve the vitality and nervous energy of children is even more important than to economize their time. In the lower grades the formal studies, such as arithmetic, reading, writing, language, and spelling should come at the more favorable periods, but two such subjects should not occur in immediate succession. The periods in these grades should be