MAKE ATHLETICS MORE IMPORTANT--ABBOTT

Revolutionary changes in the educational system of American preparatory schools are advocated by Mather A. Abbott, formerly Professor of Latin and crew coach at Yale, and now Headmaster of Lawrenceville School, in an interview in the Yale News. He unreservedly condemns the present system and declares the schools "hidebound by tradition and the bugbear of the college entrance examinations."

Mr. Abbott thinks that the schoolboy should early specialize along one line of education and not acquire a mere smattering of many subjects. He also emphatically recommends the placing of athletics on an absolutely equal basis with scholarship. Admitting that he is a "radical in education," he says the function of a school is to form character, and the highest aim of every preparatory school is to turn out a man who can stand four-square against every wind that blows. Therefore he regards the attainment of scholarship as only one great means of developing character, and not as an end in itself.

He continues:

"The other great impetus to form character is athletics. If I had my way, I would place athletics on an equal basis with scholarship in every school and college in the country. I would require the teachers of all branches of athletics to be men of the same high moral character as the teachers of Intellectual subjects, and would place the two groups on an absolute equality in salary and social standing. In other words, athletics would be made as much a part of the curriculum of every school and college as mathematics, etc. And extra-curriculum activities, which, as any honest teacher will tell you, do more to develop character and manhood than all the studies in the class-room, would become curriculum activities.

Separate the Brilliant and Average.

"The fact that American schools do not turn out nearly as many true scholars as the great public schools of England must be squarely faced. To remedy this, I advocate the English system, which is the separation of the students into two classes, the brilliant and the average. By doing this, and by teaching each man according to his ability, the whole student body would learn more and the intellectual scholar would not be sacrificed to the average.

"Early specialization by the student is another need, both to avoid wasted time and energy and to promote interest in his work. The talk about college entrance requirements developing a many-sided scholar is absolutely tommyrot, as any honest schoolmaster will tell you."

When asked what he considered the main educational faults, Mr. Abbott said:

"The chief difficulty in discussing education lies in the fact that we are hidebound by tradition. The school world has not realized that the schoolboy of today is entirely a different being than the schoolboy of even fifteen years ago, and still we are trying to develop scholars by the method which our forefathers decided was best to produce the student.

"The second great difficulty is that every school is bound by the bugbear of the college entrance requirements. I do not care what prospect and catalogues say, if a schoolmaster is absolutely honest, he will acknowledge that, in most cases, all his efforts, are directed to the purpose of placing his boys in their prospective colleges, free of all conditions. Hampered, firstly, by tradition, and secondly, by this bugbear, it is almost impossible to produce a real scholar."