esters of work. This plan, as judged
by results, is obviously insufficient for such pupils and tends to
prove further that the kind of work is more at fault in the matter of
failing than is the amount. Frequently a pupil who fails in the A
semester (first) will also fail in the X division of that subject as he
repeats it, while at the same time his work is perhaps not inferior in
the other subjects. The data for these special divisions were not kept
distinct in transcribing the records, so that it is not possible to
offer the tabulated facts here. There are numerous recognized
illustrations of how some pupils find some particular subject as
history, mathematics, or language distinctively difficult for them.

4. AN INDICTMENT AGAINST THE SUBJECT-MATTER AND THE TEACHING ENDS, AS
FACTORS IN PRODUCING FAILURES

The evidence already disclosed to the effect that the high school
entrants are highly selected, that few of the failing pupils lack
sufficient ability for the work, that they have manifested their
ability and energy in diverse ways, and that particular subjects are
unduly emphasized and by the uniformity of their requirement cause much
maladjustment, largely contributing to the harvest of failures, seems
to warrant an indictment against both the subject-matter and the
teaching ends for factoring so prominently in the production of
failures. There is clearly an administrative and curriculum problem
involved here in the sense that not a few of the failures seem to
represent the cost at which the machinery operates. This is in no sense
intended as a challenge to any subject to defend its place in the high
school curriculum, but it is meant to challenge the policy of the
indiscriminate requirement of any subject for all pupils, allowing only
that English of some kind will usually be a required subject for the
great majority of the pupils. It is simply demanded that Latin and
mathematics shall stand on their own merits, and that the same shall
apply to history and science or other subjects of the curriculum. So
far as they are taught each should be taught as earnestly and as
efficiently as possible; but it should not be asked that any teacher
take the responsibility for the unwilling and unfitted members of a
class who are forced into the subject by an arbitrary ruling which
regards neither the motive, the interest or the fitness of the
individual.

This indictment extends likewise to the teaching method or purpose