The New Education A Review of Progressive Educational Movements of the Day (1915) — Themes and Context

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Authors: Nearing, Scott, 1883-1983 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2008 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Education Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 75,341

Reading time 328 min

Text sections 10

For The New Education A Review of Progressive Educational Movements of the Day (1915) — Themes and Context, the stored edition analysis reports 75,341 words, 5 hr 28 min estimated reading time, and 10 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 18.5 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Education,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #26919

Scott Nearing's 1915 survey of progressive U.S. school reforms, based on firsthand visits and magazine articles, examines Cincinnati's integrated system from kindergarten through municipal university, emphasizing practical vocational tracks and continuous facility use.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

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CHAPTER I. THE NEW BASIS FOR EDUCATION 24

I. Can There Be a New Basis? 24

III. Keeping Up With the Times 26

IV. Education in the Early Home 27

V. City Life and the New Basis for Education 28

CHAPTER II. TEACHING BOYS AND GIRLS 32

I. The New School Machinery 32

II. Rousseau Versus a Class of Forty 33

III. The Fallacious "Average" 34

IV. The Five Ages of Childhood 35

V. Age Distribution in One Grade 36

VI. Shall Child or Subject Matter Come First? 39

VII. The Vicious Practices of One "Good" School 40

VIII. Boys and Girls--The One Object of Educational Activity 42

CHAPTER III. FITTING SCHOOLS TO CHILDREN 44

I. Child Growth--A Primary Factor in Child Life 44

II. Children Need Health First 45

III. Play as a Means to Growth 46

IV. Some Things Which a Child Must Learn 48

V. What Schools Must Provide to Meet Child Needs 51

VI. The Educational Work of the Small Town 52

VII. The Educational Problems of an Industrial Community 55

VIII. Beginning With Child Needs 56

CHAPTER IV. PROGRESSIVE NOTES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 58

I. The Kindergarten 58

II. Translating the Three R's 59

III. Playing at Mathematics 60

IV. A Model English Lesson 61

V. An Original Fairy Story 65

VI. The Crow and the Scarecrow 67

VII. School and Home 68

VIII. Breaking New Ground 71

IX. The School and the Community 72

X. New Keys for Old Locks 74

XI. School and Shop 76

XII. Half a Chance to Study 79

XIII. Thwarting Satan in the Summer Time 80

XIV. Sending the Whole Child to School 81

XV. Smashing the School Machine 84

XVI. All Hands Around for an Elementary School 86

XVII. From a Blazed Trail to a Paved Highway 90

CHAPTER V. KEEPING THE HIGH SCHOOL IN STEP WITH LIFE 92

I. The Responsibility of the High School 92

II. An Experiment in Futures 92

III. The Success Habit 95

IV. The Help-out Spirit 97

V. Joining Hands With the Elementary Schools 98

VI. The Abolition of "Mass Play" 101

VII. Experimental Democracy 103

VIII. Breaching [the] Chinese Wall of High School Classicism 105

IX. An Up-to-Date High School 107

X. From School to Shop and Back Again 109

XI. Fitting the High School Graduate Into Life 110

XII. The High School as a Public Servant 114

CHAPTER VI. HIGHER EDUCATION AT LOWVILLE 116

I. Lowville and the Neighborhood 116

II. Lowville Academy 117

III. The School's Opportunity 119

IV. Field Work as Education 120

V. Real Domestic Science 122

VI. One Instance of Success 123

CHAPTER VII. A GREAT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM 125

I. "Co-operation" and "Progressivism" 125

II. An Educational Creed 127

III. Vitalizing the Kindergarten 129

IV. Regenerating the Grades 132

V. Popularizing High School Education 137

VI. A City University 140

VII. Special Schools for Special Classes 141

VIII. Special Schools for Special Children 144

IX. Playground and Summer Schools 145

X. Mr. Dyer and the Men Who Stood With Him 147

CHAPTER VIII. THE OYLER SCHOOL OF CINCINNATI 153

I. An Experiment in Social Education 153

II. An Appeal for Applied Education 156

III. Solving a Local Problem 157

IV. Domestic Science Which Domesticates 159

V. Making Commercial Products in the Grades 161

VI. A Real Interest in School 162

VII. The Mothers' Club 163

VIII. The Disappearance of "Discipline" 165

IX. The Spirit of Oyler 167

CHAPTER IX. VITALIZING RURAL EDUCATION 170

I. The Call of the Country 170

II. Making Bricks With Straw 171

III. Making the One-Room Country School Worth While 182

IV. Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse 187

V. A Fairyland of Rural Education 188

VI. The Task of the Country School 193

CHAPTER X. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS 195

II. Going to Work Through the Children 196

III. Beginning on Muffins 197

IV. Taking the Boys in Hand 200

V. "Busy Work" as an Asset 201

VII. Winning Over the Families 204

CHAPTER XI. WIDE-AWAKE SLEEPY EYE 207

I. Fitting Schools to Needs 207

II. Getting the Janitor in Line 208

III. The Department of Agriculture 209

IV. A Short Course for Busy People 212

V. Letting the Boys Do It 214

VI. A Look at the Domestic Science 214

VII. How It Works Out 216

VIII. Theoretical and Practical 217

CHAPTER XII. THE SOUTH FOR THE NEW EDUCATION 220

I. A Dream of Empire 220

II. Finding the Way 222

III. Jem's Father 224

IV. Club Life Militant 228

VI. Recognition Day for Boys and Girls 235

VII. Teaching Grown-Ups to Read 236

VIII. George Washington, Junior 237

IX. A Step Toward Good Health 239

X. Theory and Practice 242

XI. A People Coming to Its Own 249

CHAPTER XIII. THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW EDUCATION 251

I. The Standard of Education 251

II. Standardization Was a Failure 252

III. Education as Growth 254

IV. Child Needs and Community Needs 255

V. The Final Test of Education 257

I The Critical Spirit and the Schools

"Everybody is doing it," said a high school principal the other day. "I look through the new books and I find it; it stands out prominently in technical as well as in popular magazines; even the educational papers are taking it up,--everybody seems to be whacking the schools. Yesterday I picked up a funny sheet on which there were four raps at the schools. One in particular that I remember ran something like this,--

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Scott Nearing frames The New Education not as a theoretical treatise but as a field report. The book originated from a series of articles commissioned by The Ladies’ Home Journal, which asked Nearing to visit schools and describe “the most successful public school work now being done in the United States.” This practical origin shapes the book’s voice: direct, observational, and focused on concrete examples rather than abstract pedagogy. Nearing’s preface recounts his search for a way to “harness” reform, and the resulting chapters retain the magazine article’s brisk, example-driven pace.

From Magazine Series to Book Structure

The book’s composition is itself a case study in progressive methods. Nearing explains that the articles “formed a natural sequence,” beginning with a general proposal for reorganizing the course of study, then describing schools where such reorganizations had been achieved. He added “a few words of introduction and conclusion” and published the whole as a book. This origin explains the work’s episodic rhythm: each chapter stands as a self-contained report, yet the preface and conclusion bind them into a coherent argument. Readers will notice shifts in pace between the general chapters and the school descriptions, where Nearing slows to detail specific programs, enrollment numbers, and daily schedules.

Cincinnati’s Coordinated System as a Model

Nearing devotes considerable attention to Cincinnati, presenting it as a fully integrated educational ecosystem. The city’s schools, he notes, are “tied up with the general educational program,” from kindergarten through a municipal university. He catalogs the high school’s eight distinct courses—General, Domestic Science, Commercial, Technical Co-operative for Boys and Girls, Art, Music, and Manual Training—each “shaped to give the children who select it a definite training in the line of their interest.” The building operates nearly around the clock: regular classes from 8:30 to 3:00, continuation courses in the afternoon and Saturday, night school five evenings a week, and summer school for six weeks. Nearing’s language here becomes almost quantitative, emphasizing efficiency and full utilization of resources.

Voice and Rhetorical Strategy

Nearing’s authorial voice blends advocacy with reportage. He adopts the stance of an investigator bringing back evidence: “I could place a number of constructive articles before two million readers.” The prose is declarative and avoids academic jargon, aiming to provoke the reader to exclaim, “There is something that we must introduce into our schools.” Yet Nearing also includes specific details—such as the university’s funding of “one-half of one mill on the general assessment”—that ground his enthusiasm in fiscal reality. The pace varies: general chapters move quickly through principles, while school descriptions linger on organizational charts and timetables. This alternation between argument and evidence gives the book a persuasive, cumulative momentum.

Readers should approach The New Education as a document of its era’s reform energy, not as a comprehensive theory. Nearing’s evidence is drawn from a limited set of schools, and his conclusions are shaped by the magazine format’s demand for clear, actionable examples. The book rewards attention to its structural choices—how Nearing moves from general proposal to specific case, and how he uses quantitative detail to lend authority to his advocacy. These features make it a valuable primary source for understanding early twentieth-century progressive education in practice.

Leafing through Nearing’s account of Cincinnati’s humming school halls, always in use, I felt the quiet earnestness of that era—a belief that every moment held purpose. It reminded me of a gentler volume, Stories to Tell Children Fifty-Four Stories With Some Suggestions For Telling — Key Ideas to Explore. Both trusted children with something real, whether a trade or a tale, spoken simply and without hurry. A different kind of fullness, perhaps.