Charles W. Eliot

Paper Summary:

The paper deals with educational researchers and reformers who develop literature to effectively decide as to whether secondary school is a preparation for life or college. The paper discusses how, under the leadership of Charles W. Eliot, the longtime president of Harvard University, the Eliot team changed school programs. The paper concludes that for decades educators have looked for answers to what causes alarming drop out rates. The paper deals with the many facets and argues the idea that secondary education should be a preparation for college and only secondarily a preparation for life.

From the Paper:

"Returning to the subject at hand, how the ideas of the Eliot team change schools at the time the committee report was published. The answer is that the ensuing curricular changes developed upon the idea that a well rounded education involved learning abstract concepts, to achieve success in further education, rather than in vocational or practical application standards. The committee's report spurned educators to step away from the demands of the day, to educate individuals for vocation and placed curriculum squarely back in the hands of academic pursuit. Which left those who sought a more practical means to drop out of school, as it was not seen as neccesasary to anything but further education, and seek employment training that would better suit their needs, the exact opposite of the intentions of many educators."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Herbst, Jurgen. The Once and Future School: Three Hundred and Fifty Years of American Secondary Education. New York: Routledge, 1996.
• Schank, Roger C. Making Minds Less Well Educated Than Our Own. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.
• Shannon, Patrick. "Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms." Journal of Teacher Education 52.5 (2001): 413.

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