The situation clearly demands that our public schools shall not, by clinging to precedent and convention, fall notably behind industry and government in appropriating the fruits of modern scientific research.  As the doctor varies the diet to the needs of each patient and each affliction, so must the school serve the intellectual and social needs of the pupils by such an organization and attitude that the selection of subjects for each pupil may take an actual and specific regard of the individual to be served.  The change all important is not necessarily in the school subject or curriculum, but rather a change in the attitude as to how a subject shall be presented—­to whom and by whom.  The latter will also determine the character of the pupil’s response and the subject’s educational value to him.  By securing a genuine response from the pupils a subject or course of study is thereby translated into pupil achievement and human results.  The authority of the school is impotent to get these results by merely commanding them or by requiring all to pursue the same subject.  An experience, in order to have truly educational value, must come within the range of the pupils comprehension and interest.  Quoting Newman,[55] “To get the most out of an experience there must be more or less understanding of its better possibilities.  The social and ethical implications must somewhere and at some time be lifted very definitely into conscious understanding and volition.”  The pupil’s responsiveness is then much more important both for securing results and for reducing failures than is any subject content or method that is not effective in securing a tolerable and satisfying sort of mental activity.

2.  FACULTY STUDENT ADVISERS FROM THE TIME OF ENTRANCE

Not only the failure of pupils in their school subjects but the failure also of 13 per cent of them to remain in school even to the end of the first semester, or of 23.1 per cent to remain beyond the first semester (Tables V and VI)—­of whom a relatively small number had failed (about 1/4)—­make a strong appeal for the appointment of sympathetic and helpful teachers as student advisers from the very time of their entrance.  One teacher is able to provide personal advice and educational guidance for from 20 to 30 pupils.  The right type of teachers, their early appointment, and the keeping of some sort of confidential and unofficial record, all seem highly important.

Superintendent Maxwell mentioned among the reasons why pupils leave school[56] that “they become bewildered, sometimes scared, by the strange school atmosphere and the aloofness of the high school teachers.”  There is a strangeness that is found in the transition to high school surroundings and to high school work which certainly should not be augmented by any further handicap for the pupil.  There are no fixed limitations to what helpfulness the advisers may render in the way of ‘a big brother’ or ‘big sister’