Six authors have made research on Character* They are headmasters of New England private schools. Their quarry is elusive, ideal, multiform. Like sensible men, each author has conducted that part of the work for which he is specially qualified. By this means a scheme of education for the modern boy is outlined thoroughly, authoritatively, in six chapters. The book recommends itself highly to parents and pedagogs.
Dr. Alfred E. Stearns of Phillips-Andover Academy wrote Chapter One. He has done no teaching in the 23 years he has been principal. His is a purely executive function. As the Phillips academies†have always eschewed the in loco parentis attitude, Dr. Stearns has had many dealings with parents whom he, more than most principals, may hold accountable for the early training of their sons. His chapter is on "Home Influence" and in it he remarks on the necessity for home discipline, the carelessness and lack of understanding of many modern parents, the large percentage of school derelictions due to discord, separation and divorce in the home.
Dr. Samuel S. Drury is rector of the largest U. S. church school, St. Paul's (Episcopal), at Concord, N. H. His subject is "Religious Influence." He frankly "talks religion," insisting that religion is not "queer" or "forced" as a part of a boy's education. He believes that schools have made a god of morality and been afraid of theology. He believes that boys are natural mystics, that the second decade is in all directions a romance. "Some colleges," he says, "will not grant a degree unless the senior can swim 100 yards; the school might make one condition for its diploma: the ability to recite the Sermon on the Mount."
Dr. Endicott Peabody is founder and principal of Groton, a school of English inspiration and atmosphere, which has "sedulously sought scholastic seclusion" during its 40 years. His subject, "Academic Influence," leaves him free to compare the handicaps and advantages peculiar to public and to private schools. He urges continuance of the classical tradition, quoting many a notable. He believes U. S. boys begin school at least a year behind time.
Dr. R. Heber Howe Jr. was for 20 years a master at Middlesex School and has coached Harvard crews. In 1923 he founded and headed an elementary boarding school at Belmont Hills (suburb of Boston). His forte is athletics, and he lays down a 14-point code intended to simplify scholastic athletics, moderate their hotly competitive spirit, keep them within each school's own walls.
Mr. W. L. W. Field, headmaster of Milton Academy, Mass., where many a Harvard man is schooled, lays out the fundamental studies boys must undertake to pass the college entrance examinations; urges parents and teachers to inculcate "independent foresight."
The last chapter, "The Future Trend of the Private School," comes from the desk of the Rev. William Greenough Thayer, headmaster of St. Mark's School. His points are three: let the schools declare their independence of college examinations, for they have a prime obligation to make able scholars; the first call for able scholars is the call of politics; the second, the call of science.