High School Social Studies Courses Need Drastic Reform, Mayer Says

Martin Mayer '47 last night urged an extensive research progam on the teaching of secondary school social studies but admitted that there now is not much reason to believe that much money could profitably be spent in the effort. Mayer, who has written several books on education, spoke to the Dunster House Forum.

Citing the elaborate, and apparently highly successful, crash program that has been carried out in high school physics and mathematics teaching techniques as a model, Mayer indicated that only such a serious and concentrated approach could yield fruitful results.

He pointed out that millions of dollars, many of them spent on wasted efforts, were needed to get the physics-mathematics researchers in business. "You have to be able to waste a million now and then," he noted. In order to achieve uniform quality, the people working on the M.I.T. high school physics course under the energetic leadership of Tech professor Jerrold Zacharias had to be "damned ruthless" in rejecting the contributions of even Nobel Prize-winning scientists.

The problem is much more than "beefing up" secondary school texts. Mayer advocated a unit approach to history, for instance, with the units being developed by authorities in the field, complete with films, readings, and instructions for teaching.

In addition, future teachers would be trained to use specific subject material. Such training should include emphasis on how a particular idea is likely to be received by students. According to Mayer, prospective social studies teachers are told about something called "the wisdom of education" rather than how to teach their subject. "Imagine how many deaths would occur" Mayer asked, "if doctors were instructed only in the wisdom of medicine?"

The former CRIMSON editor also sharply criticized the current use of programming and teaching machines in education. "They are now used by psychologists for yet another glance at the navel," he observed. Mayer saw an important future for programming, but charged that most experimenters have been "totally irresponsible" in the field.

Turning to another trouble spot, Mayer emphasized that much money and thought is needed to improve the education of children living in slums. "Call them culturally disadvantaged or culturally deprived, they are unlucky kids and need a special kind of teaching."