CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
December 18, 1969
Page 40070
HYDE SCHOOL IN BATH, MAINE
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, amid all the concern over our young people on the campus of today, it is hopeful to observe some work that is already underway to prepare even younger people for the campus of tomorrow. I say this is hopeful because I believe in treating the illness, not the symptom.
For some time now, it has been my privilege to serve on the board of trustees of the Hyde School at Bath, Maine. Hyde is an independent secondary school whose headmaster and dedicated faculty are working with 120 students to achieve a pattern of education, as distinguished from just teaching and learning.
I visited the school last month and talked with both faculty and students in the course of my stay. I came away with the strong conviction that the philosophy being followed at Hyde may well be worth broad study and discussion.
Hyde School was founded 3 years ago by Joseph W. Gauld, a man who had spent nearly 20 years in secondary school teaching and administration. Over 6 years ago, he became convinced that there was in fact an illness in education that seriously needed treatment. He believed that education of the young required emphasis on the individual to develop an awareness of strengths and weaknesses so that the youngster might truly be "led forth" -- or educated -- instead of simply being taught without reference to his individuality.
While it is true that Hyde's method, no matter how successful, cannot be a panacea for all the ailments of our educational system, it is equally true that its experiences should be followed closely and its concepts be evaluated in the light of the problems facing our young people today.
Mr. Gauld said:
Up to now our challenges have been to conquer the earth. Now we have got to learn to live on it.
He is convinced that so much emphasis has been placed on achievement in our schools, such as high course grades, high test scores, and the like, that attitude, effort, and growth of the individual have ceased to be significant. Mr. Gauld continued
If this is true then a school that is helping one student may well be hurting another. How many of these others give up on themselves because they cannot find anything in school they can succeed with?
The Hyde School regards the teen years as the most important in the life of a man, since it determines how he will face his problems, adjust to his shortcomings, and develop his strong points. The grading system takes into account personal growth as well as academic achievement.
The students at Hyde are encouraged to develop a capacity for responsible leadership and to have an active concern for others. Curiosity about learning and about life is stimulated, integrity is prized, and the courage to meet challenge is expected of all.
The impression of a visitor is that pioneering is once more to be observed in New England educational processes. The Hyde School is testing and examining, and sometimes changing, many of the standard practices of secondary schools. Its goal is to provide a better foundation for the student of tomorrow's college and university campus, and for a citizen better prepared to meet the problems which will face our Nation and the world in the future.
Perhaps the best measure of the task the school has set for itself is to be found in these words taken from its catalog: Hyde School was founded ...
On a conviction that education must promote among young people a realization of their own potentialities and a respect for themselves as individuals. We feel the growing impersonal trend in education defeats an appreciation of one's self and discourages the type of "rugged individual" that built this country. The principles on which this school is founded maintain that the qualities of self-confidence, self-discipline and perspective are more important to youth than they have ever been before.
We suggest that the following questions raised by the present educational system in this country need careful examination:
Curriculum: Has the emphasis in secondary schools on preparation for a specific college or profession narrowed education to a point where the primary concerns of character development and the discovery of meanings in life are neglected?
Teaching methods: How important is the trend toward machine- or machine-like teaching, as opposed to the personal teacher-student relationship we believe essential to a truly liberal education?
Testing: Has a tool that started as a worthwhile aid in evaluating a student's capacities become detrimental to his incentive and a substitute for human judgment?
Specialization: In trying to cope with the "knowledge explosion" are we sacrificing to specialization such benefits as aesthetic appreciation, broad understanding, and the moral strength for leadership necessary to the education of the whole man?
Perspective: Has the educational process become so impersonal and so cumbersome that students only intellectualize today's problems without being able to tackle them with a sense of personal involvement?
There are no easy answers to these questions, nor easy solutions to the problems they raise.
Nevertheless, we at the Hyde School believe that educational practices should not belittle him nor diminish his self-esteem. Even more important. education should create in the student an enthusiasm for life. This school is dedicated to such a concept of education and to the maintenance of both high academic and high human standards.
I hope, Mr. President, that Mr. Gauld and his faculty and students will continue to seek improvement in our educational system and that as the years go by we will see their success reflected in our processes of higher education. Unlike Mark Twain's weather, education is having something done about it other than just talking.