The cultural contribution of drama in a technical high school

Abstract

In a former paper' discussed the problem of making a quarter's course in drama in a technical high school both cultural and conspicuously practical in value. made the practical features of the course explicit, leaving almost entirely implicit the cultural aspects. This was not because such a course, as an academic subject, must be admittedly cultural, nor because the primary qualification of subjects in a technical curriculum must be utility. It was rather for the reason that without mastery of some technique, culture is not to be attained; for culture flowers from appreciation, and appreciation comes only from the ability to recognize intrinsic values. Now, to whatever extent one has this ability in relation to merely material things, he has a corresponding feeling or taste for quality. But much augmented are his interest and his curiosity, and through these much more keenly is his judgment piqued and challenged by man in action, by the bewildering kinds and numbers of experiences that are comprehended in living! I cannot understand, said a boy to-day to a colleague of mine, how you, who are so interested in people, can really enjoy working out long algebraic processes. They're dead to me; but can work all night on biology and study by the hour on history, for they show facts and possibilities in life. Many pupils thus realize the cause of their likes and dislikes in subjects; many do not. But the teacher must realize it, and he must help the student to see for every subject some of its uses in man's routine.