The Transformation

After reading about the rigorous study habits of Soviet students, a coed in the Winter Park (Fla.) Glenridge Junior High School civics class piped up one day to ask: "Do you suppose we could do it?" Social Studies Teacher Hugh Ansley, 24, a traditionalist at heart, thought about it overnight, next day, with his class's backing, decided to give it a try. For the next seven weeks, his civics students were to act as much as possible like little Russians, but without the indoctrination.

Wearing paper badges with the letters TEE (Traditional Education Experiment), pupils found themselves snapping to attention when teacher entered the room or called on them to recite. On the grounds girls curtsied, boys doffed hats or bowed for Teacher Ansley; in class, all set to work to cover in seven weeks the 485-page textbook that was supposed to last all year. Though the pupils clearly dislike the bowing, and being punished by time-consuming chores, they took to their new life with surprising enthusiasm. Classroom silence, they found, made paying attention a breeze; required note-taking and constant review made exams a snap. When the experiment ended last month, the students decided that, minus the bowing and scraping, they would like to make the Soviet-style system permanent. The experiment had certainly produced results. For one thing, grades were up 25% over pre-TEE days.

But things did not stop there. A strange transformation had come over the boys and girls of Glenridge--they actually began asking why they should not have classes on Saturday. With the approval of broad-minded Principal Adrian Stockard, Ansley decided to offer two Saturday courses in philosophy, to run 15 weeks. Those who took them would get no academic credit, would even have to pay $15 for the privilege of getting out of bed just as on any school day. Nonetheless, 17 signed up for the three-hour morning course in the history of philosophy, 26 more for logic in the afternoon. Exclaimed Pupil Sylvia Schaffer, 14, last week: "I would do this all year long. It's lots of fun." Says Teacher Ansley: "We aren't shoving this down the students' throats. The kids have insisted on it. They won't get any credits from these courses. They're taking them because they want to. It's a great success."

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