An Attempt to Discover the Value of Logic

At a curriculum meeting of the faculty of a city college, it was decided that the time-honored requirement of a course in logic for the degree of Bachelor of Arts be discontinued. Its rejection was based upon the opinions of the committee members as to the value of such a course to the student. Their opinion was that the course in logic, while supposed to fulfill one of the chief aims of college education, namely, training in thinking, did not in practice so successfully accomplish that aim as to demand that it remain in the catalogue as a requirement for the degree. It occurred to the writer that before such a course, which has traditionally played a part in the education of the college-bred individual, was discarded, some more accurate attempt should have been made to discover its value to the student. The writer determined to make such an attempt. To the investigator of such a problem, two methods of attack are possible, through the collective opinion of a sufficient number of competent judges, or through experimentation. The first method is open to serious objection on the score of being too subject to personal interest and prejudice. It is also conceivable that those who have obtained great benefit from the study of a subject should not think that they had, because, consciously, they know so little of what past experience or training is aiding in the solution of present problems. The second, the experimental method, has been chosen for this study as being more objective and less influenced by personal bias. The following experiment is an outgrowth of this experience