Rice, Joseph Mayer

Joseph Mayer Rice (1857–1934) was born May 20, 1857, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1881. From 1887 until his death, he was an advocate for empirically set goals and scientific measurement in education. His concern for the health of children led him to abandon his medical practice and travel to the Universities of Leipzig and Jena in Europe to study psychology and education. While there, he witnessed early efforts at empirical research and Herbartism, an early system of educational psychology.

After his return to America, Rice shared his experiences in interviews published in Epoch, a weekly newspaper, and Forum, a monthly magazine. At the suggestion of his brother Isaac Leopold Rice, owner of the Forum, Joseph conducted a survey of schools in the United States and shared his findings with the Forum. The period in which Rice lived and worked was one of intense muckraking activity and competition among publishers. Education was uncharted territory for investigative reporting, and its close connection to local politics made it an attractive choice. Rice visited schools in 36 cities and spoke with teachers, school officials, parents, and school board members. Starting in October 1892, the Forum published a series of nine articles that galvanized public attention to the condition of American public schools. Rice described the schools as mechanistic, the current teaching methods as inefficient and stultifying, and the treatment of the students in the classrooms as bordering on barbaric.

Rice's main contribution was his groundbreaking use of empirical testing to determine if the current methods of spelling, mathematics, and English were successful. He suggested changing the curriculum to make learning more efficient. By integrating instruction in the social sciences, science, grammar, composition, and penmanship, students would be challenged and stimulated to learn better. While the Forum articles were still in publication, Rice completed a second tour to identify the best schools and teaching practices. Masses of information were compiled over the next several years and provided the grist for several books. They included The Public School System of the United States in 1893, The Rational Spelling Book in 1898, Scientific Management in Education in 1913, and The People's Government in 1915. In 1897, Rice became the editor of the Forum until he left the magazine in 1907.

Rice was associated with the efficiency movement, but his efforts were directed toward the efficiency to be gained in the classroom rather than in the administration. His main concern was always the children who had to endure the enervating drill and practice found in most schools. His suggestions were directed at ways to energize the learning process, abolish wasted time, and make learning productive if not fun again.