The Red Cloud chief., 1879-11-20
The Quincy Experiment.

The experiment in common school
education made nj the Massachusetts,
town If Quincy is worth the attention II
all teachers. Quincy I. the home 81 the
Adams family, and hat 4. n family fond
If hooking after public affair." and re-
forming things about them. Therefore
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams. .Jr.. has
taken iDteres, in the improvement II the
Quincy schools, and according To his re-
port they are unqucstionably better for
what has been done To them within four
or five years past.
When the School Committee put the
pupils Ia the test io see just how much
they were getting from their instruction,
which was furnished them NJ a co-t Of
more than sl9 n head annually, they
found that the knowledge acquired was
only superficial, that the scholars were
-et Ia learn certain cut-snd-irie.i tasks,
and the measure II their proficiency wa
their ability 10 give parrot-like
la questions on them. They got train
ing Of the memory, but 50 far as con-
cerned any real understanding # their
studies and the capacity Ia use what
they had been taught, they were shame
fully deficient. The teachers performed
their work in a perfunctory way, follow
ing the p~recedents Of many years, and
the youngster committed facts, rules.
and exceptions Ia memory without any
great interest in what they were doing,
and without any proper idea Of what il
all meant. Their time was spent in
examining their heads with undigested
and indigestible facts gathered from an
armful Of school books covering a wide
range of subjects Of study. Poor boys
and girls No wonder they sometimes
played truant and went 10 sleep on warm
days over their monotonous tasks.
The School Committee reform began
in the primary schools; but first they
succeeded in engaging a. Sup%erinten-
dent Of Schools 4 young man of enthu-
,iasm in teaching, who had carefully
studied the German methods, for i'm Ger
many pedagogy has been elevated 30 the
rank Of "A special science. Instead of
being drilled in the alphabet after the
old fashion, the children were taught Ia
read before the blackboard almost with
out knowing il, getting their knowledge
by practice. When their interest flag
ged they were turned out Ia play games.
and 10 stretch their legs. school going
under such circumstances became "a de-
light instead of an odious task.
In the higher schools the number of
studies WAS reduced from seven Ia three
reading, writing, and arithmetic, the
two former including, naturally, not ONLY
grammar and spelling, but also geogra-
ply and history. They We're taught by
incessant practice. not by the old wnyUf
imposing on the pupils lessons to BE-
learned by rote. Instead of the Reader
OF ancient memory, the teachers used as
practice-books Biographies, histories,
and articles In TIC current periodicals.
The pupils were so i'm the habit of writ
ing that they grew To write as readily as
they spoke, and, incidentally and in the
way of practice, the art Of spelling
correctly was taught, and Taught in the
only way IN which it can he acquired.
a boy may stand nj the head of an oral
spelling class, and yet when he comes I.
tn write words he may fall in his orthog-
raphy, rs he does in his command Of
language when he is set to the new task
setting down in black and white what
he can talk about slibly enough.
The results of the experiment, rs Nh.
Adams details them, have been most
gratifying. The scholars during. three
years under the now eystem have made
steady progress; they approach their
more willingly, and show that
they really know what they have been
taught. The new plan, Mr.. Adams SAYS,
Is "a complete negative OF the whole
Common school system, founded
On a faith in the infinite capacity of
children To know ut an age a little of
thing That this method of teach
Ing is the sensible one we can under
stand, not only from the results attained
At Quinct, INT dlso from a knowledge of
he manner of the working of the childish
mind, its guickncSs in learning by prac-
ice, and inability To grasp abstract
or general principles. While
grammar, the old bugbcar of all young
may seem TO them dry and in
comprehensive babble when taught out
If the text books, they imperccptibly TO
themselves acquire the habit Of writing
heir language dramatically, rs they
earn the habit of speaking it with pro-
when they are taught. by practice
o express themselves logically and with
and are corrected i'm their
All this Improvement has been effect
at Quincy. and Yet the cost of public
ducation has been reduced from SI9.25
nnually per child to Sl5.6S.-New York
mn.