Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-11-06

examinations have been in any
sense a farce. Some declared them
so but only those who fail to re-
ceive certificates. He believed the
present system 10 be the best
possible and that the frauds were
gotten up especially for the purpose
of bringing the system into disre-
pute. Only eight teachers out of
the whole State were convicted of
having the questions frauduiently.
Mr.Twom0ly thought that exam
nations as conducted are no more
than what is necessary to test our
knowledge of the principles involv-
ed in the several branches we are to
teach.
The discussion at this point be-
came quite lively, Mr.. Twombly,
Mr.. Brierly, Miss Bishop, Miss
Hodgkins, and others taking part
in it. AT one time there were q
dozen on their feet seeking the re-
cognition of the Chair. Opinion
seemed to be divided as to what
would be the effect on the efficiency
Of our school system of the
changes that are to be
made in it to bring it into
compliance with the provisions of
the new Constitution. One gentle
man blamed the Workingmen for
destroying the system under which
their children receive higher ed
ucatiou, and then said that under
the new Constitution, the Leg
islature was bound to provide for
grammar schools, while the Old
Constitution provided only for
common schools. The dlsctlss.on
was deferred to a time t. be set
this afternoon to give the members
elect of the next LEGISLATURE an
opportunity of being present at the
discussion.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Institute called to order at 1:15
by tho Superintendent Little
Misses Julia Schunemen and Min
ME Rogers sang o duet. The
voice Of the smaller of the two
girls was remarkable in one of her
age, showing considerable culture
with great power, compass and
flexibility.
On roll call eleven teachers were
noted absent.
Mr.. McFadden, Chairman of o
committee appointed year ago to
see the that Board of Supervisors
levied the school tax required
by law, made q verbal report
which WAS accepted and vote of
thanks passed to the committee.
On motion, the same committee,
consisting of Mr.. McFadden and
Mr.. Peck was re-appointed to
serve for the coming year. On
motion, the superintendent
was authorized to fill any vacancies
that may occur in esaid committee.
While Mr.. MartliDg was doing
some writing on the board, Illus
trative of the phonetic system, the
Committee on Music rendered
"Over Jordan" and Mr.. Il. A.
Saxon gave happy illustration of
his histrionic talent, doing full just
ice to "Little joe"
Mr.. Marthing declared himself in
favor of an immediate change to
the phonetic system. By the sys-
tenn he advocates, which closely re-
sembles Pitman's system, it re-
qutres no change in the type, the
simple inversion of some of the
letters furnishing all the characters
requisite. Thirty-siX elementary
sounds are at present represented
| by twenty-one effective characters,
while three hundred different let
ters and combinations of letters are
used to represent the same number
OF sounds. Not q single element i'll
| the language has uniform repre-
sentatlon in the spelling. According
to Webster | $50 words are spelled
alike but differently pronounced.
A has eight sounds; Il has six; ],
five; w, nine, and o, seven. Not
Il single word in the English iau-
guage can be spelled from its pro-
nuuciation without other authori-
ty; neither can q single word be
pronounced from its spelling. He
believed that the chief evils con-
nected with our school system are
due to the unphilosophical
method of representing the
elementary sounds of our language.
These difficulties, so great to the
adult, are all intensified to the
child. The child's eaeerness for
knowledge is repressed by turning
his attention from things to words.
1t begets in him an uputterable
disgust, as it is most Ingenious
instrument of torture. His life
from the age of five to twenty-one
years IS spent in learning to spell
without mastering the art.
We thus turn out wooden aeadem-
zeal men. 1t is insufferable impu-
dence to call this education and it
is a wonder that the average Amer
lean child has any brains left. Is
it surprising therefore that an over
taxed people should grumble when
the results are SO disproportionate
to the cost?
After recess DR.. Jos. Kurtz deliv-
cred s. lecture on the influence OF
school life on sight and vision. He
very plainly showed the evils in
cideDt to wrong methods of seating
and lighting school rooms, and
that u large percentage of the cases
of shortness of vision and curvature
of the spine are caused by improper
positions, induced either by a
wrong direction or intensity of
light, or by an ignorance on the
part of makers of school furniture
of true anatomical and physiolog-
icel requirements. AS these are
causes that may be very readily
remedied, it is scarcely less than
criminal on the part of school Of
ficers to neglect such common sense
precautions as will prevent the i'll.
consequences described.
At the conclusion of DR.. Kurtz's
lecture, DR.. Carr, State Superin-
tendent, spoke few words highly
commendatory of the lecture of
DR.. Kurtz, and expressed q hope
that it might be published, that
every teacher and every school Of
ficnr in the cnuntY might have q