The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-04-30
The Marking System.
A Defender of the System Criticises Some
OF the Objections That are BrouEhS
Against IL and Sets Forth IIs Aavnn.
tnges.


Against IL and Sets Forth IIs Advan.
tnges.
To the Editor Of the Press:
Having waited in vain for some one TO speak
whose voice should carry more credit than
mine, at length the urgency Of my convictions
leads me to ask your space for further discus
sion Of the school problem.
Many of your readers bow down, as g matter
OF course, to the authority of the initials /. T.
ID. My bump Of reverence Is as big as any
body's; but my esteem is chiefly for facts,
whereby am convinced your correspondent Is
in error in attributing the nervous troubles Of
our school children so entirely to the marking
system now in use.
There are other circumstances connected
with the training of our children which, as II
seems to me, fully account for the prevalent i'll
health IN our schools. Much that ia set down
to the discredit Of the marking system ought TO
be charged to the outrageous length Of test pa
pers, which at the High School sometimes re-
quire thu 90 hours hard writing, without any
1nterm1ssion, to get through with them in
proper shape Eyes ache and brains whirl
round in breathless race against Time In
(which the old gentleman with the scythe con-
stantly threatens to cut off the heads OF the APP
prehensive pupils. Further to try the nerves
OF the children, and the telnpers of the teach
eTs, the questions are made out by erratic COM
mlttee-men, who occasionally take q fancy 10
examine the children on subjects they never
heard OF before.
The disgraceful overcrowding and detective
ventilation Of some Of our school buildings are
matters TO which DIR. Files called attention
very strongly in his report in behalf OF the
school-committee for 1925. The city has
done something TO correct the evils complained
OIL put much IS still undone, and many Of our
children owe their irritable nerves TO the pois-
oned atmosphere Of their school-rooms.
Finally, attentive observation leads me TO
think that an amazingly large percentage OF
cases OF nervous prostration, consumption, etc.,
is due to social disslpations and hygienic
abuses in eating and dressing. II deluded par.
ents loaH allow their growing daughters dur
ing the school term, to take part In private
theatricals, with 10 o'clock suppers, to sing or
recite at church entertainments, excite them
selves over charity fairs, and be out till IL d.
m, or later, thinking" and dancing-why, sa-
pient physicians know what TO expectl As
long as schoolgirls can command a daily al
lowance for candy, and continue 10 consume
sweets by the bagful, SO long shall there be
nervous wrecks in the land, though the
marking system were abolished this day. How
many children of well-to-do parents come to
school insuthciently protected against wet and
cold, only observant teachers know. But, to
be sure what have disordered nerves to do
with the "snufhes''?
have known few intensely studious girls
and boys who added to the studies OF the Fegu-
lar course, and sat curled up over their books
when they should have been exercising in the
open air, or even when they should have been
abed and asleep. II they put out their eyes, or
added their brains, or killed themselves out
right, could the catastrophe be Justly attribut-
ed to the marking system Of our schools,
or TO anything or anybody but the mis-
guided parents who permitted and encour-
aged the performance? 1 never saw or
heard Of a child capable Of hurting him
self by such enthusiastic application who
mad cause to worry or overWork to main
tain his rank while judicious parents restrained
his ambition within the limits of the regular
course,
The system OF marking now in use in our
schools differs materially from the system In
use fifteen years ago; therefore the statement
OF an old graduate, to the effect that "his
whole school life was warped by the purpose
OF getting Marks" is not to the point. Fiji
teen years ago marks were given on the daily
Rotations, and, in passing, let me mention
that we old-time pupils weathered through
from three to five crises day with very little
sppreciable strain on our nerves Now the
only marks gwen are on bi-monthly tests. Un.
der the old system anyone with good MEM
ory and GLIB tongue could rank high by sim
ply "cramming" from day to day. Naturally,
halt-formed, unguided scholars looked to the
show instead of the substance. Under the
present system, however, only the pupil who
has thoroughly learned his lessons as he went
along can RANK high, for only honest acquisi-
ton will stand the test Of time. 1t is no use
talking about leading children to study solely
for the love of it-with most OF them we should
have to make over their parents frstt The
student is, like the poet, born and not made.
The present system Of marking does not warp
the real scholar from his purpose; it stimulates
10 thorough work many pupils with whom no
higher motive would avail; and it gives the best
showing possible to the conscientious bat allow
student who Is at disadvantage in his daily
recitations. Girls and boys who slight their
scnool tasks Tor the rink, base ball, parties and
other frolics, are OF course subject to much
tribulation from the custom Of marking. They
have reason to worry about their ranks and no
doubt the more ambitious of thnm overwork
during examination week in the impossible at
tempt to cram the work of two months into
two days. The way of the transgrsssor Is pro-
verbally hard-and it is not the part Of wis.,
dom to make 1t easier. The crying evil OF the
American system with children is the allow.
ing them to enter society before they are out Of
pinatores. The English fashion Of keeping
children out Of the way of social dissipation
until their school education is complate, and
then bringing them out" commends itself to
common sense. Social abuses, rather than the
marking system, are the Juggsrnaut thar is
crushing our children by the score. while the
doctors are busy fighting windmills.
The theory that the marking system is at the
bottom OF cheating in the schOolroom will not
fraternize with facts. The pupil who cheats
on the marked tests, cheats also with equal zeal
IN the unmarked daily recitatiops. Another
theory is that the marking system breeds m
generous riValries smong the pupils. on
course their rivalries are what the children
are, but few children are naturally mean, and
have always observed that honest contests OF
this sort made the Warmest friendships. In
which victorious and vanquished alike re-
joiced in "foemen worthy Of their steel, !" with
out Jealousy on the one side or Dragging ON the
other.
The proposition to make the teachers iudR-
ment OF fitness the ground Of the pupil's pro
motion, strikes me as rather superficial For
what is it that now decides the pupils pro-
motion il It be not the repeated judgments of
the teacher, OF which the marks are merely q
convenient record from which to make 10
final decision2 Were this record abolished, by
disprove the charges of favoritism and caprice,
with which the parents of ounces and idlers
constantly impeach his judgment?
Let the boys and girls be marked, and II
they can't keep up to the average standard in
their school work let us recognize the fact that
school is not the place for them. It Is not
your boys fault il nature denies him
the capacity to spell, so that out OF
% words he misses regularly 20. 1t
is not his fault II he cannot tell .
verb from noun, or write sentence correct
ly were his life depending. 1t is not even, &C
cording to my way Of thinking. his irreparable
misfortune provided Nature made it up in
some other way, as she usually does. But let
him be marked, and in competition with boys
more gifted as scholars, who stand 100 where
he stands 10, learn to recognize clearly his own
limitations, and thereon betake himself to the
cultivation Of the talent God gave him, wheth-
or 1t be for mechanics, or the fine arts, or the
tillage OF the earth. People begin to see that
book-learning is, happily, not necessary to be
crammed down the throats of children who
have no head for it. Comparisons that lead
us to better understanding of ourselves and
our possibilities and responsibilities, are not
to be called odious. Beyond dispute, endow-
ments differ, and II there be NO cruelty In the
fact, why cry out against the cruelty OF the
system which makes the fact manifest? The
only thing needful, as it seems TO me, to avoid
humiliation, is for round pegs to keep out of
square holes. ERR