The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-29
MIR. BECKTOLD'S TEXTBOOKS
The Checkered Career They Enjoyed Be-
fore Being Adopted by Indiana.
Samples of the Problems Offered by the Arith-
metics and the Maps of the Biographies
Comments Of the State Press.

w. H. -, In CINCINNATI COmmerclai cahetto'
The books of the so-called Indiana series
have had checkered career They have
at one time OF another been used for little
/. while in several States and then kicked
out because Of their wOrthlessness,
The readers first appeared ON the golden
shores of the Pacific, but failed to obtain
footing. They were then revised and
amended and re-christened, this time being
called the Bancroft Readers" They were
used in Oregon and Washington Terri
tory for little while. but were soon dis
carded. Being no sale for them on the
Pacific coast the owner of the copyright
thought he would move eastward with
them, so they were started across the
mountains and again baptized, this time
being given the name of STANDARD
Readers" They were forced on some of the
schools in Missouri, but were soon dis
carded. They present the strange anomaly
of being standard readers" without a
standing anywhere.
Being ruled out of Missouri they had to
hunt for another home, and being present.
ed to that eminent educator Ed Hawkins.
they were adopted by him and his firm of
school-book publishers. and again chris
tened, the last title being that of the "Indi-
ana Readers" With the readers Hawkins
adopted the arithmetics published by the
same st. Louis company. and, If anything.
they are more worthless than the readers,
and have been discarded wherever they
had been used. Hawkins had hard time
in finding a geography that was worthless
enough to suit him, but finally found 1T in
what has been known as the Miles Mime
sofa Geography"
Hawkins having adopted this series of
old and worthless publications, it became
necessary to have them adopted by the In
diana Board of Education. Just what means
were used to secure that, probably. will
never be known, but they were adopted
and contract awarded to Hawkins & Co,
ostensibly, but in reality to BecktOld q Co.,
of st. Louis.
tried to interview some of the members
of the Board of Education for the purpose
of finding out how it happened they
adopted the series, but did not meet with
much success. Finally L put this question
to two or three of them: IF you were
teaching private school and these books
were offered to your scholars free, would
you adopt and use themW To this each
ono said NO" with an emphasis. | pro-
cured a set of books and submitted them
to several experienced and well-knOwn ed
ucatOrs for examination. and the unani-
nous verdict has been that they ought not
to be introduced into any school; that their
introduction will demoralize the educa-
ical series consists of two books, one
styled Elementary Arithmetic" and
the other Complete Arithmetic"
The first is book of nearly 200 pages.
taken word for word and figure for
figure from the first two hundred pages of
the complete book. Thus the schools will
be deprived of any grading in this impor-
tant study. and the parent will be COM
PEELED to pay twice for the same matter.
The definitions, rules and examples given
in the elementary work are of q difficult
character, and not easily comprehended by
a child without considerable preliminary
study. Some of the examples given in the
complete arithmetic are exceedingly rich
Here is one of them: What is the total
cost of a ton of coal at So ton, and a cord
of wood ut S4f In an elementary work
for the purpose of causing the child to
think. such an example might be permissi-
BILE, but the work in which it is found is
supposed TO be for the use of scholars in the
higher grades.
But here is another: "Henry had seven
marbles. William six. John five. George four
and Edward six; how many marbles do the
four boys havep 1t is hard to tell whether
the compiler of this remarkable book
adopted for the Indiana schools, intended
to give a lesson In grammar to vary the
monotOny of mathematics or not. The
book shows that it is a hotch-potch affair
from the beginning to the end and it is not
to be wondered at that 1T has been discard
ed wherever it has been tried. To attempt
to force it on the schools of Indiana is an
outrage on the people. and will result in
greatly deterlorating the standard of edu-
cation.
The biographies. like the arithmetics
are divided into two parts. As / said, thew
were originally compiled for Minnesota
and after having been forced on the
to the one now being tried in Indiana
they were discarded and to-day have no
standing where they are published. When
compared with the biographies which are
now In use in the State, they are frauds of
the most miserable character. The prima-
ry has but one map in it, and that is sort
OF an outline map of the United States.
The only reference in 1t to Indiana is the
1 brief statement that Indiana is one of the
scenGral Western States. The complete ge-
lOgraphy is put together wrong end to. 1t
first gives heavy treatment of ''matbe-
NAUTICAL geography" That is followed by
long and rather turgid expositionof phys
zeal geography.
These two take up about two-thirds of
the entire book. 1t has a small skeleton
map of Indiana, which makes White river
county. stands, fifty miles away from In
dianapolis. depriving the capital of the
State of one of its chief glories. The Mis-
sissinnewa, which has its headwaters in
start from Muncie, the great patural-gas
town. But then the people are promised q
revised chapter on Indiana, to be prepared
under the special supervision of Ed Haw-
Nils. III u6tu udTull DC Salu tUdb all IQtSe
books in mechanical execution fall far be-
low those now used in the schools: that
they are gotten up as if the chief design
was to have them fall to pieces at the earli-
est practical moment. If there can be any
worst IN such n lot of school book trash, the
readers deserve that position. The selec-
tions are out of date, and they are almost
wholly devoid of the notes and annOtatiOns
which are such great help to the student.
and which are found in the books now IN
use.
Rules for punctuation. pauses and in1ec-
tons arc given. which, if followed, will
cause the scholars to read very much after
the manner and style of the old hard shell
Baptist preachers. / took Thanatopsis To a
trained elocutionst and asked him to read
it as 1T was marked off to be read in the book.
He tried 1T three or four times and gave it up
in disgust: then told him the book was one
of those that had Just been adopted for the
State. His remark was not very elegant,
but 1t was expressive. He said The board
that adopted that book is set of blankety
blank fools, and any teacher who tries to
teach reading according to il will be driven
to idiocy in thirty days. The fourth and
fifth readers are filled with glaring mis-
statements of historical facts.D
What the County Press Is Saying.
Indiana Pocket: From To 5 cents is the
price allowed for old school books when
taken in exchange for new. This fact alone
will make the present scbool-book law un-