The Indianapolis journal., 1891-03-23
Unjust and Offensive school Methods.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journals
Justice" in the Journal of the 10th inst.
presents additional queries in regard to
school methods in practice in q prominent
city in southern Indiana. The writer
knows not who Justice" is, or where he
got the information upon which to base his
former inquiries, but as all the points
touched upon in that letter were personal
ly known to me as they occurred, / frankly
acknowledged that whether Seymour was
or was not tho town meant. the meth DDS
named were all practiced here. 1t would
seem that Justice" although not a resi
dent of this city, Is not yet satisfied. but
brings up other matters, which it Is useless
to deny, are also practiced by the superin-
tendent of the Seymour schools. He says:
am told on good authority that In a certain
training in composition or essay writing from
the time they enter the first year until they reach
the High-school. and practically none then, un-
til they reach the last year, and come to prepare
their graduating essays.
The writer has knowledge that there have
been children, pupils in the city schools for
years, who have never been asked to write
o composition or essay, work that Is nec-
arrangement and executive ability In tho
pupil. In order that the superintendent
may not be misrepresented In the least re-
spect, personal inquiry was made of gradu-
ates of the Shields High-schoOl who have
gone from childhood up through the depart
ments of the city schools under the present
management. The reply in each case is
that, practically, no work in writing essay 8,
compositions. or delivering orations or dec
lamatiOns 10 required at any time until the
pupils reach the High-school, and is only
then ktaught from textbooks for q few
weeks in each of the latter parts of the
Junior and senior years. 1t is stated. on
the best authority, that teachers who feel
44x l1~s ~o,r
their pupils. have earnestly requested the
privilege OF practlcing essay and compost
tiOn work, but were positively forbidden
to do so. Last summer prize of So
was offered for the. best essay writ
ten by a pupil Of the city
Ideal school," The prize was not contested
for. The nearest approach to competition
that ;s practiced Is that in some of the
lower grades. and consists In filling blanks
well know, Ia almost, If not quite. devoid of
original thought and the correction of
alsely-Constructed sentences, such as are
found in all grammars in the intermediate
and higher grades. Justice" further says:
MY atte ntion has been called to pecu-
lar system of grading pupils. First. their
per cents. are based wholly upon the writ
ten examinations, the class-work and
teachers Judgment counting nothing; sec
ond. the method of finding the pupils
standing, as based on the examination, is
equally strange, and indeed, SO compli-
Gated that confessI do not understand it.
/ suppose the superintendent does. Hero
is O case, with the figures before me: The
records show that the pupil is carrying
four stUdies-twO in one year and two In
another. In the four her grades run from
9S to 100, making an average of 90. The
Superintendent, however; has her marked
Average in studies. 1867"
AS to the first point: The school year is
divided into four periods each, followed by
a written examination. The standing of
the pupils is estimated from their work in
rank is determined for the next period;
that is. their proximity to or remoteness
from the head of the class. From this
examination all promotions are made If
there is fallure here from any cause the
class standing ID not made out. but in some
cases the failing pupils are allowed to go
forward with their class on q six weeks
trial. and if at this examination they fail.
they 60 back to their former places; If sue
cessful they are given rank in their class.
They must not fall below 75 In any prn-
cipal study in order to be promoted at the
written examination. No record OF daily
recitations 10 kept, and even if every lesson
is perfect. no estimates are made on this
basis.
Now, as to the second point Justice
mentions: The young lady referred TO Is a
member of an excellent family, and, as her
per cents show. one of the most diligent in
the ScDOOl. mere IL q etaIement direct from
her father: my daughter carried. four
studies through the period for which she
was examined, two in the freshman class
and two in the year below. passing writ
ten examination In all of them. Her per
cents. were 9S and 100, making q general
average of SO. A certificate was made out
and sent me to sign, as parent with the
correct percentages given in all the stud
ies but the general average was cut down
to 49.6. l refused to sign the card. and
went TO the superintendent for an explana-
tion. which was that the average was made
from the sum of the per cents in the two
high-school studies divided by four, th~
whole number studied. told him that
was not right, that that part of the re.
port Was q falsehood. and that j
would rot sign a false report. He in
formed that he guessed he understood
his bust ,ss, and would not place the aver
age any other way, but after being told
that would sign the grade if made ont
without the average. this he agreed to do,
and sent n second certificate. which Isigned
and retained tho first" But so far as her
rank in class is concerned. the injustice
still exists the young lady being forced to
| take place below the poorest of her class,
when really she is entitled to place among
the hear REV