Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1892-11-11
SCHOOLING AS AT PRESENT.

IL - keHeIaiiy dCcepCeu us llue
that the prevailing methods Of
education are much in advance of
those which obtained fifteen, twe:ty
or twenty-five years ago. 1t is
undoubtedly true that the prevailing
methods Of imparting instruction to
children are less barEarous than they
were in many particulars. But then
there is great doubt existing among
the parents of the present generation
Of school children whether the school
Of today is doing as much for the
intellectual equipment Of the children
as did the schools Of their day. The
boy or girl Of from Is to 16 years Of
age who is obliged today to leave
school and engage in one or other of
the avocations is not regarded-and
cannot, we belive, be rightfully
regarded-as being as we'll quilted,
either in knowledge or mental train
ing, everything else being equal, as
the boy or girl Of ten, fifteen or
twenty years ago.
There is controversy ut present
prevailing in New York city which
would be amusing if it were not SO
full of discreditable significance. 1t
relates to the public schools of that
city. 1t has grown out Of certain
statements which the directors or
managers Of the Cooper Union of
that city have made regarding the
scholastic qualifications Of the children
who graduate from the public schools.
There is a class in photography
maintained in the Cooper Union.
Those who are admitted to that class
must successfully undergo a pre-
liminary examination in writing,
spelling and English composition says
the St. Paul Dispatch. Naturally
the bulk OF the young people who
attend for examination are graduates
of the city grammer schools. They
range from Is to 10 years Of age and
are of both sexes.
Lists Of the questions asked of these
embryo shorthand writer's have been
published, with the answers given in
individual cases, and with average
statements of the numbers who pass
and fail to pass. The results rs
portrayed in the public press Of New
York would be disheartening if they
were not so amusing in certain
aspects.
Nowhere among the children does
there seem to exist even a fundamental
understanding of the rules of English
grammer or composition. 1t is
understood to be possible today to
graduate a boy or girl from a
grammer school who has never seen
the inside of an English grammer.
The facility with which such things
are done without doubt furnishes all
the explanation that is necessary of
such state of things. Spelling seems
to be nearly if not altogether a lost
art among those children; and the
explanation of colloquialism which
is manifested in the literary essays
which have thus found their way into
the press shows admirably the marked
originality ofthe American mind.
1t is not worth while to essay an
explanation of this state of things.
The teachers in the public schools of
New York, here or elsewhere, may be
all they are expected to be; but if
they are held down strictly to certain
defective routines of teaching they
will be unable accomplish anything.
The teachers may be unskille'l, if not
unqualified, and yet if the system is
we'll devised it will be impossible to
turn children Of those ages out of
school without being able to read and
write their mother tongue correctly.
. It will be ugleed however, by those
who arc not experts that if the
children of today we're called upon to
make some reater measure IF intel
lectual effort than is put upon them
in our public sc!:ools such results as
these would not be impossible.