The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-03-17
MARCH II. 1898
FRIDAY EVENING.
aENaIIsH As SHE Is TAUGHT. !


Following is the comment Of the
Baltimore Nacs on the Philadelphia
Records editorial on the inefficiency o.
the schools in teaching pupils 70 use
good English, the complete text ofwlnch
was given in Tuesdays WORLD.
"The Philadelphia Record requires too
high a standard Of education IN the
public schools. How many high school
graduates. it wants to know, could 60
into newspaper Office and properly
correct proof sheet fresh from the
hands Of printer, or read understand
ingly one Of Mr.. Gladstone's speeches
or the inaugural address Of President
Cleveland. The tests are not well Sc
lected. 1t requires practice 70 be q
good proof-reader When Mr.. Glad
stone pleases he can manifest very
clearly his fine genius for making tru-
isms obscure. ItreTlires considerable
experience Of political life to under
stand Presidential address.
The Neles will submit high school
graduates to simpler tests. How
many high school graduates, boys or
girls, will write correctly dictated
passage from Washington Irving on
Oliver Goldsmith And, again, how
many Of such graduates are competent
to read passage from any ordinary
book so that the reading shall give
pleasure to pareat or friend recover
ing from sickness, who may wish to
have some one read inteligently for a
short timer The fact is that very few
young men or young women know how
TO write sentence or to read para
graph with accuracy and intelligence.
The accomplishments Of reading and
writing with intelligence arenot to be
acquired by any routine learning Of
school lessons. They are the resu t
Of surroundings which are always
stimulating intelligence, and they a;e
inseparable from habits Of life and
rrfuugfr which urv rather the exception
than the rule in any community. The
public schools are open to severe criti-
cism, but the education Of the home Is
still more deficient, and all real educa-
ton must be done at homesn
Admitting that the tests given are
not practical ones, they should, never
theless, not be beyond the training
and intelligence of the average high
school graduate but they are. We
differ greatly with the Ne'cs when j
says that it is not the function Of thu
schools toteach the art Of reading and
writing the English language with in
telligence. If not that, what is theil
officeR It should be the primary, fun
damental and underlying object Of al
school work to make the pupil see hi
reflection in the well Of pure Englisl
undefiled.
II it be true that the majority Q
homes do not foster the habit of read
ing and writing with intelligence, doe
il not follow that the school shoul,
supply the deficiency to the childf /
is not that they cannot do ii, but tina
the present system needs revising
English and not mathematics shoult
be made the basis of school work.
In our local schools English is sim
ply not taught at all. II is there a los
art, the revival of which would be o
inestimable value. Few Of the teach
ers themselves could stand the simpl
tests submitted by the Nears, but thel
the teachers. most Of them, are .higl
school graduates. 1t is true the pup
memories few rules Of grammar witt
parrot-like glibness which he is utterl.
incapable Of applying to practical use
d
and he correets stated amount 0
false syntax, but it never occurs t
him to make use &c those correction
in his daily speech; be probably learn
the names ofthe marks Of punctuation
but their application, never Nearl
one half Of the school day il devose
to mathematics and the other hal
divided among FIVE OF six other subjects
A Knowledge of arithmetic an
the higher mathematics is yer
essential part Of an educatio
bnt pupil Is not likely to &
through life solving obtuse problem
and demonstrating aigebraic theoren
while he will certainly make constar
and daily use Of his native tongu,
From the FIRST room Of the ward schoo
the teachers should require ever
pupilto give all answers and make a
requests in grammatical languag,
This would entail an Immense loss
time, but il would be great intensit
* Of force gained. 1t is manifestly u
fair to the high school graduate
send him from this, his only Ain
Mater, with unconscious vuIga
isms Of speech uncorrected. This