The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-04-25
Does the Teaching Of Reading in onr Coun'
try Schools Receive the Attention
It Deserveso

AS Reading lies at the foundation Of
all study and progress, and want of It
the greatest difficulty in the way of an
education, there must be some serious
hindrance to its attainment, since we
find so few good readers, not only in
our schools, but this great accomplish
ment is possessed by few people
throughout the country.
There is one indisputable test by
which this question may be answered.
Compare the daily reading lessons of
our scholars with some of the requisites
for good reading.
What constitutes good reading, and
what mental acts are involved?
Not only must there be perfect knowl-
ledge of the arords, the thought under
stood and JeH sufficiently to be con-
veyed to the hearer but also must
there be good voice, clear enunciatSon
and correct pronunciation.
In order to the latter there must be
purity, or correct utterance of the voao-
els, diStinctneSS, or correct utterance Of
the consondnts and accent.
In order to convey the thought and
feeling to the hearer, the tones of the
voice must be adapted to the ideas ex-
pressed. The slides, position of head
and body, and breathing must also re-
ceive due share of attention.
While thought is of p'-i7aory impor-
tance, expression is only secondary to
it. Imagination must be cultivated,
sympathy appealed to, judgment formed
and ideas Huidly ercited.
If the above qualifications, in the
main, be not found in the children
who crowd our country schools few
months during the year, the conclu-
sion is inevitable that they are not
good readers.
AS TO the plain facts of the case, every
teacher Of our country schools can bear
testimony. Take the Fourth Grade as
a fair illustration lit being understood
that this grade uses the Fourth Reader),
and what do we find?
Instead Of perfect knowledge of the
words of the reading lesson, they STUN
bic over words they neither understand
nor can pronounce. Consequently, they
do not grasp the thought contained
therein; as to feeling, evidently there
can be none-while the teacher who
listens must be painfully conscious Of
her own failures, as of those who have
preceded her.
Instead Of that clear, smooth, Eoa0-
ing tone so indispensable to good read
ing, we hear dissonant sounds, some
times scarcely audible, and wanting
altogether in clearness of utterance.
The pronunciation lacks both in cor
rectness Of vowel sounds, and conso-
nants, especially at end of words and
syllables are almost wholly wanting in
distinctness.
AS an illustration of this want of pro-
nunciation, all teachers must have no.
ticed children saying wush for wish,
eff for if, whup for, whip, sech for such,
jest for just, eyer for every, seben for
seven, eleben for eleven, an for and,
ham for hand, mornin' for morning,
ETC., etc.
Instead Of the tones of the voice being
adap' ed to the ideas expressed, there is
no distinguishable change, it being one
continuous monotone for all ideas,
while punctuation receives little or no
attention, and the rising and falling
infections of the voice are no part Of
the creed.
Is it any wonder that the study Of
Geography, History, Language, etc.,
is such uphill work. when the chill
drea do not recognize the words?
We all know, that, to read intelli-
gently, one must use the words of ones
own vocabulary, and the fact of chill
dren stumbling shows they are using
words for which they have no cores
ponding thought.
If we trace this stream of faults to
its source, We cannot fail to discover
that the real cause Of these defcien-
cies lies in the fact that the Primary
has been neglected.
Either the children have been taught