Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-08-17
SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Martinsburg High school, anu one oil
its well wishers
1t is a we'll known fact that in
America the excellencies of teaching
are reached in the colleges and uni
versities, where the recitative system
prevails, wilhelm England the second
airy schools, such as Elton and Rugby.
far excel in methods of teaching Ok
ford and Cambridge, where the lecture
system prevails. Every year the cry
goes forth from the leading univer-
sites and colleges. as we'll as edu-
Gators, for better high schools and
seminaries which prepare young men
and women for college, or for their life
work, which oftener does not include a
college course and should, therefore. il
anything be all the better. In many
OF our colleges the Freshman year $
work is simply wearisome process
of undoing the wrongs done in the
preparatory schools.
Today there are two ways of enter
ing college, one is by examinations,
which alone can show what kind Of
work the student has done. II his
work has been lower than the stand
ard of the college requires. he must
spend year in thorough review
and try once more. The other
way is by certificate which excludes
the examinations. If a school is ap-
proved of by the college authorities,
it is permitted to send its pupils to
this college without examination.
Many ofthe most thorough schools
will not give certificates to students
no matter what the standard Of
excellence may be. The latter sys.
tenn is apt to be enforced too laxIy,
for teacher is prone to give high
er marks than are really deserved and
thus the real standard of the school is
lowered while the marks are high.
The best secondary schools are be-
ginning to follow the lead of the col
leges in doing away with the per-
nicious system Of marking which has
so long been used in our schools
and colleges-that of the 100 per cent
plan. Nothing can be more olious
and further from the true spirit OF
education than this method with its
gradations of one sixth and one sew
enth and one-eighth percent. Ole OF
its great faults is, that the tea,hef Is
apt to mark such nearer 100 per cent
than is just 1t is a noticeable fact
and one too we'll known TO repeat,
that the more thorough is the school,
the fewer are the pupils who reach a
high standard of excellence. NJ ,st of
them attain the good and average
mark but few of them do excellent
work. Of course, the whole matter de-
ponds upon the high or low standard
of the school. If a school has a long
list of students with very high marks,
you may rest assured that the teacher
is of very inferior ability or that the
standard is very low and the work
done very poor. Beware of such
schools They cannot stand tue prop
er tests.
The system of marking now used
in the colleges and many of the best
high schools is the method of mark
ing with II, to denote very excellent
work; B, very good; c, good D. av-
erage; E, passing; F, deficient
Few students are able to gain an a
and this is done only by the hardest
kind of mental work. In this way
there are no gradations from Il to B
it must be the one or the other-and
the absence of figures takes away a
certain sort of superficial, childish
delight in getting merely high mum
Der regardless of the work done to OBJ
tain it.
Could rot the Martinsburg High
School in its steps of advancement
of the past years take this one step
ahead3 1t would do away with much
that ought not to exist in the system
now in use. 1t would aid in raising
the standard of the school by placing
the real work before the idea of get
ting marks which are after all only a
very poor indicator of the student S
work or ability. Along with this adj
vance, we might hope to see raising
of the standard of work in the High
School. Why should not town the
size of Martinsburg give its High
School chemical and physical labor
atory. confne Grammar and GAogra-
ply and such primary studies to the
lower schools alone and put in their
stead a thorough course in Math-
ematics, Latin, History, English,
Chemistry, and Physics? With very
small outlay the High School could
have and maintain as high a standard
of excellence as the Boston Latin
Schools, than which there are none
better Why should we not have the
leading high school of the State of
West Virginia?
There is no reason except the lack
of cooperation of the fathers and moth
ers of the boys aud girls to be educat-
ed. Each generation finds the strug-
gle for existence harder than the pre-.
ceding one and educated men and
women are crowding out those who
have had no advantages in education
al lines. Nor must we overlook the
fact that "the backbone OF democ.
racy is in the education of its youth. I"
An Unprecedented Condition.
The South kas raised the largest