Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1895-02-22
WANTS WH|TNEYS GRAMMAR
Thu Box Now in Montana Schools
Scored by DR.. Wasson-IWo
Important Defects.
Tda SOCK lie Proposes is lnanTsed
by All Leading Educators
Other Books Criticised.
10 the Edit0! Of The Tribune:

To me EUttO! o. IHf iitOtthc:
TO one feature of the school bool
question | should like to call the atten
ton of your readers, and that Is the
qdestion of English grammar. This is
the least attractive, the least understood
and the worst taught subject in the
American public school system. | dc
not hesitate to say that it would be better
to eliminate it from the curriculum alto
gether than to continue it as it is. 1t
enables the scholar neither to use the
language himself nor appreciate its use
in the hands of the masters.
it is not merely the manner that Is
bad but even more emphatlcallv the
matter. Tie school grdmmars are writ
ten, as a general thing, by men that have
not even Il superficial acquaintance with
the subject, They go on. one after ano-
ther, repeating. as 10y rote, the same Old
errors and misconceptions. II is a potent
fact that. iu spite of the vast advances
made in the science Of language during
the last forty years, advances that have
really constituted a new science, the
school grammars show little or no i'm
provement over their predecessors. The
grammar that Il public mot private
school children are studying Low belong
~ lllS VIA "H'h ~ NSNL -
istry taught that the symbol of water
was IlO. The text books in the physical
sciences have been compelled to keep
pace with the progress of science, since
this progress, by reason of its practical
applications, is a matter of common
observation and knowledge. But the
value Of linguistic science, though just
as real and just as good, is not so obvious
nor, in the limited sense of the word, SO
practical: and therefore the public is not
aware of the fraud practiced in foisting
on their children d mass OF outrageous
and discredlted teaching.
OF the grammarS in common use
Harvey's, the ore inflicted on Montana
children, probably enjoys the bad emf
hence" of being the wors- English gram
mar ever written. being bulky, awkward,
ii! classified, i'll written and glaringly
false in its teaching. The other gram
mars spoken of as IT'D competitors before
the learned Legislature are not quite So
bad, partly because they are not SO big.
But they, nevertheless, stand in the same
category as Harvey, as repeating and
perpetuatipg the old bIunders and dis
little knowledge of the present
state Of the subject.
There are two marks of utter badness
10 this kind, that even a layman can dis
.tlngulsh. IT your grammar talks about
A potential mood or about regular or IT.
verbs. throw it away; it is worth
less; it is a charlatan production. There
never was such d thing as a potential
mood III English. And no one under
standing the subject has talked about
and irregular verbs at least ;s
far back as ! can remember. If we were
70 retain these terms at all we ought to
reverse their applications, since the So
called irregular verbs are the oldest-the
original verbs; and since in their forma-
lions the movements Of the stars them
selves are not more regular. !
The best language series that | ,
Know is LDIgmaus'. which is clearly
and up to date in its
.eaching. Probably the fact that this Is
II English series would exclude it from :
DLr public schools, though ii Goes not T.
rom the private. t
There has recently been published an :
\ meriCar book by the greatest phiIol- I
,gist, not merely OF America but Of the t
world. 10 late Prof. William b. Whit e
lcy of die university, which is said by !,
,"w peteAt authorities 10 be- the brEt
-enoJI rraunI" ever written. ,
. = rec ArncLt.' Il FIR school ucn hy the |
.'itr'u.l Of Harvard, Yale,
!u.nl ~, p1rrnt u, johns Hopkins. !
|rJ1n Ind fj1eatD, Surrey IL adopt .
hl- DO Is H. l-I standard il Montana '
gould +. act "o.. q proper provision for I
NJ" }ya'. ~ Ri I!.ppILtut u"paF ,uent, ,
III. d p Gr'UI P1i dJrrI,pJ recognition
~ tIa"f .a'. -rlJ.@r-ulg. and Il WoulI j
H.. 'o.'. III 'ue t.ry.J-u l4L:uage T.