St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-15
EVEN IN STAID ARITHMETIC.
MISS COFFIN AND THE DETROIT
PLAN ARE INDORSED BY SUPT.
GILBERT.
PRACTICAL AND NOT ABsTRusE.
They Interest the Pupil Far More
Than the Meaningless Problems
of the Old.

gun a. WOTh WHICH mas TO a certain eX-
tent been in vogue in st. Paul for a
number of years. The teachers in GER
tain grades of the Detroit schools, and
to some extent the pupils, have been
hunting arithmetic problems for their
own use. Selections from these prob
lens have been made, printed in the
form of folders, and distributed for use
in the schools. Reading lessons were
also made up and used in the same
manner.
At the head of this work is Miss
Mathilde Coffin, assistant superintend-
ent of the Detroit public schools. 1t has
stirred up considerable agitation in De-
troit, and has been the cause of bring
ing the school managers and the public
into better understanding with re-
gard to some features of school man.
agement Miss Coffin has explained
both to the school board and the pub
lie that the introduction of the folder
system arose from feeling of dissat-
isfaction with the text books, whose
cast-iron setting prevents proper de-
velopment both Of teacher and pupils.
All text books are compiled necessarily
as if the mind of every child is ex-
actly like that of every other child, and
as if all young minds must necessarily
be drawn out or educated" in the same
manner. Theoretically, the function of
the living teacher is to know the pe-
culiaritieS of each mind, and to suit
the drawing out mental process ac-
cording to the eXigencies of each case.
But in actual practice, it has been
found that the cast-iron system of
text books has been hindrance rather
than a help in this process. Miss Cof-
fin says:
''The children are sent 70 school to
connect with life, and yet how far
from real life is much Of the work in
the school room. Make the rounds of
the business centers in this city and
note the use of arithmetic in the car
rying on of affairs. In life it is a
reality, growing out of necessity. The
architect figures to adopt means to an
end; he wants to know how much
lumber, how many bricks, will be need
ed for a given structure. The freight
agent figures to find out how many
cars will be needed to transport a CIV
en- quantity of grain; the engineer to
learn how much power is required to
chant to calculate his gains and losses.
Everywhere in life men figure to ac-
complish some end, which end is their
motive for figuring. But unfortunately
in school, the boy figures for the sake
Of figuring.
'I will illustrate from the books now
in use in our schools: From the diff
ference between 1885 and 60S2 SUBJ
NJ tIn
7,640' Who needs to know the diff
ference between these two differences?
The problem lacks motive, there being
no reason for its solution unless it be
to fill the precious hours of youth. Yet
our books contain pages Of just this
sort Of questions. They are neither in
time nor space, being completely sew
cred from true arithmetic, which is the
measuring Of actual quantity.
Again we will take problem from
the books: When do the hour and
minute hands Of watch coincide be-
tween five and six o'clock?' Does this
appeal to you as a problem needing So
luton? Does it represent a natural
use of number? Did it originate in life
or In the head Of some one who was
making problems for solution? Yet
pupils are compelled to spend hours
upon problems of this nature while we
wonder that they are not more skilled
In arithmetic; as if working with such
unrealities could generate power. 1t
is like feeding child on husks
Here is another gem from the
books: Reduce 153 acres and 81 square
rods to square inches Who reduces
l53 acres and 81 square rods to inches
in practical life? What of it? Are
these the kind of problems people are
solving in life?
"One more: What will 325 horses
cost at SITS each?' Prices may change
In the market, but in the text book
never The bicycle, the electric car and
the telephone may reduce the value of
horses, but no suspicion of this fact
must be allowed to enter the school
room. The price-making fact on all
sides of life changes from day to day.
but the established arithmetic problems
stand still.
LAS against such work take the fol-
lowing from the folders in question:
'$640,000 has been spent on lighting the
city OetroiD with its own plant. The
power-house site cost $63, ,000 and the
buildings, $4,000. The remainder was
devoted to equipment and paying the
salaries of the men. How much was
spent on the last two items?' Also:
The population of Detroit for 1895 is
given at 330,792. In 1890 it was seven
elevenths a much. What was the
more people are there now in the city?'
These problems sprang directly from
the daily newspaper Roth teachers
and pupils have been stimulated to
study the life about them to find real
problems rather than to manufacture
artificial ones out of mere suppositions.
Every day brings fresh material for
problems. which charm and interest
the child: he is eager for their solution
This work makes for habits of OhSer-
walton in the children.
Again from the teachers problems:
Coal is worth $3.50 a ton retail. and
$4.69 ton wholesale: haw much more
would it cost to fill the coal bunkers
of the Northwest, which hold 1000
tons at the retail price than at the
wholesale" The steamer Kershaw,
which was wrecked Sept. 20. 1895. was
valued at $45,0o0, insured for seven
ninths of it's value. Find insurance
and loss These problems, imperfect
as they are, attempt to deal with real
titles, and with all their faults have
proved vastly more attractive to chill
dren than those found in the books.
The aim is to seize upon real values,
rates, distances, places, commodities
etc, and involve them in problems
expressing actual relations The child
recognizes that the man of business
has need Of solving such problems
1T has long been admitted that the
teaching of arithmetic in the public
schools of this country does not pro-
duce satisfactory results, and today
the air is rife with criticism from the
highest authorities. While suggestions
for Improvement abound on every
hand, the need has been to carry them
into action. Detroit is making the
attempt. The school has TODD apart
from life and TODAY is StrI1pgIinr to