Middletown transcript., 1896-11-21
Goodhx to the Slate.


The doom of the slate has been sounded
Time was when it was looked on as one
of the indispensable accessories in the
education of youth. What woald the
fathers have thought If any one had
suggested that the young idea could be
taught to shoot with the slightest ex-
pectation of hitting the bulls eye were
the slate and slate pencil to be dine
syay with? says the N. Y. Tribune.
Such heretical suggestion would have
been received with scoru and contempt
in the days when the "three r's'' were
looked on as the be-all and end.all of
education. And when the present gen.
Grafton of men and women were in
school states were considered as neces-
sary as the arithmetics that furnished
the examples" to be worked out on
them. But that was before anything
was known of germs and microbes, and
such thing as the dissemination of
diseases by means of states was un-
dreamed of. Times have changed now
and the edict Of science has condemned
the slate. Fortunately, it did not do
so until the cheapness Of paper made it
possible to substitute pads and lead
pencils for states without adding Sc
riously to school expenses.
The reform had its beginning, if we
are not mistaken, in Boston year or
two ago, and it has spread rapidly over
the country. In this city the slate has
been put under the ban, with the gen.
eral understanding that the states in ex-
istence should be used up, but that no
new ones should be supplied to the
public schools. The same idea has
been adopted by some of our neighbors,
and in others the subject Of dispensing
with the slate is now under considera.
tion. There are old-fashioned folk, it
is not to be doubted, who look upon
this movement as silly fad that will
not last long; they used states, we can
hear them say, and never suffered any
harm therefrom, and there is no reason
why the slate, which has proved its
usefulness for uncounted generations
of boys and girls should be "cast as
rubbish to the void." But those who
are wise, those who keep informed
about what is going on in the world of
science, will take another view.
The slate is noisy as compared with
q pad and lead-pencil, and it is scarcely
more difficult to make corrections when
doing ''sums" with the latter than the
former. But the worst feature of the
slate is the method of cleaning 1t; this
1T the best is anything but good, while
1t the worst, as many are aware from
observation, it is very, very
bad. The abolition of the slate is
good thing, and the sooner It disap-
pears from the schools Of the country
The better, though probably it will
AXE some time for the idea that the
'late is minor good, If not an actual
,vil, to penetrate the minds Of rural
'chool trustees and village pedagogues.
We have not heard that the makers Of :
'lates have laid siege to school boards
oesought them to stay the progress OF
he reform that has set in. They may
Risely refrain from such q course.
Popular opinion, SO far as it Is intelli-
rent and so far as it has considered
his matter, indorses the verdict Of
cience and condemns the slate. At any
ate, for the sellers Of school supplies
he thing is as broad as it is long; il
he sale of slate disappears the sale Of
and paper pads increases.
let the slate 60. There be few who
will mourn at its departure.