Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-23
PUBLIC SCHOOL TRAINING
Readers of The EtsrD discuss the Methods
eUsed.
C0rrespondentAaWho Defend the sys.
tem-Dutfos q Parents and
Teachers.


1900 ~ Ns-~'
May I add a word Ito the symposium on
our public schools? have two boys. One
passed through the eighth grade and East
ern High School, the other began in the
first grade when six years old. and now,
at ten, he Is in the sixth grade, though
losing one year by absence from the city.
So am very familiar with the. work Of
all the grades except the seventh and
fourth. My own sense of parental respon-
sibility demands that daily ascertain
what my boys had to do, and to see that
they did 1t; and to better enable them to
DO their work I visited the schools they
the requirements, and, SO far as possible,
co-operated with the instructors, whom l
found intelligent, conscientious and conse-
Grated to their work.
II the first critic had familiarized him.
self with the work already done and ex-
pected IN his child's grade, he would have
known that, though he had to go to an UNI
abridged to obtain definitions, his child was
perfectly familiar with the meaning of each
word and In her effort to tell him the
meaning she would have made the required
sentences. unless frightened by the big
webster or her fathers excitement.
spelling orally in classes, learning the
names OF the twenty-six letters. commit
uns rules In grammar and arithmetic add
notnlng to pupils knowledge or useful
ness training the eye to learn the correct
~ -. " Wohus DIS tney appear Ill ScTipl VI
print Is the only of so-called spelling.
The sound Of the letters in the words we
use Is what we want Take the words
view and faction" The naming the let
ters correctly offers very little help to their
correct pronunciation. The name and sound
OF only three letters of the eleven used cor
respond. To place the right words in the
right pace, so that the meaning is clear,
~ the whole science of grammar, and the
sentence-writing required in the schools
mere Is the very best method to attain that.
forty-nVe pupils to a teacher and 800
minutes to school day would give only 62s
minutes TO pupil to read, If nothing else
were done. But take from that time what
is required for geography, arithmetic, COM
position, ETC., all done In the school, and
see now much would be left for each pupils
lEdlvldual reading. The critic on reading
surely does not suppose it does her child
no good, or gives him no instruction for
other pupils in the class to read what he
is carefully following to correct. Every
chlld IN the class is taught by each childs
ieadihs, and a whole class can be taught
| If only one read
1 would suggest that all the teaching
should not be expected of the teacher If
So "hat Is the use of being parents 1t is
the natural and the moral duty of parents
~ teach their own children, and when by
the necessities of our calling, we are UNI
able 10 do that wholly ourselves we should
az least heartily cooperate with those to
Whom the duty of doing so has been as
signed A eopious vocabulary 'intellipently
USED cannot be readily acquired at school
alone and If we want good readers fluent
speakers, and. correct writer's made 'nf oi,r
cnioreh We cannot neglect doing what we
can TO supplement the excellent course no
where better exempfified than in the public
SCHOOLS OF Washington.
HENRY FLOYD.
Believer in. the New Things.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
"A great deal Of criticism of the publi,
schools has recently been expressed through
the columns of your paper
nave investigated the methods of teach
ing IN this city by careful study of the
text books. thorough examination of the
course of Study" Ia kind of compendium
Tor the teachers) and almost daily visits to
| the different. schools during the latter
nalf of the past school year, but l cannot
say that found condition which would
| justify the particular complaints made.
There are defects, but these can be found
| In the German system, generally considered
| the best in the world.
one writer considers ray fioret a diffic ult
word, probably because he did not know
| its meaning himself.
Training the power Of observation by
! pointing out the parts of flower is not
teaching botany. The inability of child
| to construct q sentence with the word raw
horet does not condemn the teaching of
thdt "oiu. ne may ne aDle 10 point out
| a ray horet as well as table or coal scut-
| tie. but let Pater Familias ask him what a
| table Is, and the answer will demonstrate
| to him that the knowledge of the name of
even familiar object does not necessarily
| promise good description of that object If
\ Pater Famlias had only visited the school
and observed the painstaking care with
| which the children are taught these simple
| objects, and how they are encouraged to
| talk Of what they have seen, thereby con-
/ structing verbal sentences, he would have
| come to the conclusion that that little
scamp of his did not pay attention.
| AS to the critics who object to the peri
| patetic feature. of instruction, he should
| know that an occasional walk Of the class