The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-09-30
Phonetic Spelling.

college professors and other learned
persons in Philadelphia the subject of
phonetic spelling was brought up by
some one who possibly remembered
that it was quite the vogue a genera
ton ago. Phonetic spelling is sound
spelling. To be good phonetic speller
implies that one is able to pronounce
word distinctly and then pronounce one
after the other each separate sound in
the word without reference to the
names of the letters composing it. Take,
for example, the word 'trounce. 1t
contains seven letters. It, however,
contains only five separate sounds, one
vowel, four consonants.
No system of spelling has ever been
evolved equal to that by sound. 1t ne
cessitates a distinctness of pronuncla
tion which will accompany one all
through life. It also necessitates the
cultivation Of quick ear, an ear that
instantly catches difference in shades
of sound and pronunciation. Inciden-
nunciation. To pronounce word wrong
would involve also spelling it wrong
under the phonetic system.
It was demonstrated long ago that
children taught first to spell phonetic
ally and afterward to spell by writing
the letters of a word made wonderfully
rapid progress in photography as we'll
as reading. The smart educational
Alexis of recent times have, however,
thought they could improve everything
by simply overthrowing all the old
sufficiently to enable them once more to
lay hold Of what was best in tho old
methods, children and their parents will
have reason to be thankful. And one of
the best, if not the best, of old time edu
cational methods was the practice of
phonetic spelling. Let it be revived
universally. It will work revolution
both in spelling and pronunciation
among American school children. If
the teachers of the present day them
selves do not understand this method,
let them be ashamed to tell their names
until they master it,
The Emotions Of College Girls.
Helen Watterson Moody makes in
Scribner's Magazine some extremely
sensible suggestions on the necessity Of
teaching schoolgirls to control their
emotions and act sanely and reasonably.
She mentions incidentally the foolish
and morbid attachments girls form for
one another Or perhaps for favorite
teacher. Mrs. Moody finds that the
girls in the separate colleges for women
are more prone to give loose rein to
their silly and hysterical emotions than
are the girl students in coeducational
institutions. She says:
The wisest and most helpful teacher is not
the one whom the girls themselves ''rave over
and find most magnetic" It Is she who care
fully avoids the appeal to the emotions and
who, without repelling the affections, knows
how to check hysterical excess and keep the
young nature cool and steady by delicate
reserve and q gentle decision at the first indi-
cation of need. It is curious fact in psychol-
ogy that while hero worship is a good thing
for a boy it is seldom a good thing for girl
It is declared by those who have had the op-
portunity Of judging that one of the advan-
tages of coeducation is distinct lessening of
the emotional and nervous strain among the
women Students just why the presence of
men as teachers and fellow pupils should have
both quoting and a tonic effect upon women
leave 1t for others wiser than myself to ex-
plain, but there is certainly less nervous ten
sion, morbidity and self consciousness among
college women associated with men than
among those in the women's colleges, even
though there is also to be found an occasional
instance Of that exclusive love between man
and woman which will spring up sometimes
even in the arid soil of the higher education.