The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-25
RIVER AT s A. NJ.
Danger Height of
A GREAT EDUCATOR.

writer in the st. Paul Dispatch
rushes in where angels fear to tread
and risks the heretofore uninterrupted
performance of defining 'fads' by list
ing a few of them which appear, by his
mental processes, to fill the description.
There could be no better exhibition OF
the total unfitness of a large portion of
the critics of our schools to discuss the
subject. even in the most elementary
way. We are left in doubt still, from
the Dispatch's article, as to whether a
fad" is simply something new or
something unnecessary. The con-
clusion from it's article seems to
be reasonable that it is novelty
only that constitutes fad" There
fore, there can never be anything
new in educational work. From it alone
evolution and progress are barred. This
fits to a nicely the ideas of most OF
those who find fault with modern
school methods They are antediluvi-
ans. They belong to the crustacean OF
a forgotten period, and their place is
in cabinets along with the other fos-
sis. Happily for practical results, that
seldom enter a discussion like this, be-
cause the "anti-faddists" never COM
nit themselves to particulars, the Dis
patch writer has violated this rule and
tells US what is bad and what is good
in education.
The item of the ST. Paul public school
curriculum which arouses wrath as
the most obnoxious fad" of the time
is the study of sciences in the schools.
A list Of topics is given relating to the
study of facts in the world about US,
and the system is held up to scorn
which would teach a boy or girl the
facts and laws of plant life and ami
NAL life, when, perchance, this wretch
ed youth could not spell hypocrisy or
calculate the vacant space in a conica1
glass into which a sphere of a certain
diameter had been dropped. Let US
shut our eyes to nature says this brill
liant "anti-faddist." Let the child be-
lieve, if he pleases, that the wonders
of nature are things unworthy of re-
mark, and furnish and finish him for
life by devoting the entire time to
spelling and arithmetic.
This is the point Of view, to which
we called attention short time ago,
Of the person who received education a
great many years ago, when educa-
tional methods compared with those Of
today as the steam engine Of Steven
son does with modern mogul of the
rails, and who cannot understand that
there is such a thing as progress in
demonstration of the inadequacy of the
old method lies in the fact that it is
possible for anybody to write and ex-
pose to the public such an article as
that upon which we are commenting.
We are aware that the knowledge of
photography of the average boy and
girl is very imperfect, and we regret
to say that the same is true of the
to affirm, further, that If it were pos
sible to make a test of a hundred
pupils educated under the old system,
5 when spelling was fad" and those
educated under the new, the avera sc
would be about the same. Ability to
spell correctly depends. in larger de-
gree than most people imagine, upon a
natural gift. This may be improved
by education, but it cannot be created
Probably there were just as many
pupils in the schools fifty years ago
who could not spell hypocrisy" cor
rectly as there are today. The great
difference is that those pupils knew
nothing else, probably, except how
TO cipher" while the student of
today has familiarity with the Gle
ments of literature, science and history
that is the admiration and envy of ey-
cry man who realizes how immeas-
urably in advance of him his children
start in their educational preparation.
AS to the argument, i'll this age, when