The Irish standard., 1897-10-30
THE STUDY OF NEWSPAPERS.


apolis public schools introduced the
newspaper as an adjunct to the text
books on history, geography and other
subjects, in order to bring the lessons
of the pupils up to. date. The new de-
parture was attended with success, and
the schools Of this city acquired an en-
viable reputation for efficiency among
the leading educators of the land At
the monthly examinations in the higher
grades, questions under the heading Of
General Lessons" were given to the
pupils to test their knowledge of cur
rent events recorded in the magazines
and newspapers Of the day, and which
might not be given in books for many
years thereafter.
We perceive that the same plan tried
in this city by Superintendent O. V.
Tousley, with such gratifying results,
is being put into practice in Kansas
City, where the teachers are using The
newspaper as supplement to the text
books in use in the public schools. Su-
perintendent Greenwood writes to the
Chicago Tribune outlining the method
adopted by him in that city, and ex-
planning the object of it's introduction
briefly as follows:
Text books on history, government,
geography, commerce, agriculture, and
the sciences are never up to date.
a ho oI, o1o
grammar grades and In high schools
the well-read and progressive teacher
can. make such selections from the
newspapers as will bring the teaching
ent. To illustrate: The recitation in
United States history is Discovery of
Gold in California In 1S4S.' In the
Tribune Of Oct. 10 Is an editorial on
are many intermediate steps in the his
tory Of gold mining between these two
dates, it is evident that the editorial
forms the last link of the chain, and it
could be properly used as strong side
light on this subject. Another case in
point is that of the Venezuelan COM
mission. and the. announcement that
Professor M. Maertens formed the fifth
member of the 81 commission. as published
In the dispatches of the 14th inst, would
be fitting climax TO the subject Of the
Monroe Doctrine, as taught in our
American school, histories. Another
editorial in The Tribune Of Oct. 10, en-
titled, Japan as ~ Naval Power is a
piece of information that would fit in
any upper grade GLASS when studying
the geography or: history Of Japan
SO. To get the best and tho most
suitable articles before the school chill
dren is the real question. Care must
he exercised in the selection Of mater
ial. This shoula be left largely at first
to the intelligent teacher who possesses.
in high degree the faculty Of appro-
priation and assimilation"
The superintendent ampliles his idea
by letting the pupils make their own
selections after while, the teacher
directing and guiding them. He would
select two bright boys as editors for
each week and let all the other pupils
contribute clippings to be accepted or
rejected by the editors according to
their judgment. Each article Of merit
would he read daily to the school by
the editors, and IL Of an interesting
character it would be permanently pre-
served in scrap books provided for the
purpose. The articles would be
classified according to the subject mat
ter, AMI in after years Il fine library,
modelled after the plan CT IN encyclo-
pedia would be formed by the pupils,
and such collection would be valuable
in geography. history. biography.
science and literature.
The superintendent would get the pu-
pills to form poetical department from
the excellent poems which frequently
appear in the newspapers, and require
them to clip legal and business forms
and advertisements. market reports for
arithmetical problems, and familiarize
them with the commercial news relating
to stocks, consuls, etc.
We believe that il this scheme is jul
diciously carried out in Kansas City
schools it will assist thu pupils very
materially in the studies referred to by
the superintendent. The newspaper is
undoubtedly of great utility to live edI-
caters who know wheat from chaff.
Such papers. for instance, as the New
York Sun or the Chicago Tribune, con-
tain nation VIII II advanced pupils
could read with profit and delight. The
composition may not be so faultless
in newspaper editori us as in magazine
articles and books. but that can be at
tributed to the fact that newspaper
writing is done in haste, and that there
Is not sufficient tfmeeat the EDITORS dis
pos;u to give % asliterary finish. \
splendid exercised for the pupils would
be the detection of srrors in grammar
and rhetoric that, frequently abound in
the columns of the daily press.
The Minneapolis journal and Times
have offered prizes on several occasions
to the public school pupils who excel in
the art of composition. The Journal