Evening star., 1897-06-01

"NIiss Brown" Gives a Reason for 1
Eruption In the Schools.

"Miss Brown" Gives a Reason for It's
Eruption In the Schools.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
AS an epidemic of entertainments Is rag
ing all along the line of school buildings
in cur city, and parents complaining of
the drafts made upon them, I thought it
only just to the teachers, for whom have
a sneaking fondness, admit, to find out
the why and wherefore of all the extra
work of these entertainments at this time
of the year, when every hour is precious,
and both teachers and pupils are pretty
well tagged out by the regular work.
Every one who has been interested enough
in our schools to watch them closely knows
that during the last ten or twelve years
they have been subject to series of eX-
periments. First, an effort was made to
abolish the drudgery necessary to learn to
spell, a move which. however iaudable in
itself, Is apt TO prove unpleasant in its re-
suits. when applied to language like the
English, in which no rule can be depended
upon, and every word of which must be
learned by itself. Then the cry of tender
parents that their children were over
worked was needed to such an extent that
the work was to be done by the teachers,
exclusively, il possible, and the path to
knowledge Of the children was to be strewn
| with roses. thornless ones at that. WE'LL it
was pleasant for them, no doubt, and the
old adage that there is no royal road to
learning bade fair to be relegated into the
background with other exploded myths. As
the greater number Of pupils drop out be-
| fcre they reach the High School, the result
| of the experiment was not SO striking at
| first, as people at large are hardly inter-
ested in the amount of knowledge child
| has acquired during its school course; but
| at the High Schools the teachers began to
| complain that the new pupils were not
properly prepared for their work; they
| were deficient in spelling, for one thing, and
i rAAl 10 t,<avy SNf
lack which makes itself wofully felt when
student reaches the point where real
| work Is absolutely necessary.
| This state Of affairs required a remedy,
system found It in liberal application Ct
| encyclopedias. If child cannot SPELL why
| a dose Of encyclopedia will remedy the de-
| feet at once, and wherever else lack Is
found good, solid chunk of enc yclopadia
| is bound to supply 1t, of course. But, un-
fortunately, encyclopedias do not grow like
I blackberries, and SO the nat went forth
that three hundred sets, at $50 a set (six
volumes, half calf, must be bought at
| oIce. and q young man was sent to the
three hundred teachers selected as buyers
/ to get their signatures to the order. Now,
| as It happened, some of these selected ones,
| a good many. indeed. had no faith in the
i panacea, and besides, did not like the idea
of paying $50 for the privilege of admins
| tering It; but they were given to under
stand that noncompliance with the man
date would make them persona non grata
Us that it?) in the higher regions, and thus
one prtncipal-a splendid man whom his
i teachers like and respect beyond expression
who knew that some OF them would get
themselves into the aforementioned state.
prevented the trouble by subscribing him
self for the flve sets Quartered upon his
building. thus assuming alone the respsnsi-
anxious to relieve him Of It. and az this. is
the state OF af1air2, In some form, In every
school building in the city II explains the