The San Francisco call., 1898-03-20
THE MODERN
 HIGH SCHOOL Professor Brown Talks of It's History in
 America.
A Plea for the Introduction O Debating Into the Public
 Schools.
The Practice of Marking Defended Aoainst the Objections of Recent
 Pedagogical Critics.

Professor Elmer E. Brown, in a lec-
 ture before a teachers class at the
 State University yesterday morning,
 gave an outline of the beginning of the modern high school. He said in sub
 stance:
 The high school is more characteristic
 of modern times than were the grammar school or academy. The first school or the true high school type was the Eng high school had been used before, put TOT institutions that were really semlnarleS or academies, rather than h1gh schoolS Tn
 the modern sense of the word. on the
 other hand, many schools of this type
 went by different names. The term m
 .'union school was often applied and is often applied even yet. This name indl- cates the origin Of the schools, which were graded schools, resulting rom the union of school districts. As the graded school grew out of a union of districts,
 the high school grew out of the graded system.
 primary schools. Strange as it may seem it Is historically true that dear old Bos-
 ton had got well over into the nineteenth mary schools. In fact, all over the coun- try we have been painfully slow in estab-
 ton. In IS25 Boston established a high school for girls. The experiment was quickly dropped at the end of year be- cause it was such a success. The school during it's brief existence was crowded, and the school board saw that the ex- pense would be so great that they could not afford the experiment. In brief, the school was closed because it was too costly. and 1t was too costly because 1t was too popular
 Professor Brown spoke briefly of the movement toward the esta blishment or
 universities. He declared that this
 movement was influenced strongly by
 the famous decision in the Dartmouth | College case, in which the inviolabfl1ty of a private charter was maintained,
 and the principle of non-interference by the State with private educational corporations established.
 T. L. Heaton defended the practice
 of marking in the public schools. He said:
 Marking has been much decried of late, and largely, I think, because the practice
 is an old one. l believe that thing IS not necessarily bad merely because It has been done before, and l regard marking
 as one of the good features of older meth ods of teaching, It is often op1ected that for marks but for knowledge True, put
 is it true that the child cannot work for both at the same time?
 Marking is the best way Of indicating to the pupil the teachers appreciation A certain American university vigorously opposes marking; yet in the register of complete list of honors and degrees print ed after his name. What inconsistency! | 1 en credit for what they do Nothing indi- cates better than marking the extent to which a pupils work has been successful. l MT. Heaton strongly recommended the practice of having debates in the higher grammar grades "A child" he
 said, should have something to say and be able to say it. Debating gives
 practice in speaking and practice in composition. It is best to begin by
 having the debaters write out their pa
 pers and then read them. Afterward
 the pupils may be allowed to speak from notes.
 "The habit of arbitrarily choosing
 sides is, I believe, pernicious one.
 Teach the children honesty; never choose sides for the pupils, but let l them speak as they wish. Assign sides | at first. but as the pupils study the l question, if they change their minds,
 let them change sides. and even if there | should be three on one side to one on l the other it is better than to inculcate | dishonesty in the children'S minds. | Not only should the language Of the de- i batter be criticized, but he should be 1 held down strictly to facts. and not be allowed to make wild and unauthorized i statements that are so common in many | debating societies.
 The speaker concluded by emphasiz- | ing the importance of nature study as 1 a part of the public school curriculum. Mature studys has come into our | schools, and has come to stay" he de-
 clared. "It has come to stay because of
 the training 1t gives and the knowledge
 it contains. Nature study is not a fad,
 and in the next few years there will be
 a growing demand for expert nature
 teachers
 State Superintendent of Public In
 struction Samuel T. Black will lecture
 on the Public School System of Cali
 fornia' before Professor Browns class
 in pedagogy next Monday morning at
 10:20 o'clock at North Hall.