The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-01-30

county systems TO the extent permitted by the
environments Of either or both, Our rural
| people plead poverty In oxtenuation of tho
| fnct that they are very much IN the rear OF
| the great educational procession. The truth
| s, however, that II liz n question OF Cotton
| va. Education. They ara Just Ms able hnan-
cialiy MS the denizcns OF the city. Tho corn
| cribs, granarios, barns and potato patches Of
| tho country citissuship may well compare
| with the paper bag life en- Vile, God made
| the country, man made the town, yet the
! bcneslceDt Author OF nat,iro'H wonderful hook
| gnyO faculties with when to improve and per-
| feet what Ills bpunlies hive bestowed. This
| flod, rich IN n fruitful SOIL viii grow noSious
weeds and tares II VIZ simply sit and look on,
sigbng inrsooth, hecnusa the compcpsaiions
| OF the law of labor grant no blessing without
corresponding burden. Tho same intelli-
gtfcn and enterprise and, may say, persist
ent works-that have ~ signaIy STAMPED, II
not perfected. the systems OF our city schools
must be contributed toward improving aud
shaping the opportunities OF our rural sur
Are the people sntiafodY Yes and no. IN
some localities school patronage, llke Chi
neso arts, arc content with the good old
days OF tho fathers. their sacred relies, and
Wcbnter's blueback speiler ia fncllc princepH
as a text on orthography. while Smiths gram.
mar is stu a standard authority, ~ school
room classics on English as she In taught !"
"Multum In parso" means much display,
many books to be- crowded and crammed Into
very little heads 80 that psychological sense
way Il 1t were Il proposition tn physlulogy
of not how much food children may eat and
| uSSinlHte, nut now mucn the u1HpRlNe Hppu~
raius may bo gorged and glutted 10 satisfy n
morbid appetite. Better. infinitely, the old
three It's thnn the Illogical aud unsatisfactory
catalogue list OF books used 60 keep a-gong
The cram and iearu-casy Dcthods-~if usHge
may mean method-by which many OF our
schools are operated. Who is to blame Is not
of 10 much concern as what Is the remedy.
Tho answer to each aud both these question:
10 not far to seek.
crenco Teachers, themselves. are mostly 10
blanc. Girls. and sometimes boys, not yet
out Of their teens. 'paDoplied with summer
normal certificates. or maybe Z, Sam Hous-
ton diploma for reasons best known To the
trustees, nrc selected to do tho work OF
mntred. experienced professionals And these
IN classifying aud grading their school, by the
enscst II not the wiScat of conclusion let tho
school class aud grade itself, according 10 the
number OF books and tho owners thereof IN
the room. Some with miscellaneous as :
sortment OF readers are nssigned 20 as many
different classesy-partiy because II may be
that the teacher knows no better and partly,
maybe, to keep from offending popular
patron, who insists that tho books Of his
children were good enough for hm--the father
good enough for the mother and for the
grandparents that first used them. Poor young
psychology. nor no solution Of the problem
In her "Theory and Practice volumes. no
way possible but in submission 10 the econon-
ical caprice Of the powers that be; 30 that.
thus, the school--instead OF being unified,
casscd, grnded--bocomes, In q illtle while an
educational melangc or yeritahle "enriosity
But what is the remedy The grayer and
more serious the obstacles, the moro necas-
ssry II 10 back to tho first reasonl becomes
the demand for their removal. We must
prune. we must cut on. drop Off, get rid Of,
eliminate tho curriculum, and IN going back
to certain well known nrst principles, thereby
make long stride forward even II we
should fail OF quite reaching the goal. Have
only few--a very few elementary studies
say two graded arithmetics, reading and
spelling. writing. geography and grhinmer.
when well prepared for them. Let the motto
be Not how much but how we'll
teachers were rendered a reception Mt tho
home OF Mrs. M. u, Wesley. who IL cre OF
the Oldest and one Of the most successful OF
Harris county'S teachers.