The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-02-27
NAY INITIATE
OUR SYSTEM
Am erican High School a
:: IF. .:.:.;; Model for Eng
{. -:
H.. = land.
Professor Brown Traces the
=. = History Of Secondary
= Education.
Adverse Criticism by University
: :. Pedaoodue on Present Methods
= of Teaching Litersture.S

=: = In g lecture at Berkeley yesterday
morning to a class of active and pros
-pective teachers, Professor Elmer Z.
: Brown ventured to forecast the de-
velopment of secondary schools in Eng
land Our poor mother country" he
said. has not yet risen to the idea OF
: the American high school, that is a
high school for each county, because in
: the past England has achieved such
: success with her town and city sec
: ondary schools; but it is more or less
probable that England will follow in
! our footsteps
8. + Continuing his historical study Of
secondary education Professor Brown
traced the transition from the old
grammar school to the academy and
:: college. The movement was discussed
in the educational history Of Mary
land. = The extending of State aid to
colleges, and the rise Of the university
Idea, toward the close of the last CEN
fury, marked a great change. For
= the first quarter of the present cen
fury, the greater part Of this State aid
was given to the academies rather than
to the colleges. All the while de-
=:Inand was growing Tor the pushing Of
education still lower; this was the first
indication of a demand for State sup
ported primary education. This was
not. fully realized, however, until many
years later.
= :: In Massachusetts q system Of State
provision for academies began before
the. old. grammar schools had disap-
%peared and continued until after the
:: establishment of the modern high
:. schools. This temporary development,
from: a system approximately similar
to the. present system of public sup
:port;, to a system of private initiative
constitutes an exception to the general
course of development which has pre-
walled in this country, from private
. initiative to public support.
The. speaker summarized the his
/: tory. of State aid to secondary educa-
tfon In, the colonial times by stating
= that: only six of the original thirteen
: States-New York, Georgia, Virginia,
:. Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsyl-
:yania-gave such support.
: Mr.. T. Il. Heaton dwelt upon the ne
:cessity~ Of making a change in the
present method of teaching literature
IL: the schools. The best method of
studying. a play of Shakespeare's, for
example he said, would be to take
: the: children to see it played. Then a
!: close. critical study of the play should
De. MADE ana AFTER this is completed
l. the class should see it played again. ]
have been able on several occasions to
test this method by taking a class tc
see a play acted by good actors, ano
;. the results have been most gratifying
:. If this plan is impracticable the teacher
should first read the play, which is a
matter of no little difficulty. After a
=: careful. critical study, parts should then
: be assigned to the pupils, and the play
should be reread. The study Of the play
should be preceded by a brief outline
. by the teacher and a few question,
aimed rather to arouse interest than
b; To-. obtain information. Too much
attention is paid in the high schools to
: diagraming and parsing, to analyzins
figures of speech and trying to discover
=: iust why Shakespeare did thus and so
= Such method is entirely wrong The
Imagination Of the child should be ap-
pealed to, for literature appeals di.
rectly to the imagination. At present
: IN Our schools we are appealing toe
much to the eye or rather too little tc
the ear The nature study as at pres
: ent carried on in the schools, while II
:. kducates the eye. neglects the ear