The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-05-13
TRYING II on TIE CHILD,
ETHICAL CULTURE SCHOOL - F0R
EDUCATIONAL ExPERIMESr.
xew Y0Sk's institution where ALI
new IDEAS IN Teaehing Are Given
. Thorough Trial - ssCFeattve~
ee .Learning ~ Deing" AetAoA.

II anybody wants to see 20 children
having beautiful time. let him 60 TO the
Ethical Culture schools. says the New
York Sun This institution aims TO be
a model public SHOOT and TO serve as an
experimental field In which new methods
Of education may be tried for the benefit
Of the entire public school system. 1t
hopes to remain in constant touch with
the public schools and 10 try new educa-
tional ideas, which can be tested under
more favorable conditions BY an institu-
ton outside Of the system than by one
which forms part OF ii.
People have demanded a reason" said
an interested person, for the existence Of
the school. In the first place, the Ethical
Culture school ts one of the pioneers in
the progress OF education all over the
country. II doesn't do any good to say.
II there is a need for experimental sta
tons In education. 30 to speak. let the
public school system inausurate them. The
public school system Is - great and I'M
wieldy body. OF necessity II moves SLOW
~. and there would be a great hue and
cry OF protest u 1t did otherwise. So.
You see. one OF the most valuable results
OF the schools existence is shared by
thousands Of children. not merely by the
few hundred pupils in actual attendance.
In the second place. there is the direct
gain 10 these boys and girls themselves.
The benefits OF the methods we use ought
to and do follow them through life. To
begin with. the classes here are only half
as Representatives not even half-as
those in the public schools. There fifty or
sixty pupils are under the care Of one
teacher. You can't expect that teacher
10 accomplish as much with them as one
OF our instructors can wit,i only twenty
hve children Then there Is another thing.
A pubic school class. except in rare cases,
goes ploddtng along as an inseparable
Un
bright and duh pupils side by side. one
stratning at the leash, the other hanging
back like so much dead weight. the class
IS approximately indivisibie Our classes
are so much smaller that the individual
aoility-or lack OF ability-of each child
shows more clearly. And our system is so
much less rigid and unwieldy that we
can gradually separate the bright ones
from the duller ones and let them work
ahead at their own gait
inc methods applied have been vari-
Dusty called the creative method and
learning by doing Besides supplying
the elements Of broad and general cui-
t"re. II Is the particular aim OF the school
10 discover the individual bent of each
pupil. to train him along the lines OF his
natura. aptitude and thus to prepare him
mentally and morally for his future voea-
tion. Al the same time, the superintend-
ent does not often influence a boy in me
choice OF vocation. Just because a boy
shows an aptitude for drawing he is not
forthwith impressed with the idea that
ne Is an artist born. He merely gets an
opportunity TO develop in that direction"
Inc reporter spen, an hour or two GO
ing from classroom to classroom Super
infendent Reigart showing the way First
came the kindergarten classes, one in A
bright. sunny room. the other in the big
gymnasium. for the building is by no
means adequate TO the needs Of the school
and classes must be CHARTERED in every
available room. Children OF I year. old
are admitted to the kindergarten, in con-
nection with which is a training class for
kindergarten teachers.
AT years OF age. on an average the IT.
tie folks go from their low tables TO tho
desks Of the First grade. and right here
begin certain methods which are seldom
found In primary grades. When manual
training was introduced into some Of the
public schools OF the country, only the
high schools were favored. the idea being
that tho new feature would gradually
work down through the lower grades At
the ethical culture school manual training
begins In the kindergarten and continues
without interruption through the entire
course When the reporter went into the
First grade classroom the other day the
children were not gliding the lily, but
painting a picture Of turnip which had
a lovely hectic fiush on one side and Wig
orous tail twisting OF on the other. They
mixed their own eoiors and some OF them
came pretty near reproducing the flush,
while no. one of them forgot the tail.
Then they had a reading lesson. Rignt
there the advantage Of giving the brighter
pupils freer rein was az once apparent
The more backward worked al one side OF
the room. while the others had a little les
son OF their own. Studies are not pur-
sued here In the oid-fashioned. arbitrary
way. For instance. there is an interre-
iation between the different lines which
makes each a help 10 the other. This be-
gins 10 be more apparent in the Second
grade. where the children are now read
ing "Hiaws,ha." Instead OF arbitrary and
senseless reading lessons they take some
thing which has Il real value, literary or
historical. With this they interWeave
their manual training work
For instance, in one corner ar the sec
ond class room was an inciosed space on
the fcor. Here was a miniature represen-
tation % scene from "Hiawatha." Sand
was banked In hills and valleys leading
down 20 n river which ran INTO Lake; a
glass lake. Of course. In among the small
trees were wigwams and clay figures Of
Initans and Of The various an mas men.
toned in the poem, A paper canoe. in
wh.ch 81; a painted Indian. noated on the
lahE~ IN Gaze near tft3k sylvan sSsFP were
good many clay figures o. the same
'ypes-indsans. pipes and on--aH mod
elsd and coiorea by the children who had
also male wigwams az canvas which they
l henmed ard appropriately painted. An
other collection Illustrated some thing they
had read sprop0s of the Eskimos. There
were cay figures of the people polar
bears, walrisses. h9ts and dogs as wei as
very clever little snow shoes. kayaks and
ssedses. II was mas: ingenious. and a. for
I tAe know edge X gave the Children Of pTac-
! teal geography. Of aai1rai history ana Of
racial conditions Il was both cumprs henstve
and net soon to be forgotten.
Rat e WAS across the hall IN the third
grade class roasD. that the visitors fingered
ao3 would fain have been children again
There WAS Auoiser square !Tc,osaire aere.
containing Asls - hieh supported palms and
! fTeEacAl vegetation. and plunged Down to
TIE margin ~ booking gas sea Taers
IN tGs sa5sftv ssase stood he cross which
Robinson tsTsasoe ses ~ when RE ssnsesi
'nes~ And hast RaS W tha h4.is Nealusc
held altssr. was hsS stockase Around a
fsSnt ef lAa4 @eFs gne sea Turtles he used
~ Tn ~