Arizona republican., 1899-09-07
COMMON SENSE N EDUCATION


Magazines have given more than
usual attention to educaio-al matters
this var. Articles 10y college plof2S-
sors and presidents. by common school
teachers, and by eminent men outside
the teachers profession have discussed
nearly every phase of tha educational
! question. Ii is njt:ceIble however.
that none of them has touched upon
/ the question which is of paramount
! interest 10 the people at large
| Some years ago there came into the
! held of active educational work a
method that was to make everything
easier for young children lni incident
ally for all Pupils. This faCoTy. which
swept the country OF wave Of e-+
| thusiasm. WAS to the effect that all the
old drill of the English and American
schools was wrong i'll principle aGd
cruel in plUctice The g1eI-ng book
was taken out Of the hands OF the
young children AID was replaced with
the reader. AS sO11. rs ne llad learned
the alphabet -Ele boy walls Introduced to
words and nade acquainted with
them, not by spelling In. N. LIT on
sight There was nothing Of the
drudgery of the old spelling f50o1 drill.
The Introduction of the word or S erle
system led 20 a ge,pIIl Modification
CT our educational methods. The chi d.
girl or boy. Wa< spared all possible
LABOR was Induced to 90 forward il
pleasant paths. was expected to Ike
his lessons because they were moi diff
cult He rad no h0lro;. of big words
in the spelling book or Of'0di c01nbin-
ations of letters. He was not asked
TO commit even tie multi plicat on table
10 memory.
1t IS urs1eniable that with children
a1d teachers the LaW Tetll3gf was
popular. BUT in the enthusiasm OF
teachers AMI ciiIGr7n some practical
things were Forgotten. 1t was noticed
fklt he boy who learned to read be
fore he learned TO spei1, filled in the
most elementary requirements when /!
he entered rEi50E, a GJIsincisS career Thu !
child who lpad not learned the Is51ttti
piic1tsGn table. whose memory had /
been stared any strain. who had not
been drilled in the sp5lling class. forlad /
That in practical life he had to learn /
What the schools had not taught him
to re correct al spelling ard quick ait
figures The boy to wipca geography /
had been made a Pleasant I}as'time. to
wh0m grammar had been Taught with
tut iuIt,S. WHO Iedu UlSttIN stso he NOtt-ti
read Il novel. found t,12t he was not
wien 1t ca1r1 to the hard (
tests that daily life inapo: es.
Ih lfter yclrs- TaI't5u!IIly in a
large number of public schools, there
has been return TO the spelling book
ClriI, to the nult.pliCItioG' Grill, to =
system that bririgs iihe pupils to close
quarters with The essentials CT ettCoa-
ton. no ma tier how hard ,lle work
Pr- there is SIN a reluctance Cn ne
part of teachers to admit U1is. Many L
who were enthusiastic over the light
12a;hCj hesitata 20 Admit that they
wee carried off their feet. And in TIE
n'cant1nDe we are i'll danger Of rearing
I gen f1tiCn of bad spoilers. bad ari1h
and ungt6reduIcated geC.gr1-
hes. gramnnarians and historians.
This is 4 condition, we believe. That
re:.Gs far more attention titan the
pedagogical theor.st is inclined to give
IT, After I'll. the great question il
Elementary education is: How can the
boy he best prepared TO earn his liv-
ny? A practical answer to this is
worth all the ab!e articles and e.15
,race REF 5i-n7s' ever conceived.-C.hd
ago Inter Ocean.