Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1899-11-07
KANSAS CITY.
BITS OF THE CITY'S PROG
RESS.
Her Postoffice, Parks And The
Central High School
BUILDING

Building.
Special Correspondence to the Evening Capital
There are no separate primary and
grammar schools in the West as in the
East. The two are consolidated and
taught in the same building. Nearly
every school has its kindergarten depart
ment, taught by three-year graduates OF
some well-known kindergarten schools
OF instruction. People in the West be-
lieve in the kindergarten work. and have
proved its efficacy in pupils who have
gone into the High School all the way
from the kindergarten as the beginning.
Recently Kansas City High School
student said he had no trouble whatever
with Geometry. 1t seemed to him he
had studied it all his life. so natural were
the figures. Then he recalled that he
had learned these same figures and an
giles in his folding work in the kinder
garten years before. We hope to see a
kindergarten department in the Annap-
oils school in the near future. for kinder
garten taught philosophically prepares
the child for that which is to come makes
him think and reason. teaches form,
color, outlines and lays the foundation
for future usefulness. 1t makes school a
pleasure for the little ones and vet pre-
pares them, step by step. for that which
is to come.
At this particular kindergarten on this
particular occasion. the children were
being taught the different fruits and vege-
tables. their outline and color. To inn
press this. cards were given theM on
which they outlined in worsteds OF appro-
pirate color the fruit in question. Some
of the work was very well done. Then
they were taught about the growth and
cultivation of the subject in question, ,and
supposing they were farmers and some
OF them city people at the stores and
markets, they bought and sold their pro-
ducts. The supposition was almost as
realistic as was David Harum's horse
trading "supposin'' tev'an't Sunday. :"
Children enter the primary or kindergar-
ten departments. as parents prefer. at the
age of six. and graduate into the Central
or Manual Training High School at the
age of fourteen.
The first year primary class is perhaps
one OF the most interesting in the Whit
tier school. The teacher, Miss Baker, is
bright and happy. and enthused with her
work, naturally the class is what the
teacher is, an unusually bright and in
teresting set OF little ones, as interested
in their work as their teacher is. Miss
Bakers method is the Cornell method OF
teaching the little ones from paper dolls,
and mounted pictures. Miss Baker was
having lesson from the picture cards
when we visited her class. It was really
lesson in Greek mythology. which
seems preposterous to teach children of
six years old, but which to be appreci-
ated, must be seen. The little ones are
taught the contour of the Greek face, the
features, the Greek style of dress. They
handle the pictures as tenderly as they
would their dolls. and when the teacher
asked for those who would like to tell
the story of the pictures. all hands went
I'D, and all were anxious to tell.
A few were chosen, and we shall not
soon forget how intelligently these little
tots told who was Zeus, Apollo, Aurora
and other gods and goddesses represent
ed in the pictures they held. Some one
may ask of this method OF teaching,
"What is the worth while?' We know
OF no better answer than a conversation
that took place between the teacher and
little six-year-old. "Oh. Miss Baker,
guess who saw this morning?" al
don't know, Mary" said the teacher,
"tell me-" al got up very early this
morning." said the little one. "and saw
Aurora. "And what color did she
wear" asked the teacher. "Oh, she
was all in bright rose color" said the
child, showing the conception she had
formed of the goddess of the morning.
The class'study the art pictures. and the
dialogue lessons are interesting and help
full. The children learn to express them.
selves well, and this means much. The
teacher is doing wonderful work which
will tell for itself later on. There is one
bad feature in the Kansas City schools,
which seriously affects the progress ol
work in the kindergarten and primary
departments. and this is that children
are permitted to enter school any day ir
the year.
This disorganizes the classes and make:
more work for the teacher, and is unfor.
tunate for the child. To the mutual ad.
vantage of all concerned, children should
only be allowed to enter school twice a
year, in September and February. Calls
themes is taught in the Whittier school
after the German system of Carl Betz.
The method Of teaching Geography here
is very successful. Ii takes away from
that study, distasteful TO most pupils, the
grind and humdrum part of it. 1t broad
ems their ideas and teaches the children
what man is here for, how he has built
cities and made towns. II teaches them
OF the raw materials. the manufacture,
the product, the distribution. The lessons
are divided into 10 topics. and two weeks
is given to each topic. Reading is also
taught in a most interesting and profit
able manner in the Whittier school
Great attention is paid to supplementary
reading. The children in all grades
read comprehensively and exceedingly
well. They demonstrate the conception
of what they have read by writing an ex-
tract of the reading lesson in their own
language. At first we were inclined to
doubt the wisdom OF putting such read
ing into the hands of the children. but
reading the extracts was the proof of
the pudding" The third grade read
Hawthorn's wonder Book Bunyans'
.sPilgrim's Progress and Robinson
Crusoe." The fourth grade read. Rus
kin's Ethics of the Dust and "The
Tempest" The fifth grade read Bryant
translation Of Homer's "Odessy." and
Miles "Standish." The sixth grade read
"Merchant of Venice" the Riverside
Park edition, and "Eyangeline. The
seventh grade read six books of the sIIl-
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