Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-06-09

lliuiCdtiOuS are IIldt IL Is more imam
likely to meet the expectations Of its
authors. Briefly outlined the plan is
this:
|. Promotions should he made
twice year. There is nothing new
about this; it is practiced by more
than half of the schools of the coun-
try.
, Promotions should be based on
examination over the work outlined
There is nothing new about this; very
few schools using any plan which
does not involve examination.
3. Examinations should be uni
form and the teachers should compare
markings and come to the same scale.
This is not always done in all schools,
but it seems so wise and just, that it
must be quite right.
1. The work of the consecutive
grades should be made to overlap in
such q way that quick minds might
not be required to go over and over the
things which they have already
grasped, and that average minds
which need such review can get it
without encouragement and that the
slowest minds, which may need much
review, can have it without feeling
that they are drag upon the class as
a whole, or in reality being such.
This is the only new feature in the
present plan of promotion. If it is in
use in any other school in the State it
is unknown to me.
Under this plan, at the last examin-
alton, 278 pupils below the high school
were promoted and 80 passed with
such high grades that they will be en-
titled to gain half year in their
school life. This does not mean that
they will skip half years work, but
that under the present planning of the
school work, that they can advance
without taking review that Others
regularly promoted will be required to
take. The last six months expert.
ence has fully shown that the teachers
find ample time for these reviews
without in any degree coming short OF
the work outlined in the State co urse
of study. Ii this plan shall prove as
successful as it now appears, it will re-
suit in saving many years to the
brighter children and in no degree
work a loss upon others. If these 80
children just referred to maintain
themselves in the classes to which
they are promoted, there Will be
gained nineteen years to them in
the aggregate. If any one fails to
maintain himself, he will not have
lost anything, he will simply have
been unable to gain. 1t is the unani-
nous opinion of the teachers that the
plan is a good one. They say it holds
out an incentive for capable pupils to
strive for excellent standings and pro-
vides for review in such wav that
all pupils get freshened up in work al
ready somewhat familiar before enter
ing upon work entirely new.
Allied to this, there is another fea-
ture which | think is of equal import
ance and which / believe is the first
successful attempt to apply q remedy
for an evil which has been recognized
by school men ever since the early
days OF the graded school system and
which has come to be known among
them as the "air.tight" or "water-
tight" compartment arrangement.
This evil consists in n semi-isolation
OF one grades work from that of its
neighbor on either side because of the
TACT that to maintain graded school
intact and in position to do effective
work it is necessary to have a definite
amount of work done in each depart.
ment within the same time-period.
This necessity has caused courses of
study to end squarely at one point for
a grades work and to begin squarcly
at the same point for the grade above.
BY this arrangement the work OF one
grade has been left in a sort of isola.
ton which is to be deplored. 1t is the
great evil of our graded school system.
By it promoted pupils are ushered
into new work by new teacher whose
personality, manner of instruction
and style OF approach to the child's
mind, is altogether different from
what the child has been used to.
Moreover under this water-tight
compartment" system the teacher
comes to feel slight if any responsible.
ity for the work in any grade but her
own, and thus by series of joys the
child goes through his school life in.
stead Of by that gentle graduation oil
growth that characterizes ideal growth
in any line. The plan in Olympia
embraces an overlapping which not
only remedies one of these evils but
many of them. 1t starts the child re.
Gently promoted upon somewhat ia.
miliar work with a new teacher thus
enabling him to adjust himself as it
were to the different style of his new
instructor, and to be able when he
gets to new work to comprehend the
manner OF presentation. This is a
very important consideration. Again
the teachers under this plan are not
left sole instructors in each his own
compartment. The teacher before
and the teacher after are not only
neighbors but they are proprie tors in
the same field OF labor, and each feels
a responsible relationship to the work
in the grade below and to the grade
above. 1t leads to frequent consulta.
tions between such teachers and thus
softens the abruptness of change
which promotions under the old plan
entail. As a result of this softeninp
OF graduation the child no longer goes
by leaps and bumps but by compare.
lively easy and constant advancement.
Nor are these last remarks entirely
speculative. Even our short trial has
demonstrated their truth in a very
large measure and I have no doubt
that future experience will add still
larger proof to them.
No system of graduation or promo.
ton can be perfect so long as human.
ity differs in its personality. No sys.
tenn can be fitted to all pupils and if
1t could it would not suit all parents.
1t is rot claimed that the Olympia
system is perfect but that it has con.
siderable advantages over those re.
cent? y, and so far as I know, at pres.
ent in use in schools of this size, ]
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