The evening times., 1899-09-11
COMMON SENSE EDUCATION.
The Result of New Methods of In
structing Children.
From the Chicago Inter.Oeean.l

(From the Chicago Inter -0cean.)
Magazines have given more than usual
attention to educational matters this year.
Articles by college professors and presi-
dents, by common school teachers and by
eminent men outside of the teachers pro-
fession have discussed nearly every phase
of the educational question. 1t is notice
able, however, that none of them has
touched upon the question which is of
paramount interest to the people at large.
Some years ago there came into the field
of active educational work method that
was TO make everything easier for young
children and incidentally for all pupils.
This theory, which swept the country on
wave of enthusiasm. was to the effect
that all the old drill of the English and
American schools was wrong in principle
and cruel in practice. The spelling book
was taken out of the hands OF the young
children and was replaced with the reader.
As soon as he had learned the alphabet the
boy was introduced to words and made
acquainted with them, not by spelling
them, but on sight. There was nothing
Of the drudgery of the old spelling book
drill.
The introduction of the word or sight
system led to a general modification of
our educational methods The child, girl
or boy. was spared all possible labor, was
induced to go forward in pleasant paths,
was expected to like his lessons because
they were not difficult. He had no horror
Of big words in the spelling book or of
odd combinations of letters. He was not
asked to commit even the multiplication
table to memory. tr
II is undeniable that with children and
teachers the new method was popular
But in the enthusiasm of teachers and chill
dren some practical things were forgotten
Ii was noticed that the boy who learned
to read before he learned TO spell failed in
the most elementary requirements when he
entered upon business career. The child
who had not learned the multiplication
table, whose memory had. been spared any
strain, who had not been drilled in the
spelling class, found that in practical life
he had TO learn what the schools had not
taught him-to be correct in spelling and
quick at figures. The boy to whom geog-
raphy had been made pleasant pastime, to
whom grammar had been taught without
rules, who read history as he would read a
novel, found that he was not competent
when it came to the hard tests that daily
life imposes.
In later years. particularly in large
number of public schools, there has been a
return to the spelling book drill to the
multiplication drill, to system that brings
the pupils to close quarters with the es-
sentials of education, no matter how hard
the work But there is still a reluctance
on the part of teachers to admit that they
were carried off their feet. And in the
mean time we are in danger of rearing a
generation of bad spoilers, had arithmeti-
clans. and undereducated geographers,
grammarians, and historians. This is a
| condition, we believe, that merits far more
attention than the pedagogical theorist is
inclined to give it. After all, the great
| question in elementary education is: How
can the boy be best prepared to earn his
| living? A practical answer to this is worth
| all the able articles and elaborate 're-
| forms" ever conceived.