Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-21

school life. the words they learn. The mass
of words they cannot SPELL he said, are the
words that they will have to spell in after
life. He thought in former years, when
there was drill in spelling the children
spelled as we'll or better than they do to-
day.
"You cannot learn to lay a pavement"
he said, "by seeing one laid. You must get
Gown and try to lay it, and so the drill is
necessary In our schools If the children
are to be thoroughly educated.
Orally Taught Grammar.
t"There has been a new grammar" con-
tinued Mr.. Freeman, which in Its preface
purports to be the grammar In the District
public schools but it Is not the same gram
mar. As a matter of fact, the publishers
would not publish the manuscript that was
offered them The author of the book HIM
self has told the teachers that"
Senator Stewart: What grammar Is
that?'
Mr. Freeman: THE grammar that has
come to the teachers by word of mouth.
We have no grammar in the public schools.
There Is a grammar authorized by the
board of school trustees. In a great many
of our schools the grammars are shelved.
1t is the understanding that the books are
not to be used
Senator Stewart: How do teachers learn
the grammar-by word Of mouth?'
Mr. Freeman: -Four five years ago,
perhaps. the teachers went to the Franklin
building once q week to hear this grammar
expounded, and sentences were analysed
under this new grammar, and, strange to
say, the analysis of one week did not con-
form to that of another week When they
asked in regard to these inconsistencies they
were told: L dispose of 1t this way now,
but do not know what 1 will tell you
other week
you cannot build on shifting sand. There
Is stability underlying the course of
study and work in our schools. Teachers
cannot back to school after a
mer's vacation and be prepared to teach
certain topics when they do not know what
! they are to teach. As it is, when a teacher
Is promoted, she must wait until she at
tends a meeting at the Franklin building,
and then she must remember what she is
told to teach. The course of study is not
the same any two years. It is we'll to eX-
pertinent but is it right that an experiment
should be made on the whole District at
once? The trouble is the whole District is
constantly being experimental on. A good
thing is not recognized when it is secured
but is thrown over the following year.
Changes in Teaching Music.
Take music, for instance. One year
everybody must sing to the time of a pen
| duum; the next year that method is dis
credited and the child must feel the time.
He must sing because he feels it. That is
Il matter of long cultivation unless the chill
dren happen to be very musical. Another
year that method is thrown aside / went
into the Normal School once and 1 was
shocked, and it seemed to I must be in
st. Elizabeth The girls of seventeen or
eighteen years were Invested Of corsets.
They were in wrappers, occupying all pos
sible positions imaginable, and they were
giving forth groanfngs of every variety.
One girl crowed like this Initiating the
Growing of rooster. 1t was all right be-
cause it was the natural thing for them
to do. At an entertainment by normal
scholars in a church here the girls
disrobed In an ante room and put on
Grecian robes to sing in. The Grecian robe
was about all some of them had on. They
sang wonderfully and beautifully, he said
with emphasis, but is that a part of the
curriculum of our schools?'
That Grammar Again.
Rewriting to the grammar taught in the
schools Mr.. Freeman said it was contra
dictory in itself
Senator Gallnger-"I think you said the
publishers declined to print it,"
Mr.. Freeman-"It is not the same gram
mar. The maker would not recognize it
as coming from his own pen. There is a
grammar in print which purports TO have
been tried in the public schools of Wash
ington, but 1t is not the grammar that is
taught in the Washingt IN public schools at
all. You know the story of the game by
which one person starts a story and it Is
passed around the room from one to the
other until 1t comes back to the one who
originally told it. If you try that with
granular you Will not recognize II Wnen IL
goes through several mouths"
These are excellent schools for the eX-
ceptional children, he said The trouble
was that below the High School the pupils
are not required to work, but when they
get in the High School they must work to
keep up. A great many educators of this
day are attempting to get royal road to
learning, and do not want to admit that
hard work Is necessary. He said the teach
ers in the first three grades are instructed
that if they have to slight anything to slight
numbers farithmetic}. Many of the studies
cannot be comprehended by the children,
and when they get older these studies are
not novel and do not appeal to their mag
nations. SO that they never learn them.
Senator Gallinger, referring to the prac-
tice of illustrating to young children that
the cat has fur. claws. &c, said children
naturally learned such things in their daily
life outside of the school.
Mr. Freeman-"The child feels insulted
in being taught such things
Senator Gallinger-'1s the system not
practical?'
Mr.. Freeman-"'That has been my feeling
for some years past"
Too Much One-Man Power.
Senator Gallinger-"Do many studies
tend to have a thorough drill on funda-
mentals?"
Mr.. Freeman-"Yes, sir. 1t is not safe to
leave such big concern this to any
man. There is safety in multitude of eoun-
sci. We have weekly meetings of our board
to make reports on the work and nomnally
for counsel. l am weighing my Words he
said, impressively, land what l am to say
has been carefully thought over That
counsel Is all right if it agrees with the
thought of the leader, but no other sugges-
ton is wanted Now, the organization
should allow the head of the schools and
those principals or associates of the super
intendent to work over these questions in
stead of having the studies worked over by
one man and assigned to different members
of the corps. Questions should be deter
mined by a majority vote instead of by one
man. Then you would prevent this eternal
shifting which is the trouble with our
schools. The uncertainty is the trouble
with our schools from top to bottom
Mr.. w. B. Patterson, supervising princi-
pal of the sixth division, spoke of the large