The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-25
r.efnI E,ersda, Information.

Most people have at some time in their
lives been brought face to face with an
emergency which caused them to realize
that human wisdom is vain, but it is still
more provoking, because seemingly unnec-
essary to be confronted with problem
which one ought to be able to solve, and
be unequal to the task. A Chicago man
found himself in that predicament not
long ago, and his experience is sugges-
tive of several things.
He wanted TO find out how many square
feet there were in a circular floor eighty
eight feet in diameter. He knew, of
course. that the problem was a sim
pie one, If he could remember the
rule, but that was just the diff
fculty: he could not. He stepped into a
real estate Office and sought information.
One man told him to square the diameter
of the floor; another said he ought to
multiply ii by Bias, and the stenographer
thought he ought to square the radius.
The owner of the office building, who spec
ulates in the wheat market and conducts
other large operations, tried TO solve the
problem by drawing a square inside of
the circle and computing the area of the
fragments at the sides. Then the owner
of the problem went hunting an arithme
tic borrowed one from a bookseller, and
found out what he wanted to know.
Anyone who has watched the average hu-
man being trying to apply the principles
Of arithmetic to so simple a matter as the
papering OF a wall or the carpeting of
floor will realize that the education gained
use when wanted in a hurry several years
after 1t Is the same way with geography
rhetoric Latin. or modern languages. How
many people, at the beginning of the
Spanish American war, knew where the
Philippine Islands were or had the reniot-
est idea what commercial value pertained
10 them? How many could say with any
certainty how the names OF the principal
towns in Cuba and Porto Rico should be
spelled or pronounced? How often do We
find people who have had good. even excel
lent, educations stumbling over simple
rules OF grammar and rhetoric.
Perhaps there is no way to prevent these
difficulties II may be that the human
memory is so constituted that it absolute
ly refuses to retain valuable knowledge,
while retaining with the utmost facility
all sorts of little unimportant things. If
this is so. it is nature that is to blame not
the public school system. But 1t does seem
that elementary facts and rules might be
so drilled into the heads of all children
under fifteen that they would be able to
talk intelligenuy about public events. and
figure out the simpler problems of every
day life The average person is much more
likely TO use the tables of weights and
measures than the principles laid down
In the lest chapters of an algebra; vet
nine people out ten cannot, unless they
are constantly called upon to use these ia
bles, repeat them with any accuracy. II
is very important that American citi-
zens should know as much as possible
about the products of various countries OF
the world and their commercial and in
dustrlal relation 10 our own, and their
comparative Importance IN international
affairs; yet these matters receive abso-
lutely no attention IN the average school
Il may be said on general principles that
languages, ancient and modern, are of no
use whatever to the average boy or girl
unless they are studied With such .hor-
0ughness as TO crowd out other things Cor
a time. French is useless to one who can
not read French novel. ask a question,
Or write an Ineligible letter in that Ian
giage aud TO learn to do this takes more
time than the average student can give dur
ing school years, especially II the training
IS not begun early. a child Of five or six
years can pick up Freach very easily so