Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-27
BROAD AND SHALLOW
". A. crofafs Criticism Of Local
School Methods.
MORE CARE FOR TIE LOWER GRADES
Only the Surplus Funds Should be
Given to Higher Education.
ADDRESS BEFORE COMMITTEE
ADDRESS BEFORE COMMITTEE

Mr.. W. A. Croffut read the following
paper outlining his views of necessary re-
form of the local school methods before the
Senate Investigating committee this morn
irg:
"O. If a radical change is needed in the
public school system at Washington 1t is
reform of the method followed rather than
OF the personnel; 4 modification of the per-
sonnet, only so far as it may be necessary In
efecting the desired reform. Those who
have studied our system most will probably
agree that the three commissioners appoint
ed by the President ought to have nothing
whatever to do with the schools, partly be-
cause they lack the general and technical
knowledge essential to their management
and also because they lack the time to give
the schools due attention. The same is
true of the trustees. 1t is proposed that IN
pace of the commissioners and the small
board of trustees whom they appoint the
schools Shall be placed permanently under
the management of a numerous body OF
pLbifc-splrited citizens selected for thelr
Specia. training in educational matters. This
controlling body should consist of not less
than one hundred persons and perhaps even
more-say one for each school bulidlng III
the District, which would aggregate 10 or
no persons. They would not require sal
aries. They would be so numerous that
every school building would receive a visit
each week, and they should be SO well
equipped for supervision as to be able to
ascertain whether the schools were man
aged well or ill., and when the curriculum
might need amendment.
Lower Grades Neglected.
"C2). The most conspicuous fault Of the
pubic school establishment of Washington
is it's lamentab,e inability to provide for
children in the lowest grades. Instead OF
providing abundantly for elementary IN
struction 1t provides abundantly for high
schools and leaves the primary schools 10
get along as they can. The result IS tnat
the infants are neglected There are from
5000 to 10000 children in Washington who
rever the inside of school house be-
cause the room for primary schools Is SO
sCanty that an attempt to enforce the COM
pu.Sory educa ton law would be wholly
futile. Besides these thousands who roam
through streets and alleys entirely I'M
schooled, there are other thousands between
the ages of six and ten who are not abe
to obtain more than half days schooling
EACH and this too, in the most impression
able period of their lives. When 1t is re-
membered that three-fourths Of the pup!s
of Washington do not go to school at all
after the fifth grade because they nave 10
&C to work to help support the family, the
gravity of the situation becomes obvious.
The first reform needed In Washington
schools, then, Is one that shall insure full
educational advantages in elementary train
ing to the pupils below ten years OF age,
whether the upper grades and the hlgh
schools receive adequate support or not IL
ought to be rendered absolutely certain that
at least a knowledge of the rudiments shall
be obtainable by those children who will
have no chance to go to school at all a1ter
the fifth or sixth grade To insure this:
Provided for Little Ones First.
.Of tie annual appropriation made for
the support of our schools by Congress, as
much money as is needed should be appro-
priated fer the first grade, till every child
in the city who has arrived at school age
has been cared for there. Then a similar
allotment of money should be made to the
second grade, till all applicants that belong
there are sheltered and enrolled. The third
grade should then be similarly provided for
then the fourth in order, and so on through
the grammar schools to the eighth grade
When all of the primary and grammar
schools have thus received all needed atten-
ton any funds remaining from the appro-
priation should be allotted to the high
schools beginning with the first year And
the High School course should be limited to
two years. The commercial and business
departme ITS of the High School should also
take precedence of the classical and lca-
demic.
This overturnng of the financial basis
Of the schools is the one reform that seems
to me indispensable. and that ought not to
be delayed another month. All other
changes that are deemed desirable should
wait till this has been thoroughly effected.
"(3D In harmony with this suggestion
and in order to enable il to be practically
realized the curriculum of the school
should be amended and reconstructed to
such d degree that the first-grade pupils
should be taught the elementary fundamen-
tails, and nothing else.
Old-Fashioned Methods Preferred.
"4.) In the prevailing system the value of
memory is deprecated and belittled, and it
is sought to make reason the chief reliance
To-,
theory and practice. AS between reason
and memory l believe that it is desirable
that memory should be the most assid-
uously cultivated. as furnishing data for
the reasoning processes. Children should
be required to commit to memory arbitra-
rily, even If they do not understand the
metaphysical reasons which lead to the
conclusion they are required to memorize.
They should be taught the alphabet before
they are taught to read and they should
know it thoroughly. They should be taught
to spell by syllables, for 1t is only by Syl
iabication that they will ever know how to
pronounce words correctly. They should be
made to learn rules and to apply them,
whether they understand or do not under
stand the abstruse mental processes which
resulted in the formulation of those rules.
They should always be compelled to com
nit the multiplication table to memory.
Number should be called arithmetic, be-
cause it is a historic name of branch of
study, rather than an explanation of IT, be-
cause the human IllIlu Is conservative ana
because the unnecessary introduction of
neologisms is confusing to parents and to
the public For the same reason Language
lessons" should be called grammar and pu-
pills should be taught the nomenclature
which has BEEN familiar to generations.
There should be book for every branch
of study, and 1t should cover every lesson.
The lessons shoul be consecutive, and one
lesson in the fundamental branches should
be recited every day. AS auxiliary to this
oral teaching should be minimized and each
pupil should be required to learn a specific
lesson of every branch studied in the grade.
In other words. there should be half as
much teaching and twice much learning.
90. Objective teaching is one of the mod
ern devices which has within certain limits
made learning easier and increased the in
formation of children. But 1t should be
chiefly confined to the earliest grades, and
not be much rcsorted to when pupils are old
enough to form clear mental conceptions in
dependently of the sense of vision. Chill
dren who have just escaped from infancy
may learn from object lessons, but they are
often superfluous, at least to pupils of
higher grades.
Instruction From Deduction.
20. All instruction should proceed from
the general to the partcuiar-from confgu-
ration to detail-from far to near, stead