The age-herald., 1900-05-19
DEPARTURE FROM
 0LD-TIME CUSTOM
No VaIadictory or SaIutatory
 Will be Delivered
AT HIGH SCHOOL EXERCISES
Will be Left Off at the Suggestion of superintendent J. H. Phillips, Who Gives Some Excel
 lent Reasons

The departure from the custom which has long prevailed was done at the suggestion of Superintendent J. H. Phil lips, who in discussing the matter says:
 "The custom of giving medals and prizes in schools is an old one. The honor roll has often been regarded as an indispensable feature of a good school. The salutatory and valedictory of the commencement sea- son have been looked upon from time im- memorial as essential evidences of an ed- ucational institution. The reading at com mencement exercises of long, beribboned essays prepared mainly by authors of cy- clopedia articles, or more frequently by fond parents or relatives, came as mat ter of course. Teachers too generally en- couraged, parents enjoyed and a generous public applauded that which all knew did not accord with the highest moral concep- tions. To attack these traditional devices and repudiate them as evils in our schools required no ordinary courage. Yet this was accomplished in our schools during the past year and half.
 An innivation will be introduced at the graduating exercises of the Birmingham High school, which will take place at the Jefferson theatre on Thursday evening, May 31, in that no valadictory or salutatory will be delivered
 We had some time prior to my last re- port already abandoned the practice of of- fering medals and prizes as awards for excellence in Reclamation and special studies, and the year ending June 30, 1899, saw the abandonment of the honor roll in the elementary schools and of the time honored commencement exercises in the High school.
 .'The principal objections to the system of prizes and honors in a general way are four. The most obvious objections to the system is the fact that exact justice is inn possible, especially in a school where sev- eral teachers are employed. Little reli- ance can be placed on estimates of men, tai attainments when these are determined by different persons. There may be com parative accuracy when the estimates are made by one teacher and at one time. Mental conditions cannot be reduced to percentages; only the most mechanical phases of school work can be expressed with any degree of mathemati tical accuracy No teacher has yet discovered method by which fifty minds may be reduced to a com mon denominator.
 "The second objection is that the system appeals only to the few bright pupils, who seldom need incentives of this character The system not only fails to help the mass es, but it is positively discouraging. The third objection is that such incentives ap- peal to the baser instincts of the child and develop the more selfish impulses of hu- man nature. The motives aroused are too low in the scale to have any moral eff ciency in the development of character These motives are very closely allied with envy, malice and the entire group of malevolent affections.
 '"rhe end or incentive placed before the child should be natural, not artificial. In other words, it should be the direct result or consequence of his effort and not some thing extraneous, arbitrarily thrust in be- tween his activity and the real end sought or desired