Evening star., 1901-07-10
Many Papers Read at the Convention
at Detroit.
''FADS" AMONG TOPICS DISCUSSED
Other Mistakes Made by Teachers
in Their Work
ELEMENTARY CATION

DFIhOlI, July 10-'ElemeBtary Educa-
ton" was the general topic discussed un-
der various heads by the National Educa-
tional Association this morning. There
were more than $500 teachers in Light
! Guard armory when Bishop Foley Of De
troit arose to open the session with
prayer. President Green then introduced
F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of city
schools, ST. Louis, as the first speaker.
! His paper was on What is a Fad?' He
said, in part:
THE wonderful achievement made I'm
public instruction in the last ten years has
| been attended by certain incidental de-
! fects which, while they may neither be
| serious or extensive, have, nevertheless,
attracted public attention and have aroused
censure in the public prints.
| There has been a widespread discus
! sion in regard to what has been called
| 'fads in education The charge is made
| that in many places public schools under
| take to teach what is not necessary to the
neglect and disregard of the essentials Of
common school education. There Is the
widest possible difference in regard to the
| question What is a fad?' Anything on
| which stress Is laid in excess of its real
| educational value, and which for time is
| overestimated, is called a fad. What is
| fad today may prove, through pract1ce
| and through support which 1t finds in pub
| lie opinion, a necessary and serious edu-
| cational want, and be an innovation which
will take rank among the proper subjects
| of instruction educational practices IN
| the school room.
"Drawing, music and manual training
| have frequently been called fads They are
not fads as long as they are limited to the
elements of these arts. To give the child
a knowledge Of some popular songs, to
! have the school open and close with music
does not seem open to objection. Drawing.
| as long as it's object is the cultivation OF
= +Ia ,tr,I Nd In,
is a branch which is universally useful and
may properly be considered a part of pub
lie education. If, however, instruction In
drawing music is carried to an extreme
if the aim is not to educate the powers of
each child, but to train artists, these
studies, otherwise valuable, may become
room practice. will become a fad when ex-
aggerated and carried beyond its true
value
0verestimate of Novelty.
There are, however, practices which
have appeared in the last few yesrs-for
tunateIy in a few places-to which the word
fad 'frilr or fringe which public opinion
applies to them properly belongs. There
are people to whom the love of the new in
education is as strong the love of fash
ion is in social life. Not enough discrim-
ina ton is exercised in selecting from new
plans and devices in teaching those that
are wise and helpful. 1t is characteristic
into the world with the loud promise of i'm
portant results, alleged to be easy Of at
tainment by them al some future time, but
no tangible results have flown from many
of those Innovations heralded with enthu-
siasm and pursued with zeal
There are fads of educational theory as
well as of educational practice. The idea
that the child is the center of all educa-
ton, or. the other hand. the opposite
idea that the adult man, his possibilities
and duties in life, form the key to all edu-
cations are extreme views which may lead
to wrong practices. The truth lies midway
between. The aims of all child educatio
lie in the future. The child is to be edu-
Gated for the sake Of the adult, into which
he Is to grow. On the other hand, spiritual
and adult manhood must be fashioned from
the material and under the conditions
which child life presents. To make educa-
tion all play and entertainment instead of
work, to require the educator to stoop down
to the child instead of standing erect and
patiently teaching the child to walk with
him, Is common educational mistake.
The old plan of all work and no play was
mad enough, but the plan of all play and
no work is not any better.
Another series of educational mistakes
has grown out of the exaggeration of
otherwise valid practices. PestalozZfs s
thought that Illustration and object teach
ing have an important place in all kinds of
instruction has in some few cases been car
ried to an extreme. So much illustration
and explanation is at times furnished that
the power Of the child to think and work
for an understanding of the lesson is not
called sufficiently into play.
Not few errors called fads' find their
origin in the tendency of modern education
to leave everything to individual education
and caprice. Where the amount of educa-
tional work to be done at each stage in the
! child's school life has been definitely de-
termined and fixed by sensible course of
study, the teacher works with a feeling of
no responsibility and concentrates his at
| tention and thought on the solid school
work. Where the course of study, how
ever, is left to individual choice and ca
price, instruction is liable to wander and
include educational practices and devices
which are ornamental rather than useful.
"Fads. however, are not altogether of
the teachers creation. Not few originate
| in the erroneous demands of the commun-
fty. The idea that common school educa-
tfon should be limited to three Rs was
fad Of the worse description. The demand
that spelling should be cultivated by the
old mechanical methods of constant oral
drill. tends to throw other more importan
studies for instance, the ability to write
good English, well spelled and well ar
| ranged composition, into the background
The good sense of the teachers and of the
American people are the best safeguards
against the prevalence of fads in public
school instructions. They both demand
that education should constantly adjust
itself to the requirements of life and to the
development Of the best faculties of the
child and that the necessary and useful in
! merely ornamental
Some OF the Topics Discussed
Charles H Richards Of New York spoke
on How Early May Hand Work be Made
Part of School Work?'
He said: Every consideration of child
nature points to the immense significance
Of hand work as feature of instruction
from the very beginning of school life. The
real question is not how early should hand
work be introduced in the school, but how
lat should it be extended.
with the child of the early primary
grades hand work is one of the natural
channels through which the inner thought
and feeling find expression.
Such natural expression through hand
| work cannot take the form of set courses.
1t must be a matter of adaptation to the
life of each particular school. It must
| recognize the school and the out of school
interests. 1t must be a part Of life and
not formal drill.
variety of materials and processes are
necessary to fully achieve this end Free
dom and fiexibility and appropriateness of
task are more important than accuracy of
form, Great accuracy of result is not