Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-01-20

the thousand and one things that every
farmer must do for himself or hire some
one else to do for him at great expense
or at still greater expense leave undone.
Instead OF doing all these things or to
be skilled with hands. observant with
eyes and inventive with brains, our chill
dren are given endless lessons in geogra-
ply and history and rhetoric and litera-
ture lessons which they learn with diff
Guilty and forget with ease.
They must memorize the names Of all
the rivers CULTS and bays, capes and
promontories on the globe. the ancient rul-
ers Of Egypt and Asia. from the earliest
dynasties until as recent a period as the
reign as Aser-ban-i-pul. They must learn
the number OF elephants in the battle Of
Zama, the defects in the Paudicts Of
Justinian the religious doctrines of Zor-
caster. the difference between synecdoche
and hyperbole. the psychologist depend
ence Of Shakespeare upon Beaumont and
Fletcher, the practical value of trancend-
entalism, how TO spell without spelling,
how TO read without using the words, and
how TO figure without using figures.
II anything could add to the pertinence
of the extract IL is President Minstons
visit to a commencement occasion a few
years ago. 1t was an academic institute
with 20 pupils.
Hear him: Everybody appeared on the
program once, half the school twice, and
a large number three or four times. There
were seventeen original orations (com-
piled from various sources), twenty-three
dialogues (mainly by the teacher); thirty
five essays (Which the pupils did not un-
derstand well enough to read correctly;
nine vocal solos. seven duets on the pi-
anO. two Quartets with harmonian &C
compartment. a senior class song and two
choral symphonies by the entire school.
There was not girl in the school that
1or,1H f,rofI haafSfpaE DrOuarlV- make
perfect loaf of lightbread and cut. fit and
make a complete set of wOmen's clothes.
There was not a boy who could mend a
broken chain put a spoke in a wheel,
manage a harvester, tend a dynamo or
give any information concerning the
markets of the worlds leading crops. the
great lack OF transportation or the status
OF labor. The whole affair was ludicrous
and pitiful. IL was impractical, unreal,
uninteresting superficial and artificial.
THE only natural things that l saw
were the boys and girls smiling at each
other as they blundered at their tasks,
the babies sleeping in the arms Of tired
mothers and a couple of dogs. worn out
with this endless performance, seeking
recreation by fighting under the benches"
Perhaps the picture maybe trifie over
drawn. but II IS full of truth as evinced
by sad experience.
There IS sore need of a reform in our
present educational system.
Nine-tenths of our school children must
do some sort OF work to live. The edu-
cation they get in the great majority of
our country schools is a miserable pre-
tense at education. We have fallen into
the tolls Of shrewd book manufacturers.
who are trying to sell school books all
over the land, and the education is car
ried along in channels where these books
can be crowded in the same groove, mere
w for the selling profit.
The idea IS fast gaining ground that
public education. paid for by the state,
should be devoted to lie rudiments OF an
English education. and supplemented by
industrial training.
Besides the higher education must be
paid for extra, by the parent, as the mat
ter now stands.
Only today heard a vigorous complaint
from a father that the teacher Of coun-
try school had sent him word that II his
children rose from arithmetic TO algebra
he must pay extra for It. The teacher
gets a good salary and the child studies
no more lessons than before. but the ex-
ira pay must come. and the father who
now pays taxes must still pay tuition.
It is a farce, or would be If IT were not
a tragedy!
How the whole business needs ripping
up!