The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-18
ARE THE SCHOOLS TO BLAME?
Analysis of Il Complaining Fathers
Fault-Finding.

Analysis of a Complaining Fathers
Fault-Finding.
To the Editor Of The Journal:
In an address last winter to grade pupils.
DR.. Jordan finds connection between the
early withdrawal of boys from school and the
Indifference of fathers to all matters pertain
ing to school. and hints that in the CONNER
cialsm Of the age may be found the reason
for both
In a late number of T h J our rn l, un-
der the caption, 'Our Fathers and the
Schools lone of the Accused rises to ex-
plain, and finds the schools at fault His
rEnglsh as She Is Wrote proclaims that he
left school too early to acquire mastery of
"our matchless mother tongue" whatever he
may know of bookkeeping commercial arith
metic, shorthand or stenography, elementary
commercial law, parliamentary law. .iypewrit
ing, etiquette, dancing. personal cleanliness,
hygiene, the foods we eat, and so on all Of
which he wants taught in the public schools.
Let some other critics fill out the $50 on,
and we might have a list of everything to
which man can turn hand or mind to earn a
living.
To become proficient in ia multitude OF
things requires time and what our correspond
ent calls "a large body of attainments. Be
fore commercial law and its congeners can he
understood much less practically acquired,
=
easier work. Neither the boy his father
are willing to give the necessary years to
preparation They want him to be self-sup-
porting at 1e or 1s. They are impatient Of
everything in school unless it promises a
speedy pecuniary reward. The branches
usually found in the common school curricu-
lum are sufficient to train the mind to think
accurately. Then and then only is the student
ready for business for life. Suppose that
the branches suggested above be faithfully
taught and eagerly learned. Situations are
not easy to find. In year, just as if it We're
grammar or history, the pupil will have for
gotten the exact contents of his book, COM
mercial arithmetic, parliamentary law, or
anything of the sort. If his mental develop
ment went pari passu, with the pages he
turned he will soon acquire the fundamentals
Of any business suited to his years. He will
forget alike algehraic formulae Latin declen-
sons, rules for banking and tables of per-
centage: but he has. as the residue. so to
speak, Of his years in school, something bet
| ter than any Of them, the ability to master
whatever he attempts, because he has already
| done it in school, and that no matter what
course he has pursued. The fact that stu
| dent will forget what he has learned is no
argument against his learning it. He does not
study solely or primarily to remember-as
| memory is only one faculty OF the mlnd-cut
| to acquire mental power.
| There is a broad field Of general knowledge
| embodied in literature, art, history, science,
nature studies, language, mathematics. etc.,
| with which the individual must become ac-
| auatnted or he is ignorant Youth is the time
! to acquire. These things are best learned
without g. thought of their money earning
. power, and their thorough study will just as
| certainly contribute to make good stenogra-
| pher and typewriter early practice on the
machine when the mind is immature and emp
ty 1t is not the province of the public school
to prepare the pupil to step full-'fedged into a
business career. It has done much when ii
educates him to the point where he is able to
| make an intelligent choice Of an occupation.
Many pupils-espccially boys-are too dull
or too lazy or too fond of pleasure and play
to accomplish anything in school, and these
are the very ones whose fathers, often pitt
fully inadequate themselves, make the 1oudest
cry when the boy proves an incompetent ir
business as he has always done in school
Such children might, perhaps, be trained out
side of the schooroom. The faithful Jonas
with his fund Of useful information, we'll ar
ranged and diluted to suit the needs Of the
infant Rollo is the type of our ideal 1nstruc
tor fof them. Unfortunately, nature does no
often provide such children with parents men
tally equipped to plan and execute such far
reaching educational schemes.
Some boys hate books and the restraints O
the schoolroom, and their education does no
really begin until they are engaged in tn
active pursuits of life. Their field will be
narrow one but they may do excellent worl
in congenial lines. In what is irksome the!
will never succeed, for they are self-indulgen
and unntellectual. The parents Of this clas
Of children are often most solicitous TO
their off spring to distinguish themselves il
literary or professional life. In their bite
disappointment, they credit the schools will
failure to educate child who obstinately re
fuses to learn as most children delighte
to do, from books, in association with others
Yet books and classes must be a part of tn
modus operandi in a school. Parents canno
see that the fault is in the mental makeup o
the child. If the course, or the method or tn
teacher we're changed, all would be well
The curriculum suggested by the ACCUSED
would be quite as distasteful to the indiffer
ent the lazy, the dull, the peculiar, the bo
| In hasta to make. money as ANYTHING nol