The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-27
Mr.. ASHMORE PARTLY AGREES
There Is Much of Truth in MFR. James
Views, He Says.

mere IS Much Oh truth IN Mr. James
Views, He Says.
Supt. Otis Ashmore of the Savan-
nah public schools was asked what
he thought of Mr. James views.
There is much truth in his state
ments," said Supt. Ashmore. but
there are certain limitations to the
value of his judgment upon matter
of such wide induction as is implied in
his criticism which must be carefully
considered. The position taken that
free-hand drawing, wood-carving,
clay-modeling and a lot of subjects
in our public schools, should be rigid
ly subordinated to matters that are
more practical, is sound doctrine in
educational theory and practice.
THE value of industrial training and
the proper development of the artistic
sense cannot be questioned. The only
matter for discussion in this connec-
ton is the relative value of such in
struction as compared with instruction
IN reading, writing, grammar, geogra-
ply, arithmetic, etc. Our educational
aim should be to develop in due pro-
portion every latent power of the child
physical, intellectual and moral.
1T must be remembered" said Supt.
Ashmore, that there is much more to
learn now than there was seventy
one years ago, when Mr.. James was
born. Education now means much
more than it formerly did. The great
adVancements IN human knowledge
have made it necessary to teach more,
and the curriculum of the schools has
been of necessity very much broad
ened. This breadth, however, has in
many instances been made at the ex-
pense of depth. There are fads in ed
ucation as there are in everything else,
and much of the attention of the edu-
cational world to-day is devoted to
fixing a proper value to them. Some
schools have unquestionably suffered
from these fads, and the product Of
! such schools is necessarily unsatisfac-
I tory. The public schools of Savan-
nah have been remarkably free from
fads, and it is our constant aim to OBJ
| serve a due proportion in the valua-
| ton of all school studies.
! But after all of our care and pa
| tient effort we sometimes get results
that are as disappointing as they are
ludicrous. When we are told that the
possessive singular is formed by the
addition of the apothecary and the
letter S, and that Daniel Boone was
great poet and statesman, and that
he distinguished himself by killing Abb
rahama Lincoln, we feel that we have
taught in vain. But these are the ex-
ceptions and they are common TO all
schools.
THE criticism of Mr.. James,"
superintendent Ashmore said, twill APP
ply, 1 think with more force to the
teaching of English than to any other
subject. For twenty years the teach
ing of English has been undergoing
various changes that have not been
satisfactory in their results to teach
ers all over the country. There have
been published more text books on the
subject of English grammar than,
perhaps, on any other, and to-day
there is a greater demand for a good
TEN book on English grammar than
on any other subject in the schools.
There is one consideration in connec-
ton with study of this question of
the value of school products now as
compared with those of forty or fifty
years ago which must not be over
looked. 1t is more difficult to Sc
cure the same amount of work from
children now than it was formerly
and the time element, too, in many in
stances, has been much reduced. The
methods of teaching. and almost all of
the text books certainly have been
much improved. We must not forget
too, the tendency of older persons
now, as in the days of Horace to
praise the times when they them
selves were young Distance truly
lends enchantment to the view and
often clothes the educational noun
tains of youth with an azure hue.
The boys and girls of seventy years
ago were probably not very much SUI
perior to those of the present day.
zone of the most common faults in
inductive reasoning" Mr.. Ashmore
said, lis drawing conclusions from too
few a number of facts. One swallow
does not make a summer. Safe con-
illusions about educational matters must
be based not upon a few instances, but
upon thousands of we'll ascertained
facts. The criticism of Mr.. James is
a very thoughtful one, and it contains
a lesson to educators of much value.
The point of the criticism. however.
has not been overlooked in the great
educational discussions going on all
over the country. This and manv
other matters are receiving the seri-
Gus attention of educators and think
ers, and it is to be hoped that better
results will be obtained"