Arizona republican., 1902-11-06
The Defective Visual Method.

From one end of the country to the other comes the complaint that not only the school children of today, but the graduates of the high schools, and of the universities, even, are not able to spell. An earnest discussion of the subject has been caused by the an nouncement that Q great majority O. Northwestern university proved to be painfully deficient in the matter of spelling. The president of that uni versity also frankly stated that the graduates of the institution are dis gracefully poor spoilers.
 What is the remedy? Or rather, what is the defect in the prevailing system of teaching which produces so many poor spoilers? The evil is not confined to any one locality, therefore it must be that we are correct in say ing that the difficulty is in the prevail ing system. In our opinion, the defect lies in the so-called visual method" of teaching spelling. A genera tion ago IL " cLS dllllOol uillF Sdlly lDt DTdtIlCe to teach school children by the com bined visual and nearing" method. That is. the pupil was required to con his spelling lesson carefully, and then recite orally in class. The ear was thus taught to recognize at once the proper combination of letters necessary to spell a word, and as quickly to detect an erroneous spelling.
 All this has been abandoned for the silent, visual method of learning. The system is modified here and there by local practice in the schools, but it is essentially the same everywhere. While, upon the whole, the schools of Phoenix are conducted with such abil- ity as to give every citizen pride in them, there is room for improvement in the teaching of spelling; the results demonstrate it. It is not only the school children of today who are defi- cient in spelling. The average adult labors under the same handicap. Of all the many communications received at the editorial desk of The Republi- can, it is safe to say that not ten per cent are correct in spelling, through out. The teachers examinations table lack of proficiency in spelling. Arizona, perhaps, averages with the best, but the standard should be raised higher. Speaking of Chicago, an exam 1 ination has shown that the percentage of poor spoilers among the public school teachers of that city is very high.
 Commenting upon the great volume of data brought out by the general newspaper discussion, the Philadelphia ] Record remarks:
 That there are persons who can in | no way learn to spell all the words or most of the words of common speech l according to authority is affirmed by medical psychologists. No amount of application, we are told, and no re- wards or punishments Gncluding the ridicule and scorn of mankind), can enable certain unfortunates to master ! the art. Such persons may justly com plain that they should not be cursed for l their photographic sins while anybody
 
 sic, or to being unable to draw straight line, without embarrassment. | It is doubtful, however, if the great | majority of those who do not spell we'll | can plead any inherited defect. They l cannot spell simply because they have | never given attention and time enough | to the study. Spelling comes easily to 1 some and is difficult to others; but all | except very few could learn to spell | if they should choose to give the neces- | sary time to it. Still, it is probable ! that most poor spoilers exaggerate the | popular contempt for bad spelling. | Stevenson, as an exception, seemed to 1 have no care about it, but admitted his ! effectiveness with as little shame as he would mention headache. It is too | bad. though, that pupils should suffer | wrong methods of teaching"