The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-12
NEW METHOD OF TEACHING.
REVOIe TON THAT HAS COME IN
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

| Just now a new question is agitating
the minds of the parents and guard
ians of the rising OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
in these up-to-date times children are
being as we'll grounded in the three
"Rs" as were the youngsters of for
mer generations. Coming as it does
along with that other energetically dis
cussed question, whether the youth OF
this country are not being injured by
too much study. it is especially inter-
esting.
| What started the discussion was the
modern system of teaching. There have
] been marked changes in educational
methods in the last decade, especially
in the last six years, a fact proved by
the system of teaching now in vogue
in the New York public schools.
A good many people have just begun
| to find this out and to discover that
| the alphabet is no longer the first task
| given to the public school pupil. They
have learned that the pupil is taught
to read long before he knows his let
tiers, long before he has learned to
| spell. luey nave LOO tndl the
multiplication table-so far as commit
| ting it to memory goes-is practically
| unknown.
Among the uniformed, naturally, a
system which uses methods so revo-
lutionary is looked upon with suspic-
ion, if not with alarm Indeed. outside
| of the teachers themselves, 1t Is hard
to find any one who has more than
the vaguest idea of what the newer
| methods of teaching mean or how il
comes to pass that beginners in the
public schools turn all old ideas of edu-
cation upside down by starting in to
read before they understand that "A"
stands at the head of the alphabet and
~ at the foot.
The new system is still so new that
the people who object to its methods
are not alone those who are not versed
in scientific pedagogy. Some teachers
also oppose it. The majority of the
disaffected teachers, it is said, repre-
sent private schools, which, of course,
are not required to follow any uniform
method.
Probably in no two of them is ex-
actly the same method followed, where's
as in the hundreds of public schools In
Greater New York the system of
teaching now in use is identical. And
the believers in this system point to
and most practical discoveries and
theories advanced for many years by
noted educators of different national
tiles.
No particular name, it seems as given
to this system. AS to it's efficacy a
public school teacher of long experience
had this to say:
''The new method develops the mind
more quickly than the old--and devel-
IA fn d.o fhn
consideration nowadays in every educa-
tional theory. But in my opinion the
results are not in some respects so
satisfactory"
Said another teacher of equal ex-
perience:
THE latter-day method of teaching
quickens a child's perceptions. spurs
him on to use his eyes and do his
own thinking, instead of having his
teacher do it for him.
The idea before the word is the
first and most important axiom in
teaching and nothing could better Illus
trate that axiom than the present pub
lie school system. Here for instance
opening the door of a class room, ARE
forty boys who began TO grapple with
the three RS last September. There
fore they have been at work only about
nine weeks. Yet now they are reading
sentences and adding and Subtracting
numbers up to TO-"
The statement was the more impress
sive because of the very evident facts
that the boys, all of whom We're be-
tween s and years old, came from
one of the most crowded tenement dis
tricts in the city, that many of them
were born of foreign parents, and that
none 1t was fair to presume, had had
or would have any assistance what
ever along the path of learning when
at home. In fact, the public school
system, particularly in its elementary
work, scores this point, that it is
| equally successful with all grades of
| children, with the offspring of ignor-
ant parents as we'll as with the chill
| dren of the educated.
The recognition of words Is the first
problem presented to a child who en-
ters New York public school, and for
| the first three or four months the
blackboard is his only primer. In
other words the teaching is entirely
objective.
To illustrate: The teacher at the
outset holds up a wooden horse, dog.
| cat, sheep, bird, dish, bit of furniture.
| any familiar article, in short. for rec
| ognition and says. perhaps:
Il have a horse
Then, handing the animal to one of
| her pupils, she says:
| You have a horse"
This she does several times. the chill
\ dren repeating the sentences after her.
Then she writes them on the black
board. After they are written each
word is tapped with a pointer as it is
pronounced by the teacher and class in
| concert.
Perhaps the word "horse" is next
| pointed to and the children who can
| identify it by name are asked to raise
a hand. Some one of those who re-
spond Is selected to answer.
| The drill goes on with other words
| in the lead and is conducted in such a
variety of ways that the children are
kept alert and interested from start to
\ finish.
Other sentences are added, each con-
tanning, say. the word horse" and be-
a child present who would fail to rec
ognize that one word at least If it was
anywhere in sight.
One child of years quickly pointed
cut to his somewhat abashed teacher
the other day that she had drawn the
IS in horse" in a particular sentence
differently from the IS" in the same
word which occurred in another sem
! tence. The two words, as Ii happened
were written directly one above the
other, and, although the small critic
hadn't the least idea what the name
of the letter was. he did know that il
was used in both words and that the
| top Of one IS" was more rounded than
| that OF the other. This Is given as an
illustration of the thoroughness OF the
drill.
The first primary term ends about