The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-02-23
LETTERS TO EDITOR.
The Text Book Bill.

/ schools of Alabama to some facts rela-
! tive to the uniform text book law" of
Tennessee, cleaned from pamphlet
issued in 1900 by the Nashville board of
education. entitled "A Letter to the Pat
rons of the Public Schools of Nashville.
Stating the Position of the Board of
Education With Reference to the Text
Book Question"
Page 10-"knowing that subjects should
be treated in text books according to the
time TO be devoted to such work and a
book suitable for schools running four
months in the year was unfit for use in
/ schools having a ten months session. the
board declined to use any of the state
books that did not in its opinion fit the
! curriculum-the result of careful study by
| boards of education, superintendent and
teachers for over forty years. The board
realized that the fundamental and ever
lasting principles of pedagogy were not
changed by the adoption of a uniform
series of text books"
Page 1t-"While the cost of the lndivid-
ual reader adopted by the state is less
than the price of the one used in the
city 1t is a fact that when the cost of
is added 1t is greater than the combined
cost of the reader and supplementary
reader now in use in the CITY,"
THE state has already found that the
practical arithemetic first adopted. pre-
senting the subject in exactly the reverse
order from that demanded by educators
of standing, is light and requires a high
er to complete it, The practical does not
even make pretense at mental drill and
the commission has adopted a mental
arithmetic at 70 cents, which, together
with the higher adopted at 80 cents, will
make the total cost of arithmetic 81 Al as
against 81 in the city, if the efficiency is
to be maintained"
Pages II, 1.-THE Biographies are a
cheapened and abridged edition of The
regular Frye Biographies, fit only for
state contract purposes. They are bound
in pasteboard, while the books now in use
In the city are bound in cloth and fire.
| ouently serve two or more pupils The
report of principals does not justify the
! belief that they are equal to the CITY
books from pedagogical standpoint. The
study MAPS which the author in the reg
ular edition says are essential for the
teaching Of geography are omitted in the
Tennessee edition. Tennessee contract
price 40 and So cents respectively. The
same books with same number of pages
and bound in the same manner are sold
In Indiana at 80 and 70 cents respectively
Two of the three grammars adopted
by the state are TIE same as those now
in use in the city. The board did not see
tit to introduce the third as it covers
practically the same ground as one of the
two now in use, and would increase the
expense p cents. The saving by the state
adoption of the two books now in use
is and cents respectively.
THE geometry adopted by the state
was in use in the city schools, but was
displaced at the request of the teacher
OF mathematics some years ago. The
price of the state book is 81, while that
of the one in use in the city is S125
THE board at one time used two SPELL
ers costing together 80 cents, which at
its request the publishers bound together
reducing the cost to 20 cents The state
adopted two spoilers, which together cost
Is cents an excess of cents over the
cost of the speller in use in the city.
THE state adopted ,hree physologies.
varying in price from 25 to rs cents The
city used only one book costing so cents.
If the GO-cent book was displaced and the
efficiency of the work maintained, the 10
| cent book of the state adoption would be
the one necessary to choose
"Of the two histories adopted by the
state at so and 10 cents respectively. thu,
| 10 cent book is intended to cover the same
| ground as the one now i'm use in the city
| costing $100 One of the state histories
was graded by the sub-commisson at
the bottom of the list. and the other far
| from the top The teachers of history i'm
| the schools to whom the subject was re-
ferred reported the adopted book entirely
unsuted to the needs here.
THE algebras adopted by the state at
"a and 10 cents are good books and well
| bound. The city uses only one book cost
| ing Sl.0O II requires both books adopted
by the state at cost of Sl29 to take the
place of the one book used by the city
cos ting only s1.0O
THE city adopted the physics in use in
the city, but in cheaper binding reduc-
| ing the cost 30 cents. The board adopted
this book at the state price"
The Nashville copy books, quality disre-
| garded. were cheaper by one-half cent
| IMAM tnOSe ADOPTED by the state while the
| paper In those adopted by the state is so
thin that what is written on one side
| shows through on the other.
! The composition book adopted by the
| state was reported by the teacher of that
| subject to be a good one. The pupils I'M
| der the terms of state adoption paid 20
cents In exchanging the old book for this
| one. The board of education adopted the
! book and made arrangements with the
| publishers for an even exchange. securing
the books for introduction in the schools
| of Nashville 30 cents cheaper than did
the commission for the state of Tennes-
! see.
l learn from a teacher of Tennessee who
| Is well trained, has had considerable ex-
| perlence, and possesses good, sound judg-
| ment, that the books that were adopted
| py the state are as a whole, of inferior
! grade; that the readers were inferior to
| many published and to many in use in
the schools of Tennessee at the time, and
| that many of the books sent into the
state were secondhand bought up i'm
places that had discarded them for better
books. rebound and sold as new: that the
biographies were cheapened and
abridged edition, and so poorly bound
mat they came to pieces after a few
weeks use From these facts ii seems
that this law has not done so much for
4 tennessee as 1t is alleged. If these facts
are true and the board of education Qs90-
l90O) OF Nashville is responsible for the
statements. 1t is difficult to see where
| the governor of Tennessee pato 1,is