Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-08-28
BRArrLEsoRo, FRIDAY, AUG. %, 1908
Good Public Schools.


The public schools in proportion t.
their importance to the progress o
civilization receive the least attention
of any of our modern institutions. W.
leave the teaching Of the children, wht
are to make the men and women in {
few years. to poorly paid and Otter
poorly educated teachers and ther
wonder why there are so many ignor-
ant persons in the world.
The branch of study most commonly
neglected and most inexcusably so is
the English language. Reading, witt
ing, and spelling give many of us OPP
portunity to display our ignorance, but
all these fade into insignificance when
we listen to the spoken English which
we hear from our own lips and from
the lips of others every day. There
may be no need for class in CONVEX
sation in the public schools; we can
all converse" but we can't or won't
talk" in good English.
A recent writer in the Literary
World discusses the question of Eng
lish as she is spoke" the following
being an extract from his article:
Renowned as our public schools are,
and excellent as they are in many re-
spects, certainly one grave charge may
be laid against them-and that is that
they turn into the world, every year,
thousands of children who have no
idea, at least, no practice, of the cor
rectly spoken English language.
Many of the boys and girls are able to
write with moderate ease and fair ac-
curacy, but not one out of ten can
speak with even an approach to cor
rectness. There seems to be no con-
nection In their minds between what
they are taught in school and the or
binary uses of everyday speech.
Probably not one of the graduates OF
a grammar school would write i amt
a goin' to do it, We wasn't in time to
ketch no train I seen him when he
done it,, and the like, yet it is safe to
say that nine out of ten would say
these things.
This may seem exaggerated at first;
but think a moment and you will re-
member that the talk of children in the
street, or wherever else you hear pub
lie school children talking out OF
school, is shocking in its shiftlessness
and illiteracy.
Where is the fault? 1t is hard to
say exactly 1t may be said that the
children have not the habit of hearing
speech at home. True. But
large part of these children are the
children of parents educated in our
public schools Gas matter of fact, the
children Of real foreigners speak more
than those of the lower class
mericans or Irish Americans), and 1t
8 undoubtedly and lamentably true
hat children of ten or twelve years OF
lge speak less correctly than their
who were educated in |
his country.
How can such things be? and what |
8 the remedy? There is a certain |
mount of instruction in grammar |
given in the schools, but it doesn't |
eem to stay by as it used. Possibly |
,rains have deteriorated. but this Is
lardly likely; nor can the foreign ele-
nent' be the thorough scapegoat that
ONE try to make 1t. Personally, and |
IN not alone by any means, l believe
hat it is the new education that is at
ault. The fol-de-rol kindergarten
method starts the child wrong in the
'eginning with it's silly mixture of
lay and study; the new primary meth
dis continue the bad work in the same
Erection; and the fancy object les
t music and drawing and nature
tudy, complete it.
1t does not sound progressive to
ak of going back to the old-fashioned
Methods of instruction. but even the
can hardly deny that the
ew methods have failed to come up to
From the kindergarten
p through the colleges our young peo-
Re are not so we'll educated as they
,ere thirty years ago. 1t may be said,
But are they not better fitted to cope
nth the world?' which, being inter-
reted, is to make money Not {
link. The proportion of failures is. I
elieve, greater in these days: though, .
course, the exceptional attachments
re more conspicuous.
The most potent factor in the
on education of our public schools is
lie meagre pay received by the teach
rs Many of them, no doubt receive
II the compensation they deserve, but
he salaries in the country schools pro-
ibit higher intellectual standard.
he high school graduate with scarce
sufficient education to write let
n of application, but who is a friend
erhaps of the school director or the
lperintendent, who has known the
lmily," is placed at the head Of from Z
n to forty children in district
,hool; six dollars a week and board.
( course she cannot teach them all in
fferent grades and keep up with the
llage and city primary intermediate
I'd grammar schools, but that is what
lie is expected to do. The conse- d
lence is that the district school q
holars hold back the graded school
holars in the high schools. and the
'untry high schools are supposed to
I'm out scholars who can compete in
'llege with graduates of Phillips
.ademies and Boston Latin schools.
nus the whole course of education is y
tarded by the incompetency of poor :,
paid teachers at the start.
We want these schools of ours right &,
we want teachers who know and VI
no know how to teach. If we have =,
csc we must pay for them, and we h,
ust take a personal, active interest h,
our schools. n
Reckless Extravaoance. m