The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-11
HISTORIES ARE FAIR
SAYS SURPENTENDENT ASHMORE
OF NEW SCHOOL BOOKS
THE NEW BOOKS Reviewed.
NO IMPROVEMENT OVER BOOKS
USED IN SAVANNAH.

Much Better Selection Could Have
Been Made In the English Gram
mars-The Superintendent says
Grammars Are All Different and
DO Not Follow Each other in
UeEUIar SeGuence-Writing Copy
books Are Inferior to Ones Used
Here-Ropders, Aritlametics, and
Civics are All Good Books and
should Prove Satisfactory GeOg-
rnphy Only Books Selected Now
in Use in savannah.
Superintendent of Schools Otis Ash
more briefly reviewed yesterday the
books which have been selected for
use in the state schools by the School
Book Commission. Some of the books
Supt. Ashmore unqualifiedly indorses
He believes that many better selections
could have been made.
In regard to the readers" said Supt
AshmOre, "a very good selection has
been made. All of the books are well
adapted to the work for which they
are recommended. The Lee readers 1
a cursory examination 1 believe that
they are good books. Taken as a whole
L think the selections are very good.
THE arithmetics. also, have been
very well selected, though three of
the books are not necessary in any one
school. These are Bacops Interme-
! date, Wentworth's Practical, and
Mines Standard arithmetics. While
they are all good books they are not
necessary. presume the selection was
made for the purpose of securing a
! diversity of text books in order that
the work in different schools might be
varied.
THE Biographies are all strong
books and no better could have been
selected. We use the books in our
schools. and 1 know that they are all
! prize books.
"Maynard's physiology is also a very
! good selection. and 1 believe that it
! will prove satisfactory in every re-
sDect.
1.-The text book on civics is a good
one. The author, Mr.. Peterman, is a
Kentuckian and a strong writer 1
am personally acquainted with him,
and have worked with him on several
| occasions. 1 am acquainted with his
| books and am sure that his books will
| prove satisfactory in all the schools"
Histories are Fair to South.
In speaking of the histories selected
! by the commission, Supt. Ashmore said
they are all written by Southern au-
/ thors and were fair to the South. This
| question, the securing of history text
| hooks which do NOT n1iSranraSanf the
South, is one which has been discussed
| in nearly all the Southern states and
| considerable interest Is taken in the
| books selected by the commission at
AtlantaA while they are fair to
the South, 1 do not think they are
superior to the ones we are using in
our schools. The history text books
which we use are all written by South
ern authors though not the ones Sc
lected by the book commission. Our
| books are, of course, fair. No others
would be allowed.
I'm the spelling books Bransons No
is very good book, in fact one of
the best published. 1 think, however
| that an improvement could have been
made over Swinton's There are too
many words in the book, and this in
jures its effectiveness. We formerly
used it here, but found it too bulky for
good work"
GrammRrs and Writing Books.
The selections in English grammars
are criticized adversely by Supt. Ash
| more, a much better selection being
possible in his estimation.
Three different grammars have
been selected" he said. 1.-The gram
mars at present are issued in series so
arranged that each book dove-tails
! perfectly into the one preceding it.
] I'm fhiC CT az ~,
regularly connected steps from one
subject to another. The commission
seems not to have awaited itself of
this sequence. Grammars at their
| best are always more or less unsatis-
factory to the teachers, each having
some defect which the teacher must
| remedy. In the case of the school
| commission the selections seems lllog-
! ical, but l presume that it was as good
as could be made.
! I'm the selection of writing copy
| books l believe that a better selection
could have been made. I do not think
that the one selected is as good as the
one which we are using in our schools.
We considered that book carefully when
we made our selection, and l think we
ranked it third or fourth. -
Biographies Used in Savannah.
When asked If any of the books Sc
| lected by the commission were used
| in Savannah, Supt. Ashmore said that
none were in use except the geogra-
phies. Though the local schools do not
| have to follow the selections made by
the state, yet in case any of those
books are in use, the cheaper price will
be given the children. The Biographies
will, therefore, be secured at the lower
price.
In speaking of the matter of changes
in the textbooks, Supt. Ashmore said:
'"Hhat is a matter which rests en-
tirely with the Board of Education. OF
course, no change can be made until
| next fall, as q change at this time
would break into the work of the year
1T may be that there will be some
few instances where we can change to
advantage in order to secure the lower
| price While l cannot say what action
if any, will be taken by the board, yet
| 1t is possible that in cases where
! changes can be made without lower
ing our standard and without financial
loss to the children, that the board may
adopt the books selected by the state
In case of a change, however, there
is certain to be an initial loss, and
the question will be as to whether the
saving in the price of books can make
| I'm for this"