The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-24
A CRITICISM OF RAFFIA
Exodus" Urges That sasketry Work
Impedes Proper Functions Of
the Schools.


lnpedes Proper Functions OF
the Schools.
To the Editor of The Journal:
Still we are vexed with the extraya- |
gance Of spending SO MUCH money and so
much Of the teachers time on something
that looks pretty when it is nicely finished |
and advertises us well abroad, and yet, !
when you come to consider, is of no par
ticular value to the child.
On the other hand. it is extremely harl
to teach, for, while it is comparatively |
easy to teach fifty children at one time
to read or spell, or principle In arith-
metic, it is All entirely different matter
with the basketry That is something that |
requires SO much individual attention that
it is an inpossibility to teach more than
one or two children the stitch or tie
at q time. Many teachers prefer to keep
the children after school hours and show
them how to do it separately to undertake
ing to teach many at d time during regu-
lar hours. But by that time the teachers !
are tired and the childrel, and they
ought not to be kept longer. 1t is long
day for little people to be without much
free exercise, from 9 till $3.50. At this
period of their growth it is especially ne
cessary for them to have out-of door eS
erclse. But by the time they get home
after being kept for the baskets it is too
late for them to play much out of doors.
Can parents be blamed for not liking this
stage of affairs?
Who is benefited? The school manage
ment and the reputation of our honorable
school board and, so far as can see.
| they alone. There Is very little in it for
the child. even though he gets so he can
make a basket. And as to the teacher?
well, 1t simply wears her out.
We should all Of us take reasonable
amount of pride in our schools. but we
Should not allow our pride to run away
| with our sense and Judgment. We should
consider, first Of all, the health of our
teachers and our children, and even if
this work can be done at odd times with
out shutting out more important matters
1T would require large amount of time,
Ill the end, without materially benefiting
ANYBODY, except as an advertisement
me teachers have enough to do without
| basketry There are every day, from two
to i've sets of papers to be looked over
| and this department Of the teachers work
| should receive more attention than it
! does now "a days. There is no better way
OF finding out how much The child really
| Knows out of the instruction given thai,
to have him reproduce what he can from,
memory; there Is no better way to teach
children spelling than to have tile words
| written many times; there Is no better
way or liking anything in the child's mind
| IMAM by having him write it in some way.
NO work should be given that is not to
| De corrected. That is a principle of which
every conscientious teacher is aware. Chill
| dren should often be asked to rewrite
correctly what they wrote Incorrectly in
! the 1lrst place. l doubt II there is q room
anywhere where it IS not necessary Ia
give individual help to children who fail
to get all they need out of the general
instruction given in the regular period,
(rloW can q teacher do. that when she is
spending al the time she can get trying
to teach the children to weave viii, t1,is
unwieldy rattan? They say that in one
OF the lower grades the children are ex
pected to thread up loom or frame wifi,
:. Unread fourteen yards long
| lhere IS theory about its heinz better
70 nave more hand work and less head
work But that theory does moi corre.
spond with the progress Of ciyiliz, t,nu
All the time machines are being invented
10 Jake the place of hand labor And
fand labor is cheap accordingly. And he
sldes we want our children to be able to
invent machines or at least have sense and
| mteilect enough to make use Of such
ma time to read and think and have q
niue social life and time for the cultiva.
ton or the arts of civilized life instead
n tne savage arts. Much that is dis
agreeable in our contact with others would
never exist were people more thoughtful.
Why not cultivate thougthfulness, in
| every way. instead of basketr1- if there
is any time to spare. This can be dona nv
stories In school and it is quite as delisht-
ful to the children and far easier fo, the
tcacher. You may say you have that now.
put why not have more Of it and less of
the oasketry Stree basketry is such an
awkward thing to handle in school?
Besides, If 1t is better to have more
attention paid to hand work. does not tina t
lie III the province of the home? The
schools can't do their own work and
everybody's else. They are well equipped
FOR mental training, and the homes. for
the Industrial.
Are not things getting pretty much
mixed up when we try to have the school
work done at home and the hand work
zone III school, in our attempt to bring the
nome and the school into closer SYM
party? The intention is good but the re-
suit is bad. Why even as far down now
as second grade the children are urged
by the teachers to take their books home
and coax someone at home to help them
With the lessons. And it is a fact tina t
most OF the children who do we'll at school
are the ones who do get help at home
i l heard a devoted mother of four little
tots, say, the other day, that she could
teach industrial work tc her children at
home because it lay all around her and
was just in her line, but when it came to
teaching arithmetic she couldn't do it very
well because the smaller children did not
give them chance to think.
Il The hard working people hope that by
sending their children to school to 'get
an education that the time will come by
and by when they can go out into the
world and earn. not only their own living.
but be able to help the old folks at home
a little in their old age. But if this care
less written work is allowed much longer
they will hardly he able to earn their daily
bread let alone helping any body else
j, They say that the children that enter the
seventh and eighth grades know less and
less Of what they should know evcry year;
that the primary part. the very founda-
ton, has been sadly neglected
If the old folks did not have the oppor-
tunity to learn anything but hand work
they arc very anxious that their schidrel1
should. Every child who goes to schoo
has right to Il brain education and ii Is
a shame to destroy the teachers oppor-
tunity Of helping him to it by cultterine
the way SO with this so-caled "industriai
work The most of the "industriaT' pari
of it falls upon the teacher.
I, 1t is q notorious fact that the other work
is neglected for this rif-raffia The prin-
cipal comes to the teacher and says
Cant you get me some real pretty
baskets to send over to the Officer" The
teacher answers cheerfully that she car
f Though she admits to her bosom frien6
that she hates to use the time for thai
as she needs it SO much for the Other
work. throws the papers in the waste.
basket the papers which she meant tt
| folr 70 md in, ip,e 1,e