The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-15
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
Not Practical Enough.
Editor Of The journal.

To the Editor Of The journal.
Referring to your recent editorial, IN
spired by Professor Rankin's defense OF
the high schools, where does the profess
sor get his data for the statement that
the existing courses Of study are mad
equate for the boy who has the bread
and butter problem to face at the con-
clusion of his high school course! He
does not give us any idea OF what ne
would call good evidence that the pres
ent high school course is not good one
for boys who do not go to college. 1t
is my impression, based on good many
years experience with the product OF our
high schools, that inquiry among the busi-
ness houses of the city would soon con-
Vince him that the successes OF which
he speaks are such not because OF any
training they received In school, but IN
spite Of it. Every year large numbers
Of high school graduates besiege the OF
fees of our jobbing and manufacturing
establishments seeking employment. Many
of them find 1t for it is our only source
of supply, but the disappointments are
many and bitter when 1t is discovered
that so far as training of any practical
value is concerned the four years have
been thrown away. Instead Of being
equipped with an elementary training that
will give him a fair start In life, the
young man soon learns that his avail
able assets are nothing and his liabilities
board, clothes, car fare and other ex-
penses incidental to city life. The result
is often a desperate struggle for three
or four years until he can learn by hard
experience what should have been taught
him at school. He cannot write. He
cannot spell. He knows little or nothing
of business mathematics" and less OF
local geography. OF course we do not
look for mature judgment, or ripe ex-
perience even in high school graduate,
but we have right to expect fair work
ing knowledge of the fundamentals.
What are the facts? Out Of about 100
letters applying for the position Of as
sistant bookeeper which / recently exam
ined, more than 80 Of them were rejected
at first glance for poor and illegible writ
ing and worse spelling. Many Of the
applicants stated that they had just fin
ished (?) at such and such a school, and
yet City" 'aford.'' "hopeing,'' "opor-
tunity," mead" etc., were common err
rors. In mathematics the defects are
still more apparent. During the past
twenty years I have come in close con-
tact with large number of young men
who have taken either the whole or a
considerable portion of the high school
course. and I do not now recall one who
had any sort of proficiency in common
arithmetic. They were invariably most
hopelessly and distressingly green. True,
they knew something of physics could
work out an impossible problem by al
zebra and measure the height Of the
courthouse tower by geometry II they had
time enough but not one Of them could
add column of figures Is or 80 lines
long in fifteen minutes and be sure of
the result. They knew nothing of dis
count, interest or percentage, and their
methods of handling common fractions,
decinals and the multiplication table
were so awkward, crude and cumbersome
as to be useless. 1t has come to be a
standing joke in many offices that the
first Commercial course candidate for
business honors has to take is a thoro
clearing out of about all he has learned
In school to get a foundation on which
to build something he can use.
The tools given to him with which to
earn his living are about as useful as a
manicure set would be to briclxlayer.
group of high school students re-
Gently grappled with this complicated
problem: 1.75O pounds hay at s6 per ton.
Some gave it up while others worked
1t after prolonged struggles and yet all
were doing work in advanced algebra and
geometry. They were not to blame. They
were rushed thru the grades at an age
when their minds were utterly unable
to grasp details. If they had been prop
erly taught, the answer to that problem
would have occurred to them as easily
and quickly as one could say 175x3-$5.25.
With the exception of the one or two dis
tinctly mathematical professions, there is
not the slightest use in ordinary bust
ness life for so called advanced mathe-
MATES or the languages, but there Is a
crying need for legible, rapid writing, a
working knowledge of the geography of
the United States, and a thoro furnishing
In the common arithmetic that is the basis
of all our commercial transactions.
C,,,,, ~