The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-24

Study in the Public Schools.
wish to know.if 1t is proper to turn out
child upon the street or into the cold
because of that or because he was tardy
but a half minute. I endeavor to point
out that the overt act, however harmless
apparently, was a symptom OF an unfor-
tunate mental, possibly, moral condition,
which required most thoughtful treat
ment So it is with spelling; 1t is Symp-
tom, in most cases, of general dlsor-
der, consideration of which cannot be
thrust aside as trifiing or unnecessary. 1t
is not bad spelling alone; it is bad read
ing, calculating. writing, composing-au
go together. What is the cause, and what
the remedy? Some insist that continual
changes work against thoroughness-
changes of texts, of systems, of arrange
ments, of administration, and these are
not to be wholly disregarded. Others in
sist that it is the lack of COORDINATION,
or correlation, and there is much in this
also Others find 1t in wretched habits
of study, SO strongly fixed that they can
not be broken.
A teacher recently said to me: IF
ask the children to study a reading les
SON. they do not know, seemingly, what
to do. If it be an arithmetic lesson it is
still worse. Take away from them pencil
and paper in arithmetic and tell them
simply to study, and they are hopelessly
helpless. The habit Of writing everything
q beg you will excuse me from saying
scribbling or scrawling) has become so
fixed that there Is apparently no relief
from 1t. believe in certain amount of
written work. enough of it to secure in
initely better results than we now have,
but rather than hold to the course now
followed In some rooms, it were better
that writing material were denied chill
| it if teachers would try for three con-
secutive days, some time, simply as an
experiment to get along in arithmetic
without aid of pencil or pen. devoting the
70
giving answers require the pupils to stand
and fully explain how the work should be
done, giving reasons for every STEP. !.
Too Much Daily Routine. :, - e,
We are welded to daily Rotations in
everything; geography, history, grammar,
| ment either necessary or the most profit
able? May We not challenge IT.? Isl it
possible to dispense with spelling, and
with writing as stated exercises and get
grammar a week be enough? Would one
| hour weekly answer in drawing and mu-
Sic. and one recitation period do in nat
ural science, object lessons, etc.?
| For the answer to these questions I
| invite yoar attention to school courses in
| Germany, England and France 4. Changes
are slowly coming into their courses but
| In 1900 they were substantially as here
reported "a"
At this point Supt. Smith introduced
| the time tables of the European schools
| mentioned above, and in each system it
| to each study in the course Of the week
! in those European schools thar in the
| schools of this city, and that no study
| is given recitation every day In the
| Of France is furnished the most striking
| illustration Of this idea There a pupil
| OF the age of eight years devotes nine
and a half hours each week to the study
| of French, which includes grammar, read
| ing and writing. Then gradually as he
progresses the time is cut down until at
the age of fourteen years he has but two
hours week OF French, and at the age
| Of seventeen years he has given it up al
| together and has substituted psychology
logic. ethics and metaphysics, to all Of
which in the aggregate he devotes nine
hours a week.
In closing Supt. Smith said:
Grade Requirements an Evil
! And now, aside from the Encouragement
of studies, there is in the extreme and
severe observance Of grade requirements
a fundamental evil. The amount of ground
| the pupils go over. the numberless ex-
thousands Of exercises in penmanship
| that they. literally, execute are more
| than sufficient to make them accurate
and thorough If they were effectively per-
| formed. Our schools will never do their
| perfect work until there rs more freedom
for the teacher and more freedom for the
child. What can be more deadening than
the doing Of work, simply because one is
told to do it,! What more pitifuI than
turning away from the manifest needs Of
the child, from the essential mental re-
quirements. to see If they be written
down in course of study, or in the list Of
assignments!
The Encouragement of our courses Of
study cannot be delayed much longer
When made they must be founded upon
the principle that there Is time enough
in the early years of child life in which
to give all necessary instruction. Let us
! make no mistake; 1t is not lack of time,
but mistaken choice and bad arrangement
that brings the evil. There is all the
time needed for the true course of study.
What is a course of study? Without de-
| fining,. let me say, first of all it should
compel, or to use milder term, secure
thoroughness. It must. be adapted to
| the age and understanding of the child.
1t must place things in their true rela-
ton and determine relative values. It
| must deal with the daily experiences Of
child life; it must offer nothing as learn
| ing or knowledge that must later be re
vised or unlearned; it must be natural and
| orderly in it's presentation, and it must
always point to the next necessary step. 3