The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1903-11-21
Too Many Studies.

Business men who advertise for youths
to fill positions requiring knowledge of
''the three Rs complain that the boys
who apply for employment often spell
badly, know little arithmetic and display
general ignorance in matters of everyday
concern to themselves and their employers.
They can recall isolated facts in number
of ologies. They can also parse, and they
may have a smattering of algebra and Eu-
cid. As respects baseball records and
names of champion football experts they
have well-stored minds and retentive mem
ories. But to do comparatively simple
sum involving the exercise of little com
mon sense, the mani ipulation of few vul-
gar fractions or decimals and the applica-
tion of familir rules-this is beyond them.
Boys OF from II to 16, in an age of abun-
dant and costly free schools, are wanting
in the very elements of practical educa-
ton. Nor is this confined to poor boys,
the sons of parents struggling with adger-
sity, but presidents of colleges and tech
biological schools affirm that rich men sons
nowadays come to their institutions wretch
edly equipped as respects the three Rs.
The skill required to write decently plain
English sentence and spell the words cor
rectly seems to be scarcer and scarcer every
year, Our engineering exchanges are con-
tinually harping on the propriety of an en-
gineer being able to write report in in
telligible English and in words so spelled
as to avoid bringing his technical knowl-
edge into contempt. The "higher educa-
ton, - in fact, encounters its greatest OBJ
stacle in the shortcomings of the lower
schools. The cause of this decrease of ef-
ficiency in the schools that give the aver
age boy all the education he ever gets is to
be found, it is believed, in the multiplicity
of subjects taught at the dictation of fad
dists, interested publishers and ignorant
school authorities. The latter are perpet-
ually adding to the curriculum some new
science or accomplishment, thus laying new
burdens on the back of the harassed teach
er. In almost every grade the boy also
suffers, being forced to cram far greater
variety of subjects than is studied by the
boy of the same age who is being educated
in an expensive private school. Both
teacher and pupil have more than they can
do. The former is unable to give his in
dividual attention to each of his many pu
pills, and the latter lack the mental capacity
to absorb the multifarious sciences, arts
and crafts presented to their undeveloped
faculties The system is at fault. The
boys get no thorough grounding in essen
tials. but are hurried on from grade to
grade, digesting such scraps of knowledge
as they can. The remedy is to sweep away
the ruck of ologies which prevent thor
ough training and recur with constant en-
phasis to the three RS. Reading, writing
and arithmetic, taught with old fashioned
attention to spelling, would satisfy the ed
ucational requirements of the great major
ity of boys vastly better than the present
chaotic curricula. A way must be pro-
vided for bright boys who want more, but
the needs of the average boy who ''goes
into business should be the first concern
of our school authorities. As things go,
'seducation' for the latter is a mockery
1t is nockery because it ignores the we'll
tried maxim. "Not many things, but
much.''