The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-01
CHAMPIONS or POOR SPELLING.
Attitude Taken by a Professor in
 Chicago.

O1AOaBOs
 From the Chicago Record Herald.
 During a discussion at the Chicago Woman's Club Wednesday Professor Arnold Tompkins of the Chicago Nor
 nal School said: sa-'
 "A man should dress welI--so should woman-but not too well; he should comb. but not too we'll; he should write well, but not too well, and he should spell. but not too we'll
 The press recently criticised high school pupils because they were poor spoilers. It was the highest compli- ment ever paid to them, because 1t proved that they were in better busi- ness" .
 \ Another speaker indorsed this mo- tion by declaring that there were more important things in education than good spelling, and ..at the time was coming when the poor speller would no longer be considered illiterate.
 From these assertions and others like them which proceed from the mouths of school teachers we may in- fer that a contempt for correct spell ing is being rather assiduously culti- vated by considerable number of our modern educators, and the question arises whether they are not inviting contempt Tor themselves. It is to be noted, moreover, that they can put for ward no superior claims to authority in the matter, because the test of the value of spelling is not confined to the classroom. It is being applied every day in business and in the pro- fessions. The high school boy who Is assured by Professor Tompkins that the censure of his errors in spelling is in fact a compliment may find that the more he justifies such compliments the more difficult it will be for him to secure the favorable attention of those upon whom he depends for em- ployment. That is a phase of the sub ject that is of very great practical im- portance, and that admits, we should say, of little difference of opinion among persons of experience in the worlds work.
 It is a fair conclusion also that where slovenliness is encouraged in one branch of study It's influence is likely to be felt In others, and if there are occasionally instances from which it appears that poor spelling and broad general culture are not incompatible they are to be taken as curious ex- captions. Furthermore, when we are informed that there are more inn portant things in education than good spelling we are entitled to a bill of particulars; also to proof that inac- AaNJ HI SPCA4ihB AhSlCd0 Ol OClA6 IiiV sign of general slovenliness is evil dence of devotion to the more im- portant things.
 Upon the whole 1t would seem that the high school boy is getting slops when he needs discipline, and if a pro- lessor may defy the rules with im- punity the boy enjoys no such priv ilege. In this connection a story that is told of Dr. Parr, an eminent Eng fish scholar and educator. Is perti- nent. When a gentleman defended his pronunciation of Alexandria with the accent upon the q" by an appeal to the authority of Richard Bentley, Parr came down upon him with the comment that he (Parr) and Bentley might pronounce the word that way, but that the gentleman had better stick to the ordinary usage. So Dr. Tompkins may spell as he pleases, but he ought to refrain from making a laughing stock of his pupils