Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1905-04-05
SCHOOL QUESTION
The Problem of Primary Public
Education

u eno iViio"inS We'll Clmei
l. editorial on the educational situa
g ton:
. Nearly every large city in tn,
country is now perplexed over tn,
: problem of primary public ,duca
IS ton. This problem is being dis
o cussed with energy proportionate
!. to the size of the cities. In New
York. for instance, it is attracting
D more attention than in any other
a municipality in the country
Q A number of years ago persons
= who thought that children in the
. public schools should be taught
, more taaa "the three RS" began
to agitate additions to the public
! school curriculum. 1--WE are talk
ing about the primary and gram
, mer grades of the schools, and not
the high schools. The great prob
lem of the day In public education
iS not high-school problem, but a
primary school problem.) AS
result of tie movement, believing
that there are several things be-
sides reading, writing, and arith-
metic, which every intelligent
child ought to have chance to
learn, the directors Of the public
schools, particularly in the up-to-
date cities. add many subjects to
their courses of instruction. Ply
siology and hygiene, civil govern
ment, cooking, sewing, manual
training, music, drawing, etc.,
have been tackled to the old pro-
gramme. By no means every
school teaches them all, but SOM
schools teach them all and nearly |
all schools teach several Of them.
There are signs of strong resc-
ton. Many parents claim that
their children are overloaded and
confused by the multiplicity Of
studies. A cry has arisen in the
larger cities that the child of slow
prehensiOn-who may be the
child of sure retention il being
sacrificed by system which is 80
duplicated that only bright chill.
dren can stand its requirements
This cry is growing constantly
louder, and we may expect to hear
it taken up soon in every city that
has public schools. In addition
to the complaint that the less alert
children are overburdened, it is as
serfed that the number of subjecte
taught is getting so large that the
teachers, even if they wish to do '
SO, have no time to give special at {
tention to the bt edward pupils, {
either singIy or as whole. {
So strong is the feeling of reac-
ton that We notice tendency to t
include in the present denuncia- d
ton of fads in schools several c
hinge that are not properly to be u
called fads. Cooking and sewing v
are not fade when taught to girls. d
they are fads, of the least excusa +
Die kind, il taught to boys in the q.
public schools. Primary carpen- i.
try Is not q fad If taught to boys. q
If taught to girls it is nothing else G
han a fad. Provided these sub h
ects are not allowed to develop n
90 deliberately, and provided they y,
ire properly assigned with regard 50
10 the sexes, they are an admira BILE O,
eature of primary public educa.
ion. But the list should be res
risted stri city 10 the merest es. n
entails. Music, dra wing, bor. ~
iculture, etc., are accomplish ~
nents, and come properly under r
he heading of fads. In our opin- ;,
on, all that sort Of thirg ought to !. =.
70 eliminated from the public ~
chool curriculum and the time -
hus gained should be applied t,
he pupils who have difficulty in o
rasping the fundamental princi u
les of the fundamental studies. u
here is no objection to reasona- d
10 amount of mature study" and X
Their frills as occasional recres ii'
on, with no class requirements o, uS
Nominations to weigh on the Ill
upils' minds, But the real cur
culum should be small. Better or
did understanding of few es of
initial subjects than uncert;a ia
nattering of a hundred others. NJ
The majority of the bard headed n.
merican people are not able to ap ca
rebate such extremes OF educa at
onal Gaintiness as that to which SD,
II Oliver Lodge recently went in erl
! address to teachers at Birming-
I'm, England. Sir Oliver "des M,
ibed arithmetic as being one of Ke
% most absurd of the complexities uo
pretended commerce. "The ~
rms CT arithmetic" he said, care do,
q worst things ever concocted by 70,
nation emerging from semi-bar. I'm
rism." That there is a tendency ~.
teach too much arithmetic to ~
e average child is doubtless the Ger
ct, but the people of this coun- 81
y. at any rate, are not prepared Ma
have their children drop arith- an,
,tic, taught in reasonable de,
,ount. for the study Of biology,
ologY, geology, entomology, or
y other ology. The average L
rent whose child goes to the tan
bic schools is perfectly willing mo