New-York tribune., 1905-01-01
EDUCATING CHILDREN.
A Book for Parents That May Be
Useful to Teachers.

PEDAGOGUES AND PARENTS. BY Ella Caiis.a
Wilson 12rnO. pp- xviii. 20 Henry Holt & Co.
Mrs Wilson's book on the education OF chill
dreu enjoys possibly a unique distinction among
works on this subject in being written By a
nareDt for parents, instead OF by a pedagogue
for pedagogues. It is a plea for the treatment
of the child in the school an individual as Il
is in the family, and not as grade The
author regards the increasing tendency toward
uniformity Of method and curriculum In second
arv and high schools as a menace to intel
IectuaI freedom. and calls upon parents-to do
something. She is precise enough in her criti-
cisrn but a trife vague in her suggestions On
one point. at least. she is clear. if general, in
her appeal She wishes parents to take more
interest in schools and school methods, and il
is hard TO believe that any father or mother
reading her book would not be aroused 70 in
duire more particularly into the kind Of train
ing his or her child is receiving at the hands OF
principals and teachers. The book is written
in a lively fashion that compels attention to
serious and acknowledged defects in our school
system and is frightened by many opposite and
humorous anecdotes and Instances
The authors particular grievance against
teachers is that those of them who are parents
are teachers first and parents secOndarily- She
believes that it would be a good thing If con-
VentiOQS or eQuc4LOfS. HE lA4JSc VI 4r-l5t|liS
should include proportion OF
Law delegates CT the fathers and mothers whose
children are being educated as we'll as OF those
20 vvbon, the work is intrusted The suggestion
is not without merit, but would be more vaIu-
able if-as. indeed, she herself makes quite clear
the pedagogues themselves were not fully alive
TO the dangers and necessities Of the educational
system. and are undoubtedly better informed as
to the practical difficulties of the school prob
lem. To a reader, who-like herself. a parent
and not a pedagogue-has also given some at
tention to these matters. IL seems as II Mrs
Wilson, in criticising the uniform curriculum
by the Committee Of Ten" and
largely adopted by the best schools has mis-
conceived the purpose Of this action Of the Ma
tionaI Educational Association Its intention
was not, as she appears to assume, TO make all
children alike. but to make all schools alike.
to establish standard for the institution rather
than for the pupil
That the tendency is. and always has been,
in large schools. to treat the child as something
to be moulded to the system. rather than 70 re-
gard the system as something to be adapted to
the needs of the child, is Undeniably true. Much
must depend upon the discretion OF the indi-
viduaI teacher, but not all teachers may be de-
pended upon to have the necessary discretion
How to obtain the best results without leaving
too much to the teacher. and at the same time
to train up a class Of teachers to whom more
may safely be left. is the question which Is
to-day most profoundly engaging the attention
Of educators everywhere The weakest spot in
the present system seems to be- not the grade"
but the requirement that children should con-
form to and be advanced by grades in all their
studies. instead of according to their individual
proficiency and aptitude in each particular
indeed. and is still far from the perfection at
which it aims. Every helpful word such as
Mrs Wilson's book utters, will be welcomed as
much by the pedagOSues to whom il is "alsO
open" as by the parents TO whom it is primarily
addressed We can heartily recommend it 10
both classes as an entertaining and suggestive
contribution to subject which should De Of vital
interest to every person concerned in the e1u-
cation of the young and in the future welfare
of our country. For one thing the book is SIM
ply written and not Overweighted with the cum
brOus terminology OF most works on this sub
teet Mrs. Wilson takes goOd-natured ding az