Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-03-01
The Observer.


the school curricula of the present day
are 80 overcrowded with studies tkaS
the pupils of our grammar and high
schools are less proficient in such
simple matters as spelling and arith-
metic than were the school children c6
half century ago, when little was
taught besides the traditional three R'a.
A recent investigation made in Spring.
field, Massachusetts,, shows that this
assertion is not warranted by the facts,
few years ago, a bound volume
was found in the garret of the old high
school in Springfield, which contained
spelling tests and examination ques-
tions, with answers, Of the year .1s4a
Recently this volume was brought %
the attention of Mr.. Riley, the p4inCs-
pal of the grammar school, and be, ae
once proceeded to apply these tests 10
the grammar school pupils. Had no
wished to be absolutely fair to tho
present day schools, he would have
applied the tests to the second yeaa
pupils of the high school, or at least 10
the freshmen. The odds were there
fore in favor of the pupils of 1s4s.
The tests of 1916 were applied origin
ally to SIS pupils; the same tests were
applied in 1905 to 245 pupils. In 1873
the percentage of correct spelling Was
40.6, as against 61.2 in 1905. In 1919
the percentage of correct answers in
arithmetic was 29.4, as against 655 in
in 1905 There were twenty words in
the spelling test. In 1916, only afteeR
of the eighty-tive pupils passed the
the seventy per cent mark in spelling
Two pupils did rot spell single word
correctly; nine had only nine rigbtT
more than one fourth of the class mis-
spelled seventeen or more words.
Mr.. Ossian H Lang, to whom we
are indebted for a detailed account q
this Investigation in the current NUM-
ber of the Forum, says that the chief
point in the result is ''that the Spring
field schools are doing better work ana
accomplishing better results to day
than they did sixty years ago in the
very studies which then comprised the
whole programme while to-day they
are only portion of it, What is true
OfSpringfield may safely be accepted
as applicable to the whole country.
The enriched carricula of the element
airy schools have not reduced one iota
the possibility of producing as good
results in three RS to-day as have
been attained at any time in tho past.
The spelling of our grandfathers ana
grandmothers was no less fearfully
and wonderfully made, on the average
than that of their descendants"
Perhaps, though, there is another side
to the question, which must not be lefE.
out of the account. President Faunce,
of Brown University says that sit is
the general conviction of college
teachers that while the freshmen OK
to-day know more than their fathers
did at the same age, they are inferioF
to their fathers in logical strength, tH
power of concentration, and in the
faculty of sustained thought (" The
pupils Of 1856 did notHo badly in theiE
post school life.
Mr.. Riley himslf Observes
among those who were most sue,
cessful in the tests were two boys who
are still living in Springfield. One t.se
been mayor of the city; the Other - q
leader in business life. Some Of the
| girls and boys who failed in spelling
became leaders as well. One girl. who
attempted only four of ting sigAt
examples, and had them all wrong, .fs.~
came an honored member Of the
| Springfield school board 4 boy VINO
missed 10 Of the 20 words, and whG
solved only three of the eight examples
correctly became president of u bank.
His life as a citizen was truly noble.
and at his death his city paid unusual
honor to his memory. Another boy Is
to day at the head of q bank in Albany
Still another boy; who could not DO
single example and who could spelp
but six words correctly, became mayor
of a western city"