Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-18
VIEWS OF Able KLEIN
WHAT HE THINKS OF EDUCA-
TIoN IN THE DISTRICT.
Visit to the M Street High School
Pupils Attentive, Wide Awake
and Intelligent.

Able Felix Klein of the Catholic Uniyer-
sity of Paris whose book en- America un-
der the title '.Au Pays de la Vie Intense"
won for him the Montyan prize of thou
sand francs, makes an interesting state
ment about education in the District.
about this city the French visitor found
something of Versailles in the great ave-
nues spreading out in every direction from
the Capitol to the boundaries of the city,
and something of the Champs Eiysees IN
the splendid squares which lie on one side
of the executive mansion with its Ionic
columns. while on the other side, beyond
artificial ponds and gardens, the view
stretches out in distant perspective to the
Washington Monument" He notes that
almost nowhere are there any Industrial
establishments, the commerce is no greater
than what is needed to supply the wants
of the luxurious city itself, and none of the
buildings pierces the clouds, because he
height of no edifice can be greater than the
width of the street All this does not pre-
vent Washington from attaining TO a popu-
lation of :}tD. 000
The author thinks that, on the whole,
the most instructive hours of his sojourn
III the United States We're spent at the
gef.eral bureau of education here, with the
chief of which, DR.. w. 7. Harris he had
several interviews. The facts and stats
tics placed at his disposal dgested IN
Il cidpLST LOT the benefit or the f6tlCn pun
lie He gives clear and correct account
of the gradual development of American
education. from the original primary
school, grammar school and college twhlca
latter really corresponded to the French
institutions for secondary instructfon) up
to the post-graduate departments of the
Dsadarn universities.
Much Data Given
Able Klein presents much data which
are familiar to the American reader, ana
notes his observations in a "colored nsh
school" to the principal of which DR.. Har
ris had given him a letter of Introduction.
He says that. entering the building ana
going upstairs. he found. seated in an OF
nee, whose door was open, coiOred wO-
man pretty, young and intelligent looking
TO whom he showed DIR. Harris letter and
asked to see the principal.
i am. the principal she said, and pro-
ceeded TO give him an outline of the
courses of study, Offering at the same imc
to conduct him over the school They ell
tered the different class rooms without IN
terruptfng the work of the students other
than by short introductions to the profess
He recalls that the teaching staff whom
he met comprised only women. These
young people seemed attentive, wide ava <e
and Intelligent. The impression made was
far from being an unpleasant one" Father
Klein stopped in an English class where
planned, and where he heard, he says, soma
very satisfactory answers. He then asked
to hear a lesson in Latin. The principal
replied that there would be one In a few
minutes but that it was she who must
give it,
The author observed that the Latin class
contained sixteen pupils. of whom three
were young girls. As soon as the French
visitor had been introduced the principal
began 10 explain the first part of the
Aeneid. The author testifies that those
called upon to recite acquitted themselves
so creditably that he suspected a recent
previous acquaintance with the passage: at
any rate, the explanation must nave been
followed with the closest attention and well
remembered. There was ont thing GER
tain, and that was the excellence of the ex-
plantations which the principal gave IN
my presence of the subject of the poem in
general of Virgins aim of the historical
and NEUROLOGICAL illusions of the meter
OF the grammatical rules and the matter of
the text. Father Klein acknowledges
that for his own part, though a teacher by
profession, he should have been lncapa pie
or exhibiting such accurate knowledge ana
so much pedagogical ability. I'VE srent
an entire hour on the first eleven lines OF
the poem, and without being aware of II
| stayed to the end deeply interested 1t
Is not every day that one has occasion 10
sing the Trojan hero (the teacher strongly
recommended hero as a translation OF
virum) or the tabled beginnings of Rome
in the society of American negroes under
the direction of a woman of their own
race"