The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-15
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

TIE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
At a conference of school principals
in this city during the week, the i'm
preston was left that the present sys-
tenn is entirely satisfactory to the heads
of the schools, both in method and
curriculum. 1t is no reflection on the
men interested to record the fact that
the general public is not satisfied with
the results attained and is convinced
that the fault must lie with the meth
DDS employed and the multiplicity of
subjects taught.
Naturally, the layman judges the
value of the public schools by the prod
Uct of their work. The business man,
whether educated or not. takes his i'm
pressions from the. tangible evidence
presented when he employs a boy or
girl who has gone through the schools
For him there is no other accurate way
of reaching a conclusion.
Nearly every employer who has had
occasion to observe the work of school
graduates has found a woeful lack OF
capacity to grasp a problem and solve
1T accurately. He has found careless
ness in method and lack of initiative as
well as inability to observe or record
the result of observations. In d word.
the test of practical life shows that
somewhere in the public school system
there is a failure to give fiber 20 the
mentality of the child such as shall
make him equal to the ordinary de-
mands of life under the conditions
which confront most children when
they leave school
The layman is not supposed to know
much about the psychology of pedagogy
but most laymen who are charged with
large responsibilities know a good deal
about the value of a youngster to them
They care very little about the refine
ments of modern educational methods
but they do care a great deal about the
capacity Of their own children to earn
a living and discharge honorabIy the
obligations of citizenship. IF a boy
cannot attack successfully the simpler
problems of mathematics without help.
his education has been defective. If
he is ignorant of the English language
and unable to express himself clearly.
something is wrong with his school.
the power to think clearly and reason
accurately, either his brain or the sys-
tenn of instruction is at fault More
than that, if he leaves school with the
idea that manual labor is not honor
able and hard work OF any kind to be
avoided. he has the whole lesson of life
to learn over and is likely to be found
deficient" when the final examinations
OF a cold world are held.
While the conditions in the public
schools may not be so bad as the pessI-
mistic would have US believe, every OBJ
server must have found a tendency to
ward all of these shortcomings in the
children who get into active life as
graduates of the grades and high
school. The courses of study are ex-
acting enough, the amount Of time re-
quired for study is, if anything, excess
sive; but the multiplicity of subjects
and rigidity of system render it impos-
sible or at least difficult to achieve the
substantial results most to be desired.
To an interested observer, the sau-
sage-machine method Of supervision
which forbids original w>s,,c seems in
tolerable To have a pupil limited to
ironclad restrictions whereby he is
compelled to work a problem in one
way only, is an approach to imbecil-
fly. To say to a teacher, You must
teach this lesson this way. and permit
no variation even in non-essentials.''
is 10 put a premium on stupidity and
penalize any approach to individual
thought.
No one expects a radical change in a
whole educational system in a day or
a month or a year; but the public has
a right TO expect innovations or a re-
turn TO simpler methods when it sees
boys and girls turned out by hundreds.
unable TO do or think for themselves
incapable of making places for them
selves in anything but the commOnest
activities. afraid of work, undisciplined
in mind-the commonplace product OF
a machine which neither stimulates the
mind nor inspires the soul. The public
would be glad to see a revision Of study
courses which would provide fewer
studies without fads, and give the
children an opportunity for mental dis
cipIine without physical exhaustion. II
would welcome a method of instruction
which would give an impetus to orig