The Jersey City news., 1906-04-07

llSh HeAloie %rlaltfgi IN tne Oubllc SchoolS.
in the New York Times" lost Monday
says the Brooklyn Eagle As a part
of his plan Mr. shearer would abandon
the examinations for promotion. which
are now such a cause of anguish in the
public schools. Mr.. Shearer insists that
much time is wasted in preparation for
these examinations which ought to be
put into learning thoroughly the subjects
taught So long as the standing of the
teacher depends upon the proportion of
children who pass the promotion exam
nations. the teachers mind will be fixed
upon examinations. AS one coEscien-
tious teacher in Brooklyn once explained.
L simply chew up the subjects and get
them into the share in which the children
are most likely 10 remember the facts
until examination is over. have TO
workin that way. The ehil}ren come -
my grade half prepared; l am required
to shove them along to the next grade.
and that is the only way the thing can
be done. 1 do the thinking and they
commit the results of my work. 1 should
like to teach them to think if l only had
time to do it,
Mr.. Sheare- insists that that is fair
example of the teaching which the pres
ent system requires. Everybody admits
that the present course of study is 50
oyercrawded that the work cannot be
properly done. but no two authorities can
agree on what things should be cut out.
Mr.. shearer would find the extra time
needed by cutting out the special drill
for examinations. Then he would make
promotion depend on the judgment of
the class teacher and the principal, from
the work done during the term and from
the tests taken from time to time. The
teachers knowledge of a childrs capacity
must be much more thorough than can
be revealed by any examination. The
complaint is frequently made that chill
dren with good minds and a good knowl-
edge of their studies fail to pass exam
nations because they are too tired or
too frightened to do themselves justice.
That sort of injustice, the nervous strain
of examinations and the parroting OF
subjects in preparation for the tests
would all be avoided by DR.. shearer's
plan.
He insists, further, that instead of
waiting for six month for promotion,
thus causing a loss of six months time
for those children who are sent back.
that classes can be regarded every month
or oftener, and the pupils kept working
with those Of their own ability In a
school where there are four classes liz
any given grade, instead Of the children
being distributed SO as to keep all the
! rooms about even he would have the
best forty children picked out for the
first room, the next best forty for the
next, the dullest children for another
class, and those between for the fourth.
Then each grade should be allowed to
move as fast as it could. with the bright
! children promoted to the grade ahead
at any time and the slow ones allowed to
drop behind at any time. In the eight
grades below the high school this system
would work out sixty divisions only a
short distance apart. SO that the work
required Of each child would be closely
4
adapted to the powers Of that child.
There is no doubt that children are
stretched and cut off TO fit the procrus-
team bed cf the fixed course of study.
Where the need Of adptation is felt the
child is always adapted, never the course
of study. The evils of that plan have
been freely admitted but the defense Of
| it has always been fiat it was the best
that could be done practically. The
Shearer tbsory scanaz as Il It was lhe