Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-03-19

l - H"P4i9' i9Gl tllS GlIIlQItn get LII nlln!mum in my school, you may b, sure, even if a facility in writing and speaking good English or an acquaint ance with American literature are o
 no value in preparing an exhibit fo a museum
 Crowded in One by One
 The whole trouble lies in the fac that a few people who have a voice IT. school affairs wish to stand out as advanced and as opponents of the latest hair-hrained pedagogic philoso phy. One by one the fads have been crowded into the schools unti the fundamental work has been crowded into a secondary position. I am not old fashioned; I believe in making the school work of a child a part of his life experience, and not mere dull routine: but this. 1 am convinced, can be done with the neces. saly studies, and without the assis- tance of these faddish innovations.
 Take nature study. for example. If there is a need to teach young ehil- dren science, why not go about it i'll a scientific manner instead of allow Ing them to butter with flowers and buds and worms, and to earn mass of unor2anzed and utterly useless facts at vast expense of time and effort. Even Dean Packman. out at the University of Chicago. who is the high priest of nature study. declares that as it is practiced at present in the public schools it is utterly worth. less
 Our American educators. though they be sincere and full to overflow ing with the milk of human kindness. still suffer from the one typical Amer lcan Weakness-todayism. Among the fashionable in the educational world the stamp Made in Germany IS all that is needed to make a dubi- ous experiment there an unalterable conviction here. The problem of our schools is vastly different from that of the schools of any other nation.
 Must Make Americans.
 We nus first make our Americans before We can fit them out with trades and professions. The school children o. every nationality in the United States may make vases and rugs every day and all day, but they do not take one step toward the great object. Americanization, by so doing The only way to achieve that is through sound, thorough lessons in English and enthusiastic, sympathetic acquaintance With good American lit erature.
 We should use all our ingenuity to lengthen the period of real life by shortening the school period To do this we must eliminate from the school course practice in the ordinary tc have time to secure that familiarity with the intellectual operations which can not be secured in the home. When children leave the fourth, fifth or sixth grades to go to work and re- turn to take up evening school studies do they demand nature study, school gardening, sewing, cooking or an op- pOrtunity to make card board furni- ture or to weave rugs? The increase ing dearth of genuine mental training is causing many boys to leave school early.
 Problem of the Day.
 "The great but uncomplicated prob lem of the schools today is to culti- vate the judgment in it's broadest ap- plication, judgment sympathetic moral, intelligent, calm-in other words, the reason. To what end shall We in the pri' mary schools use looms, spinning wheels, reels, swifts and hand cards, Dutch oven, bake kettle and arti- cles employed in cooking at the open fireplace, or learn to make candies As we'll preserve the empty cocoon ill the hope that a new insect will come forth.
 '.In order to secure to all the chil- dren of a community the mental cul- ture to which they are entitled. would suggest that credit system be used in the elementary schools similar to that of the high schools. so that no child may be held bacl; in the third grade till he is If years old. because he is deficient in ability to master one subject although fair ill the others. Pupils should be advanc ed year by year if satisfactory in anv one of the chief subjects, getting wha- thov oan from the other students