Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-05
CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM
DIR. CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS BE-
FORE CLASS OF PEDAGOGY.
Howard University Students Given
Benefit Of His Ideas on Sys-
tematized Work.

Benefit Of His Ideas on Sys-
tematized Work.
DR.. William E. Chancellor, superintendent
Of the public schools of Washington, made
an address before the class of pedagogy Of
Howard University today at 10 o'clock. Rev.
DR.. William P. Thirkield. the president Of
the university, introduced Mr.. Chancellor,
and he spoke at length upon the public
school system of the District Of Columbia
and of the work that is uppermost in the
mind of the superintendent for future oe-
velopment He said in part:
When 1 came to Washington on that
fatal thirteenth day of the month, little did
I know of what was to follow. At times
before l had been in the capital city, but
those times I had come to study. l knew
nothing of the real Washington, and
never dreamed that it existed as 1t does In
Congress there are men today VINO 90 not
know aught of Washington but that /. :e1
space between the Capitol and the White
House and lying on Pennsylvania avenue.
People come here to study and tney go
away without knowing anything OF the real
Washington.
There is no man In the world who can
read of all writings and understand them
with any certainty. No man can interpret
the meanings of all Of the words OF the sen
fences. We might take the word Suffrage.
and the person who has not shared IN II
can tell but little of its real meaning. he
may value 1t as a promised land into whlch
he may wish to enter, but he does not real
lie what it really Is. We are not teacnlhe
history In our eighth grades as men unoer-
stand it, but as boys and girls OF fourteen
years of age may hope to understand II
best
Shorthand Of Thought.
Words are the shorthand Of thought and
we must have some training You have all
heard of color blindness, and you nave seen
how railroad employees and others are calieo
upon from time to time to distinguish De-
tween colors. Some people are marVels III
the detection of sound and can tell the dill
ference between A and A sharp IN music
the moment they are struck upon the IN
strument Mothers know the difference IN
the sound of the voices of their chlioreh
and can detect in moment which one Is
calling.
You see the trained men Of the world
getting news and they should be so Trained
at Il times to get truth from the world
and not falsehood l do not believe there
are efficient people in the world who are
unwilling to make record. Some people
are unwilling after hearing word, to Keep
its meaning in mind, and some teachers
say, i want to forget the Scllooi iooHi oS
soon as | leave 1t each day.
In my estimation it will be profitable 10
me to think over all that l have SAID TO you
this morning and reflect upon 1t. ms gives
life an added impetus. for without accuracy
of memory one is always swimming III az
There seems to be no continuity in the al
fairs of the school system ana there Is no
one in control who knows what was gong
on five years ago. Many OF our school
teachers object to keeping records OF the
chi their L
asked what a school teacher should DO dur
ing the day that would help the child most
in the work. my answer would De that
thorough record should be kept
Privilege and Opportunity.
81 want to refer to the plan of opportu-
nity. A man nowadays hardly knows what
he is going to do. When / arise, l may
read the papers and l may not. We may
plan our days or we may not, but we should
spend at least five minutes each day making
plans. The happenings of one day may be
fatal to a man.
Take for instance, the work of Dr.
Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia Uni
versity, New York. Every matter that
comes before him during the day is cleaned
up before his office is closed for the even
ing When the work is done, it is done. and
the average day he lives is what he plans.
vestment and it may have profitable mem
ory or may have one that is not profitable.
I'm closing l want to speak Of motives.
purposes and ideals. We speak at times
of mems motives and the causes that lead
up to their formation. Our fellows at times
infer our motives. When we find ourselves
at the end of the day and hear of the way
our motives have been summed up by some
one we are surprised more than once. If
YOU hear some one yelling liar, scoundrel.
etc. you can be pretty certain that you
have located the man. If you learn the mo-
tive of any one it is no longer mystery,
and all is light.
Talks Of Ideals.
Eve are not very apt to talk of our mo-
tives l want to talk to you of ideals. DR..
Patton says an ideal is an essence of the
past forming a picture. When we speak Of
a man as an idealist we know him as the
dreamer He projects the future which he
would like to seek.
Boys and girls come to school with all
kinds Of ideas. Our business is to bring
these powers to a solid substance. We
should not care SO much whether this boy
knows this subject so We'll or not, but rather
that we would make unit of him. To make
a unit is to make leader. We want to
get our boys into the condition to display
energy, and if we hope to do this we must
be in that condition ourselves
II should feel false to my own convictions
if 1 should stop living my life of freedom.
Goodness has nothing to do with govern
ment. The millions should be difused.
Government is power.
Dr. Chancellor said the boys in the Dis
trict of Columbia should have the right to
look forward to citizenship and the right
of suffrage, and he believed the outcome
will be that they will be given that citizen
ship. At the close Of the address, Rev.
DR.. Thirkield made several announcements
relative to the university and closed after
H.. Liz.