The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-07-19

School Curriculum" with considerable
interest aud | desire to say that agre,
with you thoroughly in every part there
cation on the suhjtct, | shall express q
few of my ideas, the result of seven years
experience in teaching
A word as to the needs of school chill
dreu at large: Let me say that a most
thorough ground work in Spelling, Read
ing, Writing, (Spencerian hand, not
VERTICALLY Grammar and Arithmetic is
very necessary and too much stress in all
the grades can not be laid upon near
| perfection in these branches.
| 1t is lamentable fact that spelling in
general is bad, partially due, believe, to
two causes; first, the system of teaching
beginners words instead ofletters in read
| ing, whereby trey lose sight of letters
composing words and instead learn
series OF unintelligible sounds which if
uttered anywhere outside of a school
room would provoke only amusement to
say the least, (Which 1t often does inside
the school room and, secondly, spelling
III our schools Is generally treated only as
subsidiary branch and often made to
give way to some timekilling device
known as busy work"
As an education is generally gagged by
the students Spelling, Rea1ing and
capacity to cipher" the next thing
necessary is near perfection in Reading
and Arithmetic. 1t is a shame that there
are graduates of Maryland's High
Schools who cannot read intelligently or
do practical Arithmetic. This is made
the more patent when undergraduates
who, hndlng High School work distaste-
jul or too difficult, leave off school, take
up some Of these branches In business
colleges and in the space of few months
are bread-Winners who can work such
marvels In useful figures that would
shame graduates and fear even some of
our instructors.
here is something wrong somewhere,
therefore let us get at the bottom of
things. AS the majority of school chill
dren who arc to become our citizens
during this period of our history-no
matter how prosperous we may agree
that this period is-never get beyond the
sixth or seventh grade. it is especially
desirable that good foundation be laid
embracing the subjects So far mentioned.
Now, dc not mean to decry higher
education one whit, but ! do condemn
higher education when it comes at the
expense and neglect of our primary educa-
ton and when it leaves the great mass
OF our people worse off than they nov are
or were few years ago.
AS an eX. teacher who never taught
except in a high school or academy and
who has had experience under the old |
and new systems, ! can say that my ex-
perience shows that those students who |
out of our ninth grade entered !
college as well then as our tenth grade |
students do nav. The tenth grade wear
work does not ut in, i'll such q way with
college courses in general as to be superior |
to the ninth grade with the possible excep- |
ton that the student has more Latin. |
and this in face of the fact that all |
persons going to college do not follow
courses where languages arc necessary
and also that niady colleges and universe
ties are becoming more lenient in their
Latin requirements and some schools are
considering granting an A B |
without a dead language" being necee.
sary thereto.
fail to see where our tenth grade fits
our youths better for active business or
work than our ninth did,
and surely it was not designed to fit them
for college alone.
The tenth grade has done one thing,
which, in the eye of the public at large,
neither the extra eleventh grade, lin con
nor the tenth itself can ever
successfully eradicate, and that is, it has
OWered the standard of our public
schools. 1t has placed the han of a
seventh grade limit to an education.
which ban every child that has no facility
tor attending another and higher school
can not pass.
1t has lowered the standard of educa-
ton without reducing the teachers labor,
as was probably intended, which indeed
brings about additional for students
keep on coming to school doing seventh
grade work that does not compare with
the same grade at the High Schools or
else they pass, by license, say, into a So
called or sham eighth grade Aside from
this wrong to the child, the teacher has
less variety in "her" work, it is made
more tedious and primary and she begins
to stagnate rather than to continue de-
believein a ninth grade as the uniform
maximum point of education in all our
public schools. l believe in home study
~ pupils. This does not mean a step
back In our system, but it does mean
more universal satisfaction with our
system, more uniformity and more Justice
20 the children and the man behind every
TAXPAYER.
Very truly yours,