Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-12
PLEADS FOR SANE SCHOOLS
DR.. George L. Miller Criticises Present
Tendencies of Common Education.
NEED OF FIRM BASIS Is SHOWN
Quotes West Point OmciaI to Prove
Applicants for CadetshtpS Are very
Demcient i'm the Ordinary
Branches of Learning.

To the Editor Of The Bee: Many years
ago, as the editor Of the Omaha Daily
Herald and otherwise. I resisted a delib-
crate and systematic attempt to convert
the public schools of Omaha into a univer-
sity. The effort was only partially sue
cessful. l also combatted the idea Of making
academies Of the common schools, sup
ported and made free by all taxpaying citi-
zens, in which the children of the plain
and poor people should he educated in what
used TO be "a common school education"
the words CONNIE school, being the
name given to them by the statute laws
which created them-the very proper name
Indicating their real purpose and the vital
object Of their existence. That purpose,
and that object, were to give the sons and
daughters of the plain people and poor
people, whose condition in life make early
bread-wtnning a necessity, and compel an
average attendance of the schools Of only
a few short years Of sure and solid training
In elementary education in the three RS
reading writing and arithmetic. But moth
ing could stop the error Of teachers who
styled themselves professors" for many
years in expanding the common school into
the school which we see every
$500 AAN rAiA AANA NheN
meant to rival the state university at that
time collapsed, of course. but the higher ed
ucation cry which has led up to such a stu
pendous failure Of education to educate in
the public schools In either higher or lower
education is beginning to attract the atten-
ton and cause much concern in the coun-
try. Not many years ago I heard George
B.. Lake, for twenty years on the supreme
bench Of the state. say that "the public
schools are a humbug." and Charles b.
Larned Of the United States Military acad-
envy, in an article in the current number
Of the North American Review, common OBJ
servation and the experience and judgment
Of the wisest heads Of colleges and a null
titude of teachers in the public schools
themselves go far to prove that George B.
Lake was not so far wrong in his hasty
judgment Of our schools. The
late Herman Kountze once told me of his
experience with graduates of our Omaha
high school who came to him with applica-
lions for service in the bank. 1t was his
way to ask the applicant some questions
and then have them write an application on
the spot. The result was not calculated to
increase his respect for the work of the
Omaha public schools. 1t has been well
understood that a very large proportion of
the alumni of the high school do not bring
out of 1t into practical life enough of good
reading and writing and arithmetic to apply
these simple essentials of all education to
business, But l must introduce Mr.. Larned
in a brief mention with a condensed sum
mary Of the article in the North American
Review. Applicants for cadetshipsa at West
Point and Annapolis come from every con-
gressional district of every state and terri
tory in the union. and largely from the
class who send their children to the pri-
mary and high school,"
The examinations were oral and primary
up to 1870, and up to 1866 they covered
only:
To be able to read distinctly and pro-
Eounce correctly; to write a fair legible
the various operations of the ground rules
of arithmetic, both simple and compound;
also those of reduction, or single and COM
pound proportion; vulgar and decimal frac-
tons.
In 1866 congress reluctantly consented to
add to the entering requirements:
A knowledge of the elements of English
grammar; of descriptive geography, par
ticularly of our own country; and OF the
history of the United States.
In 1901 congress turned this matter over
to the secretary of war, who required
written examinations in
Elementary algebra through quadratics;
plane geometry; English grammar; English
literature and composition very elemen-
tary); United states history (high SCHOOL,;
general history (high school; geography
descriptive, common school.
Mr.. Larned says "the requirements are
no more than should be easily met by
the graduates of any well-organized high
school" AS a matter of fact. the greater
portion of 1t is covered by the earlier years
of the high school course, and some of it
by the last year Of the grammar schools"
Mr.. Larned's comment is that the first
application OF the new standard took place
in March. his year, and ''the results are
very depressing"-and even pathetic"
lie adds that the conclusion is newt
able that the youth in these hundreds of
cases. have not received a fair days wages
for a fair days work" OF the frightful
failures he makes this statements:
Out of 314 who took the entering exami-
nations this year, 265, or 81 per cent, failed
in one or more subjects Chat is, made a
mark below the normal minimum, 66).
Mr.. Larned deals with the physical edu-
cation of our sons and daughters in a
startling description of school room Inn
prisonment and the effects upon the youth
of our country.
l think it would be a good thing for the
Omaha Board Of Education and superin-
tendent Davidson and the principals of the
Omaha schools. especially the principal of
the high school,. to hold a joint conven-
ton for a public reading and discussion of
the surprising \exhibit of the masterful
article Of Mr.. Larned of the United States
Military academy and the cost in human
welfare and money of the stilted, cram
ming and jamming system OF education
from which II seems impossible to pry loose
some very good people.
GEORGE L. MILLER.