Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-08-27
HEAD OF STATE
SCHOOLS HERE
FOR INSTITUTE
Francis G. Blair Delivers Inter
esting Address to County
Teachers at High School.
POINTS TO ERRORS IN SYSTEM
Advocates Several Changes In Educa-
tional Methods of More or Less
Radical Character.

Francis G. Blair. state superinten1-
ent of public instruction, addressed
the teachers of the county this morn
ing at the high school. He dealt at
length with the problems of the pub
lie school of today. In clear. con
nected way he exposed many of the
faults and requirements which have
heretofore been neglected and which
should be taken in hand and in some
way remedied
He stated that one of the most COM
mon misconceptions of the modern
school is brought about by the poorer
educated class. They believe that the
school teacher of today has become
so efficient in his branch that the only
requirement for a good education is
to send the child to the school build
ing. This, Mr.. Blair claims, is thor
oughly wrong. The boy from the start
10 the finish must be imbued with the
idea of success. The old law that a
person is rewarded in proportion to
the amount of energy that he expends.
is the guide which the boy should be
given.
Special Attention Required.
Attention to certain students is an
other point which Mr. Blair dwelt
upon emphatically. Contrary to most
peoples point of view he believes that
most attention should be given TO the
brightest boy for he says that by neg
lecting the brighter mind to assist the
more stupid you are only lessening
the active ones chances of success.
The parents. too, have much to do
with the degree to which their chill
dren are educated. AS long as the
child is well fed. well clothed and
given a sufficient amount of exercise
he should be thoroughly able to per-
form the school tasks. The danger
of careless food mastication, which
finally results in abnormal physical
development, was pointed out. Cloth
ing was another point strongly con
sidered. Common opinion will agree
that many a poor boy has been de
priyed of an education merely by the
fact that his clothes were shabby and
did not come up to the standard OF
his fellows. AS democratic as our in
situations may appear. this is found
to be a difficult task to remedy.
Too Much society" bad.
Students are often 1ured away from
their evening work and kept awake
until the early hours of the morning
by social allurements. The result is
that they come to the class room the
next day unprepared and with mint
anything but capable of taking active
part in the days work. These arr
points which Mr.. Blair placed upde
the Jurisdiction of the teacher and tn
parents of the child.
DIR. McKenny Talks.
Immediately preceding the lecture o
Superintendent Blair DR.. McKenny de
livered a short address on the subject
Memory" Taking it up from tn
standpoint of the child who has al
ready attained the age where menta
and moral training become necessary
he laid down seven laws which he be
lieved TO be fundamental in the -four
dation of well developed memory
His requirements are: That the brai
ton; that the interest and attention {
the student be perfectly arrested: tha
all assignments should be thorough
mastered by the instructor before gil
ing them out; that the child shout
have the importance of the lesson e,
planned; that by associations he ma
increase the efficiency of his memory
that more reviewing should be indul!
ed in, and lastly, the child. should b
practical application be given chanC
for expression.
Trips tn Teach Observation.
Miss Hamilton's morning talk W;
on school excursions and their valu
She spoke in favor of taking the p
pills of a school on trips of inspectio
where they could learn to exerci
their powers of observation. The sto
and the factory are especially go'