Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-19
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE WORN
Comparison Of Old and New Methods
in Public Schools.
FEATURES OF SPRINGFIELD TESTS
Tribute 10 the Memory of Noted Edu-
eatOr-Inerease OF NOn-Church
Members at Nale-Educa-
ttsnAl Notes.

Critics Of the present system Of public
school education base their objections
mainly on the claim that the essential
three RS" are sub~ordinsted 10 the So
called friils. The Old education. as it IL
called by its supporters, COmprehended a
thorough grounding In reading. writing.
arithmetic. spelling and geography, while
the new education, sO-called, embraces
other features deemed essential nowadays
Advocates OF the all-important three
RS, in support Of their contention, cite
the difficulty business men are said TO
experience in securing competent clerical
help from among graduates Of grammar
and high schools. and without further
comparative showing jump TO the con-
clusion that the educational system OF
today is far below the solid instruction
Of yore. Professional educators emphatic
ally deny these accusations and ridiculs
the sccusers, asserting in knocking tones
that II the graduates OF the little red
sc-hoolhouses really learned their lessons
thoroughly there must have been some
thing in the training that gave a major
ity OF them a surprising capacity for
forgetting all that they ever knew
An instructive comparison OF the new
and the old education has been made By
a az SSAa - AhAA| "a ~
Central Street Grammar school Of Spring
field. Mass, printed in booklet form. IN
der the title. The Springfield Tests"
Material for the tests was found among
d-ust-covered papers in the garrett OF the
Springfield High school, among which
were examination papers prepared and
marked by Ariel Parish. principal of the
high school in 1916. The papers cover
examinations in the high school in 1876.
Principal Riley and his associates Of the
Springfield schools decided TO examine
the students OF the grammar schools in
spelling. arithmetic and geography. using
the forms and questions Of the papers OF
ls46. These are the results, percentage
markings in p~enmanship being obviously
impossible:
Spelling. Twenty Words Is4s. 1866
Number Of pupils who took
Average percentage Of words
&ritEmetIc. Eight E1ampiesS
Number Of pupils who took
Average percentage Of answers
GeosTSphy. Twelve Questions
Number Of pupils who took
Average percentage Of answer
correct NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 53.l
Commenting on the results and URGING
that similar tests be made wherever pos,
sible. President Eliot OF Harvard says:
The criticism to the effect that tn
schools have introduced fads' and super
~fluities like music, drawing. manua
training and household economy to tn,
neglect OF reading. writing and arithme
tic has seemed to me unfair and mislead
ing; and so have the derisive attacks OF
the efforts of teachers and parents t
make school studies pleasant and inter
esting for children To make work in
teresting is the only way TO get good worl
from either children or adults"
These particular tests, OF which PresI
dent Eliot further says thai "the fact
are firm and the conclusions convincing
have proved statisticAlly that high schoo
children OF 1876 OF the city of Springfield
Mass, were inferior as regards attain
msnts in spelling. arithmetic and geogra
ply to ninth grade ch ildren of the school
OF the present day in the same city.