The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-26
Letter to The Editor
SCHOOL BOOKS.

l Teacher.
 Editor The Advertiser:
 Dear Sir:--I noticed few days ago
 in your paper that the State Text Book
 Commission was to meet the 12th inst. The Kind of books selected by that
 Commission will be of vital importance
 to parents. pupils and teachers of thls
 State. Text books are snducationai
 tools and like other tools. II wrongly
 dered.
 Valuable time win he consumed and | wasted covering ground that could have been oulcker and better done with a good book. Time in th.s in.
 stance is more than money, for II Is op- portunity that oftcn once lost IS for
 It may be. and often is, the turning | point that makes or loses useful cit | szen.
 The old saying of nothing is so | plies here and it strikes us that the
 State needs a good practical common l sense set of books.
 There has been too many fads in
 bookmaking and teaching. at least dur l ing the past decade. The educational | pendulum has too often swung to the extreme side of fadism and there ex- l perimentally oscillated to the detri- ment of sound educational methods A few years ago, before the adoption of the uniform system. 1t appeared that
 each town and city vied with the other in the adoption Of the strangest, new est, outlandishest books that could pos- sibly be se-ected so that 1t could he said that our course rar surpasses on the face of Gods green earth. and
 would certainly defy even rhe best col. lege president to delect a grain of good
 common sense applied in the selection When the country and village schools
 at last began to knock at their doors and ask for the adoption of course that could in some measure be har-
 monized with each, they threw up
 their hands in holy horror and dis-
 gust. Why we are city folks and have
 the graded school system and the new
 system you know. need much
 greater variety of books and 1ool are so far ahead of you that there could never be any harmonizing of our courses so that when the country boy
 moved into the town or vice versa he Besides, you see, our neighbor towns are nearly green with envy to adopt our course, but they are ashamed to acknowledge that it is as good as theirs.
 What happened when first few level heads in the counties and later for the State, said through legislation enough of this nonsense and too much!
 When the showdown came, they dIB- covered that they were not so much different from other folks after all, AnQ alOnE Wlln a cOuTSo of books that would do even for the country schools. But in the State adoption fadism gave us two bitter doses in the shamming time wasting arithmefic Either of which ranks right up In front with the latest non sensical fads. Both of which should be among the best and most practical corner stones of the grammatical and mathematical educational structure in most schools of the State.
 Also thousands of pupils in the coun. try schools especially, never complete farther than this course before thay leave school.
 As a matter of fact. the two courses should be very practical and full Of substantial educational food from start to finish. We grant that there is c good deal of material in both books btu it Is entirely too far between the mile stones in them. and also too few cIent in conciseness and dennlteness Two most important essvntials In this grade of work h this hurry and in, telligent age. Too much elaboration and not enough of the essential prin- cipals of grammar and arithmetic in- cuded in them They should cover more of the main principles of each study. Do so in a briefer, more iogi- cal manner. so as to give the pupil 4 wider knowledge of the subjects and at the same time make him a more original reasoner. If something def mite Is not done for many pupils and done now, 1t is never done. They have not the time or opportunity to wait on a iagsard everlasting elaboration of the fact that two and two make
 It may be asked what then should be given them? What class of au- thors. Something like Reed and Kel- Robinson in arithmetic. Something that l would not be like trying to feed them mental soup with straw Not much | of it at best and but little of oppor- unity to get what there is
 Some sweet day the pendulum will swing back to some extent here. we l hope. and there will be some ioneli- ness on the fad side It has already | Ter that we are now using. The very | Idea of those over stylish educational | people using a little speller with such | words as log, dog and cog. Who ever 1 would have sad: No. sir! Out Of | date. Too old and antiduiated. Souns | too much like the first part of the old | blue back spelleF; we must nave | with good long useful words right in | the frst column such as lettuce, onions | and garlic" Be 1t as far from us as any one to ever go back To the ex- treme of old Quackenbos or Davies! | But in the name of common reason | is there no practical and logical ground that we can get on ana stand for awhile or must we continue to | spasmndically jump from place to place and system to system like a man on | hot cinders or on sinking sands?
 It should be remembered that our | real beginners do not have to start | with the elementary course in arith- metic They have First Days in Num- Der Work, which is very fine for the | little pupils down in the primary | grades We are not usually lobbyist | enough to advocate some special au= thor's work. but we would like Reed and Kellogg for one part of the gram mar course. but by no means for both parts. It is the only diagram system worthy of mention that we have seen and we have examined forty or more think the diagram especially im- presses the celatiOn of the parts of the | sentence and it's beauty upon the mind of the pupil. The sentence is so sym metrically pictured before the eye thai 1t can not but be better understood Indeed is 1t not a double picturtng be- fore the physical and mental eye and hence doubly simplifled so as to be thoroughly understood2
 To illustrate: suppose a part of a period a day for week be spent nam. Ing and describing the important places. etc. of certain city to pu> pill. Now suppose the pupil be car rted to the citY and have 1t and the places pointed out to him. All know through which method he would learn the most about the city,
 Just so 1t is with the diagram We are almost persuaded that any perEon who has learned 1t under a good teacher understands grammar and thr heautv of tho language better than he