The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-04-30
PROFESSOR R. H.
HESTER
Again Hits Editorial in Sen.
tineI. Defends Spelling Books
and Asserts That Chill
dren are Better Spoilers
Than Their Parents.

Editor Sentinel: l:-Intel!ig.nt criti-
cism stimulates honest investigation.
discovers aud c)rreciS real defects,
recognizes and commendS genuine
merits and thus promotes true pro-
greSS.
Indiscriminate fault finding begetS
a prejudice in the public mind, which
either excludes or makes difficult
fair and impartial consideration.
Mr.. Editor, your and Supt. James
experience as teachers. your opp0r-
tunity as school officials for studying
and testing methods, your present ~
tereSt as patrons, and your excellent
means of announcing tn others with
more than usual authority your opin-
ioas should not only qualify F1n "a
speak upon educatipnal ql~s'io ions,
but hold you To a careful review Of ygur
conclusions before giving public utter
ance to them.
Though d ii~mber Of charges may
properly be made giinst the hu"AS,
teachers, m ,tn0dS and results Of our
schools today, | shall undertake :"
defend them against the iudic, eats
already formulated First, you charge
that the children spell less G 'rrectly
today than did their parents, yeti oy
implication and Supt. James directly.
Neither of you attempt to support the
proposition with fact or proof, but
leave it bare assumption. putting
the negative to the necessity OF ad-
vancing instead Of answering the
argument.
Submitting the same list Of words
to be spelled and graded according 70
The same standard is the most salts
factory way of deciding this question.
1t happens that we have the "ppf-
tunity OF using this test. MasSaehu-
setts had adopted a public Schh'i
system long before Mississippi was
admitted into the Union The town
Of Springfield was the first to elect
Superintendent Of public schools. In
1916, after her high schools ha6 been
under expert superviS on for u numnc
OF years. an examination was given
the high school grades in the common
school branches. In spelling, which
mad always been emphasized as the
basis of a thorough education, an
average grade of 406 was made.
These old examination papers We're
found in a bound volume in the attic
OF the cid high school building a half
century later and given to the ninth
grade pupils. in which examination an
average grade OF spelling SD was
made. A few days ago the sam. list OF
words was submitted TO the eighth
grade pupils of the Grenada high school
as a written test, in which an average
grade of So was made. The school
year of Springfield in lS46 consisted
OF A. weeks nf 30 hours each 1870
hours, and in 1905 OF 40 weeks OF 20
hours each Or 1000 hours while ours
contains only 36 weeks Of PIP hours
each or 900 hours. In Springfield in
1916 reading, writing, arlthme &c,
geography and spelling were the
branches taught below the high school
The observations are, that the high
school pupils of Springfield. with a
shorter session and fuller course.
were better spoilers in 1905 than were
those Of 1916 and that Mississippi
boys and girls with a still shorter
session and equally heavy course excel
even those Of literary New England
the home Of the "blue back" and
the Unabridged.
Mr.. Editor, to further test the queS-