Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-11
NEW SYSTEM FOR
SCHOOL CHILDREN
Teachers to Make Effort to De-
veIop Latent Ability in
Particular Line
TERM WILL OPEN TOMORROW
Instructors viii Urge Pupils to
Provide Themselves with
Individual Towels
TERM WILL OPEN TOMORROW

Boys and girls will not lag along the
way to school tomorrow morning. In
stead they will collect books, tablets
and pencils and rush briskly off, each
one anxious to see the new teacher,
find out what seat neighbors fortune
will bring, and ascertain whether or
not lessons in the new grade are to
be hard.
The opening day of school will un-
doubtedly be simple affair for the
pupils. For the teachers it has re-
quired much preliminary study and the
school board, the superintendents of
various departments and the princi-
pals work has been in order for sew
eral weeks to prepare for smooth
working out of the problems which
will face the teachers and pupils in
the first few days.
Under the direction of J. H. Fran
cis the superintendent of public in
struction, and his assistants some new
rulings have been made which will in
terest not only the pupils, but the
parents also. One of these, and most
important one, is the dismissal of the
public towel
EACH To HAVE TOWEL
The obvious danger of spreading in
fectious diseases through this medium
has at last attracted authoritative dis
urged to carry their own hand towels.
At the meeting held at the Los An
geles high school yesterday morning
Superintendent Francis made a quiet
talk to the teachers, in which he ex-
pressed the convictions that the boys
and girls must be taught those things
which are worth something to them.
At the Macy street trade school and
the Gardena agricultural school latent
abilities are already being aroused, and
pupils from these schools will go forth
offering the world trained skill in
something which is necessary to its
progress and which brings a conse-
quent financial reward.
In his address before the principals
Mr. Francis expressed it as his firm
belief that teachers should either show
efficiency and abilitv for their work
or resign. He does not believe in the
theory of passing an unsuccessful
teacher from one school to another to
make many principals suffer by re-
tarding the progress of his school.
WEEKLY LECTURES
One plan for the winter that prom
ises much for the teachers is a course
of volunteer lectures to be given one
each week for twenty weeks. The
topics and lecturers will be: early
California History" DR.. Rockwell D.
Hunt. Economic Interpretation of His
tory" Steyhen l. Miller THE Educa-
ton of the Voice." Miss Ida Leonard;
physiological Hygiene" DR. Laura B,
Bennett beginning Spanish" DR..
Frederick Beechman; "Beginning Ger
man." DR.. H. Buchner: advanced Ger
man." Albert e. Wilson; "School Ad-
ministration," superintendent Francis.
The education committee will have
general supervision over the courses of
study throughout the city, and the
n acSipnn6 In this
manner:
Mathematics, ]. 3. Monlux; Ian
guage, history and library M c. Bet
finger and DR.. Grant Carr: geography
and penmanship. Melville Dozier; ma
ture study, ]. B. Monlux. DR.. N. L.
Gardner and Frank Bouelle; ungraded
rooms. NJ c. Rettinger; school play
grounds, DIR. Everett Beach.
NIEXICos INDEPENDENCE
The independence of Mexico is form
ally celebrated in the sister republic
on September 49, and principals of the
Los Angeles schools are to be asked
to hold exercises in commemoration
and recognition of this event on that
day.
other speakers who offered valuable
and helpful ideas for the meeting were
7. B. Monlux assistant superintendent:
NJ C. Bettinger, DR.. Grant Carr and
Melville Dozier, deputy superinten-
dents.
Boys and girls should all take pleas
ure in the thought that teachers and
principals are becoming more and more
convinced of the Importance of teach
ing in the schools something for which
the pupil displays a natural aptitude.
. IT was almost a conviction with edu-
Gators a few years ago that nothing
but laziness, lack of ambition and gen
eral Generalization could follow that
progress which lay along the line of
least resistance. More modern meth
ods have proved the utter fallacy of
this idea, and the pendulum of opinion
seems now to be swinging so decidedly
in the opposite direction that it Is safe
to prophesy that in few years poys
and girls will 20 to school to study
those arts and crafts, those subjects
in books, in history and in science
which interest them and for which they
will have further definite use.