Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-10
PUBLIC SCHOOL DEFrctnNonns.
Some of tbs Defects. Pointed Out by a
Critic.

some OF inc Defecta ROtnted Out by a
Critic,
The first of a series Of papers on What
is Wrong with Our Public Schools" by Jo-
seph M. Rogers, appears In the current
number Of Lipplncott's Magazine. The
Interrogation point is omitted from the
title, implying that 1t is not a question,
but a state of facts the writer is dealing
with. A general idea OF the conditions
found TO exist may be had from these OK
tracts:
There is something wrong with the pub
lie schools. More than that, there is some
thing fundamentally wrong with our the
cries of education. We teach, but we do
not educate. We spend a good deal Of
money and energy to little purpose. 1t is
not necessary to prove these statements.
They are admitted by educators, from uni
versity presidents to primary teachers; by
school administrators from state and fed
eral officials down to those in the smallest
country districts; by parents the country
over; while children themselves are, of
course, dissatisfied.
Fundamentally, the trouble with our sys-
tom of public education is that children
learn a little about a great many things,
without gaining much really definite knowl-
edge of anything which is likely to stand
them in good stead In later life; and, what
is equally bad, they do not acquire methods
oe accurate thinking. This criticism APP
piles to education in every branch. and has
been true from the beginning because our
theories have been wrong. But Just now 1t
is peculiarly true that Gun public school sys-
tenn has defects which are so palpable, and
for which remedies are so easily found,
that we should no longer permit things to
remain as they are.
Our public school system is decidedly be-
hind those of several or the enlightened ma
lions of Europe, notably Germany and Scan
dinavia, and we ought to realize 1t. This is
a blow to our national pride, but unless we
frankly admit our faults, there is little
prospect either of repentance or of bringing
forth works meet for repentance.
II cannot be too strongly impressed upon
the American people that the so-called
three RS" are not grounded in the youth
full minds Of this generation as they should
be. Reading. Writing and Arithmetic are
the tools Of the human mind. Without
them. almost nothing Of an intellectual sort
can be accomplished. We ought to put the
very best tools in the hands of our chill
dren, and they should be kept In the best
possible condition. Prof. Barrett Wendell
OF Harvard university recently told In q
lecture how one of his brightest student
did not know the letters of the alphabet In
their order, and in consequence was much
hampered in the use OF a dictionary, When
1t comes to writing, we have retrograded.
At various times much stress has been laid
on various systems of penmanship, which
have been In turn adopted and discarded,
with the result that few children write 80
we'll ashley should, or so well as did their
forbears at the same age. AS to compost
ton. most children are befogged at the
simplest test.
Forty years ago oral spelling was one OF
the principal features OF school work. Ii
was an Intellectual discipline OF the highest
order, and had many more virtues than that
Of teaching to spell correctly. Is there a
gr~ay-hRired man or woman who reads this
and who does not remember the Intellectual
moral and spiritual upllft that came from
spelling down" twice a day? To fail in
public was a grievous misfortune, and there
was no greater mental and moral stimulus
afforded than this exercise. But nowadays
children write their spelling almost exclu-
sively, and get their marked papers back
long after they have forgotten them. Writ
ten spelling has It's advantages. but II is
by no means a proper substitute for the
older fashion. Also. we used 10 study
etymology. so hat with a knowledge OF
roots, s~uffixes and p~reflxes the dictionary
was less needed than now-when II isn't
used at all. Why was this useful study
abandoned?
Recently 1 was shown some papers Of
high school boys OF the freshman year.