New-York tribune., 1911-12-13
THREE RS IN NEW JERSEY.

THREE RS IN NEW JERSEl.
There has been much theOrizing, spec
ulating and vague arguing pro and con-
tru over the alleged neglect Of the fun
damental studies in the public schools,
but it has been reserved for the State
Of New Jersey to provide about the
most direct. explicit and convincing evi-
| dence on the subject that we have seen.
| II will be remembered that the school
system of that state is one of the most
costly In the Union, the per capita cX-
pense being higher than in any but a
| few other states, and il has commonly
| had the reputation of being one Of the
most efficient. Two years ago. when
Governor Fort intimated that II was not
EUlite as good as It might he. there was
storm of protest against his attack
upOn the schools" Yet in the searching
official investigation which followed his
suggestions were more than indicated
| from the business point of view, the
| financial administration Of schools be-
! ng found in many cases 70 be grossly
extravagant. Now 1t appears that the
educational work of the schools, for
which they exist Is little If any more
satisfactory than their business man
agement.
4 committee Of the State Board IF
Education went last month 10 one of the
normal schools Of the state, where high
school graduates were being prepared to
become teachers, desiring TO test the
proficiency of the students. First, it pro-
posed a spelling test. taking ten words
| from a morning newspaper, TO wit: Be-
| lieve, corollary, encyclopedias, diSsuade,
contemporary, receive. parallel, honor
able, hypothesis. California. But the
students were not put 10 this test, for
the principal feared it was too severe !.
When It was suggested that they he
| tested in geography he thought that few
of them could tell where Morocco. Man
Churla, Mount Mckinley and Yellow
stone Park were In list Of questions
in history he protested that few if any
of the pupils could tell who was Vice
| President of the United States or who
was King Of England. I'm despair. the
| Investigators then insisted upon testing
the students i'm arithmetic, giving them
seven simple problems in multiplication,
division, vulgar fractions and percent
age. Tho result was scandalouS The
examiners did not venture TO mark the
answers simply on the basis of right or
wrong. The result" they say. would
have been too shocking" So they
marked them according 10 correctness
of method and intent even though there
were errors i'm the answers Even on
that lpnent system. of the eighty-.iX
students examined only twenty received
rs high mark ~ 10 per cent on
scale of 100. while nineteen received loss
than - per cent.
Now these students, or nearly all of
them. had passed through the eight
years Of primary and grammar school
and the four years Of high school. and
had entered the normal school. Yet out
OF cighty-six no fewer than forty-ninc
were unable fo tell whether man had
gained or lost, aud how much who had
sold two horses for 500 each and On
one had gained 20 per cent and on The
other had lost 20 per cent And If such
is the showing of high SCHOOL graduates,
what is the probable condition Of mere
grammar school graduates. only per
cent of whom 60 on 10 the high schools
n Is possible that better showing
would have been made II the oXaminu-
ton had been confined 10 questions ,n
cvics. sociology botany poetical analy-
sis. or something of that sort Vet
there are some old fashioned persons