Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-06-27
EDUCATION Of
PRESENT DAY.
10Th Sides Discussed by
Men of Learning.

New York, June Z7:-TWO men OF
educational prominence, one of them,
Prof. Boris Sidis, NJ. A, Phi. D., M.
D., father of the Harvard boy prodigy
whose work toward the solution of
the fourth dimension startled the
scientific world, and the other, Prof.
F. p. Bachman, assistant superinten-
dent of Clevel and Public Schools,
within the past few days, have come
out with opinions on present day ed
ucational methods which are diamet-
rically opposed. Prof. Sidis, in a
bitter attack on present day methods,
lays no claim to being an educator.
His opinion that the American ma
ton entrusts the fate of its younger
generation to careless young girls or
irate old maids and that boys
should be ready to enter college at
ten years of age" has aroused educa-
tors who are closely connected with
instruction, all over the country. 1t
is fitting that Prof. Bachman should
answer Prof. Sidis, since he stands
for present day methods.
The charges of DR.. Sidis are con
tanned in a booklet fresh from the
press. He declares modern educa-
tional methods produce the largest
! possible number of "mediocrities."
He claims that his son has benefited
physically from the hard course of
study imposed on him, and that the
proper way to educate a child is to
begin at the age of two.
by answering and encouraging
all i~nfantile questions" says DR..
Sidis, the child will acquire knowl-
edge with the same ease as he learns
to ride the bicycle. BY the tenth
year. if this method is followed, the
child will have acquired knowledge
by the age of ten which at the pres
ent time university graduates acquire
only with Infinite labor and pain.
We regard a child's mind as a vacant
lot and empty into it all of our rub
bish. We labor under the delusion
that the fairy tale myths and decep-
lions about life are good for a child's
mind, when the contrary is the case.
The fathers and mothers must
change existing methods. We cannot
possibly expect of the philistine-edu-
Gator and neutrality-suspicious. the
adoption of different views of educa-
ton. The present school system
squanders the resources of the oun
try IN wastes the energies, the
lives, of our children.
Never in the history of mankind
have the school teachers fallen to
such a low level of ~mediocrtty as in
our country. Americas schools are
entrusted to bureaucrats animated
with hatred toward talent and
genius"
These assertions of Prof. Sidis
brought forth various expressions of
opinion from prominent educators.
Among this number a Prof. Bach
man, who prepared exclusively for
the United Press the following arti-
Gle, in answer to DR.. Sidis:
BY Prof. f. p. Bachman.
Such TRADES as hat of DR.. Sidis,
In the main, carry their own answer.
But it is due the teachers and educa~
tional workers to say a word In brief
reply.
1t is only partly true that present
day teachers are careless young
girls, or irate old maids" There are
some of these kinds In all public
schools, but the great majority of
teachers, and particularly in large
cities are consecrated and earnest
men and women, whose motives are
not only to make a living but to do
the great good hat only instructors
of the young a do.
AS to the allegations that children
are becoming more backward, Dr.
Sidis's facts are all wrong. Records
Of any city will show that children
of today are entering grade schools
and colleges at much earlies ages
than they did fifty or twenty-five
years ago. Who cannot remember
the great numbering BOBBY of three
or four decades ago, who made up a
considerable number of the classes
of that time? And certainly this
fact is in itself proof that present
day systems are approaching as near
perfection Is possible. Dr.. Sidis's
opinions are unsubstantiated; they
do not present any facts to Justify
them; or reveal any particular
knowledge of real conditions, and
they show evidence of lack of con
tact with the workings of schools.
AS to his diatribe against a child's
reading fairly tales, Mother Goose
rhymes and NEUROLOGICAL stories,
that has been threshed out with the
result hat the best European schools
include them in the regular curricu-
lums. They tend to mold the child's
ideals and form good examples for
him to follow. 1t must be remem
bered that in fairy tales the good
prince or the good princess always
Lives happily eyer after"
There was never a time when such
an effort was made, and successfully,
too, to reach the individual as much
as possible. Present systems make
a special effort to cater to the cripple
or to the mental defective.
Many of DR.. Sidis's charges are
too absurd to be answered.
The news when it is news In the
EVENING NEWS.