Evening star., 1911-01-30
BEHIND IN CLASSES
Two Thousand School Chill
dren Fail of Promotion.
ABOUT $4,000 GO FORWARD
Irregular Attendance Given as Prin.
:. cipal Reason for Failures.
CHANGE IN SYSTEM ADVOCATED
'Ungraded" Teacher to Coach Back
ward Pupils Is Favored by
School Officials.

Nearly 1000 Washington children VIII
fail of promotion Wednesday of this
week, the reason assigned by Supt. Stuart
as the most prominent one being irregular
attendance
OF the big army OF 52COO children it
is estimated today that 5000 will go
forward for the semi-annual advance into
the class ahead although these figures
will be nearer to accuracy when the re-
turns are finally made up.
Along with the announcement that 1000
Washington children could not keep up
with their classes comes the announce
ment today that Supt A. T. Stuart and
Stephen Kramer, director of intermedi-
ate instruction have been studying for
a long time and are earnestly advocating
an entirely new feature i'll school in
struction, which, ii is believed. will make
Washingtons percentage of children who
fail to pass one of the smallest in the
country
The idea. as explained by Mr.. Kramer.
is to have an "ungraded teacher The
! term does not sound like much of any
thing until an expert instructor explains
1t in full.
Held Back by Weak Spots.
Washington pupils are held back i'll
many instances because the children have
a weak spot in their makeup. for in
stance. on mathematics Every day Of
absence or irregular attendance in the
entire term makes this weak spot COM
paratively weaker and a more and more
glaring defect in the child's makeup.
For that one thing the child is certainly
building on sand" said Mr.. Kramer to-
day. He will go ahead in geography
a nA CT nd 9TH I,,<
he has the weakness in mathematics
which the absences merely accentuated
Therefore he is kept back. He fails to
go ahead and clogs the school system to
that extent. adds to the eventual cost of
education and is an abnormal thing in
the ideal system.
Now what we want to do. and what
Mr.. Stuart and ! have been talking over
for long time, Is to have a teacher who
can be called upon to patch up those
weaknesses. When a child is seen to be
deficient In some spot then what would
be easier than to send him to this spe-
cial coach to be polished off so that he
has the proper foundation
Whether this new idea will ever get
through Congress or not is an unanswer-
able question.
Other Causes Of Failure.
Mr.. Stuart said that the question Of
pupils who fail to pass is a most in
teresting one, and is receiving attention
all over the country. Too many pupils
to class, ill-health, late entrance are
among the causes given by him as help
ing to swell the number Of non-promoted
pupils. At the same time he pointed out
the hard course that a teacher had to
steer for.
1T is the most difficult thing in the
world to find the right speed for a class
OF pupils. There is always danger of
going too slow. and there is always dan
ger of racing pupils too fast ] think it
is true, though, that the slower pupils
have more done for them than is done
for the brighter pupils
The bureau of municipal research of
New York city has recently compiled fig
ures Oh the non-promotion Of pupils in
seventy-six smaller cities Of the United
States.
OF the seyenty-six superintendents who
replied to the bureaus questioning forty
five believed it possible to promote more
pupils than they do without danger to the
thoroughness of their schools and the
large majority of them assigned the same
cause to non-promotion as Mr.. Stuart and
Mr.. Kramer.
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