The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1911-11-17
IS IGNORANCE
ATWES7P0INT
GEN. BARRY TALKS OF FAILURE
TO FILL SCHOOL.
MANY CANDIDATES DEFICIENT

| MANY CANDIDATES DEFICIENT
Bad Grammar 10 a Feature Shown BY
Many Of the Applicants for Cadet.
ships at the Nations Military AGA
demy-Some Of the Answers.
"HE failure to keep at maximum
strength the corps OF West
Point cadets IL the subject OF
complaint in the annual re.
port OF Major General Thomas H. Bar.
ry, U. S. A., superintendent OF the
Military academy, to the adjutant gen.
eral OF the army.
Three examinations In an effort to
| ill 800 vacancies were held by the
| war department this year In January.
May and August AT the first ex.
| animation 10 candidates qualified out
| OF 553 who stood the examination. In
| May there were Sevcnty-eight success.
| full candidates In 30. Fifteen quail.
| fed OF the ciChty-thrcc who tried In
| June. There remained after the last
examination hfty-Scven vacancies un.
| nlled.
The chief reason for this difficulty
Of obtaining material to officer the f.
| ture armies of the United States is
the mental deficiencies OF candidates
In these three examinations 352 can.
didateS failed mentally, while nearly
third Of that number, 101 candidates.
were physically disqualified.
The mental deficiencies OF candidates
are exhibited in copies OF answers to eX
animation questions Incorporated into
the report. These examination papers.
says General Barry. seem to establish
that proper care Is not exercised In the
selection OF candidates and that the
methods Of instruction now in vogue
In the schools are not satisfactory.
Examples of Some Answers.
The following examples are taken
from candidates examination papers:
Robert Burns was and English he
was born in England and his parents
were very POOR. All during Roberts
early child hood he showed that he
was very bright. He Is considered one
Of the greatest English His poems
sound different from that OF the other
poets. The sound much more smooth
er.
Robert Burns was an English writ
err Of poems. Burns was born of poor
parents. his father being common
do In hot xtrha oh
n taste for good book. Often while
eating a meal he would take his book
to the table and read as he ate. Burns
was large mans. but the hard labor
which he did while young weaken
him. When about seventeen Burns ut.
tended dancing school which his par
ents objected to very much
Burns early educations was obtain
thro his mother and poor school. To
which he could attend only few
months year.
"As Burns grew in man hood he feel
in with companions. The results were
he became drunken.
Robert Burns came from the Pes
ent class Of Scotland; His father took
1t upon himself to instruct his son as
he should be. When Robert was
boy. his father would talk to him as If
he were a man with intelligence and
maturer knowledge instead Of a mere
boy. Nature greatly Influenced him,
as Is shown by his literary works
later: many of his poems were about
birds. and the animals he came In con-
tact in his daily work on the farm
Burns was Of Scotch decent. His
people were poor and ignorent. His
opportunities were not good but he
was determine. The poetica blood
seemed to have run through his veins
He knew the peasant life well, and It
Influenced his works of later years
No poet has ever been able to surpass
him in describing the peasant life"
"Nepoliean" and Lord Wellington.
"The battle of Waterloo, where Ma
pelican, the most noted and powerful
ruler also general that Europe has
ever produced. Is what some authora-
ties say as to his greatness, met his
defeat was merely an oversight on his
part.
THE Battle of Waterloo was fought
between the French and English. The
French were led by Nepoliean and the
English by Lord Wellingford.
"Nepoliean had captured most OF
Europe and had been carrying on a
war against England. The English
were the better on seas but French
beat them on land"
AS examples of failure to exhibit a
fair knowledge of English literary his,
tory the following answers to the
question asked-"In a few paragraphs
altogether about 200 words mention
the chief characteristics and the most
important writer's of the nineteenth
century In English literature"-are