Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-08-10
A DECISION ON
BOOK QUESTION
South Amboy School Board
Has Lengthy Discussion.
Special TO the EVENING NEWS.

ing of the Board of Education last
evening Messrs. Oliver, Davis, Pearse,
Sutliff and Wyckoff ;also Supervisor
Fitch.
There were also in attendance rep
resentatives of different book COM
panies on account of the proposed
abolishing Of certain text books and
substitution of those which happened
to be published by other companies.
President Davis stated he thought
these gentlemen should be given an
opportunity to be heard. Mr.. Oliver
stated he did not see what bearing
such remarks would have on the
proposition but he had no objections
to them being heard. The other
members also thought they should be
given an opportunity to speak. Mr..
Davis thought it should be definitely
decided whether or not there was to
be a change before any remarks were
made.
The report, as submitted by the
committee on rules and regulations
was therefore read, recommending
abolishing the Mines arithmetic and
substitution of Wentworth & Smith
and the abolishing of Barnes History
and substitution of Montgomery's.
Mr.. Sutliff stated he had investigated
the merits of the histories and ad-
hered to the report so far as that was
concerned, but he had not an oppor-
tunity o eXamine In SO far as the
arithmetics were concerned and, hav-
Ing no personal knowledge Of the rel
alive merits at this time, did not ia
vor a change In this respect, particu-
larly in view of the expense involved.
Mr.. Oliver stated he had made an ex-
haustive investigation as to the mer-
it's of the arithmetic and that there
should be a change; that he would
favor permitting the Barnes history
to remain in lieu Of changing the
English grammars, in which latter
Prof. Fitch c%oncurred. The expense
of making both these changes he said
would amount to Sis or not over
$3.50 at the most. He stated his
opinion that these books should be
changed was not only based upon his
personal examination, but an examl-
nation made by several teachers as
we'll as taxpayers who had some
knowledge of the matter. Mr.. Davis
stated he thought WI should depend
upon what the supervisor said as the
rules provided We should be governed
by his recommendation in such mat
tiers.
To bring the matter formally be-
fore the board Mr.. Oliver made a mo-
ton that Mines arithmetic be abol-
ished and Wentworth & Smiths sub
stituted. Under remarks, Mr.. Coon,
of the American Book Co., presented
the merits of the Milne books and
Barnes history, pointing out the Va
rious ways in which they excelled as
attention to the many points at
which these books were being used
compared with other books. He called
and claimed they had supplanted the
Wentworth e Smith books in some
cases. Mr.. Newall, representing the
Stone-Mills arithmetic, neXt took the
floor and as ably explained the merits
of his works. At the close of these
remarks Mr.. Oliver explained his
views as to the relative merits of the
two books, calling attention to the
lack of rules in the Milne books
which made it almost impossible for
the pupil to understand what he was
doing. At the close of his remarks
he requested that Chas. Mason, who
was present in the capacity of re-
porter for the EVENING NEWS, IA
vor the board with an expression of
opinion in regard to the books. Mr..
Mason stated he would prefer not to
enter the controversy, that he was
not an authority On such matters, not
being a mathematician, and any
opinion he might express should be
considered as coming from a layman
who might be mistaken in his views.
He called attention to the fact that
some of Jul high school graduates
were unable to reckon interest and
inasmuch as the corps Of teachers
possessed high grade certificates
showing they were competent in ev-
cry respect, he had been led to be-
lieve the difficulty might lie with the
text books.
While he was not prepared to
state there were not better books
than the wentworth & Smith, he did
feel that these books were superior to
Mines in that the latter were quite
deficient in rules and the number of
problems under each classification
very meagre, whereas the proposed
book contained rules for each CLASH
ication and a number of problems
calculated to impress the rules upon
the mind of the pupil. AS to the mat
tie rof expense. he thought 1t quite in
consistent to consider the small sum
of $3.50 for the improvement of the
mind when 1t was contemplated
spending such a large sum for i'm
proVement of buildings, that these
two character of improvements did
not admit of comparison and there
fore the question of expense was
hardly an argument.
AS a result of these remarks some
of the board examined the books to
ascertain the arrangement Of prob
lens and rules governing same. The
vote which was taken on the matter
showed Oliver, Pearse and Wyckoff
in avor of the change to Wentworth
& Smith and Sutliff and Davis against
the change. The motion to change
was declared carried.
The vote was unanimous to change
from Kellog's to Hyde's grammars.
1t was decided to make no change
IL, thn htnfNr no OF this tfD,N