The Oskaloosa herald., 1912-04-18


were practical and the teachers car
ried home with them hopeful suggest.
ions to apply to their daily work.
About one-third of the force of city
teachers were in attendance. Oska-
loosa feels honored in having Prin.
Fred j. Miller chosen as vice presi.
dent of the association, as 1t is an
honor worthily bestowed PSI
o. ~ -..-.. 3d.
The Botany classes have been do
ing some practical work in the way
OF testing seed corn. There are ap-
proximately one hundred students en-
rolled in Botany, and nearly the en-
tire number engaged in the contest,
and some very practical, helpful work
was done. At the later date Il more
detailed report of the work carried
on will be done. vM .r'.r ."
Within the past month some i'm,
prOvementS have been made in the
High school building. The stage for
the stereopticsn has been enclosed,
and shelving installed for the proper
care OF the slides and apparatus con
nected herewith; a large double case
intended for the storing OF CONNER.
cial products has also been finished,
and in addition very fine commercial
exhibit has been purchased by the
Board OF Education. and is now in
uie by the classes in Commercial
Geography. A very fine saw has beer.
placed in the manual training depart
mept and fiye.horse power motor
furnishes power. for the same. Tho
sew is n very complete one In every
respect, and adds greatly TO the eff
ficency In this department. A..
..r T:'l - sIiii &uigIris 70. i.
As noted before; speciai attention
has recently been given to spelling
ia the local schools. We hear 1t said
from time to time that the schools of
to-day do not teach as effectively as
those OF an earlier day, especially ~
the subjects of spelling and arith-
metic This statement Is given as q
matter OF opinion with no facts to
substantiate IL. Can Bchool children
OF today spell as well as the children
OF quarter of century ago? A few
years ago there was discovered In the
attic OF the High school building in
Springfield, Massachusetts, some old
sets of examination papers, consisting
Of the questions Ia various subjects
including spelling, also the papers
written by the pupils. This same list
of words used, was recently given to
the students of the OskalOOsa High
school, and it was possible, therefore,
10 make an exact comparison. The
eighty-fve pupils OF the Springfield
High school who wrote the spelling
examination in 1886 averaged 40.6
percent, while a like number OF stu
dents in the OskalOosa High school
who wrote the examination averaged
5.4 percent. This proves conclusive
'ly that the boys and girls OF to-day
are doing even better work than the
boys and girls OF sixty years ago,
even in the subject OF spelling. This
is not saying that the schools Of to-
day are doing all that should be
done, as there Is much that is i'm
perfect However. II clearly establish
es the fact that the school work Of
to-day is superior TO the school work
Of our parents and grandparents.
- - -
The bureau Of Municipal Research
with it's office In New York City is
contributing from time TO time, Valu-
able suggestions and helps for the
schools. not only In New York City,
but throughout the country. The fol-
lowing facts are cleaned from one Of
its reports, and shows TO what extent
outside agencies in Greater New YORK