The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1912-03-26
SCHOOLS TOPIC
AT CHARITY MEET
100 Much Undes0ryGd Critl-
cism Of Schools.

The annual session of the New Jer-
sey Conference OF Charities and Cor
rections, now in progress at the Wom'
ans clubhouse, East Orange, will
come to a close tonight. All of the
sessions have been well attended, and
the discussions and papers have been
OF great interest. Between five and
six hundred delegates have registerd
since the opening of the session.
So far the problems discussed have
had to do with matters pertaining to
education, especially to the schools o1
New Jersey.
Educational Values was the topic
assigned to Calvin N. Kendall. com
missioner of education, who laid grea
stress on the necessity of making
every effort to get the ideas of the
child and wherever possible to allow
those ideas to be worked out. He
recommends forcing the child to thinl
whenever possible, and also expresses
himself in favor of allowing the child
to study from real life as much as
possible. He compared the school
children of to-day and their environ
ment with those of fifty years age
and the comparison was strongly IN
favor of the olden days. In speaking
of the young child Mr.. Kendall EN-
phatically stated it should be taught
to play as well as to work, and also
said it should be allowed to use its
imagination to large extent.
DIR. Addison B. Poland. superintend
ent of the Newark public schools, was
the presiding officer at Monday after
moons session. DR.. Poland gave a
brief address in which he declared
that the most obvious thing about the
public schools to-day is the criticism
they are receiving.
"The strongest criticism" he said
"comes from those who know nothing
about the schools. We welcome criti
cism. The churches are getting 1t as
we'll as our political candidates.
TT does not hurt our feelings as
school masters to be criticised" con
tinued DR.. Poland. "If concern is
to be reorganized those who know
most about the affairs of that concern
-,,,.ssy = allied upon to effect the reorgan
,ration II tie SCHOOLS need to be re-
organized the teachers are the per
sons best fitted to do the reorganiz'
ing"
John p. Murray. of the New Jersey
state board of education, in his ad'
dress took up the question of the
rural schools in the state.
'"The children in the outlying dis
tricts are greatly hampered," Mr.
Murray said. "by poor buildings, poor
teachers, poor supervision, minimum
of individual attention, short terms
poor attendance, little or no industrial
training and an utter neglect of sub
normal children, who, because of neg
iect, frequently become charge up
on society, if not menace to it.
The cause of these conditions, Mr.
Murray continued, could be attributed
to the failure of the state to make
an equal allotment of money for all
the children, the failure of cities tc
realize how dependent they are on tts
country, and their indifference to the
necessity of maintaining rural popu
lation large enough to produce the
necessities of life, and to the appar-
ent inability of rural communities to
consider only the welfare of the chill
dren to disregard in school matters,
local differences, and to be guided by
efficiency rather than economy.
Mr.. Murray suggested that the state
school money should be apportioned
SO that the children would share
equally in it, while the state should
have one or more normal schools espe
cially equipped for training rural
teachers. Teachers trained to the
higher standard should be assured a
minimum salary, he said, of not less
than SIS week.
The employment of truant officers,
he said, should be made mandatory
and parents made to understand that
they cannot keep children away from
classes through motives of economy.
There are in New Jersey, Mr.. Muir
ray said, 90S one-room schools and
295 two-room buildings.