The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-09
LAYS STRESS
 ON THREE R'S
Governor Ba' dwin Tells Teach CTS More Attention Should
 Be Pad to Them

New Haven. Feb. 9-Four hundred and nine members of the Teachers League filled the ball room of the Taft Hotel last evening at the tn I'd annual banquet of the association, and on all sides was heard the opinion that the members of the comm ttee l this year had eclipsed all former eff forts in securing splendid spe; kers and an inviting menu. The gather ing was marked by the presence of men who made notable pronounce ments on matters educational, chiefly ; Governor Baldwin, who urged the need of paying more attention to the , three -R's; by Congressman Reilly, who declared the Teachers League should secure equal pay for equal work to it's women members, and by Mayor Rice, who told the teachers that they were | trying to teach too many subjects, not essentia s.
 Arthur E. Booth, the president of the league, bespoke the regret of the association in the absence of Mrs. Alexander Troup, who had worked in defatigahIy for the eague's establish ment, and flowers were sent her as a remembrance.
 Professor John w wetzel, Of Yale. was toastmaster, and most felicitous one he proved to he. He proposed a tcast to Governor Baldwin before the Governor spoke.
 Governor Baldwin. in his address,
 e'The laws of Connecticut make her i Governor the nominal head of her school system.
 Tt must be thought that there is some good in the point of view of a man not himse'f a trained teacher, on the subject of education I have one idea that I should like to talk to you about tonight. It is that the three R's are not getting the fair share of our teachers work. Whatever elsa is learned, reading, writing. and arith- n7etic must he; and I believe the best time to learn them is over pretty early.
 .'The Euronean schoolmaster - fin France. at 1east-succeeds in dong this better than we. The German or French child of or 9 has learned more at scr ooI than the ordinary Con- necticut cFid who is a year O der.
 We yield too much to the chil7's hone preferences. We are too fear full that he will study too hard and he pressed too muoh. A child Of eight most impress ionabIe years of his whole life, the years when his mind i is most recentive, as to simple things, the years when the memory stores up what is nut before him, with the greatest facility. A child of that age can earn what he does not under S and, hut which he will understand in te c---..~e. far more easf'v and re- tentiVely l. an he ever can afterwards. He does not enjoy learning such things in such way But it is far
  that seven times seven is 19, and be able to say it promptly, tran that he should know why peorle have agreed to represent that relation of fi"ures to each other in that way, and to a@ont these signs which we call mum bers. a. fe- in this room, who if asked to explain the nature of that re ation and of these sieas for i6eas. would eind it no simrle thing. Yet we should . all he ashar not to know the null .iplicatfon table.
 ''spe'1frg is no easy strdv after ear V chrdrood. In early chi 6hoo6 it is aasy. even in a language as hard as he English
 .sI had rather have child at nine spell correctly, read with ease, ard do simple sunos in his head, than to have him deficient in any oe these re spects, hut ahIe to bound the Caspi"n n Sea or tell how many miles away the noon is. I woud. still rather, have him ahse to do both.
 s+Ohsta principiis $ one of the wise savings of the world. Prevent wrong beginnings. In every child let us law a sure foundation of the absolutely necessary things, and a superstruc- ! lure VIII give us little trouble. If, on the other hand, this foundation is wanting, you may rear up a showy form Of ucation, but it will be form, i and nothing else.
 ''More. I believe, can and should he ! rut into or got out of our young chil- 1ren than now is. They can be taught the three R's and a great many other things besides. They can he taught | as much by them as the German child i and they are not.
 ''The secret is, and it is the secret . of success everywhere, to make the r7ost of the chi1d's time in school and | the teachers time in school Some | Fodv, I relieve, has been writing a | hook on How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day. It is easy, if you know how: it is hard, if we waste what is ! e'Ven us to use. Every five minutes of a tea cher's school time costs the | pubic a good deal and ought to be 1 worth a good deal to the pubic in i return.
 "A wise French woman, Madam Craven, summed up the matte~ thus, . and will close with commendine he~ | words to the keeping of your mem ory: "Ti-~ne is li'.e money. It multi | plies itself, in the hards of those who i know how to use it ,"
 AN EDTDENTTC OF COUGHING