The Tupelo journal., 1913-02-14
No Home Study For Small Children.

W AAOAAAS 0sS
The innovation which is being made by a number of the lead
ing schools throughout the country of assigning no home work for
the small child is meeting with the appreciation of progressive
teachers everywhere. Physicians and others who have studied
child life declare that the work attempted at home is more of an
injury than a benefit from every standpoint. Specialists in the
study of child life agree that the time spent in pouring over les
sons at night, when the mind and body are worn out with the
tasks of the day. dwarfs both H. d and body. The business man
closes his office at six and discards all work until office hours the
following morning. He returns fresh to his labors and his tasks
are easier for the recreation he has obtained. The child is forced
to drag through in an imperfect way the prospective labors of to-
morrow after it has worn itself out attempting TO master Inc tasks
of the day just past.
Below we have gathered some of the ideas of the leading
teachers of the country who express themselves very freely in
opposition to the present system OF ineffective night work Tor the
child.
THE COMEDY THAT IS BEING PLAYED.
Under the above caption the principal of a high school in the
Middle West says: I'm a million homes all over the country there
is acted nightly the comedy of fathers and mothers teaching the
children their lessons, with the teachers playing the detective the
instruction. The ordinary interests of the home are superseded
young children are kept up at night and, perhaps worst of all, the
children in the schools are kept parroting off text books without
ever learning how to go to the heart of the lesson. In this home
study everything fattens out into a dead level of lstlessness. The
child in unfortunate circumstances loses interest, tails, accepts
failure as his lot in life and leaves school as soon as possible. The
child whose parent can help in the preparation of lessons IS cod
died along from day to day without learning the most important
lesson the school should ~teach-namey, How To Study 1t is
perfectly true that the school can't do all that is expected of it
within the present hours. 1t is equally true that home study has
become a nuisance to the children. The only way out is to give
children more time in school with the teachers to teach them. In
short, the teacher should do the teaching"
HOW NO HOME STUDY AT ALL WORKED.
An Associate Superintendent of the Board Of Education of one
of the largest three cities in the United States says: Some years
ago while principal of a school l made the experiment of prohibit
ing home study in the grades from the first to the fifth inclusive.
Children were not permitted even to take their books home. We
incurred considerable opposition on the part of the parents who
were SO indoctrinated with the idea of home study in their own
school days that they protested vigorously against its prohibition.
The results of the prohibition of home study were carefully OBJ
served and we were unable to discover any falling off in the work
or the progress of the pupils of those grades. Periods of study
were provided during school hours. My personal judgment in
.clnes to the abolition of home study in the lower grades, say from
first to six inclusive. This could be accomplished without affect
ing school progress if certain changes in the school program of
exercises were made.
Il think that teachers at the present time are inclined to over
estimate the effect of home study upon school progress. Much so
called Home Study amounts to little more than the assignment
of tasks which are neglected.
In order to introduce this innovation OF II nome STUDY Tor the.
small children, it will be necessary to rearrange the progress of
the day and cut down the number of lessons to not more than four.
Where the lesson has been prepared with the aid and under the
direction of the teacher but little time is required Tor rectauon.
This change in the program of the exercises should address itself
to the teacher as both practical and feasible. The teachers would
place themselves upon a much better footing with the parents who
are too frequently brought to complain by the assignment of long
lessons that require too much of valuable time in bringing the
child to even an imperfect knowledge of the subjects.
Along this line the superintendent of one of the largest nor
NAL schools of the far west said: 'One day several days ago a
widow came to me, as a school superintendent, with a complaint
and a proposal about as follows: l have four little girls attend
ing your school, I am up at five o'clock in the morning to get them
off to school and myself off to work. 1t is six O'Clock in the even
ing when reach home again pretty we'll worn, out, and after we
have had dinner and have tinted up the house a bit 1t IS eight
O'Clock. Then, tired as am, sit down and teach the little girls
the lessons your teachers will hear them say over on the following
day. Now, if it is al. the same to you, 1t will be a great help and
favor me if you will have your teachers teach the lessons during
the dav and then all would have to do at night would be to hear
them say them over. We would all get to bed earlier This
widow was, and is, dead right. The efficiency of the schools would
be increased several hundred per pent If one would take her sug-
geston."
Superintendent Windham has introduced hours for study, the
innovation proving to be entirely satisfactory. With more work
at school the child learns how to study and the great lesson of
school life is accomplished when this lesson is thoroughly mastered.