Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1913-10-24
NEW PLAN OUTLINED
FOR STATE SCHOOLS

This mornings session Of the
teachers institute opened with a
registration OF about S25, many more
then previous estimates. and the high
school assembly hall was crowded to
capacity for the first address of the
day by ]. a. Churchill, superintend-
ent of public instruction.
Mr.. Churchill gave as the keynote
OF his discourse the idea that modern
progressive educational tendencies
must be toward a more intelligent
training OF the individual rather
than the mere teaching of certain
subjects in such manner that they
are never OF any benefit to the pupil
in his later life. Mr.. Churchill then
gave examples OF this sort of educa-
tion as he had seen II in the schools
of twenty and thirty years ago. He
cited many Of the old ridiculous
grammar lessons which demanded
that one have a thorough knowledge
of the contents of the text books OF
the time, but which were utterly
lacking in any OF the aims OF an in
telligently planned educational sys-
TEN. The old time spelling bees, OF
which this generation knows only
through reading and reminiscence,
lacked real value because of the spirit
in which they were given and the
goal to which the champion spoilers
aspired. Their only object was to
accumulate what Mr.. Churchill called
great spelling vocabulary" while
his actual useful vocabulary was neg
lected to such an extent that the pupil
never did learn to use the simplest
words correctly. With the new idea
the pupil is not only taught the cor
-Nct order OF the letters that make
up the word but also the meaning Of
he word so formed, so that In every
day life when he has a call for that
particular word he knows how to use
1t as we'll as how to spell it, and his
vocabulary can supply other words
which he knows mean the same as the
first. Thus all the way through the
old curriculum the pupil was taught
the subject literally, and with no re-
gard for the value II might have TO
the pupil. The change in point OF
/ view OF the meaning of teaching, as
! shown by this example, has perme-
ated the entire educational system
Of today until the sole aim of our
Hchools has become the endeavor to
so educate each child that every
day he spends In the class room
means one more step toward the
greatest possible efficiency in the
vocation he may later follow. This
progressive step in the Oregon school
system was first actively inaugurated
and urged by x-Superintendent
Alderman, some eight or ten years
ago, and is now being rapidly follow
ed out to its most logical and prac-
tical ends This is seen in the great
+ ~ increased number of elective sub
iects offered for the choice OF high
school pupils. This breaking away
from the old hard and fast curricula
has had a great deal to do with the
re-awakened interest in high school
courses, for, as it is urged the pupil
who has in a measure determined
upon his future lifework can now
see that he is making himself more
secure in his training in that direc-
tion by staying with the public
schools after he otherwise might have
left them According to the new pro-
gram of progressive work. training
has been classified under three gem
eral heads-lndustral Commercial.
and Literary, Thus the pupil enroll
ing for study under one of these gem
eral divisions will have upon leaving
the school at least good idea of the
nature of the work he has selected.
But the latest plan of the leaders OF
public instruction in Oregon, as given
by Superintendent Churchill, carries
the idea much farther along practical
and useful lines than has heretofore
been attempted The plan includes
a listing Of the common vocations and
special training along these lines will
be given along with the other work.
thus increasing the subsequent value
OF a public school education mani
fold With the inauguration OF this
idea will come the junior high school
and when the child in the upper
grade begins to cast about for ideas
as to his lifework, opportunity will be
at hand 80 that the choice will no
longer be merely a haphazard guess,
and the choice once made, the great