The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-03-05
SHOOTING OFF THEIR FACES
ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS

Minneapolis Tribune: When a pres
ident Of a railroad, a leading officer in
a bank, or the editor of a newspaper
considers a change in office policy he
proceeds with caution. Usually he
holds a council and listens attentively
to the views Of his WI subordinates.
Changes in method and purpose in his
business are too important to be made
without full inquiry, though the field
be that to which he has devoted his
life.
The education of children is at least
as involved difficult a business as
the management Of railroads, banks
and newspapers. The material at stake
Is more precious than railroads, money
or newspapers.
Yet here in Minnesota, within the
past month, representatives of the rail-
roads, the banks n the newspapers
have not hesitated to pass judgment
upon our schools and to condemn them
without even the most perfunctory in
quiry into the thing they presumed to
judge. What would they say IL a
group Of school teachers shot off their
faces likewise as to the railroads, the
banks, or the newspapers.
Boiled down, the criticism OF the
modern American public school con-
sists OF two charges:
That it is not thorough.
That it is not practical.
Restoration OF sound primary edu-
cation is bound to come Also" says the
newspaper critic. 80 that pupils in our
read, to cipher with precision and ia
cility.-What avails it that a pupil
Of our primary schools knows a num-
Der Of things that are not so-or, IL
so, that are perfectly useless and alto
gether superfuous-while he is unable
to spell accurately, to write correctly,
to, cipher with eas and precision"
Back to the three R's!" is the sub
stance Of this criticism.
Is there anyone with knowledge of
the modern American child that doubts
his ability to read? That not only does
he read earlier than his father, but at
any given age better than his father at
that age?
Does anyone doubt that the writing
Of school children has improved?
The fathers of today were in school
through the sos and COS. At that
time the schools were teaching a flow
ing, unbusiness- like, impractical
"Spencerian' hand. Today they
teach-and teach well as they can in
the absence of home and office sup
port--the simplest and most distinct
style of handwriting.
Iii6 LnlTQ IL Is dElLnITlGLlC. ana II
Is said particularly that our children
must learn ito cipher with ease and
precision"
Let the critics do the following ex-
amples:
Divide 5o9ss41 by TAO,
Multiply 54s9 by sS7s.
Add 1876
4052
1884
260
5041
1543
Fourteen such examples were given
the pupils of a Minneapolis grade the
other day. A perfect paper would
score so points. One child finished in
10 minutes with 55 points. Another
took II minutes and scored So points.
No child was allowed longer than IL
minutes. The average, we venture,
would shame the average attained by
any group Of the schools critics.
In another room eleven examples
were read aloud. Here are the first
three:
Twenty-Five articles at 37.5 cents.
Forty eight articles at 8 and 1-3
cents.
Thirty-1ve articles at 25 cents.
The pupils wrote down only the an
swers. They had but one minute for
the eleven calculations.
Twenty-six children took the test.
Seven had all the answers right.
Twelve missed one. Seven missed
more than one.
Is there any business office in Min
neapolis whose 20 clerks could do any
better?
Spelling is usually included with the
""Three RS" This is as it should be.
Spelling is a. part Of reading and writ
ing.
The other day a fifth grade class was
given a half-year's test in spelling. A
bright boy brought home his paper.
The mark upon it was 90.
pretty well DONE" said his father.
sit was the lowest in the ROOM"
answered the boy.
So 1t proved to be. The average Of
the class was "a. Was there any class
Of twenty or forty years ago in which
the teaching vas more efficient?
These illustrations were come upon
by chance. They may or may not fair
ly reflect the teaching in our schools.
axsxz----. ~~-