Evening star., 1914-04-26

by the testimony of those who have
| taught in the old-time schools and are
| still teaching in modern schools: and
third. by comparison Of the old and
| the new courses of study and methods
of teaching in the light of well estab-
lished educational theory.
| Tests in arithmetic, spelling. geog-
raphy and penmanship given to high
school students at Springfield. Mass, in
| 1916, and repeated in 1906. give the mod
| ern students an easy victory in all the
subjects tested. In arithmetic and pen
manship the victory is indeed over
whelming. Teachers. who have been
teaching thirty or more years are near
ly unanimous in the belief that pupils
now not only learn considerably more.
but that in the main they learn things
also more thoroughly than they, did a
generation ago.
1.-The spirit of the schoolroom and
methods of instruction have steadily in
creased with the better training of teach
| ers, while the course OF study has been
greatly enriched. Every line of investi-
CATION appears to show that pupils in
| the grades are not only learning two or
three times as much as they used to
| learn, but that they are learning the
so-called fundamentals of three RS more
| thoroughly"
Address of DR.. M. v. o'Shea.
"Any boy will do what the crowd does,
dHu IL we are SOiHS 10 SolFe our PROP
lens today, we must. work with the
crowd mainly
| With the enunciation of this basic
principle. DR.. NJ. v. Oshea, professor of
education of the University of Wisconsin,
| touched the keynote in his address be-
fore the congress on the subject of New
Times and New Problems in Education -
During the past fifty years there has
been steady drift of the people to the
<1f <r5<f
while, the country, in many places, is
becoming depopulated." he said. And
| the conditions in city life have changed
markedly during the past few decades.
The individual home has been constantly
losing its distinctive character.
Fifty years ago, even in the city,
young people and old spent a considera BILE
part of their time in their own homes.
The home has almost completely merged
with the general social body. The agen-
cies in cities designed to help people
while away their time have been con-
stantly increasing. This simply means
| that people are spending more of their
time together in groups than they did
formerly.
| The lives of boys and girls are feel
ing the influence of the times. The tele-
phone is making it practically impossible
| for them to be alone any length of
| time. The group activities of the young
| today. are vastly more inclusive and
elaborate than they were formerly. The
amusements designed to appeal to the
young, and even to seduce them, are
| much more varied and alluring than in
times in even the recent past.
Concentrated Training Lacking.
1.-THE tendency of this new life is to
make young people more responsive, more
alert, more self-reliant in the presence
Of others, perhaps even more smart
than was true in the old order. But a,
the same time young people do not have
| training outside the school in loug-con.
tinued application to any task. They arr
not trained in working independently an6
in isolation.
/ 80 the school really has a new prob
lem of great Importance and equally
great difficulty. No civilization can Ions
endure unless the people are trained t.
apply themselves to their tasks, what
ever they may be, for long time-tha1
Is to say, until the tasks are solved
Probably most of the real problems Of
human life must be solved by the indi.
vidual working alone without distraction.
and without feeling the continual longin,
to be in contact with his fellows. If i
is true, as it seems to be, that the
rising generation cannot concentrate OF
difficult problems as effectively as dit
the preceding generation, then we are II
peril.
Our problems are growing more com
! plex all the time, which means that thu
people must be trained to apply them
selves more and more concentratedly t,