The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-16
PUBLIC OPINION
MOTHER GOOSE GAMES N AND THE NORMAL SCHOOL.

To the Editor of The Farmer:- Kindly publish my letter that oth- CTS in the darkness of n1isunderstand- ing may receive enlightenment as Since the agitation regarding the i decrease of salary in the cases of ycer- tain teachers who were pronounced incompetent, have spent much time in wondering wherein such incom- potency lay After reading the pro- gram for teaching day at the City Normal school, have ceased to con- 1 lecture know.
 The teachers who were, declared de- ficient were those whose natural ability and sense of the seriousness of a real education left them unfitted constitute an elementary course in the public sch ools. For To! the persons responsible for the Arrangement of that fearfuIly and wonderfully con jstructed program assert that the ex- ercises will be ., denonstration of the subjects and methods to which the young ladies training for teachers 1 owe their success!
 And it goes something like this: | Number game.
 Language game-Hidfng the thim- bIe
 Mother Goose impersonation. i Paper cuttingZCircus animals, toy house and furniture
 Dramatization-M Mabel and the I Fairies.
 I Illustrated taIk-P1ay as a factor in the physical education of the child I Running garnesI!!
 Geography of the United States
 Illustrated talk-A travelogue. MA trip to the coast.
 Games-States and cities.
 Spelling match.
 l / q
 don't send my children to school I to learn the stuff indicated by that glorious program. want them to learn arithmetic as a science=not to make game of it. Small wonder that I have to teach them how to do their examples after my hard day's work!
 They know. how to hide a thfEnbIe so effectively that their mother has to buy new one all too frequently. Imagine how much useful Knowledge they might acquire at school in the time used in ttteaching'' them how: to hide thfnb1e! I don't want them to ifmpersonate Mother Goose. I am trying to teach them common sense The role of Mother Goose is far more suited to a certain person who plans these wonderful courses off study. AS I for cutting papers, the children could I do that before they started to school I-noW every room in hte house is lit 1 tered d-and I should be glad to have I them taught hoWzto read fntelligently during the ninety minutes each week devoted to such capers The drae madZation dOesn, ,t2gappeal to me-I6 6 rather have them Instructed in long 1 division. The play is fine-aftel school hours with. the other young sters; why should ke pay a teacher to ampIify it during recitation pc riods?
 Running games! And they talk about discipline! When went tc school 8 teacher who was caught al lowing her pupils (even without put ting them up to it herself) to rur and rompS about the room during school session, would be dismissed without a recommendation.
 Something went wrong with the topic concerning cities of the United States-d oubtless some old crank in. F sisted upon it for variety. It is bal. anced by another 'game''-Estates ant 'stravelogue'' :nc1udes a moving pie. ture apparatus, but we never hear O. the use of such machines in daily lessons The spelling match is al right, but 1t does not illustrate tn methods used in teaching spelling.
 Accordingly, I have not the slight est doubt that the teachers who re fused to make. game of the essential: , of education, who preferred ordel and discipline to wi1d-eyed chi1dre> . tearing about their rooms and who taught. reading, writing and arith mettc while others were making fools of their pupils in Mother Coos , antics, were the teachers who diC not conform to the schedule and re ceived the black marks. Poor Ihings! Let them take warn ing and next year copy the capabl efforts of their more fortunate as sociates.
 A HOCKEY PLAYER