The Penn's Grove record., 1916-09-01
NOTICE TO PARENTS
The School Problem Resumes
With Fads and Fancies
of Educators

DADlit SfnpOf NtSltIHS OI AlHtIftd Is now
under way. Grade teachers and high
school teachers from almost everywhere
are studying in the summer sessions of
our great colleges and universities. They
are learning from child experts and lead
ing educational eXperimenters just what
new methods and devices and theories
are to be tried out on your boys and
girls next winter.
In the fall these teachers will return
to you crammed full of foggy notions
of what the experts tried to say. They
will ask your cooperation in giving
these notions a trial. We ask that you
extend to them every help and courtesy
within your power. 1t is imperative
that your schools be up-to-date whether
anything is accomplished or not. No
scheme of education should be allowed
to operate long enough to demonstrate
its excellence or it's absurdity."
If the teachers have not been to a
summer schOo a book agent has been
around and convinced the powers that
have the selection of books that a new
book should be introduced with some
new fad notion of the author.
Being a member of the Board of Edu-
cation book agents called to discuss new
books. One said his publishing house
had a new grammar. When asked wheth-
er the construction of the English Ian
gauge had changed in the past few
years., he replied: mo, but teachers like
to have a new book as well as a new
hat or Dress
1t may be pleasing for the teacher,
who has the same grade and fails to see
that the pupils change each year in her
room and the changing of the method
confounds the pupils and binders pro-
gress.
Some years ago we visited a country
school. The teacher was from another
State, had never seen one of the books
in the school and the supervisor in
charge had introduced half new books of
different methods which the pupils had
never seen before. There were three
different grammars with three different
explanations of a noun and a verb. How
could children gain clear and definite
conceptions of their language and what
could be expected of the result? 1t took
a whole year for the teacher to learn the
boG2-sl and methods.
When we had the county system some
years ago the county superintendent set
a standard of books for the teacher to
study in order to be qualified to become
a teacher and most schools had the
same books. The boy or girl who stud
led the books passed the county exam
ination and became a teacher of the same
method.
Now we have a State system. The
State Board of Education sends out Bull
letins as directors in studies. The
teacher is expected to search a library
of books to learn what the State Board
means and then give it to the pupils. A
publishing company endeavored to have
men fathom the meaning of the State
Board and published an arithmetic
thought to meet the requirements. But.
behold along came another book agent
and convinced the powers that be that
his arithmetic meets a deficiency and it
goes in the eighth grade to pupils who
have studied a different book and differ
ent method for five years.
Those who purchased the arithmetic
do not know that in the middle are fifty
pages of algebra. If the pupils do not
learn readily how to eat Greek pi in two
months the parents will kindly cooper
ate in giving these foggy notions an ex-
perimental trial in Penns Grove school.
Algebra is of as much practical use as n
flying machine.
Two years study of algebra in the
high school is unnecessarily too long, in
our opinion, and it should not be in the
grammar school to the exclusion of 9TH
er studies more useful; for instance, ele-
mentary bookkeeping. Some years ago
when we proposed the introduction of
bookkeeping in the eighth grade it was
not approved. Now an extra dose of
useless algebra is bought without the
Board of Education knowing what they
are doing.
But some one-may say there are i'm
proved methods and we must have books
that give them. A few years ago in the
Youths Companion Elmer Ellsworth
Brown, Chancellor of N. Y. University
and former U. s. Commissioner of Edu-
cation, discussed the school books of the
70's and early SOS and those of recent
years. He noted the advance of scien-
tiic knowledge and that histories were
more readable, but expressed a disap-
pointment in readers. He said:
my disappointment in arithmetics
was still greater. The changes of meth
DDS mad evidently left their mark upOn
the textbooks in this subject, just as
similar marks have been left on text
books in other subjects. I did not find
any arithmetic more seompaGs and I'M
derstandable than the oYes 1 wore to
ragged edges when was a scIoolboy.'
Prof. George T. Eadd, in the N. Y.
Times, June IS. 1916, had an article IN
sour Many Educational Fads and Fan
cies." He relates an incident as follows:
"Some years ago in a New England
city which was proud of it's schools, a
bright boy of Z or 8 came home whim-
pering and depressed because he failed
in arithmetic. The mother said: '"Tom-
my, you know that"
"Of course l do" said the boy, "but
/ can't get the method"
Prof. Ladd relates the incident of a
CONTINUED On AGE s