Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-11-19
Did by rapid transit from grammar to

old by rapid transit from grammar to
high school. Many physical. and
nervous wrecks are being prepared Dy
over-crowding the courses and hur-
rying children through the grades
and through the academic courses. If
we try to make students instead of
pupils, of children from eight to
fourteen years of age, we are forcing
the conditions Of adult life. We are
crowding the preparatory years and
thereby lessening interest, weaken
ing the nervous and the intellectual
powers, and giving to the high schools
and academies unprepared products,
and to the industries Of life, unskilful
and unsatisfactory workers.
This is a truism that the higher
the scale of civilization, the less the
true period of childhood. An emf
nent writer on this subject says:
Eight years, from six to fourteen
is not too much time to devote to pri-
| mary education and development; Il
| is not too long a time for children 10
be children, thinking OF and doing
childish things. If you want great
| strong men and women, capable OF
doing things that are worth while, lei
children be children during the full
allotted period that nature seems tc
demand. They need time to develop
the many sides of their natures, and
they need, too. time to learn greaI
many things they will need to know
and to know we'll. in the serious en-
pigments of after life. 1t is often
times a matter of surprise how little
children really know, after they have
gone through the eight years of the
primary and grammar grades"
This poverty of attainment has
| caused many to look with suspicion
upon our public schools and to ques'
! ton the sanity Of our methods of in.
struction and course Of study.
| He further says, ri venture the as
sertion that measured by the stand
ard of the demands of practical bust.
ness or professional life, not one pupil
| in ten, finishing the grammar grades
can construct a letter correctly, spell
the common words of the Language
| with certainty, or perform ordinary
computations with reasonable speed
and accuracy" If this be true, and
| Del1eVe II Is, lucIc uuot VIC oOAASSAAAe
wrong in our courses Of study: OF
methods of instruction. Either there
are too many kinds of work, or there
is too much material in the subject
given. or the material is not properly
related to life.
There are men and women IN every
community who 'attacknur educational
system and charge us with filling oui
schools with fads and the minds Of
the children with fancies., instead o!
grounding them in the fundamentals
of a common school education-and IN
some degree, we think they are ]ust!-
fled in making these attacks.
It is conceded by all educational an.
thorities that the course OF STUDY
should be modified, but they are no.
agreed as to the subjects that should
be omitted. No standard has yet oeeu
agree on and the matter is likely q
be left to the judgment and genius o.
the teacher. OF one thing, however
all are assured, that skilful and re,
sourceful' teacher can readily ano
with profit to the pupil. pass over
much OF the subject matter in a tex.
book. by an abbreviating process anc
by experimenting the recitation witt
! new and more practical and interest.
| ing data, gathered by reading AM