Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-04-15
STATE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MAX
ING PROGRESS IN EFFORTS
TO SECURE REFORMS.
TO PURGE cURRIcULA
OF OBSOLETE MATTER
Committee Takes View That High
School Is Not For Favored Few and
Should Not Be Preparatory For Col
Ieses-System Organized From Top
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines. April 15.-lowa's public
school curricula are to be pursed of USE
less topics and material and all obso-
lete matter if the plans of the Iowa
State Teachers Association succeed. A
special committee appointed by the as
ISOLATION has been wrestling with this
problem for more than a year. The
committee met yesterday al the state
house and from reports there submitted
Il is evident that the question is be-
ing worked out with great thorough
ness.
The committee was first appointed
in 1914 to report to the 1915 conven
ton. Its report. submitted to the state
teachers convention here last Novem"
Der was so full OF interest that the
committee was continued for another
year and its membership enlarged.
Thousands OF copies Of the printed re-
port Of this committee have been sent
out on request since the report was
submitted last fall to all parts of the
United States. The interest in the sub
ject is nation wide apparently.
The members of the committee
working out this subject are as fol-
lows: G. N. Wilson. Ames. chairman;
". L. Hanson, Burlington: George H
Belts Mount Vernon; John r Stacks.
Sac City: W. F. Cramer. Atlantic; E.
E. Lewis Iowa City: c. W. Stone,
Cedar Falls: a c. Fuller Jr- secre-
tary Des Moines: J. H. Beveridge.
Council Bluffs: Eugene Henely. Grin
nell: F. E. Palmer. Mason City; J. E.
Cundy, Milford.
The committee in its report sub
rirted at the last state teachers meet
ing pointed out that American e0uca-
ton is today in the midst of funda-
mental reconstruction. 1t IS becoming
consciously democratic and is no long
er for the favored few nor to fit for
certain highly specialized professions
as in times past.
Not Preparatory School.
The business Of education is to in
crease the efficiency of all our people
at every point Of contact in life" de-
clared the committee in its report.
This means that while education is
yielding its culture and discipline II
must also give the practical knowledge
and develop the concrete efficiency re-
qu.red to found and maintain better
homes, secure larger returns from la
Dor, participate more intelligently In
civic affairs and live more heaithful
and efficient lives"
The committee declared that first OF
all the elementary school must not be
made % serve chiefly as a preparatory
school for the high school as has been
too much the case in the past.
Education has been organized from
the top down. each lower school being
shaped to fit for the next higher. But
of the children entering the elementary
school three-ffths never go beyond the
eighth grade" declares the committee.
The great problem Of the element
airy school Is, therefore. to provide the
best education possible for those who
never go any further"
The committee declared that the
curriculum Of the grades must be call
cula ted to give boys and girls before
the age Of IA years the fundamental
equipment for meeting the problems
and demands that await them.
They must have placed in their
possession the concrete fundamental
knowledge most closely related to their
future interests and work" declared
the committee They must have de-
VeIOped in lnen the TlSHl dllltuue tO-
ward the common social and civic
duties ard relations. toward labor and
achievement and toward morality.
They must also De given some degree
Of skill in the use of their powers and
right standards Of achievement
Useless Arithmetic.
Among the Examinations recommended
by the committee were the following
with regard to the teaching of arith-
metic: Omit formal number work in
the first year. Omit entirely, greatest
common divisor. Omit complex frac-
tions. Complicated puzzles should be
omitted. Omit long processes OF di-
visions Of fractions. Omit Troy weight,
apothecaries' weight, surveyors meas
ure, table for folding paper. and tables
Of foreign money. The tables men
toned are used by special trades and
professions and never used in ordi-