The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-01-15
GILES EXPLAINS

Icontinued From Page one1
effective means Of dealing with slow
or bad" pupils? What is the proper
length Of school day?
Pupils Are Coached.
This much may be said for the back
ward pupil. If the necessity formerly
existed, for the teacher to take extra
time for him it does not now. Ar
rangements are such now that the
building principals and kindergarten
teachers, all Of whom with two or
three exceptions. teach half time only,
devote part OF their time to coach
ing those pupils who need their help
This plan has assisted greatly in rails
ing the percentage Of promotions in
the city. 1t also does away with the
necessity Of an extra half hour at the
close of the day for additional work
by the teacher.
Again, the bright pupil has an equal
right to the teachers individual assist
ance and direction. Educators are
past the welfare of the child with
more than average ability has been
neglected and that the loss resulting
from this neglect is greater than the
gain derived from the extra attention
paid to the slower pupils, The bright
child is entitled to as much. Of the
schools time and effort as the dull
one
Practice Is Dropped.
Keeping in" as punishment for
misconduct is not practiced as extern
sively today as formerly The results
of the practice are of doubtful value.
That Richmond should devote almost
one-tenth of the school time to legal
izing this form Of punishment would
not be defended by any one
If the above arguments are valid, it
would seem that definite time should
be fixed for the dismissal of school
1t remains to determine the length
of the school day. AS shown above it
is now officially 315 minutes. exclu-
sive OF recesses. but practically for the
majority Of children it is 2S5 minutes.
How is the proper time to be deter.
mined?
On question Of this nature where
| individual opinions would differ indef.
initely, the common practice of the
| country is perhaps the safest guide.
Fortunately the facts necessary to de.
termine this are at hand.
Published Statistics.
On Nov. I, 1915, Superintendent
Rickert Of the Connersville schools
published the report of an investiga,
ton Of "a Indiana cities giving the
time of beginning and closing the
school sessions and the length of the
school day. The average length OF
school day, exclusive of recesses. re
ported for these "a cities was 3OE
minutes. Only one other city reported
as short school day as Richmond
and that was followed by question
mark indicating doubt as to it's cor
rectness.
The Fourteenth Yearbook of the Ma
tional Society for the Study of Edu
cation, issued last year, published the
| report of an investigation by DR.
Holmes giving similar facts for fit,
larger cities of the u S. representing
all parts Of the country. The average
length of school day in these fifty cit
les, exclusive of recesses, is 3O1 min
utes. This indicates that the practise
throughout the United States is fairl,
constant and that a school day o.
slightly in excess of 800 minutes i,
generally accepted.
School Day Shorter.
1t must be borne in mind, also. tina
the school day for the first grade I,
forty minutes shorter than that tnd1
Gated above and for the second grad,
twenty minutes shorter. And furthe
that exceptional children, below tn,
normal in health or physical condi
ton may be excused regularly for ,
part of the school day under the di
rect1on of physician.
On page So of the last report 1914
OF the U. S. Commissioner of Ednca
ton is found this paragraph:
Length of School Day-The Ton
dency toward frightening the schoo
day, noted in only few instance
last year, is apparently on the n
crease. This year seven cities mon
ton the heightened day in the hiel
school. These cities are Auburn an,
Syracuse, N. Y; Duluth, Mimi: Cir
ton, Iowa; Norristown, Pa: Ogden
Utah; and Spokane, Wash. In Hol
yoke and Springfield, Mass, the mai
ter Is under consideration. No publ,
expression of disapproval of the ionee,
day is reported except in Syracuse