Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-15
Educational News Of Special Interest
To Teachers In Hawaii SCHOOLS
BY Vaughan MacCaughey, College of Hawaii

spelling is one, but by no means the
only test of students education and
efficiency. To place undue or dispro
portionate emphasis upon spelling is
to give false valuation to all other
features of the school program. The
school, like the individual person.
must be judged in it's entirety, and not
upon the presence of any one trait
or quality
The present writer is not attempt.
ing to defend poor spelling or poor
spoilers. He believes that the schools
are not always teaching spelling as
we'll as they might. The present pa,
per is an endeavor to state, as COM
pactly and clearly as possible, some
of the important factors that direct
ly influence spelling today and that
are often overlooked III popular dis
cussions
Completely
Contrary to the idea prevalent
among laymen, spelling is not q sim
pie process, but is very complex.
Careful scientific studies of the psy-
chology of spelling have thoroughly
demonstrated the fundamental intri-
cacy of the spelling art This COM
pleXity has led to the erroneous be-
lief that good spoilers are born, not
made" Any student can become a
good speiler, but only through the
same kind of application and prac-
tise by which he would become a
good workman in any other art.
The Old and New Schools
Fifty years ago people were we'll
satisfied with very meager and mar.
row curriculum, in a very meager
environment. Drill work in spelling
was one of the large items in the
old school. Pupils learned to spell,
parrot-fashion, hundreds or even
thousands of words which they never
used in actual life, and of which they
had but a very hay meaning. An
examination of any old fashioned
spelling book will demonstrate this.
The old curriculum, although strong
in drill work. was so poor and defec-
tive (from the standpoint of require
ments of modern life). that it would
now be rejected by the very persons
who aver to laud it. The old school
program would be as useless today
as business office with no telephone,
daily mail, newspaper, stenographer,
or filing cabinet.
The Decline Of Spelling
Two prominent educational experts
Cook and O'Shea), after an ex-
haustive study of modern correspon.
dence conclude that spelling has dis
tinctly declined in importance in the
last generation and is still declining"
The decline Of spelling is attributed
to: the plentifulness of printed mat
ter of all kinds. the vast Improvement
and greater freedom of means Of
communication, the development of
the postcard. etc. Spelling not only
has become almost unnecessary in the
twentieth century home, but, like
for the business man. The only
penmanship, is no longer a necessity
spoilers lin a commercial sense) in
modern community. are stenogra-
pliers, printers and professional
writer's. Nearly every one else can get
along, more or less easily, without
it!
Can They Spell?
The proportion of poor spoilers
among the pupils graduating from a
modern school is undoubtedly no
greater than among adults of the
same social class. In an actual test
the average school graduate would
probably prove to be better speller.
with a larger vocabulary, than the
average adult of the same social class.
(There would be no exceptions in the
professional Glass;
The fact should not be lost sight
of that there are more good spoilers
IN our total population today than