Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-03-29
DOWN WITH THE THREE RS.

Having settled the question Of gov
eminent by standing for an intellect
ual aristocracy in which the plebeian
brothers are TO rule through the me-
dunn OF literary giants with lavender
gloves and long curly hair, some of
our foremost forward lockers who have
advanced far ahead of the plodding
world are now busy seeking to over
throw the Fabric OF modern education
and 20 introduce system of instruc-
ton by CONFUSION or by some equally
new and inexplicable hocus pocus.
These educational reformers do not
always agree as to method They are
a unit on one point and that one point
is that all the knowledge the world
has had in the past is erroneous and
the method of imparting this has been
decidedly bad.
One of the latest intellectual high
lights to come 10 bat with a sweeping
denunciation of modern education is
John NJ Francis, superintendent of the
public schools at Columbus, o. If
John is properly quoted he some time
ago edited and impressed an audience
of 1000 Colorado school teachers by
denouncing modern methods Of edu-
cation, telling them that grade schools
should be abolished and making the
following declaration:
1.-THE three RS must go. They are
merely incidentals in the modern sys-
TEN and they are the force that is
threatening to undermine the educa-
tional system of the country
OF course. we are not informed as TO
what Mr.. Francis would give us as
fundamentals in place of what are
popularity called the Three RS" OF
course. reading, writing and arith-
metic may be vulgar studies but il is
rather difficult to see how our chill
dren can advance very far without
them Perhaps Mr. Francis belongs
to the impressionistic school. Maybe
he believes that mathematics, chem
istry and literature may be learned
by the hypodermic method, injecting
a batch of germs into the forearm for
quick and direct results, or it may be
he believes they can be directly alb
sorbed as impressions through the
sense of sight by day and sense of
smell Icy night. We are quite sure
that a lot of our latest theories on
political economy are evoked in this
methods-with more or less success
from a financial standpoint-and it
may be that the Columbus superin-
tendent has found short and royal
road to general knowledge by using
similar means.
We seriously doubt however wheth-
er the world in general is swift
enough TO accept Mr.. Francis state
ments at par value. Somehow or
other we cannot shake OFF the belief
that it will still be necessary to teach
our children the three RS before they
can acquire any of the higher
branches of learning. There has been
some effort to make philosophers and
statesmen by beginning at the roof
and working down but we doubt seri-
ously whether a stable temple of
knowledge can be erected that way.
After all, we are not quite sure
whether the fault is with the present
system of education or with the for
ward lockers who decry it. There is
n bare chance that they are not able
thoroughly TO comprehend what they
are seeking to do.
At any rate. the fact that these i'm
placable professional remodelers have
taken root and developed in all their
splendor in the modern educational
period. until they admit that they are
the best and finest ever. ought to be
some indication even to themselves
that the present system is not entire
~ without its golden fruit