Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-10
.FAVORS REFORM IN
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Mrs. Marietta Johnson Tells
Educators of "SWeeping
Changes" Needed.


education now in vogue throughout
the country. with the elimination of
standardized education" to promote
| freedom of thought and development
of initiative. were advocated today
by Mrs. Marietta J.. Johnson, princi-
pal of the Edgewood School, Green
| witch, Conn. before the convention of
! the Association for the Advancement
of Progressive Education at 1871
| street.
| Health should be primary consid-
| Grafton in the DEVELOPMENT of chill
| dren. she declared.
| Make things good for the child"
she advised In him lies the hope of
| the future. Progress should not be
| judged by things, but by the life of
| citizens. If men change ideas for the
better we have progress. To foster
| this we should reach the child.
| The work of adults should be to
| seek the needs of childhood. The first
need is a good, healthy, active brain
| with interest and joy in life.
Would Abolish Desks.
The second need is freedom of the
| body. If educators would follow the
, findings of expert psychologists it
would revolutioniZe education. Desks
ought to be taken out of the school
! room. so that the children might be
| free to move around.
The average adult says of children
We hope they will be honest. We
hope they will be strong and intelli-
gent. But they must learn
What should be said is: They must
| be honest, strong and intelligent. We
| hope they will know something
| Freedom of thought is essential.
| Let the creative instinct work. A
| child should have free intellectual
| play. How things get to be what
| rn hot 1rne
questions which are natural to the
| child. Let him wonder. Let him and
help him find out.
| Fear should be avoided Fear of
| the teacher in the schoolroom. fear of
| examinations. fear that he will not
! such date, should be wiped from the
| child's life
The greatest need of the world to-
day is absolute freedom of spirit !
think that the absence of it is the
cause of much of the anarchy. To
| cure lawlessness. let US have more
! liberty and freedom
Scores Standardization Method.
NO human being has right to
another. The Standardization of learn
ing has multiplicity of faults.
| The grammar schools should sug-
gest the courses for the high schools,
and the high schools should demand
OF the universities the course OF
training to be followed" z
Col. Bernard Lentz, representing
the Army. told of the work being
done there with illiterate recruits. He
declared that the most advanced
methods were being followed and that
| the use of charts and simple systems
| whereby the freedom of the mind
would be safeguarded, were the fea-
lures of the system.
Executive Secretary Cobb presented
his resignation on account of private
school connections at the morning
business session. Committees on
domination of officers and revision
OF the constitution were appointed
and will report at this afternoon
| session.
Stanwood Cobb of Washington
opened the convention at the initial
session last night with brief ad-
dress Of welcome followed by his re-
port as executive secretary of the as
ISOLATION. There are now more than
500 members in the organization, he
said, representing every state in the
Union and Hawaii. School officers
and teachers have written to the as
ISOLATION asking for suggestions or
letters. some of them most pathetic,
have been received from parents who
are concerned about the education of
| their children. and from young peo-
pie whose education was failure
under old non-progressive methods.
| Special praise was given the work
of the Washington section of the ma
tional association, the first local sec
| ton to be organized, and Mr.. Cobb
! added that Supt. of Schools Thurston
and other school officials here had
ISOLATION in introducing improved
methods in the schools of this city.
The principal event of the evening
program was an address by DR.. Frank
S. Bunker, chief Of the city schools
department of the federal bureau of
veys of public schools made by the
| bureau.
He discussed the way in which the
| public schools have reacted to the
progressive movement, and traced the
progress Of education in this country
during the last sixty years. The first
step. he said, was to free schools from
religion, the second was to make the
schools free to rich and poor alike.
the third was to extend those privi-
leges to the high schools. and the
fourth was to organize the scattered
schools and consolidate them under
state control.
Cites Education's Progress.
Compulsory education was the next
step in the progress of education"
said DR.. Bunker, land it is being bit
terly fought in some places. as were
the other advances. Today practical
ly every state has some form of COM
pulsory education. and out of this has
grown remedial measures for neglect
ed education, which means instruc-
ton for older persons. whose early
training was neglected. California has
such a system for giving few hours
schooling to grown persons desiring
it.
"The last ten years have seen the
growth of an unusual and vital move
ment, that for junior high schools.
Our old system of eight years in the
grades and four in high schools Is
built on tradition and custom, and is
a relic Of the Prussian system of
century ago. The junior high school
term Of three years is proper transl-
ton period from the grade school,
where the pupil has but one teacher
to the high school, where each pupil
has many teachers"
AS indicative of the progress educa-
ton has made in this country DR..
Bunker pointed out that in 1880 the
annual expenditure for schools in
America was $3.50 per child, and to-
day it is sat per child.
SWAN FACES SECOND CHARGE
Man Arrested as Bookmaker Is
uald nrx u;nlo%or