The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-10-08

a dress a-HarOFE. aNAOUSR ottd-
sionalN she does make one at the
direction and under the constant
supervision of. her TEACHER: She
does make an apron to keep her
frock clean. Is thea boy a me-
chanie? Not so that teu could no.
tice it. although he is surrounded
by expensive apparatus. He
knows principles" We are told. Per-
sonally II rather doubt that, for the
thorough understanding of the
principles of mechanics is only for
those who have served hard terms
Of apprenticeship Or for those who
have mastered the mathematics of
physics.
What is true dressmaking and
manual training is true of other
branches. a smattering Of large
number is taught, but the child is
as incompetent as his father. who
idled four years in the classical
school, The object Of the voca-
tionaI work done is NOT a vocation,
but counts for graduation. The ex-
pensive plant has done little or
On the contrary, it has taught, him
to place premium upon smat-
terins in many things rather than
upon a thorough understanding OF
a few. 1t has weakened his men
tai power: not only, but his morals
as we'll, for. while. it wrongly
boasts Of teaching principles, it
fails in teaching the greatest moral
principle Of all-that only through
hard work and sclf-sacrif1ce and
theroughncss can any lasting bene-
iit be derived. The very principle
insisted upon in basketball or foot
ball orr bascball-viZ. drill, drill.
drill on funda.nentals-is the;
last thing thought Of apparently in
the mental gymnasium. no one
raises the foolish objection Of lack
Of time" on the athletic field. It
must be done to insure success. Is
the mind OF less importance than
the body: Can it be insulted with
greater inpunity?
KS the vocational high. school has
not proved (, panacea FOR Cducaa
,ional ills which seen 20 increase
rather than diminish, the elemen-
tary scheol has become the field for
experiments. Quite naturally the
elementary school must keep pace
with the high school. If the course
OF study in the latter be enriched
NY many new subjects, the former
should receive proportionate atten-
ticn. And, bless any heart, it did.
II ii no longer gave thorough prep
aratioll for the high school, it add,
ed cooking and sewing and manual
training, and basketry and printing
and first-year science, among 9TH
er things. But the minds Of Boys
and girls are not SO very different
from mifk-cans You can pour
Just so much in. and If you are de-
tern1ined to fiji them half full OF
water they Will not be full of milk:
SO we dropped or discouraged
grammar and substituted oral
English" which has as many
definitions as freedom Of the
seas" Drill in spelling became old
fashioned. IT took too much time
and was unnecessary except for
stenographers; and those who wish
cd to be stenegraphers co"id take
it up in the Vocational high school.
Most Of them. apparently. Ibid it
dcwr again very quickly. 4 few
xtrenaists-LeniRes in the educa-
tional field-urged the death Of ad-
ranced arithmetic and such hour
seois subjects, and in almost the
same breath insisted upon those
youngsters studying European his
tory in order to-. understand the
origin OF America and it's ideals.
Then the Gary syetenl" came as
a fitting climax to this orgy, with
its rapid shift from study to play, to
lecture, to pupil teach!ns. re-
member, when visiting one Gary
school in I, large city. having the
principal show me with ride the
varied activities Of the pupils ("ac-.
tiyities'' is right, Think. He
pointed out room where the boys
were taught the principles of cleo
tricity" TWO hours week for a Pc
riod Of ten weeks. l asked him
the practical benefit, for these
schools are supposed to be prac-
teal. and he replied that the boys
should be able to install an electric
bell system that was out of order,
and he seemed rather put out wfren
l inquired il he did not think
twenty hours was a long time in
which to teach q boy how to replace
battery. Perhaps my question
was fippant, but the work in that
school seemed to warrant fGppant
question. II the pupils really mas
tered principles, twenty hours was
an extremely short time. Even
Edison has not finished yet. If they
could only string a wire or replace
a battery it was waste of time
with a loss of mental and Of NOR
al fiber. The fact that in a school
of that type there is a constant
movement of classes from class
room to gymnasium, to auditorium,
to playground. to classroom again,
with the added stir OF x going
home and Y coming in, does not
mean necessarily either eoncentra-
ton or work. 1t does mean ac-
tivity. So Goes anarchy One can
Get the same amount of activity and