The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-12-04
ny FARRIs DAvis.)

kind to be a success unless you can get
the people aroused The trouble is the
people are too complacent and they dc
not know what they want" Then there
followed a diatribe against the Ameri-
can people. who accept without ques-
ton whatever the politicians and Dip
lomats do. The other disagreed and
cites the eternal kicking against taxes
The first speaker interrupted by say
Ing that they kick against taxation
from force OF habit and from precedent.
that the average citizen has no idea
for what his tax money is spent is too
lazy to look into conditions. that one
half the voters in the country know
nothing OF the affairs OF state and that
nine-tenths OF the rest have a very
shallow knowledge, gained from cur
sorry reading OF the headlines in the
daily paper The discussion ended just
exactly as / expected. They placed the
blame upon the public schools.
i am a teacher, and naturally want
ca to defend the institution / serve, but
I could not / know that their criticism
Is just. The public schools are falling
to do the very thing for which they
were established. Thomas Jefferson
said: THE purpose Of the school is to
enable the people to know what is go
ing on in the world, and to keep their
part Of it going right"
Tho majority OF teachers are not
measuring up to their responsibilities.
I am calling down upon my own head
the criticism Of my conferees. I shall
be accused Of disloyalty, but I maintain
that I and every member Of my profess
sion am Sinking my responsibility to
the country and TO civilization when
we fail to train children entrusted to
Us for citizenship.
No one can believe more strongly
than I in the necessity for d thorough
foundation in the fundamentals Of edu-
cation Like George Arliss, the actor.
know that for my work the founda-
tion must be strong and later achieve
ments are largely the result of that
work. I believe, however, that a slav-
ish adherence TO text books Is crime
It Is a deplorable fact that many
teachers in the Florida public schools
think that the mastery of text book
means an education
A few days ago. small boy OF my
acquaintance was preparing a geogra-
raphy lesson. When he told me that his
assignment for the next day was to
learn the names Of the Central Ameri-
can countries and their capitals. /
handed him magazine telling OF the
new confederation, with an outline Of
the government. He was interested, but
FASTENED 70 assure me that his teacher
would consider any answer wrong
which was not exactly in accord with
his text book. which, by the way was
a 1917 edition. He evidently told in
class OF his "find." for the next after
noon his teacher came to see me arSl
asked about the information I had
given. expressed surprise that a
teacher of geography should not keep
informed as to political changes. She
explained that she does not see a daily
paper or take magazine, as her school
work is so heavy she does not have
time for H.
A few months ago / was talking with
some of my fellow teachers on the sub
Ject Of teachers examinations.
One told OF an absurd" question that
had been asked in an examination in
1915. The examiners had desired to
know the approximate area and popu-
lation Of Mexico. The speaker thought
the question ridiculous and several of
the teachers agreed with her It will be
remembered that we were having trout
Bile with Mexico at the time The same
class Of teachers would probbaly think
a question now as to the density OF
population in Japan or the location of
Yay absurd"
A few days ago I went into a class
room where the children were strug-
Cling over the declarative sentence:
How many generations OF children
have learned that The sun shines
Brightly Well that was the model
sentence. Like Senator Watson at the
Ku Klux Khan investigation. asked
permission 70 ask question. 1t was
s"who are our senator's from Florida ?"
Not child IN that room could answer,
and the teacher FASTENED to explain
that she is so busy with the regular
work that she has no time to teach
current history. Is not the sentence
.'Fletcher and Trammell are our sena-
tors" just as good model for declar-
alive sentence as the hackneyed one
above3
Recently two bright eighth grade
boys came TO me asking help on a de-
bate The question was. Resolved.
THAT steel Is More Necessary Than
wood" That very week Baron Kato
as trying TO convince the world that
pan needs 10 per cent navy. BRAND
was using all his oratorical powers to
prove that France must be able to pro-
tect herself, Lloyd-George was strug-
Cling with the Irish question, the recall
had Just been tried out in North Da-
kota, the tariff question was entertain
ing congress and the United States
delegates at the conference We're pro-
claiming to the whole world that
America is peace loving country.
dId not dare criticise the teachers Sc
lection Of a subject. did ask the boys