New-York tribune., 1922-11-21

Around the World in Eighty Days, 9
Longfei!ow's "paul Revere's Ride
ksngsley's aGreek Heroes" ToweiI's
"Aladdin'' or Bryant's $40 Fringed
Gentian,'' they conid comprehend oniy
the large-type, widc-spaced words Of
such stuff as this:
zone spring day Mr.. and Mrs. Robin
were talking over plans for nest build
ing. An old apple tree near farm
house had been their home for many
years past.
Better settle down in the same old
tree.' said Mr.. Robin. There isn't an
other in she neighborhood has crotches
to equal it,
az know it, replied Mrs Robin THE
man who lives in the farmhouse says
he's going to build a barn right here,
and our tree would have to come down.
When did he say he was going to
build it?' asked Mr.. Robin.
He didn't say just when,' Mrs.
Robin answered. He said ''some
time".'"
The number Of pupils In these classes
were forty-fve to fifty.
Twenty-four Rooms Oyercrowded
Let us take look Mt Public School
81, at 176 East 115th Street. The prin-
eipai here, Miss Elizabeth Dugan, led
me to Il window and pointing to Il
half completed structure adjacent to
the building said: That's our new
annex. The twenty-four rooms in it,
when finished, will just take care Of
the part-time and double session pu-
pills who cause the crowding in this
school"
This school was actually taking care
| of twenty-four more rooms of pupils
than it should normally.
There are $500 pupils in the school,
| with eighty-seven classes and forty to
forty-fve children in class In some
rooms the children are compelled to
sit four in row on two benches
pushed together. In others the classes
! have as many as sixty children, with
| two teachers in the room doing the
| instructing. 1t is called the Batavia
system and is said to be fairly effective
in handling large groups Of children.
There are 1888 children on part time
here, receiving in reality only three and
a half hours instruction a day. The
teachers changed subjects in the class
room about every twenty minutes, so
that pupil had barely time to get an
inkling of what was going on before
him when his mind was diverted to
some other topic. The teacher here
was also burdened with after-schoo or
before school hours coaching. Never
theless, was informed that here, as in
other crowded schools, the curriculum
had to be modified" which really
means that subjects had to be dropped
outright and others cut down for lack
of time.
Dead Youth on Promotion List
And then there was the demoralizine
effect upon discipline. | was told here
that boys stay away for weeks at a
time, giving the txuant officer sent
after them the excuse that they are on
part-time. And SO it was, in this con-
nection, that / learned from other
sources that children who had attended
school only two or three weeks out Of
the year had been promoted and that
boy who had died shortly after the
opening Of the school year had also
been advanced at the end of the term
1t appears that under the necessity to
advance the classes teachers merely
send whole lists along to the grade
above.
In this school there were "oppor-
tunity" classes in all grades, where the
teachers boldly recognized the in
ability of the entire class to go ahead
with the regular work of the grade
and were doing the best they could
with them. A powerful illustration of
the havoc wrought here upon the edu-
cational progress of the children be-
cause Of the crowding is seen in the
fact that out OF four Fourth A classes
IN this school two are frankly admitted
to be opportunity" classes.
In other words, half the children in
the Fourth A classes have been pro
noted into that grade although now
freely recognized as having been un-
prepared to go on with the work of
that grade. eve simply must promote
them and do promote them" said one
of the teachers. "We try to take care
of them by calling them opportunity
classes until they reach the Sixth b
grade. II is the last grade in this
school, Then we don't call them .op-
portunity' classes any more and Just
promote them out. What can we do ?
We haven't the facilities. OF course
| the parents don't realize their~children
are not making any progress, but what
can we do with So littse room2"
This teacher also told me sha xvas