Smyrna times., 1923-01-03
WORK IN ALL HIGH SCHOOLS
IN STATE SHOWS UNIFORMITY
PROF. SHILLING, ASSISTANT IN
CHARGE HIGH SCHOOLS REPORT
Shows What His Visits Have Accom-
plished Since New School Laws of
Delaware Were Adopted


Delaware Were Adopted
The school law provides for a uni
form system of high schools through
out the State of Delaware and places
the administration and supervision of
these high schools directly in the
hands of the State Board of Educa-
tion. In order to comply with this
law the State Board of Education has
employed Assistant Superintendent,
whose duty it is to visit these schools
and to see that standard instruction
is maintained throughout the State.
Through his efforts it has now become
a fact that pupil can move from one
school to another without endangering
his standing and can take up his work
in another school without loss of time.
He can obtain his four years of high
school instruction in as many different
schools and at the end of this time be
admitted without examination to the
University of Delaware. In fact, some
of our boys have gone from our Del
aware high schools direct to the Naval
Academy at Annapolis and have been
admitted without examination. But
entrance into colleges is of course not
the only function of the high schools.
Most boys and girls who attend them
will never go to college. These, while
they take in general the same studies
as the others, are not bound by the
college entrance requirements and thus
have more freedom of elective. For
both, the curriculum is arranged with
the purpose of making better citizens,
better home makers and better men,
bers of the community generally.
Typical Days Work By Superintendent
The following is a days work which
is typical of many days spent in the
class rooms throughout the State:
The supervisor arrived in the school
at nine o'clock. He makes a point of
being in the school at this time wheth7
er the school is five or fifty miles from
Dover, his starting point. He meets
the pupils in their assembly and after
the devotional exercises, which con-
sisted of the reading of the passage
from the Bible, the Lords prayer and
a few songs, he gave them a few
words of greeting, explaining that he
would be in their classes during the
day and expressed a hope that his
visit would be helpful. The first
class visited was the tenth grade in
Biology. During the discussion he
put in a few questions to bring out
the points which he proposed to dis
cuss with the teacher at the close OF
the period. After the pupils had pass.
ed out he emphasized these point:
with the teacher who, although she i:
a college graduate, is this year teach
ing for the first time and needs sug.
gestions as to certain points of techni
que which can be gained only by ex.
penence, either at first hand Of
through another. He told her of way!
in which she was doing work and sug
gested that while her information wa!
accurate and well presented, tha
there was certain lack of expression
on the part of the pupils which made
for good learning. The plan for tn,
recitation could have been improve,
and made little more accurate. Sew
eral opportunities for bringing goo,
material in for demonstration purpose
has been missed. The next class wa
twelfth grade English. This clas
was using as its material for Englisl
composition the History of Constitu
tions of the State of Delaware. TIL
pupils had at hand Conrads Histor
of Delaware and Scharf's History an
were making outlines of future com
position work. The teacher of thi
class has many years of successful ex
perience and it was the supervisor
duty in this class to congratulate tn
pupils and teacher on the good wor
being done and with few suggestion
as to even greater interest, passed o
to another class in an adjoinin
room.
Ninth Grade Work in General Scienc
This happened to be the ninth grad
in General Science. Here the subjeC
, was the different kinds of artifieis
light and their development from tn
candle to the mazda. By means of
sketch on the board and a problel
proposed in cost of various kinds {
: light which the supervisor added [
r the already interesting discussion, /
/ laid the foundation for his criticism /;
the end of the period which was to Il
effect that many good methods wei
used in this class but that the who
E tone of the recitation might be in
J, proved by little more careful lool
r out on the part of the teacher for IL
: little misconceptions that creep
and must be cleared up at once
t made note of for future work, that Il
e material at hand could be more larg