The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-11
ForumOf The People
Discussing Alabama Public Schools.
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:

To the Editor Of The Age-heralu.
 The public school is a great institution when properly managed, but 1t IS 1allure in Alabama This state stands number Iforty-sixth among the forty-eight states ot the union, in regard to the degree of llllteracy' We believe that the public school system has been established in Alabama for twenty five or thirty years, but where are the re- suits? With the exception of few amDitlous and diligent students the rest of the student body have been failures
 Take the general mass of the people ln any neighborhood who have had the advantage of the public school, more or less, for gen eration, as an example. They fail to give the least evidence of having even an ordinary English education, which deficiency ls shown | in both their language and manners. The most of them are not able to read lnteIngenty l and to write letter properly IS almost all impossibility. And having never beeen taught to think below the surface of knowledge, they cannot sustain conversation, outside or the range of gossip, for fifteen minutes. Questlon them about the history of their own country the United States, or about the current events of the day, and they show an ignorance when l. is alarming Or give them simple problem l in arithmetic for solution and the graduate will reply that it has been so long since he studied arithmetic he would beg to be eX- cused, while the pupil now in school would say that the problem is not in his book
 Education does not consist merely in pass ing through the grades into graduation, but in being trained to think and to apply What one has learned to the practical things of | life.
 If the system of public schools in Alabama has failed to educate the people, the i'm portant question to be answered Is why has the system failed? First because Of many inefficient teachers who are not able to teach the pupils what they have not mastered them, selves. The teacher having never been tralned to think himself, he cannot train the pupil to think. A school system that cannot guar antee a sufficient number of trained teachers will never educate the people while the world stands. Teaching, which is one of the noolest calling within the economy Of society appre be followed only by those who fully appre- ciate ;ts nobility and whose minds and hearts are burdened with the question: " ho IS sufficient for these things"
 The next cause of the failure of the public school system in any section of the country | is the excessive length of the school currl- culum. No student can thoroughly master from six to nine studies at the same tlne' Do not burden the mind of the student with too many studies lest he become discouraged. A nuDil on his way to school these days might be taken for an agent of some puDlish- ing house. carrying publications to its GUS, | toner's Neither should the pupil be assigned extremely long lessons. He should De allowed sufficient time on each lesson to master II, before passing to another, that he may be able to permanently consolidate from time ot time, what he has learned. The purpose Of the system seems to be to urge the pupil at rapid rate, through the several grades, that he may reach graduation in the high school | as early as possible. in order to "get by," and know comparatively nothing.
 There are other causes of the failure of the public school system that should be enumer- ated but it cannot be done here for the want ot space.
 Meridianville, Ala.