Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-09-16
Little Journeys Here and There
By ]. A. WYE

Sophie M. White in "Im-PRESS-
ions" in the Hutchinson Press makes
some wise comments on teaching,
arithmetic especially, in our public
schools. What she says is so mucn
to the point, that / repeat 1t mere.
Education in our schools has become
top heavy. Fundamentals generally
are overlooked in an endeayor to fol-
low the routine laid down by some
central authority. Under a system of
close domination teachers have be-
come mere automotons. They may
think, if so minded, but must not ex-
press themselves except in prescribed
channels. The state has given the
hierarchy superior power but superior
wisdom it cannot give.
Take the matter of arithmetic,
for instance Greenleaf's textbook on
the subject, published in 1841, con-
tains II sections in the very first
one of which, on page II, we read
that,
"sThe student must be familiar
with the names, from Units to Tride-
cillions, and from Tridecillions to
Units, so that they may repeat them
with facility either way
"'On page %, appears the table of
Pythagoras.
Section vi gives six pages of Ia
bles, including French money, Troy
weight, Apothecaries Weight, Long
Measure, beginning with 3 Barley
corns make 1 inch
after mastering these the pupil
was treated to "a pages of Com
pound Numbers, with Reduction As
cending and Descending.
''Next come Vulgar Fractions and
Decimal Fractions, not forgetting
Circulating Decimals and Duodecim-
ais.
"The child is now prepared for Ex-
change of Currencies, and is obliged
for one thing, to change the Ken
lucky dollar of 1776 to its Federal
equivalent in 1871.
"Other sections bear the captions,
Banking, Barter, Proportion, Chain
Rule, Fellowship or Company Bus
mess, Allegation, Position, Cube Root,
etc.
'Now my question is this: When
such books as Greenleaf's have been
replaced by short, simple, entirely
practical texts, when specially trained
teachers have been provided, when
children, instead of going to school
<off and on during three or four
months of the year. are obliged to
attend regularly nine months, why is
it that it still takes eight years to
complete the course,
Again, why is it, of all the wealth
of Latin literature, edited and printed
in faultless style, and easily access
ible, De Bellico, Calico remains the
only text so much as thought of for
initiating High School Freshmen and
Sophomores?
'T say Freshmen, because first year
latin, nowadays, is looked upon as
Introductory to Caesar, and to nothing
else. All the courses of study so
prescribe, all the elementary books
are prepared with that end in view.
"No longer is beginner allowed to
whet his appetite with such delect-
able morsels as this:
"sYour wife and the maid are call
ing that breakfast is spoiled
"'Eusebius: Tell them not to get
excited. We're coming right now
"Let us wash, that we may go to
the table with clean hands and hearts.
"Oh, melonsi There are melons
raised in our own garden. And look
at the lettuce. Who would not pre-
fer these delicasies to pork, fish, and
wild fowl? Here are other melons,
if any one likes this kind better. See
these fresh figs; the sap in the stem
shows that they are but newly picked
Doesn't that passage make the an
cient Romans seem like real folks?
''Not for modern boys and girls is
the anecdote of Leondias to the Sol
der
when a certain one of his SOL
diers said to Leondia, The enemy are
near u.s., he replied, and we, near
them
''Nor are high school students per-
mitted to read from Pliny the Young
er's Panegyricus:
81 find that the gods are pleased
not so much with prayers of worship
ers as with the innocence and purity
of their lives; and that they are more
highly esteemed who bring into their
temples pure and holy mind than
those who offer up fervent prayer.
"Pity the poor classes, and pity
their teachers who have nothing
whatever to say.
''The mysterious makers of the
course of study, dominated by the
traditions of the colleges, are re-
sponsible. But Andrew West Of the
Department of Latin at Princeton,
says it isn't right. So does A. ].