Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-05

September is the month of distress to
millions of youth: it is also the month
Of heightened ambition to such as greet
opportunity to achieve knowledge, for
this Is the season for reopening schools
and colleges. And at the opening, 1t Is
proper TO take stock Of the situation.
Tell Wisdom she entangles
Herself In overwiseness.
Tell schools they want profoundness
And stand too much on seeming"
So the beginning Of criticism Of
schools dates back at least to the sew
enteenth century; how much farther
Is immaterial; it is rampant today, in
this age of violent change Of social and
economic ideals. ..
Sir Walter Raleigh might have been
q clairvoyant and visioned the twentieth
century-the age of science replacing
the classics, the age Of mass production
and the breaking Of home ties" in
actual family life as well as in anecdotal
art; the weakening of the influence OF
the church and the vague appeal to the
school to do what home and church are
neglecting-the incubation OF ethics
and character building.
Sir Walter Raleigh certainly forecast
the day of Einstein-hence he must
have looked into the future" long be-
fore Tennyson, for he charged the cynic
Of his own day to challenge even the
teachings of the three centuries after,
Tell time 1t Is but motion" yet nobody
did so instruct us, prior to Mr.. Einstein,
and, to this day, few schools make that
principle clear. Consequently, 1t should
be easy to prove that our schools are
several centuries behind the times, since
they fall to recognize the scientific ba-
sis enunciated by Raleigh and Einstein.
GavAf
catch I'D with the times! For time Is
motion and 1t is impossible to stand still
and keep up with the progress OF the
times.
There has been much discussion Of
the vast increase Of attendance IN sec
ondary schools and colleges since the
World War. Statistics of this increase
are bewildering and no satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION has been found.
Why have the youth of today so much
greater appreciation Of education than
had our fathers? What is 1t that has
sold" education to the masses? Have
the colleges suddenly struck the key
to popularity by increased attention to
athletics or to science? It Is only q
century and a third since the admis-
sion Of science into college curricula,
displacing the monopoly Of the classics.
became noticeable. Now the classics
are standing with back to wall in o
firht to prevent the sciences from al
most wholly displacing mental disci-
pline" through the study OF Greek and
Latin classics. And even high schools
and the upper grades OF elementary
schools are becoming practical rather
than theoretical in their teaching.
Mathematics? C'est rire! No longer
dry Y,roi,ienns. the very tyro must have
his iauEh at ''readin', ritin' and 'rith-
metic." 1t is so funny! Arithmetic
has so much of human interest in Its
modern teachingl
This undermining Of arithmetic was
stressed, q few days ago, by DR.. c. o.
Davis Of the School Of Education, Uni
yersity of Michigan, when he addressed
Junior high school teachers.
He pointed to the fact that many
pupils become discouraged over the dry
and coloriess studies, and he appealed
for the linking Of abstract science with
tangible human experiences, and the
injection OF humor, dramatization and
perturbation through graphs and con-
nection with familiar questions Of daily
life.
whether the learned doctor had it in
mind or not, what he urged In
{ dramatization and perturbation, in
place of cold, dry sImmarization of
scientific reasoning, Is exactly what
teachers of literature emphasize in
writing, In order to make vividness and
interest. Avoid summarizing. and de-
pict the incident as actually happening
before the beholder, In place of telling
merely what has previously happened"
that b fundamental Of interest. 50