Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-22
misunderstanding of Millions
Held Bar to Progress
by Maj. Atkins.
TEACHERS MUST SPREAD
FAITH IN NEW SYSTEM
Takoma Auditorium Dedicatory
Speaker Regrets Many Believe Ef-
fciency Methods Merely Fads.

thorough understanding and COM
plete sympathy must be had by the
public if schools are to make further
advances, or even if they are to hold
the ground they already have gained,
Maj. l.. Z. Atkins, U. S. A., Assistant
Engineer Commissioner of the District,
declared in an address at the dedica-
ton of the Takoma Schools new audi
forum last night.
Maj. Atkins, who presented the build
ing to the residents of Takoma Park
on behalf of Col. William B. Ladue,
U. S. A, Engineer Commissioner, said
that at present there is an antipathy
toward school people generally.
Millions Misunderstood.
There are literally millions OF peo-
pie in America today" Maj. Atkins de-
clared, who do not understand why
their children in the first grade are not
taught the A, B, C's, just as they were
taught them; who think that music,
art, vocational training and the other
new features of the enriched curriculum
are fads and fancies; who firmly be-
lieve that one reader a year is enough
for any child in the primary grades
and that the addition of other books
is the result of good SalesmanShip on
the part of book company representa-
tives; who are positive that the vast in
crease in expenditures for public schools
is the result of inefficient management
on the part of school officials and
teachers; who still believe that the
Blue Back" speller is the best text book
ever published; who have no concep-
ton of the additional duties and re-
sponsibilitieS which society has loaded
on the schools and who are not yet
convinced that the youth who went to
the little red school house was not
better prepared for life and had more
useful information than does the mod
ern youth VINO is graduated from one
OF the institutional high schools. Such
people think an activity program is play.
They understand nothing of the spirit
of freedom in the schools today"
The natural result of this lack of
understanding, Maj. Atkins commended,
is "a lack OF sympathy because there
is lack of understanding. Teachers,
who rightfully have spent virtually all
their time striving for professional adj
vancement and better provision for the
children in their charge, have been too
busy to inform the public just what is
being done with the children.
Teachers Must Inform Public.
eff it is unwise or impracticable for
system, be it State on local. to de-
velop a department whose duty it Is
to give the public facts about the
schools" Maj. Atkins concluded, lit,
therefore, becomes necessary for the
school administrator, be he large or
small, and in some measure for every
teacher, to take on these additional
duties"
Maj. Atkins traced the history of the
Takoma school, showing it was erected
as a courtroom structure in 1899 at a
cost OF $4,000, that four-room addi-
iton was built in 1908 at a cost of
1889, and that another eight-room
unit was added to it in 1921 at a cost
OF $185,000. The combination assembly
hau and gymnasium, costing S37. 100.
which was dedicated last night, togeth-
er with the site of the building, for
which was paid $12,242, brought the
total cost of the Takoma school to
$2sO,748.
DIR. BalIOu Speaks.
DR.: Frank w. Ballou, superintendent
OF schools, also spoke He reviewed the
progress in school buildings generally
from four-room units to the modern I6
10 "a room structures of today. While
buildings have changed materially, DR..
Ballcu made 1t plain that education it.
self had progressed at an even greater
rate OF development. In former years
schooling catered only to scholarship,
while now it strives to develop phys-
1cal, mental and moral life OF pupils, he
said
Other speakers on the program in
Guided Harry o. Hire, secretary of the
Board of Education; Miss Elizabeth
Oaara, principal of the school; Miss
Sybil Baker, director of the Community
Center Department, and Mrs. Giles
Scott Rafter, former president of the
D. G. Congress of Parent Teacher Assoc
Citations.