Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-04-20
HOW MUCH DO SCHOOL MARKS
MATTER

snip, village, school anu COuHly, oS
the nearest to home institutions In
which we are supposed to have frac-
ton of home rule left. I think 1t
will do us good to look for few
minutes into our Militaristic school
system and see if we get value re-
received, as we say when we sign a
note for our money, and how much
we get under our bureaucratic system
and pay for that is undesirable and
detrimental in a democratic common
wealth.
| will copy few sentences from
the Parents Magazine (Jan. 33)
by an authority, Burton P. Fowler,
President Progressive Education AS
ISOLATION, which comedies with the
ideals of the great Danish teacher.
Kristian Mikkelsen Kold. born 1916,
died 1870. He organized in 1851 the
first Danish free-high school for
young people between the ages of Is
and 30, all farmer boys and girls.
A superintendent of schools once
put into his annual report this state
ment. "A child's mark is his pay for
N.
ton. That is just what mark is
the profit motive in education. Fancy
hiring a child to do what should be
his greatest privilege, that is to learn
about the world he lives in. child
is naturally curious; he wants to
know why of everything. This native
curiosity is the basis of his educa-
ton, yet deliberately and painstaking-
" in our schools we destroy this
learning-drive with our marks. re-
wards. cups. buttons. honor rolls. PEN
alties, and every conceivable kind of
artificial incentive.
Bernard Shaw once put it this way,
LET us take these brides out of edu-
cation. and put it up to the teachers
to make their work interesting"
School marks teach the fine art of
Notwithstanding children to
climb over other children-to climb
over other children to reach COW
eted goal. They have also made them
heart sick with disappointment. Com
petition is essentially a selfish process
-co-operatfon an unselfish one. The
time honored recitation itself is not a
cooperative affair. You are warned
not to help your classmates. You are
encouraged to 'show-off.' 1t is in
teresting to speculate on what kind
of world this would be if for a
single generation ch | DIRE n were
taught how to work together instead
of against one another. DR.. John
Dewey has struck this new note in
education. learn to act with and for
others while you learn to think and
Judge for Yourself" Some children are
from the day they enter school doomed
to failure because of the passing
mark, branding them as inferior.
starting them on the road to del1n-
quency. There is only one proper
standard for each child and that is.
rs he doing the best of which he is
capable?" The teacher who believes
that human development can be meas
ured quantitatively wholly misses the
purpose of real education.
School marks should be abolished
because they make children feel in
ferior Tor superior) encourage dis
honesty. give feeling of insecurity
dull the edge of intellectual curiosity
make children course passers instead
of learners and provide in general
unworthy motives for hard work.
Mr.. Fowler might have added tC
his criticism of drilling debating
teams of children for and against
specified topics, playing with words
and beliefs like we play with bullets
! and bayonets in war, instigated by
diplomats hired by Capitalism in the
: name of patriotism.
Now let us look back and see what
t was accomplished by Kristian HOLDS
5 idea of a free high school for farmer
: bows and girls, who had terminated
Y their school attendance at the age o.
: IA, comparable to our 9th to ST.
: grades.
y After four years or more of prac
o teal work quite a number of these
/ young people attended one or TIVE
v winters of five months free higi
: school, BY free high school it /
: understood that these schools wer'
q rot under communal or government
I control. Nor do these free higl
I schools have examinations or Civ
degrees like the United States hig
schools and colleges. 1t was from
these young people that emerged
leaders in cooperation in Danisl
- agriculture. Intensive culture Q
t, farm crops and democratic leader
l. ship in politics. Dozens and dozen
e of these young people without an
college degree became members
Congress and members of the King
e Council Cabinet membes).
% Now the money is getting scare
# and we are all compelled to ash
c what do we get for our tax none
= that turns us out of our homes
= Don't we need a reform? If so W
Is must demand a change. Eliminat
lot of nonsense and get away froI
the hobby Of exams and graduatio
degrees, which in most cases don
/, prove anything in practical life-worl
IL Now holler and condemn me!
A. LUDWIG MOSBEK.
NJ Askov. Mimi, April II, 1888.
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