Evening star., 1935-12-08

Learning was for the benefit OF your
soul and for the material benefit that
it could be in after life. The three Rs
loomed large Certain subjects such
as mathematics developed the mind.
Penmanship with many shades and
flourishes had a meaning all its own,
for one was judged in after life by
whether one did or did not write an
educated hand-perhaps justly still Is.
Words were learned by the pho
netic approach, alb, i'll, ound, elk, etc.
There was first grade reader and
one thereafter for every other grade.
supplementary readers were unknown,
and the boast of many proud parent
that Johnny knows his reader all
the way through by heart" was all
too true.
"Evangeline" and "Snowbound"
we're not only memorized but the sub
jects in the sentences set apart from
the predicates, and the qualifying
phrases we're boxed of in strange
parallelograms. Kerl's Grammar and
Davis Mental Arithmetic were definite
forms of scholastic exercise. You
learned how to carpet room, to paper
one, to plaster one ana how to send
lumber from a sawmill in specified
lengths. Sometimes the whole class
sang the multiplication table, the cap
itals of the States and how the States
were bounded. Parents paid for the
books, paper, states and pencils which
their children used. Every child owned
and his other written exercises. If you
were tidy little girl you kept bottle
of Soapy water and a sponge with
which to wipe yours off. If you were
a careless boy, you just spat upon yours
and smudged it off with your coat
sleeve. Dropping states by a precon-
certed signal was the favorite ruSe of
the trouble-StarterS of those school
days. A tomblike silence was the
goal toward which every teacher
strove. Did you ever have to write,
Silence is golden virtue" or die
tionary words so times because you
were caught whispering? The fore
handed helped each other by keeping
supplies neatly written on hand in
case of emergency.
Weak Fall Aside.
Windows whose only shade were the
"obscured" upper panes threw a glare
upon uncomfortable rigid furniture in
which pupils were supposed to sit bolt
upright. Only the fittest survived. The
I 1ofk hnl1i,Nl ns.
crowded out by encouragement.
The fact that children in our par
ents' time had little playground space
is all too often made the argument
for the shocking lack of it today. AS
there we're no automobile hazards, lit
tie girls rolled hoops gaily decorated
with caSt-off hair ribbons between
curbstones. The boys played red ro-
ver'' or prisoners base" between the
same confines. There were empty lots
and, in some instances, even nearby
pastures available for base ball and
coasting or sled-riding parties.
The peace of class rooms was undls-
turbed by passing trolleys, honking
automobile horns or the grinding
The songs of hucksterS, hurdy-gurdies,
scissors and umbrella men were well
come interruptions in the quietude of
ones school days.
The good old school days properly
have glamour all their own. Contrast
even your fondest memories Of them
though, with what you know of your
sons or your daughters portion and
see whether you would exchange for
them the mental physical and spirit
ual education which the schools are
trying to bring into the lives of the
boys and girls of this century.
Schools Humanized.
Parent-teacher associations have
done much to humaniZe schools
and class rooms with their contribu-
tions of aquariums, libraries. pianos,
victrolaS pictures, sash curtains, Ian
tern slides, moving picture machines
and screens and many other enliven-
! ing factors. In addition to the regu-
lar class room teachers there are
assigned to our schools today, coach
ing teachers, medical inspectors,
nurses, truant officers and the re-
sources Of clinics where wise, correct
i've measures for teeth, eyes, tonsils
and adenoids are not only advocated
| but achieved. Within the limits of our
school system, children may be
weighed, measured. tested, analyzed
and pSycho-analyzed. You may see
them singing, sometimes even whis-
tling, as with dignity and poise they go
about their school room occupations,
so happy in their environment, that
you ask yourself, Where are the
classroom tasks of my own child
| hood?"
Teachers hair and skirts and sleeves
| have been shortened, but not her long
hours Of devotion and of drudgery in
the requirements of her profession.
With after-school college courses, lee
lures, meetings and panels" of edu-
cational discussion in addition to the
preparation of her daily agenda, hers
is work that is never done. That
she may have time to live her own life
richly as we'll as to teach with all
that the term connotates in this dec
ade is perhaps the reformation yet
to be achieved.