Evening star., 1938-09-18
Freedom, to Kn0,u and Reveal
Truth Draws Youth to School
Studebaker Denies They
Are LOath to Go
After Lay-Of.
BY H. r. BAUKHAGE.

shakespeare's picture Of the whining
schoolboy creeping like 4 snail un-
willingly to school is out Of date
today. according to DR.. John w.
Studebsker, United States commits
sioner Of education, As the country's
school population begins another
school year.
"Of course, children are human"
said Commissioner Studebaker, q
former Des Moines school principal,
who still carries q card in the brick
layers union and is proud Of 1t, "and
after q hundred and eighty or ninety
days Of doing one kind Of thing are
glad OF vacations. But to say that they
look forward to the opening Of school
today as going back to life that is
dull and uninteresting as many Of
their parents did is absurd"
In the old days." continued the
commissioner, "the good drill-master
was the good teacher" And by drill"
he explained that he meant the many
monotonous forms Of routine and
regimentation that went along with
the three RS" and took more skill
with the hickory stick than brains
to administer.
"Of course, drill is necessary" he
hastened to add, but today the child
understands that drill and practice
are to be enjoyed for their own sake
as a part Of . general idea that is
interesting.
Best Spoilers Had the Fun.
Take the old-fashioned SPELL
downs. When I went to school we had
them at least twice a week. It was
a fine thing for the teacher because
it took no particular EFFORT. It taught
the children to spell-some of them
but they learned a lot Of big words
whose meaning was far beyond them
and which weren't any part of their
written or spoken vocabulary. The
best spoilers got all the practice
because they stood up the longest. but
the poor speller who needed it most
got the least because he was spelled
down first"
That process is now reversed, DR..
studebaker explained. New teaching
is based on its recognized usefulness"
Instead, for instance. OF instructing
everybody in writing until they reached
eighth grade, no matter how well they
could write, the good writer doesn't
have to go through meaningless exer-
cises when he has achieved q set
standard Of penmanship. He Is put
at something else and the poor writer's
get the extra instruction. They un-
derstand this drill Is necessary to
achieve the standard.
That is one reason why school life
is more interesting today" said DR..
Studebaker. Another is the way the
curricula are planned. Each study.
as far as possible, is synthesized with
the other When the history class
takes up fuedalism, for instance the
literature class is reading stories about
1eudal times, plays are given around
she teudal lords, the drawing lessons
zeal with feudal castles. In this way
the children learn without being
stuffed with facts"
AND heres another thing" said
the commissioner, "in the school vol,
attended were there any rooms at all
DOWN." "e"
Plenty Of Freedom Now.
The writer had to admit that he
oouldn't think of any, except, perhaps,
the one laboratory where We sometimes
olssected frog-or rather the teacher
did.
Not much freedom there" Mr.
studebaker continued. Now there
are movable chairs and tables. The
stif1 RECOMMENDATION is stuffed off
Children work together in groups, They
oflng IN individual memoranda about
real things. They make reports. If
you and had had some of this free.
dom perhaps we wouldn't have felt
we weren't free until we left the
scnoolroom and got outdoors again"
Ieachers have learned to 70 at their
JOBS in spirit of adventure and thev
are lmpartlng that feeling to the
youngsters-a feeling that it's really
grand adventure, this finding out
about the world they live in"
AND then Commissioner Studebaker
launched into his favorite theme-the
schools part in laying the foundations
OF democacy.
The people who write the school
currlcula OF today" he declared, have
Keyed them all to one thing-the Gre
alton OF the conception OF democracy.
The children are being made to feel
that 1t Is wonderful thing to be
E\/EAllAl@ ~