Evening star., 1938-05-15

b
ID happened in education in
II New York this week. Nine
i y hundred public school chill
dren in Brooklyn were given a
chance to turn the tables and grade
their teachers on efficiency and
popularity, and. in Manhattan, the
ultra modern, ultra chic and eX-
pensive Dalton School had a three
day conference at which parents
and teachers heard children of all
ages tell just what parents and
teachers should be. Then the
grown-ups, under the Craftsmanship
Of parents like Mrs. Murray Crane
and teachers like President Ham
of Hollyoke, discussed "Curricular
Contributes and High Lights Of
Human Relationships" with the in
tensity only parents know.
Dalton has always been a storm
center in New York. The Dalton
theory is that the young can learn
to train, discipline and plan for
themselves at an early age. You
either like this idea, or you loathe
it. When a kindergarten tot gets
her arms stuck in her coat, the
teacher merely tells her to stop and
figure it out When the fourth
grader plunges into the study Of
civilization, he budgets his own
day and marks off his finished work
on unit card" Classrooms are
laboratories. Studies are collected
into projects, designed to motivate
the child's skills.
When a second-grade class, for
instance, decides it wants to go to
market, the following inclusive
process takes place: The buying of
vegetables to make soup and the
describing of same is called oral
language; the making of shop
ping list is writing and spelling; the
copying of recipe is reading; the
measuring of same is arithmetic;
the analyzing of the difference be-
tween an open-air market and a
store is social study; finding out
where vegetables come from is
science and painting pictures OF
the stalls is art.
The result of all this is, of course,
that Dalton pupils are as busy and
oHnipresent in New York as so
many Roosevelts. They bob up on
ferry boats (studying the city,, in
New England (history), on the
garbage dump (economics). The
most characteristic Dalton tale We
heard had to do with an ex-New
Dealer, now working in New York.
During the last election he was
watching the polls in one OF the
toughest districts in the city. Sail
ors were brawling around him, pro-
fessional plug-uglies threatened him
and dope flends signed the register
with quavering hands. Tired, and
secretly little nervous, he looked
up to see 80 beaming, confident
children come filing into his booth
Leading them was a positive young
man who stepped right up to him
and said:
Wouldn't you like to say a few
words to Dalton?"
Quite different from the Dalton
atmosphere is that Of st. Bernards
Boys School, which also had a
school celebration this week, the
annual, famous and traditional st.
Bernard's field day.
st. Bernard's athletic sports as
1t is officially called, has taken
place for 81 years on the lovely
estate Of the Franklin @. Browns at
Dobbs Ferry. Here, Iselins, Whit
neys, Morgans and Gerrys have
formally presented the prizes in
years past and here, this year, there
were races run by miniature La
monts, Emmonses and Cabots. Eve
Symington's sons were there; one
has voice as talented as her own.
st. Bernard's has much the at
mosphere of 'Stalky g. Co." Boys
call the masters sir" and the dis
ciplinary methods make the punish
ment fit the crime with uncanny
skill. We had small relative who
once. last year, in a fit of excess
vitality, threw so of his schoolmates'
coats out of an upper story window
Of the school. The punishment was
simple and decisive. He had to
walk down three flights Of stairs
and return the coats, one by one.
X X y X
nOWN at Young Books they have
a new idea. Young Books is