Evening star., 1939-05-05
Promotions
OF School
Children
Ambitious Parents
Should Not Push
+ Brilliant Ones
BY ANGELO PATRI.

People are beginning to under
stand that 1t is not smart to hurry
q bright child through school. 1t
used to be 4 matter of pride to have
the youngest child in the class, the
youngest child ever graduated, the
youngest college entrant. That at
titude has about passed out, but
there Is enough Of 1t still left to
work mischief on innocent children.
Here Is q crowded class, 80
crowded that some children have to
sit two In q seat. In the class above
there is more room and several
empty seats. What SO sensible as
to promote the brightest child in
the crowded class? Sensible yes, as
far as relieving crowding, but not
at all good for the child, unless he
is old enough to associate happily
with the members Of the new class.
There is no child so unhappily
fixed as the one who Is very young
and very quick In class of his
elders. School Is important to the
children because it is a way of life,
and not because 1t Is a place to
learn facts out Of books. The way
of life is the first, most essential
quality Of school. When a child Is
q misfit there, his school life is a
failure and his future is ruined.
Sometimes 1t is an ambitious par
ent who works the mischief. Here
is his bright child. Why not let
him shine against the background
OF all these mediocre children of
the neighbors? Accordingly he is
pushed ahead as fast as he can
commit the grade of facts to mem
ory, and by and by he arrives at
the end of the course, is graduated
and sent to high school only to find
himself the odd sheep left out,
bleating. helpless and alone. No
parent ought to subject his child to
such a fate. Better let the child
take his time for growing and put
quality into it instead of taking it
out.
Learning facts is not the chief
end of school, as I have pointed out.
Any normal healthy child could
master the facts of a grade course
in a couple of months. Why then
take six? For the digestion and
application of the facts, for mental
assimilation of the facts and their
implications. For this, all the time
that can be had is needed.
The book says, "The Eastern
Shore OF Massachusetts, was settled
by the English in the early l6O0s." ("
A bright child learns that fact as
it rises from the printed page, or
as it falls from the lips of his
teacher. THE English settled East
ern Massachusetts," he says, and re-
members. What of 1t? There Is a
great deal of it IF he gets time to
dig it out and that Is what he should
be doing instead Of hurrying on to
the next fact.
The implications Of this historical
fact, Of all other facts learned in
lessons. are far more important
than the facts, and their under
standing, their applications to
everyday life In America, are Of
extreme importance. The children
should have time to read, amplify,
express, apply the knowledge they
gather because in these processes
lie the quality and the quantity of
their learning. Racing through
school does nothing for a child
save to isolate him from his con-
temporaries, a dangerous and a
futile thing.
Give the children, especially these
bright fast-growing children, the
time they need for enriched growth
and SO allow them to develop this
gift Of intelligence that endows
them for high places.