Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-12
Education
More Than
AQuiz
Bv 4ngeiO Pafri

Children are bedeviled with lists Of
questions. They are rated on these
lists by parents and teachers and il
the ratings are not just what theil
elders think they ought to be. the
children are made to feel made
quate. We'll, Marie got 80 on that
list. Seems to me you could have
done as well if you'd put your mind
to it Why should he put his mind
to it?
I looked over some of these lists
recently. What Governor of New
York had wooden leg? Who led
the first third party in this country?
When was the 48th star added to
our flag? What happened to this
Nation in 1892. 1907, February %
1882, November II, 1918?
am concerned, not by the failure
of many children to answer such
questions but by the standard of
scholarship it sets. Knowing the
answers is becoming the standard of
accomplishment in schools all over
the country. Time and effort are
put upon memorizing isolated facts.
dates, catchy bits of history and the
causes, the movements, trends and
customs of the periods are passed
by. There is no time for leisurely
study of history and other cultural
subjects. We must hasten to &C
quire store of answers.
That affects the teaching and
lowers its quality. 1t teaches can
didates for examination in various
fields of professional work to buy
a book of questions and answers
and bone up on them. 1t makes
students hunt up old examina-
lions and check them for questions
that appear through the tests year
after year. Did you study the dates
OF the Civil War? You'd better be-
cause they always ask for them"
Nobody seems to be studying the
conditions of the times in those
days, nobody has time to dwell on
the implications of the legislation,
the court decisions, the people S
feelings and behavior. Get the
answers and get a passing mark
Nothing so harmful to the quality
of the teaching has happened to our
schools in many a day.
Parents have been caught up in
the excitement of questions and an
swer contests. To have a child
bright enough to tell off hand how
many people live on a square mile
of China, how many of our Presi-
dents were graduated from Harvard
who killed Cock Robin, is to be a
proud parent, indeed The child
who looks bewildered during a bar
rage of questions like this is nc
credit to his family or his school
Maybe.
There is all the difference in the
world between mind enriched with
knowledge and one crammed with
isolated facts. The one is worlds
apart from the other. Associated
ideas are the background of reason
and judgment. They make for quail
ity in thinking and behavior. They
StAASi poWCi III ollC dllu give
stimulus to creative thinking.
Isolated facts confuse the mind
clutter it with material that gets
III the way of clear thinking
Wouldn't child who knew what
Peter Stuyvesant stood for in the
days of the Dutch occupation OF
New Netherlands have more worthy
knowledge at his command than the
one who knew that the old soldier
had wooden leg but knew little
beyond that fact about him or his
background? Facts are fine. in
formation is valuable. provided they
are based on sound, comprehensive
knowledge.
I would feel surer of the candidate
for a teaching position who coulC
write $40 words of thoughtful criti-
ciSm upon the contribution of Johr
Dewey to education than I would
about the one who had to &c
through long. long list of Yes anc
No questions. or the sort that give
you four guesses AS to which leader
did what,