Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, July 27, 1902, Page 23

Plea for the Three R’s in Modern Education By Hon. Thomas I. James.) T IS quite true that there has been marked progress along educa- tional lines in the United States within the past few decades, but it is also quite true that th» resuits of the present educational system of the United States (and this includes public schools, private schools, colleges and universities) is far from satisfactory, from the business and commerical point of view. It is all very well to declare with the voice of one crying in the wilderness that education should not be considered solely as a means of amassing wealth or of earning a lhiving. I agree to this. It is entire'y proper to encourage general culture among those who have to make their own way in the world. I say amen to any plan of men- tal training that will spread sound culiure everywhere. But the plans which inciude attempts to rear the superstructure of cul- ture before the foundation stones thereof are laid are harmful alike to the individual schooled under them and to the nation as a whole. They impair his personal eficiency and they lower the general standard. Matter of Figures. Some who read these lines will think I am old fashioned when I say that “nature study,” freehand drawing, wood carving, clay modeling and a lot of the ‘‘subjects” to which so much attention is paid nowa- “ays in our public schools should be rigidly subordinated to matters that are more prac- tical, so fur as the great majority of the pupils are concerned. In fact, non2 of these things, in wmy judgment, should be exten- sively ‘‘taken up” by the great mass of public school children until after they are well and thoroughly grounded in such es- sential things as spelling, handwriting, the construction of simple, direct English sen- tences, and the elementary operations of arithmetic. Not long ago a bright-looking lad, under 18, applied for a job in a retail shop on one of the cross streets in New York. ‘“Where have you been to school?”’ asked the shopkeeper. ‘“Public schools; graduated from gram- mar school No. ——,” replied the lad. P “I like your looks,” continued the shop- keeper, “and I want a boy. It's only a matter of figures. Now, if eggs are 31 cents a dozen, how many can you eell for 25 cents?” The boy couldn’'t answer and he didn't get the job, though he had spent years in the public schools of the greatest city of the western hemisphere. This boy, you will observe, was wholly unfitted to grap- ple with the simplest practical problems. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of euch stories might be told, deepite the vast amounts (larger, by the way, than are so spent in proportion to school population by any other city on earth) which the city of New York devotes annually to the education of its boys and girls. You may say that the pupil with artistic ability, who has latent talents that will enable him with proper training to make beautiful pictures, to model graceful stat- uary, to become a finished musician, or to write thrilling romances, does not need to be able to “do sums” in mental arithmetic and has no call to worry about such petty things as the price of eggs. Suppose this is granted, the fact remains that only an | infinitesimal percentage of the boys and girls of this age, or any other, have in them exceptional artistic, musical or lit- erary possibilities. And even if every one of them by training could be taught to paint like Raphael, to model like Phi- N HERE was an old neighbor of mine down in Kentucky,” said Representative Wheeler of that state to the Washington Post, “who went out west. When He came back he was very much impressed with the fact that the Indians, to quote his own words, ‘were powerful fond of ‘“‘How did you find that out? I asked him, ‘“‘Well,” he said, ‘there was an old chief out there who offered me everything he had for a pint of whisky. He offered me his blanket, and finally his pony, if I would only give him my pint flask.’ “‘Did you let him have it?" I asked. “‘No, indeed,’ was the emphatic reply. ‘I only had one pint left." —_— Once upon a time, relates the New York World, Senator Depew and Mark Twaln were fellow passengers on a trip across the ocean. One night a dinner was given and Twain was called upon for a speech. He made a number of characteristically humorous remarks and then sat down, amid ppplause. Mr. Depew was next called upon. “Mr, Clemens and I exchanged speeches before dinner,” he said, “and he has de- livered mine. His is so bad that I won't disgrace him by repeating it." Then Mr. Depew sat down, while everybody laughed. The next morning, while Mr. Clemens was pacing the deck, an Englishman came up to him. “Mr. Clemens,” he sald, “I always thought that Mr. Depew was a smart man, but that speech of his which you delivered then his saddle and bridle, * dias, to compose and play like-Liszt or to write like Dickens, still only a few could find a market for their wares, while the remainder would have to make their way along old-fashioned, humdrum lines in spite of their genius. Some Curious Letters. The number of youngsters graduated from our public schools and colleges, too, I am forced to say, who cannot write clear, concise and readable letters is much larger than the number who have not mas- tered the simplest rules of arithmetic. And here 1 can glve examples from more direct personal observation. The financial institution with which I am connected re- quires written appli- cations from all who desire to enter its em- ployment, and these letters are kept on fie. Here is one of them, from one of them who has been trained in two col- Icges, besides, presum- ably, in the common schools. It will be noted, too, that part of his schooling was cbtained outside New York, and I mention this in order to show that not all the in- adequate schooling of the age can be charged to the metrop- olis. Sirs: Applying for admission into your employment, 1 wish to state that I have never been in busi- ness, being to school at college in Maryland, and in New York. My father's position is a bridge carpenter on the railroad. I live at . 1 refer to and 3 Yours re- spep!fully. This letter gives no information whatever that would be of value in determining the young man’'s fit- ness for a place as bank clerk. It does not even tell his age, and, besides, it s badly composed. I am sure the most ardent cpponents of ‘“‘sordid- ness” in education will agree with me that this young man's training in the ele- mentary subjects has been sadly neglected; that so far as ren- dering him capable of making a demonstra- tion that he “has an education’ it is an utter failure. Here is another letter of application, more specific in some ways, but decidedly of the sort that causes the judicious would-be employer to grieve. I say “‘would-be employer” because it is true that bankers, merchants, manufacturers, even ‘‘soulless corporations,” are quite as anxious to get good employes as men out of work are to get good jobs: Gentlemen: Enclosed you will find my application. I wish to state I am twenty (27) years of age, and would like to re- ceive a salary- of $1200 per week at start, as I am at present holding a sit- uation which pays me $15.00 per week, but the only objection I find is that it is not steady employment. Remember, I can turnish the best of references from the time [ left school until the present day. Any kind of a position_ will be satisfactory to me, pro- viding 1 receive steady work. Thanking you in advance for your kindness, I am, yoars sincerely, _— This young man says he can, but does not “furnish the best of references.” He says in one place that he is “twenty” and im- mediately afterward that he is ‘‘(27) years of age.” He does not give his business experience. His English is inexcusably bad. And his handwriting, llke the handwriting cf the other young man whesa leiter 1 HON. THOMAS L. JAMBS AT HIS DESK. have copied, is ragged, labored and unat- tractive to the eye. Wretched Handwriting. Now, I have a permanent quarrel with the medern school authorities practically everywhere because of their inexcusable neglect of the art of handwriting. When I was of school age we were obliged to learn to write at least legibly. We had ‘“‘copybooks”’ with engraved “coples”’ printed at the head of each page. We were required to devote a certain space of time each day to imitating these coples, which were really beautiful specimens of chiro- graphical skill. Many of us were not able to attain to the beautiful in our own hand- writing, but none save the really incorrigi- Gleanings From the Story last night was certainly the worst_drivel I ever heard. ._@_ Secretary of War Root was on His way to Southampton recently, reports the New York Times, when a farmer edged into the seat and began telling the cabinet mem- ber how to run the government, When the citizen's supply of criticisms began to run low Mr. Root asked: “What is your occupation?” “Poultry farmer,” was the reply. “Do you know how many eggs each of your hens lays?"’ “Why, no,” confessed the man. “Well, the man who looks after my chickens knows how much work each hen does, If he ‘didn't I'd discharge him for not knowing his business. If a hen doesn’t ‘produce fifteen eggs a month it's a loss to keep it. Now, my friend, doesn’t it sirike you that after you have learned your own business so well that I can’t give you points on it, then would be the proper time for you to come and teach me how the govern- ment ought to be run?” + The pride of James Gordon Bennett, the elder, in the greay newepaper he had built up was proverbial, and he had a particular aversion to anything that savored of dis- respect on the part of his employes when speaking of its contents, One of his editorial writers ventured to compliment him'one morning on the gen- eral character of that day's issue, says Youth's Companion. 8 “There was a lot of good stuff in the pa- per this morning, Mr. Bennett,” he said. “Stuff?” exclaimed the editor. “‘Stuft? What do you mean?” “I mean the—the matter on the editorial page,” replied the other, somewhat taken aback. “Then say so0,” rejoined his chief, with a fresty gleam in his eye. “If you value your job, young man, never call anything that goes into the New York Herald ‘stuff’ again as long as you live!” Anent the almost total extinction of the great bears that a few years ago made Wall street trading a thing of such vigor and picturesqueness, relates the New York Times, a conversation on the Stock ex- change floor a few days ago contained a story of James R. Keene and Washington E. Connor, when they were two of the most noted bull baiters of the street. . At the time spoken of Connor was the guest of Mr. Keene at the latter’'s coun- try place. The two were walking over the fine grounds in the early evening admiring the beauties of the early twilight scene and incidentally talking business now and then. Suddenly Keene grasped his friend’s arm and pointed to the moon that was majes- tically soaring up into the heavens and mantling the earth in a silvery sheen. ‘“Beautiful moon rising there,” sald the host. “Yep,"” replied Mr. Ccnnor, and then in a fit of abstraction added: *“‘But it's too high, Keene; too high!" .+ A gentleman, whose liberality in no way corresponded to his means, found out one day that there was some remainder ale in his cellar almost spoiling, and decided to get rid of it without delay, relates the New Yorker. The next morning when he was rerm- bling over his estate he came across a ble were allowed to leave school with the unformed handwriting that is so common amcng our people of all sorts at the present time. Why, even in our own bank the number of clerks who can write a good, clear, legible hand is ridiculously small. 1t is simply impossible to get employes who can write handsomely, and fr m what | am told this Is true of most bauks, both in New York and elsewhere. Indeed, 1 hardly need be told the facts in this mat- ter by anybody. I see much correspond- ence written by bank employes, even in this day of the typewriter's almost unj- versal use, and nine-tenths of the hand- writing that comes before mre fe unpleas- ant to the eye, and much of it is posi- tively illegible, I have heard it sald that the typewriter is responsible for the bad handwriting of the present younger generation, but this cannot be true. [n spite of the preva- lence of the writing machine, the families that do not possess one are very much in the preponderance. Anyway, were the subject of handwrit- ing given the promin- ence it deserves in the epublic schools, the handwriting of the pupil would be formed in epite of the typewriter. Its very prevalence should make the authorities the more insistent upon first-class chiro- graphical instruction in the schools. 1 remember very well the good natured ridicule that used to be poured out in print upon the copy books of other days and the goody, goody senti- ments of the lines, but their abandonment has cost too much. I remember very well aleo the beginning of the ‘“anti-copy book movement,” if I may so term |t This began with the young women who started in some years ago to acquire what they termed the ‘English hand.”” The charac- ters thus affected are long, cramped, sprawling and irregular, and their production has cost thousands of falr creatures much pain and trouble and worry of mind, with the net result of {il- legibility, ugliness and the utter ruination of much good writing paper. Current Contempt for Spelling, In the old days, too, we gave much time and attention to spelling. We had written spelling lessons and oral spelling lessons, and the spelling school, held on specific evenings, in which the grown-ups took ac- tive part, were a regular feature every winter. But now the ‘“word method" Tellers’ Pack party of workmen. Addressing the man in charge, he ostentatiously presented the ale to the men and said they could go and fetch it as they liked. A few days afterward he happened to meet the foreman again, and immediately proceeded to extract from him in some way a suitable acknowledgment of the bounty recently bestowed. “Well, William,” said the donor, with the air of a man who had granted an un- speakable favor, ‘“did you and your men bave that ale?" ‘“Oh, yes, sir, thank you, we had was the reply. - “That's right, and how did you like it?" said the gentleman, desiring a warmer ex- pression of gratitude. ““Oh, sir it was just the thing for us,” was the rather vague response. ““Ha, that'll do, then. But what do you mean by ‘just the thing’?” “Well, sir,” said Willlams, *“if it ’ad been a little better we shouldn’t a ‘ad it, and if it 'ad been a little worse we couldn’t a drinked it."” has come it,” + An effort of one of John B. Gough's tours of the west was to arouse his converts to a political movement in favor of pro- hibition and in several states the politi- clans began to give consideration to the ery. The distillers and liquor dealers are sald to have been so frightened that they employed men to follow the lscturer, sit among the audience and endeavor to con- found him with questions. He had worked a Topeka, Kan., audience up to a fine pitch of excitement, and, in his effective manner cried: ‘““Temperance! ance!!! It will Temperance!! mean money Temper- in your in. Children are taught to recognize each word by its general appearance, without regard to its component parts. I have heard teachers speak with elation of pupils who had actually gone through school with- out knowing the order of the letters of the alphabet, without knowing anything at all about “spelling” as we understood It in my younger days. Those who belleve in the “word method” declare that puplls educated under the new plan spell quite as well In actual practice as those who were educated under the method of yes- terday; but, so far as I can judge, the facts do not warrant the declaration, and my view of the matter is borne out by the observation of many of my friends. An editor of my acquaintance, for in- stance, showed me the other day a manu- script on a technical subject by an expert on that subject, who was also a graduate of a standard university and had passed through the best technical school in his line. The article was admirable as an ex- position of the subject, but its English was labored, unwieldy—in some instances positively ungrammatical—and the whole was disfigured with many errors of spelling. As to the handwriting of the expert I cannot speak, since the manuscript was done on the typewriter. The errors in speil- ing were his own, however, for he had learned to ‘‘use the machine’” and had ‘‘poundel the stuff out" with his own hands. As a horrible example of “spelling as she Is sometimes spelt” I am going to add a letter of indorsment which I recelved the other day, though it i only fair to say that I do not know whether the writer was an old or a young man, a product of the echools as they are or as they were: Dear Sir: this will enterduce my friend — aney thing you can do for him 1| will apresit it very much, have none him for years an upright and onest man. Yours verry truly, Public Schools Improving, This brings me to that one of the ele- mentary studies that were made so much of in the public schools that I knew as a boy, which was placed first in the pro- verbial list of the ‘“three R's"—reading. In the old days the ‘“reading exercises' were first in the order of classes and the pupils were taug™t enunciation, pronuncia- tion, distinctness and expression. You have to listen for half a minute only to the av- erage young man of 20 or thereabouts to know that reading alone had small place in the public schools’ routine for him. I am happy to learn, though, that this art is again receiving more attention in the schools, and that in some cities it is belng taught with more intelligence than ever before, In conclusion, then, I wish to say that for all the flaws I have seen in the prac- tical workings of the public school sys- tem I am by no means of the opinion that there is no improvement therein. On the contrary, I believe it is better, more thor- ough and more progressive on the whole than it has ever been in the past. But in their eagerness for ‘‘general cul- ture,” eo called; 'for ‘“‘universal art educa- tion,”” for ‘‘variety and novelty and breadth,” the authorities have temporarily neglected—I am sure the neglect is only temporary—the solid and deep foundations upon which only can true cultivation, real breadth be bullded. For one I shall be glad when there 18 less dissection, less modeling, less wocd carving in our publie schools and more real, downright hard work devoted to the three R's of other days—readin’, 'ritin’ and 'rithmetic. pocket, clothes on your back, happiness in your home, and God in your heart!" Up leaped one of the pald Interrupters and shouted to the audlence: “Money in our pockets! Why, fellow- citizens, follow this man's ideas and we'll be all in the poorhouse! Think of the flelds of tasseled corn that stretch on every side! Whisky is made from corn. We sell millions of dollars’ worth of corn to the whisky makers. Stop the manufacture of whisky, and what'll we do? Then turning to Gough, he went on: “You, Mr. Smarty—what'll we do? Tell us, If prohibition comes, what'll we do with our corn?’ ““Ralse more hogs, Gough, without “raise more hogs my friend,” second's replied hesitation— —— “Did you ever hear a goat swear?"’ asked General Parker of New Jersey, quotes the Washington Post. He represents, by the way, the district in which the rifle range at Sea Girt is situated. “Over at the rifle range one day,” sald General Parker, “there was a team from Georgia, which had with them a colored boy and a goat as mascots. The boy was dressed in brilllant uniform and the goat bhad & fuzzy tall. Along came & rifleman who belonged to a rival team. “I'll give you a nickel for one of your buttons,” he sald to the boy, and the trade was made. Then the rifieman, pluck some hairs from the goat's tail, rubbed them on the button. ‘Now,’ he sald, ‘I have hoodooed your team. You will never win the Hilton trophy.’ ‘“The colored boy burst into tears and the goat sald ‘D-a-a-am-n’' just as plainly as anything you ever heard in your lite,”