THE COURIER.
X
The procrustcan public schools do
their best to mould the small, soft
boned bodies into an average shape.
That they succeed so poorly is to the
credit of the children, and fertile, un
conquerable nature.
Concerning this rule of non-admission
to the building until, nine o'clock
or whatever the hour of recitation,
whenever it has been proposed 'that
the doors be opened for the admission
of early stragglers, and in pity of the
forlorn little loafers, hanging about
lhcscbools.it has been said that it
would be a hardship on the teacher,
etc. The same argument would apply
to the locking up of the university
bulldings.unt.il the first recitation
hour. It would be much more con
venient for the teachers, janitors and
curators of the university if the stu
dents stayed outside on the campus
until the beginning of the regular
hour of recitation or lecture. Such a
rule could not be enforced, because
the students areold enough to quickly
resent an unjust hardship. Little
children do not know they have any
rights. Most of them know only the
ttatutes of the law of love, and when
the teacher is indifferent to their cold
hands and feet, they get their first
vision of a hard world, and associate
that revelation with the processes of
education. The child's persistent ref
erence to the dismissal of school as
the time when school "lets out' re
veals the universal childish regard of
the school as a bouse of detention. It
is idle to try to teach them to adopt
the less picturesque and graphic word,
so long as the pursuit of knowledge is
undertaken by children with a ball
and- chain-dragging from each little
lagging foot.
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The True Bask of Promotion.
An article in the September "Edu
cation," by Superintendent Gordon of
Lincoln, is a forcible plea for a change
:o the unit of measure of public
Kchool scholar's yearly attainment.
The article is primarily distinguished
by common sense and the rejection of
dogma in regard to the grades. There
is no question but that the state uni
versity is a stimulating iifluence in
Nebraska, and especially in Lincoln,
but. wilh all loyalty to the institu
tion, it has lifted the grade of the
Lincoln high-school and of the gram
mar schools beyond their place of
highest usefulness to the pupil, a very
small percentage of which go from
them to the university. The effort to
graduate pupils from the high-school
stuffed with facts enough to pass the
entrance examination at the univer
sity lias prejudiced the whole system.
Supennte. dent Gordon suggests, in
The Reorganization of the Grammar
School," that the pupil be graded ac
cording to the, increment of power he
lias gaiped, rather than upon his abil
ity to pass a certain examination at a
stipulated time. "Ihe oasis of pro
motion should be effort rather than
subject matter. TI12 pupil who has
faithfully and conscientiously applied
himself to his work, has probably
gained out of that work, if the work
of the teacher has been well done, all
that is possible for him to get at that
stage. For him, therefore, the work
should be marked 'Satisfactory,' no
matter how many questions he may
be unable to answer at an examina
tion. Going over the same ground
again would have little value, and, in
the long run. would be anything but
advantageous. The' thing of primary
importance here is the increment of
power gained in relation to the pupil's
capacity for growth, while the incre
ment of knowledge is of secondary
importance. A system of marking
based on the amount of facts which a
pupil has acquired depends on his
ability to answer questions designed
primarily to show how completely the
pigeon holes of his mind have been
stuffed with facts. In my estimation
the most important thing Is what has
the pupil gained, considered from the
standpoint of hit possibilities."
Concerning the introduction of uni
versity methods into the high-school
and - grammar-schools, every parent
who has watched the bewilderment
of his sons and daughters at the first
application of the source method, or
the loss of balance when the young,
sters, for the first time, go from one
recitation-room to another, will un
derstand Dr. Gordon's strictures upon
the introduction of the scholastic
spirit into the grades. "In these
schools the general tendency is to
regard the subject taught as. of trans
cendent importance; while the pupil
himself is of secondary consideration.
This is due to several things, chief
among which are, (1) The employment
of college graduates, with neither ex
perience nor- pedagogical training.
And, generally, as a result of this, (2)
The copying of college and university
methods. Teachers come from the
college to the high-school, very often
without a distinct realization of the
-importance of the pupil himself.
Between them and their knowledge
of the grammar school intervenes
eight years of work, during which
their studies and experiences have
profoundly impressed them with the
g-eat importance of the subject mat
ter, and the very small importance of
the individual. By reason of this, I
view with much apprehension the ex
tension of the high-school down-'
wards."
The soundness of Dr. Gordon's views
and the correctness of his statements
in regard to the point of view of the
inexperienced university graduates
may be tested by the graduates' own
confessions. It is corroborated by my
memory of my own post graduate
view of the relative importance of the
subject and the scholar.
The conclusions expressed in the
whole candid, sensible article, re
sponds to personal experience and ex
periments in the same way. As the
conclusions of a man of much peda
gogical experience who is frank
enough and sure enough of the results
of his observations to be willing to
advocate and adopt them, the article
is an admirable contribution to the
literature of teaching.
Octave Thanet.
Miss French is expected in Lincoln
sometime in October to deliver an
address to the Nebraska State Feder
ation of Women's Clubs, which meets
here on October 9, 10 and 11 Miss
French wrte a Nebraska story, a few
years ago, which was unfair to Ne
braska and lacked the plein air effects
of most of her studies of real life.
The sketch was made from a distance,
and from report. Her views of Ne
braska were Bryanesque. The club
women mean to show her that Ne
braska is full of prosperous, success
ful and happy people. It is possible
to be happy, temporarily and by de
termination, in this vale of tears, and
Nebraska people appreciate the gos
pel, and take the medicine of cheer
fulness with intention. Miss French
herself is the wbolesomest of women
and of writers. Her drawing is gen
erally faithful and spirited. On her
return to Davenport I hope her
sketch-book will contain some faith
ful likenesses of Nebraskans.
This letter from Miss French to Miss
Julia Haskell, of the program com
mittee, is printed herewith, that the
Nebraska club women may know how
good a friend and charming a woman
we are to have the honor of hearing:
"I have wanted to go to Nebraska
for three years: I have been two or
three times, but not a real visit where
I see the 'folks.' Mrs. Stoutenborough
made me fond of Nebraskans; and nice
Mrs. Ford at Omaha, so to speak,
'rubbed it in;' and the other nice Ne
braskans finished the fixing of the
picture in my mind. Unless some
thing unexpected should happen I
shall be happy to go to Lincoln and
to talk to you all or to.give you a
monologue of The Bewildered Presi
dent or any other little thing that
you may like. As to conditions, I
shall charge exactly what I charged
the federation that is nothing at all;
and as my maid will be with me and
possibly a friend, I shall ask my kind
friends to let me go to a hotel (1 hear
you have good ones in Lincoln) at my
own proper charges; and let them en
gage me a couple of rooms with a
private bath for a day and a night.
I have a good friend in Lincoln, Mrs.
Henry Lewis, who would, I know, put
us all up, but you see I long ago
adopted the inevitable rule of going
to the inn; and I can't break it. But
my friend and I will be only too
pleased to be asked to break bread
with any of you; and I hope we shall
see a great deal of you all. If these
terms, no money, and love and affec
tion, are satisfactory, I shall try to
arrange things so that I may see you
the middle of October. Until the
second of July my address will be
here; after that, in Lichfield, Conn.
"Always cordially yours.
"Alice French."
Galveston Pluck.
In the Netherlands, as everyone
knows, the land is low, much of it is
below the level of the sea. 'Ihe rivers
and canals being elevated above the
surrounding country. Along the west
coast the low lands are protected from
the sea by a line of sand hills or dunes,
.but elsewhere on the ocean coast the
land is protected by dikes, which re
quire a large expenditure annually
to keep them in order. Engineers,
called the officers of the Waterstaat,
take special charge of the dikes and
national hydraulic works, at a yearly
cost of about two and one half million
dollars.
It Is a question of how much the.
location of Galveston is worth. The
is'and is slightiy above the water,
which is a gulf of the same ocean that
would drown Holland, but for Dutch
defiance. A sea wall must be built to
the Gulfward of Galveston, deep
enough and wide enough to keep the
ocean back in those rare storms that
wash over it. Galveston pluck is no
degree less determined and daring
than Dutch obstinacy, and Galveston
will rise again, a new walled city.
Unless the wall is built, the old citi
zens will be afraid, and new ones
will not come.
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The Calaveras Trees.
Destruction is the first law of the
Philistine. In Nebraska he cuts down
trees. If there is any place in the
world where there is something more
beautiful, more poetic, more comfort
ing, more historic and monumental,
or more richly benignant than trees,
be sure there are Philistines destroy
ing it. The big trees of California,
that are not protected by the govern
ment, are being chopped down by men
who are worse than can ibals, for thirty
years is enough to grow a fairly use
ful man, and it has taken from four
to five thousand years to grow those
gigantic trees of California. The larg
est trees in the Calaveras grove came
into the possession of a lumberman
last April, and he has begun to cut
down the wide boled, whispering
green trees, older than the pyramids,
tall enough when Nebuchadnezzar
was a baby to have shaded his infant
curves. It is said that; an effort will
.be made in congress to set aside these
groves as a park and save the trees
from the lumbermen, who reverence
only lumber and the price of it bad
luck to them!
Qty Lighting.
If the city of Lincoln cannot afford
to pay more than 813,000 a year for
lighting, that is all it should pay. If
the number of lights must be reduced
in order to bring the bill within the
ability of the city to pay, then the
localities which have been light must
hereafter go dark, on moonless nights,
or at best only lighted by the never
fading stars. For the first time Lin
coln has a mayor who has, up to the
present time, refused to authorize the
spending of money not in the treas
ury. For this reason there is every
reason to believe that the city of Lin
coln will not now, as in 1895, contract
a debt larger than the annual income
of the city warrant.
The Shoemaker to His Last.
Once upon a time a barber of Lin
coln married a waitress in a western
hotel. His business in Lincoln grew
and grew until he made 82,400 a year.
At first his wife was proud of her hus
band, her husband's business, and his
good judgment. At first she brought
him his meals, but after awhile the
serpent, in the form of social distinc
tions, tempted her, and she would no
longer enter the barber-shop and was
ashamed of her husband's business.
He has laid up a few thousand dollars,
and she is urging hinr to buy a busi
ness of which he knows nothing, in
order to get out of the "barber class."
The hero of this story is hesitating,
which means that he is lost. He is a
good barber and understands the con
duct of the business, but that knowl
edge will not help him In the real-estate
or undertaking business, In which
his wife thinks there is an opening.
Once upon a time there was a man
who came .to Lincoln with a few
thousand dollars and an exhaustive
knowledge of one business. Be put
all his money and all his energy into
that business and his capital grew and
grow until he had a hundred thous
and dollars. Then he thought he
was not making money fast enough,
and he decided to start and develop
another enterprise. One man out of
a million is a universal genius, and
can run simultaneously and profitably
four or five unrelated shows But
such men are rare that It is much
safer for every mother's son to con
clude that he is but an average man
with his limitations. This man's
spirit fitted a genius' ability, but that
half.was lacking. The profits of his
original business were deflected to
operate his new ventures, which, one
after another, he started. He is now,
after twenty five or thirty years' resi
dence in Lincoln, where he started,
on the shady side of fifty, and lacking
in the increment of a life of activity.
There are many others in Lincoln
who have lost money by diverting
their earnings from their legitimate
business into something which plenty
of other men have made their special
ty, and with whom, therefore, they
cannot compete.
There is much sympathy expressed
for Mr. Kimball, the director of the
University School of Music. Mr.
Kimball has built up a large and suc
cessful school. Under his administra
tion the school is growing and becom
ing an institution, attractive to am
bitious students in otner states. But
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