Salt Lake Tribune | 1910-09-15 | Page 2 | Too Much Poetry in Public Schools

I I I TOO MUCH POETRY ! . IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS i i ; ' N'SW YORK. Sept. U. The public ji ' schools devote too much time to the I. reading of poetry these days, according . to Dr. William H. Maxwell, superlntend-r superlntend-r ent of schools, who has just put before l, ' the school principals his annual message j j of advice and instruction. I 1 Shakespeare's works are particularly 1 unadapted to the grades, In the opinion of Dr. Maxwell. He also deprecated the habit, of giving Involved and complicated I mathematical problems and too little phy-li phy-li ' slcol training-, drilling In reading aloud I and correct pronunciation. "I do not underrate the educational ad-( ad-( vantage of verse." said Dr. Maxwell. "A few great narrative poems that Inva-, Inva-, l ; riably appeal to children, such as Longfellow's Long-fellow's 'Evangeline' and 'Miles Stand-I Stand-I Jsh and Scott's 'Lady of the Lake,' are j , all right And these poems arc much bct-I bct-I I ter adapted to the elementary school ' . than any of Shakespeare's plnys. A few . good prose works should not be ncg-, ncg-, lected, either, such as Irvlng's 'Rip Van Winkle,' while books of travel and blog-' blog-' raphles of great men should be familiar i to pupils. Franklin's autobiography ! I. should be read by every pupil In New I York. ! "In our mathematical work bear in I mind that the long, complicated and mere , puzzle probloms have no place In school work. Short problems, as nearly as pos-' pos-' slble like the operations required in prac-1 prac-1 ' tlcal life, are what are needed- At least five minutes in every -mathematical drill should be given to rapid addition, and 1 fifteen -minutes to rapid mental arithmetic. arithme-tic. "I place high value on drawing, man-i man-i ual training, singing and sewing and ; cooking, yet the most Important work you have to do Is physical training,"