Show I Timely Topics o II MR EDISON ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS After his blanket indictment of or the youthful intelli Intelli- of the country it is instructive to learn what Mr Edison believes is the cause of the trouble It appears appears appears ap ap- pears that Mr Edison somewhat lays the blame on the public schools This announcement will doubtless gratify various college college college col col- lege faculties acuIties who may have smarted under his criticisms criticisms criticisms of college men as such but it does not throw much light on the possibilities of reform Not that the public schools cannot be Improved They can and a large bod body of educators Is now engaged in this task along the very lines which Edison deems important A flexible school organization is a prime prim necessity if each pupil is o 0 reach the highest point which he Is capable capable capable capa capa- ble of ot attaining These things are truisms and Edison only adds weight to the opinions of ot school experts when he insists upon them Edison and the others are fundamentally rig right t. t Children Children Chil Chil- dren must be encouraged to absorb a certain number of facts about spelling reading arithmetic and the 11 like e. e But nut no child ever makes a success In after life merely because he is can an excellent speller or because his handwriting handwriting hand hand- writing Is above e reproach He wins out only if his brain brainIs Is In good working order if his powers of observation and deduction are tolerably sound and his ambition and initiative are sufficiently developed Here in a nutshell Is the problem which a a. capable teacher must solve solve solve- I the problem of using the school machinery so effectively effective effective- ly I that his pupils become real men and women and not simply parrots with an automatic ability to perform I certain actions and recite certain facts Baltimore Baltimore Sun Ind Dem I |