Show nf tip in Ebu rattan by WILLIAM H MAXWELL superintendent of new york city school HE public schools have been a good deal criticized criticised for what is said to be a neglect of the three R s and the tendency to special courses As a matter of fact the so called three R s have probably never been more carefully taught than now I 1 know that there are many people who would return to the barren instruction of 60 years ago despite modern educational methods it is said that children to day do not spell and cipher as well as those of half a century ago and great has been the lamentation over the change but the facts are quite different it is not generally known that actual tests have been made by submitting the examination questions of 60 years ago to the children of to day in similar grades in the test made in springfield mass it was found that whereas in 1846 there evere but 0 o per cen t who spelled in the test correctly in 1906 aff ft ft there was 51 per cent in arithmetic the contrast was even more remarkable sixty years ago 29 per cent of the class had solved the problems correctly while in 1906 65 per cent were correct so much for springfield the tests made in brooklyn N Y were even more striking the questions were given to bivs and girls in the eighth year of the elementary schools where the children were much younger than in the tests made in 1846 the percentage of cor answers at that time had been 29 while in brooklyn it was 71 per cent in the arithmetical tests in 1846 the percentage of pupils who received 70 per cent or more was 17 while in brooklyn it was 35 six ty years ago more than two per cent missed every word and more than ten per cent spelled but one word correctly in the brooklyn test there was not a pupil who missed every word nor one who spelled but one word correctly again in the test in 1846 some 27 per cent missed 17 words or more while in the brooklyn test but a trifle more than one per cent spelled so badly the figures speak for themselves very positive conclusions may be drawn from these figures in stead of neglecting the three R s it will be seen that our pupils are twice as proficient as were the children of 60 years ago for all their brain tiring and uninteresting drill meanwhile our modern course has been extended to include execution and expression in im proving those attainments that depend chiefly on judgment and memory the acquisition of skill in any intellectual or bodily function de a reserve of intellectual power to be drawn upon when occasion requires the work is becoming less theoretical and more practical along all lines fr jj aj i f |