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Show m people m EVENTS PROF. SMEDLEY AND SPELLING. Professor Smedley and his assistants In the department of child study of the Chicago public schools are trying to find out why so many children do not learn to spell. That they do not is admitted ad-mitted by the fact of the investigation.-And investigation.-And this admission is doubly interesting interest-ing because it comes from Professor Smedley. Professor Smedley's investigations investi-gations so far seem to be confined to physical conditions. He suggests that improperly fed children have weaker memories as well as bodies. Defective eyes are also suggested as another reason rea-son for bad spelling. The theory is that the child, not seeing the word correctly correct-ly in the first place, is unable to reproduce re-produce it correctly. In this latter theory the-ory there seems to be a point which tne lay mind concerned with results, and observing that the spelling results of Chicago school training are decld- edly poor, may reflect upon with profit. prof-it. The old system, by which children were taught to spell by steady practice prac-tice in vocal combining of letters Into words, is regarded as very crude and bad by the apostles of the "new methods." meth-ods." . For It has been largely superseded super-seded by what is called "the . visual method," which seems to be that a child shall first be taught what a worC looks like as a whole and then sha learn to spell it by taking it to piec and trying to put the pieces togethe again. |
