Newspaper Page Text
PEARSON®TRIBUNE
YOL. 3—NO. 44
PRIMARY GRADE TEACHING.
Personal Discussion of Profes
sors Land and Booth.
Mr. Sankey Booth,
Pearson, Ga.
Dear Sir:
Replying to the article in the
Pearson Tribune of February 22m1,
with the heading “How to Teach
Beginners”, please bear in mind
the following facts.
You wrote me some two or three
weeks ago requesting the privilege
of giving a demonstration with
your pupils before the teachers at
tending the Institute at Horner
ville. I wrote you that I had no
objection to your giving a demon
stration.
You later wrote that you would
come for the demonstration on
Wednesday morning but you did
not name the hour in your letter
and I had no knowledge of the
fact, that ten o'clock had been
named by you or any one else as
the time for your demonstration
until you announced it to me after
I had already introduced to the
Institute one of Georgia’s most
able educators whom I had by let
ter invited to address the Insti
tute and who had accepted for
Wednesday—l In- day you chose to
come. He was to be present only
during the morning session and 1
put him up to speak at the only
opportune time, as I thought all
time before the noon hour would
be consumed by demonstrations
when we assembled in the audi
torium.
You are entirely under a mis
taken idea when you think that 1
wanted to “freeze you out” and
not allow you an opportunity to
demonstrate. 1 regret more than
you do the conflict of times, but
it was simply due to a misunder
standing and was in no wise in
tentional.
How, as to your desire for a con
test at the Institute between your
class and some other, 1 will frankly
state that had you in your letter
requested a contest instead of the
demonstration, I would have de
nied the request, as the kind of a
contest you wanted would have
settled nothing with reference to
the principles of teaching, no mat.
ter how it might have been deci
ded. You will doubtless admit
that you would not have abandon
ed your method of teaching even
if the decision bad gone against
you. Neither would the other
teacher have abandoned her meth
ods.
I could see no good to any con
cerned for the demonstration to
take the form of a contest. We
had other demonstrations during
the Institute simply for the pur
pose of showing the different ways
to teach different subjects, letting
the teacher be her own judge as to
which was good and practical for
her use in her own school.
I was glad to have the opi>or
tunity to see your method as I
had some curiosity concerning it
and was also glad for the teachers
to see it demonstrated along with
a method which I consider in
eludes the best principles of teach
ing and which gets the “results”
desired in developing a child’s
mind.
Now I have this proposition to
make to you. If tyou w ill find any
three teachers who were in attend
ance upon the Institute from eith
er Clinch or Echols counties, who
think enough of your method to
endorse it or the “results” obtain
ed by its use and who expect to
to use it in their schools, I will
make your school a gife of $25.00
for the equipment for your Priina
ry grade.
And right here allow' me to say
that “results” of your system are
the greatest objection I see to it.
The trouble with you. Mr. Booth,
is that you think you have discov
ered something new, where as a
matter of faet, you are using meth
ods similar to those used hundreds
of yoars ago, by the Chinese in
teaching their cliildi -n. You can
see how much Chine idvanced un
der the results go ten by these
methods. The W< stern Nations
have developed unt ■ a different
sort of mind training where China
stood still for a thousand years.
If you had some principle in
Physics, Chemistry or other sci
ence which you wanted settled,
you would not call on a layman
who knew nothing of the underly
ing principles but would appeal
rather to an authority on the sub
ject in question.
1 am perfectly willing for (he
man or woman who has spent years
of study, investigation and e.vperi
mentin child study, psychology and
primary methods, to pass judgment
upon the “results” you are getting
and those displayed by the little
class in the Primary Department
of the Homerville School.
1, therefore, have this proposi
tion to make to you. Let you and
the Principal of the Homerville
School select a committee of three
disinterested primary experts who
have given special study in psy
chology and child study. Let them
visit your school and survey the
character of the work done by
your primary class which demon
st rated at Homerville and then
visit and survey the character of
work done by the Primary Class
of the Homerville School. If they
will then write out their findings
and declare your ideas are more
in keeping with the correct and
true development of a child’s mind,
and get better and safer “results”
than the methods used by the 110
merville Primary teacher, I will
give $50,00 to your school for the
purchase of equipment for the Pri
mary grades. Otherwise if their
judgment is in favor of the teach
ing done in the Primary grades at
Homerville, 1 will present the
$50.00 to the Homerville school.
Your judges may be selected
from this or any nearby state, a
teacher in the practice school of
some State Normal College or else
an expert Primary teacher who is
an accepted authoritv in the sub
ject of Primary teae 1 ng.
I further agree t pay the ex
penses of these teae ers from their
homes to Pearson ; I Homerville
and return. This o,ter holds good
for the next sixty days.
1 am enclosing a copy of this let
ter to the Editor of your local pa
per and also the Principal of the
Homerville school.
By the way, Mr. Booth, can you
refer me to some case where a
teacher has patented or copyright
ed a method of teaching!
Yours truly,
F. E. Land.
Macon, Ga., Fob. 2G, 1918.
x x x
Prof. Booth’s Reply.
Pearson, Ga., Feb. 28, 1918.
Mr. F. E. Land,
Macon, Ga.,
Dear Mr. Land:
In answer to your letter of re
cent date will say that 1 am will
ing to drop the Homerville affair
if you wdl explain wdiy you did not
tell me to wait rather than to go
on with my work with the crowd
which had come over there with
me, while you conducted the Insti
tute with the teachers and the oth
er people in another room. It was
not waiting that I objected to; it
was your effort to belittle me in
the eyes of the people. I could
have showed the work to my own
crowd with less expense at home.
I will be very glad to accept
your generous offer for a contest
between my pupils and those of
Homerville if we can get together
as to judges, etc. Let the classes
come together either here or at
PEAKSON, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1018
Homerville. I suggest that a com
mittee be appointed to select
judges, or 1 will accept as judges
one expert primary teacher and
two good men, ex-school teachers,
who are vitally interested in edu
cation. 1 don’t believe it would
be fair to me to have three expert
primary teachers as judges, for
they would have to go back on
their own methods to give the de-
cision to me. they could hardly do
this without renouncing their
methods; this we could not expect
them to do, at once.
You say my method is the same
used by the Chinese several hun
dred years ago. How do you know?
You may know how the Chinese
taught, but you will admit that
you do not know how I teach. 1
have tried to get you to let me tell
you. I have tried to get you to
come to my school and see, but you
have ever refused to give me audi
ence. 1 have tried to tell you we
have five ways of getting to the
word while you have only one and
our way also includes this one. Mr.
McCall, Superintendent of Schools
of Brooks county, says, in speaking
of my method, “Look carefully
before condemning it, for 1 find
nothing in it contrary to the teach
ings of our leading educators.”
You point ed your finger in my face
at Quitman and told the teachers
not to believe a word I said, but
you would not allow me to say one
word for them to believe. I’ll
make you this offer; if you know
how I teach and will write it out,
so that people can understand if, I
will give you $5 for you' trouble
and 1 will give the Tribune $5 to
publish it. So if if does not ap
pear we will take it for granted
that you admit that you do not
know. Now, Mr. Land, you are
condemning something you have
never investigated. If you would
come and see how we manage to
get around with our 130 pupils to
one teacher, and see how well
pleased all of the patrons are, and
make inquiries at other schools
where we have taught this method,
then analyze it and see that we
have your foundation principle in
cluded in our method, it may be,
that instead of being in each oth
ers way, we could get together,
and in t his way do more good t han
we can pulling against each other.
By your reference to the Chinese
1 reckon you mean their training
of the memory, but my method
does not train the memory as much
as yours does. Those pupils that
read at Homerville came out to us,
while Mr. Powell was speaking,
and showed us their lesson, and
recited it to us with their books
closed. 1 f you are a close observer
you, no doubt, noticed one of the
children on the stage without a
book prompting one that had a
book, if you remember, I had a
little five-year old child who had
only been to school since Christ
mas, pronounce words in the second
reader which she had never been
taught. lam sure she did not do
this from memory.
If my method is so old why does
Mr. Duggan in a statement after
several visits to my school say that
it is “original,” and “You are evi
dently putting great emphasis upon
some good pedagogical principles
greatly neglected by the majority
of teachers.” He told me that at
first he thought it was the way
that his father'taught, but after a
careful investigation he said it was
entirely new. It is not the way
that you and I was taught, though
I prefer the old way to telling a
pupil that “a” is a litle boy with
the toothache, and “g” is a big boy
with the toothache sitting on the
fence with his feet hanging off, or
even in your way, as you say, that
“d-o-g does not spell ‘dog’ any more
than it does ‘horse.’’’
You say that the “results” I get
is your greatest objection to my
method. This is in keeping with
your information. Why should
you object to something that you
know absolutely nothing about?
But in this connection 1 am glad
to quote from three of our leading
educators: M. L. Brittain, State
Superintendent of Schools, says “I
am glad to see the evidences of
your educational work, and I think
they are good.” M. L. Duggan,
who holds the identical position
with you, says “The results are un
deniably remarkable, and results
are what we must judge by.” A.
W. Rees, who was then president
of Sparks Collegiate Institute,says:
"I have seen something of the re
sults of the teaching of Prof. S.
Booth and consider them marvel
ous, indeed.”
The trouble with you, Mr. Land,
is that you, like the Chinese, think
that there is nothing new for you
to learn. My pupils did their
work that day in the third reader
and the number work in multipli
cation; the other class, who told us
that this was their second year in
school, did not get beyond the first
book in reading and did no num
ber work at all; yet you got up
there and tried to make the people
think that their work was the
better.
I will meet you anywhere and
on any terms, if you will only give
me what the general public will
say is a square deal.
Yours truly,
Sankey Booth.
XXX
(copy)
This is to certify that I was in
at tendance at the Institute at Ho
merville on Wednesday, the 20th
of February and saw the demon
s') ration given by the Pearson class
of beginners. As the sesults seem
to be better than I have ever been
able to get by the method I teach
and, as I am not satisfied with
present results, I, therefore, desire
to indorse it and am going to use
it in my school for at least the bal
ance of this term; provided, that
no objection is raised by Superin
tendent Rodgers or other authori
ties.
(Signed) Robert Bullard,
C. W. James,
“ (Miss)Charlotte Ricketson
“ “ Lula Ricketson.
No More Press Mileage.
Dougina Enterprise.
The railroads of the state, un
der orders of the government,have
cancelled all press transportation
issued to the newspaper men,
which has been given them all the
years in exchange for service ren
dered. We don’t mean it as any
criticism of the Director-General,
but if one sober thought was given
the matter, this action would have
not been t aken.
The country press of this state
is called on every week to give
from one to six columns of their
paper to the publicity of Red Cross
work, Conservation, Liberty Loans,
and various other institutions.
Most of the papers are always glad
to serve in this capacity. The
space donated is worth money to
us. The little press mileage we
use, is paid for in advertising for
the railroads. And because the
government is now in charge of
the railroads, we don’t think they
should deprive the country news
paper man of a few trips to Atlanta
and elsewhere during the year.
But we are with the government,
right or w'rong, and the brightest
lights in Atlanta will shine the
same during our absence.
It is poor to cut out
anything that contributes to the
physical well being and comfort of
one’s self. It’s the frills and fur
belows that the federal food admin
istration is now urging the Ameri
can public to discontinue.
SOUTH GEORGIA.
New* of Our Neighbors Told in
Pointed Paragraph*.
Evans county farmers will plant
one hundred acres to tobacco this
year, says the Claxton Enterprise.
The receipts at the Brunswick
postoffice during February were
the largest in its history. The
increase has been gradual for the
past several months.
James Y. Blitch has been ap
pointed treasurer of Lowndes coun
ty in the interim of the death of
Treasurer Willis Lang and the
election of his successor.
Editor L. V. Williams, of the
Way dross Journal Herald, who is a
candidate for State Railroad Com
missioner, thinks now he will’be
elected without opposition. He
would be the South Georgia man
on the board.
R, S. Pyles succeeds the late W.
11. Berrie as sheriff of Glynn coun
ty, while Geo. M. Owen continues
as deputy sheriff. C. D. Ogg suc
ceeds Pyles as treasurer of the
county, and will serve until July
w hen the office will be abolished.
Deputy Sheriffs Cannon and
M attox captured a lard-can whiskey
distillery near Millwood last week,
also Elbe Jones, the negro owner.
A bout twenty-live gallons of “buck”
was destroyed and Jones put in
jail to await his passport to the
chaingang.
The little city of Meigs, in Gra
dy-Mitehell-Thomas counties, and
former aspirant to the capital of a
new county to be named “Hansell,”
claims the palm in the sale of
Thrift stamps; $5,500 worth has
been sold through her postoffiee.
It is an example worthy of emula
tion.
The class in civics, composed
entirely of young ladies, of the
South Georgia Normal school,
marched in a body to the Federal
court room at Valdosta last Thurs
day and entered the court room in
the midst of a trial of a ease. The
appearance of the lovely South
Georgia girls was the signal that
stopped the judicial grist mill in
slanter. Judge Evans threw up
his hands and surrendered. The
girls announced that they had
come to get first hand informa
tion as to the proceedings in the
administration of justice. The in
teresting machinery of a court was
minutely explained, not in the
shape of a lecture however, by the
courtly judge and the other officers
of the court.
TOBACCO
USERS.
YOU WILL NEED
Farming tools of all kinds now that the planting sea
son is here. We have a complete line of
Plow'Tools, Plow Harness, LITTLE JOE HARROWS, Single
Stocks, (both bent hnd straight feet,) Shovclss, Scraper, Scoot
ers, Turn Plows, Etc. We have a specially good price on Plow
Lines. Come ind see them. SHELF HARDWARE of ail kinds.
FURNITURE.
An nifty and serviceable a line of Furniture as has ever been
brought to Pearson. ALL OF OUR STOCK IS NEW, not a
single piece of second-hand Furniture in our Stock.
PAiNTS.
Agents for the famous WOOLSEY PAINTS, which are guar
anteed. Let us figure with yon and show you that you can have
your house painted with a good guaranteed paint as cheaply as
you can with a sorry and unsatisfactory paint. SEMI-PASTE
is the season. Let us explain.
PARKER HARDWARE & FURNITURE CO.
sl.- 0 A YEAR
To Plant Cotton on St. Simons
Under the name and style of
“Georgia Sea Island Plantations,”
H. P. Brown of Salisbury, N. C.;
H. B. Baylor, I). 11. Kirkland, H.
M. Ilebener, Atlanta; J. W. Greer,
Moultrie, and W. R. Tucker of
Fitzgerald, have filed application
for a corporate charter in Glynn
superior Court. The purpose of
the incorporation is to engage ex
tensively in the growing of Sea
Island cotton on St. Simons Island.
They expect to be free from the
boll weevil pest.
This company has already pur
chased 10,000 acres of very desir
able land on St. Simon and work
on getting it ready for planting
will begin immediately. W. R.
Tucker, who is the moving spirit
in the new organization, has made
a study of sea island cotton, and
he is of the opinion that it will
grow prolifically on the island. At
one time St. Simon was one of the
great spots in the South for the
growing of the long staple cotton,
and it is believed that it can now
be grown with equally as much
success. A company was organized
last season and engaged in the
business on a small scale, coming
out very successfully, therefore it
is predicted that the new company,
with a large area, will be a great
success.
Will Build To!! Bridge.
With their experience in con
nection with the toll bridge across
St. Marys river at lvolor’s ferry,
which accommodates travelers on
the Central Dixie Highway, the
commissioners of Nassan county,
Florida, are now opposed to con
tracting with the Savannah Con
struction Company for the building
of the Eastern Dixie Highway
bridge across St. Marys river at
Wild’s landing.
They think it the part of wis
dom for the two counties, Camden
and Nassan, build the bridge jointly
from their own treasurer, and have
taken the matter up with the
Camden county Commissioners,
who are reported to be favorable.
The bridge arid the approaches
thereto will cost about $20,000, or
SIO,OOO for each county.
It is stated that the bridge at
| Kolar’s ferry was built jointly by
'Charlton and Nassan counties and
they are now operating it as a toll
j bridge. It has demonstrated to
the Nassan county people that a
toll bridge also at Wild’s ferry is
! the proper thing for the two coun
ties, and that it would pay for it-
I self in a remarkably short time.
If you want to get rid
of the habit, see
JOHN F. SMITH,
Pearson, - Georgia.