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About Pearson tribune. (Pearson, Ga.) 191?-1955 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1918)
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.
