With the main lines of thought in this report I find myself in
agreement. With many of its details, however, I am not in accord.
I regret to have to express my dissent from its conclusions in the
following particulars:--
1. The report makes too little of the uses of grammar as supplying
canons of criticism which enable the pupil to correct his own English,
and as furnishing a key (grammatical analysis) that gives him the power
to see the meaning of obscure or involved sentences.
2. For the study of literature, complete works are to be preferred to
the selections found in school readers.
3. That species of language exercise known as paraphrasing I regard as
harmful.
4. The study of number should not be omitted from the first year in
school. Practice in the primary operations of arithmetic should not
be omitted from the seventh and eighth years. The quadratic equation
should be reserved for the high school.
5. The foreign language introduced into the elementary school course
should be a modern language--French or German. Latin should be reserved
for those who have time and opportunity to master its literature.
6. In the general programme of studies, the school day is cut up into
too many short periods. The tendency of such a programme as that in the
text would be to destroy repose of mind and render reflection almost an
impossibility.
7. I desire to express my agreement with the opinions stated in
Sections 2, 3, 6, and 9 of Mr. Gilbert’s dissenting opinion; and, in
the main, with what Mr. Jones says on the correlation of studies.
Dissent from Dr. Draper’s Report.