effort, the teaching
of civics in the public schools receives too little attention. It is
recommended that the principals and teachers make such a civic survey
as that made in Cincinnati as the method of discovering the topics
that should enter into a grammar-grade course. Not much civics
teaching should be attempted in the intermediate grades, but it should
be given in the higher grades.
8. A new course of study in geography is now being put into use. The
work as laid out in the old manual and as seen in the classrooms
has been forbiddingly formal. It has mainly consisted of the teacher
assigning to the pupils a certain number of paragraphs or pages in
the textbook as the next lesson, and then questioning them next day to
ascertain how much of this printed material they have remembered and
how well. The new course of study recognizes, on the contrary, that
the proper end of geographical teaching is rather to stimulate and
guide the children toward an inquiring interest as to how the world
is made, and the skies above, and the waters round about, and the
conditions of nature that limit and determine in a measure the
development of mankind. To attain this ideal will require in every
school 10 times as adequate provision of geographical reading and
geographical material as is now found in the best equipped school.
9. Drawing and applied art have been taught in Cleveland since
1849. The object of the teaching is to develop an understanding and
appreciation of the principles of graphic art and ability to use these
principles in practical applications. Where this work is done best, it
shows, in both the elementary and high schools, balanced understanding
and complete modernness. What is needed is extension of this best
type of work to all parts of the city through specially trained
departmental teachers.
10. Where teaching of household arts is at its best in Cleveland,
it is of a superior character and should be extended along lines
now being followed. Manual training for boys should be extended and
broadened with a view to giving the pupils real contact with more
types of industry than those represented by the present woodwork.
11. Elementary science finds no place in the course of study of
Cleveland. The future citizens of Cleveland will need an understanding
of electricity, heat, expansion and contraction of gases and solids,
the mechanics of machines, distillations, common chemical reactions,
and the multitude
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