Educators Said To Be Haying More Trouble Than Ever With Undeveloped Readers
Atlantic City. N.J. aj.R) I College: Mary C. Austin, of the I iments have proved that thislpoor readers are staying in i phasig on family environment I experience, what a handican in-1 ter m-enared: n thev rnnsfantlv I ; ui
aVlucators claim that today's
methods of teaching are the best
ever devised, but they admit
t;St schools are having more
trofclewith poor readers than
evrr before.
The United Press ashed five
fifsthe nation's top reading ex
perts to explain this paradox,
which has become a major
source of concern to parents.
The experts are. attending life
annual convention of the Amer
ican Association of School Ad
ministrators. Symposium Participants
Participating in the sympo
sium wer Drs. William S. Gray,
profess?) of education. Univer
sity of Chicago; Nila Banton
Srjth, professor of education,
gf w Yorg University; Arthur
IT Gats, professor of education,
Columbia University Teachers
College: Mary C. Austin, of the
Harvard University school of
eaucation; Russell G. Stauffer,
director of reading study center,
University of Delaware.
All of the authorities agreed
on these points:
Poor reading has become
one of our most acute educa
tional problems. Millions of chil
dren estimates of the number
range from 10 to 25 per cent of
total school enrollment are
now classed as "retarded read
ers." There are many students
now in high school who can't
read at the fifth grade level.
Teaching methods cannot
be blamed for this situation. To
day's teachers use a combina
tion of the best reading instruc
tion techniques developed in the
past, including phonics and a
variety of visual word-identification
systems. Repeated exper
approach produces far superior
results to phonics alone or any
other "old method" , when both
are used on children of com
parable intelligence.
No More Flunking
Compulsory education laws
and liberal promotion policies
are mainly responsible for the
fact that so many poor readers
are turning up in the higher
grades of public schools. A gen
eration ago, children who didn't
learn to read in the first grade
were unceremoniously "flunk
ed" and required to repeat the
grade. After a couple of fail
ures, many children of low read
ing ability simply quit school.
Now the United States is com
mitted to a policy that every
child bright, average or well
below average in learning abil
ity must get an education. The
school instead, of dropping out.
They are being promoted de
spite their' reading deficiences
because psychologists and edu
cators agree that on balance it
is better for a child to stay as
long as possible, even if he re
quires a good deal of "remedial"
instruction to keep up.
The tensions of modern life,
which have sharply increased
the number of adult neurotics,
also are affecting children.
Homes broken by divorce, work
ing mothers, pressure from par
ents to "succeed," particularly
in reading these and many
other circumstances of the mod
ern home environment tend to
create emotional difficulties in
children which inhibit their abil
ity to learn.
Environment Important
Dr. Gates laid particular -em
phasis on family environment
as a cause of reading difficulty.
"Millions of modern children
are suffering from linguistic
starvation," he said.
"When they 'get home from
school, they find mother still at
work, so they play in the streets.
When their parents do come
home everybody watches tele
vision. There are no books- in !
the house nobody thinks of i
reading as a leisure-time activ
ity. "If Johnny's parents never
read why should Johnny care
about learning to read?"
True enough, said Drs. Gray
and Smith, but these same non
reading parents often are the
most insistent in their demands
that Johnny "do well in read
ing" at school.
"They know, from their own
experience, what a handicap in
adequate reading ability can be
in modern life," said Gray. They
are eager for Johnny to be bet-
I ter prepared, so they constantly I ing block," born of fear of fall-
mane an usuf uui, ui ms reaa- ure, in jonnny. The parental
ing progress." pressure, said Gray, is "a noble
This tends to set up a "lean-( impulse wrongly directed."
Many Schools Adopt
New Reading Method
Aa Aid To Problem
- Atlantic City, N.J. (U.R)
Evry ahild learns to read in his
own way tnd at his own pace.
Some become fluent readers
in th first grade. Others need
0Ony yers of painstaking in
struction to master the essential
Qarl (0 modern civilization.
Ho rapidly child learns to
rnofl m ot necessarily an index
tthis general intelligence. Emo
tional maturity,, ability to per
ceive iine distinctions in sounds
an APr end other develop
mental Rectors profoundly affect
refaiM ability.
f$ are the basic concepts
o ja Mv approach to reading
whici faaing adopted by many
sta txrsrU believe it will
shayjla veduce the "poor read
er" Bofilni ehich has become
the number one headache of
American education at all levels.
Djscu fey Aeeeeeca
Thenaw approach, which has
been a majr topic of discussion
among the 19,00 school superin
tendents here for the 83rd an
rfeal convention of the American
association of School Administra
tors, calls for sweeping changes
in some traditional ideas.
It repudiates, for example, the
yyie-honored notion that reading
is a "beginner" subject which
should be taughl only in the ele
mentary grades. Virtually all
authorities now believe that
reading courses should continue
to be a major part of the cur
rirOlum right through high
screol.
Eftiphasis Is also being put on.
Olhe fact that every teacher
snares the responsibility of
teaching a o child to read, and
readinggimprovements should be
aQgoat of every school course,
whether in literature, science or
even mathematics.
Some ifte 'Ungraded' System
Another long established edu
cational custom which is being
re-exa-lnfhed, and in many areas
afcindoned, is the rigid division
of primary .schools in.to first,
second and third grades. In an
effort to let each child progress
O i!readina t his own best pace,
&
without hemming him in with
arbitrary "norms" for a year's
achievement, some schools are
turning to an "ungraded pri
mary" system.
Under this plan, grade desig
nations for the first three grades
are dropped, and a child is al
lowed to move at his own speed
through a series of "reading
levels" until he reaches the level
set for completion of the third
grade.
If it takes him four years or
more to do this, he is spared the
psychological blow and the un
necessary repetition of subject
matter he has mastered which
results from the old system of
forcing him to repeat a particu
lar grade.
Medford
Tribune
2nd Section MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1957
8 Pages
Lindbergh Now Little Recognized
30 Years After Famed Solo Flight
New York Girl Wins
Pie Baking Contest
Chicago (U.R) A blonde,
17-year-old girl from Henrietta.
N.. Y., has an appropriate pres
ent for President Eisenhower on
George Washington's birthday
the best cherry pie in the nation.
Mary Ann Bartholomay was
named the best cherry pie baker
in the 48 states. Alaska, Hawaii
and Canada Thursday at the
"silver jubilee" national cherry
pie baking contest here.
Her victory over 51 girls in
the national championship won
her a $500 scholarship, a trip to
New York and the honor of pre
senting her prize creation to
President Eisenhower in Washington.
State Office Building
At Eugene Considered
Salem U.R) Sen. Al Cor
bet, Portland Democrat, said
yesterday that his subcommittee
of the Joint Ways and Means
committee is studying a propos
al to build a state office build
ing at Eugene with borrowed
funds.
New York (U.R) A tall, nice-
looking man in his 50s, wearing
old-fashioned h l g h t o p shoes.
strolled down Fifth ave. one day
not long ago. No one recognized
him or paid him the slightes
heed.
Thirty years ago this city
went into hysteria at the sight of
the same man. They massed the
streets five million strong,
shouted themselves weak and
gave him the'greatest hero's ac
claim in ticker-tape history.
The man was Charles A. Lind
bergh. His anonymity was the
success of an almost fanatic ef
fort to escape the public gaze.
This is a year of anniversaries
for Lingbergh. It was in 1927
that he flew alone to Paris and
the adulation of the world. And
it was 25 years ago this March 1
that his first-born was kidnaped
and killed.
Wall Around Family
He put a wall around himself
and his family after that. The
wall is still there and those of
his friends whose careless talk
puts a chink in it find Lindbergh
chill and angry. But enough can
be pieced 4ogether to get a pic
ture of Lindbergh today.
The movie, "Spirit Of St.
Louis" based on his book, is soon
to be released. He looked in on
its making occasionally, mainly
to make sure it was absolutely
authentic, and had a chance to
rehash old times with H. A.
(Bud) Gurney, a United Airlines
pilot.
Stunting Friends
It is interesting to talk with
Gurney. He knew Lindbergh
when they were both fresh kids,
barnstorming and stunting over
cow-pasture airports in the Mid
west. He still calls him "Slim"
without a trace of affectation
and is surprised that people find
Lindbergh taciturn.
"Gosh, we went out one day
S. Riverside & S. Central
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last year at the picture loca
tion," Gurney recalls, "and there
were sitting two of those old
standard biplanes, with the
struts and wire and all. Slim
looked at me and said, 'Let's go.
I said, Okay, you get in
front and I'll get in back.' I was
thinking maybe I better be on
the dual controls after all, it's
something to fly a plane like
that after all these years
"WelJ, he read my mind, just
like he always did. He said, 'Oh
no. You take this one and I'll
take that one.' Well, we took off
and flew along together for
about five minutes. Neither of
us said anything. We didn't have
to
That is one glimpse of Lind
bergh. The brass at Boeing Air
craft got another-of a brilliant
engineer and businessman test
ing their new 707 jet passenger
plane for Pan American. He is
one of the few who has flown it.
Busy at Pentagon
Lindbergh is often seen at the
Pentagon. His work is known to
deal with advanced types of mil
itary aircraft and guided mis
siles. President Eisenhower pro
moted him to the rank of brig
adier general in 1954.
Not many people know that
Lindbergh shot down at least
one, perhaps three, Japanese
nianes in World War II as a
civilian technician advising Pa
cific pilots on getting the most
from their planes. He went into
that role after resigning. his colo
nel's commission. His resigna
tion followed his criticism of
President Roosevelt's foreign
policy as leading toward war.
Lindbergh lives now in a big
English-style stone house in Dar-
ien. Conn., on Long island
Sound. It is on a private road
where residents pay for their
own policemen. The Lindberghs
have a green Cadillac ana a
Ford station wagon. Their serv
ants do the shopping and they
are seldom seen in the small
town.
He and his wife, Anne, had
five children in addition . to
Charles Jr. They are Jon, mar
ried and a Navy officer in San
Dieeo! Land, a student at Stan
ford- and three younger cnu-
dren who attend i the Darien
public schools, Anne, 18, Scott,
Searchers Find Body
Of Navy Jel Pilot
Hertford, N. C (U.R) Search
ers Thursday night found the
body of a Navy jet pilot who
bailed out of his plane shortly
before it crashed into a garage
near a school where 500 children
were in classes. His parachute
failed to open.
The Navy identified the pilot
as Ens. William W. Bell of Long
ton, Kan. One of the two school
bus mechanics working in the
garage, J. Van Roach, 57, died
Thursday night of bums he re
ceived when the F3H Demon jet
crashed into the building.
Searchers found Bell's body
on a farm about four miles
southeast of here.
The second garage mechanic,
Preston Morgan, 28, was in criti
cal condition but was expected
to live.
Seaton Treated for
Sciatic Condition
Honolulu (U.R) Secretary
of the Interior Fred Seaton un
derwent treatment in Tripler
Army Hospital yesterday for a
sciatic condition that forced him
to cancel his several official ap
pointments. Doctors said Seaton will be
hospitalized "at least two or
three days." They said his condi
tion is not serious.
POISON OAK?
fry a Bottle of ZEMACOL
You must be satisfied or rout rwsn
cheerfully refunded. Get a bottle re
dly at WESTERN THRIFT.
14 and Reeve (a girl) 11.
Little Changs j
Lindbergh still tips the scales
at about 175, not more than two !
or three pounds off his weight
30' years ago. He is balding
slightly, his face is considerably j
fuller.
One of his phobias is against
having his picture taken. He has I
never smoked nor drunk. '
The admiration of his close
friends borders on worship. One
compared him with Abraham :
Lincoln and remarked that, had
he never made his historic 1
flight, he would still have be
come nationally famous.
So far as can be told, Lind
bergh had no hobby for the pure
fun of it. He does like to walk
in the woods, usually by himself.
To the outside world he is truly
"f1" "Lone Eagle."
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