第10章 BOYS'AND GIRLS'READING(4)

Several girls of the high school have sought assistance in their various studies,especially in Greek and Roman history,and have read,in connection with the histories recommended,novels and some interesting travels,and have spent much time over engravings and photographs illustrative of their reading.Two of these girls,having asked me for a novel,meaning something like their former reading,I made tests by giving them exactly what they asked for.Very soon both books were returned,with the remark,'I couldn't read it.'In a little talk that ensued,and in which I drew from them a criticism of their reading,it dawned upon them that they had developed,or grown,as they said.Icould go on giving instances of this gradual development in individual cases,and of its influence upon others to whom these readers recommended what they had read,the increased call for the better books of fiction,biography,history,travel,miscellany,and science.In four years'work books of sensational incident,so long popular,have lost much of their charm.They have been crowded out by better books and personal interests in the young people themselves."Mr.Foster of the Public Library,Providence,R.I.,has sent an account in detail of his work among pupils and teachers,which may be thus condensed:Soon after the opening of the library,in 1878,he held a conference with the grammar-school masters of the city,and through them met the other teachers.He printed for the use of pupils a list of suggestions,some of the most important of which were summed up in the following words:"Begin by basing your reading on your school text-books;""Learn the proper use of reference-books;""Use imaginative literature,but not immoderately;""Do not try to cover too much ground;""Do not hesitate to ask for assistance and suggestions at the library;""See that you make your reading a definite gain to you in some direction."Mr.Foster soon gained influence among the teachers by personally addressing them,and began to publish annotated lists of books for young readers.A reading hour was established in the public schools,and pupils learned to give in their own language the substance of books which they had read.Mr.Foster says:"Our plans were by no means limited to the public schools,but included Brown University,the Rhode Island State Normal School,the Commercial College,the private schools for girls,and the two private boys'schools preparatory for college,one of which has ten teachers and some two hundred and fifty pupils.One morning I met the boys of this school in their chapel,and gave them a twenty minutes'talk on reading,particularly on the question how to direct one's current reading,as of newspapers,into some channel of permanent interest and value.Since my address before the teachers of the State (published in the papers and proceedings of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction for 1880)we have had many calls for assistance from outside the city,from teachers in the high schools and grammar schools of other places.In 1878I began the preparation of a bulletin of new books,issued quarterly by the State Board of Education,and there have been several instances of a series of references in connection with school-work.In July,1880,I sent to the different teachers a series of suggestions about the reading of their pupils,covering such points as preserving a record of the books read,books not being read and returned at too frequent intervals,and the inspection of these matters by the teacher,or rather establishing communication between the teacher and pupil so that these things shall be talked over."Finding-lists have been checked for the schools,appeals have been made by Mr.