Word: thompsons
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...debate over how Johnny should learn to read may have passed from the headlines, but to Columnist Dorothy Thompson there is another question that is equally important: Are the schools giving Johnny a reading diet of literature-or of pap? Last week, after comparing the old lesson books to the slick basal readers of today with their controlled vocabularies, word-frequency counts, and bland little tales about Dick and Jane, Columnist Thompson had her answer: "It is possible," says she in the current Ladies' Home
Writers v. Tailors. In the old days, says Dorothy Thompson, children were exposed to samples of great literature almost as soon as they could read. But by the very nature of the modern reader, top writers are often automatically ruled out. "Fine literature, even such as is consciously written for children, cannot be created out of a meager vocabulary, much of it proper names (Mary, Jack) or names of common objects (chair, train, dish), especially if the author has to produce lessons in which each new word must be repeated ten times, and words learned in a previous lesson, five...
Once, says Columnist Thompson, a fifth-grader would get a taste of everyone from
Concludes Critic Thompson: "No one can accuse America of neglecting the physical needs of children. They are washed and bathed, fed balanced diets. But they are not offered the bread that nourishes strong characters or shining minds. The fare produces mental and spiritual rickets...
...addition, quarterback Ralph Thompson, only 5-7 but nevertheless a good ball handler, and Paul Abrahamian, a freshman back at Harvard in 1953, fill out the very well-balanced group...