But the
superintendent of the Evanston schools has reported that out of one
hundred first-reader words which he gave to his grammar classes as
a spelling test, some were misspelled by all but sixteen per cent{.} of
the pupils. And yet these same pupils were studying busily away on
_categories, concatenation,_ and _amphibious_. The spelling-book makers
feel that they must put hard words into their spellers. Their books are
little more than lists of words, and any one can make lists of common, easy
words. A spelling-book filled with common easy words would not seem to be
worth the price paid for it. Pupils and teachers must get their money's
worth, even if they never learn to spell. Of course the teachers are
expected to furnish drills themselves on the common, easy words; but
unfortunately they take their cue from the spelling-book, each day merely
assigning to the class the next page. They haven't time to select, and no
one could consistently expect them to do otherwise than as they do do.
To meet this difficulty, the author of this book has prepared a version
of the story of Robinson Crusoe which contains a large proportion of
the common words which offer difficulty in spelling.
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