Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-10-26
From the Common School Assistant.

From this science very little is obtained
in our district schools, which is of any
practical use There is much compuIsive,
uncertain and laborious study of arithme-
! tic but it is often in vain, from the tnan-
ner in which it is taught. Those who
have received nothing more than a COM
mon school education, obtain their practi-
cal knowledge ofthe science Of numbers,
not from their instructions or study in
school, but from their own invention, and
the rewards Of experience.
There is in this country but small
quantity Of arithmetic IN use which came
from the school necessity has taught the
people what they ought to have learned
at school when young, and when they
were wasting so much time and money
to no purpose. After making such obser-
vations as justify these assertions, and re-
fleeing on the misapplication Of so much
time and effort it is natural to inquire why
! this is so.
Are the books ia use filled with intel
llglble rules and impracticabIe examples {?
DO the teachers omit the practical appli-
cation Of the principles they teach! or do
the scholars but half know what they have
the credit of having learned ? TO each
OF these inquiries we may reply, to great
extent, in the affirmative Many Of the
books now in Use, are blind and difficult
to the scholars, and present the art of cal
cuIating by numbers in an unnatural, dis,
couraging form.
The magnitude of the examples is so
great that the child forms no correct idea
OF the numbers which constitute them.-
The reasoning from them, therefore, the
child cannot comprehend. The examples
likewise, are abstract numbers. The
chiId's mind is not prepared for perceiving
abstract numbers and quantities with suf-
tclent clearness and distinctness, to be able
10 connect them with practical examples,
the only use any one can make of them
which is of any value. The pupils mind
IS perplexed and wearied with these large
unmeanlng examples, which he considers
altogether useless, and without any prac-
teal connexion whatever.
This is the first idea which is obtained
from the arithmetic anG it generally goes
along with the pupils until they reInquish
the unpleasant stud y. In most cases the
hgures are new to the child, and the guam.
r titles they represent, he can form no con.
ceeptlon of !; and darker, moe disagreed
BILE study, the pupil hopes he never VIII
have 10 undertake. Such is the commence
ment of the study of arithmetic. What
the chllddislikes at first, it seldom become
fond OF afterwards
The first step being but imperfectly un
derstood, the pupil is not fitted to take the
! ! second, and consequently. from being IN
l able to help himself, requires the aid ofthe
teacher. The teachers explanations dc
not assist him, he is not prepared for then
on this point-he does not understand tn
> first step. The instructor supposes tn
pupil stupid, and the pupil thinks that h
> has attempted what is too difficult for hin
to comprehend. The third step is tried
> but with less success, for in the science o
: numbers the after steps always require
1 knowledge Of those which have gone be
e fore. In this manner the scholar IS force
a a short distance into the arithmetic, with
; out knowing where he is, or what he
Il doing. The whole is amysiery, for i
Is reality nothing has been learned. 49, y. -
y Truereligion and virtue give cheefft
if and happy turR oathe mind admit Of a
T. frue sfleaS,,rts ma owes, tlso tv,,,.ef n 81