Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1845-05-08
All this does not occupy half the time in
The class that il takes TO read an account of

i 10 school where recitation in Latin wa,
gong ON, witnessed scene Of this kind =
the room, unlike the rooms where the chill.
aren Of the common people are taught. wa.
large. Seventy or eighty boys sat on deskless
oackiess benches, arranged on three sides oil
square or parallelogram. A boy is now
called upon 10 recite,-to parse Latin noun
Tor instance. But he does not respond guile
SO quickly as the report of a gun follows the
flash. The teacher cries out, ~Come away. ;,
The boy errs, giving perhaps wrong gender,
or saying that it is derived from Greek verb.
when, in fact, it is derived from Greek noun
OF the same family Twenty boys leap for
ward into the area,--as though the house
were on fire, or mine or an ambush had
been sprung upon .hem,-and shout out the
true answer III voice that could be heard
forty rods And so the recitation proceeds
for an hour
10 an unaccustomed spectator, on entering
one OF these rooms, all seems uproar, turbu-
fence and the contention of angry voices
Inc teacher traversing the space before his
class, IN state OF high excitement, the pupils
sPrihging from their seats, darling to the mid
ole OF The floor, and sometimes, with extended
arms, forming circle around him, two, three,
or iour deep,-every finger quivering from the
intensity OF their emotions,-until some more
sagaclous mind, outstripping its rivals, solves
The diffculty,-when all are in their seats again.
as though by magic, and ready for another
encounter of wits
have seen school kept for two hours
In succession, in this state of intense mental
activity, with nothing more than an alteration
oil subjects during the time, or perhaps the
relaxation of singing. At the end of the reci
tat'on, both teacher and pupils would glow
with heat, and be covered with Precipitation,
as though they had been contending in the
race or the ring. 1t would be utterly impos
sible for the children to bear such trey ex-
cltement, If the physical exercise were NOT as
violent as the mental is intense. But chill
dren who actually leap into the air from the
energy OF their impulses, and repeat this as Of
ten as once i'll two minutes, on an average,
Will NOT suffer from suppressed activity of the
muscular system.
The mental labor performed in a given pe-
riod IN these schools, by children under the
age OF twelve or fourteen years. is certainly
many times greater thar have ever seen in
any schools of our own, composed of children
as young. With us, the lower classes do not
ordinarily work more than half the time while
they are IN the school ROOM Even many
members of the reciting classes are drowsy.
and lis'less, and evidently following some
train of thought-if they are thinking at ALL
whose scene lies beyond the walls of the
schoolhouse, rather than applying their minds
TO the subject-matter of the lesson, or listening
10 those who are recitingj or feignng to recite
1t. But in the mode above described, there is
no sleepIness, no droning, no nattention.
The moment an eye wanders, or counte-
nance becomes lis,less, it is reused by spe-
cial appeal; and the contagion Of the excite
ment is so great as to operate upon every mind
and frame that is not an absolute non-conduc-
tor to life.
One sees at glance, how familiar the teach
or who teaches in this way: must be with the
whole subject, In order to command the atten-
ton OF class at all.
was told by the Queens Inspector of the
schools in Scotland that the first test of teach
er's qualification is, his power to excite and
TO sustain the attention of his class. If a
teacher cannot do this, he is pronounced,
Without further inquiry; incompetent 10 teach.
An interesting anecdote is told by a correspon
dent OF the N. Y. True Sun. in connexion with
the "Asolan attachment of MIR. Coleman, who
recently died at Saratoga! i'm the twentvenb,b