American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-01-24
Reported for The American Republican,
MARYLAND INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

A regular meeting of this body was held at
the rooms of Rev. Mr.. Dashel, Light street,
on Saturday afternoon, Jan nth.
The topic presented for consideration was,
"Composition;' the proper age for commence
ing to compose; and what text books, if any,
are well calculated to aid the teacher in this
important department Of instruction. pa
per was read by Rev. J. F. Hey, on the sub
iect, which presented many excellent ideas,
and showed that he had taken up this branch
Of professional duty with his usual ardor and
interest. Mr.. II, dwelt upon the great lack OF
good writer's, in comparison with ready speak
ers, and maintained that there exists no valid
reason why all or nearly all should not be good
composers as well as fluent speakers He then
assumed the position that, to the defective
modes of teaching this important art, was to
be attributed the present low standard Of at
tainment and cultivation, in schools and in So
Ciety and proceeded TO point out with great
particularly, the defects which exist in theory
and in practice.
Mr.. Hey advocated the early assumption of
The pen by the pupil; daily pracuce; the read
ing aloud Of compositions in school, and the
practice Of corrections by the scholars; and
urged the necessity Of great caution on the
part of teachers, lest too severe criticism or too
rigid adherence to rhetorical rules, might break
the spirit or check the natural outpouring OF
an original and active mind. Mr.. II. thought
that but little aid could be derived from any
text books now in existence.
Mr.. S. F. Streeter followed Mr.. Hey, in a
strain Of remark, intended, as he stated, to he
thoroughly practical; believing, as he did, that
the purposes Of their organization would be
better answered by giving the results of sys-
TENS in action, than by proposing theories
He then stated, at length, the course pursued
by himself in regard TO composition; making
written exercises in spelling the first step, by
inducing the pupils TO construct sentences, and
TO aim at clearness in their ideas and accuracy
III the use of words; and by continuing these
exercises, until the mind became gradually
strengthened, the resources of thought increas-
ed, and the product of the pen showed cor
responding elevation and Improvement. Mr..
s. also detailed his mode of correcting errors
in orthography, grammar, Sc, and showed
how the productions of his pupils were subject
ed, from time to time, TO close grammatical
ANALYSIS.
Mr.. james Harshaw gave a brief exposition
of the course pursued by him in teaching com
position. He advocated the assigning of sub
jects; that all might have the same, and that
the results of the labor of the class might be
the more readily compared, He also recon-
mended passing each pupils composition to
another, to be examined and criticised, and the
giving of the same subject for second exer-
else, that pupils might take up the pen once
more, with additional thoughts and with the
new light elected by the remarks of their com.
panions and teachers
Mr.. r. Connolly conceded in some particu.
lars with those who had spoken before him
but preferred to have the first efforts of the
pupil based upon grammatical principle. He
proposed to set before the pupils, as models
those forms or phrases into which sentences
may be divided, and to exercise them in imi.
Eating these by new combinations. In this
way he believed they would be led to think, to
express themselves accurately, and to acquire
a correct idea of the principles of construction
Of the English language Mr., c. spoke favor
ably of parts of Hazen's grammar, as bearing
upon this point.
After some remarks by the President, Mr..
o. W. Treadwell, it was decided to lay aside
the subject of Composition for the present, and
Mr.. Connolly was appointed to read a paper
at the next meeting, on the first Saturday in
February, upon the best mode of teaching
arithmetic, the best text books, Sc. Rev. Mr.
Dashell, was also requested to be prepared for
discussing the subject of instruction in Greek
with remarks on text books, to be taken up
when the discussion on arithmetic should be
closed.