Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-01-26
SCHOOL TEACHERS.


The school teachers of the District will bear
in mind. that the Board of Commissioners of
Free Schools meet, at this place on Monday
next, and those desiring to have schools loca-
tcdin the District, should apply at the first
meeting Of the Board. The Free School fund
will be increased by nearly one half for the
present year and we sincerely hope to hear
and see Il goodly report from its influence up
OH those who may avail themselves of its ad-
vantages. Every neighLorhood should endca
vor to have a school located in its vicinity,
and carried into successful operation We
have no ntimaton from the board as to how
the increased fund will be disposed of, whether
they will increase the number OF poor scholars
heretofore allowed, or whether the same num-
Der will be continued and the pay of the teach
crs increased We are an advocate for pay
ing literally hat class of men, whC have the
supervision of our chdrens education, and
who 'truin them up i'll the way they should go
for no avocaton is more honorable or more la
borous, and no laborcr is more worthy of his
hire. But as the fund is only increased tempo
rarily, perhaps the greatest good would be
effected by increasing the number of public
scholms--by giving greater number of poor
children an opportunity of obtaining the rudi-
ments of IN education, and having tasted, they
may be induced to drink still deeper ofthc
perennial spring
-And while on thi subject We take occasion
to say to the teachers of the country, what we
have ludg thought, viz: that there ought to be
radical change in the general system o! teach
ing. Teachers shonld kecg this fact constantly
before them, that education consists in the ac-
QUESTION of ideas. Now it has been too much
the custom in this country to keep child learn
ing the mere cmpty-soundmg words found in
Wcbstcr's Spelling Book, until he can repeat by
more idea of the meaning or definition of the
words over which he has been poring for months
than the child who can barely read his a c.
This, then, is not attaining the end for which
ahildrcn are sent to school. And yet, it is too
often true that parents are ascd,-aye, de-
lig led, if in the course ofsix months, the teach
er learns the 'dearlittle boy to spell 'vagrant
by heart, and 'crucifx on the book But that
devoted parent forgets that his Child has no dis
tinct idea of the meaning of fthosc words, and so
in advance of his a abs He might in less
time learn to say ceteris pa"i6us and many
other Latin words and understand Just rs little
of their meaning as he would of that many
English words.
We venture the ASSERTION that boy at school
with proper books in his hands, and whole
some instruction from his teacher, would ac-
quirc really more knowledge of our language
in onc year, than he would in three years with
Webster or the elementary spelling book under
the general system.
To remedy this great defect, we respectfully
recommend the us" of Towns Spelling Book,
in which the pupil, as soon as he can spell, is
taught the meaning of the words of his Ian
guagc-thc definition or idea intended to be
conveyed by the use ofthe word, And this
the pupil may be learning proftably, while he
is aQuiring knowledge of the letters, sounds
and pronunciation For the mere ability to
pronounce or spell word without n knowl
edge ofits meaning, is rs worthless to the stu
dent, as it would be to man totally ignorant
ofthe Greek ladguNgc TO mcmorizc long cat
aloguc of Greek words, and thereby expect to
speak the language correctly.
Ifany ofour teachers have not examined the
work above alluded to, we hope they will
avail themselves ofthc earliest opportunity of
doing so, that they may the better judge of
the applicability of our rcmnrks:-tlic supcri
ority of the book, end the necessity ofits adop.
ton.
OF THESPECIAL COMMITTEE.
We have commenced this week to pub
Iish the Report of the Special Committee,
appointed by the Legislature to examine
md report upon the condition Of the Bank
IF the State in Charleston, to which we
invite the special attention of oursrcaders
AS the Bank question is likely to pro-
luce some interest during the present