The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-05-06
For The Cecil Wing. |
THE PHONETIC SYSTEM,

Mr. EDITOR In a recent number of The
Wing we noticed an article advocating with
great spirit and talent the Phonetic System of
Education.
Entertaining as we do different IDEAS upon
the subject from the writer Of that article we
have vcntured upon paper our reasons for
Directing to the whole system which if it
should ever prevail, (of which we have but
slight fears would be SO severe blow not
only to our own country but to all countries
where the English language is used.
The first and perhaps the principle objec-
ton to the system arises from tlis-thc En-
glish Language is not an original one but is
one which has been compounded of the vari-
ous European Languages, together with the
ancient but now extinct Sanscrit of lIindoo.
stan. Being thus complex We find it to be a
language more rich in expression than any
other at present in cXistancc.-lt may not be
so expressive of some of the passions us the
Gcrman-lut yet when taken in its collective
force it is more expressive by far. The true
shade Of meaning to be attached to many
words in the English can be obtained only by
tracing them back to their source, which is
generally some one of the aforementioned
languages tracing can only be done by
the pecullarties Of photography in the several
anguages-dcstroy these pcculiarties and
YOU at once destroy the guide boar Is to the
words true mcaning-or rather to its peculiar
shade Of meaning-wliich must soon be
lost.
The phonetic system is calculated from its
change in the photography of the language to
do all this, which we deem to be of itsclfa
| sufficient objection to the use Of the system.
Our second objection to the system is as
| follows: From the peculiar formation of the
English language many words are pronounce
ed alike but spelled differently; for instance
tcar-tlcr-or pcar-parc-pair, who cannot
see that the Phonetic system causing all Of
these words to be spelled alike at once de-
| stroys all that had distinguished them 1t
| will not do to argue that in speech we labor
under the same difficulty from the Samcncss
of the sound-tor the ear seems to be so
| formed as not to convey to the mind distinct
| idea by one single articulation-it is taken in
| connection with others, neither does the
sound carry with it any detcrmimte meaning
at all timcs-but the eye is so formed and
| connected with the brain as to decide where
no difference is pcrceptble to the car-that
| the same thing is represented. The difficult
| ty here presented, is one which Of itselfw would
| be enough to crush the system at once.
We will omit the many other objections to
this system, although it requires 10 Endoric
skill to call them up in abundance, but we
now turn to notice some of the advantages
| claimed for the system. In the first place it
! is affirmed of it that it has character for
every sound Of the English language. All this
we freely admit but we readily affirm that
the old or Roman system contains the same,
and the only reason why SO few understand
that fact is that few teachers thought it worth
| their trouble to teach the different marks
used to represent different sounds or powcis
Of letters. We have these marks in all our
elementary works, and are therefore as rich
in this way as are the Phonetcs.
| 1t is said that the pupil will make more
rapid improvement by this method than by
| the Romans; this we declare has ncrer get been
porei. 1t is useless to cite the instance Of a
class selected for this very purposc-circum-
stances drive them on; neither is it proper to
take the case OF a person teaching his own
| children, he will have a biased mind and I'M
consciously will favor the one or the other
| system. Although one class i'll Boston pro-
crossed very rapidly, yet we hear nothing
more OF its mountaineering.
The best method that experience has yet
| taught me for learning children to read, is
| this; get them to remember some few words
from their form, as they easily will, then
learn them to spell them, and thus learn them
their letters and their powers.
In short, we can see no advantages to be
gained by the Phonetic over the Roman, and
when we consider that after the Phonetic
system is learned, the pupil has yet to learn
| the Roman-wc think that any candid and
unbiased mind will consider Phonetics as the
sole property Of fanatics and leave it so.
| Even if the pupil could be forced on a little
by the Phonetic system, We must yet remcm-
Der that hot-bcd education like Il hot-bcd
flower, is liable to be nipped by frost or dried
by a sun. 1t would be well that we would
remember the saying Of a wise Int ancient
Philosopher, that there is no royal road to
learning, and although we are far from being
aversc to Improvement, yet We would say
make no changes until you have closely ex-
amined and know that the change is for good.
Let us cndeavor to avoid the habit of running
after everything new, merely because it is
new, but let us examine its merits.
&. III. Y.
The HEIGHT OF CGLT.-Mr. Jas. X. Mar
tin, of Kingston, Kentucky, gives out the
following upon this point, which is certainly
novel, and perhaps it may be true: