The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-01-11
e ) ufoti IL.
From the Massachusetts, Teacher.
What is Done, Have we'll Done.

Work once well done, Is twice done"
Much of our instruction lacks that
vigor of discipline. and the nerve, and
persiStfncy, that will entitle US to fu-
ture remembrance.
Would you, o teacher, be long
remembered Then do this days
work well. Are you employed with
the youngest class of pupils? Then
50 much the more important your
work; for on the solidity of the founda
ton depends tho permancncy Of the
whole. Are you dagucrrcotyping the
numcration table or the columns Of adj.
dition, on the mind of pupil or a
class Do it well, oh, we besecch
you do i. well. Let no man have
the honor of doing that work after you.
Be daun,ed by no discouragemenss.
If the sun goes down while you are
clambcring over the first units figure,
then let the night rest only on a PAR
enthesis in your labor. Let the NOR
row find you engage in bic same toll
somo ascent, dragging up your pupil
after you. And if many suns rise and
set before the end is attained, still re.
sol se that it shall be done.
! And 50 through all the departments
Of instruction. Resolve that this thing
shall be learned, that principle shall
be understood, that intricate places
shall bo cleared up; and let it be
known that from your decisions there
is no appeal and that any attempt to
overlcap oi cvade your will, is just a,
futile as hagsling with tho docrecs Of
fate.
DO not understand us 10 refer by
this to any peste,ing PARTICULARLY,
which some teachers mistake fol-
thoroughncss. They will tell you of a
dozen ways to prove simple subtrac
ton, and make their pupils perform 6
perfect incubation for week over q
pair of Arabic fgures to hatch ou
some new relation. All this may be
good for an Encyclopedia, but it is no
in place in the schoolroom. We refer
merely to practical and thorough
knowledge of any given rule or pro
cess and this the pupil should have
just SO far as ho extends his explora
tons. Is it page of the classics
let not your pupil turn over another
leaf, till he can construe it as rapidly
as his mother tongue. Literal anC
rapid translation ia the best rule o
prosody. Is it bank discount let hin
not dismiss that theme till he can writt
a note and obtain an endorscr, anC
manage his days of grace" and tel
how he does it too, as knowingly a;
one who walks up tho steps of a bank
to obtain a loan.
If this has not bocn the way in which
you have shaded your pictures here
tefcre, then, fellow teachers, when yor
next 60 to your schoolroom, VIC ash
you to put your determination to have
it 50, in the imperative mood. With
out one word of fretfulncss, Or any Of
fensiye show of authority; with nothing
on your part but clear ideas and an
infcxible will, your pupils will soor
know what vigorous discipline means.
And oh . never forget that this dis
cipline we speak OF, to be serviccablc,
must be expended upon the reason,
and not upon the memory. The fault
of past instruction has been, not, per-
haps, that it cultivated the memory
too much, but the thinking powers too
little. Would you, therefore, benefit
your pupils ? teach them how to think,
how to analyze and reflect. Make
every process reasoning, reflective
process, For this purpose you will
rely mostly on the mathematical al
branches for as Lord Bacon says,
If mans wits be wandering, let
him study the mathematics )" and for
the mass Of pupils, arithmetic will take
the precedence every other branch.
In this study, then, as indeed in
every other, have done forever with
that careless, rapid way, that proves
nothing, knows nothing, only that''the
rule says So" Never take the pupils
assertion that he understands this part
or that. Nothing is moro deceptive.
Human nature does not love the labor
of patient thought. Hence the shifts
and subterfuges that the pupil will re-
sort to, TO avoid the trial, are endless.
Stand up in your firm determine
ton, and see that tho pupil perceives
the trherefore at every step, and gives
ii unasked. Let every process be
reasoned out let every dark passage
be threaded through and through, till
footsteps fall with unfsaring confidence
in the blindest part. This may be
hard for the teacher. and hard for the
taught Lut there is no excellence
without great labor. II the pupil re,
coils, hold him firmly to the work, II
the parent interferes, tell him, as
Ceres told the father Of Trirtolcr''' !