Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1855-06-21

School Papers. 4.

er, come now more directly 10 the subject
matter Of these papers. And first, What is
educations Is it the study Of particular class
of subjects, or Of all subjects! Is il the ability
TO repeat what is contained in books Is a
young man or young woman educated who
has attended this, that or the other seminary Of
distinguished reputation, or who has been un-
der the special instruction of this or that re-
nowned scholari We answer, no. And ask
again, what is education but the formation r
a perfect charaotera Would visit to the
classic land Of Greece, or walk amid the
splendid ruins Of the Acropolis, necessarily fill
the mind of the beholder with those emotions
of the sublime and beautiful, which inspired
the soul of the Athenian artist and poet +
Would he appreciate the spirit of high art
which glowed in the Parthenon, or breathed
in the Apollo Belvidcre, when he had nothing
within him to respond TO this high born in
spiration! We think not. To appreciate, he
must look beyond these outward forms to the
ideas which they express. He must take a
deep insight into the spiritual, and suffer his
fancy to revel amid those ethereal and sub
limated conceptions of beauty which glittered
and sparkled in the bosom Of genius. He
must, in spirit, become an artist.
So with the student. He must look at ideas,
not words; at realities, not their symbols
He must drink at living fountains, and not
chase the mirage over desert plains. The
grand error in our modes of education in this
country is twofold-an excessive regard for
the useful and want Of thoroughness in any
thing. What we need in the departments OF
instruction, is horoughness. 1t matters not
so much tchaf a pupil studies, as how he stud
les. He should thoroughly master what he
undertakes, regard being had, not so much for
the information gained, as for the mental pow
er acquired. Education means development,
and has respect to the living agent, not to his
acquisitions. A man may be we'll informed
and not be educated. By travel, by ningline
in society, by promiscuous reading, he may
pass for scholar and still be an unlettered
man. There are but few learned men in our
country, and the tendency of things, notwith-
standing our boosted systems of education, is to
diminish even this number. AS people, we
are too much given to experiments in matters
of education. We are satisfied with snowy
results. We are clamorous for novelties, and
novelties we have. 4f'Vr
Patent systems, short hand methods, spring
up and multiply on every hand. In this con-
in the mazes of error. We forget, or never
perceive, that, in nature, there is but one phi
losophical method, analysis and synthesis,
which are relative and corelative to each 9TH
er; both being necessary to each other for the
completion of knowledge. Method is but a
rational progress towards an end. The ends
of philosophy are the discovery of causes, the
resolution of our knowledge into unity. These
are the co-efficient elements of an effect, and
the decomposition of effects into causes, is the
fundamental procedure, called analysis. Yet
it is not the only process. We analyse only
to reconstruct, and this reconstruction, which
may be regarded as the ultimate object, is
termed synthes,s. Analysis without synthesis
would be incomplete synthesis without anal
ysis is regressire, going backward into causes,
while synthesis is progressive, beginning with
causes and going forward to their results the
two are dependent the one the foundation the
other the completion of knowledge.
If were TO reduce TO a single maxim the
concentrated wisdom of the world, on the sub
ject of practical education, should but enun-
ciate proposition which, | think, will CON-
mand the assent OF all, but which, l fear, is
not incorporated, as it should be, into the
practice of schools and families. That 2rin-
ciple is, that in educating the young you serve
them most effectually, not by what you do for
them, but by what you teach them TO do for
themselves. This is the secret of all educa-
tional development.
Many teachers, nowadays, ask questions
in the very words of their books, ipsissimis
uerbis. The children, too, are required TO an
swer in the very words of the book, and the
HuoohOhS oio 6OhSAAiJ ySio Soil
leading questions, so that the pupil has as lit
tie thinking 10 do as possible. But how
should questions be put to children! In such
a way, if possible, as to compel them to think.
Therefore, a good teacher will not give them
m the language of the textbook, but will
translate them out Of it, so as 10 get the kernel
from the chaff, and to fasten the attention Of
his pupils on things, not on ,cords and names.
We do not fulfil our high office as educators
even ofthe intellect, until we set the soul to
thinking, and unless we keep it thinking al
ways. Say what we will of textbooks, Of
systems of instruction, and methods of train
ing these are not our greatest want. What
we most need are not dead systems but hung
men. Men who can breathe soul into these
courses and textbooks, and cause them to
speak with thrilling power 10 the pupils
mind and heart. N. A. w.
| Bath, June 18th, 1855.
! ENGLIsH's THEATRE. This is the third
week since the opening of this attractive es-
adjustment at Columbian Hall, and yet the
| interest instead of abatinp seems to be on the