Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-08-29


Ihe last number of the Westminster Review
has an article entitled "Self Education" which
Ia nomlnay review of May hew's Life of Fer.
gus'on and Hugh Mler's Autobiography, but re-
ally an able and valuable treatise on education
We wish that all teachers and every one interest
ed in the subject of education could read the arli-
Gle; they could hardly fail to profit by it. A dis
tlnguIshed teacher, who lives near this place, re-
marked to US recently that there was more hum
bugSery about education than anything else, and
we fully believe it, We are satisfied that at
least one-haf the teachers in the country do more
harm than good from an ignorance OF the true end
or object of education. The writer in the West
minister says, "e-ducaton is sssuredly a dra,cing
out of what is already in the being subjected to il
not the impressng fresh character: it follows,
therefore, that education consists in perfectlng the
natural faculties" Yet this fact is entirely un-
known oroverlooked by many teachers, who under
take to educate their pupils in pretty much the
same way that cook stuifS turkey. To us it
has always seemed one of the most absurd things
in the world to resort to whipping and other harsh
means to induce children and youth to learn.-
The rod is undoubtedly valuable institution"
in its proper place Solomon never uttered WI
ser proverb than "Spare the rod and spoil the
child )" but to attempt to whip or frghten chii-
dren into education is worse than useless. This
system, we are happy to believe, is going out OF
vogue; at any rate we trust. for the sake Of
humanity, that there ara few schoo-room tyrants
row to be found, like those who fourished under
the ancient regime. The following extract
from the Westminster is worthy of attention
"Without going all the length of Rousseau's
theory, may be safely asserted that the child to
whom everything has been taught before he sought
to know it, is likely to remain an gnoramuS, and
that the wise teacher will rather strive to excite
curiosity than demand learning from the very
Young If child be set to do days work like
a lab0urer, his health will suffer from the long
continued exeron for the instinct OF childhood
dictates a ftful activity alternating WITH sleep and
rest. The brain is subject to the same law as
the other natural organs and if nature be consult
ed. will do its work by the same Irregular move
men,s; now eager for novelty and striving 10 O.
pen fresh adlts 10 knowledge, no" weary anu VI"
willing to apply. lfthis law of nature were at
tended to in early youth by the parent or home
| teachers of the child, he would have laid the
foundation of knowledge without fatigue or incon-
veniepce, and would rather seek than shrink from
the lessons of school, if they were, they ought
to be, rational, and consequently interesting. 1t
is with the mind as with the body;-iood may be
supplied, but if there be no appetite it will be
useless; for if it be forced down the throat when
the stomach is not fitted to receive it, the sub
stances thus thrust in will not be assmated, and
the body, consequently, will not be nouFIShed -
The art of the tutor then, consists, notin driving
into his pupil certain amount Of acquirements,a AS
a carpenter wond drive nail, but in awakening
the faculties so far as to induce the child to seek
information. and thus, in great measure to edu-
cate himself But the tutor, or the schaolmaster,
under whom many boys are placed, finds such an
attention to character troublesome: his task IS rem
dered more difficult by previous neglect; and he
is too apt to enforce the completion of the lesson
BY severity, without considering whether ii is du-
" dipested So as to afford wholesome nutrlment
to the mind. He succeeds, at last, in carry
iDu his point; the lesson is done, but the book
ia hated. and the first step in such education is
thus accomplished that of giving complete dis
taste to everything that the pupil Is thus oompel-
cd to learn"