The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-04-12
Conditional department.
Common school Education.

The large sums Of money annually expen.
ded for schools might be rendered much
more useful, if teachers would take more
pains 10 ~vitalize the instructions which they
give. There is a wonderful arrangement in
The physical system by which the blood, be-
fore il is sent outinto the general circulation,
is first of all made TO pass through the ramif-
cations of the lupgs. There it absords the
oxygen gas which changes its color from al
most black to a bright scarlet; 1t is thus
rttalized. Oxygen Is carried round 10 every
part OF the system, and, uniting with the
carbon by natural affinity, keeps up the vital
heat.
The object of all true education is to vital.
ice knowledge. Some teachers instruct their
scholars very thoroughly, who never educate
them at ell. They teach them 10 commit
the rules of their Arithmetic or Gramm ar by
heat, but never lead them 10 comprehend a
single principle; makelhem learn thousands Of
names of places, without giving them any
idea Of Geography, aud teach them 10 read
fuently in French or Latin, without under.
standing a principle OF the structure of Ian.
guage. This is all. mere instruction, and is a
very distinct thing from education. One is
dead knowledge, the other knowledge vial.
ICED, full of living afini,ies. uniting itself
With all surrounding circumstances with rea-
dy tact and correct application, and causing
the eye 10 sparkle with delight, and the lips
to open with incipient wisdom.
AS the ,wig is bent, the tree is Inclined
As the youth is instructed, the man devel.
opes. 10 all the walks of life, We meet with
many who have infinitely more knowledge
Than ability 10 apply what they know
Strong vitalizing power and affinity is more
important than extensive eru6iiion 10 any
department Of life. The lawyer who under.
stands principles is q safer guide Than he
whose knowledge is merely technical, how.
ever thorough. The physician who keeps in
view great laws Of health will be more sue
eessfui than he who merely undertakes 10
fight each symptom in detail, and the divine
whose heart CLOVIS with love will do the
world more good than DR.. Dryasdust, who
Is acquainted with all systems OF Theology.
knowledge not vi,alized is dark, heavy
spop!ectic thing. Il slultiies the mind in.
stead Of iuvigorating and refreshing, clogs
the wheels of thought instead of stimulating
them, fills up the head with cumbrous and
confused details, useless, and perpelually in
the way, like the heterogeneous stores of
everything at Balaklava. A healthy vitality
is ever gathering ne W stores of knowledge;
il hungers and thirsis for facts, and draws
them TO it, as the magnet draws the steel
filings. But without this, knowledge may
be as useless as food TO The man who cannot
digest it.
To excite and stimulate the mind 10 feed
upon knowledge, the te scher must himself
possess il in other than in a m ere dead, dry,
technical form. He must feel an interest in
teaching, and have the faculty Of infusiug
into the healthy pupil his own spiritual ma
ture. In regard to elementary studies par.
ucularly, the young who have recently been
Learning themselves, generally make the best
instructors. They feel more interest in com.
uIuiiiSoitIE, dud IcuHc UiUtt WOt0 tlfluIy,
all the obstacles TO thorough, accurate
knowledge. Like travellers who have Just
passed over an intricate and difficult road,
they remember where they were at fault,
and the ways in which they where extri-
Gated.
Our common school education is Justly
the pride Of the land. Instead of an old
DANES school, where the digest of knowl.
edge for the little urchin was conveyed in
the dryest and crossest possible way, the
principal danger at the present time is that
these exercises are made so interesting by
the brisk, cheerful young teacher, tina, our
young people become too fond of their books
for health. But with proper arrangements,
through the agency Of Normal SCHOOLS,
much of the mere book-leaming is dispen.
sed with; the heavy, dry, because only
half understood, parts of knowledge, which
most 8 train the mind are simpllfed, and The
whole work of education conducted with
far less friction, both 10 the physical and
mental system.-Ledger.