The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1856-11-05

BLOOMSBUF
visited the school for the reformation of
youthful offenders, at Berlin, and found the
boys sitting al long table: making clothes
for the establishment and singing at their
work. The Superintendent remarked that
music was among the most efficscious in
s,rumenis which he employed for sofening
the hardened heart and bringing the vicious
and stubborn will 10 dociIiiy.
Physical Geography can be taught very
early; for so far asil is learned by the eye.
il can be learned at seven as well as al sev.
enly. Abstract memory is the faculty which
most aids the learner in this branch, and
memory is ihs earliest and most simple of
the menlal developments. ss
le1eue e - = tpslmsry s>pheais ghers
ui56i alse Be class 10 .cFsumar, sedo N
axez62 onghe klenk kessd, ws<hiui1s wris
|1as znsw dlsIuloa <1<koupPhvs ezamnsrl
and sonpesti1u ~ ! - zInqrsaliae ths na-
chinery or anatomy OF sentences and Ian
guase 5g 3. -., f-
But while this is The proper view Of pri.
mary school, il unfortunately happens that
in some districts we find nohe even thus FAT
advanced and there, much remains 10 be
done before the effort to grade, or before
there can be any Other than the lowest
grade, z,af
In sparseIy settled districts i, is very diff.
cub TO grade The schools, even where the
scholars are divided in their advancement /;
for even now, when we have them al! Of The
same grade, many difficulties and embar.
rassmenls arise from the distance which fam
lies reside from their school house. They
can not generally be induced 10 send schol
ars past fhs nsares, school house 10 the re-
mole end of The dislrio,, even If i, was 10
school Of advanced grade
Whatever we might desire, it 10 we'll 10
confiue ourselves 10 practical possibilities /;
and perhaps i, is bes, to grade the schools
frs, in Towns; mex, 10 introduce the plan in.
to thickly settled regions Of country; and
then TO secure good advanced teachers for
winter schools ia ihinly settled territories,
and good female teachers for primary sum-
mer schools, in such places.
Fo: in such winters as the last, il is really
impossible Tor many Of The younger scholars
10 lhinI settled districts 10 attend school,
with that regularity which Is necessary for
progress aud success. Many have two miles
to travel, and some still further, and when
the snow ie eysrY3here four feet deep-at
some places drilled into miniature noun
tains=-aad the iheImomeier at 2LGsgrees
below zero, srs esnac, espec, tn o young uud
delicate to attend school with punclualiiy.
Good primary schools in summer, by female
teachers, ere IN such places the best allerna-
tive and in this way we secure winter
term Of three months and a summer term of
the same length, where otherwise we could
not secure more than four months winter
school Tor the whole year. fe
4 An schools of the second grade, there
should be taught Civil and commercial Ge.
ography, especially of this Republic, Gram
mar, Elocu'ion, Rhetoric, History, Arilhme-
tic advanced, Physical Philosophy, Geome-
try and Astronomy. These will in most dis.
trcts be the upper grade schools. Where
there are three grades, the highest mathe.
MATES, Chemistry, Scientific Agriculture,
Physiology, English, Classical Literature,
Menlal Philosophy, and in some cases Latin,
should form the third grade. By the highest
mathematics mean here the science of
numbers, quantities and space, applied to
such practical arts of life as Bookkeeping,
Building, Mining, Surveying. Navigation and
Civil Engineering; somew hat after the man.
ner Of The Polytechnic rchools OF France and
Germany. or the useful Polytechnic College
al Philadelphia.
In :his age and country we should partcu-
larry aid the education of labor, or perhaps |
should say, the tightening of labor by educa.
tion. For we have much work 10 do in this
wide spread republic of magnificent noun
laias and plains; and education here ought
10 be OF direct practical and ulil:t arian
character, rather than speculative or meta
physical. We can hardly yet take time or
turn our tastes to the cobweb abslractions
of the German Gymnasia and Universities.
But more especially ought ,ha, free educa-
ton, which our government furnishes TO ev-
cry poor mans child of the Commonwealth
from public treasury, 10 be Of a useful and
practical kind. Even in the olden time and
in Greece, whsre of all times and places,
philosophy was most valued for itself alone,
one of the wisesi Of the sages remarked, that
boys should fret learn those things which
they ought 10 know when they came TO be
men. And If the science Of busy life are
once well taught in our common schools, we
may be assured there " III grow up from that
genial soil, the institutions which will teach
what our German brethren call the refining
humanties.
But would by no means have any one
scholar, in either OF the two latter grades of
schools, pursue oil the branches I have
named for them: at least not unless he has
more time than in this busy age generally
falls to the scholars lot. No person can
learn every hing; and one of the great OBJ
jseis for grading schools is to avoid SUI
psffcial study, and 90 make education
through by making il direct and poinisd--to
rEx2R II L "a