The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-07-08
The teachers task ends not in comm


nicating and explaining facts in nature,
truths in science, OF the general principles
found all along the pathway of the stu
dent. He must go beyond these, and
point out the wisdom, and grandeur and
beauty everywhere manifest in Nature
and providence.
He must unfold the truth that true
Science in all its parts, and as whole, IS
but the expression of Gods ways, design
oil to foreshadow HIS power, benevolence
and economy in the great system OF things
SO that knowledge may not end IN alb
stract love for the grand, the good, the
true, and the beautiful, but in reverence
for God, III humble, intelligent alteration,
in steadfast, practical faith.
But the teacher cannot always accom-
plish this; it should however be the goal
the beau ideal, Of his professional aims.
He is an artist, but the materials upon
which he works are more stubborn than
steel, more precious than gold, and as
enduring as eternity. At times they are
as sensitive as the polished plate of the
daguerrean is to light; and then again as
unimpressible as adanant.
He is pilot, but his ships freightod
with wealth incalcluable, have, all indi-
vidual poeuliarities, and an inward vitali-
ty and viii, that may battle all his tao
tics, and bear away, under currents and
winds, whose force and direction he can
neither withstand nor comprehend. Still
there are definite principles of judgment
and action in all the phases Of his profess
sion. He must have correct views Of ed
ucation and its ultimate object. If he
inparts information, he must understand,
the end is not to store the minds of his
pupils with knowledge, making them
the passive recipients Of learning. He
communicates for the same reason that q
philosopher would prime pump, not to
create fountain, but to answer the condl-
tons of its working. Educating is edu-
eng, or leading out the latent energies,
arousing the dormant faculties Of the pu-
pil: and facts and theories in Science how
ever beautiful, are of no value in them
selves; nor has youth who has memoir
ised them all, any more claims to be con-
sidered educated, than has his book, that
lies unconcious at his side.
If the understanding has not been exer-
cised, if the judgement is yet inert, If he has
opower of generalizing, ofdeducing from
the facts acquired any practical thought,
if he infers no principles, can discover
none of the general laws that pervade the
universe of mind and matter, he is yet
but an intelligent animal; for there has
not been developed in him, any of those
faculties, upon whose existence and exer-
else depend his claims of humanity.
The teacher and student should under
stand this at the outset, and that the stu
dent is not to be carried through difficult
ties, but to be shown how to remove
them, to be assisted in educating himself,
but no farther than to inspire him with
hope and purposes of selfimprovement.
Then, the pupil will eventually stand
up, man, among men, with all the Dig
nIty of the true scholar.
Mental culture, the power of concentra-
ting the intellect at viii, should be the
immediate object of the student, and not
the acquisition of knowledge; that, is
one of the collateral advantages of study /;
or rather the means by which the facul-
ties are trained to protracted succe ssful
exertion. The apprentice whose daily
task is making horse shoes or edge tools,
may not have, at the expiration of his
term of service, Q single thing Of the hum
dreds he has made but he has what is far
better, muscular training and skill, the
power to forge iron into every conceivable
instrument of utility and power. Axes
and chisels were not the ends of his toll
but the incidental avails of his appren-
ticeship. The application of this smile
to our purpose is easily perceived.
1t is from mistaken views of the ends
of education, that many teacher and
many student has failed. The doctrine
of immediate availability, and that too as
m measured by dollars and dimes, is leading
thousands in this country, to take the
crossroads to professional life, and filing
the land with impudent pretenders and
empires, who scott at all schools and col
leges, as expensive, aristocratic and need
less. This doctrine has produced teach
ers who can mako their pupils as erudite
as themselves without toll, make out OF
the most unpromising materials, civil en-
gineers, able diplomatists, and logicians to