The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1858-01-14
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A Synopsis Of Views

A Synopsis Of Views
Relative to the Prevailing Customs and
Systems of School Government, and
saggestiag an Exposition of System
for the Intellectual, Moral and Physical
Education of Boys, by WV. PIERcE,
Teacher Of Mountain Lodge School,
Greenvite, s.. G.
I am persuaded, in my own mind, that
the customary suspension of the primary
schools of our State, for two or three months
Of every year, is in direct hostility to the
educational interests of thetyoung. Proiong
ed vacations may be harmless to young
men, who have so far advanced in their
course of study, as to feel their selEreiiant
and relevant ability to carry on and master
unaided the various branches of science as
signed to their labor but for boys, who are
yet in course Of elementary pupilage, these
long and unwarrantable Interruptions are
only suspensory of educational effort, and in
terests. Experience attests, that the result OF
this, general custom is loss, not gain. An
informal examination, in the beginning Of
every new year, demonstrates the fact, that
Its only effect has been retrogression. The
commendable degree Of their mental attain
ments, as marked at the close of the school
the preceding year, after u recess of two or
three months, is astonishingiy reduced. In
y word, the school customs Of the State are
anti.progressive. An investigation of the
cause leads on to discovery; there are dis.
locations somewhere in the machinery Of
school government, and the long labyrinthic
train, Of i'll consequences emergent there
from must be traceable, in their complex and
inextricable windings, to an operating cause,
and there are bat three classes of persons
who can be self interestedly concerned in its
'deSelopment--the Teacher, the Parent, the
Child The omissions Of each, personally
and severally, go to constitute general cor.
poratiye result, and the blame to be attach
ed must be diyisible, and is, therefore, tripar.
tite. The necessity Of the use Of q system,
the wan: Of which is lamentably felt, carries
us forward to the discovery Of the prime
cause. The want Of system is fatal to any
business. Success or partial advantages
may accrue, it is true, from loose way of do
ing things, but they are more the results Of
the achievements Of hazard. Without a
system Of operations, the outlines of which
are well defined, no permanent good can be
reasonably expected. Parents and teachers
must be the 0riginators Of the system, and
pupils the subjects of its government. Inde-
pendence Of action, in whatever relates to
official and relative duty, is the basis Of its
administration. Without the cordial CO.
operation Of parents, in carrying out its de-
signs, the best system that was ever devised
will friiter away to inefficiency and useless
ness. All the parts that enter into II, must
work in their several dependencies and con-
nsS:tious. An agent who Is appointed to
carry ous all the definite objects contemplat-
ed under a given system, must not only be
invested viii due Authority for aciions but
Of necessity must posssss the abilities and
qualifications requisite Cor the discharge OF
AL The duties suspendent from bis relation
20 Il. To TEACH, not TO hear obiivious re-
citations; to enforce . rational DiscrPLIsE,
snd mot to bend to paltry fears from without
or from witi.ifi 10 diss. o;ss sUsrrcs alike to
all according to edpdeify and posoer, with
out regard 70 their, . ab STRIPE" are the on
" accredited credentials OF Gtness and quail.
Gcation for duty. Cooperation Of parents,
OF their silent indifference, gives efficacy TO
the wsrk. For It appears to me to be the
reasonable and expected duty Of parents 10
examine well the rules and regulations Of
every sclsoo! to which thoy purpose sending,
and pronounce judgment Of their justice. or
i1joslics, adaptabiIity OF inadaptability.--
Ard this ID the more reasonable, when
reject that there is cause spparently excus.
able ia itseDf--s cause growing out Of the
wAstnth Of natural afyectiohsA (which may
nniIitate against, yea, paralyze. Che efficiency
Of nuv system intended 10 answSr n ofven