Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-10-05
: A Weekly Family News paper.
School Books.

The press in late years has multiplied
school-books enormously, and the public as
eagerly buy them. There are some OF public
standard value, well-known and appreciated,
hut there are many of them worthless; I
good share are positively pernicious, either
to the moral or mental character, or both, OF
the children Of the country. /
Many of them are prepared by incompe-
tent persons, who are either too inf1dei, TOO
nreiudiced. too bigoted, too sectarian, or TOO
IGNORANT. They either i~nculcate pernlcious
error in principle, false facts or deductions,
suppress what is necessary to the full and
nroper understanding of truth, or they are
lclogped with notes, questions, or protested
explanations, which ought to be readily mas
tered by the labor of the student without
these helps, or taught orally by the teacher.
Tt is the boast of moderne educators, that IN
this age children must be taught to think, to
rsasoa-the old rote system is condemned al
most in toto, while many OF the modern
School Books are in fact constructed upon the
plan of doing all the thinking and reasoning
for the student; so that between the two, tne
modern teacher and the most of the modern
(! lSchool Books, the power of ratiocinatlon ane
the memory are both neglected. Hence, Q
the much that is professedly taught IN tn
schools, so little is really learned m
"A We are not of those who denounce Schoo
Books because they were edited and publish
ed at the North. Many of them, it is true
!, are mere yankee Notions" and others an
!, $50 evidently unfair and impertinently hostil
, to the South, that they deserve the fate
80 publications denounced by our laws as I'll
! cendiary." But candor compels as to adm
a that even at this late day, we are indebted
t the Northern mind and the Northern pre-
d for our very best School Books. But fe
S strictly of Southern intellect have ever be-
i given to the public, and fewer have been We
e thy of the public patronage. We regret tn
and shall hail gladly the day when Southe
mind and the Southern press will furnish
ga lSchool Literature worthy Of the patronage
both North and South @ - +.
q But what shall be one to make the pr
Of ent School Literature of the country rea
of beneficial, and to prevent the bad influence
the pernicious2 The frequent change
M School Books is a serious evil to studer
II and a hurt to the pockets of parents. Ev'
an sensible instructor has felt this keenly,
bo every parent is doomed to feel it more, WI
an out a change for the better. No one, or t
ia or three talented teachers can remedy
evil. No ten men in this State have sufici
influence, combined, to effect it. The en-
the public mind can be moved upon this mat
gh- and the public press affords the best med
be- to accomplish it. Let all the practical te;
ion ers in the State take under careful invest
The tion our present School Literature, and
,os- them give to the public, through the p
and nearest to them, the result of their hon
ant thorough, and critical examinations.
ex- these results be combined and examine
e. those especially connected with the PIT
With Ocnool OyStem, anu Svoa Ky, - aone-