The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-02-22
Correspondence.
Correspondents of The Cecil Wing
LETTER FROM SEVENTH DISTRICT,
eth DISTRICT Feb Eth 1860

q.
Mr.. EpiToR In The Wing ofthe Sth inst. .
your correspondent Tranquil" made
rather bold assertion. He must certainly
be an egotist who has very exalted
| opinion Of his own abilities. A school con
Quoted according to his method would doubt.
lcssresemble Doctor Blimber' establishment
"a great hot house, in which all the bows
blew before their time. Tranquil prefers
teaching school of one hundred pupils.
rather than one numbering only twenty
live, and will guarantee to give mjorty
| OF the pupils sixteen lessons per dav, set
all copies and attend to all Arithmetic
lessons, &C., &C. Now do not mean to
affirm such II course impossible. Tranquil,
who has had some 4" little experience in the
art" could certainly prove its truth by
| actual demonstration but | question
whether pupil would be as thoroughly
taught in large az in small school, pre-
Stunning the instructors have the SAME
qualifications.
The time occupied in school daily is six
hours, three for each session. Allowing
ten minutes for the opening and ten for the
| closing exercises of each session. five hours
and twenty minutes will be left for recita.
tions; surprising then Tranquil has but one
class we divide this period of time by six
teen the number of lessons, twenty minutes
will not be too long poriod to devote to
each lesson. Now supposing his school
| consists Of two classes, by teaching sixteen
, lessons to each, the length of each recitation
will be reduced to ten minutes Can Il
Geography or Grammar lesson be thoroughly
taught i'll ten minutes, permitting each one
IN class OF fifty to answer at least three or
four questions?
Perhaps Tranquil belongs to certain
Il g Al
recite rapidly, their great object being haste:
succession--hurry, hurry, hurry,-uniil the
lesson being ended, the book is closed and
pupils are dismissed to their seats. Think
you the children are any wiser than when
they came to school? They have gained no
information but what is contained in their
books, and that, they learned or should have
learned at home. Every lesson. no matter
how simple it may appear to the teacher,
requires explanation all difficult words
should be clearly defined; and incidents
introduced illustrating such points as are
not sufficiently elucidated in the textbooks.
Above all scholars should be taught how to
think, and how to give utterance to their
| thoughts.
The trouble with most teachers is the
great number of classes into which their
schools are divided two or three pupils
being in one class, five or six in another.
ten in another, and SO on. This cannot be
remcdied so long as pupils in various stages
OF advancement are admitted into the same
school Our schools, being at some distance
apart must remain rs at present unclassilied,
and the teachers will be expected to 20
through the daily routine from II, B, c, to
the "ologiesn
The maxim Of every teacher should be
" Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth
doing we'll" Professor Davies, the distn.
guished mathematician, gives the following
rules, which every teacher should observe !:
l. Teach one think Mt time.
2. Teach that one thing well.
8. Teach its connections.
4, Feel, and teach that it is better to know
everything of something, than to know
something ofeverything
Your correspondent is right in asserting a
Normal school training is requisite in pre-.
pairing Il person for the vocation of teacher.
Without such preparation no one is perfectly
| qualified to act i'll that capacity. Tranquil
has also alluded at different times to the
organization of " Teachers Associations. T.
Such meetings, whether large or small, may
be productive of much good. Those, who
are interested i'll the profession, and who
/ are laboring to promote the great interests
| of education, will doubtless carry out his
suggestion. Then let Tranquil be present
to explain more fully his method of teaching
one hundred scholars, whose ages vary
from five to sixteen years. INSTRUCTOR.