The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1863-05-21


School is one in which children in the
same advancement of their studies are
put into the same class, from the lowest
to the highest. 1t may be large or it
may be small. If the school is large,
the distinctions between the different
classes can be more clearly marked, as
there will be of necessity more teach
ers, and if the house be properly ar
ranged each teacher will have his or
her work in separate room.
The philosophy of this plan is simple,
and only needs to be stated to be seen.
The mind, like the body, passes thro'
certain stages of growth, or develop
ment between infancy and manhood,
and since educating is awakening and
calling into action the mental powers,
q Graded School takes advantage OF
this fact and puts together and teaches
together to those in each of these
stages-those standing on each Of these
successive platforms. Such grada-
ton, based on such philosophy, i'm
plies course of instruction as graded
as the scholars and this course of in.
struction should contain the best things,
in each fits parts, to develop the mind
at that particular stage. Such is true
Graded School.
Has it any advantages9 Many every
way, is the answer of every man who
has made education his study for any
considerable time. If it be granted
that the men who have made this SUBJ
ject the study of lifetime, started with
the usual amount of common sense,
and it would only demonstrate mans
lack of the same to deny it, it cannot
be denied that they are better prepared
to Judge of the accuracy of this philos-
ophy than those who have never given
the subject dozen consideration
thoughts in their lives. Now it hap
pens that the men who stands head and
shoulders above the masses in the pro-
fession, both in Europe and America,
have not only apopted this theory, but
consider it worthy of their most care
full study. All improvements in the
educational world are in this direction,
the best course of instruction is the
one great subject of study among our
enlightened educators. But this is only
the authority argument-we are able
to prove our position by a careful ex-
animation of the subject itself Week
before last there were given in the COL
umns of this paper, the figures showing
that our school costs no more per schol-
ar per month than common schools of
. this county; hence, far better teaching
is obtained for the same money in a
Graded School than in miscellaneous
schools. This is true in more ways
than one. In Graded School, pri-
mary teachers teach only primary
studies, and of course can better adopt
their general exercises and all of their
instruction to their pupils, than they
could do were they teaching all grades,
from lowest to highest. They have a
few studies upon which to concentrate
their mental energies, and it would be
passing strange if they could not teach
those few things better than they could
three or four times that number of wide
ly different branches. And what is
true of primary teaching is equally true
of every other grade. Besides this,
our whole school is included in the cal
culations referred to, and in that were
several higher branches than are taught
in our common schools. In the Graded
School, then, we get better quality,
and higher grade of teaching-a
wider range of studies-tha an is obtained
in unclassi6ed schools. The cost of
these branches should be compared
with school expenses in Academies and
Seminaries, and if that were done, it
e would leave the cost of that part of our
school which corresponds, in range OF
r studies, with our common schools,
I about two thirds as great as the cost
per scholar of the county schools of the
. county. With this showing of facts,
e and l invite investigation as to their &C.
curacy, can any man doubt the utility
: of Graded School-that it has ad.
} vantages over any other plan of school
] organization yet devised.
]. A. .BANFIELD.
al