Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-04-07
Common Schools.

represented in my communications. And fine
thata truer and fuller picture would be one ne
more flattering. The subject of arithmetic was
the one last under review And as the ''hub'
ofall education for business man, is ''the science
ofnumbers and the art Of using them, it viii bC
fitting to give further attention to this matter
Especially it is necessary for Yankee to be
able to "kalkerlate" harply; therefore VIC
should know how 20 study arithmetic success
fully The chief difficulty in the way of secur.
ing fair knowledge of that science, noticed in
the iast urtlcie WAS fequv,at change of teaoherr
in our common schools. This leads to careless
sloYenly habits of study for the pupil thinks he
shall pass over the same subject so many times
that he may as well do the work poorly each
time. Iii as If aman should attempt to shinge
a house by laying a Single here and another
there, and then go over the roof again and again
for dozen times till the roof looked as though
il would she'd water. The first shower would
teach him that, at least in some kinds of bust
ness, system and order were desirable. A man
haps, by covering it in this way, but everybody
knows that it would take him much more time
he would have to keep his ladder about and his
shingles and nails and hammer at hand so that
every time few drops Of rain fell he could run
up and find the place where the water came
through; then he could stop it up closely, pro-
vided his wife would stand inside and watch to
see where he had stopped the leak 1t would
not do for such a man to say as a lazy fellow
once did of his leal1y roof when he was asked
why he did not patch it, he replied that IN fair
aeeather 1t did 'oeH enough as a,oas, and ,ohen Il
raiaed he Should get 'eet if he 'oe'a oea to mend IL
roof built in this way would cost much more
time, labor and material than one built in order
and when done would be of little value. Such
work needs to be done c0nsecutiyely, and finish.
ed as the work proceeds. And the same is true
Of the study Of arithmetic. Unless this study is
done thoroughly and exhaustively as it proceeds
it will require much more time to get passablC
knowledge oft; and mastery of it, so that il
should be sure and ready for use at all times
is thing rarely to be attained by this method
ofstudy. One principle is dependent on another
in arithmetic, just as much as one course OF
shingles is dependent on another to be Tapped
underit, in order to be Of any service. And with
our system Of changing teachers and having
everything studied over and over again, year
after year, and of course poorly learned each
time, it is no wonder that so much Of anything
but sound, well preserved, useful knowledge
sifts into the brains Of our young people. An.
other difficulty in the way Of good knowledge
offgures, is the want ofhBao in recitation. With
the multiplicity of studies and classes in our
schools, time for recitation in each must be limi-
ted. | venture the assertion that take the
schools of Orleans County as they arc, with the
Academies and Select Schools all thrown in,
twenty minutes is as long as the time will
average that can be allowed for recitation in
any one study. And in order TO secure this for
some recitations, others must be cut down to
one fourth Of that time. If this estimate is too
small, | wish to be corrected by any one who
has facts at home to make the correction. But
have taken some pains to collect reliable facts
from the winter schools in our part Of the county
and find the average time but trifle more than
half what is allowed here. Now what can q
teacher, good or poor, do with a class OF eight
or ten in reciting lesson in arithmetic in this
time If any one thinks it Is enough, he simply
shows that he knows nothing at all about it,
To be sure every member of the class can recite
half dozen rules in that time, and possibly cx-
plain a few examples from the board or book
But here is where the main faultis with out best
schools, to learn the rule and apply il, is all
that they can do, and often all they expect to do
Instruction should go further, and show where
as well how, the rule applies. This would make
practical an d therefore good for
Let me illustrate. A scholar learns
the simple rule "The dividend and quotient
being given, to find the diyisor' Aiss-DVide
the dividend, after subtraeting the remainder
for it, if there be one, by the quoticnt, and the
quotient thus obtained i'll be the diyisor
sought" Now ii is easy enough for pupil who
knows anything Of the meaning Of the terms
airiaeRd, remainder &c, TO perform this process.
Hence he VIII work the page or more of exam
pies that follow the rule, and show off well on
it too. He will feed in the figures he finds, and
turn the crank "aceording to rule and the an
swcr will come out. Bnt suppose some ugly
author like Mr.. Grcenleafhas made some exam
pies where there happen to be some other figures
written out besides dividend, diysor and re-
then the learner will have TO grind
several times before he gets the answerperhaps; :;
and if the answer is not given, he will not be
sure he Is right then. Now let the live teacher
take this boy who works by rule, and put him
ipon his common sense little. After the reci-
.ation ola few rules similar to the one given
let the teacher ertempori-e few cases where
hese rules should be applied, and that without
which the numbers given is divi-
lend, diyisor or remainder, or whether one or
mother of the rules is to be used. Suppose the
pupil to have learned the table ofland or square
give him this problem, 81 have piece
If land containing 176 square rods the uniform
width is 10 rods; how many rods from each end
must cut it by a dividing line so as to have an
cre in the largest pece2 This is a simple
question but, shows what mean by making the
Of figures practical. Questions oil
his sort, and more difficult, but such as are apt
o be met with in everyday life, should be null
ipied till the pupils will look through the state
nents at once and sec the main points in each
question as soon as it is given ont "Miscella- |
leous examples in our books are designed TO |
lelp pupil to this practical knowledge. But
here is always a stereotype method Of working
IN such problems, and more or less ofthe books |
# every school have these oracular statements
If all difficult questions marked out by signs on
he margin of fly leaf. If not this, somebody