Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-11-19
Educational.
EDUCATIONAL PAPERS.
PUBLICATION BY AUTHORITY OF KENT COUNTY
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
No. 4.

| No. 4.
"Thus, out of the five great branches ol
learning, Mathesis. Physics, History, Meta
physics and Theology, we have made, as Z
first essay toward subdivision, fifteen clas-
ses, to wit Geometry, Arithmetic, Alge-
bra; Mechanics, Chemistry, Biology; Trade,
Art, Language, Law Intellectual Philoso-
ply, Esthetics, Ethics; Natural Theology,
Religion. We believe that all sound educa-
tion gives, with or without the consciousness
| of the pupil and the teacher, instruction In
all these fifteen studies; and there is no Pc
riod of childs life in which he ought not to
be receiving direct instruction in at least
some of the classes of study belonging to
each of the five great branches. This in
struction should be adapted to the child's
age, consisting at first, principally OF those
studies which come first upon our list, and
of those which are named first under each
branch and giving only prophetic hints and
fantasies of the higher parts of the course" /"
A true system of education then must take
the child as soon as 1t is old enough to be-
gin thinking, or in other words as soon as it
can comprehend simple language, and give
it instruction in all these branches. Perhaps
five years on an average will be suitable
age at which to begin, and yet 1t can be as
serted without fear of successful contradic-
tion, that age alone is not proper tes. in
this matter. Some children are older at five
years than others at seven or even eight
Where legislative enactment is necessary to
regulate attendance at school, no criterion,
however, seems available except that of age,
and in view of this IL is better to fix the min
imum too high than too low. Seven years
is the minimum age at which children are
allowed to attend the public schools of Ger
many. Differences of development is stirr-
ing appeal in favor of home education for
very young children! Atfirst Geometry can
be taught by means of diagrams and simple
models of various kinds, constructed for this
purpose. Arithmetic SHOULD in all cases, be
first taught by actual concrete numbers
The objects that represent these are almost
infinite, and no teacher need complain of a
want of apparatus. By means off handful
of beans or grains of corn, teacher can il
lustrate in the most satisfactory manner,
many Of the properties of prime and compo-
site numbers the processes of multiplica-
tion and division; the laws of derivation,
and SO on. Most teachers find it difficult to
teach very young pupils division. By the
use of concrete numbers the difficulty in
great measure vanishes. We shall offer some
further remarks upon this subject when we
come to speak in detail of the method Of
teaching Arithmetic.
The first thing 10 bo taught in the depart
partment of Physics, ,is habits of observation.
This is one of the most necessary acquire
ments that any one can make, either for the
duties of life or for future study, and no one
can learn it too early. Nothing will teach
any one observation and Interpretation SO
successfully as Natural Science. Every
school should have, as far as possible, speci-
mems of the plants, minerals and other nat
ural objects common to the neighborhood,
and the teacher should require his pupils TO
look for natural object and compare them
with the specimens in the cabinet. These
walks would scarcely be called study, and
yet the child would be acquiring knowledge
with the greatest rapidity. People might
perhaps think it strange to see teacher and
his pupils, much Of the time out Of doors,
but there is certainly more to be learned out
of the school-room than in it. ALI that is
necessary, is that the teacher should direct
the pupil to the method of acquiring this
knowledge. 1t would take but short time
until the pupil would be able to name hun
dreds of insects, plants, and minerals in his
own immediate vicinity. The properties of
bodies could also in great measure be illus
trated in this way. Nothing more is needed
than an explanation, and for time calling
the attention of pupils to them.
1t is also well at this time to direct atten-
ton to the most obvious chemical processes,
as oxidation, evaporation and combustion.
Geography must also be early taught; at first
wholly from globes, then from books and
maps. Care must be taken by the teacher
that the pupil comprehends, that he is learn
ing something pertaining equally as well to
his own neighborhood as to any other part
of the world. We conceive that there is in
this respect a great defect IN most of the
Biographies in common use. The learner
gets by rote large amount of facts, simply
as such, and does not see their connection.
1t is also well to give the child, early, ar
idea of the relative distance of the heavenly
bodies
{ These sciences which are to great extent
reserved for the high school are so wei
adapted for training the pupil to habits o.
observation that it is scarcely possible 10 in
troduce them too carly. Ii these studies are
taught at first somewhat after the manner
we have recommended, the pupil will bt
prepared to study them afterward more sys
tematically, when his powers are more full,
developed. He will then be able to com
prehend some of the sublime relations de
pending upon the facts he Ind fixed in hi
mind much earlier, and will be able at leas
in some degree to understand how all thes
things are but parts of one great whole