Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-06-18
EDUCATIONAL.



The following extract from Prof 5. 5 Greene's I
report to the National Teachers Association in
1865 viii interest many teachers, and help them
to form an idea of what Object Teaching Is, or
should be, as well as of what it is not
What is object teaching, Not that so-called
object-teaching, which is confined to a few blocks
and cards, to be taken from the teachers desk At
set times. to exhibit a limited round Of angles,
triangles, squares, cubes, cones, pyramids, or
circles not that which requires the pupil to
take some model Of an obiect-lesson drawn out
merely as a specimen, and commit it to memory;
nor is it that injudicious method which some
teachers have adopted, in order to be thorough,
that leads them to develop distinctions which
are suited only to the investigations Of science
nor is 1t foolish adherence to the use Of actual
objects, when clear conceptions have been formed
and may take the place Of physical forms; norris
II that excessive talking about objects, which
makes the teacher do everything, and leaves the
child 10 do nOthing,-that assigns no task 10 be
pertormet,-a most wretchel and reprehensihle
practice; nor again, IS it that which makes
few oral lessons, without anything else, the en-
tire work Of the school.
But it is that which takes into the account
the whole realm Of Nature and Art so far as
the child has examined it; assumes as known
only what the child knows, not what the teacher
knows; andworks from the well-kuown to the OBJ
scurely-known, and so onward and upward, till
the learner can enter the fields Of science or ab-
stract thought 1t is that which develops the
abstract from the cOncrete,-Which develops the
i1ca, then gives the term. Ii is thar which ap-
pea.s 10 the intelligence Of the child, and that
through the senses, until clear and vivid caucep-
tons are formed, and then uses these conceptions
as something real and ruaL 1t Is that which
follows Natures order,-the thing, the coucep-
ton, the word; SO that, when this order Is
reyersed,-the word, the c0nceptou, the thing,
the chain Of connections shall not be broken.
The word shall instantly occasion the conception,
and the conception shall be accompanied with
the nrm conviction Of a corresponding external
reality. 1t is that which insists upon something
besides mere empty verbal expressions iu every
school exercise, in other words, expression and
thought, ia place Of expression and 10 thought.
II is that which cultivates expression as an an
swer 20 an inward pressing want, rather than
tarciiul collection Of pretty phrases cullei from
different authors, and having the peculiar merit
Of sounding well. II is thar which makes the
school place where the child comes in contact
with realities, just such as appeal to his CON-
mon sense, when be roamti at pleasure In
the fields and not place for irkslme idleness.
not place where the most delightful word
uttered by the teacher Is q" dismissed" Il il
that which relieves the childs task only by
making il iHteiiiJt5ie and possible, not by ilt-
ing he burden from him. Il bids him examine
/ for himself, discriminate for himself and ex-
press for himself; the teacher, the while. stand
ing by 20 give hints and suggestions, not to re-
Le,e him from labor. In short, IL is that which
addresses Itself directly to the eye, external or
internal, which summons 10 it, aid things pres
eut or things absent, things past or things TO
come. and bids them yield the lessons which they
unfold; which deals with actual existence AMI
not with empty dreams, living rcEiisM, and
not a fossil lQymqtism
TITS 20 be ntroducelina systematic way, if IL
can he done, without much form where system is
impracticahle; but INTRODUCED II should be- in
some way, everywhere 1t viii all any teacher in
correcting dogmatic tendencies. hy euliveniuc
his lessons, and giving zest TO his instructions
Tie Will draw from the heavens above. AMI from
the earth beneath, or from the waters under the
earth, from the world without, and from the
world within. He Will not measure hi, lessons
I by pages, nor progress by huency of utten,nce.
He Will dwell in living thought. SURF unlel hy
living thinkers,-leayinC at every point the i'm
press Of an objective and a subjective reality.
Thoughtful himself, he viii De thought-stirrinc
in an his teachings. In fact, his very presence,
with his thought-iuspiring methods, gives tone
10 his whole school. Virtue issues unconscious
ly from bis very look and every act. He himself
is a model Of what his pupil should be.
To him the description Of prairie on fire will
be wrought up, by the aid Of the Imagination, in
10 a brilliant 0yect-i0s0n. 4 reaiiug-lesson des-
criptve Of a thunderstorm on Mount Washing
ton will be something more than amere conform
ity to the rules Of the eocutioust. Il viii beac-
rs.n 3. q F--.#. 81.
child's mind, ouistripped in grandeur only by
the scene itself The minds eye will see the old
mountain, with Its surroundings OF gorge and
cliff, of woodland and barren rock, Of deep M
vine and crggy peak. 1t will see the majestic
thuudcr-cl0ui, with its snOW-white submits,
resting on walls rs black as midnight darkness.
The ear will almost hear the peals Of muttering
thunder as they reyerberate from Hill TO hill.
To give such lessons. requires on the part Of
the teacher, quickened spirit.-a kind Of in
tellectual regeneration. Let him but try 1t faith
fully and honestly, and he will soon find himself
emerging from the dark forms Of Judaism into
the clear light Of a new dispensation Indeed,
this alluson contains more than resemblance.
The founder Of the new dispeusation was called
| by way Of eminenee, The Master" In him
was embellished and set forth the art ofteaching.
He was the " Teacher come from God, - to re-
ftll ga @ -''-l iNA'lA anu ll 'tNAiNN NoiA ltsll
teachings And did he not invariably descend
to the concrete even with his adult disciples
Hence it was that the common people heard him
gladly.
Whoever will study the lessons given by him
will see wit. what unparalleled skill he passed
/ from concrete forms up to abstract truths lie
/ seldom commenced with the abstract. - A sower
went forth 10 Sow - 4 certain man hal two
sons" g am the vine, We are the branches,
- are specimens Of the way he would open a
lesson to unfold some important abstract truth
The best treatise on object-teachng extant is the
four Gospels.
Commencing as if he discovered an interior
fitness in the object itself, he would lay under
contribution the wheat, the tares, the grass, the
lilies, the water, the bread, the harvest, the
clouds, or the passing event, to give some impor-
tant lesson TO his disciples
The abstract we must teach, but our teaching
need not be abstract. We may approach the
abstract through the concrete. We must do it
in many cases. And the methods ofour Saviour
are the divine methods informally expressed in
/ life. Let us reyerently study these, and enter
/ into the spirit with which they were employed
/ Such. in brief are the fundamental uses Of OBJ
iects; such the adaptation Of the human mind in
/ its development to external nature such its
/ growth, and ever increasing capacity to inter-
pret the revelations Of her myriad forms and
such the wonderful power of language