The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-05-17
Little IGnorances.
From the Spectator.

A few boys and girls acquire The art by
some process which seems intuIiiYe ahd spell
perfectly years before they can by possibility
have read half the words they are ultimately
REQUIRED 10 use. Printers all know how very
lille the spelling even of the best educated is
10 be trusted, and we have reason 10 believe
that If English journalists were wccded ny
an examination in which etymoiogtcal accu-
racy was The cine q,d non, the profession
would lose some very competent members
One occasional contributor 10 this journal n
man whose education has been OF II s!nsulArly
perfect kind, and who is true scholar IN ms
way, never sends in contribution Wlthout
half q dozen chronological errors, and there
are double .nrSts who would rather trust
themselves in Greek than English without 4
pocket. dictionary.
Its a curious proof OF the accuracy OF this
view that The commercial SCOOPS, which pro-
Tess TO teach, aud do teach, spelling, DO not
turu out spoilers half as accurate rs The pub
lie schools, which profess 10 teach nothing OF
the kind, and that hundreds OF persons
learn 10 spell, or rather begin TO spell,
well habitualiy only In manhood-that
is, when the attention has ut last been
aroused. Whether the extreme case, that OF
Il man OF high culture, who absolutely could
not learn TO spell ever happened, we are I'M
certain but almost all men who have to read
manuscript believe 1t , and 4 kindred inability
that or recoliecting dates and figures, GER
tanly does exist. But an inability to spell
arising from n certain failure OF interest III
words is distinct characteristic Of English
minds, mud one which 1t requires eXtTaoIdl
nary effort TO cradlcate-Inore especially
among women.
Spelling, however, Is not the only deficiency
of this kind, though it Is, of course, the ont
most observed, and owing to the curious caste
feeling mentioned above,-a feeling entirely
absent q hundred years ago--it is the one mos
resented. The ignorance OF many cultivated
men Of arithmetic is frequently astounding
We feel sure, from our own experience, thai
hundreds of what are called well educated
men, and thousands of accomplished women
could not do rule. Of three sum if their for
times depended upon it; whllea number, pre-
sumably less but still very large, cannot do
any calculation on paper at all. We venture
10 say the majority of middle and upper class
women are worried by the simplest question
about interest, and to II very large proportion
the simple adding-np Of household accounts
is Il wcariSome labor very Inaccurate!y per-
formed, while If the calculation is in foreign
money they are hopelessly bewidercd. They
do not understand compound addition, while
rs TO compound division, or any problem
OF any sort in Yolving fractions, they frankly
decline 10 make the attempt. We have per
sonally known Il lady, mistress not only OF
four languages, but of their litcratures, give
up the effort to discover what the fourth OF Il
seventh WAS rs something wholly beyond her
capacity, and ten minutes after discuss for
cigu budget with keen intelligence and that
is not an extreme case. The most extreme ""
ever knew was that Of IN Oxford NJ. A, head
master of Il grammar school, and an almcst
unrival!cd master of Greek lyrical poetry,
who was honestly unable, and confessed him
self unable, 20 do the simplest sum In simpl"
addition, who, 10 get IN account right, would
Put the actual coins on the table, and always
called 4 boy to verify the weekly statistics Of
the school. There must have been some odu
loathing for figures in him, as well rs want OF
interest, resembling the loathing some lads
have for EnClid but we should like 10 try III"
House OF Peers with Il stir bit of notation.
Not one in six would put down the figures
right, and OF their wives, not one Il!
sixty; yet they and all those we have
mentioned have. ut some time or other,
learned these things, aud are ignorant Of
them only because their interest has never
been excited II is Just the same with geogra-
ply OF which educated aud competent m"a
often 90 not know tho simplest facts, though
they have all learned them i'll Il way, As one
usually learns things of no iniercst-that is,
without learning them. They have TO learn
them again when they want them. and mean
while are Just ns ignorant as medical students
are OF spelling. We'should just like 10 max"
The English members i'll The House Of Com.
mons draw each for himself Il skeleton map OF
Ireland, and see how many of the maps bore Il
fair resemblance 10 the truth. Yet they We're
taught about Ireland as well ms England, and
ut he same time. No doubt the English me
ihod Of teaching geography, even in the very
best schools, is ludicrousiy bad. very few mas
t"rs ever thinking that distances ana areas
Dugnl tOenleT intO tHplT teICnllE, tHu ietN NE
pupils under 4 happy belief that they know III
about Arabia if they can draw its outline
though they do not know whether 1T is AS big as
Works hire or as Europe. But still, most cduca
ted men once knew much more OF geography
rs lads than they do as men ; the reason being
want Of interest in the subject. To test them
on IL would not be fair 10 the schools, wretch
eddy bad rs their system is any more than j
would be TO test most girls schools by their
old pupils knowledge of figures. They have
been taught them fairly enough, but the NE
mory, unstimulated by any interest, refuses tc
retain its load
The real failure Is not in these things, but II
the entire absence OF any attempt 10 secure
the main eud Of teaching, which is not lhs
communication OF knowledge, but the deNe
lopmeut of the powers Of the mind. Hall ~
hours chat by shrewd, good tempered
arithmetician with n lad on the rule of three
its principle, and It's management, viii give
the students mere perfect control of that in
valuable machine than years of" sums = don,
by cram rules without The smallest MOTTO.
Why those rules yield accurate results.
We know n child Of eight "a girl whose &C
quantance with geography is far greater
than that OF most men, whose study of III,
subject was induced by the accidental awaken
ing of an interest In the shapes of the diiteren
countries on the map, arising originally from
some grotesquc remTrk about the likeness o.
Britain to IN old lady dandling Ireland on hei
lap. The teachers even in commercial schools
are not such bad machines as they are de
scribed; but then they usually are machines
and We need Intelligent teachers instead
Mere practice will not even enable boys &c
spell, and it is practice only which is required
OF them.
DREAMS AND DHHANISG-DreamS generally