New-York tribune., 1870-04-30
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
NEW SYSTEM OF TEACHING.

This is a book for beginners OH nc" hi''nou' anu
deserves the serous attention of all interested IN the
mental cultivation of children, whether at home or
in the primary school The authors aim in its prepa-
ration is thus stated IN her preface
This little book has a twofold claim upon those con.
cerned In the work Of education. In the hrst place
introduces the beginner 70 the study OF Botany III .o
only way Il can be properly done-by the direct opserNS
tion OF vegetable FORMS The pupil Is told very NUE. anu
The beginning throughout he Is sent TO t1e plan,
to get his knowledge or the plant Inc Dooh Is ted
to help him in this work, never to superSede H. Instead
cf memorzing the statements OF Others ne pflngs &
Of the living reality as he sees ~ II Is the thgS 1
stood. ...o.,,,.
kingdom, should hardly have undertaken 10 nlaho
W6st B0tanv IS considered in itself, but what it s
capahle Of doing for the minds OF those VINO puIsuo
Alright that gives il its highest interest TO tle ednchttoT
and A mas been to secure certain important results IN
mental cultivation which are but ulperIeSlly "a 20
tho preparation Of this Of exercises IL Is DeGu
Botany, beyond al other subjects, s sued 10 and
erdcr OF Nature and to train the observing powtis
and the mcuta operations they nyoEt =, q ~ INTO
wav that have undertaken to put It's rudnents ,o
snc shape that this desirable WOrh can De Hen'l1 oo
menced.
1t will hardly be denied that Miss Youmans here
touches the weakest point of our educational sys-
tenn That system provides little direct, and no sys-
tematic exercise Of the mind upon natural objects
Much is said If the value of existing studies 1or
mental discipline vet the current schemes OF In
structon leave whole tracts of the mind-and those
the most important-tOtaly neXerclsed While the
verbal memory is tasked to excess, the acquisition
Of ideas by the senses and the mental operations by
which these ideas are wrought into knowledge, are
widely neglected One activity is cultivated at the
expense of another, and the over-stlmulaton OF
Td-acQuiSitiOn is accompanied by an arthclal
,tupiditv Of the observing faculties writer III
late number of Nature thus forcibly states the case
1--WE are ant TO forget into what wretchedly
cramped and artificial condition many genera
tions Of schoOlmaSters have bred Each OF us,
generation after generation, has very early been
made to put Chinese shoes on most of the feet OF
his mind. We all the spOrtive, elastic,
0jick. sharp unwearying work of tho senses
of a little child. We DO not, all Of us,
bear in mind to how fearful an extent
these senses are bruised and deadened by the ped
antry Of our pedagogueS Men who cultivate those
sciences in which success is inseparabie from agile
sense know at what cost and labor in later life,
sometimes even in their full prime they have had to
90 back and undo all that their schoolmasters have
done: have had TO become little children again for
the sake of a sharper eye and quicker ear"
This evil of current teaching has been long known
and increasingly depored and from the time of Pesa-
lozz many attempts have been made TO remedy It, but
hitherto with very imperfect success Our primary
and common education still profoundly deficient In
cutivating the observing powers of the young by
the direct study of natural phenomena 1t is to this
dilicuty that Miss Youmans has addressed herself
III the preparation of this primary book, and she has
shown her thorough appreciation of II by appendlng
10 the volume an essay on the Educational Claims OF
Botany, in which this whole question is broadly con-
sidercd and forcibly presented.
She begins ny inquiring into the laws Of mental
growth and into the quality and extent of that Edu-
f1,at fol n1afif
are laid before teachers begin to meddle. In accord
ance with the later views of psychology, she shows
that all intellect in its ultimate analysis consists in
determinations of likeness and difference among
objects of thought while the growth of mind con-
sists in the progressive organization of these dis
examinations. Mental unfolding begins with the in
tercourae Of the infant organism with the natural
objects by which il is surrounded and in the higher
mental growths these determinations to become
more accurate, comprehensive, aud systematic; Dut
the need OF direct mental intercourse with things
remains sill the fundamental condition of the healthy
development of the mind. We cannot reproduce it
here but teachers will find this bit of educational
psychology too valuable 10 be neglected. The author
saws:
The existing systems Of instruction are therefore de-
cieut 10y making adequate provision for cutivating
The growth Of ideas by the systematic exercise OF the
observing powers OF children ODsefEauoh the ca
pIci'y OF recognizing distinctions and of being mentally
alive o. The objects and actions around US Is only to be
acquired 10y practice ana therefore requires 10 become
;u.ar and haltual mental exercise ana 10 nave
fundamental place IN educauon.'
To supply this uuquCstOned deficiency, we
should demand the introduction into primary edu-
'oIH flto7mertW braneh Of StNdH when snail anOrd
a systematic training OF the observing powers. We are
entitled to require that when the ehld enters school IL
shall take leave OF the universe OF fact and law, but
tt ts u-d shah be kept in intimate relation with Ma
tu1c 81 one Of her great divisions, and that The
k'ove1r' acquired shall be actual and thorough, ana
suited TO call oIt those operations which are essential to
what We most urgently need is an objective Of
stuoy which Sian train the observing powers as mdthe
Tie child b yu, 10 count, until the man has mastered
tho calculus, there IS provided an unbroken series OF ex
erCi-.s Of crcr,crcdsing c0mpleXy, suited TO unfold
oIo-fyc xer;s, nor 10 Se dspafcSed in term or
year b.t running through the whole period Of education,
which shall give the observing and iuduCtiye faculties
corresponding, continuous, and systematic unfolding.
The cuueut practice of object-teaching is objected
to incohereut, desulory and totally insufficient
as a training Of the observing powers
lesson one day a bone, the next piece Of
lead. and the next flower may I've excellent for i'm
parting Information but the lack Of relation among
these objects units them to be employed for developing
connected and dependent thought. This teaching
be thoroughly successful only where the objects studied
prt OF the order OF nature The elementary details must
be such children can readily apprehend, while the
characters and relations are so varied and numerous
permit extended course OF acquisition, issuing
in a large body OF scientific principles Only in field
80 broad and me Nhau-tbe a. TO give play u the men
ta activities In their cOntiuuOus expansion can oDect-
studies have that real disciplinary lnnucnce Wlnch Is
nov desirable an element Of popular education.
Miss Youmans objects to the prevailing systems of
teaching, because they violate these laws of mental
unfolding. The chds entrance upon school life,
instead of being wise continuation of processes
already begun, is usually abrupt transition to a
new artificial and totally different sphere of mental
experience" Ii now begins TO substitute words for
things as objects of mental attention, and to reduce
the minds action TO verbal memOrizing instead
of developing and extending those perceptions of
likeness and difference in which the true growth of
intellect consists The glarHg deficiency of our
Z ....A.L. -, t1,nt,r NJ