The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-05-25
EDUCATIONAL.
A DEFECT AT THE CORE.


to the superficial observer. exists in toe
many schools, in the method of instruc
ton. 1t may be owing partially to the
text books, but is more directly charged
BILE upon the teacher, for no text book.
can supersede his all-pervading influence
Text books can never supply all things
are always more or less defective, and the
thoughtful teacher will make effort tc
supply these deficiencies This defect il
not transient in its results It ia at the
very core Of educational discipline, and
must necessarily detract from the whole
future efficiency OF The child. 1t 10 not
tangible, objective, in it's character, so
much as it is lack. It is an omission,
arising either from want of apprehension
of the trus end and aim of teaching or
from failure in ability to apply suitable
means. It is one u the most prevalent
deficiencies in teaching, yet difficult to be
obviated by set rules. 1t needs to be
appreciated, then followed by careful
thought, observation, and earnest effort.
But few are eminently successful in this
regard, yet it is not beyond the attain
ment of any. It is subject on which
much has been written, is as old as sys-
tematic school instruction itself, but it
fails as yet to be felt aoant among the
mass Of teachers
It IS failure to awaken aetiUe, origi,scz,
rigorous thought among pupils
When this failure exists, the school be-
comes E dull routine to teacher and
pupils. The lessons are learned and
said. Sums are worked, aud answers
got, or we might better reverse it and
say the answers are got and the sums
then worked. The teacher asks the
questions laid down, and the nupil,
parrot-like, repeats the words of the book,
never dreaming, in his innocence, but
that the book is the limitation Of all
knoWlodgs, never imagining that what
is not Gin che book" is worth knowing, or
that there is anything more to know.
The readers are hurried through, and no
questions asked for conscience sake So
all the books are "done" and just how
much though is generated, it would be
difficult to calculate. Grammar is
bolted, but no one would suppose that it
sustained any relations whatever to
correct speaking in the conversation of
the play ground, and in every day life.
From one day to smother, not new idea
is given, not aa original question is
asked or called out, no curiosity excited,
no enthusiasm impaired or aroused. It
is a tread-mill existence. The mind
works between the book covers; memo.
ry is strained with denccated abstrac-
tions and the mind left dyspeptic by the
crude masses Of indigestible unkneaded
pabulum. The wonderful intellectual
machinery of each child, automatic if
once act in motion, is dragged through
the ruts powerless to break away
Thus l&tent possibilities remain unde-
velopsd, till there is no more chance of
ripening. Resources exist unrecognized.
The youth enters manhood, with only one
half the actual being of which he was
capable Consciousness lies dormant.
He knows nothing of his higher capa-
bilities, and the loftisr ranges Of his
powers. His growth is arrested at the
close of his school days, where should be
the commencement of self-culture, or
more properly where it should continue
the impulse received from school training.
The usefulness to which his energies,
drawn out, cultivated, might have been
applied, is lost to the world. In null
titude of instances, all this positive and
possible good, to the individual, and
through him to society, ia nipped in the
bud by the failure to awaken the mind
in its most susceptible and active period,
to independent thought, and to q con-
scious possession of undeveloped germs
Some thoughts are reserved for a
future article respecting how to make
this wilderness in the school.rotm
"bloom and blossom as the rose" with the
busy hum of conscious, active, living
thought. Elk.
District clerks are authorized by law
to subscribe for the Journal of Education
at the expense of their respective dis
+ricts W. bo,,n 4b;s r,;ll r..,,o.ll