The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-09-06

lid not desire a vote upon his sue
gestious, but had made them to clico
Z debate and reflection upon. the sub
jeot. n..;.:so. ..! ta..rr, ,a'
, %.Dr Furman said that he must b
pardoned for his doubts. Suppose
! said he, the authorities should pre-
scribe a mixture Of the races in tn
, sohoolu. 1T would be = very seriou
. thing to commit ourselves to auythin,
involving that, ,.io ..t,
Mr.. Bonner said that tho debat,
was taking that exact practical dirco
tion which he desired. u" course
the claims of the blacks should b,
equitably met, and he would move
that committee of five be appointed
to attend tho next Legislature, and
suggest improveme ts, in tho prcscu o,
syetem of public education. .n
N1essrs. Benet and Pifer spoke il,
oppositicp TO, Dir, Bonner'sy motion,
aud Mr.. P. expressed the opinion
that the high schools suggested by
Mr.. Stuart would not meet tho favor
of the present party in powo., for
there was no political capital in
Mr.. Archer desired to say 10 reply
to the remarks Of Dr.. Furman, th At
he agreed with all he said about re-.
ligious instruction going along with
education, and he believed TINT t.
educate the people was one Of the
first duties of tho church. But the
Church had failed to do its duty,
and the State was the only organiza-
tion left capable of performing
the work. That Mr.. Stuart had
stated tho actual fact very clearly or
that point. AS to the races, that
they had given the largest school.
building in Charleston to the blacks,
and fine corps Of ladies for teac hers,
and that the blacks were satisfied.
| Mr.. Stuart deprecated the intro
duction of the question of politios and
the races into the discussion. 1t was
altogether unnecessary, and neither
politics nor the existence of two
races presented any insuperable diff
ficulty to the carly reform of the
whole system Of public education.
Persuaded, however, from tie direo.
tion the debate was taking, that the
discussion would bo interminable, he
would move to lay tho resolution Of
MIR. Bonner and the entire subject
upon tho table, and proceed to other
business. ."
Mr.. Benet said that the gentlema,
had anticipated him for he had Just
written out, and begged to offer the
following resolution .....,. .....,..
Resolved, that the suggestions on
School organization offered by Mr..
! Stuart be published with the minutes
OF the Institute and that the discus.
sion thereon be resumed at tho next
lacsting of the Institute.
The resolution passed. unanimously.
MIR. Stuart moved to take up the
subject of the "The Proper position
of the modern Languages in our
Schools" and hoped DR.. Broadus
would open the discussion. The mo-
tion was carried, and at tho request
of the chair, Dr.. Broadus said, that
of course the effort to teach pupils in
our schools to speak German and
French was futile one. OF all tho
humbugs in this ago. of shams he
regarded Boarding school French
conversation as the greatest hum
bug of all. But that the diffi,ulty
one we'll versed in the French and
German Literature experience iu
understanding those languages when
he heard them spoken in France or
Germany was so great, that the first
suggestion he would make was wheth
er the ear might not be trained ms we'll
as the eye, 80 that the student would
understand the language when he
heard it spoken, as we'll as when he
read it in print. To learn to Speak
it at school he thought next to i'm.
possible, but to understand it when
spoken, would be valuable acquire.
ment. In this connection therefore,
he would, in the sec md place, sug-
gest that native foreigners should be
employed if at all, in the begin
ming of the course Of study, but he
preferred our own teachers, whom
really good scholars, to carry on the
study to its higher departments.
Because the foreigners who come
here to teach are many Of them lift.
crate adventurers, and have picked
up their English by waiting around
hotel tables in Europe They could
not introduce their pupils to the gran.
der French or German Literature, be
cause they knew nothing about i
} themselves. That even eminent
. scholars in both Enelis and French
} could not enter into the difficulties O
. the English student, for when he wa
at the Virginia University, he re
members that Professor Sohele D,
Vere often elaborated a point tha
, WAS clear, and passed ovar as il PFC
sentiDg no difficulty point that wa
r really very obscure to an Englist
[ student. -... ..