The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-05-27
Cramnling.

| avoid the system of Mechanical examining,
one of the greatest curses-we do not
think the language too strong-inficted
upon patient community, and which pre-
walls under some of the present modes of
teaching, to too great a degree in the pub
lie as well as in some of the private schools,
while the vital principle, the very founda-
ton of the only proper plan of education,
is never laid, or even attempted to be laid
we mean teaching the child to investi-
gate, to weigh, to think, and then to
recoNect."
| There are two species of examining, as
seen in our schools. The first consists in
crowding the memory with mass of undi-
| gested rules, forms, or facts, with refer
ence to an examination or to making a
show of learning. The second overtaxes
all the powers of the mind by requiring of
| them efforts beyond their strength. The
| Philadelphia schools are no doubt afflicted
with both these species of false teaching,
and it is no doubt their cumulative i'll
effects that the Committee on the Revision
of Studies pronounces above zone of the
greatest curses"
When closely examined, it will be found
| that examining may arise from several
causes. Among them the following:
1. An ill-advsed course of study.
2. Badly prepared text books.
3. Giving pupils too many studies.
4. Assigning pupils lessons too difficult or
too long.
5. Ignorance Of the true end of knowl-
edge, or the true mode of imparting it on
the part of teachers.
An ill-advised course of study may in
duce examining. In conformation to such
course pupils may be compelled to take
up branches unsuited to their abilities, or
forced to pass too rapidly from one branch
to another. A course of study may be so
badly graded, 50 disjointed as to completely
disrupt at every turn the thinking process
of those who attempt to follow it, and
force them to crowd the memory with its
disconnected fragments, much in the same
way as a merchant fills the hold of vessel
| with miscellaneous articles of merchandise
So far as the evil of examining arises from
| this source, the method of removing it is
obvious, and the action taken by the Phil
adelphia committee is most .judicous. 1t
is hardly to be expected that it has adopted
the best course of study possible, but it
has evidently given the subject very care
full attentio on.
Badly-prepared text books may induce
examining in the same way and from the
same cause that an ill-advised course of
study does so, since the several subjects
treated Of in textbook bear relation to
| one another somewhat similar to the rela-
| ton existing among the several branches
| composing such a course. A textbook
may be mere conglomeration, a mass of
| fragments, thrown together without system,
| and as such it can he mastered only by an
over-strained, unnatural effort of the men,
Dry. The partiality sometimes shown to
authors and publishers is frequently a
wrong done to the pupils in our schools.
A pupil who is burlened with too many
studies, or who is assigned lessons which
| are too difficult or too long, must do one of
| two things-cither sink at once under the
| load, break down in health and spirits, or
be forced, in order to keep his place in
| class, to cram his memory day by day with
mass of undigested knowledge that will
eventually sour on his mental stomach and
produce species of mental dyspepsia a
| thousand times worse than anythat can arise
| from an analog Gus physical disorder. This
| whole matter of fixing the studies of pupils
| and assigning them lessons is a most
! important one, and if allowed to be dis
posed of by guess, or what is as bad, the
| dim light of a shadow empiricism, the
| result will continue to be the loss of their
friends, to society, and to mankind of the
best and brightest of our youth.
But while all the causes above named
have something to do in producing the
evil of examining, let it be said to the
intelligent and public-sprited gentlemen
composing this Philadelphia committee,
and to all others interested, that all the
causes of this evil resolve themselves into
one, and that one is the ignorance of the
| true end of knowledge or the true mode of
imparting it on the part of teachers
| Changes for the better in courses of study,
| improvements in text books, rules fixing
| the number of branches to be studied, the
hours to be devoted to study, or the length
of lessons, will be Of little avail SO long as
we tolerate in our school teachers who edo
not wish to move out of the worn rut," but
would rather "die teaching" in the mode
to which they have been accustomed.
Philadelphia, but not Philadelphia alone or
more than other places, seems to be afraid
| to grapple in earnest with the real obstacle
that stands in the way of the successful
working of her schools, and is consequently
weakening the mental life, if not running
| the physical health of tens of thousands OF
her children. She sees plainly enough,
what all places do not, the bad effects of
| this formal mechanism, this dull routine,
| this crank turning, tread-m tramping
process called teaching, that dries up the
life of so many of our schools, and so goes
to work with right good will to patch up q
new course Of study, adopt better text.
books, fix more rational lessons for pupils,
| &C., &C., when the real seat of this disease
is want of light, and life, and fire in hel
teaching. Philadelphia teachers may be
as good as teachers are elsewhere; We
believe they are; and still what is said o.
their teaching is true, for there are among
them many who teach as the sentinel walks
his dreary rounds, without interest, almost
without thought, and are glad when the
hour of relief from an irksome duty comes
They hear lessons, but they do not invig
they do not create hopes: they keep order