Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-10-12

SAAAN Il lC0SliCI vi "a ALs
f trict sc hool has stamped his characte
: upon half the families of the village
1t has been noted in the past history
: of our country how many great minds
! were educated in New England. l
was not that the muses. were partial il
their favors, or had taken up thei
abode in that favored locality; It wa:
that thorough school training ha(
given to her youth the longing to rise
and they had become fired with an in
satiate ambition after what they es-
teemed the chief good. Now the
teacher can illustrate this point from
the daily experience-from the Incl
dents occurring in the neighborhood
from the current Literature he car
show the contrast between the idlel
and the student, and it should be his
aim to portray this difference in its
most striking features Make them
drink into their inmost souls a loath
ing for life of sloth and inactivity
let the fear of the Ounce cap be the
strongest incentive to toll ; and let the
smile of the principal and their fami-
ly's honor be made to derend on the
boys making a record for industry
| SA4Ni VI NOu. w helllG OuI CuliQIEH 10
love education for its own sake. We
want them to be glad to hear the nine
O'Clock bell on Monday morning. We
want them to feel an attraction con
nected with the school room and its
emplOyments, that shall make it as
Joyous as the play ground-not joy
Gus for frivolity, nor from the facility
with which they meet the teachers re
quirements; but joyous for work and
earnestness. We wish to see as unit
ing efforts expended to master intel
lectual difficulties as they would be
willing to put forth were 1t associated
with the name of play. Now this
magnetism in the school room is not
i'll pictures or statuary or flowers; it
is not in music, nor in the variety of
employments it is in the atmosphere
of earnestness and ambition that
should pervade every apartment of the
school building. We not only want
the scholars to love the result of study
the education he anticipates in the
future; we want him to delight in the
study itself, the very effort he puts
forth to attain mental proficiency.
Now, if the teacher be respected, be-
loved, it will be easy to awaken a de-
termination to succeed, in order to at
trim favor. This motive soon yields
to the nobler purpose of doing right,
and the precious reward in the re suit
of study soon gratifies the soul Who
that has toiled long and patiently over
an intricate problem has not felt like
throwing up the cap with a wild huz
zah, when the solution was obtained.
1t was not merely the pride of saying,
''My tercher will call me the brightest
scholar pit was rater the flush of
victory, the consciousness of having
overcome; the very trouble it cost
made the issue more precious. Thus
it is that ambition being once excited,
the student loves study, and loves the
labor he must expend. The informa-
ton obtained is practical and the re
suits of such efforts are duly appre-
ciated.
VI. But education to accomplish
these results, must contain this ele-
ment. 1t must enable the pupil to de-
eide between valuable information and
trash. 1t is easy enough to convince
the young man of any experience that
all intellectual effort will have some
reward. But he naturally enquiries in
the vein of calculation so common to
Young America, ''Will it pay p ''Is
the profit commensurate with the
labor ?'' We reply-Only certain re-
suits are profitable. Gold is worth
digging for; but be sure that the pro
; duct of your brain toll is gold. There
is responsibility here devolving up
on the teacher that it is difficult to
over estimate; and yet we fear few
have considered it as part of their
functions You must first teach the
youth what are the elements of valua-
ble knowledge; and next, how that
knowledge is to be discovered and OBJ
tanned. What renders knowledge val
liable to me is, First-The use l can
make of it will increase my efficiency.
Second-It is a seed tho't which can
cause to germinate into other practical
information. Third-Know wledge that
by the process of its acquisition will
enlarge my powers of reasoning, OF
conception, and thus develop the func-
tions of my mental machinery. That
of course, is the most reliable treasure
that will in the highest degree unite
these various conditions. We are toe
apt to impart instruction to youth as
so much dead matter; the processes
. of Mathematics, the facts of GeOgra
ply or History, the formula of gram
matical or scientific rules are urged
, upon them as matters that exercise
the memory, it is true, but fail to
awaken the remainder Of the intellect
ual man. Now the rationale being
communicated, the scholar can de
| velop conclusion for himself; but
without the presentation of the alb
stract, the concrete is parro ing
: While, therefore, the concrete is i'm.
! portant as the first scaffolding for 6
, theme-a medium merely of eXposi
2 ton and proof, it is rather the abstrac
! that the diligent seeks to retain.
f VII. Education teaches the pupil tC
lay hold of every opportunity for &C
] quiring knowledge. But little of on
: stock of actual knowledge has beer
S gained by reading-both because WI
S forget so much Of the contents of th,
volumes perused, and because tn
things made practical in common lif
b are so seldom deemed by authors wor
l. thy their pen. But if we should cult
vate our powers of observation, if on
S daily experience were accepted as
+ teacher, we might learn each hour val
d liable matter, both for ourselves an
! for others.
:. The modes Of conveyance fror
it country to country might prove of a
a GREAT Value MS the school room and h