Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-12-18

.rouoh now for the farmer who lives on one
VA. of a town to manage his affairs only as
vell 4, the farmer who lives on the opposite
aide. il is now not enough for the ariizan VINO
lives At one end of the street 10 do MS WORK
univ as well as the artizan who lives at the
other end. The product of every farm ana
of every workshop in the State must 60 upon
4 market, where the competition OF tne who're
world makes itself felt now, and will make
itself felt more and more in the future. On-
10 skilled labor, which is always and every
where cheap labor, judged by its products,
can meet successfully this competition
These three things, agriculture, mechahi-
cal industries. transportation, make 1t mani
fest that during the last fifty years the tlmes
have Undergone great Change IN the Sta'e
of Maine, and that tie education impaired py
the com mon school should undergo an equal
" great change; should be made half literary
and half industrial, with the best instruction
in all things. The revelation cannot come
one day too soon.
But what particular things, to proceed 10
detail, should the common school teach!
l-LANGUAGE.
With the utmost care The common scnooi
should teach the use of words, the chief vehl-
Gle of thought speaking, reading, writing
Much more attention than now should ne
p;ven TO the actual speaking OF our motner
tnnoue with correctness and elegance Wnat
bunelers in speech are heard on every sue
To this the common school can put an end.
The reading ought TO be both vocal and silent.
The vocal part, which should be easy, conver-
sational, ineligible, without dramatic Hour
ish, adapted, not TO the stage, but to the nre-
side, can be mainly acquired By ten or twelve,
and after that, should take subordinate
place; but silent reading, of which little or no
he n
Gus feature of the whole common school
course. By silent reading taste for reading
GOOD books, without which the ability to read
is of little worth, can be very generally de-
veloped. For this purpose there should be,
under the direction OF the teacher, systematic
reading of a small, carefully graded library,
such as ought to be in every common school.
To-day large proportion of the communi-
ty do not read books at all-even books that
bear directly upon their every day life. Ihey
have no faith in book lore. But Of those who
do read, il is not probable that one person out
Of ten reads book once year, which has
any real strength of fibre. any power to ele-
vate or adorn. The common school can in
great measure put an end to this. Penman-
ship, plain and rapid, that and nothing more,
can be easily taught to children by the time
they are seven or eight. The spelling of no
more than 6 900 or 5000 words, and those in
common use, should be attempted, instead OF
the 10000 or 30, 900 found in the present SPELL
ing books, the gre ter part of which are new
er written, and therefore never spelled out
of school, by the great multitude OF men and
women. The writing of letters and business
papers should be thoroughly taught, and may
be so taught to large majority of boys and
girls by the time they are twelve or fourteen.
Seldom is anything like this now done. As
for technical grammar, that should not be ia
ken until twelve or fourteen years, and 100
pages eff al ordinary textbook are quite
enough. So much for language in the COM
mon school.
2-MATHEMATICs.
As for arithmetic, there should be just
enough for ordinary business. "nd no more.
Ofgeometry, those problems should be taught,
and those only, that lie at the basis Of indus
trial drawing, that have direct practical bear
ing upon mechanical pursuits and navigation.
In the shore towns navigation should be