Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1871-09-29
=, For the Keowec Courier.
SGradatiOn OF Primary Schools.

l:dicsa IS. Editors From an experience OF
twenty five 5cars, in the school room, as
toss.ttf t = apr primary schools, We have, be-
oSsss1sIlorou N convinced that tho oodfse 81
stidics, usually prescribed, is unphilosophi-
cal, contrary to the laws which govern the
human MUD, and therefore radically wrong,
aud tho sooner abandoned, the better for the
ciuse of education.
F, Eve try to teach the child too many things
at once and the same time, ond bef,rc he i;
prepared to learn or comprehend any one
OF them, except tho spelling book All the
a B G schools throughout the land have been
converted into C1ilcgcs, presided over by SELF:
constituted professors who, in many instances,
Ought to be studying Webstcrs Elementary
Themselves All the girls and boys, who in
days of yorc attended "the ohl Ecla school'
taught by the pcdagoguc, have been, through
the magical influence of this fast age, trans
formed into young ladies and gentlemen. =
Hence, the child of few summers, who
should be studying nothing, but how to spell
IS required by the professors Of these carica-
lures upon the name of school, to study a
lesson in Arithmetic, another in Grlmar, an
other in Geography and perhaps still another
in Philosophy, all in the same day!
Now the education impaired by this course
is superficial and imperfect. The graduates
from these moacrn Colleges know little of
several things, but unfortunately they do not
understand any of them sufficiently to be of
any practical utility. They are omphatcally
10 wilderness Of light, but it is of the E,ch
0oa"'m kind always cluiing their grasp. =
They know but little more Of the sciences
Vhich they have studied than their names {!
) Now, the remedy for this constantly grow
dng evil is to grade our Primary Schools
IauNMtIat VIC mean by graded schools is sim
! ply this:
7 First-I.ct there be school for juveniles
in which nothing but spelling and reading
shall be taught. After the scholars Shall have
graanutc1 in the spelling and reading school
and they should not leave it until thew
! shall have become competent spoilers and
| iluont readers let them be sent to n wrtino
school After having learned the art of Penn.
manship they should then commence the
study Of Arithmetic, under compctept
arithmetician, who devotes his whole time 70
the teaching of this useful science. After
having learned the science of numbers. let
them be sent to gramar school taught by q
teacher who fully understands the art of speak
ing and writing correctly, not from habit. Gus
tom or imitation but from n thorough compre
hcnsive knowledge of the art scientifically ob
tanned. Let every thing else whicn The child
studies be taught in the same manner.
but says the professors of these juvcn2c
Coflcges, we advocate the DaricIy course of
studies, upon the ground that it rests the
mind The child becomes weary in consc.
qucncc OF the monotony occasioncd by only
one study. Hence, in shifting from one
branch of study to another the mind becomes
refreshed
This, sir, is one Of the objections which
we have against your course of studies It
is in accordanc with an unaltcrablc, univer.
sal law OF the human mind, that no one can
possibly advance undcrstandingly in any
study until his mind shall have become into.
rested in that study. This will not happen
until the mind becomes fully imbucd with
the subject matter Of the science which he is
studying. Hence, if you change his studies
every two or three hours during the day, YOU
relieve his mind. it is true, Of the labor Of
hard studying, but you also prevent him from
becoming interested in any one Of his several
studies and the inevitable result is, he does
not make any beneficial progress, because his
time aud attention are so divided that hu can
not concentrate the powers of tho mind upon
any one of his studies
But the main objection to this course Of
studies exists in the faot that it gives the
teacher four or five times as much us he can
possibly have time to DO, requiring, as it
woro, the student to learn without teacher.
TO illustrate our meaning here is teach
er who has under his charge City scholars.
Thirty are spelling and reading. The other
twenty studying Arithmetic, Grammar, etc.
"A class comes forward to rccite lesson in
Grammar. While they aro rcciting all the
rest of the school are as general thing idIing
away their time Those ciphcring cannot
advance from want of instruction, and tho
teacher has not time to give it. The spell
ing and reading classes arc brought to dead
hat; others are idle because the teacher oan
not notice them, ETC., etc.
| We will venture tho assertion thot if bows
were sent to competent arthmetician who
should teach Arithmetic only, that six months
would mako them bettor arithmoticiaps. tban
nine tenths of those who study this science
ever become. Aud the same is equally true of
English Grammar. After scholar oan road
nuontly, from threo to ivo months, under a
competent grammarian, ono who is theoreti
liz and practically versod in tho soienoe