Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-10

the clements of the natural history sciences -
The selection and order of studies must de
pend upon the laws of the growth and develop
ment of the intellect. Any other principle is
sure to end in confusion and distortion. The
pupil of the common school-that is the child
is not In the full possession of all the facul-
ties he is endowed with. He perceives quickly,
he imagines wildly, he feels with quick chang
ing fervor, he remembers easily, when COM
pared with the man he becomes. But he can
not generalize broadly, not think abstractly to
much purpose. He cannot lay hold of ulti-
mate principles. His reflective powers are still
unawakened. Whatever is objective and con-
crete he seiZes whatever is subjective and alb
stract he may wonder at, but he cannot com
prehend. No amount of ingenious torture,
sometimes cheerfully called thorough drill, can
abolish or change this law. How many times
have you seen a bright boy trumphantly eX-
hibited as a prodigy in Colburn's arithmetic,
when your relentless judgment pronounced the
whole sheer achievement of an extraordinary
memory. The best common school must assid-
uously cultivate perception, memory and imagi-
nation, changing the first into the power of
exact observation, giving method and power to
the second, and raising the imagination to a
seat beside reason on the throne Of the facul-
ties. 1t must also watch, as one watches for
the morning, the dawn of reason and wisely di-
rect its very first impulses.
This work it accomplishes in the discriminate
ing use of the obiect-method by giving TO the
pupil language, written and spoken, the instru-
ment of thought; drawing, the language OF
form and proportion; the facts OF history, ge-
ography and number. Though recognizing the
awful truth that knowledge by suffering enter
eth, and that the education which never costs a
pang is not worth the name Of education, it
still insists on piquing the curiosity of the dull
and awakening his interest as much as possible
in the acquisition of knowledge. 1t skilllully
employs, instead of more conveniently destroy
ing, all the chid'S instincts and emotions.
In prosecuting this work, what can be more
natural or more useful than to observe the facts
which underlie the natural history sciences. 10
show that this work is not done at present, one
has only to ask himself the following questions ::
How many men know whether the rocks over
which their homesteads stand are granite or
sandstone? whether or not granite and quartz
are identcal2 How many can tell limestone
| from granite? How many know whether there
are anv fossils in New England rocks 2 any shell
iish in fresh water, or any place better than an
| other where chrySalides can be tound2 How
many men or women can name all the familiar
| flowers of our fields and woods, or the birds
| famed for plumage or for song that inhabt our
| common shade trees2 How many can identify
and name the shade trees2 You answer, read
lily enough, ooh, great many can do it,"
wish you would try the experiment on the first
hundred you meet, ! used to hold your opinion,
but it has been rudely shaken. And further,
with all the time which is spent-I almost said
wasted-in studying grammar, the number OF
intelligent, and even thoughtful, people who can
describe flower, or a tree or bird, so that the
nearer can get from the description reasonably
clear idea Of it, is lamentably small.
1t has been shown by repeated experiments
| that children of six or seven years of age may
| know the name, form and color of all the com.
mon flowers and trees, and many at that age
| can recognize the song birds by their notes.
The same general results are attaina.
bic in the study of minerals, shells and
insects. and animals in general. This sort
of study of nature | would urge upon the
common school. Collections of specimens are
everywhere attainable, without money and
without price. The way is always open to the
earnest student of nature. The work must be
progressive, and must be inteligently directed
and regulated. Primary pupils can learn the
names of objects and something of their color
and form. Grammar scholars can learn to
discriminate, compare, and, in some cases, in
advanced grades, explain typical forms. The
whole work must be strictly process of viva
voce teaching. Text books must never appear
in any other capacity than as aids to the teach.
er, and as furnishing corroborative testimony
The success of the scheme depends wholly on
the teacher. If it is good in itself, and neces-
sary to sound learning, then teachers must be
prepared to carry it out. 1t seems to me that
the work of the common school, in teaching
physical science must be limited TO the study
of the facts of the natural history science | do
not see how any one can Justify any attempt
to introduce physical apparatus into this school.
1t cannot serve any purpose but that of amuse'
ment, and it is a degradation of science to use
it for popular entertainment.
Let me quote a graph in a letter from
President White, of Cornell; after urging the
importance of studying the elements of physi-
cal science in the common schools, he says
The only question is whether large numbers
of the teachers are not SO untitled for the work
as to make the carrying out of the idea almost
an impossibility If you can get over this
stumbling block, | should say, by all means
push the elements of the study in the common
school,"
Prof c. F. Chandler, the eminent chemist oil
the Columbia college mining school, says: 1t is
extremely important to introduce instruction in
physical science in schools of all grades, nc
matter how low. The physical and natural sci
ences are taught in Germany in the primary
| schools with great success. l frequently mel
the little boys securing the country with theil
| muslin nets and botanical boxes, catching but
| ternies, bottlng insects and gathering flowers
/ The great advantage of calling the attention Of
| young children to the physical and natural sci
| ences is due to the fact that their observing fac
| ulties, their inductive powers and faculty Of
correct discussion and minute and exact de.
scription, are thereby cultivated. In fact, the
| whole system of instruction in these branches
of science is what we call "Obiect teaching .
the most effective method of imparting knowl
edge and at the same time developing the vari
GUS faculties that has yet been invented.
To carry out this scheme n vast number o.
practical suggestions must be made. These
will depend entirely upon the special study in
natural history that any teacher processes tC
undertake. | eau suggest nothing more likely
10 give just the help wanted than the publica
| tons of the Peabody academy Of natural sci
| ence at Salem. they can be bought at the nat
| ura history agency in that city,
1t has fallen to my lot, at different times, tC
| argue before my fellow teachers the necessity o
| revolution in the current method OF teaching
| grammar, urging that grammar, which is thu
| statement Of the forms and laws of speech, il
| supplanting language, by pointing out that, a
/ present, there are great many interesting re
| marks made about language in school; tina
| pupils learn something Gifts history, infections
| and caprices, bat very little of its essence ant
/ power, and that every kind of inquiry anC
| every form of business would be incalculably
aided by change in this respect.
But how can this work be done in schools
already overbalanced with work. In two ways
By simplifying the work and removing all thu
| rubbish. Hoo much may be saved by bette
methods ! viii not stop to inquire. The posi-
bility of very great saving is generally ad
| mitted. How much Improbable work could b,
supplanted will only suggest, by making som
| illusions to the study of grammar, though
many reliable and experienced teachers thinI
| as much time can be saved from number ant
from spelling and from geography as iron
| grammar
Whatever our schools do or do not accom-
plish, it is pretty plain that they do not confe
| or develope right speech. There has been
steady retrogressiOn in this respect for the las
| forty years, till the monstrous notion has ap
peared that slang is the only really pungent ant
| effective speech
Probably any one who has correspondent,
of 1000 or 1900 letters year will agree witt
| me in the statement that the average citizen o
| New England, of 10 years of age, has a mucl
| more effective and serViceable commend of tn
| English language than the average man of 80
| 1t is a somewhat common belief amongs
thoughtful people that the same fac
| can be demonstrated of college grad
| yates in respect of the classical languages
| | acknowledgement the importance Of chang,
| from grammar to language in the common
| school course, in the light of the subject we ar
now considering.
| Professors in technical schools complain o
| nothing, so much or SO often as the lack 0
power of expression in their students. The dc
partment of language in a technical or scien
tifc school is, in all respects, one of the mos
| important
The progress of science depends very Target,
| upon clear and precise statements of its prob
lens and consistent use of its Technology,
But, positively, nothing tends more direct,
| to encourage and cultivate habits of precision
and elegance in speech, and no single source 0
an ample vocabulary is more aft]uent than de
scription of objects in natural history. Conver
SAINT more and more with forms which obey in