Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-12-26
Memory WOrsll Up.

Memory Worship.
AMELIA Y. PETIT.
What a blessed thing it would be if
the teachers Of our country could study
Phrcnology long enough to learn that
there are several other faculties Of the
mind which require culture besides tho
memory. Ii they could feel that H.
vention, Constructivcncss, ldcality, and
the remaining mental organs need dc.
vclopmcnt. instead Of being allowed to
lie almost dormant, wha. stride in I'D
vance education woul! take
Visit any school, listen to the recita-
tious, how much original work is done
IN the study Of any science First,
there is reading class. Every mcm-
Der rises in turn, reads a 'verse,' is
corrected in pronunciation, emphasis,
or style Of delivery, and the class files
back to make way for something else.
How few faculties besides memory were
exercised In nine out Of ten in
stances no other no ones attention
was directed to the sentiments OK
pressed or facts stated, there was no
discussion, no criticism, no thought
evoked.
II the same class every second day
were obliged to bring for u reading
lesson half dozen original lines accu-
rately spelled, illustrating some elocu.
tional nicely, with definition of every
word ready in the mind, interest would
be excited. mental action aroused, Con-
structiveness, Casualty. Comparison,
and other organs, would find work, the
whole mind with its various powe1s
would show life, and the thous hit thus
elected would better aid education than
the beauties Of any author prosed over
in the usual manner.
Perhaps mental arithmetic follows
reading, and page after page is ana
lyz.d glibly, the teacher smiles ap-
provingly and would dismiss tho class
only you stop her by asking johnny
to make problem or ex~
ample himself i; then you find. as be-
fore, memory is the pack-horse which
does all the work. Suppose once in
two or three days the class composed
aud solved examples made by them
selves, would simple request for q
home made problem meet such blank
silence.
Thus the days work goes on even
grammar, which is pre-cminently con-
cerned with the expression Of thought,
fares no better than the rest. Instead
Of pages upon pages Of riginal writ
ten illustrations from the pupils, there
is only vast c'atter Of words called
parsing little thought is here re-
qu'red, but the memory docs the chief
work,
And through the whole school and
college curriculum the same or very
similar plan is followed, with perhaps
semi-n,onthly opportunities, to use the
whole brain in writing themes. We're
it not that pupils must necessarily ex-
ercise thought upon the everyday con-
Germs Of life outside the school-room,
the ordinary course Of school educa-
ton would make more people incompe-
tent for the business of life than it
now DIES. But, finally, there comes a
blessed day, when the education is
Finished" that is. the memory has been
crammed to repletion, while the other
faculties have followed the reapers at Il
distance, gathering as cleaners the
scattered grains. What now? Will
memory do the worlds work as it has
done that Of the school room =? Now
the pupil, male or female, is expected
to use grandly the boards Of learning
and the results of thought supposed
to have been gathered and stored in
the workshop Of his own mind. There
lies the fault; the learning has not
been wrought over and woven into
the texture Of the individual intel
lect. 1t proves but an cutsid; starch
ing and dressing that must be princi-
pally washed out or, 1T least, rum
pied, crumplcd, and crushed before
anything can be made Of the 6re,
glossy looking substance.
A course Of study, as generally
managed, does not materially aid one
in the business of life. Unless the
intellect was naturally uncommonly
fine and vigorous, it rather trammcls
than helps. 1t is only after some years
Of efforts, struggles, and mistakes, one
throws off the idea that his classical Cd
ucatien will.:be of much value in ad
vancing success, and finds that persis-
tent work with all the mental and
physical powers is really the great
helper on which be may rely.
Most Of the students of today imag-
inc and believe, as once imagined and
believed, that the quantity Of Greek
Latin and mathematics they force their
m mories to retain, is the end and aim
Of an education, and will be the means
Of fearing them on to honor, wealth,
aud power. Now, no view of educa-
ton is more erroneous or injurious, yet
it is the usual one. And it is not sur
prising this is the case when such stress
is laid, in schools Of every grade, upon
the amount Of knowledge acquired,
and not upon the thought aroused or in
quiry suggested.
The world supposed move had
been made 10 tho right direction when
object-teachinS Was first preached, but
the system seemed applicable only to
the youngest students. and Was imme-
diateIy 50 hobbled by the one idea class
that it has fallen almost int disreputc.
Still, it served purpose, aud will ul-
timateIy gain higher place in public
estimation than it has yet held.
Whatever defects the system has, it
is founded upon one grand truth,
that thought should be aroused before
the memory is 80 burdened. 1t is
not the cyclopedic mind that aids ad-
vancement and improvement it is
the inventive, thought-producins mind
Facts are the fulcrum, thought the
Archimedcan lever which moves the
whole fabric Of society. The man Of
thought always holds the first rank in
public estimation. A poet is greater
than king ; but we must take care
we do not destroy our poets by chok-