The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-05-29

| of Mathematics one foI the Languages and one
! We need not advocate the study of the Higher
Mathematics for All young mem nor consume
miss be Instructed in the principles OF Botany
! these branches admit their importance and
| often feel their imperative necessitO. But
| that would open the way to such accomplish
ments. What then if course be objected to by
ers as being too SUPERFICIAL should they be salts
! fled with none at all? We would not say that
auy ones eualifca tiOnS should be limited to
/ the short course here deEneated but we do say
than that which they denOunce as superficial
are not competent to say that the time spent
upon Algebra by ladies is fooliShly thrown
away and that the study of Ovid and Virgil
Will do only for those who have nothing else to
do We would here submit that those who ad-
wise others what not to study should themselves
be profoundly scholastic, having a com
discipline of mind obtained by systematic study
in the various departments of Science;
course at the age of Il he is then ready for
COLLEGIATE course which he can complete by the
age of l9 20, at least year before he enters
upon his citizenship as being by his majority
man, now an accomplished scholar with al the
period of manhood and the prospect OF happy
life before him.
correctly. There is absolutely no danger of too
much schooling; our people will never become
not warranted then in drawing the conclusion
that all the studies in a liberal course should be
receive a finished education? But the teaching
of mere syllabus of studies constitutes but one
would do our whsle duty. New ideas must be
awakened and correct habits inculcuted. The
must be taught its vast Importance Those res
tive urchins who see no necessity for your re-
taught that order and law are each an absolute
neceSSity-taught to admire the beauties of sys-
tenn in all things and to desire the common adj
van ntageS that result from the surrender OF 1ndl-
viduaI liberty to the general good. They must
be instructed to respect social regulations and
rightful authority. Those children who seem
the most unweIcome-unwashed and unwin-
who stumble into school, lf-haggard and
wholly hap-haZzard must be taught the desira-
bleness of cleanliness, tidiness, neatness, and
nicely. Even the querulous and quarrelsome,
their neighbors desk without scrupie, WHO i'm
the way home and then make false reports next
morning to the teacher, must be taught the sa-
credness of truth, the dignifcation of honor,
and the inviolability of the principles of JUS
tice. Ethics should not be deferred for the High
School. Manners and morals should constitute
the first lesson in every school. Pupils should
be taught motions and attitudes of the body, to
mien, to walk direct with light elastic step, and
to show themselves in every action graceful.
see, how to think the better to know, how to
study the better to learn. in short how to live
being into a happy, perfect, noble manhood.
Those talkative creatures are to be taught to |
prattle to better purpose. Language culture |
should begin with the first lesson in school and
be continued to the very last. AS often as a new |
fact is to be clothed in words the teacher should
prompt to the most appropriate terms to be |
employed; # percha9,nee l9, the pupil do not hit |
natural styIe Should be incufcated from the be- |
Burke Or Biaif, nor that Of Ir3tn, Prescott, OF
Henry Ward Beecher, but by pruning and |
training the childrens' own homely vernacular |
until it becomes as correct, smooth and |
mellifuous as your best Johnsonian style.
tating better copies. Their Omnipotent Creator |
speaking through the laws of their organization
Everything brought before them, therefore,
should be models OF perfection. But alas! who
to set moral copies for coming generations?
VINO 70 Wond 5n haTe m errors qd yf651h 61
immortalized for ages untold? Would speak
"Heaven spare our pupils the struggles with
error that we have undergOnei Yet every
ing school is daily Initiating her salient traits
erratic as they are-making each deformity in
ed at each tmitation-engrafting into their very
nature the faults and foibles of their teacher
shall cause them to offend long years after they |
have left the school-room, and when engaged
that had been taught better! Would that my
days. When see a copy upon the blackboard
written in quaint, uncial characters, real hy-
and then examine the distorted snnirn1ing'
Wriggling letters on the pupils SlateS the pain
full Impression steals upon me, that less teach
ing were better than so much wrong teaching.
To write list of examination questions, or an
excellent extract as a school-roOm motto, part
in antique old round-hand, part fancy-waYed,
part current, part standard style, part back.
italian shade, is not only positively inexcusa-
Die but absolutely unpardonable. Instead of
multiplying CONFUSION into inexplicability, we
should aim at consistency, simplicity, and uni
iormity. Every letter, therefore, allowed to
remain upon the board, should be model of
standard style.
So long as our errors are in chalk, brush
will easily erase then-but their impressions
IN the minds of our pupils have passed beyond
our control. They are there, within the domain
hat immortal minds, so ready and retentiVe,
,ould not be furnished with the correct only, |
orns Of letters should be added {{haf of the
orms of objects initiative drawing. The dis
secure the construction of a straight line or an
sxact representation of some simple object is
yorth more than the ability to repeat q hun
ired words whose meaning the pupil is wholly
Unable TO comprehend Ability to think is val
liable chiefly as it affords ability to do. Intellfs
gent action is the grand desideratum. The de- ,
nand OF the age IS self-actiyity, and our systems
If public instruction should be so reconstructed
IS TO answer this req Art culture should
le early commenced, and children from the day |
hey enter school should be kept actively en- ,
9loyed with pencil, crayon and brush Inven-
painting would come in as a natural result
rom the skill acquired by the former training |
aste and a clearer ideal of the God-iiIke and
beautiful. To the beautiful should be added
arIy ascend from every school in the land and /
he science of music should hold q rank equal
Both artist and artisan should receive lessons
his be msP9Sbi PPeb Is Gsng I & a1d The
# that peculiar power of each that shall efectu-
The fact that this is an iron age, and that iron
S king of the commerce OF the world should be
luly taught, AS every thing must hereafter be
lone by machlnery each public school should
)e furnished with a complete miniature set for | S
III the departments of manufacture and the G
rtS. The model steam engine should go into !.
very school-house, but not to the exclusion of l
my other instruments of science. Where is f
here a school that does not need better geo r
graphical aids and astronomical apparatus? ? | =,
Where is there a school that would not be bene-
tied blythe Introduction Of an organ or piano?
ling with the thoQght-ourrent of youth as it
eedS upon the sentiments of the sweetest of
ongS, and lifting the weight of our fallen hu-
nanity from the depths of that selfish struggle
If SenSuous race into the sublimest realms of Y
ElysiHm delights /
I believe one reason why our schools accom- !
dish little, is that their working is not suf
iciently IN cOnsOnanGe with the demands of t
he age and the laws of human development. .
J JtilitarianiSm d e m II d nothing .
,ut the purely practical; the old regime gave i
md metaphysical techicalitieS. Theory and | .
practice have too long been divorced; would d
lave them married. The maScUlinity of intel q
ectual culture and matter of fact should fall =
entimental, the moral and the emotional. O
from such felicitOuS union our SchOOl-roOmS | g
would soon display the happiest results. No i
more would we hear the dull hum-drum of
coming long lists of unmeaning sounds; no | I
more that artificial schoOl-rOom chant of me- | :.
;hanical infections and diazutic tones; but in
ng, native conversational tone. No more of I
hat dull memorizing times are T. but q |
prighty counting of objects seen, and rela-
ion OF things that else would long remain un-
Known. No more of that endless mass of dry |
lata of geographical facts-mere dry bones of
hat which ought to afford nourishment for s
Intellectual grOwtl-but the most interesting .
queries and answers to the habitat of certain |
the objects of most interest in our own
National Park, or why the lines and limit of | I
he march of empire and commerce are so fixed. =