The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-05-29
How Much Shall We Teach?
BY ]. NJ. YARNELL.

Essay read before the Teachers Institute OF
the Jackson Union School, May l6, 1871
Were we to assert that every child should be
instructed in all the departments of learning
him, the proposition would meet with many
objections. Were we further to claim that he
branches, the opposition would be such as to
compel us to defend or to surrender our posi-
The general principle, that every child has a
right to demand of the State free tuition, has
always suffered from too numerous limitations.
Taxes for partial tuition meet with popular
favor, but full tuition, or higher education, is
though a limited and imperfect education
could be all-important-an imperative necessity
worthless and unworthy the gratuity of the
70 provide a liberal education for the masses,
is held by the majority of our people to be a
thing utterly impracticable, while even the
out a compulsory system, it ispositively i'm pos
sible to secure to all our people that invaluable
reading their own ballots; but to compel va
grant children to attend school to receive the
free tuition. Is loudly denounced as unconstitu-
tional and terribly tyrannical.
eating such ultra views, would be a bitter
knowledge of the facts, which he must needs
reasoning OF the opposition. We might find, by
a more careful examination of the subject, that
by compulsory means, are more numerous and
conclusive than we have hitherto been aware !;
education necessary for the proper living of
any human being, has uniformly been too low
istTy 'is as thisNTRe learned PROFESSIONS could
never support the race and such as this-"The
wise enongh to live by his wits" So We have
all rested satisfied with the old con clusion that
so long as the world needs FhewerS of wood and
drawers of water" men OF muscle need no
mental culture more than they require IN the
actual prosecution of their daily trades to ena-
BILE them to drive the plane, to WELD the ham
mer or the hod. Thus the race OF mankind is
ever repeating itself, and the ignorant father
on the farm, or at his trade, is replaced by the
ignorant son, following in the footsteps OF his
Iadher, no less 1 anu Ore no 1en inteiSepf
mode of life, This imperfect state of society, as
it still exists is urged as an ar
Sion to the evil of Ignorance as a doom inevita-
race, and the insignia of their enthralIment are
endured as by the fat of Fate. We are ne
quently surprised TO ind IN our dally papers papers OF
widest circulation, the oft-repeated rehash OF
this same pitiful augmentation. so long, II is
claimed as the parents of our largest families
are SO invariably the hapless poor VINO need all
the time and help of their larger children, to
assist in earning bread and butter for the
members of the same houSehoIdI sui
ficent schooI-attendance can never be secured
to enable all children to complete the rudi-
ments of a common education even, Wlthoat
taking the antire progeny, Spartan-nke, ana
them all at the public expense
Well, what then if the ancestry of our future
race be so wretchedly INDECENT as this confession
would have them, and if their descendants like
them are to constitute our sovereign voters in
swaruing myriads, must the nation submit to
the Extension of the reign of ignorance in the
same ratio as the increase of population and
privilege of indulging their gToyeliHg views OF
life? In order to secure a PhBtonic liberty
shall we sacrifice all higher enjoyments and the
highest type of liberty too. Yet all this must
follow and even more, if our youth receive no
instruction other than a fast age requires to
make them sharp and Shrewd.
Many parents, it is true, need all the assist
ance that can 1egitimately accrue from the
laborS OF their children, but this does not give
the parent the right to hold them in Ignorance,
nor does it excuse them for neglecting their
education. The child's rights, in this case are
to the parents. A parent has no
right to sell the minority of his child into
serYitude that will unfit it for any no.
for the paitry value of q ehild's labor barter
away his children's school-days and Hx their
sphere in life irretrievably in state hQpelessly
doomed to serviIe toll Since no one may with
hold from q child the food necessary 10 a manly
groWth, surely no man is guiltless who so de-
6rives his child OF the proper development of
its GOd-given powers as TO leave IL mere lnIeI-
IectuaI dwarf among its fellows-dependent for
ifs Knowledge on the opinion of others-itselfa
mere cipher among the S1gn1ncant ngureS tnaL
compose society. Better tnaG PEe,e fbg3
to deprive the young of the necessary prepara-
tions to battle successfully with relentless
" All this kind of plea for nom attendance upon
the means of instruction, will be found based
upon an unreasonable state of things. When
the apparent necessity exists there Is always a
who patronize the schools least, are most fire.
quently found patrOn1Zlng the lowest forms OF
1ice: and those pupils most irregular at school,
Non attendance has always a more serious
cause than an occasion for work. I venture the
assertion that not one-half of those habitually
absent are found employed in any useful way
ing all absences claimed for necessary labor
they still have ample time to attend school,
oonpIete regular course, become will qualified
for any position in business and enjoy life in
the end Infinitely more than they possibly can
do bY Following out their present course.
Ths truth of it is, every plea for pon-attend-
ance is a pitifQl Subterfuge to cover wrong,
and every excuse for popular Ignorance is 4
or q
entirely too gauzy and most shameleSsIy thin
1 have thus, at the outset, treated of the mat
ter of School-attendance from the fact that the
question "How much shall we teach ?" often
depends upon how much will the pupils attend.
Now to our subject proper: Every child should
be taught to look and listen; to sit right, to
stand RINK t 70 yeT %k o Igi III 5 G 10 S E 9
or in the kindergarten class, the primary
teacher would have nothing to do but to keep
them right,-looking notwithstanding.
Ten months instructions with loo such pupils
Just ready to be taught, should exhibit a class
them during The @ year. y gI h9 @ eGnld read with
ed 81 who could print in creditable manner,
SO who could make straight lines and ovals,
and 20 wn4 f9ei9 fa members in te q class 6ere
should be at least 100 who could look at once,
more with these 100 pupils should enable them
to read readily, to write leglply, TO spell every
draw simple forIns neatly, and above All to
obey promptly and cheorfuly. Ten months
more M IN tbsr iesson GOOD speeTs in ali the
words they use quick to count and add small
drawing, ready with tongue to tell all they
have seen, read, or been t3Ig. The next ten ten
through Primary Geography and Primary
Arithmetic With equal progress, in the STAPLE
be spent upon the rudiments Of Arithmetic,
both written and mental, map-drawtnB aud
penmanship, with corresponding dIill in all
the former staple stock. Ten months
more should be devoted to the further maturing
of the Studies begun, together with the facts of
Political Geography aPd constant practice in
the improvement of Language tlseq; The next
ten months would be needed for U, $. History,
Practical Arithmetic and FL. Grammar. An
other ten for composition, Eng. Analysis, Com
meFcial Arithmetic, or Bookkeeping, and Ell.
Algebra.
It Will thus be seen that allowing the pupils
to enter school at the age of years we you'd
have them complete what Is usually dehomi-
mated the common branches dtthe age Of Ia,
and thus have them prepared by the time they
are old enough to enter upon the active pur-
suits of life, either in learning trade or pFepar
ing for q profession, to start with changes of
better success IN the race for ponor, wealth, re;
nown. If knowledge is worth anything at all
the more extensive and general the knowledge,