Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-11-04

higher than that attained by certain
nations thousands of years ago.
The thought has occurred, whether
there is no more open aody of reform
ing the world than those that have
enlisted the chief strength, talent and
zeal of philanthropists and Christians.
pretend to no new discovery when
| declare that in no direction can Il
reform be more productive of rich
fruits, than to secure the right educa-
ton of the child. Gone ounce of pre-
vention'' here, as in all other cases,
ais worth pound of cure.'
A child is as clay in the hands of
the potter, and can be moulded at will
by parents and teacher. Bend the
twig and you will incline the tree. If
what has been said is true, or even
approximates the truth, it invests the
subject of the education of the young
with an Importance that should at
tract to it the attention of all who
strive to improve the condition of So
ciety, and to make men better. The
best way to reform is to reform the
children; this is the weak side of the
enemies works. Every blow struck
here tells. If all the children of the
county could be brought under good
influences, the battlements of error
and wrong would fall like the walls of
Jericho at the sound of the Israelitish
trumpets.
The patriotic cry of our fathers in
revolutionary times was, Millions
for instruction, that little may be
needed for poverty and crime.'
1t is the duty of the parent to feed,
clothe and educate his children. When
he neglects his duty, it is the right
and duty of the State to step between
the parent and child, and perform the
neglected duties. The State furnishes
liberal provision for the education of
her future citizens, that they may be
more happy and prosperous, and more
useful members of society; and if they
neglect or refuse to avail themselves of
the facilities afforded by the State, or
similar ones, the State by enactment
should compel them to do so. A word
upon the rules, regulations and course
Of study adopted by the State Board of
Education:
Nothing can be more beneficial to
the schools than a uniform system of
grading; it enables the teacher to
bring up his classes, rank and file, in
the whole course of studies, and saves
him time and unnecessary labor; but
to comply strictly to the letter under
all circumstances, l do not believe in.
1t often occurs that pupils advanced in
years enter school for few months to
pursue one or two branches that they
are most deficient in, and that they
most need. 1t would be folly to re-
quire them to comply strictly with the
rules for grading, besides it would do
them positive injury. Common
sense in this, as in everything else, is
necessary to form a correct judgment.
Labor is a necessary condition of
humanity, and he who has been
taught to labor with system and
method has learned a more valuable
lesson than the eleven propositions,
Book 4, of Legendre. Or a thorough
knowledge of quadratic equations,
and to form habits of study to
reduce odds and ends to system
and method is as much of a teachers
work and duty as to teach the multi
plication table. The different condi-
tions of the children should not be
taken into account. All are required
to labor; all should be taught industry.
The poor work to get bread for their
appetites, the rich to get appetites for
their bread. According to natural
laws, all should acquire habits of in
dustry, and in no place can those habits
be better acquired than under an ac-
tive, industrious and energetic teacher.
Some teachers are too scientific and
reduce all subjects to science and
their methods of conducting recitations
to science are SO high that they can
not get down to the level of the child.
believe that as large majority of
the scholars in our public schools will
have to earn their bread by the sweat
of their brow, it is vastly more bene-
ficial to teach them those things which
they will be called upon to practice
than to chase after shadows by COM
mitting rules, definitions and explana-
tions and neglect the substance. For
example many teachers teach the sci
ence of grammar and neglect it rs an
art. Their pupils can recite rules, def
nitions, conjugations, declensions,
analyze and parse till you would be
surprised at the vast amount of knowl-
edge their small heads contained, yet
those same scholars can scarcely open
their mouths to speak or put pen on
paper to write sentence unless they
violate some of the very rules that
they can SO glibly recite What is the
use knowing how to explain l.. G. NJ,
G. G. d. and why you invert the di-
visor in division of fractions, and not
know how to perform the examples
under the different rules when they
occur in practice. l do not deprecate
science, but l deprecate the want of
art which should, in all cases, precede
science.
In a few months l will retire from
the office of superintendent of Schools.
l shall not, in all probabilities, meet
you officially in a body again. You
will pardon me if allude to my acts
and work during my connection with
the schools. l am we'll aware that
many things have been neglected or
might have been better performed; but
during my first term of office, the
salary which my predecessor received,
including travelling expenses, was
$40, but for my accommodation it was
fixed by legislative enaction at $4O0,
without travelling expenses or any
perquisites. 1 visited all the schools
in the county twice and was always
to be found on my regular Office days
in my office. l travelled over 1900
miles during my term, paying all of
my expenses, and at the end Of my
first term found had done all of the
work for nothing and had paid $50 for
the privilege. l sought the Office the
second time for two-fold purpose.
First-For the selfish reason of making
an effort to get even by having my
salary raised; and second, that had