Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-06-26

conquest of knowledge9 Or do Jou. SIM
| ply plod along ia the traditional round of
| book-teachlng, regardless of wind and
weather, and Indifferent to the unceasing
calls which the outer world is making ON
| the attention of your pupils9 =
Ifso, pray stop moment and consider
| the impolicy OF your course You are not
merely opposing the drift of nature empty
| handed, but you are depriving Yourself of
the assistance of what might be your most
helpful allies, and your pupils Of the ben
eft of some of the most efficient means of
culture. |so
What is the purpose of the education
YOU are seeking to give? Certainly not
the mere mastery of any line of textbooks
When made-as they too frequently are
both means and end of schooling, books
are hindrance rather than help to edu-
cation. The real end is the development
of individual power and skill and intelli-
gence, and the best means for any stage of
this development are the objects and ac-
tivities which appeal most forcibly and
closely to the proper tastes and appetiteS
of the subject Of cultivation. The mud
dam which the boy is interested in may
be far more serviceable in educating him
than the most important Of studies which
he is not interested in; and the true test
of a good teacher is the ability to use these
outside interests in the furthering of the
specific purposes of the school.
How?
The spirit alone can be indicated; the
method of enlisting all things into the ser
vice of the school must depend on the
conditions of each particular case, viewed
with reference to the threefold aim of
schooling, primarily, the awakening of
sympathy between teacher and taught;
mainly, the cultivation of habits of critical
observation and independent thinking;
incidentally, the acquisition of knowledge
Mention has been made of mud-dams
No teacher in the country need be told
how absorbing such limitations of mems
work are to boys Wherever water flows
in manageable quantity, boys take to dam
building in spring as instinctively. as
beavers. In the intensity of their enjoy
ment they forget their lessons, wet their
feet, and soil their clothes continually, and
usually get more seedlings than conpli-
ments for their achievements.
What splendid opportunities for cult
waiting sympathy between teachers and
taught are thus thrown away What I'M
equalled occasion for giving instruction!
Instead of treating the boys labors with
Indifference, or worse, opposing them as
obstructives to education, suppose this
year you make them the occasion Of an
unexpected talk or two about dams and
water powers; and if possible add a little
practical instruction in regard to the mat
ter, by aiding the boys to design and build
miniature structures, in imitation of the
different sorts of dams made by men. By
so doing you will not only help them with
their sports, and thus gain an influence
over them no. otherwise to be attained,
but you will help to furnish them with
useful information and practical skill that
may prove Immensely valuable to them at
some critical period in their after lives.
So, too, with the attendant waterwheels
By-and-by you will be trying TO teach
them, from some work on natural philoso-
ply, the nature Of water power, and the
simpler means Of making use of it. How
much more successful you might be now
when they are keenly interested in the
subject With jack-knife and a few
shingles you can easily make in an after
noon set Of small models Of the different
sorts of undershot, overshot, breastwheels,
and so on; then set the more intelligent
boys to making larger ones and putting
them to work under appropriate eondi-
| tiOns. 1t won't be long before the smallest
| boy in your school has an intelligt ut COM
| prehensiOn Of all Of them-a better idea
| than you could give with any amount of
textbook teaching. Be assured that in
struction Of this sort will not be wasted,
and that the sympathy awakened between
you and your pupils will not tend to make
them less attentive to your teaching in
other matters. ..-
These are merely hints of hundred
different means that might be adopted for
making the usual distractions Of school
I've inc Ir,t
tributaries to school work, and ties for
binding teachers and pupils together in
sympathetic friendship,-Christian Union.