The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1873-04-12
Our Public School Systen,.

communication is not to carp at the honest eff
| forts of those who are bound to administer the
School law as they find it, nor to find fault with
over-wOrked and poorly paid teachers, but to
point out what l consider to be the great mis-
| take made in most of our schools, both public
and private, and which is not always the mis-
take of teachers alone but of that large body of
| the people who are patrons of schools, and
taxpayers" In communication to the Her.
aid of last week, over the signature of "M,"
find these words: "My Rotations each day
amount to thirty-three," and l desire to use
them as text or handle for this article To
me the fact there stated is confession that
ought to set "tax-payers" and parents to think
ing seriously. That Mirty-tlTee Rotations can
be heard in one day and the pupils properly
instructed in the subjects taught, is simply an
impossbility. l find no fault with the teacher
who wrote the article referred to, but truly
sympathize with him. I have no doubt that
he we'll knows that hearing tirty-three recitG-
tons per day by one teacher is not very profit
| able mentally to teacher or scholars. Our
school day contains six hours; deducting half
an hour for intermission or recess and recessa-
ry attention to pupils when not engaged in re-
citation, there are left three hundred and thir-
ty minutes, or exactly ten minutes for each re-
citation. have too much respect for teachers
generally to suppose that they do not know
that as a rule no recitation can be properly
conducted and completed in so short a time
| Certainly many classes require much longer
time, especially reading and arithmetic, and
| perhaps others. True, teacher can call up a
class in the Fifth or Sixth Reader, and although
the lesson for the day may be some fine extract
from some classic author-one boy may read
the first paragraph, another the second and SO
on to the end of the lesson, the teacher correct
| ing a few mistakes in pronunciation, &C., and
the recitation may be finished in less than ten
minutes, and another lesson assigned, but the
young readers will have about as much knowl-
| edge of what they have read ~ and as much
| appreciation Of SIS merit as flt wefe ne
| Chinese language!
| once visited school containing about fifty
scholars. The lesson for one of the higher
reading classes that day was Bryants beauti-
class read verse ; the lesson was finished with
| the spelling and defining of few words and
the class dismissed with the usual notice to get
| the nert lesson 1t was painful to hear this fine
poem spoiled by readers who had had but a
| short time to study it and then passed with no
| more appreciation of its great beauty than one
would be apt to get in an ordinary spelling les
| son l suppose the "neXt lesson" was treated
| in the same way, and thus class of eight or
ten pupils was hurried through book and
crdn,med with great many fine selections of
prose and verse The lessons in grammar
and arithmetic were disposed of in the same
hurried manner, and the teacher assured me
citations in order to complete the days pro-
gramme, and that it required all of his time to
hear the recitations. / do not think that teach
ers should be blamed much in such cases, for
parents are very urgent in their demands that
the children shall be taught-well, everything!
and it requires great deal of firmness to re-
sist this constant urging and demand for more
books and studies.
Too much is ATTEMPTED 10 be taught at once !
The child is given Reader, Geography Gram
mar, Arithmetic, Spelling book, Dictionary,
History, perhaps an Algebra, work on Natu-
raj Philosophy, and other books, and recites
daily from all of Them his mind is confused
in the attempt TO master so many things at
once and is cToacded with words, rules, prob
lens, definitions and descriptions, and the usu-
al consequence follows-profciency IN nothing d!
All experienced teachers we'll know that it is
impossible for the average boy or girl in either
public or private schools to pursue many stu
dies at once, to advantage. once met Miss
of fourteen or fifteen on her way to school, hold
ing in her arms such a pile of books, which
out of pity for the frail child should have been
placed upon the back of some four footed beast.
| Each of the following subjects was represented
| by book, viz: Orthography, Reading, Arith-
metic, Algebra, History, Natural Philosophy,
| English Grammar, Composition, Chemistry,
Botany. French Grammar, and, if l mistake
| not, Rhetoric. Besides having the courage to
attack each of these subjects daily, the heroic
| girl assured me that she was also taking lessons
| in vocal and instrum entail music This is no
| overdrawn picture-we can see the like every
day in any of our large Villages, or in Balti-
| more city.
And this is done in pursuit of something we
call education, as if that consists in "cram
| ming" child's mind daily with allopathic
doses of all the branches crowded in the list,
| in lessons of five and ten minutes each Edu
| cation does not consist in the repetition and
memorizing OF dozen daily lessons repeated
until the books are "fnished" Many boys
and girls after going TO school five or six years
and trying to study great many branches at
once are not even proficient in the rudiments
of any of them. Too much is attempted, and
reyy little accomplished Education is the
drGaoing out and the developing of the mind so
as to make it strong in itself not "cramming"
it and overlooking body and mind with books !
The ordinary plan may, by great effort, give a
child a little knowledge of everything, but the
same effort if properly directed towards spe-
ciic object would develop his mind into poa0-
er-make stalwart intellect stored with rich
depths of knowledge which he would know
how to use because it is acquired, and not
"crammed" and forced into him by our lightning
express system of teaching.
One of the greatest men of Europe, whose
name is held in vencration by scholars and
thinkers every where, and who was perhaps
more thoroughly versed in the natural sciences
than any man of his day, once visited fash
ionable boarding school, and while looking over
the books of one of the pupils asked her how
long it took to complete such o course as she
was then pursuing and was informed that it
only required fire months! The great man was
astonished The subjects which had been his
constant study for half century were finished
to order in this fashionable school in fUe
months!
do not mean to say that any person may
learn oil that is to be known of any subject,
but | think it is far better for the mind to be
directed during school days to the requirement
of few lessons and fewer subjects and have
these mastered, than to have a superficial
knowledge of a hundred branches of study
This thin Ueaeering may do for a show to enter
tain credulous parents and spectators at pub
lie exhibitions, but never does the poor boy or
girl any real good, and is very apt to do harm.
In looking over the bylaws of the county
schools, find plan or order of exercises, di-
viding them into sections or divisions, which
think is great improvement, and if properly
enforced by the commissioners and teachers
will do much to relieve both teacher and child
from the terrible ''cramming" process referred
| to.
| would be glad to hear through any of our
| county papers how this plan has worked in
schools where it has been fully adopted. With
| great respect however to those gentlemen who
made or suggested this plan, l think there is
too much OF it and that it would be better if it
did not require so many recitations. A. B. G..
THE DISASTER AND ITS Cause.-The story of
the Atlantic disaster is fearful The record of
the affair is heart-rending to read. When the
vessel struck the rock about 81 o'clock in the
morning, the officers rushed on deck and in
strueted the passengers what to do. The crew
took the axes and cut away the boats and low
cred them or attempted to do so. The frantic
passengers jumped in many of them pell NELL
and sunk or capsized them. They rushed over
each other, pushed each other over board, while
many of them stood or sat helplessly with des
/ pair. Scores of them rushed out in their night
clothes and froze clinging to the rigging or in
the attempt to swim ashore Many persisted
in their berths, being unable to escape before
the water rushed in. And to reflect that five
hundred lives are lost, without moments
warning by the incapacity or negligence ofthe
officers is distressing to contemplate She was
out of coal and was compelled to put in to Hal
flax for supply. The records of the different
compasses show that for half hour before the
disaster they should have been on the lookout
were either asleep or were negligent Of this sa-
cred duty. Land was easily discernable as
there are high grey rocks lining the entire coast
and these were capped and coated with snow.
mn