National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-11-23
WASTE IN EDUCATION.
DEFECTS OF INSTRUCTION IN on
COMMON SfyLJnOTS

DEFECTS OF INSTRUCTION IN OUR
COMMON SCHOOLS.
The readers Of THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN,,
who feel the deepest interest in our system of
education, will remember that we have frequently
insisted that our school boards have been prone
to place too much reliance on text books. Upon
this subject the New York Commercial Advertiser
observes as follows:
HAS the reader any adequate idea of the vast
amount Of time wasted in the work OF giving
children common school education? If not, he
will do well to consider the question. For we are
all creatures Of habit and the victims of Worn-out
methods, and that, too, in an age when every
minute is precious. In the schools there Is a
great deal Of unnecessary teaching, which is en-
couraged under the mistaken idea that it exer-
eises the mind. 1t does this at the expense OF
making the child mere memorizng machine,
and tablet for the Inscription OF dry facts that
Long lists of needless names and dates and
rules are erammed into the mind, under the
trained, when the reverse is the case. There IS
nothing in this method to draw out the talent
latent in the child, and Mt him for the sphere he
was born 10 NIL. The root OF the trouble is that
the textbook takes the place OF the teacher.
Routine questions are asked, and the result is
marked down in diary, and there the matter Of
education is supposed to end. But for this pur
pose only q machine teacher is needed. The
book becomes the real instructor, and not the
living man or woman who properly should i'm
sWeTs through the channel Of memory. There is
nothing to suggest nothing TO impart an idea,
nothing to search out and find the responsive
chord. To preside at a recitation, TO put cues.
tiOns and receive answers, to follow out a sDeci-
fed and rigid rule OF examination, is supposed TO
be the sum Of q teachers duties, when II is the
mere external husk Of what should be living
process.
rIt is one thing to commit a book to memory
and recite It's paragraphs with the precision Of
parrot and quite another affair to give the intel
tgent story Of its contents without regard TO
chapter and page. poor scholar may reeite
we'll so far as memory goes, while one who is to
make his mark in the world may, under the sys-
TEN Of close following Of the verbia2e o. al au-
thor, appear decidedly at disadvantage. A book
VI Marks IN which accuracy Of memory is put
down. is no lair gauge Of scholars attainments,
nor is an examination, conducted on the same
principles, any test Of his efficiency. The essence
Of education, the molding Of the scholar for life,
is entirely lost to sight. There are lew pareats
among those who have sons and daughters at our
public or private schools that have not been dis
appointed at the method pursued. Both teachers
and pupils are the victims Of textbooks. The
scholar brings home pile Of dreaTy books on
which he spends the hours when he should be at
play, and the teacher IS tied down to these
Straight Jackets Of education.
at would be no bad idea to Danish all text
books from the schools for year. That expert
ment would soon prove whether the teachers
were fit for their position, and what rank each
pupil was entitled to take in HIS class. Oral in
struction takes 4 far more permanent hold Of the
mind than memOTiZing from books. 1t affords
the learner an opportunity to ask questions as
the lesson proceeds, and gives the teacher the
tire cOnlrOl OF minus Inhl lie lhllOW
before him. 1t opens also field for enthusiasm
I'm teaching and learning, where everything now
is drudge work. 1t would give life where there
is nothing now but worn and worthless ma
chinery that wastes the powers Of educators and
educated, Possibly the reform suggested Is too
radical If so, It may be attempted In part, in
order to gather the result Of the experiment.
Certainly some change is needed. The success
lul scholar in our schools to-day is mere memo
riZing machine. The teacher is an automaton
shat asks questions put into his or her mouth by
others. The textbook is a stumbling stone in
the way Of progress. In the meanwhile the
cause Of education sufferers, and change Is
needed. Who will speak TO put an end 70 the
waste Of power in our schoOls?h