The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-02-12

The prosperity of our country, the per.
manence of our free institutions, and the
happiness of our people, depend, in a
great measure, upon the proper training
of our youth; and among the agencies
employed in their education and fitting
them for the duties and privileges of cit
izenship, none perhaps, are so powerful
as our public schools; and yet, proud as
we may justly be, of these institutions,
we must admit that their beauty is often
marred and their use fulness impaired by
the ineficiency of their teachers.
The first fault we shall mention, is,
Failing to properly organize and classify a
school, In many of our public schools,
there is no proper distribution of the
time of the teacher, among the different
grades of pupils, or branches of study /;
and no such classification of pupils as
the best interest of the school demands.
In our public schools, there should be
such division of time, among the differ
ent grades of pupils and branches of
study, as will secure to each pupil a
proper share of the attention of the
teacher. These divisions, and the amount
of time devoted to each, will vary in diff
ferent schools; and in this, and other
matters of school management, the
teacher should be guided by his judg-
ment, after careful examination of the
requirements of his pupils. A programme
of school exercises, and the amount of
time allotted to each, facilitates proper
distribution of time, renders both teacher
and pupils more systematic in the dis
charge of their school duties, and relieves
the teacher of many perplexities caused
by poor recitations. In classifying, many
teachers make too many classes, and
their recitations are too short, and their
teaching is wanting in thoroughness. A
few teachers make too few classes, there
by having too great variety of attain
ments in the same class; thus, retarding
part, or pushing too rapidly the others.
The true course lies between these two
extremes, but making as few classes as is
consistent with the best interests of your
school,
The next fault we shall mention, is,
Want Of fthoroughness an teaching. There is a
desire, on the part of many pupils to pass
rapidly from book to book, and from one
branch of study to another. This desire,
if not in excess, and if united with suf-
fcient zeal and energy in study, is COM
mendable; otherwise it should be care
fully restrained by the teacher; but often
this disposition is fostered, rather than
restrained The result is the pupil be-
comes superficial in all his studies. They
are not pursued so as TO give, either
mental discipline, or proper knowledge
of the subject. Nor does the evil stop
here; the child carries the habit into
manhood; if he becomes a mechanic or
farmer, he performs his labor in the same
imperfect manner; if he enters one of
the professions, his labors are still char
acterized by the same imperfectiofs
Closely allied to superficial teaching, are
the faults of teaching too exclusively
from the textbook, and attempting too
much at one lesson. Textbooks should
be the teachers aids in teaching, but not
relied on solely as the source of instruc-
ton. Teaching partly outside of the
textbook, encourages thought in the
pupil; he becomes more interested in
his studies, and consequently better
versed in them. In attempting too much
at one lesson the mind of the pupil is
not concentrated, his lesson is imper-
fectly understood, he is discouraged by
his failure, and imagines the subject to
be beyond his comprehension.
Another fault, is, Teaching too much of
sohat is of no practical advantage to our pupils,
to the neglect of what is more useful. Would
it not be better for our pupils, that we
teach less of Geography, Grammar, Arith-
metic and Algebra, in our Common
Schools, and teach something of Botany,
Nat Philosophy, and Nat. History. Our
rural districts are largely peopled with
farmers; whose sons often leave school,
with good knowledge of many of those,
to them, useless parts of mathematics,
while they know little or nothing, of the
composition of soils, or of the growth of
plants.
The next fault we shall mention, is,
Want of discipline. This is the rock on
which most teachers, who fail to be sue
cessful, are shipwrecked. If a teacher is
a good disciplinarian, he will rarely fail
of success; if not he will seldom gain
good reputation as a teacher, whatever
NAV be his other qualifications. The
faculty of governing we'll, seems to be,
to some extent, inherent in the man;
but may be improved by study and expe-
rience. To secure good order in the
school-room, nothing, perhaps, is better,
than to keep pupils interested in their
studies and to keep them constantly en-
ployed The old maxims that
"Satan finds some mischief still,
For idle hands to do"
and that, "He who does nothing is in
the ready way to do that which is worse
than nothing prove as true in the
school-room, as elsewhere; and the
teacher will usually find that pupil has
been idle, before being otherwise disor-
derly. Occasional, general exercises of
few minutes duration, eplivenour schools,