The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-09-25
OUR EDUCATIONAL M0LOCH.
A Common Sense View OF the MOdsl
Public School system.

| Common Sense View of the Modern
Public School system.
The native of America has his fetishes
| as well as the untutored inhabitant oi
Africa. One of these is the educational
| system in vogue in our public schools.
| Il is a cardinal point of belief with the
| othordox American that the system is
perfect and ought not TO be touched.
| The teachers are held to be inspired
| and infallible. To hint at a reform in
! their laws and customs IS esteemed al
1 most a crime. Therefore 1t Is that the
-f--l.A lsaerieapsis lstaeed an tt Q arms
OF the rnot6esfNsvS -<-t usstious-sand his
] parents are hidden to Keep at respectful
| distance until the Will of that power is
ACCOMPLISHED. The mould into which
| the child is placed is one ard the same
for all 1t is of iron, and will not bend.
| The child must be made to fit the sys-
| TEN, since the system Will not yield an
| iota to accommodate the peculiarities
Of any particular child. In this, it may
be respectfully submitted, the system
Is defective. AS a point of fact, is is
questionable whether as good general
scholars are turned out by the scfools
of the day, with all their modern appll-
ances, as by the old fashioned school
teachers who taught in log cabins, with
few textbooks and imperfect aids to ed
ucation. The trouble zee ms to be that
children are forced ard crammed. 1t Is
the aim to send out graduates of imma-
ture ase, who put on the appearance of
v>st erudition, but have little practical
knowledge for the BUSINESS of life.
Pupils are well up IN algebra who can
not tell where Fort Bridger is, and
scholars who can give the chemical SYM
boIs are unable to fix the year in which
the constitution of the United States
was adopted. Logic, rhetoric, and ge-
ome.ry are excellent studies IN them
selves, but accurate spelling, and full
knowledge of geography and history
are a necessity of daily life to one who
pretends to anything like an education.
Boys are studying logic and quadratie.
equations, when they should be thumb
ing the spelling-book. Arithmetic is
made the fourda ion and test of all
progress, and everything else is sacri-
feed to it, though the knowledge of the
elementary rules of that science is all
that is needed in the ordinary affairs of
life. Hence a child that has a good
memory star DIS we'll ard is advanced
rapidly, though he should forget to-
morrow what he learns to- day. The
teachers bear the lesson by rote, and
memory is therefore always at prem
ium. OF course the child who has 7 o
taste for arithmetic, though a genius
in all else, must stand at the foot of the
lowest class so long as he or she remains
a scholar. Tt ese things ought not so
to be. A sound system of education
would place spelling, geography and
bietory on a par with mathematics, and
would give the brain that puzzles over
vulgar fractions au opportunity to make
up its defeat by triumphs in other lines.
f9.sde ana "a kant, Ents ps bsfR a1eP r
age graduates of the public schools
want to learn everything about their
own country, and little about the rest
of the world. The plan of giving
free education to every child is grand
one. but it by no means follows that the
system in use is infallible. Parents
can do little or nothing by their over
sight, so long as the rules are inhexibly
applied to all alike. On all hands it is
agreed that there is too much cram
ming. Physicians say that growing
should not strdy at home. If
the teachers are educators, and not |
merely machir es to hear lesson by |
rote, the six hours that are given them
to train a child afford ample time TO fill
the brain for a single day. Fewer
branches of sSudy, more instruction and
less recitation in the school, and no les
sons at home, would be an admirable
basis for a reform in our system of ed
ucation. Our modern moloch of edu-
cation should give place to a living sys-
tenn that shall be adapted to the needs |
Of living men and women.