The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-02-25
G0utational+
J r. BRIGGS, Editor.
D. Fl. FLETT, KENosHA, REFEREE IN GRAMMAR.
D. A. MAHorHr, wooDwoRrn n KTFERns IN

( "EDUCATIoN,' BY HERBERT SPENCER, is a
work without which no teachers or parents
library can be complete; and DO book in the
library of either teacher or parent should he
perused oftener. or studied more, than this
We quote an extract from it as a specimen of
it's matter and style:
"Along with rote teaching, is declining
also. tie nearly allied teaching by rules. The
particulars frst, and then the generalization,
is the new method-a method, as the Batter
sea School Reports remark. which, though
The reverse of the method usually followed
which consists in giving the pupil the rule
FIRST is yet pro yed by experience to be the
right one. Rule-teaching is now condemned
as mparting merely empirical knowledge
as producing an appearance of understand
ing. without the reality to give the net
product of inquiry, without the inquiry that
leads to it. is found to be both enervatiug
and in efficient. General truths, to be of due
and permanent use, must be earned. 'Easy
come, easy go, is a saying as applicable to
knowledge as to wealth. While rules, lying
|
contents as outgrowths from them-are con-
tinua1ly forgotten, the principles which those
rules express piecemeal become, when cnce
reached ~ the understanding. enduring pos
sessions. While the Taught youth is at
sea when beyond his rules the youth m
strrcted in principles solves a new case as
readily as an old one. Between mind of
rules and a mind of principles. there exists a
d ference such as that between a confused
heap OF materials, and the same heap of ma
terials organized into complete whole, with
all its parts bound together, of which types
| this lsst has not only the advantage that its
constituent parts are better retained, but
the much greater advantage that 1t forms an
eficlentagent for inquiry ,foricdependent tho't
for discovery-ends for which the first IL use
less, Nor let it be supposed that this is a
smile only 1t is the literal truth The un
ion of facts into generalization Is this organ-
cation of knowledge, whether considered as
objective phenomenon, or subject!v e
one; and the mental grasp may be measured
by the extent to which this organization
is carried.
"From the substitution of principles for
rules, and the necessarily coordinate practice
OF leaving distractions untaught until the
mind has been iamliarzed with the facts
from which they are absll acted, has result
ed the postponment Of some once early
studied to a late period. This is exemphfed
in the abandonment of that intensely stupid
custom of teaching grammar 10 children. AS
NJ. Marcel says. 1T may without hesitation
be affirmed that q ammar Is not the STEP
| ping stone, but the finishing instrument.
AS Mr. WISE argues Ora m > e~d ayntaX
are collection Of laws and rules rules are
gathered from practice-tbey are the results
of induction to which we come by long OBJ
servation and comparison of facts. It is, in
fine. the science, the philosophy Of language.
In following the process Of Nature, neither
individuals nor nations ever arrive at the
science frSt A language is spoken, and peo-
try written, many years before either gram
mar or prosody is even thought of. Men
did not wait till Aristotle had constructed
his logic, to reason. In shosr, grammar was
made after language, so ought it to be taught
recognize the relationship between the evo-
luton OF the race and of the individual, will
to ho h1o