The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1875-09-15
Selected for TnE RECORD
EDUo1TroSAL-So. YII.
LAUNDERING rNNocESTs.


LAUNDERING INNoeENrs.
It Is illiberal to ridicule the mistakes of
children, and unjust to infer from incorrect
or inverted answers that they have not been
wen taught. What teaSher san hold the at
tention of all his scholars all the time on all
points of the subjects treated ? Yet the want
of charity that many good people show to-
wards child who gives an absurd answer
would indicate that childrens' minds were be-
lieved by them to be not only mature, but ON
niscicnt.
1t is not strange that the schoolmaster
comes in for SO large censure ON account of
the imperfections of the human racep Is the
clergyman held up to scorn on account of the
prevalence of the false doctrines and immoral
practices which it is his mission to remove p
Is the advocate of temperance reviled for the
prevalence of the vice which it is his study to
remove? No but the teacher, unless his
work displays absolute symmetry, is held ac-
countable for all the inperfections of mind
mind in process of growth in the individual,
and not yet full grown in the race.
Some children learn and forget; some fail
to learn some affect an understanding of the
subjects which they do not possess some are
self-deceived in respect to their understanding
of the subjects, and labor under honest mis-
apprehension and some have not the mental
calbre to grasp and retain and digest their
studies yet all are regarded by narrow-mind-
ed scoffers from the same standpoint. " Re-
suits results y is the cry. Nothing is said
Of material or means.
Professions dealing with maturity fall short
of their highest expectations and are blame
less but the teachers calling fails to impart
to immaturity-to mere infants--infallibility
of Judgment, unbounded knowledge of facts,
and the incest discernment of the most COM
pick relations, and, 10 it is read out Of the
category of useful occupations.
What does the world do for the schoolmaster
that it should expect SO much Of him? Why
should he alone be expected to give to human
nature what Omnipotence failed to impart p
TO demand from the teacher perfection in his
work, is as fattering, but as silly, as is the
awe in which he is held by his pupils, and
such demand can come only from one whose
ignorance and perversity it was some poor
teachers misfortune not to have removed.
Granted that number of pupils return
several ridiculous answers to list of fair
searching questions. What does 1t prove p
Is teacher to be censured if the pupil from
the depths of his own originality, dashes at
him the information that "the Ohio is one of
the hibusations of the Mississippi" Yet that
anssyel from a uLiiEsssuid spondenn teacher
in the eyes of a captious housing cynic.-
Children's mistakes generally arise from their
imperfect knowledge of the language in which
their exercises are carried on. Ei,glish-speak-
ing children are particularly unfortunate in
this respect. And it is strange? A complete
mastery of our net-lke tongue requires a
knowledge of one, and some would say, two,
dead tongues. Men spend their lives at the
task of conquering its difficulties and, unless
they have genius, do not entirely succeed |;
and, yet, philosophers that we are, we "make
fun /" of twelve year old child, if he cannot
give us lucid explanations of the principles of
international law, and constitutional govern
inent, and political economy, at period of
life when he is more interested in baseball
than In the Alabama Claims 4; In kites than in
the Mexican war, or the war of 1912.
Two things are easy to do: to find fault,
and ask questions. If you want to cultivate
charity for laundering school-boy put
Yourself in his place y in public examination.
When the lawyers, editors, judges, clergymen
and boox-keepers of city compete with it's
school children at their annual examinations,
and the aforesaid lawyers, editors, judges,
clergymen and book-keepers stand fraction
of one per cent. higher than the pupils, then,
and not till then, shall we acknowledge our
system of public instruction failure then
will we resign our baton as teacher, and be-
come sensational preacher, or a flashy edi-
torial writer, and cavil at the blunder Of ba-
bies, which we have not the intelligence to at
tribute to their true cause, nor the charity to
overlook, nor the ability to rectify.
Aristotle taught men of mature intelligence
SO did Socrates. We try to plant in the minds
of babes and stockings more facts and more
philosophy than Aristotle or Socrates ever
dreamed of and, if one iota of our instruc-
ton fails to take root, or is misconceived, the
world is barking at our heels. The very num-
Der and absurdity of the mistakes our pupils
commit show how much we accomplish The
rolling-mill that turns out thousands of tons
Of finished material, has larger scrap heap
than the one that turns out hundreds. Were
the recipients of our labor material, we should
be responsible for the fit of every joint, and
the turn and polish of every axle ; but mind
cannot be set in lathe and inequalities and
imperfections will escape, in spite Of the
adaptability of the system, and the skill and
diligence of the workers.
Do we attempt too much ? We do not
And did we attempt less, those who now find
fault with our work would be the first to cry
out and deplore the neglect Of such and such
branches, and to condemn the illiberality
which would leave such and such subjects un-
touched. We must teach all the common En-
glish branches to give our youth fair educa-
ton. The errors that our pupils are guilty of,
prove only that we must, to do our duty, con-
ls- II. o1.s To-.