Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-10-22
G,seae.,, Go,n,,,.
W. +. PARKER. Editor.
'.-=--------.--ll----------=---
Teaching.

W. 4 hlthHIIeA IUllVlO
Teaching.
Our school is small; the pupils ale
young; almost any one can teach our
school. These are very common remarks
In educational matters, there are no great
CT errors than these If in any depart
ment, experience, talent and tact are need
ed, it is in the primary. In the primary
the foundation is laid If the pupil is to
become thinking pupil, he must be
taught to observe and think from the be-
ginning; if he is to be obcdient and indus
trious, he must be taught obedience and
industry in the primary school, if he is to
use his acquisitions, he must he led to
use as fast AS he acquires in the primary
In short. the entire foundation for an ed
ucation must be laid during the first years
of school life. AS in the physical, so in
the mental, there are abnormal conditions.
Education proposes to correct and remove
tHSse, WIS "oih IlluSI DC commenced III
the primary, and vigorously prosecuted
An error is bad enough in any department,
disastrous Says Ogden: "Our second
proposition is. that all true modes of ed
uca ion proceed In exact harmony scith tie
nature, design and gr0wtA Of mans fac
ulties, intellectual, physical, and mgraI.
The agriculturist,
for instance, can afford to make mistake
in raising crop; so can the mechanic,
in building Il ship or IL house; for these
appertain only to the grosser interests,
and pcrishable substances The painter
can afford to make mistake in mingling
his colors, or in giving form and express
sion to the features of his picture; or he
can al1ored to see it blurred and marred
and even rent asundcr by unskilled
hands, for in such case, the only loss is
the waste of material and labor, and per
chance his hopes of gain. The sculptor
can afford to see his beautiful figure, up
on which he has spent years of anxious
toll shattered to atoms in his presence, or
sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The
| loss might be more than compensated by
reproduction But who will undertake
to compensate for the loss of human
being, freighted with IA deathless cargo of
eternal interests? Who will undertake to
repair tie damages done to an immortal
spirit? Who will undertake to remove
the blurs and stains from the face of hui
man character, or to stop the influence in
volved in error? The agriculturist the
artist and all material workers can
well afford to make mistakes; but in ed
ucating boys and girls, in forming habits
and molding character, and giving direc-
ton to the energies of immortal minds, in
rearing and training human beings for
their duties and responsibilities here, and
to make mistakes These are more cost
ly and enduring than the senseless stone,
or the inanimate clod. The influences
evolved, too, are of more enduring
nature; for the mistakes or master strokes
here, unlike those on the canvas or the
marble, perpetuate themselves, and op-
crate on other beings to all eternity. If
then il becomes necessary that the agri
culturist and the artist have knowledge of
the character of their substances, and
skill to manage them; if it becomes nee
essary that they have rules and definite
methods by which to make application
of the principles of their peculiar science
much more does this necessity increase
when we come to apply the same princi
pie to that most difficult and enduring
that most artistic of all arts, the art OF
educating human beings"
There is radical error somewhere
when we have not tried and experienced
teachers constantly employed, and other.
in training to fill vacancies To suppose
that small, and backward schools do no
need experienced teachers is very wrong
supposition. Parents readily admit thu
difficulty of governing and training child
rem, yet they do not, seemingly hesitate to
put twenty or Thirty of them under the car,
and guidance of Il person not out of thu
teens. This is strange admission or
strange act 1t is the duty Of young per
sons to teach but their first duty is to
thoroughly prepare for the work; as par
ents it is our duty to demand this propar
alton on the part of teachers; then it is
our duty to pay them for their work,
and keep them at it. The interest of oul
children demands this; the interests of oul
nation demand it,