The Portland daily press., 1875-11-24
BY TELEGRAPH.
MATTERS In MAINE,
MAINE EDUCATIONAL ASSO-
CATION.
SecondDay's Proceedings
SEVERAL INTERESTING PAPER
Especial to Press.l

The members OF the ASSOCIATION met opt
| ly at 9 o'clock this morning. 1t was necessary
| to do this for the programme contained the
names of sixteen gentlemen who were to read
papers on educational topics The attendance
was large-we mean large for a teachers meet
ing as it really was.
The deepest interest was manifested in the
reading Of tae papers, which were of practi-
cal character and bore evidence of thorough
preparation and long study.
The first essay was delivered by Mr.. B. r.
Melcher, Principal Of the Saco High School, on
"The Present Plan of Study for Graded
Schools The essay was practical and made
sad havoc with the present elaborate course of
study set down for our model schools. The idea
advanced was that in the lower grades of our
schools such studies should be pursued as
would give the child the most useful knowl-
edge, as the greater number of pupils leave
school at that time, and that the object of the
high school should be to discipline the mird
His plan of study would be to attend to the
perceptive faculties of the child in the earliest
years when liveliest, and cultivate the refec-
tive later. This plan would throw out of the
lower grades of school the analysis which ena-
bles a boy to take two minutes to tell how
much two apples would cost at two cents eacb
WuCu tlo UOy VI luc StIccU NOulu give IL III
second. His plan would give child practical
information. 1t would turn geography upside
down. Instead of commencing with continents
geography would begin with the town, go to
county and state, and so on. The plan would
give the child some knowledge of the princi-
PIES of our state government, and in this con-
nectiOn it was suggested that the revised con-
stitution of the state should be distributed to
grammar schools This plan would reduce
arithmetic to those matters which are practical
NIL Gro, ypr11t ho 10 f.x
pages and would entirely leave out the rules of
syntax. Drawing would have place.
The second essay was read by Mr.. d. D. Pat
ten, Principal of the Portland High School, on
''School Hygiene" The following is a brief
abstract of Mr.. Patterns paper:
The causes of the apparent deterioration of
the health of tie present generation of cviliz-
ed races has deservedly attracted the earnest
attention of those interested in the efficiency of
the race-depending as that does upon physical
conditions.
How can the powers Of endurance of the
young be so cultivated as to make their cond-
| ton comparable to what our ancestors are
thought to have enjoyed, if tradition is author-
| ty. Among them muscular proves was q
matter of course, now it is reckoned an especial
grace.
The average duration of life is estimated to
have increased one-third within the last two
| centuries, mainly by reason of more tender
| care of the feeble, as civilization has advanc-
ed, and we should now seek to make such i'm
| provements in methods of living as will pro-
mote increased health and vigor and bring
them up to the old standard without reducing
| the average duration of life. Teachers are right
| IN protesting against attrIbuting the physical
degeneracy of school children mainly to the eff
| fects of school life.
Often this charge is made convenient way
of escape from responsibility by those more di-
| rectly in charge of tae health of youth, and
| the public schools are made to appear the nur-
series of disease. This charge against the
| schools is seen to be unfounded on considering
| the generally unhealthy conditions of home
life incident to the unhealthy locations of
dwellings, imperfect drainage, Overheated
| apartments, want of ventilation, inappropriate
| and improperly prepared food, regard in style
| for dress at the expense of bodily protection,
and the strain of many OF the OuJ-Of-School
recreations, and the bad effects Of these condi-
| tioas are often greatly increased by hereditary
weaknesses resulting from the false notions of
| parents 10 respect to the influence of their own
| habits of life
| In view of these facts, it is plainly the prov
| inCe of the schools to impart instruction in
| forming correct physical habits. and, in spite
| of detects in home training, the teacher mas
| abundant responsibilities and opportunities for
such judicious care as will promote the physi-
cal well-being of the pupil. The necessity of
proper ventation,ard the means of securing it
were referred to and also the general made
quacy or the entire lack of means to secure it.
The teacher in charge of the schOolroom should
especially in the colder months exercise the ut
most care that the resort to opening windows
often the only means at hand to obtain pure
air in the room-does not cause more harm than
the fault it is intended to remedy. DR.. Angus
Smith, he said, Though foul air is poison we
must not forget that blast of cold air may
slay like sword"
Occasionally, in the cold, winter months, it
may become impossible to secure warmth in
the school room sufficient for the comfort of the
scholars. In such cases no considerable man
will condemn the dismissal of the school, rath-
er than that the health of the pupil be imperil-
led.
The hindrances to the pupils maintaining
proper positions at desks generally as ll-adapt-
ed as it is possible to make them to the require
mepts OF the pupil, SO as to avoid rigidly up
right post, and which stcklers for the enact
ment of military drill would enforce, and on
the other hand, loose, lounging position at
the desk were briefly alluded to, as also was
the apparent prevalence among architects and
COMMITTEES of School Buildings" of the i'm
preston that the pupil should be made for the
school furniture-not the furniture for the pu-
pill The comfort of the scholar needful for
successful study requires frequent change of
position, involving of course more or less noise
that may interrupt the quiet of the room, but
the judicious teacher, careful for the health as
for the mental improvement of the victims of
others stupidity, will submit to the inconven-
fences rather than endanger their physical well
being.
Preferences were expressed for exercises un-
restrained by exact rules, and out Of doors, to
any system of school gymnastics
Finally, some of the reasons in favor of and
AGAINST the plan of our long daily sessions, in
stead OF the short sessions, were noticed-the
former including the convenience of one ses-
sion to pupils, parents and teachers, which is
immediate, and therefore, likely to have more
weight than it deserves; the latter the undue
mental strain, and consequently imperfect
work by the pupil the last hours of the session,
compared with what he might accomplish after
the rest and refreshment of an intermssion at
noon of reasonable length.
The Third essay was delivered by President
Allen of the State College, on practical Edu-
cation" The following is an extract:
L address an association representing five
thousand teachers, who are training for useful
ness the two hundred thousand scholars of
Maine. Imperfect as our system of education
is, under its influence have been moulded teach.
ers who have taken the most prominent use
fulness in every state of the Union. The per-
centage of illiteracy is less in Maine than in al
most any state.
While admitting all that is good, there is OPP
portunity for large improvement; and it may
be profitable to review the principles that lie at
the basis Of successful and practical educa-
ton.
Teaching is a science which embraces in its
scope the whole nature of man. The principles
of this science are found in all physical and
metaphysical sciences, and yet education has
as good right to be called science as has med
icne or jurisprudence.
Teaching is an art by which the one well
skilled is enabled to select and apply the best
methods of impartipg instruction, and like
every art, successful teaching is learned only by
practice.
Rising to the high dignity of profession the
occupation of the educator demands the most
careful preparation. To meet this demand, all
superficial training is wholly inadequate, and
thorough scholarship cannot be secured with
out long continued and wisely directed efforts.
While TO certain extent good education
for every student demands general knowledge
of all studies that the mind may be systerat-
ically developed; we find the field of know-
edge so widely extended that it is impossible to
be proficient in every branch Of study. Some
discrimination is neceSSary-all studies are not