Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-07-22
REVIEW OF SUPERINTENDENT
PICkETT'S COURSE OF STUDY.

49, = NA0V'NO prepare his little
ooek' been his worst enemy, desiring his
destruction, they could have
devised for him a task no
more damaging. It is a record
from which he cannot escape-a record
Of the rules and directions offered to the
sixty teachers and the six school princi.
pals as their guide, for their government
in their daily work. Instead of these
rules being plain, the meaning not to be
misunderstood, they are clumsily ex.
pressed and often utterly Incompetent
sible. The curious selfconceit contained
In these forty-nine pages is equaled by
nothing unless it be the curious igno-
rance that accompanies it. Picard, of
Chicago, in the preface to bis Course of
instruction" not only acknowledges his
Indebtedness to the experience of teach.
ers for some of the most valuable sug.
gestions made in his work, but adds:
Ihe book is presented to the teachers
for their guidance, in the belief that it
is yet imperfect, but with the hope that
in their hands its errors may be correct.
ed, How striking the contrast between
the modest attitude Of the Chicago SD.
perintendent and the presumptious tone
of Mr.. Pickett. When presenting to the
sixty teachers and six principals his
Course of Study" prepared for their
guidance, Pickett assumes they have
ever been in the wrong, not only wrong
IN the manner of giving mental instruc.
ton but wrong in the moral training;
wrong in every way, and that Mr.. Pick.
EFT has come to set them right. This is
the way he talks to teachers, page 80:
Appetite for food is usually a sufH.
Gent motive at the table; but appetite
for knowledge is hardly thought worth
noticing as a motive in the scbool-room.
It the farmer should use direct means to
destroy grain, it would be thought a suf-
hclent cause for its scarcity; and so, if
itbe shown that the usual course of in
struction tends directly to destroy this
principle, 1t may sufficiently account for
its absence"
This elegant extract is from a homiIy
in which Mr.. Pickett is trying to prove
that all children would be equally as
hungry for knowledge as they are for
apples and sweetmeats, if their "appe.
tite in that way were not destroyed by
the usual course of instruction"
Teachers are accused of using direct
means to destroy the natural appetite
for knowledge as Mr.. Pickett elegantly
puts it. Further down the same page,
after re%counting a certain class of facts,
known to everybody, not disputed by
any one, Mr.. Pickett again houts teach
ers as being 1.-THE last to observe the
force of these facts"
On the same page is yet another hit
at teachers: "There is a certain line of
treatment through which pupils are
taken, the whole of which tends to DE-
stroy pleasure in study"
After de~scanting on the errors and
mismanagement of teachers in general,
Mr.. Pickett ~complacently announces that
1t is believed that the course of in
struction exhibited upon the preceding
pages will tend in a degtee, at least, to
cultivate, rather than destroy, these
needed appetites for knowledge" It
now remains to be seer what is the char.
acter of this course Of instruction"
that is to do so much-that is so conf
IDENTIFY put forward by its author as the
means of getting our schools out Of the
" ruts into which they we're ran BY
Colonel Leath and other superintend.
ents2 A general characterization, such
as it seems to merit, will not suffice to
convince u citizens of the utter worth
lessness of Mr.. Pickett s so-called system.
Pickett has been SO persistently pulled by
those determined to maintain him, many
persons have been deluded into a belief
in his usefulness. Those members of
the Board who sent North for a Superin.
tendent have energetically endeavored
to have it appear that the opposition to
Mr.. Pickett arises from sectional preju-
dice, and that he pickett has intro.
duced into our schools improved meth
DDS adopted in Northern schools. A
comparison of Mr.. Pickett's Course of
Study" ard Of Mr.. Picard's Course of
instruction" will show they are widely
unlike Not wishing the people Of Mem
phis to rely on my judgment alone ia
this matter so important to the welfare
of our children, | have obtained from a
number of gentlemen we'll known as
educated and competent, written opin-
ions of Mr., Pickett's system, which |
will publish over their own signatures.
The first | offer is W. q. Mitchelrs. a
classical scholar, an experienced
teacher, a Northern man by birth, and
knowing something of Northern schools:
l think the Course of Study prepared
by A. Pickett and adopted by the Board
of Education, is a wide departure from
recognized courses of study followed in
other cities where the schools are under
the control of men of the highest pro-
iessional ability. 1t is indefinite, impos-
sible and incomprehensible. Its contin-