Idaho tri-weekly world. (Idaho City, Idaho) 1875-1875, 1875-04-28

8 m oliIli6n Dohoo ling.

development and discipline, with al
tie knowledge, general and special
which lie did not get in school, there
would, we fear, be precious little left
for the schoolmaster to take pride IN
Still more, were it possible to set off'
against the certain benefits of school.
] ing Of the usual sort. the advantages
which : better ordered system of prima.
~ culture would afford, the popular
appreciation Of the schools would, we
ARE certain, be seriously disturbed.
There are few places that can boast
more liberal scheme of public school
ing-liberal, that is in time and mate
rial-than this city of New York.
Her children may begin with the al
phabet and end with college diploma
nvithout other aid than that which
the free schools afford. Yet the rec
ords of the schools show that, of the
hundreds of thousands of children who
have begun their schooling in them,
more than half have gone out unable
to read intelligently an easy page of
print. Of those who are able to stay
longer-that is, more than three or
four years-it is but the fortunate few
who are able, when their school days
come to an end, to read with under
standing the foreign kilograms in the
morning; probably to not one in hun
-slred is the daily report Of prices cur
rent any more ineligible than a page
..of integral calculus.
The fault lies less with the brevity
,of their school life than with the mis-
use of it which the school system en-
tails-a system which makes a fetch
If alphabet and multiplication table,
and wastes on these tools of culture
The children's best opportunities for
gaining power to use them.
To insist that Science be grated on
"a system whose practical results are
so meager is only to make matters
worse. The sciences belong to high
r.r level of education, and should be
Seft for ripper years. At this stage of
sshe child's development, the Sciences,
as -systematized groupings of related
facts and principles, have no existence,
only objections and sensations, palpa-
ble facts and tangible relations, have
being in the child world; and the
child is merely the observing traveller
and explorer. The scientific geogra-
pher, geologist, and the rest come la
ter. Gould we control the work of
the common school, therefore, we
should vigorously exclude all Science
.teaching, real or pretended, and all
seaching not scientific.
4Schoolmasters who imagine that
teaching scientifically means cram
sning children with facts, principles,
and theories in geography, grammar,
physiology, physics, and what not may
accuse US Of making distinction where
there is no difference; but the differ
Hnce is as wide as between right and
wrong. The most unscienti6c teach
ing which the common schools-and
not few Of our higher schools, also
ARE guilty of appears in their teach
ing of the sciences. We would have
none of it. Nevertheless, wa say, as
we have said before, that to educate
truly, the work of the primary school,
in matter and spirit and method, should
i'c from first to last, purely scientific.
In other words, the work of the prima-
~ schools should be shaped to accom-
plish these three ends:
ID The systematic development
and training in quickness, keenness,
and accuracy Of all the child's facul-
ties Of sense, through the pleasurable
exercise Of the senses; for in primary