Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-03-24
TEACHER'S COLUMN
CLAY WOOD, EDITOR.

In conversation with matter. of.
fact farmer the other day, but one Of
sound sense and observation. / was
not little entertained with his views
ON tie education OF children In our
common schools. cannot recall his
words, nor, now, reproduce his ideas
put the purport Of his language was,
that thore lie very much that is yaluc.
lees taught, and very much that ID of
the greatest value that IL not taught. in
most schools. Much time, he argued.
10 taken up In studying what, when
learned, will never be applied and will
soon be forgotten. With the abstract,
the curious, the isolated, too much
timc is taken up.
l could but coincide with the views
OF our farmer friend, but where the
blame rests, If there be any, is another
matter. The long time precedent that
has been since Goldemith's Irish
Schoolmaster up to Egglcston's Brady,
and from Brady till now public opin.
ion, that Million monster with its ar.
gus eyes," the teacher, the supcrir.
tendent and even our granger friend,
4 ne be granger, arc all, In degree,
blame worthy.
Right hero the question very nstur.
ally arisee, "whst should our boys and
girls stndy!" ! should say, first, that
which is around us and within Us, and
not the islands In Oceanica nor the
moons Of Jupiter. Begin with the
| known, the concrete, and let the meta
physical and unfathomablc take care
OF itself That which can be reduced
to practice, ia what our farmers son
should study. Farmers wish to have
their sons to grow up to be intelligent
men, 90 a. not only to be able to 'Icast
interest" and keep their own. &C.
counts" but, also, 10 have some depth
OF thought; some power of obtaining
and classifying knowledge, some sp
tpreciation OF the good, tho beautiful
and the true. They may not desire to
have thoir sons become legislators or
judges, yet they would be lacking in
paternal soliciludc, should they be sat-
listed to see them any thing less than
honorable aud influential men.
MY space 10 20 limited that I must
treat the matter In the most condensed
way. We only have three or four
perfectly graded schools in Wapello
county. Ii tho parent be able TO let
his son take q full course In one OF
these, he need not be concerned ID my
friends remark nor Ia this incoherent
article. Our school books are the most
condemned of oil books, yet many OF
them contain many times too much.
6winton's History has ten times too
many dates G0Odrich's, ten times too
much narrative; Rays higher arithme.
tic ie NO better !; Cnttcf's Physiology IL
one half too great In bulk ] know not
how to speak sufficiently strong against
the. Mentally series Of geoRraphies
with their hundred thousand facts
which are to be crammod into the
children's minds. Seventy.five thous.
and Of these facts are OF % little note
that l should rather my child should
not know, than to know them. An
attempt to memoriso an encyclopedias
would be piece Of folly, I should cay
cruelty, only cqualed by the attempt
20 commit these Biographies to mem.
DRY. No wonder that children, whose
minds have been thus maltreated and
stultified, hate the name Of school and
the sight Of teacher. But the cues
ton still recurs, "what shall be stud.
led r OF course reading, writing,
and spelling are fundamental and
should be carried to perfection 40 near.
y O. can be possible. History Of the
United States should on no account
be neglected. Arithmetic, 80 far as
= =.