The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-31

=
geography. There should be but one
book on each of these subjects. By ju-
dicious management on the part OF the
teacher the apparent difficulties OF the
text book question may be overcome:
The details of the course 10 be pursued
are too lengthy to be noticed at this
time.
DIR. Ryerson, Superintendent of Public
Instruction of the Province of Ontario
in speaking of American schools, says:
Taken IA, "A whole do not think that
there l. province in the world III whose
cities and towns, except Leipslc, III Sax
ony. the systems of education are so
complete a. in the neighboring States.
But when YOU leave the cities and large
towns. and go into the rural part of the
State. the peculiar field OF a national
school law and system, you there nnd
that our American neighbors are not so
successful in their public school econo-
nv. and accomplish results far below
and short of the State appropriations
they make, and the machinery they EN-
pIoy for the sound education OF all the
people"
The assertions quoted, we lament to
say, are too trne. Notwithstanding the
number of Teachers Institutes held an
nuaIly in the State, large percentage
of country schools, so far as methods oil
instruction are concerned, continue to
move in the rUts Of twenty years ago. l
shall not attempt to make an estimate OF
the number of pupils in this class OF
schools who have pursued the stu'iy OF
grammar as far as it is taught, tina. are
able to write respectable composition
The figures would not show well on the
page. Indeed, if correct calculation
of the number of pupils in graded schools
were made, it would, fear fall short OF
the popular estimate. We need a re-
form in the mode of teaching grammar
4 short time ago jurist of considerable
literary ability, and who has long been
connected with the management of pub
lie schools, remarked to Inc that he had
about come to the conclusion that gram
mar, as it is taught i'll our schools, is
failure" The remark is becoming too
common. Something must be done to
meet the public common-sense opinion,
that knowledge of English grammar
implies the ability to speak and write the
English language correctly. Teachers
teach too much technical grammar for
the amount of practice required OF their
pupils in composition. The sooner each
lesson in technical grammar is alterna-
ted by an exercise of its use in compost
tiop, the Better will it be for the credit
of teachers and the welfare of the public
school system, But the criticism of the
methods of teaching grammar are not the
only ones to be made. The puOlic are be-
ginning to Judge school work, not by
term or yearly exhibitions of the pro-
ficiency of pupils, but by their value as
factors in the affairs of everyday life,
after they have lett the public school.
We have two great educational parties
in the State, which for the present We
may designate as the Higher Education
al and State parties. The former take
the position that the value of education
to an individual depends, not upon the
amount of knowledge acquired, but up
ON the amount of mental discipline to
which he has been subjected. They de-
vote their attention to the study of the
languages and the exact sciences. The
sciences being selected mainly with refer
ence TO the amount of effort that must
be exercised to see through the clouds
and fogs that surround them. Very
many of their works have been pre- pared,
it would seem, for no other purpose than
to make them difficult TO be understood.
The State party, on the other hand,
discard all systems of instruction not
having the acquisition of knowledge as
their prime object. They claim that a
sufficient amount of discipline may be
secured by teaching the branches in
what they are pleased to call a utilitari
an sense; that the teaching should be
doglnatic. They claim that it il of more
to the man who follows the
plow to understand the outlines of the
government under which he lives than
to have a profound knowledge of Hor
ner's method of approximation; that *
is of greater value TO the laborer to have
4 dogmatic knowledge Of many things
that pertain to his vocation, than an
and syntheticai knowledge of |
a few. The theory advanced by this |
latter party, as every educator knows, |
IS mixture of fact and fallacy.
An efficient system of education pre-
'upposes a clear conception of the OBJ |
ects to be secured. and the means by |
which they are to be attained. Efforts,
am glad to say, are being made by
which it is hoped we may reach ? a''golden
mean" "The education required by |
people is not fixed quantity. As the |
conditions of life change, the education |
IF the people should undergo a cores |
bonding change" The amount of tech |
lical knowledge to be taught, and the |
amount of disciplinary study that should |
De required in public schools are the |
,reat educational problems of the day. |
We are now making an effort to combine |
he two, by which it is hoped that the |
pupil may receive the requisite amOu1t |
If mental power, and at the same time
De furnished with sutt teie3t amount of |
knowledge to enaide i,im to |
,ring that power to bear upon the actual |
of life The aim of the State /
II the establishment of a system of edu
alton is TO secure "a reasoning brain to /
very pair of hands" 1t does not aim |
o produce isolated scholars, but to |
liffuse general intelligence; and since |
very individual is an integral part of |
he state under which he resides, its aim
s to bring him into sympathy with the |
means by which its efficiency and per
,etuIty are to be secured.
The subject of compulsory education
las been before the country il. some
orm or other for the last twenty years.
men have pushed it with
uch vigor that 1t Is now in force in few
f the states. The system, whsre it has
'een adopted, has not yet been in opera
ion long enough to afford sufficient data
rom which to Judge of its efficiency.
4, 10
he masses favorable to the adoption of
!, | think there is no doubt. When the
reat truth shall come to be generally
by the people, that the State
ives it to the citizen the duty of reliev-
ng him from the duty imposed by igno-
ance, the parent Of penury and crime,
ute as much as Il owes the duty of
protection for tie enjoyment
f life, liberty and property, then shall
re have an efficient compulsory school
lw. We need not look for any very
rilliant results from the states where it
, in operation until the necessity for its
doption becomes national conviction.
Our State has passed through long
truggle TO reach its present educational
dvantages. In the first part of my re-
larks l called your attention to country
chools, together with the most import
mt defects pertaining to them. Permit
le here to call attention 20 the relation
f the classes of our public schools. and
few of the results growing out of them.
From the commencement of the or
anization of Union Schools in 1S47-S,
re may date the commencement of the
radual abolition of the old fashioned
cademies. In the course of a few years,