The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-01-07
Educational.
COURSE OF STUDY II ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS.

SCHOOLS.
Paper Read Before the NorfhWr>tfrn Obi
Teachers Association. By x. u. Hail. ct i;rpusic
Ohio. at their SiXih iaEGai session. held .
Findlay- Ohio. Tassday and "Wednesday. B~ssnii.-
s,fh and 18th. I-5J.
Mr. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW TEACHEKs
At such a gathering "a this il is very
pleasant 10 caiI to mind what the teach
er's profession has accomplished; 10
consider the past Improvement and pres
ent excellence of our schools, ami to
contrast the condition OF the youth in
our own land with that of those in other
lands This would send US back to our
labor encouraged, and feeling in some
degree compensated for our daily trials
and discouIagements. But while it is
both pleasant and profitable to appreci-
ate the favorable features of our work.
| it is as necessary for its improvement,
| that we examine it carefully for its de
fects and their remedies. Perhaps, then,
will be pardoned if my mood appea 5
t. be fault-finding mood, If its object
is Improvement.
fear that the name of my paper has
conveyed a wrong impression caused by
| the confusion of terms in our school
nomenclature, In the reports of the
| Commissioner of Common Schools of
Ohio, Public Schools are divided iuto
Primary and High Schools, while more
commonly the term Primary is under
stood to belong to those departments of
Graded Schools, in which the first two
to four years of child's school instruc
tion are given. IL some term, not al
ready appropriated to "A specific use
in our school nomenclature, could be
brought into general use, TO include all
Public Schools except High Schools, it
would tend to better understanding of
each other at times. 1t is in this sense
that the elementary is here applied, and
what have to say has especial refer
ence to ungraded country schools, though
not altogether inapplicable to grammar
departments of graded schools Since
the time when the majority of schools
proposed to teach only the three Rs,
there has been a strong sentiment
among the masses of American citizens
in favor of what they are pleased to call
practical knowledge When a teacher
haT 81, Iu1,a N ,l,,,
ply or grammar, the. parent answers
''Of what use il itl My boy must make
his own way i'm the world, and | do not
see that this will help him get a living"
Or, ''My girl is not going TO teach school,
and do not see what good that will be
to her." In one of our large towns,
some years ago, a man very much against
his will had purchased IA High School
History for his boy, pupil of the Gram
mar School, Meeting the Superintend
ent soon after, he began to berate
the new -fargled notions of these town
schools, and enlarge upon the eXcellen
cies of the country schools of fifteen
years ago. "Why," said he, referring to
his brother, who, after Il course in the
seminary, had entered the ministry,
.'my brother never went to nothing but
district school, and he Wen. 10 The cegi
eteTy when he was twenty one"
But while we smile at the narrownesS
of such practical reasoning, prefering
somewhat less direct route TO the rem
eteFy, and endeavor to convince our
patrons that there is a broader view even
quite possible that we can protitably re
examine our own position, and that wCs
may enlarge our own view somewhat?
Are our elementary schools following
the best course of instruction for the
great mass of their pupils, wlo will
never enter any other school, considered
either from the so called practical stand
point, or from that of general culture?
And is not the course which is the best
for them also the best for those who
pass to higher grades. If these do not
altogether harmonic in their interests,
perhaps the greatest good of the maiori-
ty ought to hold the controlling in
tiuence.
What position in reference to other
branches does arithmetic nov hold in
our Elementary schools! Notwithstand-
ing the mighty spell that held the Amer
lean people in its embrace II year ago.
from the Judge on the bench to the rag
ged urchin on that other bench, toiling
over his McGuffey, or some other sue
cessor of the time honored Webster, and
ia spite of the fact that it is no longer
considered an incontestible proof of re-
markable ability to be a successful imi-
tator of Rufus Choate or Horace Greeley
in the AIT of chirography, arithmetic
holds the second place to no study but
reading.
1t is taught-too much Not that any
pupil learns too much of the science of
numbers; not that there is more time
spent upon it than is necessary, eonsid
ering the teaching to master it; not that
We have too much of that discipline of
mind to accuracy and eXactuesS. which
the study of mathematics furnishes in
such an eminent degree, but it holds a
more important place than its merits
Justify; occupies more time than Is it,
Just due, and crowds ont other subjects
which, if allowed part of that time,
would-22sove of more practical beneii.,
and sITs Il broader aud richer cultur-.
ca-zould add vastly more TO the
resoiiiles of the individual for self enjoy
me.fheid aifording enjoyment TO others.
Higher arithmetic is studied ia many
ungraied schools a class Of pupils
wade through contrac;ions of divisions
which cause more contraction of the
brows than they do OF mental labor
become swamped iu Circulating DE- eli
nnals, struggle TO gain a Least Common
Multiple of Fractions, or go down com
pletely stIangled in the pool of annuities;
who, if they we've asked about History.
Physics or Botany, would answer ia
; amazement at your ignorance, ''Oh, We
don't study them things in this school,"
or. l. asked to write letter. would pro
duce missive which in chirograply,