The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-01-18
For the Telegraph.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.

alphabet method the child has to learn
&c or AZ things and the names Of these
90 or AZ things. And this is compare
lively a small matter compared with
the number of things which every in
telligent child learns in few months |
after it learns to talk-Kenosha Tele-
graph.
If the 800 or AZ things" were all the
child had to learn to master reading
and spelling English the task would be
comparatively small" Let us see, a,
is beautiful letter and can be soon
recognized and identified by an intelli-
gent child. Suppose we call him Mr..
Cate, in the next line he is Mr.. Cat, in
the next, Care-Cast- Car-Call These
are every day nameS-he has an indefi-
nate number of fancy names-as cain,
cay, aye, weigh, sley, great &C., with
variations, and every one Of the five
novels at least having 25 representa-
tions to which may be added the first
sound in she which has over 25
English dresses to say nothing Of other
letters and digraphs. A beautiful lit
tie dish to set befOrea child, and no
method in the madness that a child
can understand; only aOord By aOord
and "q1othi91g more"
The wonder is a child ever learns to
read it. Were it not for the doctrine
of evolution giving to the child an in
tuitive skill in guessing puzzles, it
would be hopeless. AS it is, we never
learn to spell, except perhaps, one
fiftieth-part of the words in use, in the
books. Three years is about the aver
age time required to read fuently in
the First Reader, one year would be
ample time to master both reading and
spelling Theoretically.
A good illustration Of the two meth
DDS, would be to try to do a sum in
multiplication with the Roman numer-
ais instead Of using the Arabic figures.
We would be szot0 to go back tC the
numeral system, but we are equally
SzOa0 and sluggish in getting out of a
worse perpleXity. Figures are truth
full, phonetic; hence the strides mathe-
MATES have made i'll the world Of
science. The one accurate science
BY it we touch the borders Of the in
visible world, weigh all substances,
measure all space, compute all time,
and with the aid of natures laws, Pro-
metheus like, grasp the secrets of the
Infinite.
Shall order, beauty, culture be
bestowed on language destined to be
spoken by at least two hundred mil
lions of the race? 1t is "the other
things to be learned" spoken of by the
Telegraph that makes the problem a
vital one. Had our children nothing
else to do but learn to read and spell,
any amount of folly in this line might
be indulgedin. But '1ife is earnest,
life is real" the practical must super
cede old laundering methods, new
sciences and arts are claiming recogni-
tiOn and old ones are being differen-
tiated. The children of the laborer, of
the emigrant, the emancipated slave,
the unkempt and unwashed millions
whose votes are to WELD the destinies
of this Republic, demand the shortest
simplest most truthful method of
advancement, instead of our Draconian
practice. a
| like your suggestions to the Inter
Ocean. When the people behind the
public press will sustain it, every pa
per will have phonetic department as
you have an educational one now, thus
familiarizipg the public with the new
style.
10 such Of your readers as wish to
know the details of the European basis
of phonetics now happily agreed upon
by both countries I recommend them
to send for The Pzoacshare, published
monthly by Henry NJ. Parkhurst. 80
Park Row, New York. Twenty-Five
cents will secure it fora year. Mr.. Park
hurst is scholar critical. cultured: a
radical Phonetician who goes for ten
vowel scale for schools and standard
works, but will except an eight or even
six vowel scale for newspapers and
~ OF, ot,I o,&,o-oI