The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-05-24
till" &C., till we become teachers.

| felt as though [ were in a humble
bees nest. Such restless, fidgety, ex-
citable class of children it seemed to me
/ had never seen. Meeting one day an
experienced teacher, though not an en-
tire stranger, / ventured almost imme-
diately upon the subject, and asked if
she ever had any scholars of the same
nature, and what she did with them.
80, yes she said, many Of them; keep
them to work, that is all select five or
six OF your most restless ones, and give
them all the extra work, work for
which perhaps you care very little, but
which will keep them busy, and make
them feel that they are Of some import
ance to you, and you will soon find your
punishments rapidly decreasing" and
so | did.
AS look over. the present system Of
graded schools in our large cities, where
hundreds and thousands of children
are yearly graduated, either out of
school entirely or into higher grades, |
cannot help the impression that the
system is growing too cumbrous and
unWieldy; overloaded with a multi
plicity Of studies that wear out the
scholar mentally, dwarf him physically,
and also is defective in developing real
brain power. BY making the studies
too mechanical, not giving the pupil
time to study out the subject for him
self, the thinking, reasoning powers
that are to make the strong man OF Wo-
man, are left to lie almost dormant.
Failure is sometimes Inevitable, for all
men are not born scholars and no pow
er on earth can make them so. But be
the capacity of the child what it may
short of idiocy, has he not the power Of
increasing it by thought?
Pestalozzi has said: Never tell a
child what he can discover for him
lself." Let us act upon this principle
and we shall have a stronger class of
scholars in the future than we have
to-day.
Turning from the intellectual train
ing of our school-children. we find
staring us in the face themu dreaded
governing. But here come Herbert
Spencer's words to cheer and encour-
age. Children" he says, soften need
only little wholesale letting alone"
I have many times thought of this old
adage of Spencers and wondered if
this Getting alone" was not Q pretty
good thing. There is doubtless more
goodness in children than we are will
ling to give them credit for. When left
alone to operate we have often seen it
bring the child out about right.
There is something often in the tone
and manner of the teacher that seems
like daring the pupil to do wrong. Did
you ever see girl, or boy especially,
that would take a "dare" tamely? and
so we often drive the most adventur-
Gus of our children into the very evil
from which we wish to keep them.
[ have sometimes sat and watched
on the avenue dryer with his hand
some horses. The reins hang loosely
in his skillful hands, and his steeds
prance gayly along as though they were
free on the Iowa prairies But let them
lattempt to run, Or to fly from the track
and the reins are gathered up with a
firm hand and they are made to feel
that they have a master behind them.
Why can we not govern children in the
same way? When they are doing right
let them forget there is a teacher to
govern them, and they will be law
unto themselves. When they do wrong,
then tighten the reins, but only as it is
needed. Some teachers however seem
to delight in saving on the bits contin-
ually, and Of the best disposed pupils
they make the greatest exactions.
There are times when the teacher
must be stern, very much so perhaps,
decided, infexible. But does he not
show himself weak when he yields
himself to sarcasm and unjust punish
ment? These are weapons for towards.
AS [ turn to my own childhood days,
and look back over the many portraits
OF school-master and school-mistress
that hangs on memory's walls, there
are two or three that | linger over most
lovingly, as they beam upon me with
the same old smile as Of yore, as though
to encourage me with the burdens Of
to-day as they did when my greatest
trial was knotty point in my lesson
OF a failure in recitation. And as I
gaze upon their well-remembered faces
| realize what blessed thing it is in
deed to have had good teacher! I
would not be misunderstood.
Order is Heavens first law" And
certainly if there is any place in the
world where order is positively imper-
ative, it is in school-room. But there
is higher law over all, even the New
Commandment.
He prayeth best, who loveth best,
All things both great and small
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth ALL"