The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-10-05
SCHOOL BOOKS AGAIN.

In TIE Wig of the 2s,h ult, this ques.
ton is up again. In fact. like Bauuuo's
ghost, it will not down at any bidding.
Come up 1t will, in spite of the bluuders
alike of teachers and officers | am ex-
treme enough in my ideas, but there is a
point at which even radicals become con-
sentative, aud when | am gravely advised
to burn al the school books and send chill
dren Ia school with slate and newspaper,
object. True. there are some classes of
books that | should like to make a holo-
caust of, If the authors cuuld he included.
for instance, the New American Readers"
but should substitute better ones in their
places.
In spite of all theories to the contrary.
education is, to a great extent, question
oil memory. There i, but one way in
which boy will ever learn geography or
philosophy. and that is by mcmorizins the
lessons. suppose | were to 20 To an Elk
ton lawyer and tell him, =. wish to study
law, aud he tells me, We'll. get a slate
ami newspaper, and read the .cowhiding
case we have burned Blackstone, Kent
aud Greenleaf." The public will put tia,
lawyer down as crazy. The same is true
text books.
am willing to admit tho force Of the
complaint that children memories much
they do not understand. This il is the
teacher ; business 10 explain. Astu teach
ing exclusively by uGai lectures, that Is
abou; the most complete humbug in an
age of humbugs. Any teacher worth tho
name Will know how To combine oral III
siructIors with the mcmorized lessons.
| am fully aware of the extent OF the
school book nuisance, but as To discardinr
them altogether, We will have To wait, not
until the next generation, but until the
millennium, when all knowledge will come
lututivcly, As well talk Of destroying our
law books OF our theology
"Our Examiner ~ What is To- be cx
pected from him? \ man who has been
living backward SD long that he has become
hopelcssly entaug!ed some where in the
middle of the Dark Ages" When Mr..
Squicr, an examiner, talking To a body Of
teachers, stood before the Port Deposit
Association ON June End and declared that
all the dishonor and villainy of modern life
is direct result of popular cducation; that
one OF the worst features Of modern liC. is
the fact that the public are a. intelligent
as the men they oieot 10 rule them; that :.
. Hptti ,p'cIHIilcUl Wou!u De an educated
governing class and an uneducated work
ing mass, insrancing Greece and Rome as
examples, | lost all faith either in his fit
ness for the office he holds or in his sympa-
thy with the age in which he lives When
he dragged Belkuap and Babcock in by the
ears As instances of the frIghtful effect of
popular education. charged the theft of the
Louisiana aud Florida votes Ia the same
cause, dared any o..e /" assert ihat .ur put.-
lie men were as intelligent as those before
public schools were known. and closed by
deuouncing the civilization of the nine
tceuth century as fraud aud failure, il
became evident that he was almost totally
fossillzed. From such man. an avowed
foe %: public schools, nothing is To be ex
pected. Better apply To the members of
the School Board, who are men of good
practical cotnin"u -c,.-., s.ud - hu iI.a IA. the
nineteenth century instead Of the ninth.
Ordi fsIchIag ,rN ssrr, ds an aid. il lril!
ntrer take Tie place IF The teri book
\ TEACHER.