Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-09
Il plea for the School Child, On.
NAY MAPLE.

n plea for the School Child, on.
NAY MAPLE
: For several years of my life I have been
engaged i'll mind cultivation, that is
''teaching the young idea how to sheot;"
not an original remark, but one that
marks out my work. find some who
are putting forth their efforts in the right
direction in educating the younger gen
GRAFTON. Their ofsprinss will be prepar-
ed to enter business lie, even though
they are left without $500 capital. These
parents have no need Of any suggestions
from my pen. But there are many par
ents who seem to be laboring under
great mistake.
Some of these imagine their children
are such wonderful helps that they can
not be spared from the farm even at the
early ages OF seven, ten and twelve years
know from experience that children are
often absent from class because they are
required to stay at home to drop corn
and potatoes in seeding time, and I re-
member one instance when a child of
eight or nine years was kept at home two
weeks to plant over a piece of ground
that any wide-awake man could have
planted IN half a day or less.
Two youngsters of the same age and
ability start for school the first Monday
in May. They read passably we'll in the
First Reader. One attends every day rain
or shine, during the term of four or five
months, and is supplied with books &C
cording to his capabilities; the other comes
one day and stays away two or three, and
possibly comes three or four more, coming
and going like an intermittent fever. His
excuses are often amusing when we take
into consideration the age and size of the
little man. He has chad to help plant,
or ''log off piece for Eaters, or "heIp ma
wash" or he chad to take care of the baby
while ma went to the store" Or .'to see q
neighbor or Sto pick berries for sass
His schooling averages about two days OF
the week. At the close of the term there
is an examination. The first mentioned
lad reads we'll in the Third Reader; he has
learned to ado, subtract, multiply and
divide numbers understandingly: his
knowledge Of geography and history is
good; he can write readable page in his
copy book, and can spell hundreds OF
words correctly. The foundation stone is
laid for an intelligent useful man.
How is it with his compan ion? HI
advancement is scarcely perceptible
Who is to blame! Not the boy, and GER
tainly not the teacher (although thought
less parents frequently criticise the ability
| of the instructor because their children
do not learn). Has the little farmer
earned enough to pay for his lack of
school culture? Most emphatically I de-
clare that he has not.
If parents would send their children to
! good schools from the time they were seven
till they were fifteen years of age, for ten
months of the year, and then claim their
service till they were twenty one, it would
be money in the parents purse and far
less injustice to the offspring.
At fifteen the boy or girl is strong
enough to be OF use, while at the same
time they will be capable of learning by
practice and observation what they have
before learned only in theory. And
many lad or lass would lay up a fund
of useful knowledge during the evenings
and odd days when otherwise unemploy-
ed, that would be perpetual fountain OF
usefulness during all their lives.
Whereas the child who has an occasion.
al day, OF week, or month at school, even
from the time he is five years old until
he is twentyone, will have very limited
amount of knowledge with which to be.
gin business life. And undoubtedly he
will be obliged to knock about the world
doing the drudgery for his former com.
panions; looked upon as sort Ct ignora
mus incapable of using his best energies
Look about us and behold the Jacks at
all-trades who are good for nothing
They have large capabilities, and yet to1
lack of knowledge rightly directed, their
talents are rustlng, their lives are mis- e.
! able failures, and our nation and the
world at large poorer in abilities and
slower in its march of progress.
Some parents have habit of sending
their boys to school without tools to work
with, depending almost entirely upon the
teacher or neighbors to supply the de-
ficiency of books, states, pens, paper nd
pencils. Others get their supplies from
Noah's ark, . or from their greatgrand-
aAoeAOA AA14 tA y - CuCy u1OVC l1Oll
Maine to California they still expect to
use the same series of books if they pat
ronize the district school. Now, the fact
is such students may Just as well remain
at home. There time and energies are
not only wasted, but they are a trial to
any wide-awake teacher, and detriment
to any school.
Trying to educate the present gene
rations from textbooks that are out of
date, and should long ago have been cast
into oblivion, is not wise. Neither is it
wise to use books that have been lately
published, if they differ from the general
series used in the district Bemem Der
that the more classes the less time can a
| teacher have to devote to each one, and
when only two or three minutes as is
often the case--can be spared for a recita-
ton, but very little can be demonstrated
Mend0ciOaGs T0nabstOnes.
1