Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-11-14
Machine Education.
The meetings of the American Socia

Machine Education.
The meetings of the American Social
science Association are characterized
ofttimes by the presentation OF pro-
tonnd and brilliant essays, in which
r,anv interesting theories are ably set
forth or ably defended, but which gen.
arallv end their usefulness with their
delivery. Some practical suggestions
in regard to teaching were, however,
made at its recent session at Saratoga
nv President Porter, OF Yale College,
who has the experience OF two score
Gears or more behind him to give
Weight to his suggestions. His re-.
marks we're more particularly concerned
with the higher kinds of instruction.
but they apply, in many respects, with
eoual force to primary education.
No one will question, he says, that q
teacher ought to know more than his
nnpils but how much more it is not
EASY to decide. Generally speaking, it
is true that the more q teacher knowe
If subject the more successfully will
he communicate q knowledge Of it to
those who know less. Yet it often hap
pens that the clearest and most logical
thinkers are, by no means, the best
teachers. They measure the capacities
OF their pupils by their own. They
cannot appreciate the fckleness of the
nupils attention, the foebleness of his
memory, aud the limits Of his intelli-
cepce. They do not reflect that facts
so familiar to them are not easily sp-
pretended by the pupil /; and, begin
ming with tue remote and general in.
stead of the near and familiar, and fail
ing to illustrate and bring home to the
pupils mind, by means Of illustration
and fact, the principles he inculcates,
he fails to excite thought in those who
have not reflected.
One of the great perils of modern ed
ucatiop, says Professor Porter, is that,
aiming to be scientific in form, it is not
scientific in fact. Even elementary
text books err in this way. There isan
attempt to teach the alphabet after
scientific method. The devices by
which coniugations of nouns and verbs
are built up scientifically after some
metaphysical theory in grammar, until
to many pupils, "the mysteries of the
parsing Of our sweet English tongue
seem awful and recondite," are far
Their illustration of this tendency.
It would be a good thing for theorists
to be forced to submit their theories to,
and defend them before, the scrutiniz-
ing Judgment OF a class.r room Of not
over. reverential youth. Mr.. Darwin
or Mr.. Herbert Spencer would, in his
opinion, have rendered far more val.
liable services to science, had their
activities in science been arrested by
constant challenging from slow-minded
and critical pupils. Education cannot
be too scientific provided the attention
of the teacher is wisely distributed be-
tween the matter taught and the method
of impartlng instruction.
Another important element of in
struction is individuality in the teacher,
and the adaptation Of his instructions
to the individual capacities and temper
Of his pupils. The tendencies of mod
ern education overlook the individual
in the class. The influences which
tempt the teacher to sacrifice his own
individuality to the scientific method
Of teaching "lead him more remorse-
lessly to sacrifice to the spirit OF sys-
UcAu VI LAD OWA PAANotO COAvoAAOuOO Su0
individual aptitudes and capacities of
his pupils"
The report of President Porter's pa
per does not represent him as expand.
ing upon this branch of the subject,
though practically it is OF the utmost
Importance. The almost entire lack Of
human or personal relation between
pupil and teacher is becoming one of
the worst features of our modern edu-
cation. The Office of teacher grows
more and more like that of the spinner
or weaver in the mills-simply to at
tend to the machine, feed it with raw
material and have it reeled of, yard
after yard of exactly the same pattern
which, in case Of the teacher, is fur
nished him or her by the enterprising
authors and publishers of textbooks
and the ingenuity of the superintend-
ent. The teacher watches his Pupils
passing from one grade to another very
much as the attendant of q machine for
making pins or nails watches them
dropping out all alike into the recepta-
Gle; the result of his labor being tested
BY the Number Of exactly similar pieces
OF metal, which have been drawn,
hammered or nodded by the instru-
ment invented for the purpose. Against
this model and mechanical teaching it
IS for the interest Of parents and teach
ers, as we'll as the public, to nightly
protest. Detroit Free Press.
Female Gamblers.