The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-06-11
SOME REFLECTIONS ON SCHOOL REGIME

OfucT' Dtuucuts hro pluuthB inic"oi' "
their Alma Matters and reciting their vale
dietores just about as they did quarter OF
century or more ago. The elocutionist hold
forth and reads or declaims from Shakes
peare, Byron and the other poets, and iron
the classics; the young .mathematiclsr
ciphers on the blackboard, draws his "pon
assinorum," and reyes in binoInial thee
rems, algebraic fractions, surds, ETC.; th'
astronomical adept explains the causes o
eclipses and tides the mental and mora
philosophy student dives into the emo
tional nature and the ntelectua
power of man, while the stu1en
in the sciences, airs his knowledge Of chems-
try, geology, physical geography, etc. Thu
is all done before admir- ng and. interested
relatives and friends AAd by way Of adding
sort Of spice to the programme and spr-
ces of glamour to the entertainment, musical
and dramatic exhibitions and French and
German recitati0ns are interlarded with the
exercises. All appear to be adopts and as
thoroughly au fat in their respective depart
ments as is the drilled soldier in the manual
Of arms or the field eyolutions. This is all
we'll enough on general principles, and yet to
the thoughtful mind the question will obtrude
itself, how much Of stability, solldity and
permanency does there exist for the student?
Studies on theories of other worlds, the anal
yss of some of the material things
this earth is all well enough,
but has the pupil been taught something Of
those things that most concern
him or her in the practical routine of this life!
Has he or she learned tho method by which
the comforts and convenences and happiness
of every day existence can be best secured
The mind has been trained by the aDsIruse
sciences, let it be admitted, but lull
Knowledge of binomal theorems help Dut
little to solve the problems of life, the aolh'y
TO define the value of certain angles OF
a triangle will not round off for him the
anguIarties Of humanity, the analysis OF an
English sentence, does not furnish one with
the real objects on which the enjoyment oil
life are predicatod, nor the compromising OF
its subjects. There is something behind all
this that is to DO supp led, The boy as he
enters the world Is expected to be the archl'
tect of his own fortune. We can not trans
NIT our experience to our children, 1t Is not
heritablc property, but much can be done
to f'ciltato their journey. To secure the com
forts ofile and to avoid many.of its ills, besides
possessing tho conceded virtues, many OF the
quasi so"t are required. There is the one OF
tact, for instance, that talent or aptitude, as
you may please to term it, whereby one
steers clear of troubles, which impetuoslty.
er, may lead him into. Then there is the
virtue of cheek, or that quality whereby one
conscious Of his powers, is enabled to pre-
sent them to best advantage. Many an able
man has been lost in obscurity because of
an excess of modesty, many noble woman
has failed to preside over happy hon. be-
cause of an absence of tact to handle the
Cord of creation" so that she might "lead
him like lamb" Then there is the question
of physical health and strength, by which
alone the ambitious laborings of lively
intellect can be sustained and supported.
Then there is the virtue of moral and physi-
cal courage to execute some compact which
the clear Judgment has entered into with the
conscientious heart. Many valued project
to civilization has been omitted or defeated
fer the lack of this essential. The boy and the
girl should be given to understand that they
have devolving upon them the duty of sue
cess in life, that they are not mere busts of
beauty and artistic flash upon the pedestal
of q common school or academic education.
They have rough work before them and they
must be fitted to accomplish it. There is
such thing as overweight sensibility that
shrinks upon ruder touch like the sensitive
plant. There are trees in )ife's highways and
by-ways TO be felled, and the axe, not, the
fne-edged razor, is needed to blaze out the
route. Literary excellence is certainly desir-
able, praiseworthy department is unQuestion-
ably so, but these things of which we have
spoken being akin to many Others we might
mention ought to be developed in the grow
ing child, or inotilled there if they do not of
themselves exist or are abnormally absent.
In these school public examinations we have
often seen so much pain experienced by the
tmidity arising from the intensely nervous
temperament of some children that we have
felt that there was some part of the
education of the child neglected, and
we have therefore proposed an in
quiry, and suggested some remedial pro-
positions that it might be well for those to
consider who have the training of the future
members of the social body.
PERSONAL.