The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-03-20
SELECT IITERATUR RE.
THE NEW DEPARTURE IN THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

.tii'l itiiauSvu ny MI. !lcIl. aDpl Lodge
and volume of Poetry for Children
edited by Samuel Eliot. superintendent
of schools, marks another step in tn
process Of growth which appears to b
going on in modern opinion in regard t
education.
At length the Old system which Ina
endured SO long seems crumbiiu@, an,
new methods and new ideas appear o.
every side. That old system the system
beloved by the true pcdagogue is onl
too we'll known. Il is the system o
routine and of cram, and there are few
people under forty who have not at som
time Suffered under it.
To excite interest or arouse enthusiasm
has not been considered the task of
master in the common schools. On til,
probably be rather noisy. and hence oh
Jcctionable. Scholarship has been bel,
to consist in learning textbooks 10y heart
and i'll answering by rote such question
as We're printed for the MASTER use: tina
school has been the best where the rou
| tine was most iron bound. where children
were drilled i'll their exercises like sol
diers in the manual, and where excel
fence, i'll the one case as in the other. de
pended on turning human beings int,
machines.
| Now. apart from the fact that such dis
cipline is pernicious, because it enfeebIe.
the mind by overlooking it with undi
! gested matter, and brushes out origin
atty by discouraging all Independent
thought. it is equally Objectionable OF
other grounds. Long experience ha,
proved that it is doubtful blessing t,
teach man to read, and then turn hin
upon the world to pick up such further
education as the cheap literature of great
cities affords. The immense sale of sch
! sational newspapers of the worst elias:
proves the truth Of this fact. and is al
signs Of the times There is no use il
attacking the publishers of criminal lit
eraturc by Indictment, and by fine ant
imprisonment. Where there is a demand
there will be a supply. all the laws il
the statute book to the contrary notwith
standing. The true way to suppress sucl
publications is by lessening the demand
and this can be done only by cducatin.
the children in the common schools t,
read something better. That much ca,
be done III this direction the believers il,
the new departure are thoroughly con
WINGED, and that without any great eX
penSe or radical change. except in bring
ing common sense to bear upon the etlu
cational problem.
The popular dissatisfaction with the
results attained by the elaborate. costly
and ineffective system i'll use has been tt
bring forward new class Of school super
intcndents, and to iHaug!rate the move
ment which has caused such books as
those edited by DIR. Eliot and Mr.. Lodge
to be put into the schools
Admitting at the outset that beside tn,
vast mass Of human know ledge. that por.
ton which can be taught to students at
the greatest of universities must be but
4 petty fragment. the theory that many
things should be taught is frankly aban.
doned. The school at once ceases to be
| ,nuSiIeroJ &c :, nj, on WHOM. nm ,I,,..+ :, g.,
is given and heccmes place where chill.
dren are taught how to learn, and, il pos
sibie. inspired with Il love of knowledo,
for its own sake. The problem is. first
How are children to be interested in thei,
lessons: and, second, How are they to b,
taught to love to readi
The way to begin would obviously seem
to be at the beginning. The first years
of a child's education are those in which
lie acquires habits of mind and methods
of thought which influence his whole life.
and yet the primary department is that
| branch which has hitherto been most nee
lected. If the beginning has been right.
If III the first three years OF school the
child has learned 10 read and write with
ease and to take pleasure in reading and
writing, to carry him further is an easy
task. If, on the contrary. study has beer,
irkSome: if he has not been trained t.
fix his attention and to apply his mind
and, above all. if he has not learned to
read with pleasure and to be fond OF
books. future success becomes difficult on
impossible.
Many thousand years ago mothers and
nurses discovered how tn teach babies t.
| talk. ALoHt athef educational problems
| there may he doubt. but this one is set
tied: the one thing every human being
rich or poor. learned or ignorant, can dc
really well is to speak the tongue his
mother taught him. For if ped.igogues.
instead of making children 90 their way.
would only consent to follow the exam
pie set by the motherS and teach as they
| DO or, i'll other words, would let children
learn in the way in which nature meant
| iltiu 10 IdlH tiitS Hight DC successful.
too: but they consider themselves wiser
than nature. and therefore they fail. 4
mother does not begin by teaching he,
hahy to spell hetprf if learns to talk
! SIZE says. II an m"ther.' say moth
err " and the baby understands perfect.
lv. and tries, and after q while say.
"mother. and is delighted: and so learn
ing to talk goes on with perfect Satis!ac-
ton to every one. In view of these well,
known facts, GGmmG,n sense ToHii sN@.
les, .i.ak.Lg Al. vifnrt 10 sce ii IL is i'm
possible to teach reading ana writing i'll
the same way; in perfect faith that if il
can be done. it must he right because il
must be natural. That it can be done
with entire success, the result of many
different experiments has proved. TIL,
neSLcd il Tsry s.nrle. For example,
.he teacher, on the first day of school,
uraNs a man on the blackboard, and then
| taking hEtie class af ahGut :; dCzr,
children about her she asks them what
! she has drawn They say "a man. and