The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1880-08-04
educational. -

= THERE are competent persons enough
to be had to fill all the vacant positions
I to-day, and il is serious waste of the
time of pupils-and a serious waste Of
the money of the people to grant GER
tifieates to teach to incompetent OF II.
immoral persons.
THE leading pursuits of our pe0ple
must be agriculture, the mechanical
and manufacturing arts. IL Is easy
enough to find out what are the studies
which bear most directly upon these,
and to see to it that the children in the
schools are instructed in the elements
of these pursuits.
]. b. MERwIN, Editor of the ADaeri-
can Journal Of Education, pertinently
asks:
Why not use the columns of the local
papers more to build up the school in
terests?
Our school teachers aid the local pa
pers directly and permanently every
where because they educate the people.
Intelligent people want to know
what is going on in the world, and will
demand newspapers.
ALL TRUE.-SO true that teachers
will do well to remember the fttefs
cester, Mass, as follows:
''SchOOl is important; but other things
are also important. Health is more
important than school. Family duties
may require occasional absence. We
must recognize the fact that the school
is not the only factor in our civilization.
"rhe family has its part i'm the pro-
cess Of education; the church has its
part; society has its important infiu-
ence which We cannot ignore. All
these, rs well rs the schools, have
claims upon children
"fhe schools must not antagOnize
them; but cooperate with them. Ii Is
the part of a good teacher to know the
circumstances of each pupil i'm his care,
and encourage "a necessary absence as
well as discourage an unnecessary one.
BLACKBOARD ExERCIsEs.-ProfessO
John Ogden, in his recent and valua-
BILE work, Science of Education" pub
lished by Van Antwerp, Bragg x Co..
quotes the remark of a distinguished
educator, who said that "every inch of
schOOl-rOOm wall not devoted to Mack
boards should be appropriated for cab
met of common thing and the curiosi-
ties of art and nature"
This would be an admirable arrange
ment for the
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
as well as for the more advanced for
il would afford the right kind of facili-
ties for experimenting and drawing.
But a large amount of blackboard is
also necessary for the Use of children;
so that when they become weary Of
their lessons, and Of their seats, as they
soon will, they may go to the board
and amuse themselves by drawing lines,
pictures, maps, etc.
This would be a much better means
of disposing of this superabundanee Of
vital force and mental activity than to
let il work off i'm the form of mischief,
or even to attempt to crush it out by
long confinement, and then to complain
that the child has not capacity, when
in fact he has just been deprived of
what little he had.
LOOK AT THE REsULT.-When We
read in the morning paper the appar-
emily numerous cases Of crime, do We
all reflect upon the proportion of the
criminal and the nOn-criminal?
Do We reeOlleet that in 1870 those
convicted of any crime numbered but
81, 900 out of population of 30.O00,O 900,
or S4-l00th of per cent, and that too
embracing hardened criminals whom
We had imported?
Do any of US take the trouble to COM
pare the result with that attained i'm
other countries?
OF course no wise person supposes
that the public schools are the only
conservative influence; no one supposes
that they are without flaw; but we do
claim the right to be tried by the same
test that is applied to our other human
institutions, all of which are imperfect,
viz that if they accomplish more good
than evil that the balance shall be
struck between their lOngcOmings and
their shortcomings, and that support be
given or withheld in view of the result
thus attained
In short, that our schools, looked at
as an investment, are pecuniarily of adj
question of this kind ought at least to
receive careful investigation
If by the expenditure of any sum we
can increase our revenue, We are finan-
cially unwise if We avoid the expendi-
ture. If by an education which takes
as its junction the developing Of those
natural faculties which underlie all
special occupations" we can increase
our material prosperity, we have a right
to demand aid of those who are inter-
ested i'm their own material prosperity,
even though they care nothing for any
other interest.
WHAT WE CLAIM
We therefore claim, first. that the
public schools are occupied with such
work as has always been considered
proper for elementary instruction, and
with such work as is pursued in private
schools, and with such work as our OPP
ponents furnish their own children.
Second, that the quality of this work is
poor when compared with the work
done by other educational institutions
dealing with the same age ofpupils-
Moreover, that the average spelling,
reading. writing, and eiphering of the
pupils in the public schools is equal to
the average work of their parents who
have been educated ''in the good old
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