New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-16
NOTES ON EDUCATION.

ST. Louis now has sixty kindergartens instrucunp
5.2Ol children between the ages Oh n'e AL" ''''A
years.
n,rtnou,h has now 40 students-27 more than
Lost vcar The members OF the faculty are giving
n series of monthly lectures before the stuuc"'e
Hamilton College las Freshman Glass OF sixty
two ts believed to be the largest class ever GU
tered there. The proposition OF the New ioin
Svnods to endow the college is supposed 10 nave n"u
something TO do with this increase
freshman class of seventy-6ve has just entered
Williams College. The whole number Oh new men
admitted is nearly ninety. The new gymnasium
will be ready for use in few weeks; tne o H ono
10 be used as nan LOT NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Prize spt aklng, ETC.
Amherst has a Freshman class of eghty-eight
mcmbcrs There are five additions to the Sopho-
more class and two to the Junior class Inc authoi
tiles are considering plan which II adopted VIII VII,
change the wav of governing the coiieEe auu VIII
bestow grades of diplomas Gu graduates
To remember and to understand are two very
different things it Is pity that so many teache.S
confound them. Correct teaching" SAYS bdf"oSS
Educational Monfhly evil educate children 10 ex-
press what they have learned correctly rapidly ana
easily All else in the schoo-room Is sham ana
fraud"
The women students have done well in the first
b. A. and b. Sc. examinations OF London ohiver-
sty In French two of them stand alone IN tne irSt
class none of their male rivals having got beyond
the second. In German there is a lady In me hrst
class; while has obtained Donors I'D Latlh' TWO
in English. and two III mathematics
In Hungary it is said fully 100000 children OF
school age do not go TO school at all, while those
who do 20 frequently stay only three or four wears
There are 212 large parishes. each having popuia-
tion exceeding 5000 wholly without elementary
schools Al least 1000 new schools ale necdeu'
Worse than ALL oue-third of the teachers IN the eX-
istng schools are not qualified Tor their ONCE
That the public schools don't teach properly even
the simplest branches is a fact winch Is constantly
being proved and reproved to popular dissatisfac-
ton. The Lansing Kcpgblicqa mentions that OF the
twenty-oue applicants for the vacant cadetship AT
West Point, examined in that city last week. less
than one. bird were good penmen much less num-
Der good spellers and scarcely single applicant
would have been called prof 3ent reader. In all
the written examinations errors OF punctuation
and capitalization might be found, ana IL was py
no means uncommon TO ind the most ordinary
words miSspelled In one. "enuY was inaue 10 st'Iu
for "anyn while i'm aSOther the name OF the martyr
President was p-lled " Linken."
The three articles of faith of Continental Liberal
ism-free, compulsory. gratuitous educailon-weIe
UNANIMOUSLY accepted by the recent Congress OF
Education hed at Brussels. At the Congress there
was scarcely "A speaker found TO defend punishment
of any kind in schools For the five years since the
only punishment nfcted-and this in the rarest
instances--has been temporary or permanent ex-
pulsion from the classes. Tie English press swarms
with tex books and primers on every teacnabe
subject from Enumeration up TO sociology III tne
Ecoe Mode e. except for literary lessons, no book is
used either bv master or pupil The proposition to
organize an International Congress IL teachers
with permanent sitting committee was so warmly
received ny the meeting mat IL is uehe'eu tna' II
will certainly take shape.
member of the Cleveland Board of Education
said divers reasonable and judicous things at re-
cent teachers institute in that city. Though the
teacher lie SAID. may be thoroughly equipped
with reference to scholarship. although she may
know all that is in the textbooks, and although
she may have honest desire to teach these things
fall far short of the real necessities of the case You
are not teaching YOU used 10 teach. one or two
things as in Persia two three things as in Greece
and but one thing a. In Sparta, which was grand
thng-obedience. Those things are well IN their
places, but you must 90 beyond them. 10 teach
vour pups TO repea as the parrot repeats all that
the textbooks contain and which you know, that Is
dong only what has been the curse OF emma ior
1000 years. The minds of pupils need to be led to
acknowledgment and sef-culture; they need 10 be
inspired with the ideas at the bases of facts; they
need TO be filled with that inspiration which creates
a love for knowledge and independence OF thought.
Miss Edith Smcox, of the London School Board
showed much admirable good sense IN her address
before the American Social Science ASsocatio
school knowledge can be safely allowed TO remain
long detached from its daily life. The history and
geography of lesson books must Join on to that of
The newspapers it is almost worse to know the
name aud date of q writer OF a hero, without an III
dependent familiarity with the nature of his books
or actions than to be frankly ignorant of all at
once and in every branch of science it is admitted
that knowledge of definitions and formul@ is use
less apart from experimental acquaintance with the
actual bodies described. An inaccurate general
KNOWLEDGE that would not stand the test of
examination, may i'll some cases have more
educational value than a few correct and barren
facts; ard our educational results will not be
thoroughly satisfactory if detailed information is
impaired faster than crcumstantal Impressions
about its color aud bearing. Schoolmasters are al
ready complaining loudly of the system OF cram
ming necesSitated by the tyranny of examinations.
Schoolmstresses still look 70 examinations as Their
hone of del!veTaNce from inaccurate and sIpsh0d
methods of learning and teaching. But II must De
remembered that. although no ignorant teacher can
pass 4 searching examination, not every teacher
who can pass such an eXanlna ION Is necessarily
well educated. All so-cacd higher education Is
worthless that does not include great deal more
than can be tested by short examination and III
these busy days perhaps tue greatest service that
educated women have II in their power TO render
TO the community is 10 keep alive the menaced ira
dIiOn oil vide and disin crested general culture.