Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-19

rom decade TO decade 1t is. however, a
great step Forward to have come to reaii-
cation of the need Of educational reform,
and the Quincy system is certainly the
best yet devised for introducing better
things. 1t, however, does not alone suf- I
fee to give our system the forceit lacsas. |
The Quincy methods are concerned rather
with the handling of the tools tnaR with
the selection of them, and 1t is the latter
which is the most important consider
alton. What is needed is 70 distinguish
clearly between practical and impractical
education, andato separate tae one from
the other, Impractical education is that
which does not lead to anything which
merely burdens the mind with formulas
never to be required again which opens no
path to future acquisitions; which rather
instills distaste for knowledge by its
own insipidity; which is away from the
interests and aims of real life, and has no
bearing upon human events. OF this char
acter is a great deal of instruction still
clung TO as absolutely necessary. It all
ought to be discarded.
Practical education on the other hand is
that which leads to further knowledge
which impiants an interest in and thirst
for more information which teaches
concerning matters of constant and
direct interest which enlarges the
perception of the general order
of nature; which gives just ideas
of mans place in the universe; which
teaches how to use the capacities III
acquiring all necessary knowledge, and by
making learning agreeable recommends 1T
| to the young. This is the aim and object
of the Quincy method and its real value
consists in the fact that whatever it
teaches is of practical utility, and it Is so
| taught az to be remembered. OF course
even under the Quincy method it is quite
possible to give bad instruction, but the
! temptation TO it is less, and the facilities
for rational teaching are greater. The new
Constitution has raised the most serious OBJ
! stacles to school reform of any kind, how
| ever That most abominable instrument
! has disorganized and demoraliZed the en-
tire system. 1t has given the selection OF
| text books into incompetent hands, and 1t
has made their decisions binding for four
years The probability that local school
boards viii be capable of making intelli-
gent selections is very slight. It may hap
pen, but it is extremely, unlikely to do SO.
As result the book agents have far
greater influence than they had before,
and practically these agents are permitted
to determine what our children shall learn
for the ensuing four years. Before any radi-
cal improvement car. be effected this plan
will have to be abolished. In fact the
whole educational article in the new Con-
stitution is so Objectionable that it must be
radically amended or altogether eliminated.
! Meantime all that can be done is to en-
courage the introduction of the Quincy
method Of teaching, and to prepare the
public for more extensive and radical re-
forms in the educational scheme. In order
! TO do this parents must be accustomed to
ask themselves seriously what it is that
their children bring away when they leave
the public schools. 1t is not to be expected
that those parents who know less than
their children viii be able to reflect to
much profit upon this question, but there
are many intelligent and cultivated
minds which must perceive the Importance
Of the inquiry, and which will realize the
hollowness and deficiency of the present
System directly they begin to apply prac-
teal tests for themselves. The desire OF
all philosophical and patriotic men and
women must be to strengthen instead of
weaken the public schools, but the way
to do this is to reform their defects, and
thus afford opportunity for making them
better. At present the public mind is ap.
preaching the conviction that education,
as now pursued, fails to educate. If that
is the case We must endeavor to remedy
the evil, and the frat step towards reform
consists in ascertaining clearly wherein the
fault consists.