The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-11-19

#+%N ~ WOuii uc I)ulu tHdI tney
NHf1w very little as compared with
fourteen and fifteen year old miss
We has just passed her examination
~ she high school in any one of our
>Rns or cities, except as TO those
p#nts which they have in later years
''*ked up for purposes of business or
|S=.sure. Not having any relation
t14le course of reading or business
suits of inatured years, the Dalnes
aHH locations OF rivers, mountains,
lakes, cities, capes, nations, etc. drop
rom the memory of most men as the
ieatures of people who pass up in
rallld-moying procession. The study
having seryed its purpos in the re-
citation room and examination day,
fpinptly dismissed from the mind.
testthe value of a study thus pur
sued Ny any standard you please. and
it is valueless except as to its general
outlines, which can be learned in
One-third Ahe time allotted to it. AS
studied it, contributes little TO our
stores of useful information and still
less to the discipline OF mind, mas
much as it begets a habit Of careless
Indifference 10 what we have learned.
There is Only one possible good
which the stu1y of such a multipli-
cation of details can serve. Tne per-
sistent effort to store them in men,
ory, even for temporary use, puts the
faculty of attention under the control
of the will. Buff that is the only
advantage we EXPECT to obtain from
it, the names and the infinitely vary
ing characteristics Ofthe objects which
are all about us i'm the natural world
and in the world of art and industry,
would serve the purpose still better.
Take English Grammar. Its utility
in training US to speak the language
with correctness and precision is
claimed by very few of those who
advocate its retention in all its mag
niticent prOportiO Is in the curriculum
of the elementary schools. Its claims
rest mainly on its assumed value as
a disciplinary study; but am will
ing to concede little i'm its favor which
| would not concede to geography
AS tothe training of judgment and
reason, which is claimed as the chief
excellence, l must say that have no
very high respect for it. Taught at
an age when the power of abstract
.reasen.is yet very feeble, the supposed
exercise of reason is likely to be only
an exertion of the verbal memory.
AT this period of life the interest
which may seem to be excited in this
study is only a fear of reprOOf or a
laud1ble ambition to stand well in
class. That it is beyond the capacity
of children in our elementary schools
is now allowed by most authorities
on the subject. If Their conclusions
be true, the deduction is Inevitable
that the study is not only useless but
perniciouS-pernit ious not only be-
cause it disDlaces other studies which
would be of far greater practical util-
ity, but because of the mistaken no.
ti0n of the true nature of a process
of reasoning which it begets in the
mind OF the average child. Promises
being given, and a conclusion derived
by a false process, or by a process
which is not understood, the integrity
of the reason is violated and conf
dence in its operations impaired, and
the faculty itself permanently weak
ened instead of being strengthened.
l have no hesitation, therefore, in
rejecting grammar or the greatest
part of it, from the list of common
school studies.
But what of arithmetic? 1 Ianswer
with some reluctance. because know
bow strongly fortified this subject is
in the minds of the people. For Illus
tration, l might say that an amend
ment of the catechism has been pro-
posed by gentleman in the part of
the State of Ohio from which | came.
In answer to the question, "What is
the chief end of man 3" he would re-
ply: ITO glorify God and study
Arithmetic forever" Within few
years past, say the last thirty
or forty. far more attention has
been given than 1t deserves. We
do not teach it too well, not
well enough. as to its elements,
but we attempt tn teach too much of
it. We teach more in the schools
than Is necessary in the counting.
house, l am told by the gentlemen
above referred to that, having occas-
ion to draw a note which should real
ize certian sum when discounted at
the bank, he found the cashier un-
able to reckon the amount for which
it should be drawn. This suggested
a series of inquiries among bankers,
which resulted in the discovery that