The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-04-26

90 ilO USELESS WOIA- i<ct hot thVii
energy be misdirected.
This brings me to another point
which l will take up here, as il
seems to belong here, as well as else
where, though / shall have occasion
to refer TO it again and again during
the course of this series of articles
There is a certain amount of men.
tai drudgery connected with every
study. There is no way of avoiding
this drudgery; it must be perform.
ed, and the manner in which it is
performed will, to great extent
shape the character of future work
You may, by proper directions
save your pupil some part of it; you
cannot save him all of it. The prop.
er age for the performance of much
of this drudgery is under fourteen
The reason of this is that then the
mind-the memory will receive dull
dry facts, and treasure them up fol-
future use. | am aware that many
shall | add great-educators dis
countenance the idea Of teaching
anything to child which is not
thoroughly understood. / must say
that L cannot agree with sach SEN
timent, come from whom it may. /
know that many things learned by
me when boy. and of which 1 then
had no understanding, are of daily
use to me in the school room. They
come up unbidden from the recesses
of memory. 1 use them, and they
depart again ike the dream-conjur-
ed faces of friends long since gone,
| am coLfident that every teacher oi
much experience will agree with me
in this regard, and the greater his
experience the greater confidence do
1 feel in his decision.
Another point, to which | shall
frequently have occasion to allude
ere [ close these articles. but which
seems to belong properly to those
preliminary chapters, is this: You
cannot teach more than you know.
1 have heard the expression that
man can teach subjects that which
he doesn't know himself" They,
to me, only convey tie impression
that the person referred to is not
thoroughly up in the matters men,
toned. Ny word for it, he can new
er make u thorough scholar in such
matters. This teaches the teacher
never to undertake to ins'ruct class
in a lesson that he has ,.ot studied.
The subject may be as familiar to
you as the ''face of the maidei your
heart holds the dearest" and ex-
PLANTATION you will find -ame ,oint
leave you, and it will stay away from
you until you, by study, bring it
back.
/ very much dislike 10 hear a class
in any text book which | do not
own, and L never permit myself to
hear many recitations until | own
one of each particular books used IN
the school. Borrowing n pupii's
book is inconvenient, and if refer
ence to the book becomes necessary
you entail the trouble of borrowing
on the one who loaned TO you. 1
think this diminishes, in some cases,
the self-reliance of the pupil. l
know that it may engender prompt
ing.
Teach your pupils how to read,
and teach them what to read. |
cannot "a. better here than to quote
from Sir Vim. Hamilton's lectures
on logic, and / wish that every
teacher in the county owned that
work, and his lectures on metaphys-
les, also. The proper method of
he remarks, may be di-
vided into three clases: 1st, The
quantity; ID, be quality of what is
to be read, and3 3, the mode of read
ing what is to be read.
/. As concerns the quantity of
what is to be read, there is a single
rule-read much, but MT many
works.
ii. As concerns the quality of
what is to be read, there may be
given five rules.
1. Select the works Of principal
estimated by relation to
the several sciences themselves, or
to your particular aim in reading, or
to your individual disposition and
wants.
2. Read not the more detailed
works upon a science until you have
obtained a rudimentary knowledge
of it in general.
3. Make yourself familiar with a
science in its actual or present state
sefore you proceed to study it in its
chronological development.
f. To avoid erroneous and exciu-
1ve views, read and compare to-
,zher the more important works of
srery sect and party.
> To avoid one-sided develop
nent of mind, combine with the
study of works which cultivate the
understanding, the study of works
which cultivate the taste.
III. As concerns the mode or
of reading itself, there are
our principal rules.
/. Read that you may accurately
remember, but still more, that you
nay fully understand.
2. Strive to compass the general
enor of work before you attempt
o Judge of it in detail.
3. Accommodate the intensity of
he reading to the importance OF the
work. Some books are, therefore,
o be only dipped into; others are
o be run over rapidly; and others
o be studied long and seduiously.
4. Regulate on the same principle
he extracts you make from the
works you read" Page 4S6.
The above quotation said. SO much
better than l could hope to say it,
Ill that | would have wished to sa~.
mat l have given it you in fu l.
There is much food for thought in
1. But while on this topic / cannot
refrain from giving you one or two
rom other writers
Bacon says: Read not TO contra
lict and confute, nor to believe and
AXE for granted. nor TO find, talk
ind discourse, but to weigh and con-
slider. Some books are to be tasted,
49,, o~, a.. he ecvalloxraI ,uI c~.vx,n