Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1882-06-03
EDUCATION.

ing forth, strengthening and perfect
ing all the faculties with which an
all.wise Creator has endowed him,
physical, intellectual and moral.
Education has to do with tie hand,
the head and the heart" Herbert
Spncer defines education 1.-THE one
end Of all true education is to learn
how TO use all our faculties to the
greatest advantage to ourselves and
others, or how to live completely.
And this, being the greatest thiag
needful for US to learn, is, by conse
quence the great thing which edu-
cation has to reach. To prepare US
for complete living is the function
which education has to discharge,
and the only rational mode of judg
ing of any educational course is to
judge in what degree it discharges
that function"
The great problem of the Public
School is to fit the boys and girls to
be useful and happy men and women,
with the least waste of time and
strength; to condense within the few
years children are within reach OF
their only healthful influences of
mind and character. so much profit
able instruction, with as little that is
useless, as shall surely set them in
the right way of worthy and useful
life. Reform in methods of instruc-
ticn is the ever pressing need of the
schools. The best schools and the
best teachers are those that feel this
need most keenly. Where no reform
is going on, there educational life
is decayiDg. To stand still is to go
backward. There is no surer sign of
decay than desire to think that The
utmost attainable good has been
reached. The teacher who believes
that his methods are perfect, conse-
quently too wise to learn anything
new, is . fossil, and ought to be sent in
search of the north pole, instead of
trying to teach the youth of pro-
gressive people. Educational pro-
gress Is now very necessary to keep
pace with the wonderful inventions
and improvements going on in the
material world. Grammar is being
,taught-but the pupils can neither
speak nor write good English. They
are being drilled in arithmetic-out
can neither reason clearly nor reckon
correctly. Words have been taught
and learned instead of ideas; and
cramming, instead of training to
think, has been the practice too long.
Some parents, and occasionally a
teacher, judge of the pupils progress
by the number OF pages gone over or
the number of books finished-all
having been learned parrot fashion,
"by heart" Is that education when
a child or student can repeat page
after page in history, all the rules OF
syntax, and definitions word for word
no deviation allowed, as the words
are to be learned, not the meaningi
Is that the kind of edudation for
the people of to.daya Or is it better
to teach pupils to express in their
own language what they know OF, or
understand about a lesson2 Teach
them to think for themselves. and
that the simple ''saying" lesson is
not the only objectin going to school,
To be crammed with knowledge is
not SO good as to be intelligent. That
can only be accomplished by exciting
thought and awakening an interest.
Let it he remembered that in some
school the future statesmen, writers,
artists, men and women of genius
and power of this country, exist, as
boys and girls, to- day. What boys
and girls will turn out to be, depends
on the influences and training that
are brought to bear on them. "a
little knowledge we'll learned, truly
digested and made a part OF the
pupils own store, is worth more to
him than any amount of facts loose
" and unfortunately brought to-
gether." A pupil of ordinary men
tai power ought to be able, at the
age of fifteen or sixteen. "to read
well. and spell the words he uses; to
write a neat and legible hand; to
know considerable geography, and
considerable of the history oil the
world and it's eminent men, especial