Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-06-18
1HE nEsEo-s EDUCATIONAL DIFF.

/ 1C<NiS; the principal III
OF mathematics and natural philosophy, re-
ports that the students on arrival, coming
mostly from country places, rarely know
more than the first four rules of arithmetic
! They have little command Of language
and small reasoning power, and at
first are unable to analyze the problems. The
teacher has to explain 10 them orally, for
they learn slowly from books. The reason
why books prove of such slight aid is worthy
of remark. The number of words in the
vocabulary of an ordinary negro are very
few, and their pronunciation commonly diff
| feTs greatly from that indicated in our
ordinary, complicated, irregular way of
| spelling the English language. The books
| are not, therefore, comprehensive to them
at fourteen or eighteen, as they are TO our
children. The latter usually know the
words ard have only 10 know how to recog
nize by the eye what they are more or less
| familiar with by the eye. 10 the negro
who has mixed with negroes only, the greater
| part of the words themselves are as unknown
as ii belonging TO foreign tongue. When
beginning early enough there is no want of
capacity, nor does more or less depth of
color show any difference in point of intel
lect, or on the average of quickness
or dullness. The difficulty is in
the language of books; in the use
of words literally, fguratively, techni-
cally, automatically, and so on. The Indian
has the whole Language to learn, but the
negro has much of the language he has ac-
quired to unlearn. 1t results from this that
when persons who have not reflected upon
the peculiar position in which the negroes
defective and erroneous home educating has
placed them, endeaYor to instruct them, they
are almost sure TO make the mistake of at
tributing the negro's privation of the knowl-
edge that is familiar to the firesides of the
white, and the consequent apparent dizziness
in understanding books, to natural inca
pacity that does not exist. Isolate white
children; let them hear but few words, and
those restricted TO their most obvious senses;
let great portion of the words OF their lam
guage be utterly unknown 10 them, and let
them speak dialect only, and they would
experience exactly the same difficulty. A
London preacher, who had othciated for a
friend in the couutry, at the conclusion
of the service told his friend, on their way
to the parsonage, that he had, at least, been
careful 10 obey his instructions TO use only the
simplest words, such as all understand. The
clergyman accosting passing parishioner,
inquired whether he had understood the
strangers sermon. "Well, pretty well, cir"
was the reply. Several times the gentle
man spoke of felicity John what is
'felicity?'" 81 am not sure as / knows |
rightly, but think its summat inside of
pig" Such ignorance is not unusual in |
England. The negro has little more of it,
that is all. But we see by this that the |
negroes start on the race for knowledge |
heavily weighted. As they proceed with |
their arithmetical studies they usually be- |
come deeply interested, and will not take a |
step without knowing why. Natural phi |
losophy interests Them also, and to a sur
prising degree, everything is 50 new to them,
and they begin TO want to know "the phi
losophy" of everything they see. But they |
find it difficult TO learn to state what they |
know, or want to know, as their minds
have not been trained to think consec-
utively aud logically. Ii their studies
could be extended so as to- include
geometry, with its clear methods of stating
premises and reasoning from them, it would
be of infinite advantage to their unskilled
minds. Each household among us discuss
occurrences and things seen and heard,
causes are inquired into, consequences are
foreEeen, inferences are drawn and conclu-
sions are arrived at as to what shall be done
or avoided under SUCH and-such circum-
stances. 1t is not so in the negro cabin. In
cidents as wholes and as composed of details
impress the Imagination, or perhaps arouse
the emotions, but do not set the reasoning
faculty at work to separate what is distinct,
contrast what is different, and catch sight of
as is the daily and often I'M
conscious habit Of those who, from the cradle,
have been accustomed to have the reasoning
faculty brought into play. To understand
the disadvantages the average negro has
to contend with helps us to under
stand much in him that had baffied and
bewildered us. In learning grammar the
negro finds committing the verbs to memory
a very difficult task; it is different to any
thing he has a notion OF, or if there is no.
ton that notion is hindrance, because il is
an error. "He were pleased, !" 81 tries TO do
it," and go Oh, require much trouble 10 cor
rect. When the puzzled students begin to
perceive what the grammar is teaching them
they become enthusiastic in the study, and
are merciless critics OF each other, with many
disputes about correctness to refer TO the
teacher. As a specimen of the manner their
ignorance of the words of our language OBJ
struct them with difficulties, the following
occurrence is mentioned: A pupil in geogra-
ply cannot understand the question: "Into
what waters do the rivers flow that rise on
the western slope of the Alleghanies?" He
has locked in the map, but that has not
removed his difficulty. The teacher set up
on Its edge hslf-opened book; the
pupil points out on which slope the river
rises, and also in what direction the Atlantic
lies. "if, then, the river rises near the top
Of the western slope, in what direction do its
waters rum" The strange reply is given;
aInto the Atlantic ocean," "But the Allan
tic is on the other slope; did you ever see
rivers run up hill?" 81 never did; but the
book says-they rise" His own idea was
correct enough, but he could not undertake
to correct the book, and the book spoke of
the rivers as "rising," and if they rose they
ran up the mountain. So 1t looked to the
youth, whose trouble was not about the thing
but about the word "rise," whose import he
only imperfectly comprehended. The whole
testimony of the Hampton teachers shows
that negroes can be taught as readily as
other people, if instruction begin early and
the child is away from is family, and that
when the negroes generally are sufficiently
to talk and read like other people
their Preside conversation will prepare the
young for school as the white children are
by the same process.
what the South Pay the North for Food.