The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-06-07

to he learned A arbitrary rules with
ont reason ciyen. thew should be
learned while the child is Young,
The long calculations involved viii
afford q yerv GOOD exercise IN the
elementary rnles / really can see
nothing in the processes Of involu.
tor and evolution which is beyond
the comnrehension of ten wear
old cbild: lint the rules are placed
in the back Of eyery arithmetic /
know of If they are TO be learned
as arbitrary ruIes. let them be learn
ed while the mind Is plastic, while
1.-The memory for assertions and facts
| IL bripht / know / havehad Glasses
whose members were not ten years
old. and thew could. mechanically,
remember extract the SQUARE or cube
root with perfect readiness. and most
nersons never eet more than the
mere mechanical knowledge of how
to perform these operations. thsv
have no conception Of why. / have
seen q class Of twenty teachers fail
tn write a rule for the extraction of
cube root. / venture to say that
more teachers cannot do il off.hand
than can.
Decimal fractions are another
stumbling block. Why this is true
7 cannot tell. | have taught many
normal classes. and I must say that
the number Of teachers that have
been under INV care who could ham
die decimals readily is very small. 1
have had teachers in nv classes who
habitually performed the operations
of per centaqe by using common
fractions instead Of decimals.
NV greatest difficulty with pupils
has been to get them to pay due re-
gard to the decimal point. Teach
ers have entered my classes, and my
d;fficultv has been fully as great
with them as with Young pupils, in
fact in many cases greater than with
Young pupils whom | have trained
! from the start. It seems almost i'm
nossible to CONQUER the habit of neg
fect in this particular when it has
once been ACQUIRED. ONLY the most
persistent care on the part of the
teach.r can DO SO.
Train vour pupils in reducing
common fractions to decimals. and
the reverse There is really nothing
diff;cult in the subject Of decimal
fractions Any one with an ordina.
nv knowledge of the fundamental
rnles ought to obtain a good knowl.
edge Of the same rules as applied tc
this subject in a few hours, vet some
nersons never obtain it.
percentage is another rule which
;s easy to understand. and vet many
q teacher has not the proper knowf.
edge of its first principles. "a boy
found a knife and sold it for dol.
liar What was his gain per cent?
/ 4 class Of twenty teachers, some o.
them having several years. expert.
ence. failed to answer this for me
IOf course YOU will answer it at once
! I have no doubt.
Mensuration can be made much
lclearer by the use of figures and
blocks They NAV be cut out o1
nasteboard or wood. You will find
f a yery good plan to have a set o.
eeometrical figures, all made to the
same scale. For instance, you have
circle made four inches in diane.
ter have squares made four inches
on the side; cones diameter Of base
fonr inches. and height six inches
cubes four inches on side; pyramidi
the same. and six inches high.
trust I have made the matter plain
The illustrations of surfaces l draw
ON white pasteboards, which I car
usua ally obtain without money and
without price" from any merchant
/ prefer the heavy boards, about two
| feet long and eight inches wide, or
which goods have been wrapped.
then make nv figures mathematic
ally exact. using good black ink.
have a set of such figures which
. have used forseveral years, and hops
to use for many more. also like
TO have a set of such surfaces, cut
either from cardboard or from wood
in which each surface is separate.
can give a boy a clearer knowledgt
Of the reason Of these seemingly ar
h;trarv rules in less time by mean!
: of such figures than in any othel
wav
Insist on neatness at the board.
have seen figures drawn on black
boards (which we're not like any
thing in heaven above nor earth be
meath nor in the waters under tn,
eartha-mere nondescripts, NOR,
difficnlt to decipher than Egyptian
', h;eroclypbics. If a circle must b,
: drawn let il be a circle. If you ar,
| to draw a straight line make It so.
Just here will say a word lest
) forget it entirely. There is a paten
dustless crayon. / regard it as =
thorn in the flesh whenever SCI
it. 1t is dustless, but it is about al
comfortable to mark with as bone
The common crayon answers every
, purpose, andif you will enforce tn
t rule of erasing in downward al
rection always, you will save your
self much of the annoyance arisint