Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-12-01
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
Conducted by J. H. Terry. Principal of Mineral
Point Public shoots
THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE.

| O SA SuAA1CO up dOOuS as
follows: The boys should learn
reading, writing and ciphering; es-
pecially should no pains be spared
to make them good in fggers."
As the education of the girls is of
little account any way. their time
may be devoted to geography. gram
mar, or any other nonsense insisted
on by visionary teachers. This
theory is not wholly obsolete yet.
Intensely practical men see nought
but a waste of time in the study of
geography, language and some of
the other subjects taught in most
schools and required by the laws
of most Of the states. Gradgrind
still insists on facts-facts that can
be embodied in yards, pounds and
dollars.
But how shall the study of Ian
guage be justified to the practical
man? We do not use the term
grammar here for the reason that if
this discussion were thus restricted,
the practical man would have the
advantage. Fifty years of trial of
English grammar in the schools
with the results that we see all
about us, must give a verdict favor
able to his view of the case. And
the man who is something more
than practical-the teacher who
labors to produce intellectual growth
is compelled to accept this verdict;
but while he cannot resist the con-
clusSOn to which the experiment
lads, he is yet too strongly impress
ell with the necessity for something
which shall do for the learner what
the granmars professedly aim to do
to torego all further effort; SO enter
. ing anew upon the solution of the
problem, he begins with his primary
pupils carefully prepared series of
exercises in language, and from this
grade upward adapts them to every
different stage of advancement, till
that class of pupils is reached whose
attainments qualify them to grapple
with the distractions characteristic
of most of the textbooks on gram
mar.
And now the pertinent query is,
hat is it all worth when he secures
the result aimed at?
First. then, in answer to this ques-
ton, the ability to clearly perceive
and accurately to reason upon any
subject always goes hand in hand
with concise and correct expression,
if indeed it is not, as is sometimes
maintained, result of it. No intel
ligent person places low estimate
on clearness and precision in mental
operations. The haziness which en-
shrouds most ideas as they exist in
some minds deprives thinking of its
value, makes mental growth impos-
sible. The man whom the poet de
scribes as never having had "a dozen
thoughts in ali his life " is the man
who has but a few dozen words in
his vocabulary and an acquaintance
all too limited with even those.
The pupils who sometimes assert
that they "know but can't tell y mis-
hke chiefly in regard to the first
part of the statement. Clear and
concise expression always promotes
clearness of thought. From this
consideration alone it is difficult to
escape the conclusion that the study
of language outweighs in Importance
any other taught in school. No
other branches can be as well taught
or as quickly taught when this is
neglected. No other branch ever is
thoroughly taught without incorpor-
ating with it much instruction in
this; and the less of this there is
given in its own proper place the
more is needed in the teaching of
other subjects.
The ability to control and use his
own mental powers, an attainment
50 valuable to every one OH leaving
school, a power SO necessary for the
teacher to develop, always presup-
poses mastery of the elements of the
students vernacular and is impossi-
bic without this.
Second, Intelligent reading, the ba
sis of large share of all knowledge. is
dependent on an acquaintance with
the structure and use of language.
The youth who has made study of
his language through all the differ
ent stages of his school course is not
puzzled at every step as he essays to
gather the thought of some of the
great writer's of our language; nor is
he likely to be driven back upon the
dime novel for his reading as is the
one who, from his lack of knowledge
of his mother tongue, is compelled
to wrestle with classical English as
with pages of knotty problems.
Third, 1t is not SO much from the
power of figures as that of forcible
expression of thought that the sue
cessful man is either influenced
himself or influences others. He
who cannot comprehend the mean