Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1883-08-10


soon as they are able 20 read read
lily in iheserond reader, they az
BET 10 writing
AZ first copies like ms MS ee'
or Ms are set for them sayin
nothing about the principles Of lei
iors 10 beginners, II Is better 4
be able to write a plain hand thai
10 know how 10 reciio all the prln
dplos Of Letters without the slight
est knowledge Of their combination
2nd. They should be trained il
Arithmetic To work accurately an'
readily examples IN the four rules
in common and decimal fractions
in percentage and simple intores
aud to write bills Of receipts an,
promisory notes. 1t is not my pur
pose to state that any part Of Ray''
Arithmetic should be omitted.
teach every lesson, but deyot,
more time on the parts Of more
value to the pupils, A thorough
and practical drill in the foregoing
parts Of Arithmetic is gilmore value
to the average country scholar,
than years Of hard study Of duo
decimals, compound proportion
and many other school-mastere'
puzzles.
In Waste Of Labor in the Work
Of Education, President Chad
bourne tmthfully says, "Tho prin-
ciple of dealing with essentials
mainly should prevail in all the
work Of education. We hgvo too
much to do to spend time fooling
with complicated arithmotical puz-
zles, which abound in some books
questions which no one should un-
dertake TO solve till well versed in
algebra and geometry. AT the
proper stage of education, such puz-
zles, which are a Encouragement
to the young scholar, because he
thinks them essential to the sub
ioct, will be solved ip the natural
progress ofhis work. They are an
annoyance and Encouragement
simply because they are introduced
before their time; before the study
of the principles on which their
solution depends" "
3rd, They should acquire a gen.
eral knowledge of geography. |
reserve space on my programme
of recitations for an oral Geogra-
ply class. In this | put all pupils
who are not sufficiently advanced
to study the text books. | tell them
of the earth, its shape, size. divis-
ions and general motions; and il
lustrate these by the use of globe
and a black board. also attach a
little history and civil government
to it, which in my mind is very es-
sential in an ungraded school. Two
thirds of the pupils will leave
school before they reach geography
and nine-tenths Of them will never
study history or civil government;
so. the knowledge gathered from
his oral class is invaluable to
hem.
Those who study text book
should never be required to men,
,rize one-tenth part of all the
lines of each state, the
ength of the rivers in miles; the
census statistics ofthe states, even
n our own country about bushels
# corn, wheat, rye, potatoes,
,eans, etc. Teachers who require
pupils to learn one fifth part of
What our best biographies contain,
hould be indicted tor a lack of
ommon sense. No reasonable hui
nan being will expect even a school
master who has studied and taught
half life time, to know
Il these without looking on the
,ook. "It takes brave man"
avs President Chadbourne, zone
lerciless to himself, to make q
mall, simple, but thorough text
ook; but such text books we must
ave, if we use them at all" "
4th. They should be trained to
rite and speak good English and
le elements of grammar. The
nief object in the study of gram
lar is to learn to speak and write
DIRECTLY. Inmany schools pupils
re required to learn by rote all
lie rules and formulas in the text
ooks; the time of each recitation is
,nsumed daily by having these re-
ted, and by parsing and analyzing
,mplex sentences. When the pu-
lis of such schools are required to
rite a letter or essay, they can no
lore do it, in grammatical style,
ian a child who has never studied
amman. Children learn to swim
' irving to swim; to skate by skat-
g; to talk by talking and to write
, writing. They cannot be train
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