The Wilmingtonian., 1884-12-27

| the educated technical foreigner at the ! cad
of the surveying party while our intelligent
and obligiug young American carried the
chain at day laborer's wagel
A Pleasant Occasion and a Cominon
Error.
The pleasing incident that occurred the
other day at Mrs. Hardness Select School is
one that will remain indelibly fixed upon
the memories of both pupils and teachers.
1t was a complete surprise to the latter and
this phase of unsolicited demonstration of
love and respect is always that that endsars
the etruest feelings of friendships. The pres
entation address by the Rev. W. b. Gregg
was sincere and well deserved tribute, and
was rendered in the name of the children by
one who was entitled to speak in terms of
encomum of Mrs. Hardness educational
record as a teacher.
incidentally, in his remarks, Mr. Gregg
said:
"The term education is derived from the
two Latin words 9, which signifies out of, "
and duc0, ''to lead;' and when is it applied
as it usually is it signifies to lead the mind
out of it's original state, to develop and to
draw out all its divine faculties, to expand
it from its narrow, shrunl1en state into big
ness"
1t may be suggested that the gentleman is
q little careless in his etymology. The root
of the word education is not from the Latin
words G, out, and ducO, lead, Cor as the
speaker, perhaps unintentionally said 10
lead but the word education is derived
from the Latin edacare, to nourish, or foster.
Edueere, Latin compound from and datcO,
belongs to the third conjugation, an9 ~.
care 60 tine nrst. q -
1t is a very common error to hear this
erroneous derivation given of and daco as
the etymology of the word edu cation. The
writer has heard it put forward at more
than one teachers institute. A closer ex-
animation aud application of those rules
that govern the formation of our English
words from the dead languages will demon
strate that the fundamental verbal root
| vowel "a" in education would not permit its
derivation from verb of the third coniuga-
tion, terminating with the short sound Of e
as in educere.
Outside of this chronological law the phys
ical impossibity of extracting or drawing
out of the child-mind, as educere would
infer, of any fact or information previous to
anything frs, being put in is obvious!
You must impregnate the mind of the
child with certain ideas through the natural
channel of the senses, then the mental
organs of differentiation and comparison
though in an undeveloped condition neces
sarily come into play, Information is edu
cation. Give a child an idea, mental com
parison Immediately takes place intlfitively
Education is rot drawing out but just tn
contrary, filling in. The drawing out OIL ap
plication or test Of acquired information, il
the sense under consideration, comes reall
: when the pupil leaves school and launche
out into the world.
: The ancients correctly understood tn
theory of teaching when they described
: under the word "edueaye," to nouIish c
3 foster.
That custom, unfortunately, too OftC
o seen even in our lower grade schools Of ia!
II ing the young minds with problems, WIN
E. the data upon which those questions are
le be investigated has not been fully affordt
e. or assimilated is an evil that has been al
madverted upon in the columns of Tt
" WILMINeToNIAN upon more than one occ
W sion.
I'd If our educators will wisely see, it is he
or that the difficulty in the daily lessons is
IS be found.
tie Teachers are seen often condemning
NJ pupil for stupidity, when to give an intel
IN gent reply could be nothing short Of mirat
mt lous! How can the child give an answ
er' that is an intelligent one, when it has l
W. assimilated the data upon which that rel
ese entirely depends
ue First educate teduedre) it with facts
AID teacher may then leave the result, W
'tsl patience to Nature and the mental endC
ing ment that she has afforded to all but Idle
,si The idiotic part of education is purely t
of supposing that anything can be lei
10 (educere) before the mind has been fl
d. with facts.
our
The Unsigned Manuscript.
tho A communication concerning the Or
House Sunday afternOon service was rec
'h ed at this office, but as it was unsigned
Na..l Al