The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-04-11
Reflections On she Story Of optirnus Arehi.
teetns, or the Folly Of Teaching
Definitions.
BY FRANCIS HECK, 5. l..

Some have complained to me thai
they got toolhaohe in reading my
piece last week. There will be moth
ing of that kind in this piece.
L have for a long time desired tc
present this matter of requiring pu
pills to commit to MEMORY rules ant
definitions, in way that It might ap
pear as foolish to others as il does tc
me. If Optimus ,Architectus seems tC
you to have employed the right way
to teach building, then have failed
IL he seems to you as ridiculous as,
intended that he should, then have
succeeded. This matter of rote learn.
ing (memorizing) has been entirely
discarded in very few schools If you
will allow me little wandering from
the text | will show you what rote
learning is.
Growth aud strength of mind are
obtained in the same manner as
growth and strength of body. With
aproper supply of wholesome food
the body grows. The stomach is said
to digest Il aud the Blood carries it to
every part Of the body and it becomes
part Of the body. If, however, you
undertook to live on. brickbats you
would not only find thatthe stomach
would not digest them, but that they
would DO you much harm.T You then
conclude that food that can be digest
ed produces growth, while food that
cannot be digested prevents growth.
By exercise the body becomes strong,
without it, weak. knowledge is food
for the mind and proper amount of
wholesome knowledge is good for the
mind. a parrot might be taught to
say sentences that are full of wisdom
for those who understand them; but
we say the parrot does not understand
what it says, and therefore has learn
ed nothing-has game a no knowledge.
l might teach a child to say this beau
tiful line from Horace "Dulce ct
decorum est pro ,patria mori," but the
child would not know what it was say
ing or, to continue the former figure,
we would say that the childs mind
could not digest it. Nor would it be-
come part of the child's mind This
would not be knowledge, and as the
feast of brickbats was injurious to the
body, so would this be injurious to
the mind. What is not understood is
a burden to the mind, and prevents
mental growth. To require pupils to
memorize the expressions of knowl-
edge would consider absurd. To
teach knowledge without its express
sion would not be a very good way
either. On that head | would say
that no pupil has entirely mastered
any subject till he can tell it himself.
What more is desired b. We should
not attempt to teach pupils what they
are not able to understand. know
an antiquated unmarried female (an
old maid) who had sense enough to
know that class of young girls could
not understand Mental PHILOSOPHY;
but she didn't have sense enough to
know that she should not have at
tempted to teach it to them. The
girls were required to memorize the
whole book. They knew no more of
the subject than so many parrots. l
know man who had learned whole
grammarf by heart -ans ACCOMPLISH
ment of which he felt very proud
"Why,' said he, grammar was the
easiest thing Id the world for John
and l." remarked that ''for John
and l. was not very good grammar,
and asked him to give the rule for
propositions; in an instant came "a
noun or pronoun used as the object
OF proposition, must be in the OBJ
jective case "But," said he, 81 can
not see what that rule has to do with
"for John and L. Here was man
to whom an fentire grammar was a
feast of brickbats.A He knew no more
about it than phonograph. There
are thousands just like him. Now we
come to the defense of our story. |
promised to olprove by example and ar
gument that it was true. 89l, adi h
Here is grammar written by the
president of West Virginia College.
That he understands the subject you
can determine from the book itself if
you can understand it, The author
calls it Scientific Grammar, because
OF a lot of foot-and-a- half words. All
other grammars are trash, foolish and
false, thinks the author. 1t is consid-
cred by him simple enough for begin
ners. He directs the teacher to have
his classes memorize the order, the
definitions, the rules and the index.
After that the. teacher is to use, his
own Judgment = I would use my own
judgment first and would do SO as did
the pupils of Optimus-have a bon
fire of the whole business. The sub
ject is first defined Grammar is that
part OF philology whichrelates to cor
rectness in the formation of words,se
tences, verses and stanzas' Quite an
easy thing to commit if you know
nothing about the subject. Try it.
will not weary you with extracts. but
VIII say that IN the first four. pages
there are SO definitions to be lear6ed
by heart. Words of 8, A, and 5 syl-
tables are frequent. 1t has, by count,
IL kinds of nouns and 13 long defni-
nitions kinds of conjunctions with
as many definitions; kinds of interiec-
tions, such as iinarticulate aud con,
temptuous II has periphrastic,. peri
phrastie ascending and periphrastic de.
scending comparison. 1t has 20 kinds
OF sentences and 29 hard definitions.
Here is something so plain that he
who runs may read 'The Compound
Indefinite Tense of Verb is the ag-
gregate of its Compound Indefinite
Forms. % Notice this ; His REFUSING
to apoIogsSe soas proof that an insult
aoas intea9ed. This sentence is com
plicate, simple, eo-mixed, secondary,
copulative, neuter, affirmative, posi-.