The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-08-06

mon ScnoOl teacner mas oil education. For
the conscientious teacher the article will
have great interest, and should awaken the
thoughtful attention of the most indif-
ferent
"The keynote, which should shape the
course of study for our common schools,
was given a few years ago by distin-
guished educator, when he declared it to
be the duty of the school to give each
pupil that training and preparation which
shall enable him to step out of any grade
aud enter at once into the active duties of
life. This, of course, does not mean that
as full and complete an education can be
secured in one or two years as in six or
eight, but it does mean that each years
work shall be so arranged, and the sub.
jects so taught, that they shall have
value and use in themselves independent
of what is intended to follow. 1t does
not disparage or discountenance the long
est and most thorough course of study; it
simply aims to give each step in the course
special significance, and by making more
of 1t by itself, make it worth more in re-
lation to all the rest Let us now briefly
consider what are the essential elements
OF the education every child should re.
ceive, and which he may reasonably be
expected to secure within the six or seven
years of continuous school life which is
within his reach. When we have deter
mined what these essentials are, the next
question will be to ascertain how they
may be secured in accordance with the
principle before enunciated.
Fra-The child is entitled to the pos.
session of trained perceptive faculties.
These are natures servants, designed to
minister to our wants, and to convey to us
the greater part of our knowledge. What
one sees for himself in natures book is his
by right of discovery, as real as though no
one else had ever known it; and no knowl-
edge ever has the power of inspiration
and development equal to that which the
mind derives at first hands. But to be
able to do this work these senses must be
taught and disciplined, and the school.
room is prominently the place for such
work.
Second.-Our child must know how to
think, to speak and to write. 1t is set
tied that he will think and speak, at least !;
that he do both correctly, especially the
former, is of prime Importance, for upon
his thinking will probably depend the
settlement of most of the great questions
of his life, and perhaps those of the
nation. And in proportion as he is led to
thoughts of the better, nobler aud purer
kind, and his mind is brought into con.
tact with truth in its manifold forms, will
those thoughts seek for expression aud
create demand for oral and written Ian.
guage. The great obstacle to the cultiva.
ton, in the average pupil of the power to
write good English, has been his inability,
or indisposition at least, to think.
7hird.-He should have a practical
knowledge of numbers, and the funda-
mental operations that may be performed
with them, in order that he may solve the
practical problems of his daily life with
ease and facility. He cannot be expected
to "master" any arithmetic, but he
may be taught addition, subtraction, null
duplication and division, decimal and
| front;opo ba toh &c
weights and measures, the methods of
treating compound numbers, and percent
age, with its simpler applications to ordin.
airy business life.
{" In this three-fold scheme is, or may be-
included, believe, what is indispensable
to the education of child up to the
point where he may be justly expected to
make it available, both to himself and to
the state. If we also examine it with ref
erence to the idea that the child, leaving
school at any point, may be able to utilize
what he has acquired, we shall find that a
course of studies arranged on this plan
from the beginning will meet that want.
1t may be safely assumed that the in
stances where a child cannot attend
oShoOi lOi Nv iCoou Wf &C NCaio dtO low IL
now we consider what three years of
training in the objective study of nature,
in the habit of reflection upon what the
senses have brought to the mind, and OF
giving expression to those thoughts in
oral and written forms, and in the prac
tice Of counting numbers, and adding
subtracting, multiplying and dividing
them, will do for child, we cannot fail
to see that he must have acquired solid
basis, upon which he cannot only build
at school, but which, if he is deprived Of
further school facilities, will be of prac
tical value in any sphere of life into which
he may be compelled to enter. 1t is for the
accomplishment of this result that we are
called upon to strive. 1t is only by the
employment of those teachers who have
ability and ,0ll of the highest order, and by
the institution of a complete and thorough
system of qualified supervision, that We
shall be justified in expecting that it vii
be attained