Weekly Chillicothe crisis., 1885-06-11
UnprOiltabIc SchOOl Work.

lcN udNS nc VIII receive SlO,OVU Of
back pension money, with which he in
tends going into business.
UnprOiltabIc SclOOl Work.
The object of the study of books
is two-fold; TO acquire knowledge,
and for mental discipline. In
the common schools the former in col
IcgcS the latter is the principal aim.
Very few study mathematics, ancient
languages, or metaphysics, for other
reasons than to secure the mental dis
cipline they afford. Not five per cent
OF those who have become proficient in
these studies ever make any practical
use of them. BY the study Of the COM
mon branches, the peculiar work of
the public schools, we expect mainly
TO acquire a knowledge of those things
that shall be of practical use in every
day affairs. In a series OF articles we
shall inquire TO what extent this pur-
pose is realized by the present system
of public school education as ii pre-
walls throughout this country.
We pay our respects first TO the
study Of geography, There are usu-
ally three, often four books on this
subject TO be mastered below the high
school, by children from eight to four
teen years of age. The study, as uSu-
ally taught, consists mainly Of naming
and locating various cities, rivers,
mountains, lakes, capcS, islands and
iccbrrgS. The study of languages is
here taken up with a vengeance Ey-
cry tongue under heaven, savage or
civilized, written or unwrtirn, living
to-day or dead three thousand wears,
is represented in this field. Such cu-
phoni0uS touguc-twi,tcrS aS Okhotsk,
GuadalaNara, Popocataprtl. Tchuktchi,
PasSamaquOddy, Gualaqu.l. and kam-
tchatka, are samples Of the names
invented TO sour the temper and dark
en- the lives OF modern >chuol-childrcn
The intermediate geography of almost
any series, contain, literally thousands
of barbarOus names Of llottcntot vii
lagos, desert islands, barren and rocky
capcS, unnavignblc river, aud frozen
iccbcrgS, to be- sought out ON the map
and mcmorizcd by children Of tender
years, and innocent liyc-. They bear
biological relation TO one another; most
of them will never be- heard OF outside
of the geography, and though COM
mlttcd TO memory for the timc being,
ninc-tcnthS of them will be forgotten
n soon rs examination is over. And
how much better would l. be # they
could he retained in the memory? The
great mass Of map questions are utterly
useless to any one but a member OF the
Royal Geographical Society, or 10 u
pupil or teacher crammng for an cN-
animation. The smallest book of tho
series contains enough geography OF
this kind, for any complete course.
and all that any one need to know, and
full as much as any one can remember.
To show the utter folly of going furth-
cr, We make the following challenge:
We will select a lis, of twenty qllrs-
tons from any primary geography and
submit them TO the ten best educated
men in the city to he chosen IRON the
ministers, editors, lawyers, doctors
and business men; and will guarantee
''"' u'' ph'''"ll VI lh'lh tuH pN7N an
examination ON the list, or secure an
average Ot ~ per cent Aud how
much better off would they be if they
could answer them all? |, it worth
while to know that Kai Fung is IL Chi
neNc seaport. mat Latlakoo Is in South
Africa, and Kalayryta in Greece? Every
boy and girl Of fifteen is cX-
recled to have mcmorilcd the
names and location OF a thousand and
one places and things no more
important than these, class
oil information the value OF which de-
PehuN entirely upon future and very
impronahle contingencies. In the
event OF war bctwccn France and China,
IL may be desirable to know the pre-
cls' whereabouts OF kwc Chang and
Dohg Dang or II England and Russia
engage IN hostilllles, we read in the
newspapers OF fehidch and Skcrnc-
vice ana we ycarn TO know where
they arc And so Biographies have been
invented, ana th0 brain OF school
children Is wearicd with this mass of
DarbarouS lore, why not have them
memorl2e the dictionary in the same
manner There Is not word in Web
Ster that we may not sometime meet
with in our reading, when it will be
desirable to Know It's meaning. But in
THIS case We pursue the rational meth
od OF seeking knowledge when we
need it, by referring TO the dictionary
when the new word is encountered.
Geography should be learned in the
same manner, and the map like the
reference.
Let the amount of upOrrnDhV that Is