St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-31
STATE EDUCATORS.
A Day of Great Interest Among the Teach
ers of Minnesota Assembled in
Convention.
How to Teach and What to Teach Dis
cussed by Men and Women of
Experience.
An Interesting Lecture by Pro1.
Parker of Chicago on Manual
Training.

The Minnesota educators, VINO galneIeu
Yesterday mbrning in the hall of the house
ofNrepresentatives quite filled every availa-
Bile seat in the hall and gallery. The con-
ventdon first listened to the opening address
OF Pr9sideItG Gray. who thanked the con-
venti3n foItlle honor of his reelection and
annipup< at the program was virtually
Tie to hakDssn f. followed IhsSsdts at
That a serious mo Should be made to-
wards securing recog milton for the profess
sion as SUCH BE commended the kinder
rsrten system and industrial education, and
Toped that the methods would be practical.
I Our greatest need was thorough study OF
the laws of mental activity, aRt the sense
less twaddle about mental sciepcs -ound in
much of our educational litel.-sure, was
ROOF of our necessity. We should steer
between dogmatism and empiricism. We
are gow so remote from the former that
we can hear the breakers upon the latter.
The ,,e1plexing question of the relative
valua IT studies must find its solution IN
true nbilosophy of edt cation. The questions
vino nj ,hf ,fNreshJld of every life are:
.sV,Sst can I know? What ought to do?
Whist may [ hope?"
Efforts have been making for some time
to9rganiZe state reading circle, confined
te the profession and modelled on the Cha
tluqua plan. As necessary step to its
linal success the following committee was
Vappointed to nominate officers: Prof. j. +.
McCIeary of Mankato; Miss Sarah
Sprague, Minneapolis; President Irwin Shep-
herd. Winona; Supt. Cowing Fergus Falls;
Prof Moore Crookston. A telegram to the
the president from the state teachers asso-
citation of Kansas. assembled one thousand
gtrong, was read, extending greeting and
cordial invitation to the meeting OF the ma
tional association to be held in Topeka Janu-
airy next. 4 suitable reply was ordered sent.
THE PAPERS.
1.-THE biggest of the three RS"
was taken up by l.. G. Lord,
superintendent of schools, st. Peter.
The experience of generations, he said, had
had nominated the three RS, reading, rit-
ng and rithmetic," as the essentials OF ele-
neutary education, and the order OF their
mention suggests their relative importance.
The teacher should read something of news
and periodicals, of course, but of the true
classics. The well-read teacher should di-
iect the pupil to the selection OF reading
matter. He can do much to stimulate bet
Ier living by cultiyating the study of
proper biography. The influence
If the well-read teacher may be
lry reading. After the fifth year have done
With the readers. The discussion was con-
Jinued by T. 81. Kirk, state institute con-
luctor. Judgment of any study. he said,
depends upon correct estimate of its pur-
poses and the proper means to be employed.
The true purposes of reading may be given
Is follows: To facilitate the intelligent pur-
;uit of the ordinary affairs of life; to pro-
mote a means for the study OF other
branches; the development of vigorous
intellectual and moral culture. The pupil
should be taught to discriminate wisely in
Tie selection of books and periodicals., and
10 use them with facility. Some of the
means to be properly employed are: Mastery
st the thought and skill in expression; sup
Elementary reading; rapidity of sight.
After music by Prof. Yerka, Mrs.
Sprague, state institute instructor, followed
the previous discussions with few remarks
IN which she said that pupils should be
taught to seek out the thought There is
not enough reading of a complex kind given
tochildren to properly deyelope this faculty.
AFTER A SHORT RECESS
the discussion was continued by member
present. Superintendent A. T. Bechdolt
of Mapkato, insisted on the Importance of
developing the power of acquiring the
thought from the matter read. Pupils reach
the higher grades and are unable to master
physiological lesson containing five ideas,
because they have not been properly trained
in the lower grades. w. NJ. West, Fari-
brult, made the point that nearly every
teacher will quickly give 1.-The development
of the thought" as the end of reading, but
they don't do it because they do not know
how and are not well read. 1t is lip utter
ance and the result of method teaching.
Prof. Soaring of the Mankato normal school,
especially emphasized the importance of
general reading. In the Mankato school
such works as the Arabian Nights, Water
Babies, the Lady of the Lake, etc., were
being read in course.
An interesting paper on the -kindergar-
ten was read by Jennie Lloyd Jones of Eau
Claire, Wis. directing her thought to three
topics: What kindergarten is; the need
of using the transition era: does the kinder
garten meet this demand? The kinder
garten is often patroniZed as means to get
children out of the way, she said, with no
thought of its educational value. 1t is
often regarded as mere child'S play, with
no practical benefits, and having no connec-
ton with the work of the common schools.
In the child's mind are the latent possibili
ties of the mental world, and it is the work
of the kindergarten to develop them and
stimulate their mental and moral natures.
School work, as now prepared should not
be presented to child under the age of Z,
but at 4 the child's horizon is broadening
and his activities and individuality are de-
veloping The fourth, fifth and sixth years
are an era which neither the home nor the
school have provided for. In the home of
the poor the child is abandoned to the street
and the child of wealth pays lifelong
penalty for the lack of mental and moral
training at this period. To meet this need
Trebel devised the kindergarten. in which
the knowledge of things precedes the
knowledge of books, in which all the men
tai activities are stimulated and strength
ened and in which the better elements of
his moral and emotional nature are prop
erly directed and trained. His ideas of
nature and material things are developed,
his vocabulary enlarged, his mind quick
ened and when the time comes he takes to
books with an eagernesS and relish. Public
kndergartens should be established, es-
pecially in the more populous wards of our
cities.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The afternoon session was wholly de-
voted to the discussion of Manual Waning
An interesting industrial exhibit had been
secured and placed on exhibition in the
hall without by Prof. W. A. Pike, pro-
fessor of engineering in the state univer-
sity, which was viewed with much interest.
The display consisted of samples of forging
and wise work from the college of mechanic
arts of the state university, wooden models
and specimens of casting and forging from
the Chicago training school, wooden models
OF lathe work and specimens showing
methods of joining timbers from the St.
Louis training school. and working draw
ings and models in wood from the Massa-
al,r,