Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1885-05-02
EDUGATIoNAL-
What Prominent Naturalists Say Of the
Way TO Teach Nature.

Science teaching should begir
early in the school course. Pres
Eliot of Harvard University.
obstruction in objective elemen-
tary geology is greatly needed il
our schools. oliver Marcy, Ph. D
Nat. Hist, N. W. University.
1--WE need to start children in 4
scientific way of thinking at an early
period. y. Dorman Steele, Ph. d..
author of Fourteen Weeks in GeOl.
ogy, etc.
Natural History can not be
taught except in very small classes,
by direct personal contact Of teacher
with pupil, and both by nature.
DR.. Jos. LeConte, Prof. Geology
and Natural History, University Of
California.
10 collect in the field, to make a
cabinet and then to examine and
study the specimens collected, are
the three stages which naturalists,
with few exceptions, have passed
through in their boyhood. Prof.
Z. S. Morse, author of Zoology.
''Thc pupil must actually see ma
ture in all her manifold develop
ments, or he cannot understand her.
No natural science can De taught in
any other way. In vain our profeS
sorS attempt to describe and the stu
dents to comprehend without a tan
gible illustration" PROF. j. S. New
berry, Chair theology, Univ. ofNew
York.
"When we study books, we are
prone to remove away from the thing
we study. The pupil studies nature
in the school-room, and when he
goes out Of doors he cannot find her.
A student of nature should, there
fore, be trained at once in the diff
cult art Of relding for himself in the
great book of nature. Prof. Louis
AgassiZ.
The highest object Of education
is to rouse mental activity and to set
pupils to thinking, to encourage
them to make their own observations
and their own independent reflec-
tions; and this can in no way be
done so effectually as by linking ed
ucational methods with the great
movements Of thought that are alb
sorbing the worlds attention outside
of the schools. E. l.. Youmans,
Editor Popular Science Monthly.
''The teacher will find that his
pupils have already, in previous
stages of education, been so thor
oughly trained in the system of book
cram, that it is very difficult to in
duce them to observe or think for
themselves. have been surprised
to find that classes Of young men
will rather commit to memory dry
textbook or imperfect lecture notes,
than open their eyes to see for them
selves and exercise their minds III
perception and comparison, so thor
oughly has the natural habit of OBJ
servation been crushed out by
previous vicious training. .-Princi-
pal Dawson, Pres. McGill College,
Montreal.
"What can we do to call the at
tention of the institutions of learn
ING to the fact that their duties to
science and the future of lnvestiga-
ton demand change of policy ?
Throughout the country, and even
in the higher Institutions, false
views are prevalent with regard to
the qualifications necessary for
teaching science. We find science
teaching placed on the same basis as
mathematics and the languages, in
which books are the necessary media
for the communication of ideas. 1t
is commonly supposed that man
can learn his lesson, and repeat it to
scholars, and that one may be good
teacher of science of observation
without being himself an observer.
In some places even, tendency
towards investigation is considered
disqualification, since it withdraws
the mind from giving full attention
to the practical duties Of the class
room. In such places, education is
measured by quantity and the rule
of thumb, by the amount ofsup0osed
knowledge gained, without relation
to how it is gained, or what habits of
mind are cultivated in the opera
ton. Undoubtedly, the teacher in
such places may need and acquire a
certain amount Of dexterity and sue
cess as a mental taxidermist; but
that he will ever Intentionally train
a single student to do original work
is beyond belief" DR.. A. Hyatt,
Curator of Boston Society Of Natural
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