Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-08
Educational Column.
JOHN b. SCOTT, EDITOR.
COMPULSORY EDUcATIoS.


/
COMPULSORY EDUCATION
The masses do not givet the attendance
of the children of schools much atten- !
ton and hence do not know what a /
great evil, in magnitude, irregularity
of attendance is. Of the number of
pupils who are annually enrolled in |
our public schools, the average attend
ance in the United States is hut little, |
if any, i'm excess of one half of the ses-
sion to the pupil. What makes this
evil worse, this attendance is not con-
tive months, but day this week, two
next, and so on.
It is sometimes said til at the evil, SO
far as it effects those whose attendance
is regular, can be reinedied by putting
those causing the evil into lower class
es. This is generally difficult to do as
it often necessitates the purchase of
new books for grades that they have
already passed through. When done
We get rid of but little of the evil. If
these pupils had any interest in their
work. they generally lose it when de-
NOTED. They then become, by their
idleness and Indifference, greatly de-
moralizing to the school.
One argument against compulsory
education is that. it is not in harmony
with the institutions OF our country;
it is, i'm other words, not in accordance
with the spirit of our government.
This results from !se notion of what,
from one standpoint, is the central idea
of our government-liberty. There is no
such thing as absolute liberty in our
country or any othe.' government.
There are many things in our gov
ernment which are compulsory. The
support of the public schools by taxa
ton is compulsory. The question pre-
sents itself thus to every individual: If
you compel me to pay taxes for the ed
ucation of your children, should you
not be compelled to send that L may
not make useless expenditure of my
money? Another objection which is
sometimes made to compulsory educa-
ton is that the law could not be en-
forced. If the law compelling men to
pay taxes to support the schools can be
enforced, one compelling men to send
their children could be also. Under
such a law there would be penalty
for absence from school without per
mission. This, as in other countries
and in the states I'm our country thai
have the compulsory law, would be {
fine of so much day for absence with
out valid excuse.-( Concluded).
All will admit, that it is of much ad
vantage to teacher and pupils; to thu
former because it enables him or her tc
begin where assistance is needed; pu
pills are often diff1dent and fail to cal
for assistance where and when it il
needed; the recitation will davelol
this fact better than any other. Fo
the pupils own good ii is better to al
low him to work out the main features
of lesson, still don't think or expec
them to always do this, for often by
little timely assistance pupil really
gains instead of loses confidence.
What constitutes a recitatiOn? Is i
the developing of the principal point
of lesson and the discussion of each
Does it consist in pupils rising ant
reciting verbatim pages of definitions
or of the same amount of history
mere parrot work? Certainly, not thu
last and hardly the first. Pupils ma,
recite lesson with a fair understand
ing of most of it, but in such a man
ner as to condemn it as recitation.
The manner of recitation has mucl
to do with it's effectiveness; this poin
shall try to teach further on. Of al
recitations, the one most at varianc,
with good principles of education, il
the mere memory-work form of reel
tation.
Pupils in their eudeavors to prepar
lessons often commit lessons; the les
SONS (themselves) are as far as the pu
pills are concerned utterly devoid O
good to the pupil. For this fault
teachers are often the causes, becaus
they assign longer lessons tran thei
pupils can possibly prepare under
standingly. Memory culture has 1t
place in the school work, but it is to
much overcrowded. Small lessons as
signed and properly recited are NOR
beneficial than large ones improperl
recited. For larger and more advane
ed pupils the topical method of recita
ton is to be preferred; first, because
is more systematic, it enables pupils
get ideas of connected wholes; it ena
bles the pupils to think and think col
nectedly. A. v. H., Pilot Knob.
TO THE WEST.