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 Prof.
Parker OF Chicago on Manual
Training.

The Minnesota educators, VINO gaIn6Teu
yesterday morning in the hall Of the house
OF representatives. quite filed every aTaila-
bic seat in the bell and gallery. The con-
venton first listened to the opening address
of President Gray, who thanked the con-
ventiOn Tor the honor Of his reelection and
announced that the program was virtually
the same as was to have been followed at
the omitted session last year. lie suggested
that d serious move should be made to-
wards securing recognition for the probes
sion as such. lie commended the kinder
garten system and industrial education, ana
hoped that the methods would be practicaI
Our greatest need was thorough study OF
the laws Of mental activity, anu the sense
less twaddle about mental science, found in
much OF our educational literature, was
proof of our necessity. We should steer
between dogmatism and eTnpiricism. We
are nov. so remote from the former that
we can hear the breakers upon the latter
The perpexing question of the relative
value of studies must find its solution III
true phflosopnv of education. The questions
living at the threshold of every life are:
What can know? What ought [ to do?
What may ( hope?"
Efforts have been making for some time
to organize a state reading circle, confined
to the profession and modelled on the Cha
tauqua plan. AS necessary step to It's
final success The following committee was
appointed to nominate officers: Prof. j. 4.
McCleary of Mankato; Miss Sarah
Sprague. MINNEAPOLIS, President Irwin Shep-
herd. Winona; Supt. Cowing. Fergus Falls;
Prot Moore Cro0kstOn. A telegram to the
the president from the state teachers assO-
station Of Kansas, assembled one thousand
Etr0ng. was read, extending greeting and
cordial invitation to the meeting OF the ma
tional association 10 be heidin Topeka Janu-
2Iy next. i suitable reply was ordered sent.
THE PAPERS.
'sThe biggest of the three RS"
vas taken up by l.. G. lord,
superintendent of schools, St. Peter.
The experience OF generations, he said, had
lad nominated the three RS, 'readng, 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
md periodicals, of course, but of the true
,lassies. The well-read teacher should di-
rect the pupil to the selection Of reading
matter He can do much to stimulate bet
)er living by cultiyating the study OF
proper biography. The influence
If the Well-read teacher may be
most potent in the selection Of supplement-
4ry reading. After the fifth year have done
with the readers. The discussion was con-
inued by I. H. Kirk, state institute con-
luctor Judgment of any study, he said,
depends upon a correct estimate of its pur-
poses and the proper means to be employed.
The true purposes Of reading may be given
rs follows: To facilitate the intelligent pur-
suit OF the ordinary affairs Of life; TO pro-
note means for the study of other
branches; the development Of vigorous
intellectual and moral culture. The pupil
should be taught 10 discriminate wisely in
lhe selection Of books and periodicals, and
10 use them with facility. Some of the
means to be properly employed are: Mastery
Of the thought and skill in expression; sup
Elementary reading; rapidity of sight.
After music by Prof. Yerka, Mrs.
spragua. state institute instructor, followed
The previous discussions with few remarks
Ia which she said that pupils should be
taught to seek out the thought. There is
not enough reading of a complex kind given
toehildren to properly deyelope this faculty.
AFTER A SHORT RECESS
the discussion was continued by member
present. Superintendent a. Z. Bechdolt
of Mankato insisted on the Importance of
developing the power of acquiring the
L
the higher grades and are unable to master
physiological lesson containing five ideas,
because they have not been properly trained
III the lower grades. ". NJ. West, Fari-
brult, made the point that nearly every
teacher viii quickly give the development
of the thought as the end of reading but
they don'I 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
gartel 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 tie 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 a child under the age of z,
but at the chld'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
Troebel 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
kindergartens 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-
lessor 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-
chnSetfS Institute of Technology Sneoi-