St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-04-18
SCHOLASTIC sAUsAGEs.
A New and Shorter Catechism for the
Benefit of Teachers and Pupils.

A New and Shorter CatechIsm for th,
Benefit of Teachers and Pupils.
Question. Is the small boy Away,
benefited by being filed with facts anG
| figures? Answer Heis not. He is, OF
the contrary, often overloaded with
them, as is his stomach with plumcake
and the result of both doses is to make
him dull boy,
| @. How much should a small boy
learn at school in day? A. As much
as he can take in easily and pleasantly,
and no more. In fact. knowledge can't
be forced into him as is the gas into
soda-water. Or if SO forced it won't
stay.
Q. Should learning be made pleasant
for the small boy? A. 1t should, and
for the same reason that his bread, cake
and pie are made pleasant to his taste.
He will not absorb learning if it is made
to taste like rhubarb, and that is one
reason why so many boys and girls get
sick of study at school.
z. Whose fault is this? A. It is the
fault partly of the teacher, partly of the
parent, and, more than all, of the sys-
tenn which forces the same kind of in
tellectual pie, cake and pudding down
the threats of all boys and girls, whether
they like it or not.
Q. What, in some respects. does our
educational system resemble? A. An
immense sausage-stui1ing machine. Ma
chIne-the system; sausages-the boys
and girls; men who run the machine
the teachers.
z. What sometimes happens if the
scholastic sausage is crammed too full?
4. The skin bursts and the small bov
dies. Or if he does not die his mind is
crippled for life through the oyercram-
ming.
@. Does "well-stored memory
argue well-organized mind? A. No.
A man may be able to parrot the whole
dictionary, and not be capable of taking
charge of peanut stand.
memory affect the small boys mind?
A. AS an overdose of plum-pudding
does the small boys stomach-renders
it heavy, and unable to act vigorously.
z. What do such heavy loads of
book knowledge frequently make of
people? a. Bores, who are always
trying to stuff others as full as them
selves of the dead weight of facts they
carry.
@. What is the result of overstudy
20 many of the children in our schoolsp |
Premature spectacles.
@. usually into what may this soon
thn A
@. What is inquiry to the child's eve
rom overstudy equivalent to? A.
a mans toes in training him
or fOot-race.
Q, But must not small boys and
iris be forced to learn to keep them
rom ignorance and idleness. A. If you
orce fruit in dollhouse to ripen yon
10 so at the expense of native strength
nd vigor to the plant or tree.
Q. What is the frequent reward in
tactical life of full-grown and filed
ausage turned out of the college stuff
lg machine? A. Ten dollars a week
amanuensis or private secretary"
@. Why SO poorly paidP A. Too
1uch stufting. Brain overloaded with
nowledge. No room left for 'tgump-
on
Q. What is ''gumption''? A. Know
lg how to use knowledge after you've
OF it. Some folks call it wisdom.
Gumption" knows enough to get the.
'ol it needs, and then learns how to
Sc it. The sausage-stuffer educational
recess swallows whole shopful OF ali
'rts of tools, and the sausage frequent \
spends the rest of its life in vain eff /
rts to digest them.
@. Would you allow the small boy !
select his own studies? A. Would !.
~ not allow each tree to bear its own I
uit? If the boy wants to blossom into I
attn, let him; if he wants to blossom s
to blacksmith, fertilize him with i
On and let him. ;.
G. What do some finished educa- :
ms" resemble? A. intellectual !
tchwork. A little Of this, little of c
at, and nothing in particular. Re- 3
It: Cray quilt. n
Q. Or in other wordsP A. A men C
rag-bag. Full of fragments of all +
apes and colors, but not well-woYen Il
zee of cloth that one can make suit W
Prentice Mu!forc7, IN Boston Globe. O.