The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-08-27

In the higher grades, while great care
is taken that the pupil shall acquire the
sense Of what he reads and be able to
convey it correctly to others, the instruc.
ton takes broader range. In these
days, "what to read' is no less inpor.
tant than show to read. ID. p. Sonle,
Supt. of Schools, bingham, Mass.
It may even be found, when men and
things shall be more Justly weighed,
that the quiet schoolmaster who thinks
only of the task to which God seems to
have appointed him. will be considered
factor quite as potent in all that tends
to make a people great as the soldiet
who so dazzles the public eye, or the
politician who manages to fill so much
space in the periodicals of the day.
r. Wickershan,. LID.
After all, the efficiency of the school
system depends upon school superin-
tendents. The duties assigned them by
law are many; and those which devolve
upon them in active administration OF
their offices cannot be enumerated.
They are the life of the system; and 1t is
their province either to make the school.
power for good in their jurisdictions
or to render them obnoxious even to
their best friends.-R. II. FAR, Supt.,
Virginia.
We are not permitted to know the fut-
ure of our pupil, or what will be de.
manded of them when they enter upon
the duties and assume the responsible.
ties of citizens; but it is safe to presume
that they will need all the added
strength which education can give to
their natural endowment In our in.
struction, therefore. we must have due
regard to their entire being, and seek
the cultivation and inauguration of each
department of their three-fold nature
body, mind, spirit; for any system OF
education is defective which ignores or
neglects either of these. H. Ddvis,
S0merUilLe, Mass.
In some localities, where vice and
crime are the daily objective teaching
the little ones receive, if the young are
to be saved from the life and habits OF
their parents and neighbors, it must be
done by throwing them in contact, fol
a portion of the time at least, with high.
or ideas of life and purer moral sur
roundlngs. Unless pupils of this class
can be gotten into the schools when
they are between the ages of three and
nine, they can not be gotten in at all
for with them the struggle for bread be
gins at an early age.-Henry n. Wise,
S4pt. Schools, baltimore, Md.
That system which makes the COM
mittee the power that appoints and dis
misses teachers, says in what ways the
money appropriated for schools shall be
expended, and the supreme court of ap-
peal in all cases of discipline and man.
agement; and the superintendent, the
official head of the schools, to whom all
matters of management and discipline
must be referred, from whom all in.
structions must emanate, and by whom
all differences must be settled, with
right of appeal as above provided, is the
system that places the responsibility
where it belongs and secures the best
results with the least expense of time
and force. p Marble, Supt. Schools,
Worcester, Mass.
As character is the end of all training,
it is also the beginning of it; and the
beginnings of a good character do not
start from lessons learned in number,
form, or language, but rather in the
cultivation of the will, in the exercise OF
self-control, and the formation of cor
rect habits of seeing, feeling, and act.
ing. The purpose and spirit Of the
teacher are of more account than the
matter taught. But as the intelligent
mother deals gently and patiently with
her child because she understands him,
and instinctively studies his moods that
she may understand him better, so the
teacher possessing true insight will not
only control wisely, but will adapt his
teaching to that mind which he under
stands. Hence the true science of pri-
mary education is based on psychology;
and in all our manipulations and meth.
DDS we must take little for granted, and
work inductively and slOwly.-S. s.
Button, Supt. Schools, New Haven, CT.