Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-10


OF Dir. Woodward ~ Is pointed out that
the training OF children, especially boys,
IS far too impractical as TOW given In our
public schools. lie SAYS that children be-
tween the ages Of thirteen and
eighteen should be taught some
thing more than the three RS
threading, 'ritin' and 'rithmctic'--tliat
part Of their time should be given over to
Instruction 20 the hand and eye, instead
Of, rs now, combining II all 10 the ear and
brain he indorses the kindergarten sys-
tenn without auy mental reserves, and
thinks its plan should be enlarged upon
Tor older children.
For several wears the kindolgarlen sys-
TEN OF instruction has been giowng
more and more popular, particularly
among the Weather classes in the East
cn cities. The movemenf began In the
centennial year, or at least i was given
its nrst real impetus 10 Philadelphia that
year. Like any other fashionable thing.
il took. But what are It's real meritsg
suppose you take an average lad OF school
age, say seven years old send him Go q
Kindergarten school Tor seven years, or
until he IL fourteen, and at that time what
have your Either d fool or a dude Is
this too sweeping. Well perhaps it Is,
But Il proves true 10 no least seven cases
ont OF ten The child has been psmpured
and petied. his every mental wish has
been anticipated, his every speculation
satisfied He has had blocks and heads,
has been told this and that about himself,
his neighbors and his SURF 5undings,
until he has become absolutely
L.. AZ. q A,.t r.tt.
thing for himself. You can't tel
him anything II you do he contradicts
YOU or offers a new scientific, or at least
undergraduate, solution. lie looks with
disdain at the thousand and one childish
things that please aud entertain other
children of his years. He is not d boy ut
all. He is man in everything but stat
ure. The Imagination, the poetry, the in
terest, the childish simplicity, the boyish
trustfulness, have all been educated out
of him.
Is this mental forwardness a thing to be
desired2 not bit OF It. Why? Because
the child is not ready for it. lie has been
studying tasks wholly beyond his years
and he has been studying them in way
that is certain death TO all of his innate
faculties of inventiveness, of self
reliance, Of naturalness, of origi-
nality. He has no educational founda-
ton. Did you ever know Lincoln to
come out Of kindergarten Or an Elihu
Burritt? Why, IL even President Cleye-
land had had the misfortune TO have been
sent TO kindergarten school in his
youth, instead of TO an old-fashioned dis
trict school where they may have in those
days used the rod more than the rule of
three, but where they laid an educational
! foundation that was, rllike Mcrcutlo'S
wound, as deep as a well and rs wide as
o barn door, had President Cleveland in
his youth been sent to Kindergarten,
say, he would have had all OF his present
seli-reliance and strong horse sense edu-
Gated out of him. | st eugly warrant
you that the President Cleveland Who
VIII occupy the White House iitty years
hence is not now scholar in kinder
gartcn school.
~
DIR. Woodward wants youth OF thirteen
to eighteen Years of age 10 be taught
trades And what, pray, are these youth
TO do when they arrive at The age Of
gbteen? work at their trades? I'M
ugne q lad OF eighteen Tied down at that
carly age o the stern realities of bread
getting; 10 the trcadmll UNactions in
I sisted upon by those VINO buy skilled
labor. We SEQ plenty of such cases IN
4 our Tnanufaetuliag ciues. They are SD
enough where poverty is the taskmoster.
4 There should not be any human being
/ driven to This position 10y a false system
I OF school economy.
/ Instead of boy OF eighteen being at
1 the close OF 1--WE years Of manual training,
| he should at that age he ut tile beginning.
! He should have speat the years from
] thirteen to eighteen in laying solid foun-
J dalton, mental equipment that Will beal
I him up through the rest Of his life II, on
/ the contrary DR.. Woodward's plan be
/ followed, and the course OF manual tram
( ing be insisted upon previous to bis ar
rival at eighteen, what may we expect tt
see upon his reaching that age2 A boy ed
ucated wrong end foremost. An ole
kindergarten student, who has specit
knowledge in several directions, but Ut
broad general training TO rest 1t upon
There are only twenty-iour hours in th(
day, and the child requires, TO be healthy
az least sixteen Of those for sleep and re-
creation. II half OF the remaining eigh
hours are devoted TO insTuciing th'
hand, then to that extent the brain mus
suffer.
The whole matter resolves Itself int
one OF experience aud common sense
The tendency OF Americans IS 10 run be
fore they walk. They rush into trade
and tie themselves down TO business be
fore they have their physical growth
. American young men have balance sheet
Of their own before they have either
razor or frock coat. They are SO cage
10 get rich that they do not stop TO SO
the price they pay for rlchcs. In France
in England, IN Germany, countries tina
have produced tine greatest men tn
world has ever Eeen, it
never customary f0r men to ente
The business world until they are thirty
DR.. woodward and his sect should let III
American youth FIRST lay broad founda
!, ton, let him study books until he !
eighteen or twenty; learn 2 trade or
business by the time he is twenty-five 0
twenty six, and he VIII he far more likel
, TO reach old agc, honor and compc
/ tency. ADMIRAL.
Miss Catherine Rae explained in
! recent chit.chat on science in Aberdeen
: over the sea, the way ~ which she got
dog, within three weeks, TO ring a bell
. Size began by letting "pinyn smell tn
! bone of mutton chop, and then tied ID
, none 10 the string OF the hel. At trs
I nTinyn was 50 great tremor, but by tab
ing her very Kindly and stroking her. sh
: found that she could induce her TO pull a
! the hone aud so ring the hell. After tia
: she tied small piece Of wood 70 IN
Z .t,,fns but the dog would not pull II. A