Nevada County picayune., 1886-01-14
Educational Department.
J. W. CONGER. Editor.
The Mean.

To one acquainted with the edn- cational theories of past ages and the controlling influences in the training of mind, there is clearly perceptible the evil that results from extremes. The great pendu- lum of national thought when vii brating to regulate new intellect ual issue, never fails to make long. CT strokes than those which are re- quired to produce the desired ef- feet. In noticing the historic course of educational theories especially, we find quite a contrast-two extremes in the ancient spirit of authority, and in the modern spirit of independence Anciently, the pupil was taught to receive, with out investigation or questioning, the instruction of his master. The teacher was the ultimate authority.
  The pupil now is taught to receive nothing as true unless it ha. been verified by personal experience upon the part of the pupil. The first leads to tyranny; the last to anarchy. The first kept the child within the narrow limits of author ity; the last shuts him up within the circle of his own Individuality and experience. Both result in the worst dogmatism.
 The truth lies in the mean. Au thoritative teaching is right, and free inquiry is right. The pupil is both dependent and independent. His dependency calls for authori, ty, his independsncy calls for per sonal investigation. Therefore, the ideal theoIy Is found in the combination of the two. Free dom duly guided, and tempered by authority is the true mean,
 The great coRcern Cf the an clients was second hand knowledge or that which "could be acquired through the interpretation of lan- guage." The extreme modern the ory is that the pupil should "throw away books, take nothing for granted, assume that the world Of knowledge is unexplored,' proceed to re-discover. Lock is the author of this, and Spencer has attempted to place it on a philosophical basis Mir. Bain has truthfully denomina- ted this "a bold fiction.
 The great trouble with such the ories and such conclusiors is that they arc based upon single line of study or investigation, and are not applied to other branches to See if the facts would justify them.
 It is impossible to obtain the fscts of History. Geography, Na:u- ral Science by Locks theory, be- cause all the facts do not lie with. in the grasp of any one mind
 All the material necessary in the study of Mathematics, Logic and Ethics are within the possess ion of the pupil, so Lock was cor rect if he meant to limit his theory to these branches.
 Socrates thought that science embraced nothing but Ethics, So he was right in maintaining that the pupil should be assisted simply in formulating knowledge or "in the birth of ideas"
 But this article is growing too l long. In conclusion, the present swing of the great educational pen. dulum is from one extreme-the misuse of text books-to the other | extreme the non.use of text books. The mean is the correct Nse of text books. l close with these remarks from Prof. w. II. Payne of Michigan: Tho law of progress is supplemented by ac' luisition; and AS the volume of cap talized knowledge swells in bulk from age to age, the importance of books will increase from age to age"
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