The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-07-08
Chips from a TeacheT's Work .Nhop.
n--rHr >rw EDUCATION oLp-tS rl,pon,

4--IAE NEN EDU CATION ULp-iN THEORY
Especial Cor STATE CHRONICLE
1t Is proposed - find in the olden times
the MAN ideas unierlyi our latter dav
revival n education, - ideas crudely stated
perhaI-, still more orudely applied in eL
utat1'n.. Al practices, but 1T least exercising. :.
the minds OF men years and years ago.
Education Is means 10 an end Just
As the conception OF the ideal perfect man
has changed, 50 educational thought has
changed, the latter consideration Of
the means Tor working out the former.
Tie ideal man of the Greeks was the most
nearly perfect ideal possible 10 men aside
from Revelation The Systematically de-
Neioped man III matter Of body, mind
and morals was the ann of education in
Socrates and Plato. With whom the ethical
Was always the highest consideration.
with 50 high an ideal Of the perfect man.
educational theories must Of necessity
have reached high water mark IN the
times OF the ancient Greeks. TO In sure,
Plato mystic ldeallsm and Socrates he
het IN the sufiiclency Of the iutuitious OF
the intellect bent their educational thought
ana work toward disciplinary drills. Ed
ucation was Intensely subjective But all
there is 10 be learned about this part of
educational work We may learn from the
Greeks. We shall find, long before our
day, however, even in the days of
the genial Robelais, that the fight be
tween realism and idealism, between the
objective and the subjective in educatious,
has begun, out of which is TO come the
steady encroachment of the sciences upon
the purely formal studies of our schools
1t is said commonly enough in cduca-
tlonal journals, in the newspapers, and
very often from the hustings, that lit is
the business of popular educators to train
youth for citizenship. Very good. But
1t was matter of talk with the early Ro-
manS-lt was a matter of fact This is
exactly what Roman schooling did do for
five hundred odd years, (and here We see
the New education to be Old, as TO prac-
tlces,) There were the gymnastic exercises
on the Campus Martins, the recitation of
the Saian hymns, the religious text of the
day, the study of the Twelve Tobles, the
civil code-these made up the course of
study and drill of the early Roman youth
The result was men the most robust, the
most courageous, the best disciplined, the
most patriotic that ever lived" Why
Well, because the mother was the guardian
of the family and the teacher in office, and
the teacher in office, and her business it
was to inspire youth with noble purposes
and with the daring to execute them
NestalozzlS ldea3 because the family dis
clpllne WAS severe, the authority of the
father being absolute; because the Roman
youth grew up in an atmosphere of divin-
tiles; because the law of his country con
stituted his earliest and latest reading
book, and he was taught to consider its
teaching sacred and invlolable. 1t was
time when civic virtues had freest play,
and when men of heroic mold most aboun-
ded
But with the conquest at Greece, Ro-
man education lost it's Spartan character
and became Atheni in its drift, save
that it lacked the spirit of speculative in
quiry in which the Greek so delighted.
Not until Quintilian's day, three-quarters
OF century into the christian era did we
have in Roman literature a noteworthy
treatise and pedagogy, for such is his In
stltutes at Oratory. He anticipates Fine
lon, Hescartes, Locke, Rousseau and Spen-
Ger in emphasizing the fact that the activ-
tiles OF the child must be pleasurable in
order to be profitable. LET study be to
him play" says Quintilian. He also
appreciates with them the fact that the
pleasure of study lies on the right calling
forth Of the child's energies is, that
much lies in method ''If the mind rebel
against instruction, it is not nature that
is to blame Very true, in the main
IF the child does not study it is the
teachers fault" Hence it is evident that
Qulntian agrees with the new educa-
tlonists, or rather they agree with him as
opposed to SOlOman, in condemning the
use of the rod.
Quintilian's way of having the child use
l.
to study how to use it. He did not say,
cit is in smithing that one learns to be
smith" but he anticipated Commenius in
advocating the principle if not in putting
it into apt phrase. For instance the child's
work in grammar consisted most largely
in exercises in composition, development
lessons called Chrial, and narratives, to-
gether with exercises in explicating the
poets-all this with study of the rules
of composition. 1t is language work dis
tinctly as opposed to formal grammar-or
better still, it is the former combined with
only the requisite part OF the latter, the
aim being to have the pupil use language
correctly, fiuently, eloquently. Quintilian
did not know anything about diagram
ing" but he knew all about better thing,
namely, the study of literature and how,
in an explication of the text by the pupil,
to have them appreciate the beauties of
the poets and orators
Quintilan believes with Col. Parker, or
rather Col Parker believes with Quintil-
ian, that the burden Of elocutionary drill
{as'd de from drills III voice culture, articu-
lation and the ike lies in having the pupil
understand feelingly the meaning of the
author to be rendered. That the child
may read well. let him have a good under
standing of what he reads, " says Quintil-
ian. That is really about the soul of the
matter, but we evidently have not just
now found it out.
Plutarchs Morals has much in it of in
terest to the educator. For instance he
improves upon Greek pedagogy by discard
ing ''ethics in contemplation" for ''ethics
in action" Much in that. Also, his con
ception of education is as fine as Carlye's.
Compare these twO thoughts Education
is thought kindling itself at the fire of
living thought" CO. The soul is not
vase to be filled but is rather hearth
which is to be made to glow" H.) 1t were
not well for modern educators in their
study of methods to have these quotations
out Of mind, or at least to be wanting in
the spirit of them.
CONFINED.
He Wants to Go.
Il want to go to Congress- said the
candidate. What do you want TO 60 there
for e Well -ah-er-I want to go.
We'll, sir, let the man who wants to 90