The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-04-09
PUBLIC OPINION.

That method is best which make the
pupil think most.-W r. Conaings.
The finest culture fails to produce the
results that are spontaneous in other
cases. There is much, if not everything,
in habitat to mind as well as plant
Intelligence.
The man or woman who has forgotten
how he or she felt rs child, is hardly
| calculated to teach. Certainly no such
parsan 10 fit to DO tho disciplinnrinn of
children.-Wm. N. Gibin. NeOark, ~ j.
Artificial arrangements may be de-
scribed as the scaffolding of an educa-
tional system. He would be a poor
bricklayer who adjusted his building to
suit the scaflold rather than the scaffold
to suit the building. Educational Week
y.
There Is no educational subject on
which more is said and less done than
manual training. Experiments are MAX
| ing here and there, but everybody seems
to be waiting for somebody else to show
successful venture. Training schools
will cost money and labor, but they will
pay, and no section of the country needs
them more than New England.-Spring-
field Union.
Children at first learn to sing entirely
by imitation. 1t is, therefore, of the ut
most Importance that the pattern should
be good. Observe the following rules:
l. Meier sing with the pupils. Let them
listen quietly to your pattern, and imi-
tate. lin cases where the teacher can
not sing at all, few of the more musi-
cal of the children may be called upon
to sing the pattern.) 2. Let the pattern
be short enough to be easily remember
ed. 8. The pattern must be soft and
distinct. 4. Repeat the pattern till you
get soft, clear response from the class.
-Batchellor.
If the teaching of natural science is
carried on by teaching by rote the facts
of the textbooks, however important
they may be, its true purpose is missed
in the system of education. The train
ing of the memory is of great impor-
lance, but it is provided for by other
studies than the sciences. The teaching
of natural science should aim ut quick
ening the powers of perception, Obser-
walton, and reason-faculties of the high
est Importance in the duties of common
life. Teachers should bear this fact in
mind, and plan their methods of in.
struction accorlingly.-1hc Student.
Secretary c. ID. Hinc, of the Connect
icut State Board of Education, has lately
reviewed Connecticut's experience in re.
ceiving federal aid for her public schools
through the sale Of her western reserve
lands. Mr.. Hine says that as soon as
the fund became productive striking
deterioration in the schools took place.
The local taxpayers ceased to try to sup
port education, and the period was the
darkest in the States educational cx-
perience. The use which is being made
of these facts by opponents Of the Blair
bill appropriating national aid to south
ern education Is not warranted. The
cases are not parallel. The aid which
Connecticut received was an out-and-
out substitute for local taxation. The
Blair bill promises aid only in proper
ton to the sum which the State receiv-
ing it raises for itself for educational
purposes. 1t would stimulate. not leth-
argize. But Connecticut's experience
does afford sound argument against
extending federal aid to the northern
States which are quite able to take care
of themselves. -SprinQfel Union.