Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-11-16
WHERE SHALL I SEND HIM?
The Question Constantly Asked by
Sons Fathers.

the rage on the sundays OF May-tO
which hope / may be pardoned for
calling attention. attempted to give.
in brief outline. the status of our edu-
cational endeavor and achievement
concluding with a summary of those
aspects of our present civilization which
explain. If they do not justify. the in
adequacy of our results rs compared
with our undertakings. writes corr
respondent in the Brooklyn Eagle. In
those articles. after exhibiting the in
herent uncertainties of all educational
efforts, on account of the prevailing
presence of factors which no PERSONAL
ity of the teacher and no mechanics of
organization can control, / was led TO
point out, as a farther embarrassment.
the actual, though not perhaps the
apparent isolation and mistrust OF the
teachers life and pursuits whereby
his devotion and his mastery are not
understood or supported. while he is
himself curious. If not an Ignored,
factor in general intercourse. AS a
corollary on this demons.rat on, Of
fered a picture OF the real teacher and
of the place he ought 10 hold and fill
among the relations aud the estimates
OF his fellow-men in the ordinary con-
facts of life. with or without regard to
the fact OF vocation. Finally,
l set forth certain prevail
ing features of metropolitan soci-
ology, which seem to show that.
rs methods are perfected. material is
more unmanageable.a us teachers become
better. pupils get worse, as the work
10. nj al ha
is only the more expected to make
bricks without straw. The inadequate
results were not admitted. they were
avowed, and the avowal was made
with the ew of putting the response
b lily where it belongs; and it does not
all or chiefly lie with the teacher. No
attempt was made TO shield the in
competent teacher, whose name is
legion, just as the incompetent IN every
walk OF life answer to the same APP
pellalion; though, in fact from the ma
ture of the work it were pardonable If
the infficient teachers were in ma
jority over the unsuccessful in other
departments of labor; but there was
the distinct desire TO resent the taclt
assumption that teacher necessarily
knows so little about anything the
world knows anything of. and the
world knows so mnch of everything.
that the teacher ipso facto knows
nothing of anyth no, even OF educa-
ton and teaching; and all that the
world can do, since it cannot dispense
with him. is to tolerate, where it cam
not altogether emasculate or approx
mately annihilate him. Methods are
L.,
worse than when our fathers or grand
fathers walked five miles through the
snow for The scanty privilege of a
three months old field school, they are
worse than they are to-
day in England or Germany.
Our results are worse than those OF
our past because our fathers and
grandfathers craved these rare oppor-
tunities and valued the achievements
of fatigue and endurance; they are
worse than the results in England or
GERMANY. because the discipline of
those civilizations develops simple
duty and easy obedience and self deny
ing thoroughness. Our children have
no such cravings and no such valua-
tons, nor does our civilization hedge
them round with conditions favorable
TO duty or obedience or thoroughness.
This complexion of affairs has seri-
ously modified the relation of teacher
and pupil; as the latter no longer does
his part, the former is compelled
either TO abandon the office of com.
munication or to devise more elaborate
means of holding the learners atten-
ton and impressing his intelligence;
but alas the substitute is far from be-
ing an equivalent for the original alti-
tude Of the two parties toward each
other; and the responsibility of the
pupil once tempted from its full per-
Torrance. he grows away from the re-
sources of the teacher at an incalcula-
bic and ever increasing speed. Thus
il is that. in countries where the science
of pedagogics has had practically no
influence, the achievements are far
superior to our own in such lines Of
work as may form the basis of com
parison. This IMPLY means that
they do what they undertake. and
they undertake WORTHY service.
1t does not mean that their plan of ed
ucat on in the abstract IS better than
ours, any more than it means that the
methods and systems that we have so
admirably worked out in this country
succeed in transmitting what is really
the spirit and soul of all educational
aspiration, whatever expedition and
dexterity they secure within their
range. And 1 anticipated, if it was
necessary to ant cipate. the objection
based on the expansion of our college
and university courses. with their null
titudnous electives aud illimitable par
aphernalia--on the lengthening rolls
OF students and investigators and prac-
tical demonstrators--on the extended
recognition of our more and more num-
erous specialists in every art and SCI
ence. In the first place, not by any
means all the categore s of this objec-
ton are in point; in the second place.
the ratio of tins growth is accompanied
bv much larger ratio in the growth
of schoolgoing population; and, finally
what is the real answer-that con-
trast of conditions that characterizes
every age is now intensified by the en-
phasis of extremes. 1t is certainly very
a.