The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-26
TEACHERS DEPARTMENT
ARTHUR KIBLER, EDITOR.
Rules.

In accordance with your kind re-
quest, will write you short article
for the teachers column. AS l have
been left free to select my own text,
I have1thought that it may not be al
together Inappropriate to present a
few ideas upon the subject of math-
omatical rules; subject rarely, if
ever discussed at teachers meetings
OF noticed by educational writer's,
but which is Of considerable interest
to the teacher nevertheless. There
are two extremes in this matter, as
in every other, neither Of which 1
claim or desire to occupy. l have
known teachers to require their pu
pills to commit every rule to memory,
as an unavoidable preliminary to the
solution of the examples. And then
there is another class of teachers
who never require rule from the
beginning to the end of the session.
I do not profess discipleship to either
of these schools, but if there is any
attraction one way or the other, it is
towards the latter. Our memory is
yet green with thoughts of the days
when we were made chime oat every
rule, as declamatory speech, and If
we failed to recite them verbatim,
there was,
ssDire reproach upon the luckless fools,
Unskilled to plod III mathematic rule
And to the teachers mind there
was no more iDfallible test that his
pupils would never know anything
about arithemetic the longest day
they lived, than the fact that they
could not recite their rules without
mistake or hesitation.
Happily for the young race this
order of things is fsst passing away.
1t is nc longer thought necessary to
burden 8 child's mind with rules and
disgust it with arithmetic forever,
if it can apply the rules satisfactorily
and promptly. I do not mean to in
innate that rule should never be
given, for, in truth, We do believe that
some of the more important should
be memorized, and especially those
which cannot be easily applied with
out being. committed to memory, but
to tax child's energies and patience
with every rule, long or short, good,
bad or Indifferent, is about as neces-
sary as it is for Szs: grade appli.
cant to tell every member OF every
cabinet from Washington to Cleve-
land. The best teacher of msthemat.
les, by far, that we ever studied un-
der, never required single rule but
insisted stontly and all the time upon
the principle. A student is very spt
to find out soon enough that the rule
''says so,'' without being forced to
spend an hour or two upon long, dry
rules, that should be devoted 70 the
solution Of the examples, which is,
after all, the only sure test of any
ones ability to manipulate the science
skillfully. Some tell US that this
process develops the mind. About
the only development we have ever
noticed from q daily memorizing of
all rules, is a distsste for the
subject entirely, or the notion
that the rule is a sufficient task,
while the real marrow of the lesson
is partially lost or slightly noticed.
Gearing that l have already trans
cended my short limits upon your
column, I shall not proceed further.
I have no doubt that some of your
pedagogic readers will differ-and
honestly too-with me in the views
expressed, but every teacher must be
largely guided by his own experience,
observation and experiments. and
adopt those methods which he finds
bring the fullest and most lasting re
suits to those under his guidance and
direction. T. HID.
Newberry College, January goth.