The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-04-10
Teaching the Young.


called The Young Idea which contain
examples Of the results Of mechanical
rose instruction
Miss Le Row begins in the middle of
things with sample school scene. which
simply serves to illustrate the intelligence
Of the aversge tenement house pupil;
The definition Of the wor.l wicked -
occurring in the reading lesson, IS asked
CT class Of children from ten to twelve
years Of age, Of foreign parentags. and
living in tenement house ward.
what does wicked mean some one
tell
"A sick person
@Oh. no. Wicked means very naughty,
verv bad. Tell me what wicked persons
do
Thieves. robbers. murderers, niggers,
ghosts
~Oh, my dear children There is no
such thing as a ghost, and negroes are
not all wicked"
Il know a niger that steals. our dog
steals. Rats steal.
rs it wicked for dog or rat to steal p"
"No, ma'am."
"Why not -
Cause they amt got no manners
The point in the introduction Of this
little colloquy is this;
That the teachers grade obliges her
to teach great many words and ideas
which are utterly beyond such pupils
apprehension. They attempt 20 learn the
words before they DO the things. The
rote teacher excIaims Dictionary :"
when the pupil asks the meaning Of a
word. The pupil loJks it no for in
stance, the word monopoly" II is de-
fined Monopoly - from two Greek
words meaning alone and 10 sell. Sole
permission and power Of dealing in any
goods.or with a particular country ex-
elusive command or possession And
then come the children exercises. which
show how well they have understood the
definition
Our grocery man is monopoly, be-
cause he keeps on a corner all alone"
Monopoly is something to clean the
hoor with"
And here comes in chance for little
moral The boy may be sick with in
formation but wOnld be the author Of
~The Young Idea want to know, if he
were asked about things which are to
him real things, tell you that a pair Of
skates were something TO eat, bob-sled
something to wear, and piece Of pie
something 10 play with This early and
persistent use Of words without ideas
Miss lie Row thinks, is the worm at the
root of the educational tree, and its
blighting effect can be traced through ev-
cry branch Of the child's mental labor.
He is from the first in a state of bondage
of words" 1t isn't only in the matter Of
definitions that the bondage shows itself
1t is carried into all branches Of the
school work The child studies all his
lessons in the light Of new words The
Young Idea, tells how studying is some
times done.
Not long ago little girl was stadying
half aloud lesson in grammar, rocking
herself to and fro, as her glib tongne kept
time with the movement. "Appellatious
Of the Deity should always begin with a
capital. An older sister. sewing near by.
ventured the question, What do you
mean bv appellations?7 - A blank stare.
Il don't know That's what the book
says" What do you mean by DEITY ?"
Another stare Il don't know. The
teacher didn't tell rs to learn that Don't
bother me. I've got to learn my lessons.
50 the intellectual exercise was resumed,
accompanied by the rocking and the
muttering. "Appellaiions Of the Deity
should begin with a capital until the
lesson was declared learned"
Here is where scholars learn their inn
pOrtant facts in arithmetic, which. by the
way, one Of them beautifully defines as
"the sins Of number
subtraction is the minuend and the
subtracted end"
~ partial product is one Of the things
you multiply With
brokerage is the allowance for the
brokerage and leekerage Of bottles"
@Insurance is when you die or burn up
your money and the insurance office pays
you for il"
@If there is no units in number you
have to fill it up with all zeros."
"Principll is not valuable like interest
and is never paid
~No man will live long enough 70 be
insured unless he has great expectation
Of life"
Miss l. Row comes valiantly 20 the
support Of General Walker. and main
tains that about two-thiris Of the in
struction in arithmetic in the public
schools is useless and in the way Of more
valuable instruction.
Here are some Characteristic grammar
definitions
"tirimmar is something to talk good
and is divided into diagrams on the black
board. can't never learn no gram
mar
A pronoun is when YOU don; want %
say a noun and 50 you say pronoun. u
is when it is not a prnnoun bat noun
a conjunction IS your very much sur
prsed at something
An interjectiOn Is throwing words into
a sentence dear is inte1ection because
you can't pass it with anything"
~Adiectivesof more than one syllable
are repaired by adding some more syila-
bles''
"An adverb is used 10 mortify a noun
and is a person place or thing"
Our RainIess Lands.
r., - - -. -.