The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-10-24
Some Thoughts ON Education.

To the Editor of The Herald and
News Perhaps the greatest and most
serious question Of the day is involved
in the word education. 1t is a subject
that has engaged the attention of intel
ligent people for centuries, and yet,
with all the enlightenment of the
nineteenth century, there is very much
concerning this great subject that is
still to be learned.
Many definitions have been given to
the word education, and none seem to
fully convey the meaning that we gen.
orally give it.
We find tito be derived from two
latin words G, out and ducere to tead:
hence, to lead out. We, therefore, need
another word combined with it to fully
convey the meaning we generally ap-
ply to it. I would suggest the Latin
word meas, the mind, together with
the former words which would give us
the new. word enoen0ucatio,a, meaning
the act of drawing or leading out the
mind or in general terms develop
ment of the mental faculties. We
might say that education helps to
mold and fashion, in certain definite
ways, no less complex being than a
human being with his various physical,
intellectual and moral capabilities, so
as to fit him to fulfill the highest func-
tons of his destiny. ---:..
Now, in order to acquire this educa-
ton, one thing is absolutely necessary,
and that is a teacher; not necessarily a
being like ourselves, but nevertheless
it mast be teacher. The observing
mind is constantly surrounded by one
great teacher, namely, nature, which
is Gods great store house of knowledge,
and from which we have the privilege
of 'sculling the purest gems Of truth
and beauty from the infinite realms of
thought"
\ stunted sprout never makes a
thrifty tree, neither will dwarfed in
tellect reach those rare attainments" OF
which the we'll trained mind IS capable.
The natural conclusions therefore are,
that good teaching is necessary for
good education.
Much has been said and written on
methods of teaching, but methods as
they are generally understood, are of
minor Importance to the hoao to teach.
In all good teaching two things are
necessary: lst. The subject must be
presented to the pupils mind in such a
form that he will be able to grasp it,
and 2ud. The subject must be prop
erly cultivated. The presentation Of a
subject is sometimes called lecturing.
# the teacher does all the talking him.
self and allows his pupils to sit idle,
perhaps gazing out Of the window, bis
time and efforts will be unavailing.
n teacher IIuSl OpltlII eiilO Aoio 'A'N
attention of his class if he wishes to be
successful. The deductive method OF
teaching stands first in Importance,
Il. e. leading the'child's mind from the
kaao,U7a to the unknOacn.
\ Southern educator has said: "Con-
slant repetition of what is taught sthe
secret of success in the school room"
\ teacher who goes to extremes IN
either tecturiag or drilling will make
almost signal failure. While drilling
is necessary to fix in the mind princl'
pies learned at some future lesson, there
must also be something Te,O learned
to keep this knowledge acquired fresh
in the pupils mind. Perhaps | may
be misunderstood here. [ DO not meal
that ere1Ything learned must be repro
duced at each recitation, but that tEe
leading principles upon which Other
things depend, rs in science and mathe
aatics. =. J. BROWNE.