Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1889-10-19
RATIONAL TRAINING.
The Proper Way OF Dev eioplag the rn-
teiIscts of school ChlIdren.

FFbpNr way 8t tfFNct8btuE Nhe
teiiees. Of school ChIidren-
The development OF the mind OF the !
child must be- determined In some.
the reflective faculties develop quite
early; in others quite late. Some are
very imaginative and love poetry;
others are not at all imaginative aud
can not bear TO read poetry. Some
children develop mathemas sical fac
ulty and delight in 'ithmetic. and can
very soon study the Q ements of geom-
etry and algebra. Others are almost
ounces In mathematics. In older times
II was supposed that child should be
made TO study that which he most dis
liked. in order TO promote his equable
development For example. II his
memory was poor. his memory should
be trained directly. This Is wrong.
The mind must proceed along the lines
OF greatest activities. not along the
lines Of the least activities. Let us SEQ
what this means. II aehild delights to
read and write. but has poor technical
memory. let that child read and write
TO her hearts content Let the memory
alone. but give exercises In reproduc-
ing what is written or read. also in
comparison and association. The
memory will be thus trained without
! giving words or dates TO be committed
TO memory. Much is said now concern
ing the training OF the retentive facul-
ty. and the best conclusion OF those who
have studied the matter Is that memory
Is strong in proportion as the observa-
tion. association and imagination are
strong. Careful habits Of observation
and the forming OF habits OF assoclating
similar things will always strengthen
the memory In no other way car
this work be accomplished.
Then wisdom shows ms that WI
should give such children as have pool
memories great deal OF observation
work and association work. and II viii
be seen very soon that tho memory will
assert It's power. For example. II
child iislikes TO memorize dates in bis
tory. at first. give no dates In histor
for the child to remember But wha
shall we do? Take this course: Tell
story to-day. tomorrow tell anothe
one: let 1t follow In the order OF tim
after the preceding one; the next da
; tell another one-let this follow in tn
order OF time. Now. after several stt
, ries are told and reproduced. ask whic
one came first. which second. whic
third Now, what relation has the SCI
} ond TO the third and so on. After th
} order Of relationship has boen estal
) lished. then the date can come in; bI
not until this order Of relationship hs
! been established should the date
given. IL this course be pursued. III
children will have no difficulty In n
membering dates and names also.
The reason that some children d
: not like numbers is because the faculi
of relation Is not developed; the chill
puzzles over his examples In arithmet
because he does not see the relatio
between their parts He reads: e
man bought piece of ground for 500
and sold one-hali IL for $500. and on,
did he make by the transaction
| Many are entirely unable TO solve sue
an example as this-not because It
difficult. but because the relations b,
tween the parts are not clearly seei
Do not urge children on In mathemai
les faster than they can understand
urge them on as fast as possible in tn
direction they like to go. and ever
=, month reclassify the school in refe
ence to attainments Very much MOI
could be said under this head. b,
enough has been written TO show
what directions children should recei,
: impulses. and in what directions the
: should not. Jerome Allen, in Scho'
Journal