The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-09-25
INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATION.

Some teachers are plainly instructors,
some discipliarians. One regards human
being as needing Information, the other
habits; one believes the child ignorant,
the other 0ntrained one, in short, is q
helper, the other molder.
In accordance with the view which the
teacher takes of teaching will his method
be. If he deems it a6 e9tra then will his
labor be more of q mechanical character;
he will add by diligent work to the acqui.
sitiops of his pupils. 10 him they are
like the rocks that grow by accretion;
they receive something from acittout, they
pick up fact here and fact there they
arrange them Systematically and become
learned. To them there is no stronger
word than industry.
To this class the ancient languages are
valuable; in fact, they contest with
singular tenacity 10 hold them in the
prescribed order nf studies they have
bal,led against ali progressions and ad-
hered to the opinion through five centu-
ries, that knowledge Of Greek and Latin
particles WAS in itself education.
Beside the instructors there is . large
class of teachers who deem il education
to be co intra, to be Gn unfolding of what
was already within, or in fact that q hui
man being is fully organized, and that ita
powers are within, and need but to be in
cited that when melted they will grasp
facts, not to hold them, bat the laws in
the facts. To this class the mathematics
and natural sciences are selected as yalu.
able studies. These two great divisions
have always existed the teachers among
the Greeks were either the logicians or
geometricians in other words material or
spiritual teachers.
In modern times the subject has been
examined with great earnestness, princi-
pally because the state has called for fixed
and definite systems of education the
merits of each side have been debated for
the purpose of determining which was
right. The discipliparians at first held
the field then came the instructi0nists,
but ct the present writing the most
strength seems to lie with the education.
lists. For long season there was de.
cided compromise, compromise that is
in existence in nearly all the schools of
the land, in whole or in part. In some
it is rapidly changing to scheme more
purely scientific; in others.it merges more
to the slow, plodding. laborious methods
of simple requirement. a few schools
occupy the anomalous position of discip'
lining upon information.
Thirty five or forty years ago there was
mathematical cast given TO the studies
of the public schoo!s from which they
have not yet recovered Il@needed no
great Intuition to perceive that these
gy;nn.siics (which analysis isl were to
last r;r season and disappear The rage
was on and the simple mental arithmetic
Of Warren Colburu WIS not a bulky vol
ume enough. Written arithmetic was
presented in two volumes, and algebra
aud geometry were considered indispen.
Sable to the common schools. At the
present time it is doubted whether there
has net been great mistake in thus
spending so many years in "discipliEine
the mind" as tits called. The object no"
is to sustain the efforts of the mind to ed
ucate itself. There is an appeal to ma
ture all along the line The term "dis
cipline" is little heard, for it is believed
that if the mind ia educated it is discip-
iued.-Teacher's Institute.