The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1890-12-17
TRAINING BOYS MINDS.
EXPERIMENT OF TIE SOCIETY FOR
ETHICAL CULTURE.

ETHICAL CULTURE.
Felix AdIer's Plan of Teaching Children
to Think, Observe and Clearly Express
Themselves-A Unique School and Its
Methods of Instruction.
! The workingLnan's school is especially
intended to serve the needs of the chill
dren Of the poor. Little ones from the
tenement house districts are admitted to
its free kindergarten at years of age.
They 20 from the kindergarten at G into
the school proper. which carries out
troebel's creative method on "a higher
plane and with Il greater minuteness Of
detail The pupils continue III the school
until their fourteenth year Thereafter
the instruction is to be continued in a
series of evening classes Felix Adler,
the earnest ethical preacher, is its origin
ator. The school is carried on in accord
ance with the principles which form the
basis of his philosophy, which teaches
its followers Ito do right for rights
sake without expecting Il reward.
The school building is so spacious,
well lighted and cheerful, and the teach
ing SO intelligent, progressive and inter
estmg that the children of the rich might
envy the advantages offered to the off
spring of the poor. Here is "a glimpse of
the way they teach: The room happened
into is the one in which natural his
tory is taught. Perhaps it is the hig
windows and high ceilings that have
much to do with the brightness of the
room, or IT may be the cheerful faces of
the forty busy children that gives the
place an exceedingly attractive air
Each child has wasp on his desk be
sides his pencil and notebook All are
alertly attentive and actively interested.
The subject under discussion is tho pa
per making wasp, and each eager young
ster is trying to find out as much as ever
he can from actual investigation. The
teacher is firing their enthusiasm by
adroit questions that provoke inquiry
and stimulate curiosity
METHOD OF DESTRUCTION.
he has sketched an enlarged head of
a Ne1'R VII TIC bldCALudlLs LIE has IOll
them-but in such wisely suggestive
way that they think they have found it
out themselves-that ''the paper max
ing wasp has three simple eyes and one
compound eye, and that in the com
pound eye are 5000 little microscopic
eyes. The teacher says as he dismisses
the subject of the waSp's ewes, "perhaps
next lesson you may find out what the
wasp does with its simple and compound
eyes. The class looked as If they were
sure they would
Now, he continued, 1--WE have learn.
ed certain things about this wasp this /
let rs write about it. What /
shall we name the story" he queried. !
The Story Of the Paper Making Wasp /
piped ont a small boy in answer. The |
title was thus written on the blackboard /
and in the notebooks. ''Who has any |
question Everybody evidently from !
the number of hands eagerly appraised
One boy was asked what he had TO SLY.
He responded with alacrity, "It's body /
amt so very long. That does not /
count for anything" answered the /
teacher with quick directness Can't /
you measured? The boy was intelligent I
enough to understand how vague and /
his answer was; so were his /
classmates who We're aching TO tell: but /
the first boy measured his wasp. and .
gave an accurate and clearly expressed /
answer. By dint Of lively, l-eeuly dis /
questioning a story was |
written about the wasp, which read as
follows:
The paper making wasp is about one
half an inch in length Its body is made |
up of rings. The wasp has three d.
visions to its body-the head. thorax .
and abdomen The wasp has a small .
joint which keeps the thorax and aldo
men together Its body is full of hair
AIN or THE FOUNDER
AS many of the pupils come from the
tenement house districts they have had /
no opportunity to get impressions of ma
ture, and are unfamiliar with many /
simple things that country bred child .
imbibes with his breath This need has }
been provided for. In the picturesque
little village of Sherman, in Pennsyl- /
vania, provisions have been made for a
vacation colony for the school Thither
almost all the pupils go in charge of the |
principal. and spend the summer months |
in the woods and among the hills. gain
ing health while they are storing away
knowledge to be used in their winter
studies.
The founder of the school has formu-
lated a series of workshop lessons, based .
on mechanical and free hand drawing .
His aim is to educate the mind first that /
= cay direct the hand Alright. For in /
5tance, IA pupil receives a model of a cone !
from which he takes measurements and +.
then makes complete working draw .
ing He then goes to the workshop with /
his drawing, and with tools and proper |
turns in his lathe cone accord |
ing to his drawing, which is a copy of /
the original model in the drawing room. (
This plan it is proposed to pursue &C
cording to the age and ability Of the pu-
pill. from the simplest construction of a
triangle to the construction of steam
engine
From the workshop where mechanical
drawing is the basis the children go
into the school atelier, where free hand
drawing cultiyates the sense Of harmony
and beauty Little children of and 8 |
model simple forms Of leaves. scrolls
and various architectural forms in clay.
They are led upward from a simple
of square to the intricate
work of the features of the human face.
1t is hoped that this process will awaken
the art instincts of the masses. America
can produce no great artists. architects
or sculptors until the whole people have
the true art feeling
In all probability there is not another
school like this Que in the United States