The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-21
CITY TEACHERS MEETING.

4
Superintendent Stevenson devoted tn
first half-hour of the session to the expla
nation of matters concerning the holida,
vacation, the making of reports. etc. Tn
subject of hardness on the part Of tn
pupils was adverted to by the superinten
dent He was glad to notice decrease il
the number of cases the past month but in
sisted that much improvement is possible
and necessary. The teachers were in
structed to reduce this bad habit TO ;
minimum, in order that our schools MAJ
attain maximum of excellence.
The first paper on the program was b.
Principal R f. knight, of the kellogg
street school, Tie following are the more
salient points of this excellent paper:
Mankind, has ever been doing the IN
necessary thing-the multitudious small
thing-when right at hand lay the all
embracing generality which If they but
visit" it contained the thou and details
so laboriously learned.
The fact of relation is the all important
one We should know the generality u
which each particular fact belongs. Then
only can it be said to be knowledge. To
classify is no secret art, but it Is as uni
versal and necessary as the act OF think
ing.
1t follows then that the great bushes OF
the schools is TO teach the essentIals-ln
short, the congratulations of each subject.
But it is objected, this cannot be done
with young pupils for they cannot gener-
alize.
Ii this trues The very young child just
beginning to talk in EXPLANATIONS, Is told
that certain individual is "a man.
another lord OF creation" comes along,
| and what is the youngsters salute? "A
manr' Thus one individual serves 10
acquaint him with the race. Again, a
| child touches hot stove and is burned.
! At his first opportunity he does not touch
stove No. 2, but generalizes at
a safe distance. The mother smiles on her
child today and the stranger stands on 1t
tomorrow-and il knows what the new
friend sayeth With very few facts he
comes upon great truths and the great
law of economy in teaching. Saving both
time and mental energy Is TO make the
generalization with the use OF as few facts
as will give the general truth. More illus
/ trations do not illustrate but rather hide
what is to be found. and the new star is
lost in the dazzling light from polished
telescope.
Memory freed from an infnity of details
is able to marshal for our use a multitude
of great things.
Primary arithmetic, as aften taught,
| affords a brilliant example OF disslpated
labor. The pupil who can add one column
can add hundred columns, and whether
he add one or a hundred per day, the men
! tai operation in each is the same. 1t Is
said he can grasp but few units and that
! he should deal with no larger numbers. III
| this grasping means that he shall conceive
! individually and simultaneously the units
| of each number, then / VIII al
ford constant meditation for all primary
| schools and three, or at most four, produce
perfect attraction in all grammar pupils
of rank one.
Certainly there is fallacy somewhere.
We manipulate numbers in thosuand and
millions in the practical affairs OFF, yet we
do not grasp them in their individul units.
! The fact is the units of numbers are not
! considered in their individuality, but in
! their totBlity, and 900 is as easily thought
! of as one, and zoo, 900 to be twice 100000
| as clearly as two to be double one or big
elephant to be equal to two small ones;
A further exhibition of Loves Labor
| Lost" may be seen in the fascinating
variety employed by some in teaching the
| four operations of common fractions.
| 1t is said that Yankee can splice rope
| in many different ways An English sailor
knows but one mode and that
mode is the best, and following
eeach different solution or perhaps in
combination with it, will be given pro-
which the teacher says why" and the
class try to thing why and fail. A great
waste of time.
| What is needed is an application of pro-
! cesses and not an explanation of them.
! Not how to explain long division, but
/ how to use it. Not why invert the divisor
/ in fractions, but when have L problem
/ involving this operation.
Saws one, no one ever learned to drive a
/ nail by studying the laws Of momentum,
nor add a column of figures by studying
! the decimal rotation,
While i'm general, knowledge should be
adapted to the pupil, yet things that puz-
| Zle do not always confuse and il is great
mistake to suppose that mysterys havs
no mission in our curriculum.
| The child in the cradle hears about ii,
| but senseless jargon. Yet some day that
! child talks and talks by all the jargon
heard in the days forgone
| Does generalization admit of arbitrary
teaching? Most assuredly it doesl And
this arbitration is one of the most servic-
able of generalization. And wise is that
teacher who knows when TO, let in
struction rest up9n faith and when
to 60 back TO the perfect why.
Mr.. knights paper gave rise to considera-
BILE discussion, participated in by Messrs.
McMichael, Shull, South, Vowel and Car
son, and Misses Dickinson and Cleveland.
The relative Importance of memory studies
and studies involving the exercise of the
reason, was discussed. The points of rhe
paper and discussion were reviewed by
DIR. Stevenson, and the Importance Of
training the memory to become strong,
vigorous and capacious, was emphasized.
Pupils should be taught that which is ele-
waiting. The seed implanted in young
minds should be such that the fruitage
shall be choice and abundant.
After a short recess and more music,
Principal f. Dunkin, of the Lincoln school,
read an able paper on the subject of ex
aminations as test Of promotion from
one grade to another. The paper took
strong ground against making the re-
suits of stated term examinations the test
of a pupils fitness TO enter the next grade.
Among the objections to regular term ex-
aminations, the following were advanced:
The difference in kind Of work and de-
gree of difficulty of the successive grades
is not such as makes a written eXamina-
ton fair test of pupils ability TO pass
from one grade TO another. The tendency
of instruction to become mechanical is the
result of preparation for examination;
when promotion depends on examination
temptation arises in the pupil to resort 10
deception. IL Is a uAilCuiI matter 10 iEaAic
questions that will test the pupils knowl-
edge The teachers Judgment gathered
from daily observation OF the pupils work.
is more apt to be correct than my judg-
ment can be that has only written man
uscript as a guide. As result
o. examinations, the attainment
of knowledge and the acqui-
stition OF power become secondary objects
while the securing a certain per cent
becomes the primary confederation. Ex-
aminations are an artificial and not 4