Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-12-07


ment Yet. the school is for the pupil, and
should not his welfare be considered
before that of the teacher? However,
what is most advantageous to pupils will in
the end be found most advantageous TO
teachers as well. With judicious manage
ment, | believe that the teacher will &C
complish more with less expenditure of
nervous energy, and the pupils will be bet
ter prepared for whatever awaits them,
whether in the pursuit of further knowl-
edge at other schools or in the business of
life, by a course covering eight years than
one of six.
TIE value of all the branches required
cannot be questioned. Indeed, would add
to, rather than take from, the number
Huxley says: Nv hatever is taught IN the
University should be taught in the e!e-
mentarv schools But | would have the
course so arranged as TO give pupils not
more than four or five hard studies during
one year ] would not have them take up
history until they had finished geography !;
civil government and bookkeeping Except
q few practical business forms) until the
arithmetic were completed. Fifteen min.
utes daily during the whole course of eight
or, better nine, years should be spent in the
study of music mot mere singing, than
which nothing conduces more to physical
mental and moral culture. VIM. E Shell
don CT Boston, 10 his address before the
Teachers National Association, said: Few
studies can claim to contribute so much
toward advancing the child in the way of
discipline, obedience and order and al the
same time contribute to his general hap
piness, possible future occupation aud ele-
vsted enjoyment, as the study of music"
All who have taught music can testify to
its inestimable value. In the upper grades
fifteen minutes each day should be devoted
to the discussion of current events and an.
other equal period 10 an oral lesson on
some OF the scierces-boany, physiology,
geology, physics, astronomy-taking up
each systematically and pursuing it con-
tinuously for two or three months each
year. The habits of attention ard of accu-
rate observation thus gained would soon be
manifest in other lines of study.
Last, but by no means least, should de
vote quarter of an hour, if not more, to
physical culture, preferably using system
founded upon the Desarte philosophy of
expression, which teaches the harmonious
development Of the triune being Johonnot
says: "a failure to provide for physical
culture, or to observe the conditions of
physical well-being, will vitiate sll edu-
cational processes and render abcrtive all
attempts to reach the ,highest intellectual
and moral development"
Some may object 10 such an arrangement
of studies on the ground that many coun-
try boys and girls are obliged 10 leave
school before the completion CT the course,
and would thereby miss the opportunity of
being instructed in some important
branches, as history or civil government.
Would it not be better 10 have them know
one study thoroughly, than many studies
inGlterently? | would have child under
stand well business arithmetic, practical
grammar, enough of literature to give him
taste for its further study, and the essen
tials of geography, if lie sever took mp an
other branch. With these thoroughly
mastered, he would have laid the founda-
ton Of an education, and would be pre-
pared to pursue other studies by himself.
We therefore conclude, in the words of
Mr.. Sheldon, that thoreughness should
characterize the work done in the ele-
mentary branches, which are the tools
which every child will need for use in SUBJ
sequent acquisitions; that the foundation
stones must be well laid in order that the
intellectual pyramid of tie future may be
securely built; that the true success of
school work depends largely upon the or.
der or studies, and the method of their
teaching; and that the great end to be
sought in intellectual education is the
formation of habits of right thinking,
which, guided by principles Of pure moral
lty, will prepare the young to become a
blessing to Themselves, ornaments to So
ciety and the bulwarks Of the S:ate.'