The Forrest City times., 1891-04-17

l ucation are earnestly and cordially invited. The program is an interesting one. Every teacher should be present. for these month ly meetings are calculated to benefit and help the teachers of our county. The law is specific on this point. and it clearly de- fines the teachers duties to be to attend all institutes. We hope to have a good attendance next Saturday.
 Mistakes in the Aim of Education. To accomplish any work it Is absolutely necessary to have i'll the mind just and proper conceptions of the nature of the 1 work to be done, and the ultimate results arising from doing this work. Defective methods always bring poor results. A listless drifting along without any aim or purpose whatever never can bring com plete success. There must be plan for everything. There must be an aim in every labor and in every life. Nowhere is this more true than in matters pertain ing to the welfare of our schools. People are continually crying aloud about our poor schools and the poor work that is be- ing done We think the main trouble is because there is in their minds grave mis- takes as to the aim and purpose of an edu- cation. The defects of our educational systems is wholly the result of erroneous and indefinite views regarding the true aim aim of education for which our schools exist. To carry out any plan we must have an ideal, but our plans may be cor rect, while our aims were not true and de- fint. therefore comparative but little good would be done.
 The following are few mistakes re- garding the aim and purpose of educaton:
 1. To regard knowledge more important than the child. This is indeed q very com mon but a very grave error. For ages our minds have been clouded by the old adage, knowledge is powcr." We remember that this was one of the notices that adorned the walls of the sehoolhouse where we spent our youthful days, and the same motto can be found in many a school-room to-day tackled upon the wall. Teachers, pupils and every body are lead to fully be- lieve that ''knowledge is power." Now. We say, without fear of successful contra diction, that this may or it may not be true. It may be the whole truth or only a partial truth. Knowledge of itself is no power. One single human beiug is of in- finitely more value than all the knowledge that can ever be communicated to him or acquired by him. There is no power of development i'll abstract knowledge. Mau alone has this power within himself. He is the grandest earthly power ever created by God, and he should continue to live for ever. The great mistake being made is that all attention is given to the acquisi- ton ot knowledge, instead of the child. This should not be so. The child first and Knowledge afterward should be the order.
 To be educated there must be an acqui sition of knowledge There.can be no true education without knowledge, but human ty in it's entirety rises high above the ac- cumuation of any amount of knowledge. The fullest and most complete measure of human happiness and the highest possible rate of human progress. can be attained only when each individual in the human family is growing consciously towards God in all his attributes. To secure this grand end should be the aim and purpose of every teacher. This can never be done as long as knowledge is made more important than the child. Knowledge may bo power. but only when properly used Intelligence without moral principle 10 direct and regu- late 1t might become the very engine through which evil men might eventually effect our complete overthrow. Who does not know that an educated man without virtue is but the more capable of doing wrong? Who does not know that knowi- edge misdirected becomes il hane to be de- preca.ed, Instead Of q boon and a blessing. So, therefore. every teacher and every pa rent should have q true aim in education and an ideal of T well educated human sonl tcnantng healthy, well developed human body. Thls can only be done when the child is considered of incidentally more value than all the knowledge il could ever acquire. Whenever well directed power is put back of know ledge gained then the true aim in this direction is ob- tained. Growth, to increase the power of mankind for good, should be the first aim, and the increase of Knowledge ill extent 1 and dcliniteness secondary.
 ,. Tomake the communication of knowl- edge the great aim in teaching. The pupils mind should be stored with knowl- edge. The more the better, provided that in the getting 1t did not cripple their power to gain knowledge inde pelsiently for them selves. It is mistake for the teacher to communicate all acquired knowledge to
 the pupils. Yet many blunder on this very point. Parents think that tho teacher | should tell the pupil everything and then get mad because he don't tell them. Val
 uabe as knowledge may be, the power to l acquire it independently is far better and more lasting. The more our schools value knowledge, the more carefully will the pupils be trained to acquire it for them
 selves when they leave school. The re- suit of proper intellectual training should not be merely an increase of wisdom, but power to investigate known truth inde- pendently. A failure to do this is mis- take and will always bring about poor re- suits.
 8. To think that education is compet- ed at school. The going off to school, completing a definite course of study, graduating and receiving q diploma does not constitute the end or aim of education But many think that after they have a diploma they are educated. In fact many of our schools ineuleate just such an idea Education does not end with school. In fact it is just begun. Life and education are synonymous terms.
 School life begins at birth and ends at death. But since there is but httle sys- teniatc study done after having gone through course of study at school with a view to disciplining the mlnd, or evidene- ing the intellectual vision. 1t is evidently defect in our educational system. Study should not cease after school days are over. Our schools should develop tho natural desire for knowledge into d con scious habit of regular study as duty. Parents send their children of to school. They stay year or two, come home, and they believe their education is complete 'rhera is mn sfrnp vsr rnnd.n,pa,tnn ,f anu