Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-12-02
Shortcomings of the Pedagogues.


The place of honor is given in the Forum
for December to an article by President
Eloit, Of Harvard University, in which he
shows wherein popular education has failed
to meet the expectations which were had
of it.
He finds that after all which has been
done by free schools, free libraries, cheap
literature, cheap postage, and the many
other things which contribute to general
intelligence and contentment, that men
and women, no matter what their educa-
tion, "seek advice on grave matters from
clairvoyants seers, Christian Scientists,
mind cure practitioners, bone settlers, In
dian doctors and fortune tellers;" and in
stead of rational contentment among the
people there never have been wilder out
bursts of passion and revenge than since the
arts Of education have approached what is
called perfection.
The particulars in which popular educa.
ton must be reformed if it is to develop in
telligence properly and produce general
contentment are these:
First, pupils must be taught the habit Of
observation, alert, intent, accurate, SO
that fact wherever found may be rightly
estimated, for "facts firmly established
are the only foundations ofreasoning.D
Second, they must be taught to make a
correct record of the things observed,
whether it be on the memory only or in
writing or print. for Sin this constant drill
the concience cannot fail to be refined and
instructed"
Third, they must be taught to draw cor
rect inferences from recorded observations.
"It is often long way from the patent
fact to the just inference. For centuries
the Phenecian and Roman navigators had
seen the hulls of vessels disappearing be-
low the blue horizon OF the Mediterranean
while their sails were visible, but they
never drew the inference that the earth
was round"
Fourth, they must be taught to express
their thoughts clearly, concisely and CO
gently.
Now what are the schools doing for the
development of these cspacitiesf In New
England. President Eloit says that 80 per
centum Of the pupils do not 90 beyond the
grammar schools, and in them instruction
is confined to reading, spelling, writing,
geography and arithmetic" with of late
"some practice in observation through
drawing, manual training, kindergarten
work in general, and lessons in elementary
science"
In his long article the Harvard Presi-
dent draws up severe arrangement of the
methods of general education, but that it is
just any newspaper man may know who
recalls the many instances In which he has
had to correct the erroneous observations.
the biuDdering records of facts, the false
inferences from them, of persons who have
come to him with stories of what has been
done in strike, at o public meeting. or
what not, after racking his wits to make
out the meaning Of those persons who have
not the faculty Of expressing themselves
clearly, much less concisely and cogen,ly.
At the bottom of the superstitions, the fol-
lies, at the bottom of much Of the labor
trouble, Of the discomfort with govern
ment, and the social order, lie these de-
fects Of education. 1t will take long to
cure them, but until they are cured the
worst ills of society will remain. The im-
pcrtance Of the subject with which Prcsi-
dent Eloit deals in his long article entities
1t TO the place of honor which it occupies.
-Pittsburg Times.