The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1892-03-11
foutid that was all mistake, and that they


really have found the royal road learning
made easy. Instead of acting on the prin
ciple held by Froebel, the child learns 10 do
by doing, too many substitute the chile
learns to do by having things done for him
1t is so much easier to do thing for
pupil than to have him do it for himself
This is one way we teachers have of saving
time. We are prone to forget the real OBJ
ject of the school, which is not so much to
store the mind with knowledge. as to give
the child what is infinitely more important
a desire fer knowledge and the power tc
acquire it. We make things too easy fol
the children, we are too good to them so thai
we make them good for nothing. Life is nc
play day. but stern reality, and if our
pupils are to be tenderly carried over every
obstacle in their school life, where is to come
the strength to cope with the difficulties they
are sure to meet as they go out to take
their part in the worlds work. Our mis-.
sion is not to amuse, but to train for future
usefulness. Even young children should
feel that they have responsibilities and
should be strictly held to conscientious
performance of the duties assigned, pre-
missing, of course, that these duties are within
the limits of their capacities. 1t has been
truly said, "Self reliance will grow when
exercised and in no other way"
The education of the child should be
Observation-Disclosures, physical, and moral
Have we heard this SO many times that il
"makes us tired" to use a slang express
sion? I would it might be hung in every
school room in the land that teacher and
pupil might keep it ever in mind, only ]
would reverse the order and place moral at
the head of the list. And here base my
fifth charge against our public schools-a
failure to properly emphasize the moral
in education; and here, too, is where some
of our religious sects base their claim, and
with some show of justice, for division OF
the public school fund. would not be I'M
derstood as advocating such division, mol
am I ready to admit that our public schools
merit the name, Godisss, as sometimes APP
piled to them, yet II repeat, do not think
moral education receives the atten-
ton that it should. "What shall il
profit man if he gain the whole world and
and lose his own soul?' may be taken in q
different sense than that in which theologians
are wont to construe it. Souls are lost in
this life-lost for want OF some other soul al
the right moment to waken them up and
place before them worthy incentive. Our
country has need of moral and conscientious.
as we'll as intelligent citizens. The culture
of the intellect alone is not sufficient, as we
are often painfully reminded. The soul is the
seat of our loves, and our loves determine oui
lives. Does the child love the base, the
ignoble, the sordid? It needs no rologcr
to cast his horoscope, unless some other soul
shall touch his and waken it to sense Of its
own worth and turn its loves into a new and
purer channel. When once deep, earnest
purpose has taken hold Of the soul, there is nc
room for trifing, for idleness, and if a por-
ton of the teachers energy that is expended
in keeping order were used in gaining the
magic sesame to the souls of the children,
more gratifying results would be seen. Nc
one, not the teacher himself, can work for
long without some adequate motive Very
many of the children in our schools are
working without n proper incentive. They
expect TO pass the grades, to graduate. it
may be, but what then? How many reach
the what then? On the contrary, many,
when they have received their diploma have
reached ultima thule OF their ambition.
Many young lives all around us are going to
waste, all for lack of a purpose. But, you
ask, do YOU charge this all up to the public
school? By 'nln ms, but enough of the
responsibility lies there that we may well
give the matter careful consideration. The
one thing in humanity that shall stand the
test of time and eternity is character. What
nobler work, then, than to aid the youthful
mind to lay broad and deep the foundations
on which they may build to bless the world
while they live and send the impulse for good
on to future generations.
The list Of charges against our schools
might be heightened, but the limit of this
paper forbids. I will say in explanation
that 1 have been led to this criticism by
noticing the imperfections in my own work
as well as in that of some of my fellow
grinders in the mill, and have tried to hew
to the line even when the ''chips were flying
In my own face.' The responsibility OF
each teacher must be measured by himself,
and can be measured by no one else. While
we need to be careful not to make our school
system a Escape goat' for our own short
comings. nevertheless, I believe it is in 6
measure chargeable for the failures noted
Teachers are but human, and there is {
limit to what they can do, as there is also tc
what children can endure, And if the whole
energy of teacher and pupil must be put or
making per cents. and preparing for ex
animation SO many pages of text books
what wonder that the weightier matters ar
neglected?
In what I have said I have expressed my
opinion, whether have voiced yours or not
1t is worth our while as teachers to look tt
the results of our work, and if they ar
not all they ought to be, to examine care
fully to see wherein lies the cause of failure
whether in our school system or in ourselves
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