The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-04-24
THE SCIENTIFIC TEACHER.
Interesting Lecture Yesterday at
High school by DR.. Rice.

High school by DIR. Rice.
The High School Assembly Room was
filed yesterday afternoon with a representa-
tive gathering of principals and teachers Of
Jersey City, Bayonne and Union Hill. who
had come to hear DR.. J. M. Rice lecture on
ssThe Scientific Teacher" Many of those
present had read DR.. Rices magazine ar
ticles on the subject, and were prepared to
listen with the deepest interest to the words
of scientific" wisdom that might flow from
his lips.
DR.. Rice, after being introduced by Super
intendent Snyder, said:-"Germany is the
only country where true scientific methods
of teaching are followed. Our American
school rooms are very pleasant, but it is my
earnest hope that the lessons given in them
will soon be more thorough and scientific.
81 shall begin this lecture by speaking OF
the old-fashioned method of teaching, which
tended merely to the cultivation of the menu
ory, and is spoken of as a mechanical
grind Pupils educated according to this
method did not develop their faculties, nor
did they learn to think. In fact, / heard q
traveller once say to a child:-'Do not stop
to think; tell me what you known After
giving several Illustrations of the old-fash-
Toned system, DR.. Rice continued as fol-
lows
1.-THE scientific method develops all the pow
ers of the child. Instead OF being required
to memorize two or three pages of unintelli-
gible matter by the progressive method, al
new material is presented TO the pupil in the
class room. The motto of this method is,
Never tell a child what he is able to find
out for himself Scientific teachers also
find that text books are good for nothing.
They should be used merely for reference
and are no more to be committed to memory
the dictionaries. In the German
aoIzol, 49, ,,,,x&,Jc 1,n{-a their oyU1 tovf hontyC
under the direction of their teachers.
"The plan of the new system is tosquestion
a child so that he will think. And it is not
necessary to say hat teachers must have a
thorough knowledge of the mind. There
is no art in leaving children to guess an
swers.
1.-THE ideal of scientific teaching is reached
when a teacher succeeds in making each
question approach nearer to the desired end.
Whole lessons are often wasted through
irrelevant questions. Even the progressive
teachers of America often fall short OF the
ideal realized in Germany because their
lessons are incomplete and fail to leave per-
manent impressions on the minds of pupils.
German teachers are more scientific in three
ways. They have a definite aim in each
recitation, their lessons are more complete,
and they give a thorough drill before and
after the hours work"
Dr.. Rice then read four lessons in mathe-
NAUTICAL geography, given according to the
scientific method by the professor Of peda-
gogy at Jena University, in the school adj
Joining that institution. These practical il
Illustrations OF the German method interested
the audience greatly.
In summing up DR.. Rice said:-"The
secret of success lies in following the natural
laws of development. Teach according to
rule. The lessons will not be formal, and
you will give the proper thing at the proper
time. This method will not deprive the
teacher of liberty. But must say apropos
of this that most evils existing in our school
rooms are caused by the confusion Of liberty
with license. Scientific rules of teaching
ought, therefore, to be followed. How shall
we improve the scientific methods of teach
ing in our own country?
"Let our teachers study thoroughly Ger
man educational works. Let our normal
students nave the advantage of definite
criticism on their work and also of daily re-
views. And, finally, let our boards of edu-
cation send abroad yearly a certain number
of teachers to study pedagogy in Germany,
paying them as-shough they were teaching.
This remark was received with hearty APP
plause and concluded DIR. Rice's admirably
instructive lecture