The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-03-14

. elements OF geography were taught Us
on the spot. Then We reproduced In
relief with clay the valley of which
we hal just made q study" And
Karl Ritter, one Of the greatest geo
graphers OF all time says: "Pesta-
IozZi knew less geography than
child in one Of our primary schools,
yet il was from him that / gained my
chief knowledge of this science; for 1T
was i'm listening TO him hat 1 first
conceived the idea Of the natural
method. 1t was be who opened the
way, and / take pleasure in attribut-
ing whatever value my work may
have entirely to him." Thus we see
the application of PestaloZZps pre-
cept in the one science of geography,
and this must suffice for this evening.
From the Evening Hour Of a Her
nit once more and for the last time.
And as I shall offer 10 comment on
the passage, i ask your particular at
tention while / read it: There is in
nature an order and march Of devel-
opment. If you disturb or interfere
with Ii, you mar the peace and har-
mony of the mind. And this you DO,
IL, before you have formed the mind
by progressive knowledge of the reali-
ties of life you fling it into the laby-
rinth Of words, and make them the
basis Of development.
The artificial march of the ordinary
school, anticipating the order OF ma
ture, which proceeds without anxiety
and without haste, inverts this order
by placing words first, and thus Sc
cures deceitful appearance of sue
cess at the expense Of natural and
safe development
What provision or what effort is
made in our schools to form the mind
by progressive knowledge of the reali-
ties of life either before or after fling
ing 10 into the labyrinth Of words and
making them the basis of develop
ment? Does the artificial march Of
the ordinary Hawaiian school, anti
cipaTing the order of nature, which
proceeds without anxiety and without
haste, inveIt this order by placing
words first, and thus secure deceit
full appearance of success at the ex-
pense OF natural and safe develop
ment?
To summarize PestaloZZianism in a
sentence, the motive of education is
philanthrophy; its purpose is to en-
able the man whom in Gods wide
world nobody helps and nobody can
help, TO help himself; its means is
the drawing out of the moral, intel
lectual, and physical power which
God has put into our nature; It's
method is self-activity; the first prin-
ciples of human nature are the moral
principles of love and faith; and the
first materials of education are the
realities of life.
HIS INFLUENCE.
1t remains but to speak briefly. of
PestalozZi's influence upon the educa-
tional progress of the world, begin
ming with that country which pro-
flied earliest and most by his life
and thought. After the disastrous
battle of Jena, in 1906, Frederick Will
liam III. of Prussia, in an address to
his people said: 1--WE have indeed
lost In territory, and fallen in exter-
nal power and splendor, but we must
see to it that we gain in internal
power and splendor; and hence it is
my earnest desire that the greatest
attention be given to the instruction
of the people," Stein, and after him
Hardenburg, nobody did the political
work of organizing the proposed edu-
cational movement. Fichte, in
series of addresses to the German
people, showed that the education
proposed by Pestalozzi, and no other,
could accomplish the desired end.
ZelIer, one of Pestolozzi's pupils and
assistants was called to Prussia to
train teachers. In 1915, the centennial
OF Pestalozzi's birth, there were In
Prussia alone fifty normal schools for
the training of teachers according to
his methods. And it is to this move
ment that Prussia owes her proud pos
ition in the educational world today.
Another of PestaloZZPs pupils, DR..
Mayo, in cooperation with others.
established in London the Home aud
Colonial Training Institution, an in
stitution which seems to have enjoyed
less success than il deserved, and that
chiefly abroad. 1t was from this
school that Miss Margaret Z. M.
Jones and Professor Herman Krusi, at
the request of DIR. Sheldon, were called
to assist in the work of introducing
the PestaloZZian education at OswegO.
The history of the normal schools
generally seems ineXtricably connec-
ted with the history of PestalOzZianism
at least so far as America is con
cerned. But the Oswego normal
school has been above all others the
representative and exponent of the
PestaloZZiau ideas in America. And
without robbing Mann, or Barnard,
or Page, or Dickinson of the honors
justly due them, it may be said that
DIR. l.. a. Sheldon, of Oswego, has
done more than any other one man TO
introduce PestaloZZi's ideas and spirit
into American schools. He has taken
the part In the movement in America
which Zelier took in the Prussian
movement in the early part of the
present century. Professor Gordy, in
his Rise and Growth of the Normal
School Idea in the United States, en-
umerates more than forty normal and
training schools which are now doing
Pestalozzian work owing to the direct
influence of Oswego, and to my own
knowledge he has not exhausted the
list. What the indirect influence of
such an instution is, no man can esti-
mate.
These are the countries outside of
Switzerland in which PestaloZZi's in
fiuence has been most direct and most
powerful. But one cannot observe the
changes which are taking place in the
schools all over Christendom without
perceiving that the little PestalozZian
ieaven is slowly leaeaning the whole
lump.