Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1894-05-26
EDUCATIONAL Matters
Professor Keller on School Critici-m-The HIGHER,
Education.-A School Essay.


better today than they ever were before
Us u not q fact that man with all hi.
! works, civilization. in short. lis obeyine
tlat immutabIe law Of growth One
Impairment Of his works Is not a cause
a. the existence Of the other. As man
advances, the public school will ascend
society viii De more nearly purgcI of its
! pIollenls and the whole mechanism of
/ CIVILIZATION viii conform more closely ~
! mat 40 the advent Of the granitr day.
! Another rccurrgnt criticism IS tho
charge that the public schools are want
| ing 10 q genuine moral tone. ] don 2
snow bu. that the criticism IS lust
| don't know but that our schools could
| le lifted up 10 higher plane through
| the influence Of an atmosphere thai is
! iudcscrIbahle, and yet I5 plain to see
when % does exist How many have
been the attempts at moral instruction
10 our schools How many have been
the resulting iailurcsl Wherein lies the
cause, do you think Do you know that
/ believe the very enthusiasm OF these
attempts has caused the iailufe} With
9 vim aud energy has Il becnlnculcalgd--
literally driven 10 10y the heel. Teachers
have treated the pupils AS patients that
needed the medicine badly, and allupa.
tnic doses were accordingly admins.
tered. Then they tried 10 sugar coat the
Medicine, but it was the same old mcdi.
sine and Il had the same old effect "A
book lust published has commanded the
attention OF teachers and. ! understand
has caused a great deal OF enthusiasm
among them. II IS an excellent book.
remarkable book, written by a remark
able man-a man than whom there is
none greater in the educational world
In the latterpart Olitis a chapter on moral
instruction. Il Is divided into topics.
such as Cleanliness aud Ngaucss."
"Politencss Kindness 60 Oilers" etc
In contains appropriate stories with their
morals written DO italics at the cul.
Shall / be going too ilr when ! ask YOU
4 this isn't the same old medicine en-.
vclopcd Ia a new kind OF q sugar coat.
mgr And won't the children lind II QUIZ
Candidly, ! don't believe that more than
one teacher IN q hundred can follow
that book and make q success OF H. Can
morals be taught by the means oi cool
calculating plan' How harsh that word
plan seems In this connecticut Are
the promptings Of the human heart 20
be brought out on this day in @ certain
way' Are the sympathics OF the child
heart TO be tortured into another shape
tomorrow Aren't there incidents
enough In the lite OF the school room
aud the play ground for such Instruction.
The common sense of the teacher can
see the way Pupils can then see that
no deliberate attempt has been made to
dose them. Don't, dJHI bring iu manu-.
iacturcd stories to teach morals. The
book is excellent In most OF is features,
but this chapter Is nothing but a collec.
ton OF hot house flowers, where the
growth has been forced and the hucs at
times unnatural think that a teacher
should never set aside a prescribed time
for moral instruction Always remcm.
Der that pupils gain more by unconscious
absorption than we often arc prone TO
imagine. Aud this above all, no matter
how bright the teacher may be-, no
matter how much OF tact she possesses.
humilating failure will be hers II her
example doesn't exactly ~ into the
ptecept involved.
This would be a poor world indeed u
public opinion were unexpected. And
yet public opinion thus appropriated has
produced many banciu results. How
often are we brought face TO face with
the TACT that old saws and adages have
the merit OF extreme age only "Thc
voice Of the people is the voice OF God"
only when that voice Justly cries out
against abuses; when public officers have
God given virtues; when patriotic prin-
ciple triumphs over the foolish iancies Of
the hour. The voice OF the people has
cried out against abuses IN our schools.
and those abuses have vanished as the
SNOW before the sighs OF the soft south
wind. But people have rallied and iumcd
and irctted against institutions in our
schools which have gained strength with
each successive shock. Their voice has
gone out against music, they have
hurled their inycciives against drawing.
they have marshalcd their lcgions
against physical culture. Science M the
grades has received is share. On every
hand We hear the cry Of the utilillrian
Teach our pupils how TO earn bread"
he shouts. Was man placed upon this
earth merely to have his stomach filed
Are we to ignore his higher capabililies'
Are the love for the good, the beautiful
and the true, the love OF Cuuntty-ol a
country Of which you and are truly n
part-where opportunity is legion, where
possibility Is as shorelcss as the air-are
all these to be thrown TO the idle winds}
Let him first be noble, who would be a
citizen. Let him first be a man who
would be a workman. Manhood and
womanhood arc more 20 be prize than
all Of the skill and graces OF art True
nobility Is not IN doing, but It Is In the
heart behind the act We M must be
bread.wlnners, but II the bread were all
that Is IN store for as, what sorry.
sorry world this would be.
What Is man,
n Dis chief good and market OF hs time.
BE but to drink and fsi' a beast u1 more.