Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-08
THE TIME HONORED HICKORY Should It Be Abolished in Our
 Schools q DISCUSSED BY THE TEACHERS In the County Institute Yesterday-Pupils Sfoud Be Taught to Respect
 Themselves.

The Jefferson County Teachers insti- | ute reconvened Saturday morning at 9:3O o'clock.
 Prof P. M McNeill of Pratt City dis cussed the subject of "Punshments. Proper and Improper" He advocated suiting the punishment to the offense and strongly condemned such forms of | punishment as result in bodily injury, as well as those which, by the inflictlon of personal indignities, lower the respect of the pupil for himself. Punishment should be designed to elevate the child | and make him better man.
 Prof J. T. Mclaughlin followed, giving | much of his experience as a pupil and | teacher. He said that he ought to be | able to speak on this question: since he l had suffered all imaginable forms of 1 punishment, and for ten years of his life | as a teacher had used the same methods 1 upon his pupils as had been used upon l him.. Twenty-Five years experience had | convinced him that all punishments l should be abolished; that the teacher l should appeal to the higher nature of the l child in his government. He Illustrated l how this could be done by the case of an incorrigible boy who was completely won l by kindness.
 | Mrs. Layett was glad that Professor | Mclaughlin had modified his views so l materially since delivering a speech be- fore the institute five years ago on the l same subject.
 l Dr. Dill agreed with the speaker in the main, but thought that when all punish | ment was abolished the millennium l would be at hand.
 Professor Whitmire thought Professor l Mclaughlin good authority, but he | thought that Solomon was equally as l good in some of his utterances touching 1 this subject. Professor Whtmire is not | ready to discard punishment, but he | thinks it should be suited to the offense l and should be as certain as the rising of the sun. The teacher should never make | threats and should only punish when he is sure he is right. The first thing for the teacherto do is to control himself. The next subject was Elementary Sci ence." Prof. J. B. Cunningham, princi- pal of the Paul Hayne school, read d very thoughtful and instructive paper. In answer to the question, What is the
 best method in elementary science?' | Professor Cunningham claimed that it was the method of the child. The meth cd of the child is a repetition of the | method of the race. First, the observa- tion of things, which stimulate the | senses: second, retention of the images l of these things; third the grouping of | these images aid naming their external l correspondences, giving rise to individual | and general names. The child comes to. | school full of the wonders of Q, cats. | dogs. pigs, cows, horses, etc.; @ flowers. | fruits, leaves, grasses, etc; t3) water, 1 iron, brass, gold, pebbles, mud, etc: (D
 woods. brooks, hills, etc; (5) light, heat, | cold, motion, engines, telephones, etc: | (6) winds, rain, snow, lightning etc. | CD headaches, work, rest, sleep. food, etc. 1; l (S) sun, moon, stars, etc.; (9) the facts | that iron rusts and silver tarnishes., What an array of lnowledge All of | these things are the elements of zoology. | botany, mineralogy geology geography | physics, meteorology, physiology. chem
 istry and astronomy. The difficulty IS | not to find something to teach, but what
 to exclude, when the whole world Is at | hand.
 Present objects functions or pictures.
 Teachers are criminally responsible for | error where text book descriptions are
 offered instead eS objects in usual envi-
 ronment provided the objects are access
 sible to due diligence. Begin with that
 which the child knows and lead from
 the vague to the distinct The method
 should be synthetic, the child being led to
 arrive at general notions through his
 knowledge of groups of particulars The l child should be made to think for him
 self to reach out and take hold of his
 envronment-to become an active agent,
 and not remain a passive recipient or
 such facts as may be thrust at him. Ma
 ture in developing has made no mistake,
 but teachers err when they take the child
 from original environment and set him
 down among words; they forget that
 words originate in ideas and that ideas
 originate in things. Thing. idea. word, IS
 natures order; why change It! Thls IS | the great mistake which the school ana
 church both made In thelr eiof.s eo"aiu
 civilization. IL.
 pr. Palmer strongly advocated the
 studv of science. Spelling reading,
 arithmetic and language are valuable,
 but only as means for the stuoy or ha-
 ture in it's manifold relations and mani
 festations.
 I Professor F. Ashton of Coalsburg l was much interested in the subject, and | wished Professor Cunningham to tell at | what age children could begin the study of elementary science to advantage. Pro- lessor Cunningham replied that 1t should 1 he begun as soon as they are able to 1 observe. which is long before they enter school
 Dr. Phillips found that there was a misapprehension of the subject, due to | the use of the term science. The work | contemplated was not science, strictly 1 sDeaking. but simply the observation, l collection and classification of facts with a few simple generalizations, the gems I of true science. The work should be syn | thetic At first there should be no dis | tinction of sciences; these differentiate themselves as the mass of facts increase.
 Soon a certain class of facts. by their
 natural affinities. cling together, form ing the nucleus for geography. Later l physics, geology, pnySiOioSy' Sidihiiai, 1,
 etc. grow up in the same way
 | Prof Glover Moore thought that ob- feet teaching was carried too far. Chil-
 dren know more than they get credit for.
 What is the use," said he. "of bringing
 A cat into the school room? Don't all
 children know all about a cat?" Profess- i, or Moore was seriously embarrassed in
 his argument when Professor Cunning
 ham asked him how many claws cat
 has on it's hind foot.
 Principal A. c. Moore of the city high school thought that the country children and country teachers have a great ad-
 vantage over their city nieghbors for
 studying nature. If they are not study ing elementary science they are standing in their own light. The great teacher.
 David Page, appealed to nature when he | wished to wake up the minds of his pu-
 pils His success is known to all teach