The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-03-22

There was a large crowd present
at the Y. M. G. A. hall last light |
to hear DIR. B. G.. Northrop lecture
on Memory and How to Train It."
Promptly at Z 80 President F. A.
Hosmer of the Honolulu Teachers
Association, under whose auspices
the lecture was given, delivered a
few Introductory remarks touching
the occasion before introducing the
lecturer.
Before taking up the subject of
his discourse DR.. Northrop made
reference TO this, his first visit to
Honolulu, spoke of the people
whom he had met since his arrival,
and praised the beauties of the
country.
The learned lecturer spoke some
thing over an hour and q quarter,
and the following is complete
report of the subject:
The general outcry of the press
| against examining has not been with
| out reason. The surfeit following q
| plethoric indigestible diet illustrates
q common mental dyspepsia. With
exactiDg examinations at hand, there
| is a strong temptation to smatteTing.
Where the mind is treated as mere
| receptacle, the quantity rather than
| the quality of attainments is the
| meter Of progress. 1t is q cardinal
principle that tie discipline OF the
I mind is more important than It's
| furniture. knowledge, though essen
| tiaI to education, does not constitute
it. Facts, however valuable, are to be
| learned, not primarily for their own
| sake, but as instruments OF culture.
| The school studies are each and all
more thoroughly mastered when they
are pursued, not as ends, but as means
| of mental discipline. As all truth IS
| harmony, so the surest processes OF
| acquiring truth accord with the laws
| of mental growth. The best way to
develop each faculty is identical with
| the best methudS of gaining and re-
| tanning knowledge. If right habits or
study are formed, and if the chilli thus
| gains q consciousness of power and
| delight in doinq-in achievement,
knowledge Will come In due time as
| a matter of course 1t ia the teachers
duty, not so much to impart knOwl-
edge as to show his pupils how to get
it, insIiring them wit" love of study
and of mastering difficulties. This
Joy of conscious progress quickens the
memory and all the other faculties.
THE culture of the mind is to be meas
uTed, not primarily by what 1T con-
tains, but by what it can do. Eli
ciency-the power OF using the tacui- :
ties and resources OF the mlnuJ is
the test of progress. The teachers s
success is to be measured, not 10y what
he tells his pupils, but by what,
through his instruction AMI impulse
they are enabled to tell him. Such
methods, if less productive of imme-
diate and snowy results, secure a bet
ter training of the mind and heart.
The process of cram. retains little
genuine knowledge, while the
true method renders it acquisitions
| ever at command. Worst of all, cram
has a moral faint, fostering Ostenta-
tion and conceit. Superficial attain
ments are always chaotic. Promising
the substance, they give only the
shell and semblance OF knowledge.
: There may be q rapid repetition of
lessons aud text boUks, with no real
grasp of the subject. But it Is doing
Violence to the sOul-to its innate
love of truth, and growth by the nu-
tIiment OF truth, to feed it thus with
! the mere hu-ks of knowledge rather
than with knowledge itself. Such
cramming is quite as likely to make
, pupils fippant rs fluent. Those who
learn everything and know nothing
are apt to cohfOund flppancy with
smartuess, anu to be more wOrdy than
wise. Cr4m is multiplying Shake
speare's "knave very vOluole," but
: better methods would train our youth
as Isaac Taylor said, "to put hippanl
scoru to the blush" Any method
which initiates pupils with an over
estimate of their attaiuments is harm
full. a prominent lesson of true
teaching is the greatness of our ignO
rance aud the littleness of our knOwl
ledge. The mOdesty of the true
scholar is pIOverbial, while "the pride
of wisdom is the proof of fOlly;" or, a!
another has happily said, "the create
the circle of our knowledge th,
r greater the horizon OF ignorance tina
: bounds it,"
r The proper revolt against parrOtinl
II has lead to the opposite extreme am
? / put memory III the background. Il
G the pre- mature attempt to bring tn
| reflective faculties TO the front, SOM
K have bauished text books and suhstl
tutei object lessons, talks aud lee
lures. Iu Il wise course of study, ther
is u place for each of these, thOugI