Middletown transcript., 1896-11-21
NEW CASTLE INSTITUTES.

If It had been made to order the teacher
could not have had more delightful wee
. for the three County Institutes in The State
i one in Middletown for New Castle, one
Dover for Kent, one in Milford for Suisse,
{ Some of the best Institute talent in u
country has been in the State, going frol
county TO county, all the teachers of th
State thus getting the advantage Of th
same able instruction.
The 97 teachers whose names were give
in the TRANsoRrPT last week, with one o
two exceptions, and several addition
bringing the total attendance to the Ger
tu-y mark, met in the Opera House Of thi
town on Tuesday morning at 10 O'Clock
and were called to order by Supt. Smith
Rev. I. L. Wood invoked the Divine bless.
ing uponi the assemblage and lis work. Rev
F. 81. Moore extended to the teachers 9
most cordial welcome on behalf Of the cit
izens of Middletown to which the superin
tendent made o fitting response. Mr.. Moor'
gave the freedom of The city" TO the guest.
Of the town but quietly suggested that i
would save some embarrassment If too per
sistent inquiry was not made for the town
library. such as every New England vii
lage has. Zone of The great educators in
any community" Many valuable sngges'
| tions were made in the address of welcome
After iece-s of Ten minutes during
tributed 10 the teachers. Supt. JAS. NJ.
Coughiin of Wilkesbarre, Pa. was intro
dueed. Supt. Coughlin spoke upon the
subject 'How to Study" Pupils must un-
desiand thoroughly the English language.
1t is one of The fundamental means of
study, unless the pupil understands the text
he can not gain the thought. He can only
commit. The three g'eat means of study
are: observation, comparison, and analysis
Observation underlies knowledge and veri-
fies 1t. Facts should be taught by compar-
ison. it is the duty of the teacher to make
these comparisons interesting and instruc-
tive. Pupils should be trained in the habit
of analysis. They should not only know
but they should be able to use knowledge.
to outline it for knowledge, which is not
available counts for very little.
In an address upon geography Dr.. A. E.
Winship of Boston. held that a pupil
should be held to know that many of the
things which he learns in very short
time from books are the result of many
years of faithful work. In 814 Persian
ruler obtained approximately the length
of degree of longitude by measuring the
distance upon the plains Of Mesopotamia,
but it was not until 1855 that the F-ench
after years of careful study found the tue
measure and discovered that The earth is
fattened at the poles. 1t was first supposed
that the lth was perfectly round. then the
opinion prevailed that it was somewhat of
an apex at the poles. In speaking of
wheat he said that in 1Co years the wheat
exported has paid the debt of the country;
thet the centre of the wheat and -four in
dustry for many years was Wilmington,
Del; that Baltimore afterward became the
centre because Wilmington was so proud
Of her process Of making -four that she re-
fused to put in new and superior one.
that civilization and culture can be deter
mined. by the quantity and qualify of
wheat grown.
The afternoon session was called to order
at 1.so. DR.. Coughlin spoke upon mis-
takes in Teaching" Education Is to find
out the truth and to give expression to that
truth. We must study the means and
ends Of education. We need teachers to- |
day who have studied out method for
themselves. He said some of the mistakes
in teaching are the neglect Of moral in |
struction. the idea that children must con-
form entirely to system, making up in in
siruction what should be done in prepara- l
ton, correcting slight mistakes with too
much severity confusing, securing order |
with maintaining order. A scholar is
made by the efforts which he put forth not |
by what Others do for him, the teacher
ought to be able to maintain discipline
almost entirely by the eve. To do this
well he should study his personality and
act accordingly.
DR.. Winship gave forcible and eloquent
address upon Educational Leaders. The
celebrated leaders of education are prac-
tically unknown to us because we do not
study them in school as we do other Illus
trious persons. The first of England's two
great educators was Roger Ascham, His
book "The Schole Master" is one of our
classics. Another great educator was Pes
talotzzi, a man who made failure in al
most everything which he did. but who
gave 10 Germany system of education
which made her the ruler of the German
Empire. Leonard and Gertrude" which
he wrote after one of his failures, is
one of the finest education books ever writ
ten. Another educator was Horace Mann,
the one great American educator. one of
the most brilliant lawyers of his age. He
founded The first normal school in America
DIR. Coughlin closed the instruction of the
afternoon with talk upon" Thought know
ing" the point of which was to insist upon
pupils understanding their work and illus
trated by the division Of FIVE. seven, and
eight apples between two children giving
to one child zone more" than TO the other.
His description of the effort of the child to
grasp the pIoble n shows how teachers
should get down, or up, to the Thought
knowing" The speaker made the announce
ment that go divided by 4) plus go divided
by 81 connot be done, though some ofthe
teachers insisted that Brooks teaches it
can. All this would be "Greek" to the
average layman but for the explanation
that the Knowing thought" is to decide
whether the quotient takes the name of
the dividend or divisor.
"Boys and Girls; Nice and Naughty"
were not in evidence on Tuesday evening.
The Middletown Orchestra. the music and
praises of which Middletown audience
never tires. played some fine selections
while the audience was assembling. Supt.
Smith announced much to the regret of
those who had come out to hear Col. Geo.
w. Balm, that owing 10 q wreck beyond
Washington, d. c., the lecturer had been
delayed. Prof. Coughlin had kindly con-