The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-01

pi EercePtien anu eerfeiati3h, apsn Ssfiteh
cradle elearnsss, and time will show what
further qualifications and Development are
possible and desirable. But am, il possible,
ore on tie right track In placing sst ' eanteht
before fern, In seeking to enrich the eur
rieulvm By basina the work in SO far As
possible upon the study Of nature and the
of man as recorded In history.
we ma Il mere clearly demonstrated each
year that the werk In reading, writing, Lam
guage EXPRESSION, spelling aud drawing is
better dene when the ehlid's chief effeft ID
| spent In the search for some real truth. which
ne recognizes az valuable, and which, when
io Tbo ne thinks Il worth while to express
Of study. Not only does il secure better
results res, IN the fern studies. not only does II
aoa 70 the ohild'a stock OF real knowledge,
put OF greatest Importance, in my Judgment,
10 the fact that Il supplies the best and
, ,d,.e moral training. The great tfodbie
morally has been that tho reformeru have
thought to secure the result mainly by preach.
ment; churches as well as schools have suf-
Tered and failed oftentimes because of .devo-
tlon 10 form instead of content. Perhaps the
greatest need OF all men is right concep-
ton OF values. not merely an intellectual con-
cepuon OF the difference between higher and
lower, but love for the higher. Most OF
our attempts at moral training, both in tha
church and in the school, have been away
from such a conception. and the result ia
TOO OFTEN found in moral blindness and
hypocrisy; that is. our education ali tended 70
the magnifying of form and the minimizing
OF content. Chfldrens minds have been
maze 10 dwell upon the secondary, the ex-
ternai, to the exclusion of the primary. the
internal and the eternal. Content IL al
ways spiritual form, never. Form gets its
vaiue from that which 1t expresses. If we are
10 develop race of men true to themselves
1t can only be done by habituatine thern r.
a Just conception Of the relative importance
OF form and content. This, our course of
S s,.l aims TO DO. By means of the study of
literature, or history and of nature we en-
deavor to stimulate thought furnish ideals
ana TO enable the child to acquire the
necessary and secondary arts in the only
natural and proper way while either acouir.
ing or expressing worthy thoughts unon wor-
thy themes. ~
LACK OF MATERIAL.
The great obstacle to the proper sadmin-
Isratlon OF the course Of study has been
ene Iack OF suitable material Our schools
are positively starving for books. esnecfsIiy
histories written for children and good III
erature. We need great amount of It and
nave very little. Two years ago the hoard
a a. the chidren to contribute the amount
Vi money which would be spent upon the
Ordinary school readers, and with this q con-
siderable quantity Of good literature was
purchaseo; : but unfortunately this was not
Wear-proof. The board afterward withdrew
TINS permission, and said that they would
Iurnlsh the supplementary reading matter
n ne put they had not the money to do this
10 make matters worse last winter N u1a.
decided by the board that If the cbiIdrar
would contribute the text books then he
longing to them to the schools ali fay+
r nooks should be free: Here. again, was
made manifest the evil of Subsection IN the
city council, for, although the board had
Deen able to save from the teachers fund sew
era era thousand dollars, enough to start free
t tsXL DOCKS very well. indeed and although
they informed the city council If this o5d
asked to have this surplus placed AT their
disposal, the council declined to act giving
no no reason Whatever. SO that during thS lat
s .eI part OF the year we have been literally
making bricks without straw as in viaw1
OF the promises of the school board the
S c bought no books, while the board
because of the failure of the council IN oct
couid not carry out their promise.
This matter must be remedied in soma
way. Either the children must he alIowaS
10 sol purchase books and as many books and
sucn books as the course of study requires or
the city must furnish them. The latter is
unquestionably the cheapest, and the hast
s sou OF the difficulty, and sincerely hope
that the new council will appropriate The
money necessary for the Introduction NJ 'De
FREE TEXT BOOKS.
81. Paul is the only considerable city in the
staIe mat does not furnish the children with
BOOKS, and even the city council of st. Pani
cannot AFFORD to be responsible for this nm
peasant distinction. and 1 believe that fine
COUNCIL VIII supply the funds.
AN OPEN LIST.
In view of this belief desire to urge unon
your honorable body the superiority of an
open list over the restricted and RESTRICTING
method OF adoption. The latter is in the in
terest OF the publishing houses. the former in
the interest of the schools, and 1t is coming
t t,' use IN the larger and better school sys-
TENS OF the country. If the board can go
into open market and buy the best hooks
at the lowest prices at any time, there ia
athD so nc waste, because no books are
fhnu
is less chance for political corruption he
cause single purchase OF books is NOT M
enough consequence to warrant publishers
IN Undertaking to secure political influence
ana there Is never the turmoil and dissatis
raction which Is caused by a change of
ADOPTED books. for in the case of many sub
s9eIs' especially such subjects as history
absolutely Objectionable. Vastly better re-
SUITS can be secured by good teacher If the
cnlturen come with varying points of view
Slavery to text books is most unfortunate
The from page-to-page teacher belongs TO
the past, and with him is gone the necessity
for textbook uniformity.
KINDERGARTENS.
The kindergartens Of this city have con-
tlnueo to exert their eleyating and sweeten-
ing influence in the schools of the city. and
In thousands of homes, and 1 rejoice that
your honorable body have been enabled. in
spite OF financial distress, to maintain this
most essential department Surely if any
class OF children must be neglected, it is not
the little ones. - es
Greatly as 1 admire the kindergarten. and
believing as do that it embodies the spirit
OF all true education, 1 yet believe that it
is time to urge upon kindergartners that
the value of this noble institution is found
not In Its methods or its material but in its
spirit. Like the church and other educational
institutions, even the kindergarten Is in dan,
ger at times OF suffering from devotion to
form. III Froebel were living TODAY he
would doubtless be the first to criticise the
formal work of the Kindergarten, and I be-
lieve that the time has come for all true
friends Of this true school to study closely its
administration IN reference to the need of the
American child of today, and to see If in
some OF its methods it does not need reform-
ing according to pedagogical and psychologist
and wish to ask in this place a few cues
tlons IN order to suggest to kindergartners
lines of study and possible Improvement
is the divided solid as good for the various
purposes for which 1t is used as undivided
solids! Is the representation In sewing and
drawing according to prepared outlines in
accord with the principle of development by
iree self activity? Ought not the children to
be free to represent their own ideas with
crayon, clay and paper? Froebel ennunciat-
ed the great principle of education through
play, which Is the child's natural, mode Of
sen-expressfon. Is there not danger of sub
shutting for this, on the one hand play
without education. and, on the other. piay
SO restricted or guided by the teacher that
the child is no longer free? am aware of
my temerity in approaching this sacred cita-
del, but venture to do 1t because of NV en-
tire devotion to the kindergarten as the best
that we cave in education.
On the subject of mathematics the
report says that the new arithmetics
have proven satisfactory, the union Of
arithmetic, algebra and geometry being
natural and simplifying instruction.
The dimensional and mensurational
study lessons the usual tendency Of
arithmetic to produce sordid charac-
g. E.. L