Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-11
NOTES ON. EDUCATION.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO pu.
Pill AND TEACHER.
School Government Must Parallel
Family Government-M Mistake of
Modern Pedagogy One Teachcr's
Plan to Prevent Whispering.

Modern Pedagogy One Teachcr's
Plan to Prevent Whispering.
School Government.
In the Journal of Education, Col. F.
w. Parker is represented as saying:
"a school should be an ideal democ-
racy In the fullest sense of the word;
until our common schools are founded
firmly upon this ideal, our republican
institutions are constantly endangered.
One cannot be governed tyrannnically
until 81 ears Of age, and then become
a self-acung, self-determining member
of the body polite"
1t would, perhaps, be going a little
too far TO say that when Colonel Parker
opens his mouth he puts his foot in it,
but he certainly does say things very
often whose leading recommendation
is sound end not sense. It is evidently
q case where Colonel Parker's preach
and practice or belief cannot be in har-
mony. An ideal democracy is COM
munity made up Of self-governing indi-
viduals who agree to abide by the de-
cision Of Il majority. These individuals
are capable, or should be, of considering
a question of government and deciding
concerning 1t in accordance with cer-
tain fixed principles or established rules
or customs that all have agreed or are
obliged to be guided by. Childhood is
a period of immaturity, a period of
growth ard development in character
and preparation for the responsibilities
of citizenship. We know the imperfec-
tions of maturity. Does Col. Parker or
any one believe for a moment that the
responsibilities of government in a
democracy SO ill-borne by the mature
citizen can or should be placed upon
the child? OF course the idea is absurd.
School government must parallel FAM
lily government In the family the will
of the wise parent must be law and
constitution of the family government
In wisely regulated family there is
n well understood code of rules, a fam
lily etiquette, in short, with which all
must conform, and, i'll order that family
life may run smoothly and happily,
must acquire habit of conforming.
In the very nature of things, school
government must carry out the same
line Of work as the family government.
l. works with the same material for
the same ends. The rules of conduct
II family and school are determined by
the relation (a) Of individual to individ-
ual, (D OF individual to the entire fam
lily or school, and (c) of the family or
school to the individual. So the proper
ly conducted school must and will have
Q wisely arranged order of things and
OF doing. 1t must emanate from the
teacher and must be recognized by all.
A violation of the established system
by any individual should be considered
a wrong, not against the teacher per-
sonally, but against the school as a
whole and its well-being. The individ-
ual must acquire habits of system, of
orderliness, of systematic application,
of regard for the rights of others and
CT the community, in childhood and in
school. And the teacher who does not
realize and grasp his responsibilities
il this particular sins against his pro-
fession aud the children in his care. His
profession might forgive him, the chill
dren never can.
Enthusiastic advocates of individual
Ism occasionally break out in the teach
ers' ranks and attempt to carry on q
school o" the democratic go-as-you-
please system, or lack Of system. Such
work merely develops lawlessness, cul-
tivates habit of acting from impulse,
and disregard for the rights Of 9TH
ers. 1t produces weak characters, not
strong ones. The development of the in.
dividual should not be construed to
mean the development of his selfish
prOpensities.-Nor Journal of
Education.
Mistake of Modern Pedagogy.
One of the serious mistakes of mod
ern pedagogy is the effort to make
learning easy. The mistake rests on
the mistaken belief that knowledge is
education and that the prime work of
the teacher is "to pour in." Devices are
the orde! of the day. Short methods
and easy roads are demanded. Every
thing must be SO simplified that the
child absorbs as a sort of intellectual
sponge rather than masticates, digests
and becomes strong from the assimil-
ated food.
The great value of educating proc
esses is eliminated when the work of
thinking is not done by the child.
While 1t is well thar the work of edu-
cation should be made interesting to
the pupil, in order that he lay hold of it
with some zeal, it is altogether a mis-
take to make it so easy that but little,