St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-20

ing out into the boundless prairies. whose
SOIL was deposited by the glaciers.
Iney learn how the great Mississippi VAL
icy icy with IT'S broad adjacent plains was
cage OF the physical geography of This mart
Oh the world This leads both to the history
Gnu poiitleal geography. A taste has been
created Tor investigation and a love for liter
ature, while also all this rich content has
seassu as basis for numberless lessons In
ie ! baga Writing @nrlagoi and language.
nave purposely omitted mentioning matb-
enatics in this connection becansa IN NV
JuusLlent thls branch is not so readily cor
related with others. Certain problems of dis
lance ana travel and longitude are supeasted
by the other topics, but such work whHs
valuable. would be merely incidental and
could not serve as sufficient material for
mathematical study. though even here other
correlatfons are possible between elementary
geometry and manual training.
| offer this illustration hesitatngly. for fear
that some may say it is open to the crti-
cism Of emphasizing artificial relations IL
any mind SO conceiyes it, / misunder-
stood. The relations that l would emphasize
are mostly those OF cause and effect. though
not altogether. The aim is to produce unity
OF idea in the minds of the children. Each
cnll1 should have single vivid picture, in
Guiding objects from all those coordinate
branches. which would be worth infinitely
more than any number of isolated facts. even
though they included all of history and all
OF geography.
Now as to the correlating principle for the
coordinate branches, it must be evident that
| do not believe In the concentration OF the
course of study about any one branch.
No one branch of human learning is clear
ly enough defined. or essential enough in
itself. to be the center of a course of study
for the child. No one is so much more in
timately related to the child than all Others
that it can determine for them their arrange
ment and the selection of topics from them.
The only centralizing relation in the educa-
ton Of a child, in reference to his destiny.
and hence the first principle of coordination,
as TO its breadth. is that indicated in the
committee of fifteen's" report. namely,
the relation of the child to his material and
spiritual environment.
There are many things concerning correla-
ton about which there is still uncertainty.
but as to what We can do in the Immediate
future, 1 feel reasonably sure upon these
points:
First-We must insist that the only corre-
lation to be considered consists OF the recog-
milton of the natural and spiritual relations
already existing in the world.
Second-That these relations exist. If at all.
in the human mind. and hence must become
subjective In the teacher then, in so far as
possible, objective in the course OF study,
then again. subjective in the child.
Third-That the relations to be considered
in the course Of study must include both
subordination and coordination: a SubOrdi-
nation OF form to content and coordination
OF the essential departments of thought.
Fourth-That the only center for a CORE
lated course of study is the child; no subject
or group of subjects being sufficient.
STUDY THE CHILD.
The child, whose rights have so long been
ignored. whose nature has been so blindly
misunderstood. whose soul has been so
dwarfed and manned in the vain effort to
accommodate him to a ready-made course OF
study, and bind him down with chains OF
logic to make him fit into the form OF
cast iron frame, miscalled psychology. Yes.
fellow teachers the child must be our first
study; and when all the branches of human
learning with which he can be brought into
touch, all the activities to which he may pe
stimulated are properly correlated with the
demands of his nature we will find that they
are correlated with one another, and the
miracle will have been wrought.