The Saint Paul globe., 1898-11-20


must enter, and mix and change and adapt.
Let us be more explicit. The hrst and OBJ
Yious duty of the teacher is to bring the
child into acquaintance with certain facts: He
must recognize symbols that stand for ideas.
He must learn to read intelligently, pleas
antly, carefully and in such a way that he
will seek for what is best and strongest in
print for the remainder of his life. He must
not only acquire and recognize new ideas.
clearly forcibly, if possible, beautifully. He
must know how to calculate, or in other
words, must understand something of math
ematics. Geography and history deserve
careful attention, and the school work in
these must be logically arranged and most
thoroughly accomplished. Let us carefully
repeat that a child should be taught, that
he knows how to carry on his work in read
ing TO best advantage; that he can orally and
in writing express himself with accuracy and
that he knows enough of the science of num-
bers 10 conduct business affairs. Boys and
girls Scing from our schools so prepared
could enter into the business of life without
less. We should hear no inquiry By business
men, such as, What is being taught in our
public schools?" or Why is it that pupils
coming from them are so poorly prepared to
take care CT themseives?"
So much for information work, which every
parent has q right to insist upon, and with
which we cannot dispense. And now in re-
sDect to that WI ich cannot be too highly mag
Gifed. the moral nature, the fi3re Of which
character is formed, the influences that de-
in life, his ambitions, his aspirations his
contrivings. what does the teacher under
take? Here
THERE ARE DANGERS
that must give us some concern. | referred
so fully to some of them in my last tax
that l shall rot repeat them now Another
danger lies in vague shadowy ideals that are
wayerIng and poorly defined, or that reach
out beyond the fixed stars, so impossible of
realization are they. In this, as in the other
phase of work, we should be practical. What
have we? boy already defined, accepted
. m hR HRfin hal hos
by tie great teachers of t6e wcrld. 1t is a
plat.tuGe to say that we must bring him into
right relations with his surroundings but it
is true nevertheless And we must not only
bring him into those relations cur he must
be so instructed that he will fully recog-
ntze and understand his position, and so DIS
Cphned that he will accomplish his mission
in liec.
In this connection. let NE say that the
teacher must regard the child, not mankind.
as the unit; must look primarily 10 the well
fare of the indiy idUal rather than to the
welfare of the race, and must hold that cAca
individual is entitled to- and may attain to
the highest good that the most optimistic
believer in Monism predicts for the race
WIN what Qualities then of mind and heart
does, the child come TO the school? Is he
cruel? No. All my experience has shown
me that the child responds readily 10 all
claims of kindly treatment and considera-
ton, sand so susceptible is his nature that in
a man whose childhood has known tender ca
resses there is a chord OF memory that can
be touched to gentle issues. Ii is not we'll
mistakes that iniiict pain upon animal life.
The force of the example of the elders might
easily be the cause Of the evil.
Are they fond OF parades and Of fire and
OF drum-heating and Of shouting and of noise
generally? Perhaps so. but any ordinary po-
litical campaign will
FURNISH AN EXPLANATION
that should save US a long ard wearisome
journey into harbaric life. Have they isno-
Bile fear? No. They will go straigh. forward
to be trusted. They shrink from the distort.
ed. the unnatural. the unusual, but this Is
not fear the adult understands II. WEI
they steal?- They have no idea Of the rights
OF property any more than they have of the
food value Of what they sat until they are
that the instiEc. OF theft or the intent is
not there. You may feel that | am sim
ply asserting. making empty statements with
out proof, as the critics say but the proof
is abundant and | commend the study OF 1t
TO those who doubt these statements. l
cannot do more than suggest today; | win
not abuse your patience beyond reasonable
limits. But lastly, On this point, do children
naturally lie? Some of our eminent scientists
say that they do. l have known children
who told lies. l believe that teachers. pa
rents and friends can make them lie, ana
sometimes do SO, but so far as my experiences
goes the amount OF falsehood as between
the adults the one hand. and the CHI,
dren On the ether, is largely against the
through great many years and from an
acquaintance more or less intimate with
many thousands Of children; experience
drawn from association with ehildre.
for whom / worked and whom loved with
{ all my heart. l declare most d-iiosrately that
of those brought before me charged with
otfenses more CT less grave, 80 per cent OF
them have told me the truth. The child
nature is truthful, and the Child heart is
true. | have but to appeal to you to look
over in your mind the children whose com
ing you daily expect Whose cheerful happy
presence you enjoy whose coed morning you
daily hear, whose little attentions 50 please
and rest YOU are they given TO sGlsehood to
petty lying? / know your answer. Why this
doctrine, repelant as It is, has, in the minds
of some theorists, gone so far that following
the homeopathic motto, sinlilia similfbus
curantur they would correct the lying tend
ency by giving the children
DIET OF FALsEHoOD
Let us hope that, like the physician, they
will administer the diet in quantities in
fnitely small We do not call the iIl-assort-
ed medley that the child gathers from the
| poorly understood speech Of his elders, the
| half-remembered dreams that come 70 him
/ in sleep, the fragmentary shadows of a fan
| tastic Imagination. Hes, because they arr
makes them so.
/ therefore insist that the child should be
| taken Just as he is and that his instruction
| and discipline should conform to his actual
experience. That by lessons properly pre-
sented he should receive from his schooling
| into his character, nature. life. whatever you
may call It, true principles principles that
| ennobIe, and that draw from the Individual
| all that is best most useful in his being
| You cannot teach the child principles as
| such. but the imagination leading him to
l SEQ and 10 study the duties ans relations