The herald., 1898-03-29
Or. JORDAN'S SLfCTURFS
EDucATroN AND THE STATE AND
THE SOBER MIND
ADDRESSES BY SPEAKERS
The Afternoon Session Occupied with
Section Work in the Grades.
Program for Today

| This Is the one week OF the scnool year,
when teachers and instructors can gain a
realizing sense of the crowding process
that our educational system means, to
children. The brain that catches all the
ideas shooting through the. air In the next
five days will have to be very alert indeed,
to say nothing of the effort to absorb ana
assimilate them.
Yesterday morning the county teacners
institute opened in the Los Angeles thea-
ter and at the same time similar orsahf-
zation of city teachers inaugurated q three
days session in the high school puiioing'
The last three days of the week the TWO
ORGANIZATIONS will unite with teachers
| from the other counties OF southern Cah-
| fornia In an institute to be held IN the f1rst
| Conversational church. Part or each oay
is given to section work In the course OF
study pursued in the different schooi
grades. These are scattered AROUND IN
various places from the high school to the
Spring street building. Therefore not only
must the pedagogical brain be active put
the feet nimble as well. to keep up with this
embarrassment of riches
| The County Teachers Institute opened
| at 9:3O a. m. in the Los Angeles theater with
! q selection by Lowinsky's orchestra and an
invocation by Rev. B. E. Howard. The
auditorium was filed with bright-faced
teachers from all parts of the county.
THE INSTITUTES OBJECT
County Superintendent s. v. Riley fol-
lowed in brief remarks OF welcome to the
teachers and outlined the object of the In
stitute. which, he said, is to present meth
DDS of instruction and evolve the principles
underlying them. There are born teach
ers who learn rapidly the art and appre-
ciate almost by intuition the principles of
! education, and they are the first to ac-
quaint themselves with all that may be
CLEANED from the experience of others, but
a large body of the profession would fain
wall themselves within the narrow con-
fines of their own experience. 1t takes he
roic effort to become truly educated. and
no way has yet appeared to make heroism
easy. The best and most satisfying re-
ward of the teacher must ever consist in
the influence of betterment exerted and
effected in the lives Of others and In the
consciousness of duty well performed"
EDUCATIONAL MACHINERY
| The next address was delivered by ]. D.
Graham Of Pasadena, president of the
county board of education. Mr.. Graham
outlined the various parts Of our educa-
| tional machinery, and pointed out some
| of the more important duties and respOn-
sibilities in each. There are in the county
| 12S school districts, exclusive of the city,
containing primary or grammer grades,
besides seven high schools. These are
presided over by 375 teachers, who instruct
900 children, at an annual expense Of
nearly 600. The management Is under
the control of the county superintendent,
county board of education, district boards
of trustees and the teacher. The speaker
pointed out the defects or weak places in
each part of the machinery and made
practical and forceful suggestions of how
and where they might be strengthened.
In summing up the speaker continued:
Educational work is preparing the child
for the battle of life. 1t is bringing him
into harmony with his environment, to
which end he must understand not only
himself but his complex surroundings. He
must be trained along the lines Of his
threefold nature-physical, mental and
moral; must be led to know and to obey
the natural, social and moral laws which
must direct and circumscribe his actions.
In whatever way the child Is taught. he
should be taught to think; he should be
able to see the relations existing between
group of facts, and from these draw
conclusions. Language teaches him how
best to express his thoughts and literature
furnishes him with analyses of our emo
tional life. Unfortunately, the narrow
ness of sectarianism has withdrawn relig-
ious teaching from the schools, so that the
curriculum can make no provision for spir-
itual development. Surely, some funda-
mental truths common to all sects could
be agreed upon and taught in connection
with the Bible There is danger that our
spiritual natures shall become smaller and
feebler as their powers are unused'or unde-
veloped."
OBSERVATION
Professor Pierce of the normal school
was the next speaker, taking,for his sub
ject: Observation and Its Importance in
Mental Training
There are two kinds of observation, first
by the sense perception and observa-
tion of facts Sensation alone Is purely
passive feeling in which there is no
thought of the external world. Sensation
alone is common to the lower animals. A
childs first notions are all individual. Even
when he learns to call names they
apply to particular things. The child's
brain, much more than that Of the adults,
is in just the right condition to- be i'm
pressed through the senses. 1t Is an un-
known world he is eager to explore. An
early dip into the study of nature will
serve to saturate the whole soul with love
for it so strong as to insure the prosecu-
ton of the subjects for life. At a, time in
his life when his mind Is most open to its
influences the child comes into the hands
of the teacher. Many of us teachers dfe
apt to judge of the child from the adul;
rather than from the childish standpoint.
In many cases he is put at his books me early
all of the time after he enters school or
hears explanation from the teachers both
of which may not cause a single image to
arise in the mind of the little learner. WHat
he needs is the direction Of work tn At will
aid him in the requirement Of clear and
correct individual notions.
The course of study. then, for the first
two or three years in school shot,id be
things, not words. He should during this
impressionable age be getting an the
of the world possible instead OF
having all the avenues of Information al
most entirely closed from six yesys on.
80 far % his work i& concerned" -