The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-12-14
SCHOOL NOTES.
THE BEST SCHOOL,
conduoted by r. 4. Klnnison.

Il
The above is the heading Of an article
in a late number Of the Pittsburg
Advocate, which think worthy place
in this column. 1t is full Of encourage
ment for the hundreds OF teachers In
Ohio who, because their work is not I'M
graded schools in town or city, think
their opportunities for good teaching 80 /
limited as to excuse their thorough pref
paration for better teaching. To ALL
such teachers / commend the careful
reading OF the article below. A comfort
able school room, an energetic and
enthusiastic teacher, with dozen
bright healthy country boys and girls is
opportunity enough for the best school
work in the world. But let the cultured
enthusiastic teacher be lacking, and
there is no real school. Garfield once
said that Mark Hopkins, his Williams
College President, on one end Of log
and young man on the other end would
make college, The teacher after all, !
in any school, is the essential element.
That lacking, all is lacking. But read
the article.
IF | had the choice of where the
earthly schoOl-years Of my child should
be spent, would say without hesitation,
in al ungraded school with good
teacher. A good ungraded school with
good teacher in love with learning
especially If 1t be near a stream, not far
from the woods, and the teacher be on
speaking terms with nature-is an
ideal place for the early years Of school
life. The graded school Of the city is a
necessity Of the situation, and Of course
a very good thing: but in the average
pupil is. usually at disadvantage as
compared with his country cousin under
a good teacher. In the ungraded school
the young pupil has the chance Of hear.
ing the recitatiOns OF the older classes
and the remarks Of the teacher as to
many things quite beyond his class
grade that may awaken curiOusity,
:. arouse interest, stimulate inquiry and
afford knowledge. Let me illustrate:
4 From the advanced class in reading, a
| little fellow hears the sentence: Zone
needs to cherish the splendid ideas Of the
poet and the evangelist" He doesn't
know what 1t means. It is discussed; he
sllslinterested he gots its meaning n
through glass, darkly. Then the
teacher says: Look at that word Cherish
The first part Of it, Cher is a French
word, and means 'dear'-as cher ami,
dear friend; it comes from a Latin
word, carus,' dear Cherish therefore.
means to hold dear. One needs to 'hOld
dear the splendid ideals" etc. The lit
tie fellow feels thrill Of pleasure as hi
sees the light flash which reveals to hin
a new thought.
The class reads; 'We should accumu
g late all kinds of useful knowledge" HI
knows all but one word in the sentence
y and lacking that he knows nothing. HI
listens. The boys have been studying
some Latin. The teacher inquiries
From what does the word accumulate
Gomez lad answers, "The LatiI
words, 'ad,' to- and 'cumulus,' heap
or pile" More light-these words ar
interesting.
Another reads: "Saturate their mind
with wholesome thought, so far as the.
can or will absorb it" What does thi
mean?' asks the teacher. The clas
knows fairly well the meaning Of tn
: sentence, but nobody can give the deri
vatiOn Of the unusual words. They re
fer to the dictionary: Saturate is from
"satm," full Of" make full Of" AM
d "absorb" from "ab," ''from," an
"sOrbeo," ito drink in," as spong
, absOrbs water; and the meaning, "Fil
their minds with wholesome thought 8
far as they can take it in" Nobody ha'
observed that the little fellow was inter
II ested or listening, but from that chanc
recitation he had got what started hin
upon new line Of thought, and di
much toward shaping his career. Fl
knew later in life that that teacher ha
been good to live with, and that school
blessed place for him. In any schoO
k. words are one Of the most interesting
g. subjects that can be talked about ever
9 day, if possible, especially in the spell
ing and reading lessons, by teacher an
pupils. Doctor Holmes says, There |
more poetry in words than in sentences.
And the child that lives SO largely in tn
world Of imagination, is always more 0
less q poet.
We want but little work attempted Il
formal science among the children. TIL
" show Of gain here is very deceptive.
vanishes like light snow from tn
ditch in the spring sunshine. These ar
e. years when the splendid faculty Of tn
imagination is awake. In these year
we want symbolism and parable, fair
Is tale and fable. We want languag
spoken, and read, and written, all tha
e. can be acquired Of our own and Othe
s. languages. We want much that is beE
in literature stored in the memory Il
es present good and for the time to com
as We want old fashioned spelling, an