The times., 1899-04-24
Learning Made Ensy.


The Boston Herald" is moved to dis
course at some length on the military
ideals which are now brought before the
eyes of the small boy, with all this fight
ing going on in Cuba, in the Philippines,
and on the high seas. 1t points out the in
fuence which deeds of bravery inevitably
have upon the childish imagination, and
remarks that there is no sort of use in try
ing TO throw cold water on the small boys
enthusiasm Then-and this is truly
flight of imagination-it points out to the
schoolmaster the advisability of present
ing the multiplication table and the Eng
lish grammar to the boy as worthy OBJ
jects on which to exercise his martial
spirit.
With all respect to the erudite Boston
Herald 1t is safe to say that the writer
of that article has forgotten the days when
he was a small boy, and that he has TO
youngsters of his own on whom to test his
theories. A. multiplication table is not a
bronco and spelling book is not a war
ship. and the small boys imagination,
though elastic, refuses to lend itself to
any such transmogrifcation. The boy will
continue 10 play soldier. but he will do it
in the street with drum and flag and files
of smaller boys whom he can coerce into
the position of privates; he will not amuse
himself with columns of figures, or study
with intense interest the geographical fea-
lures OF Pennsylvania and Ohio, though he
may be eager to know all about the Phil
ippines. Our grandfathers remarked that
there was no royal road 10 learning, and
their proverb has never been disproyed.
Every man and woman has to learn sooner
or later the necessity OF putting hard work
and steady thought on an uninteresting
job. and no kindergarten or summer school
can do away with that necessity. There is
no way TO cultivate the Imagination so az
to make play out of work and invest hard
facts with halo of fairyland. No baby
ever learned TO walk without a certain
| number OF bumps and bruises; and no man
ever won success without sundry hours of
doubt and despair.
The thing which educators should seek
10 do. however, is to dispense as much as
possible with unnecessary labor. and tn
prevent the arbitrary system which Grams
the child's brain with irrelevant facts
which are almost Immediately forgotten.
| That Is the particular curse OF our pubIic
schools just now. The child should be
taught 10 use every rule which he learns
as fast as he learns it; he should not be
! allowed 10 finish a study and then drop
1t entirely. for year or two, SO that he
will forget all that he ever learned He
should be taught grammar in such a way
that he will not have all the rules for cor
rect speech at his tongues end, and break
half OF them in his daily conversation. He
should not be studying algebra and geom-
erty while still liable to make gross errors
in arithmetic. He should not be taught
long lists OF geographical names and i'm
portant productions so that his overbur-
| dened memory refuses to retain ideas of
real value. No new method of teaching
will do away with the necessity for some
hard work; but 1t can and should do away
with the waste OF energy which comes
from hard work in the wrong place.
1t would be far better that children
should learn only The three RS" and learn
them thoroughly. than that they should
take high school course in the way that
receive in the public schools an education
which will enable him TO write busi-
ness letter grammaticalIy. IN proper form,
| in good, clear hand, without misspeiling