The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-03-10

except to know HIMSELF everything eN-
cept to know how to live and how to make
himself happy. Finally. when this en-
shaved child, this little tyrant, full Of learn
ing and devoid of sense, enfccblcd alike
in body and mind is cast upon the world,
he then by his pride and by all his vices,
makes us deplore human wretchedness
and perversity. We deceive ourselves.
This is the man and woman we have made.
Nature and its processes make other
products
That this is no conjurcd up statement,
my friends, is evidenced to any one who
has the power to observe and to draw in
ferences from observation. We cannot
shut our eyes to these conditions. We
must meet them; we must in the end con-
troll them Now. I do not wish YOU to
feel that take a pcsSimistic view on the
whole, of our educational systems of our
child study. On the contrary, | see much
to make me believe that we are under
standing children better On the whole,
the world becomes better every hour
which is but another way Of saying that IN
the system of the development Of the child
to the man or woman, we are making
nearer approximation to the one sure and
unalterable standard for progress
NV one rule for successful child devcl-
opment is to interest the child. No ad-
yancement can be made without it. This is
your greatest problem. The study of child
nature, the presentation to its senses of
that which will arouse its faculties and
put them in action, is your work. 1t mat
tiers little with what this is done; all that
is needed is action; every faculty, every
organ needs this for development. Fail
to give it, and atrophy follows. The other
extreme is Just as fatal: over eXertion has
the same result. In this, we all appreciate
the fact that extremes meet. In the child
hood of the human race, as we'll as that o (
a generation, the same plans of develop
ment, where success has been the most
striking, have been practised. The con-
mencement must always be with the con
CTCtt. lit i've Nv CliuCS vi CONSCIOUSNESS
must be our first passage for thought.
Intuition is later day method, and its
fruit ripens as the shadows of life fall to
the East and lengthen. What more graft
flying spectacle can present itself to a true
lover of his kind, than the unfolding pow
ers (mental moral and physicaQ of a child.
See its appreciation of its powers to solve
the mystery of reading and writing. How
delighted it is when for the first time, the
word 'cat', as seen, recalls the picture of
his pet at home! Note that strange light
which gives lustre to its eye, when for
the first time, it appreciates the fact that
it can read a line in a new book, Con-
scious power,-what a potent factor in all
our lives. When liveried in it, how easy
our progress from one triumph to another;
and, without it, what weaklngs in life we
are.
Then, our study with the child is, first
to develop observation, comparison, con-
clusion. Let each operation be distinct,
clear, we'll defined. They need not be
called by these long names, when with
the child. In these processes, so present
them that lively interest will be aroused,
and be sure to end the exercise well this
side of the point of WEAKNESS. Bear in
mind that keen interest is the best tool
with which to fashion the end we all have
in view-a we'll trained mind.
1t was never intended for man or woman
to be mere mechanisms to rehearse dry
facts as the result of memoriter grind
With will power, with consciousness as to
right and wrong, We must associate and
compare what we acquire, and make con-
illusions for ourselves. The dictum of nc
human being can be hedgcd about by 4
divinity which makes an examination OF
it sacrilege. This is the underlying
sooner we commence our embryonic Cit
zen on line of development which leads
to careful examination of men and meas
ure, the nearer they will conform to that
completed product necessary to the per
petuity of that legacy entrusted to oul
keeping.
We hear much of the old education ant
the new The distinction can be summed
up in very few words: In the old cduca
ton, the teacher is concerned principally
in giving facts; having the child in a Ger
tain time to have readily at hand for in
Simultaneous delivery certain facts, whether
| associated or not. The method of acquir
ing these facts, the mental action of the
child, are matters entirely irrelevant tt
the purpose of their employment. As E;
consequence, between child and teacher
an impossible chasm exists-bridged by
no human sympathy-no understanding
of each other; the attitude of teacher and
pupil is cold and unsympathetic and, in thu
heyday of the system, as a rule, was boil
cruel and bar barous.
In the new education, a different ordol
exists: First, the teachers put themselve:
in sympathy with the child. The child:
state, most naturally. in the beginning il
one of passivity. The teacher must b,
the actor. 1t is no longer the problem
how many facts I can teach. but how
| can train the mind of the child to an APP
probation of the methods which lead NJ
| to the recognition of facts. TIE child be
comes a co-laborer with the teacher-eacl
reacting upon the other, knitting the
bonds of sympathy closer and closer to
gether. In one word,-in the old educa
| ton, the teacher was lord and master Ii
the new, she is the guide and friend.
To any one greatly interested in the
| progress of our public education. | woult
| advise a close study Of DR.. j. NJ. Rice's
book on the Public School System of the
United States. Many valuable lesson.
| can there be found as to the result of the
proper methods in child study.
Yes, my fellow laborers, we have a seri
Gus problem before US. Its portent is not
appreciated in the busy whirl of American
| life Never in the history of the world
did proper Child Study, in all of its phases
mean so much as it does to- day. For
| upon this, means the character of the men
| ar d women of the next generation!
Poorly paid as you are, thoroughly I'M
appreciated as is your work. you cannot
escape the responsibility upon you, You
| are training men and women upon whom