The Atlanta constitution., 1900-01-01
Hint to School Workers.

Sometime ago The Constitution drew
a parallel between the Germany which
lay PROSTATE upon the field of Leipsic
and the Germany which came out Of
Sedan the arbiter of Europe.
While there are those who will as
scribe this representation to the power
of arms, The Constitution went fur
ther back for the cause and found 1t
in the school teachers. When defeat
ed Germany began to think for the
future, she decided that her escape
from thraldom was to be won through
education. The schoolmaster dis
placed the man of arms and for fifty
years every shop was turned into a
chronological school, every apothecary
into chemists laboratory, every
church the site of literary school, and
expert agents went from farm to farm
fnstructing the tiller of the soil as 20
how he could bring the most out of
his work. The result was that when
Germany again went to war it was
with men multiplied in educational
value.
AS an illustration of the practical
methods by which Germany conducts
her educational system, recent report
of the United States department of ag
riculture gives an insight. Most of the
common schools in the smaller villages
OF Germany have attached TO them a
small garden. This garden is intend
ed primarily for the use of the teacher
of the school. 1t serves his table with
a few fresh vegetables and fruits in
their season and thus indirectly adds
10 T.;
instances this garden is used solely as
q source of income and pleasure to the
teacher. Occasionally, however, some
especially active and wide-awake
teacher sees in the garden a means OF
instruction. Here plants can be
watched in their development from
seed to flower and fruitage; the curled
leaves on a choice plant may snow
where an insect has made its home;
a heavily laden apple tree may sug-
gest the value of pruning; a few pam
sizes or a rose bush rightly placed may
awaken ideas of beauty. And so the
garden becomes field for observation.
The teachers nature study charts are
supplemented with real flowers ana
fruits grown in his own garden ana
with insects, birds, bees and low forms
of life that make their homes in his
own hedgerow or feed upon his chOic-
est plants. Pupils working among
these flowers, pruning trees, or gath
ering berries from vines planted and
titled by themselves. may acquire an
interest in nature and husbandry
which will remain with them through
out their after life. Certainly they
will acquire a practical knowledge OF
the ways in which fruits, flowers, and
garden vegetables are planted and
cared for which will be of value TO
them in their future work as farmers
or the owners Of homes and gardens.
A school of this sort, located at Alf-
ter, a village of some 1000 inhabitants,
in the German Rhine province. between
Bonn and Cologne, is a typical exam
pie. The whole region lying round
about the village is intensiyely farmed
and forms practically one vast garden.
Vegetables alternate with orchards,
with occasional strips of grain or for
age plants. The school is what is
known as a peoples school" This
is the common school of Germany.
Only the fundamental branches are
taught in these schools, and the whole
course is completed in eight years.
To those who want to make educa-
ton in Georgia more practical, TINS
furnishes a good hint. Let us adopt
the Germans method and we will es-
cape from the slough.