The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1900-09-10

tenn of grading, with classes only four and
half months apart, enables us to make
frequent Establishments, SO that each child
may DO his best work with the least ex-
penditure Of time.
The actual mental growth of a pupil may
not always be determined by the results
OF his work In the regular school studies.
Many find congenial studies outside of
school. One boy may be very much inter-
ested in amateur photography. another in
making an extensive collection of pictures,
old coins, postage stamps, birds eggs,
shells or minerals, while another still may
be mastering the mechanism of steam
engine. During the Spanish-American war
quite a number of lads in our schools
knew more about the Spanish and Ameri-
can navies than the superintendent and
the entire corps of teachers combined 1t
is true, that for the time being their
arithmetic and grammar may have suf-
fered. But who will say that the temper
airy failure in the school branches did
not find ample compensation in the volun-
tary and enthusiastic hard work expended
upon those outside lines of investigation?
Who will say that the mental power thus
acquired may not later render possible
the mastery of the neglected subjects with
less difficulty and in a shorter timer There
is danger that such fads may become too
absorbing, but their pursuit should be
regulated rather than discouraged. In
themselves, they are highly educative;
they involve both intellectual and moral
culture. Interest and enthusiasm make
the work pleasure Only voluntary men
tai work Is truly educative; all else Is
drudgery. In estimates of acquired power,
and even in the promotion of the pupil,
the value of this voluntary outside work
should be considered by the school, and so
far as possible, the bearing of the regular
school topics upon these occupations may
be so presented as to impress upon the
child the intimate relationship and mutual
dependence of all fields of knowledge.
"hehoid the sower went Forth to sow'
Some seeds fell by the wayside, some
fell upon stony places and some fell among
thorns. Three-fourths of the seed sown
failed to bring forth fruit, through no
fault of the seed or Of the sower. The
one-fourth that fell into good ground
brought forth fruit, not equally but some
thirtyfold, some sixtyfold and some an
hundred fold.
The difference in the natural aptitudes of
children Is too little understood. If all the
children of the same class or of the same
family do not advance with equal rapidity,
those most interested are too frequently
disposed to attribute the failure to the
school or to the want of application In the
pupil 1t Is expected that children with
equal opportunity should make equal prog
ress. That this expectation Is SO general
Is a high tribute to the power and infiu-
ence of the school, Often perhaps the fault
may lie with the school. or in the applfca-
ton of the pupil. But equal progress Is I'M
possible. so long as we must recognize a
difference in the nature OF the ground upon
which the seed falls. Children of the same
family differ In physical features, strength.
temperament and rate of physical growth;
why not recognize similar differences in
mind development? In the school 1t is ex-
pected that every seed shall bring forth its
full measure of fruit; II 1t fails, the skill
of the sower is questioned. The quality and
quantity of the fruit depend chiefly upon
the condition of the ground upon which
the seed falls. The sower may scatter the
seed he may plant and water but he can
not give increase.
We must further recognize the fact that
progress is not necessarily uniform or con-
tinuous in the same individual. Mental life,
like the physical, is rhythmic; 1t has its
alterna tons of growth and rest, success
and failure. Failure in one stage does not
imply failure in all subsequent stages One
child while making record for stupid
ity in school. is laying the foundation of
strong physical constitution; his brilliant
classmate, while carrying away the honors
of the school, is laying the foundation of
disease and physical weakness. In the lat
ter stages of growth and in actual hte'
the slow may surpass the brilliant in
achievement. Truly the race is not always
to the swift Some plants require more time
than others to mature and bear fruit; that
which ripens late may be just as good as
that which ripens early, and is likely to
keep better. Experienced teachers have
learned long since that abnormal precocity
in a child is an unpromsing sign. The real
advantages of slow progress and even or
failure, in certain stages of school life, are
seldom appreciated by those who nave
charge of the training of children.
Many parents who are earnestly solicit
tous for the welfare of their children make
a mistake in pushing them forward too
rapidly. The best test is the ability OF the
child to do the assigned work of his grade
for himself, without fret or worry. 1t is
q mistake to do for the child at home the
work he should do at school. If the child
cannot prepare his home tasks by himself
as a rule something is wrong, and the
probability is that he has been advanced
too rapidly. 1t is not unusual to hear pa
rents say: II have to teach all my chill
dren's lessons at night" However good the
motive, this Is most serious mistake.
Such pupils naturally become the most in
attentive and Indifferent in the school, be-
cause they depend upon the home to ex-
plain and do their work. Their school
record is usually the poorest, because they
are the most dependent upon the help of
others. The most successful pupils In any
school those who have none to help
them at home, and who, by close atten-
ton to all the class explanations, have
learned to become seh-reiianr IN preparing
their lessons 1t Is of great Importance
that parents and teachers should recognize
the variability of the time element in the
progress of pupils and the varying rate of
growth during the different stages and
periods of development. No child should
be advanced so rapidly that he cannot do
the assigned work of his class under the
direction of the teacher and with the prop
er encouragement and stimulation of the
home.
The Teachers Ius pirarion
The thousands of children in our schools
represent all classes of society and all
stages of social and moral development.
We do not hope to make scholars of all,
much less perfectly developed men and
women. Our aim is to do the best we can
for each individual. to enable him to real
ize the highest possibility of his heritage,
and to do his duty whatever his station in
life. We believe that In every child there
lies a germ of goodness a principle of i'm
mortal progression, which the agencies