The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-25
THE END OF EDUCATION
Continued from Tenth Page,)

came from, and to give scope to the
historic imagination, are the periods
most profitable for the elementary
schools English history is too much
like American to give the best results
BY proper correlation of history with
English and geography, ample time fol
both American and ancient history can
be found without overcrowding the cur
ricuum. The great problem is to find
the teacher to teach it. Other things
you can 4each after fashion piece
meal. Bus to teach history well one
must have the whole subject in the
mind as an organic unity, with the
minor points properly subordinated to
the main principles, and the whole held
together and presented with that dell
cate sense of proportion which after
all Is the chief distinction in any line
of scholarship between the master and
the novice. Without special training no
one but a genius can teach history
well; and geniuses are almost as rare
among teachers as among poets or
painters. History will never be taught
Alright as long as we think of 1T as
chiefly giving out few pages of text
book and hearing them recited; and re-
gard anybody who has eyesight and
hearing Is competent to teach 1t. HIS
tory must be taught and taught well in
elementary schools, if we are to attain
the end of education. For no one can
either get the best out of the world, or
give his best to it, who does not know
the great deeds of great men, and at
what a cost of patience and sacrifice
inc tu his
critics have been bought for us by the
men who have gone before.
Fifth Natural history. Physics and
chemistry are not well adapted to ele-
mentary schools; except in so far as the
most elementary conceptions and the
most popular applications can be intro
duced incidentally. They involve a
power of abstraction and analysis
which the young child does not possess.
The mind of the child proceeds from
whole to part; rather than from part to
whole. Plants and animals therefore
present better subjects for study than
chemical elements or physical forces
Science in the elementary school is
primarily a training in accurate and in
telligent observation, with reasoning
based directly on the facts observed
The study should be directed toward
the plant or animal without the inter-
vention of a book. The children should
study the whole and it's functions be-
fore taking up the structure of parts.
As we now understand that function
plant or animal works as a whole, and
the part each organ plays in the life of
the whole. Botany is much better for
,ics fha hp
is simpler; and the total e-process
can be presented in the pea or bean.
The growth of the seed, the dependence
ON light, water and air. the work of the
roots, the opening of the buds, the UNI
folding of the leaves; their form and
arrangement; the reproductive func-
ton of flowers; the ripening of fruit,
and it's protection of seed; the dessen-
nation of seeds, are all processes which
young children can see and follow and
express in line, sketch or description.
To do this accurately is a great disci-
pline In truthfulness. For all people I
whose study has been confined exclu |
sively to books tend to become uncon-
scious liars. Indeed it is hard to see
how people whose training has been
exclusively literary, metaphysical and
theological can keep from lying if they |
try. For they have never been taught t
to discern the difference between things
as they would like to have them, and /
things as they are. Science trains the
mind in that fundamental truthful |
ness Which
"Shall draw the thing as he sees it, for I
the God of things as they are"
Just word about physiology, scien-
tific physiology or scientific temperance /
in the elementary schools,
Now the professors of science complain I
that this instruction is not scientific
Into that controversy | will not VEN
ture. But I will venture to say that the .
to base hygienic instruction to
young children on elaborate anatomi-
cal, chemical, physiological knowledge
is utterly unphysiological 1t is offer
ing reasons for the desired action
which to the child's mind are practical
y no reasons at ALL but simply mass
Of technical jargon. The mind of the
child is not analytical or abstract. 1t
makes little or no connection between
the phenomena of morbid physiology
and technical chemistry, and it's plans
Of future conduct Hygiene should be
taught to the children of the elementary
schools, but it should be confined to the
of prudence and common
.ense concerning wholesome food, pure
drinking water, personal cleanliness,
proper carriage abundance of fresh air,
'egular exercise, sufficient Sleep proper
protection against expo
sure; the danger of sitting with wet
eet and damp clothing; and abstinence
rom narcotics during the period of
growth, and from excessive use of slim
llants always; and the general undesir-
.bleness of drugs and medicines unless
pecifically prescribed by competent
physician. These instructions should
e based on the obvious injuries to the
ody as whole, to life and health and
Isefulness and happiness and character, /
which follow real or pseudo science. s
20 see things as they are; and to recog- .
ize and obey the laws that govern
heir own physical life, is essential to {
ither getting the best there is for us in
he world, or giving our best to the {
World. This again may be so correlated !
18th work in English and drawing, that |
need not seriously encroach upon the |
me hitherto devoted to other studies t
Sixth, and finally. art; that is chiefly Z
lusic and drawing. To know the t
-orld as nature made and left it is not a