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

the wrong. The successful teacher of SPELL
ing must first develop the pupils con-
science. Here lies the great secret of sue
cess, not only in teaching spelling, but
every subject in the curriculum
Aesthetic and Normal Culture
The work of the school in the past has
been too exclusively intellectual. The mind
of the child has been developed from the
point of intellect; the school processes
have been intellectualized and adjusted
specifically for the training of perception
memory, imagination and reason. The
thought processes have been emphasized
We have ignored, on the one hand, the
training of the natural physic activities
OF the child, and on the other the culture
OF the feelings and the emotions. Without
minimizing the Importance of the intellec-
tual element in the training of our chill
dren, we have made an earnest effort dur
Ing the year to develop the aesthetic and
emotional element. Modern research in
psychology confirms the principle that the
best intellectual work requires an emotion
al atmosphere; that intellectual achieve
ments in mathematics, In language or in
science depends upon an inspiring motive,
the emotional attitude and the impelling
interest and enthusiasm of the learner.
High thought Is based upon keen emotion.
The heart more than the intellect moves
the VIII and directs the conduct of life The
training of the intellect alone will never
develop an exalted character; neither Will
the training OF the feeling alone.
The school and the home must train both
the intellect and feeling thought and
emotion, If ideal character is to re-
SUIT character in its fullest sense Is iden-
teal with will. The forty-seventh PROPOSE
ton of Euclid, THE square on the hy-
pothenuse of right-angled triangle equals
the sum of the squares on the other two
SIDES, has Its analogue in mind develop
ment In the psychic triangle the will, or
c he H.
Inc will-the power to achieve and to exc
cute-is a constant resultant of knowledge
and feeling in the individual, in govern
ment and in the race. The best teachers in
our schools are those who succeed In max
ing their pupils feel uneasy In the presence
or inarttstic influences; who develop within
the child spirit of restlessness In the
presence of the inaccurate and the untrue;
an inward dissatisfaction with anything
snort of their best work and an active pro-
test against the wrong In thought and in
action.
Ihis spirit Is not developed by restraint
II Is not negative process 1t cannot be
secured by a series of "don'ts." 1t can be
erected only by the creation of positive
ldeal based upon sound Judgment and
right feeling. This ideal once developed
Will be lived in the school, In the home in
society; 1t will be realized in business. in
the trades and in the PROFESSIONS With
the child In school this spirit reacts upon
the mechanical processes and develops skill
IN arithmetic. language. writing, drawing
and spelling. He knows and feels the dr.
ference between doing thing and
doing 1t well; between saying
thing and saying 1t well; between
passive obedience to authority and con-
scious voltional effort In thought and ac-
ton If this spirit can be developed In the
school and the home, the benefit accruing
to society may be readily imagined Colo
mel Parker of the Chicago Normal Insti-
tute IN recent address speaks follows
of what he terms american Shiftless-
ness I'VE will grant that of the
fundamental weaknesses under which So
ciety suffers is careless, shiftless and in
different work that falls short of It's in
tentions A valid arraignment may be
made In a few words 1t is difficult to
state the worst or comprehend the boun-
daries of shiftlesness. Badly cooked
stomach-destroying. lver-hardening COM
estibles head the list. More human beings
are killed or doomed to lives OF hopeless
misery through bad cooking than by
whiskey. To be sure indigestible food
does 1t work more quietly than alcohol
but its very quietness seems to be Its
grea test fault. There Is no good reason
why the fatal effects of greasy dough-
nut should not be shown in picturd text
books by the side of the evil effects Of
intoxication. The category of bad work
is long onei Build house, employ an
architect, make a contract, employ
superintendent to watch the contractor
watch everything yourself, and then thank
God If the first heavy rain doesn't pene-
trate the roof Put the health of your
family in the hands of a plumber, and
have him defy all the laws OF hygiene and
sanitation-pipes on the cold side of the
house, traps that leak. filling the house
with deadly sewer gas; these are the COM
mon experiences, common not only to the
trades, but the professions. One per cent
of the lawyers do the main business of the
law. The ignorance of the average ply
sician is appalling We search the world
for ministers to establish genuine lEe-
saving stations And as for competent
teachers, 1t behooves US to say little. Am
I wrong in declaring that the world Is
filled with incompetents, with persons who
have never learned to do real genuine
honest work? You may of course point TO
the many exceptions; can I, but they
only prove the rule. Insufficient work is
immoral its main stimulus Is money, re-
ward or fame-generally. money. Genuine
work must have high noble incentive, an
incentive that means putting something
really good into human life. Work for a
low motive is always drudgery. The best
work however difficult, carries with it en-
thusiasm, exhilaration, strong interest. 1t
is truism that an ideal determines every
thing that goes into its realization.
Most of the children in the schools work
or drudge for the lowest motives-per
cents, rewards, promotions degrees. They
are Systematically trained into selfishness
Working for per cents and degrees ,Seans
generally shortcuts to the goal goal
that Is worthless in itself Millions O.
children are struggling for paltry rewards
and millions of men shortening the line
between themselves and the money they
work for. Is one the cause, the other the
effect? If not what relation do they bear
to each other?"
This is strong arraignment and wheth-
believe 1t true IL bphoouac
us to examine how far the methods of the
schools tend to aggravate or to remedy
these conditions. The eliminat ton IF
prizes in our schools and the substitution
of more rational incentives to study have
proven beneficial. This change has re-
suited in the development of better spirit
and in the awakening of higher motives.
To decry money as motive to work in
this age at least, is folly; but when money
getting so absorbs all other interests and
controls the home and society," then it be-
comes a wrong. When a man becomes so
absorbed in his business that he cannot