Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-08-08

child Is to be associated and concern.
cd throughout his life. He In 10 be.
come an active, useful part Of our com.
munity. He Is to enter upon bust.
pess career In our midst by which
he is to make living. He is to do his
part in making the laws to protect the
rights of our citizens. He Is TO be,
come factor in the social, moral, and
religious movements Of the city. His
recreation and enjoyments are to grow
out Of the beauties which our nature
and art spread before him.
"Is It not clear, then, that the school
should be organized and conducted SO
as to give the child the greatest pos.
slble power over the things about him
1.-THE great purpose of the school is
to arrange the different phases of the
environment of the child into what
are commonly called branches o!
study, and from set purpose brins
them into life.
II do not wish to seem to deal with
misty, visionary nothingness in this
discussion, and little thought vii
convince you that the statements
made above are most matter-of fact
The foundation Of most mistakes anu
failures In teaching is the failure OF
teachers and superintendent really
to know that the so-called branches
of study are but phases of the life
about them, put into convenient forn
to be made subjects of study in the
schools.
"By this idea, arithmetic, instead OF
being dry textbook, so many inches
long and wide and containing SO many
pages of problems and rules, becomes
a part of the world of the learner
The numerical operations are but q
continuation of those operations by
which he counted his toys before he
was of school age; while the applica.
tion of those operations to business
practice become phases Of the indus.
trial and commercial life of the com
l., ,oI. I,
Geography, instead of being d
dreary waste of words, without life
or meaning, opens up field as ex'
tensive as the globe over which til
child, by means of his imagining pow.
er, projects his own experiences.
Language becomes an exercise in
which tine child gives expression to
some real thought of his own which
he takes pleasure in expressing
1T is not the purpose of this report
to show what a detailed course OF
study shall be, OF what the methods
of teaching shall be, to cause both
to harmonic with the ideas already
expressed. Such attempt has been
Systematically and persistently made,
both by outline and discussion, in the
teachers meetings held this year.
The work done in the several grades
preparatory to the adoption Of a
course of study, and leading up to
definite uniform work in the grades,
has been in harmony with the ideas
just suggested.
"The choice Of subject matter for
instruction in the schools is of funda,
mental Importance. But of equal i'm.
portance to the welfare of the taught
Is the clear conception by those in
authority of the ends sought through
the use of this subject matter Course
OF study and the methods to be pur,
sued in attaining those ends.
1.-THE old idea of education was, that
il consists entirely of knowledge. The
educated man was he who had at
tongues end cyclopedic fund of
facts. BY that idea it was not nec-
essary that the facts be classified and
that they be accompanied by mental
power; the facts themselves, piled
away in the mental storehouse, no
matter how valueless and inert they
might be, were an education.
''In those days. teachers e"en, in
speaking of the attainments of their
pupils. gauged them by the number
of pages, subjects or books studied,
and by the number Of FACTS they could
produce on call.
"An earnest effort has been made
during the last year, to give force to
the other, more modern, idea that
education is more than q certain mini
mum number of unrelated facts; that
1t is more than mere knowledge; that
it is power as well as knowledge. All
the teachers in the city feel, in Il
measure at least, that education means
power. That the test of a teachers
work with certain class, during a