Mower County transcript., 1901-04-03
Additional Notes on the Recent Meet
ing Of the South Central Minne'
sofa Educational Association
In This City.

High school from such courses as BEST
fit them for actual life. The great
need of the present in the High schools
OF our country is practical training 10
use of mind and hand. Such training
as fits boys and girls TO enter In
broad sense upon the duties of actusta
life and to appreciate the dignity and
worthiness of that labor which char
acterized the lives of their ancestors.
Principal Emms. Of Faribault High
school in his discussion Of the, subject
strongly recommended the merging
of preparatory and high school work
into six years course and the omis-
sion of much from the present courses
in gra mmar and arithmetic.
Mr.. Emms also recommended the
addition of "Constructional Geome-
try to the present course in prepara-
tory mathematics.
The discussion that followed strongly
opposed these theories OF Mr. Emms,
favoring the present separation Of
preparatory grades and high school
and emphasizing the necessity Of such
work as he would have omitted.
AT THE SCIENCE ROUND TABLE.
Miss Beach, Of Faribault presidipg.
There were present representatives
from Faribault, Northfeld, Roches-
ter, Albert Lea, Kenyon, Waseca,
.Owatonna and AUSTIN ".
The first topic conceroed the order
in which science studtss shoufd be
followed 10 =she: high sseglheos s~aa
opened by Mr.. Hatton, :of Faribanlt
and then discussed generally by those
present. The consensus Ut opinion
seemed to be that, Physical geogra-
ply should be taught In order by Bit l.
ogy, Chemistry and Physics.
The second topic was discussion |
OF the purpose ofscience teaching. 1t
was opened by Mr.. Martin, Of Austin.
During the discussion which followed
many interesting and valuable ,sug-
gestlons we're brought out. One i'm
portant purpose of science teaching
was shown to be the correction Of the
many erroneous beliefs held by nearly
all children, concerning natural oc-
C lrreuces. Cultivation of careful and
logical habits Of Thought was also
shown to be an important factor in
the teaching of science.
IN THE LATIN ROUND TABLE.
Mr.. George, of Northtield, read a
paper on the First Years Work in
Latin, lin which he stated that the
Latin pupil of to-day was conspicu-
ously inferior to the one of twenty
years ago, both in his voca cabulary and
his mastery of infections. He agreed
that if the infections we're not thor
oughly learned the first year they
never would be. hence the necessity
Of determining the cause of this fail
ure. 1t was,a fundamental psychol-
ogical mistake to teach the different
principles in fragments; 1t might be
more Attractive; but the results were
uOU 81 uO0lA q OAOs ~ "Oulu UV OOCV w
take up the work in the order in
which it occurred in the Latin gram
mar, finishing the infections before
taking up any but the most simple
rules Of syntax, such as the case Of
the subject and object, the agree
ment of adiectives and relative pro:
nouns, etc. Z,
In the discussion that followed
strong plea was made by Miss Adair,
Of Owatonna for placing the Latin
grlmmar in the hands of the pupil!
from the day the stady was entered
upon.
High School Inspector Geo. B. Al
ton emphasized the same point, also
the need of placing some easy and
attractive reading matter in the hands
OF the pupils. -,
Miss Beard, of Faribault gave an
Interesting talk in the second years.
work. which may be briefly summar-.
lied as follows: Caesar has long been!
the universally accepted work for: the
second year in this country, and, ow-:
ing to the matricnlation requirements
in most of our universities, as.well as
to the conservatism of the teachers.
it will be dif1cult to. make 4 change.
This is the only country where Cesar
is used for. the second yesr's work,
and better results ore ohtained iu3