The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-24
Richmond, Virginia.

dren. "succeed' '--but too often in the near or farther future they reach their men tai caIvary--or worse, their Golgotha. In all cf our educational institutions but particularly in the primary grades of our public schools we need more psychic aesthetic. artistic and musical cduca- ton.
 Many years ago I met the great Mo | hiIe-Ala hama ethnoiosist. Dr. Knott. He
 who wrote Types of Mankind l be- levc that was the title of his hook. It
 would he we'll if Dr. Enott's utteTances on the subject of education for South l ern children could be made a part of the study of every candidate for the position | of teacher In our public schools. It would he well If some of the educa tionai | ideas and methods of the thinkers and ! teachers of the past could he studied and 1 absorbed by the incoming army of grad l ustes of colleges and of pepagogy that with the pardonable confidence of youth are sweeping in flood before our boards of education
 For what? To he exaa ined upon all sorts of puzzle questions. Many an old and accomplished LL. D. and professor in our universities would he puzzled to l answer those questions correctly. and kain the requisite percentage to eutitle him to compete for place In the com mon grammar or high school grades, or even in a primary department in the pub 1 lie schools.
 l We are SO van. so ignorant as to think ! our public schools are purely modern i'm
 stitutions. We moderns fancy We invent
 cd them. How many of our educa tors | ever heard or read anything about the | Coniacine Guilds and their schools for the | children of the common people. Those | Guild schools fourished from the sev- l enth century to the end of the middle ! ages. Each guild of masons, master 1 architect and artists held a powerful or l ganiZation of workers under it's control.
 Each had its chapel and it's school. The | spiritual. psychic. religious side of it's | pupils was studied and developed along
 with its literary, scientific. artistic and
 technical training Our of the schools of | those guilds they were schools for the
 common people and their children) grew | the revival of the high and fine arts of | European painting, music, architecture | and sculpture
 We prate about our "child study"
 Those old masters knew how to study
 such genius as that of Giotto-he whn
 was but d shepherd boy. It has been l discovered that he was Il student or pu-
 pill in Comacine Guild school. so was 1 Rembrant. There Giottos elementary | "'iN ldlIiiIE lttIPn nm TOT ms
 life work. The guild school studied the
 spark of genius they found in their boy
 and drew 1t forth to astonsh and enlight-
 on the world.
 | Genius knows no hereditary endowment, | no class distinction. Whether in prince
 or pauper in peer or peasant. it must l he discovered. studied and developed | First. in It's elemental, psychic condition
 In the child and afterwards in the
 schools of literature. art and technique. | This. kind of training of education. Is 1 needed for our children of the Sunny
 Sonth; It should begin in the cradle, 1T l the kindergarten and continued later ir l the. fife 'ds. the woodlands. under the hlue
 arch of the sky. From flowers appt
 human face and form. from all things o ! grace and beauty. from the wise words n
 Holy Writ. from tho hest child poems o
 the best poets and prose writers-frou | every source that would make rift II
 tho clouds of grinding adversities ar thu | shadows of sorrow. the student of child
 hood should gather fcod for thought | food for the body and soul of the child l IL is the Sunshine of this kind of teach l ing that our Southern children need.
 Ionefield German. writer in a hacl
 number nf one of our New York ma ga
 yfnes, says: ''Tt was misfortune of m
 rIes sured magnitude for the Unite.
 States that the prevalent type of fire | school founded In the Colcnies was EnS
 fish instead of Continental In Greco
 and even fin pagan Rome. education il
 art was deemed the right of native intel
 ligence without class distinction"
 | If this applies to the public school sys tenn of the North how much more shoul
 1t to that of the South. Who will hel
 us to throw Sunshine like this upon th shadow that falls on the pathway of ou
 sweet children of the Southland? , Who will study the Southern child. h1r
 of Southern parents. under the warn 1 bright Southern sun, Cradled and lappe in an atmosphere and climate to stimu
 late artistic and asthetic feeling an , thought and help him and her to find tn
 Sunshine of that happiness which [
 sure to come to the one who finds hi