The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-01-22

90 from school TO school to illustrate
improved methods which may have
been found to be successful. Theory
must be supplemented by practice. The
schools deteriorate, the children suffer,
while inexperienced teachers are &C
curing the necessary selEdiscipline
and practical knowledge 50 essential
to success. l teaching is to be dig
nifed as profession, the same careful
preparation that is required in other
professions, should be required also Of
those who labor in the school room.
Although there is uniformity in our
although the same schedule
of studies is supposed to be pursued,
the results attained are very dispro-
portionate. The successful candidates
in competitive examinations in my
county have come almost exclusively
for many years from two or three
schools. This should not be the case
| sometimes think that to sit as a
silent witness in the school room of a
successful teacher for few days would
have helpful and wholesome effect
upon anyone just starting out in the
profession. Some persons naturally
make good teachers. They are born
so. Others never will make success
ful teachers. 1t is not in them. And
yet with me young person with apti-
tude for teaching is to he preferred to
the opinionated stickler for obsolete
ideas and inharmonious methods.
With our modem methods Of in
struction teachers must have not only
the qualifications to which reference
has been made, but they must be SYM
pathetic with the young minds placed
under their care. Unfortunately, so
many people in the world are devoid
of real sympathy, and little children
long so for it. The text book is only
suggestive-it is for all minds-and If
teache can estimate the particular
difficulties of pupils and supply the
deficiencies of the book by awakening
sympathetic chords they are nearing
the artistic point of excellence that
should mark the professional.
Would we not be wise TO pay more
attention to the development of the
imagination in young children? |
sometimes think they are allowed to
study arithmetic too soon. The earlier
years of school life should be devoted
almost entirely to reading, to the study
of history and geography, and thus,
incidentally, to the cultivation OF bab-
its of observation, to the development
of the Imagination, to the awakening
of a taste for literature and thereby to
accurate and comprehensive knowledge
of. English. The habit of acquiring
superficial knowledge is very danger
Gus and this we too often promote by
c,owding the child too early in it's
school life with useless studies. True
mental discipline comes only from
gradually progressing as the mind un:
folds and grows. Studies that appeal
to the imagination can be pursued
much sooner than those which tend to
the development of the reasoning pow
ers. A child must acquire knowledge
in small doses, and. above all things,
it should be given accurate informa-
ton. One fact thoroughly learned is
better than imperfect knowledge of
twenty.
Our educational system has reached
plane from which it can never recede.
The people are demanding in reality
more than the taxpayers can we'll
afford, but there can be no retrogres-
sion. We should aim to make our
work thorough rather than compre-
hensive. Lot us not attempt too
much. The excellency of our system
will be impaired unless We check the
tendency to introduce new branches of
study. In our ambition to make the
curriculum of our schools more CON-
plete, | fear we may overreach our
selves. Leave something to he learn
ed in the home-something to be learn.
ed by experience. Don't seek to be
monopollsts. | detest monopoly in
every form. The child's mind is linn
tied in its capacity. 1t can be taught,
if you will, certain facts about agri-
culture-a new fad-but this will be
at the sacrifice of something else.
You may teach school children the
proper rotation of crops, but beware
lest they leave school ignorant of the
important events in the history OF
their own Stat! You may load their
minds with dry technical terms in
anatomy and immaterial facts of phys
Illogical science, and have them leave
eohncl ha rea6ars n6 worse snpllerS