Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-09

! OF MS tongue as one educated ,,pdar
the old regime. But he knows how m
inform himself on those facts, just as
an older person does. He knows how
to use libraries, reference books, and
all kinds of sources of information. He
has been trained to observe and to
res son from his observations. Can
you name the principal cities of ST.
IBERIA? No; you do not burden your
mind with such details. But you
know how to inform yourself on the
matter if it is necessary.
Some very intelligent parents criti.
else the new methods because theii
children cannot answer offhand certain
questions on which they were strenu-
ously trained in their youth. They
never stop to find out if their children
do not really see and understand a
good deal more about the world they
are living in than they did at the same
age.
| ITO connect the facts learned in the
classroom with actual things is one OF
the prime methods Of the new educa-
ton. For instance. in our model
school at Evanston. the children have
their own little farm gardens There
| they learn the process of agriculture in
| miniature. Then, when their own
gardens are fairly growing, they are
| taken every spring to farms lying con-
venient to Chicago. There they see
the process of agriculture in actual
operation. They makes butter them
selves in the domestic science classes
They weigh the milk before it is put
into the churn. and after it comes out.
to see what part of it has gone into the
butter. That brings in practical num-
Der work. Then they go to see actual
butter making for commercial pur-
poses. They make pottery. from the
kindergarten to the high school. The
| little fellow sends his balls of clay to
| the kiln to be fired. and uses them for
marbles. The older pupils make vases
and dishes, fired, glazed and decorated
Then they go to pottery works and See
the process of manufacture, and to the
big stores to examine the finest i'm
ported wares. They learn where these
| wares come from, and something about
the historic and artistic interest of the
famous potteries of the Old World.
The history of commerce and manufac-
| ture is full of the most interesting
of a man like Wedgewood, the inventor
Of the ware of that name. for instance.
| with all the ignorant opposition which
he had to encounter. they will honor
him. And why should not some such
men be their heroes. as well as only
soldiers and statesmen?
$50 we cover the whole industrial
world. When the children are working
in wood, they go to furniture factories
and piano factories, and to the Pull
man car works. where they see wood
work in all it's phases. The pupils
working in iron visit the Chicago steel
works. In the Mccormick reaper
works they come in contact with hemp,
used for the millions of tons of bind
ing yarn manufactured. They find out
where hemp comes from. how and by
whom it is cultivated. Then. from the
shipping list of this firm, they see how
that Irvine ties the world together.
so ruch for the industrial side of
geography. For the Photographed
sue, they go out to the bluffs on the
lake shore. They see how the lake has
worn them back. They see how the
rivers nave made ravines. The upper
graues Ioarr to see and understand the
effects Of glacial action. of alluvial
deposits. These children can read 4
landscape as well as a book or a map.
AS they study it they can tell where
giacial or volcanic action has been at
work. They know why a river is
where it is. whv CITY Is: for cities
grow up in response to natural causes.
just as surely as rivers.
When the pupils are old enough to
use books in the fifth grade. l have
taem buy the best physical atlas to be
had: but they follow no textbook. In
the library are all the Biographies and
geographical readers published. and
they consult them all. AS for the par
ticular portion of the earth's surface
studied at any time. that depends on
what is interesting at that time. Just
al present the best maps lrocurable of
the scene If the RuSSo-Japanese war
hang in the cIassroolns, and the pupils
have been following every movement oe
both armies and learning the physio-
graphy AMI settled localities of the re-
gion thoroughly. They have read
everything they could get hold of about
both countries: their people, govern
ment, industries, social life. Children
their education in that way will hardly
find their chief interest in the public
prints in the latest scandal or murder
trial The Panama Canal. every ques-
ton of general interest furnishes a
subject for the geography class in the
same way And if there is no question
of general interest before the public.
they correate with their history. II
they are studying the Colonial history
Of the United States. they take up the
geography Of the country along with its
history. II they are on the French and
Indian war. they take up Canada. II
they have encountered Marco Polo in
history, they look up China.
Geography is the great study through
which children are introduced to the
world they live in and learn to understand
it. Mathematics train the reasoning pow
ers. Language introduces to literature.
History leads to the sociological and pO-
litical life of races. But 1t is through geo
graphy that children come in contact with
those great facts of climate and physiog-
raphy which mould races. determine
their occupations. their character, and so
finally, their history itself 1t can be
made the most enlightening and educa-
tional of all studies. burt not without ex-
curSiOnS prODefly arranged and explai ned