Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-10-23
LAM
GUAGE COURSE.
Continued From Page Twelve.)

JdSSlmllHJeu II. III WHO'LL IL HAS. " SV.i.~
extent been born again, according to ms
individual spiritual constitution and eX-
Iperiences. The personalities. 50 to speak
of the printed poem, must be vocaiiE
realized" Having added now the Samut
of tones and possible variations of the
human voice, our symbols are more
nearly adequate for perfect expression
| for whereas the printed page may sym
bolize thought. it requires the vibrations
of the human voice to suggest feeling and
spiritual life. To make the range of SYM
bolsm complete, it remains to add ges-
ture representative of Will and activity.
For with men as with gods, the thought
| ideal the word and the act of creating or
making form unity. These considcra-
| lions furnish sufficient reason for max
II ing the bulk of the language work oral
| 1t can never be highly cultural unless 1t
| is oral.
Because language and literature thus
minister so effectually to true soul cul-
| ture and development. they have been
asserted to be the central subject in tie
| curriculum. Says DR.. J. G. Schurman:
1.-The pre-eminence of literature as ed'l-
cative material in due to the fact that,
coming as poetry especially does, from Tie
intellectual and emotional depths of crea-
tive genius, it awakens nourishes ana
calls into activity the corresponding po-
tencies of those who are touched by its
influence 1t is foolish, however, to
argue that any subject is central in the
curriculum. The curriculum has no cen
trail subject except the child. Each child
may have subject which Is central Tor
him or her. The principal study for a
born artist is drawing. probably. For
Mozart it was doubtless music. In any
case. the principal subject Of the curr-
culum is the one through which the in
dividual finds his true self. expresses
himself and determines the relations
which exist between the universe and
himself or finds God as it is phrased:
1t is perhaps unnecessary to add that
only by concentration on his principal
subject. whatever 1t may be, can one at
tain his highest social efficiency. Those
who demand central prominence for Ian
guage would no doubt express themselves
more clearly if they averred that human
thought, feeling and activity (all of which
language attempts to eXpress) are OF
NOSE interest to us. and figure most IN
study of mankind is man" So far as
the mere mechanics OF language are con-
cerned, one might as well study the tele-
graph code, or shorthand Mere language
no more feeds the mind than prounonclng
the names of delicate dishes feeds hun.
CRY man. The small educative value of
mere language is most evident in spelling.
Another fallacy which has led some to
supposition that basal units of interpre-
tation. i. e., the appreciative basis, can
be built up, communicated, by language
alone. But the king of Siam could not
to support his elephants He had never
seen it do so. Pupils who have never
been outside of Southern New Jersey cam
not conceive of hill much larger than
say that the study of philosophy is typi-
fled by blind man in a dark room,
hunting for black cat that isn't there.
is because they have not yet master
the basic concepts of metaphysics, have
no experience" as the relgionists say.
Language alone is truly sounding brass
and tinklng symbol. Units of llnowl-
edge necessary for the Interpretation OF
ttah Jpl
language as through experience. not so
much by faith as by sight Neither does
language furnish the principle of organl-
cation for the other branches of study,
first of these comes from psychology
mainly, the second from ethics.
There is in this connection, however. a
fact which has been duly emphasized by
since it touches all subjects and furnishes
a means of communication amongst all
people, is pre-eminently a social study.
One may lock himself in with his favo-
gathered together. there is the social
in the midst of them. ut
nay 5st Therefore be c9 nc, says
of all literature is that com
mon humanity underlies our individual
personalities. This. again. means that
the Language Of the scnoolroom shall be
l.
beginning should the timid little folks be
wrought into one social group by CO.
operative oral effort. Let the tower of
Babel be built. if necessary, with all it's
confusion of tongues. for each will speak
with greater power in the end. The Ian
guage lesson may be made the means of
correlating, in a social way, all other
fna He says here is IS ali r the eT d
ference in the world between having
to say and having to say some
thing. The child who has a variety of
materials and facts wants to talk about
them, and his language becomes more
refined and full. because it is controlled
and informed by realities. Reading and
writing, as we'll as the oral use of Ian
guage, may be taught on this basis. 1t
growth of the child'S social desire to re-
count his experiences. and get in return
the experiences of others, directed always
through contact with the facts and forces
which determine the truth commune
cated.'
Now, if we can accept this. and I think
we can. what more unsocial thing can be
thought of than a process of composition
writing, whereby the child, in lonely ST
the necessary information. meanwhile
wrought up. by the impending necessity
of writing something, to such a pitch of
nervousness that his knowledge evap-
crates about as soon as the ink dries.
lie writes alone. The teacher corrects
the exercise alone. the chlld, frequently
hesitating to disclose his errors. seeks
solitude once more to count the blue
marks or perhaps, having now lost all
interest in the thing which was repulsive
from the outset, gets his revenge by
throwing the production in the waste bas-
ket and leaving it alone forever. Here
are two errors: the material is wrong:
the method is wrong.
We have seen that language ministers
to all SUBJECTS then all subjects should
minister to it in return. 1t furnishes
them a multiplicity of forms for express
sion. They should furnish it with content
words. composition subjects. should en-
brace material already available in his
tory, nature study manual training and
other subjects. The method throughout
should be predomnantly oral. Even the
written work should be done. much of it
most of it in the lower grades-on the
and corrections made rapidly
by the teacher where all can see and be
benefited thereby. Sometimes the child
should read his production from the
board. and he should always feel that he
may be asked to read his paper before the
class. In this way the nightly bundle of
papers may be eliminated. An audience
should be furnished in his own grade or
another before which the child can make
a practical application of all he has mas
tered in the art of language. There
should also be assignments of different
kinds of work in the same class. that the
pupils may feel they have something new
n nj 10 n{n-