The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-05-10

as is now going on Of education i'll
Vermont is the necessity laid both up
ON the expert and the Iavman to 90
back and answer these questions, and if
one can form a single conception of
what the elementary school is for and
of what the high school is for. he can
90 far toward making education efici-
ent, practical, and fruitful.
What is the elementary school for!
The real purpose of the elementary
school is to take the child approximate .
ly six years Of age and in the next
seven or eight years teach him the fun
damental processes Of our civilization. f
so far as these processes can be learned .
by the school methods. This means
that the essential purpose OF the ele- /.
mentary school is to develop the mind
and spirit of the child, to enable him +
to blossom out mentally and spiritually /.
as a shrub blossoms when planted in .
fruitful ground. To teach the child to
think for himself, to find his way
amongst new problems, to train his
ability to deal with probIem-this Is
the function of the elementary school
as it is also the function of the sec
ondarv school for children of an older
growth.
If this is a right view of the elemen-
tary and secondary school. it is per
fectly clear that in order that these
schools may become fruitful places for
developing the minds and spirits of
children. there must be teachers who
have quick minds. who have alert
spirits, who are able to inspire the ac-
tive child and to arouse the duh child.
The question of whether the school is
succeeding or not comes back more OF
I ten to the question of the teacher than
to the question of the courses of study.
For a child : mind and spirit may be
( quickened by the right kind of teach
ing in almost any subject, Just as his
body may be strengthened by exercise
in an infinite variety of ways. 1t does
not so much matter what the bov is
taught in the elementary school or in
the high school, outside a few fuuda-
mental things such as reading, an ele-
mentarv knowledge of numbers, an ele-
mantary knowledge Of the great Irera-
ture of the world; it does not so much
matter what he learns as it does
whether he really gets walked up.
whether his mind exercises itself to
the point where it begins TO know its
own powers and to use those powers
to get the right answer to n problem.
This. therefore, is the real reason for
the existence of both the elementary
school and the secondary school. They
are general training places for the
p minds and spirit of youth, places which
I are successful and fruitful not so much
) from what they teach as from the
, method by which things are taught:
the boy Is constantly learning to eXer
= else his mind on subjects which III
themselves may not be of much prac
teal use to him, but by methods which
he viii use through his whole life
- time
The school Is therefore the training
- place for the child's mind. II he doe.
? not learn to use his mind here. tn,
e chance that he will ever learn to us,
5 1t effectively is small, AMI it does no
y so much matter what particular prob
4 lens he exercises his mind upon as tn
r. method by which the problems are at
: tackled and solved.
: When one has got this far. however
in the school problem, he is at one
confronted with the question, shal
= children be taught to exercise thei
q minds entirely ON things unconnecte
+ with their daily lives? Has the schoC
O no function which relates itself direct
= " TO the home life of the child an
e the possible occupation which he is t
= follow. This is the most serious prol
le lem of modern education, and it is on
3 of the very important questions unde
If investigation and consideration by tn
- commission.
P No one can doubt that the elemei
j. tary school and the high school shoul
have in their teaching some vital rel;
N tion to the lives of the children wh
n are taught Rural schools should III
If quesionably touch the life of the ruri
= scholar The city school should no lei
Is, do the same thing. The great prol
C. lem is so to arrange and co-ordinat
If these studies that one may obtain IL
: Notwithstanding
- mental development and ability and Il
- touch with practical matters withol
VI sacrificing true methods of teaching
rs a desire for practical instruction. TT
rs primary purpose of the elemental
ar school and the secondary school mu
If not be sacrificed for trade school
. which are more particularly suppl
he mentary thereto. There are certa
ar forms of instruction which have bet
1t shown by experience to have high y;
90 ues as agencies for training Il
u study of the mother tongue, Of math
"a matics, of science, stands in this cat
~ CORY. The question IS how to ada
~ these studies so that they will st
= serve to the full their function of trai
at ing the mind, while touching at {
int same time the immediate necessity
& the boy or the girl, and this is t
problem of the teacher; so that, aft
81 all. even when one gets clearly befo
- his own mind that the reason why '
nd have elementary schools and seconda
on schools is to be found in their usef1
=. ness in training the minds of chlldrt
T. I: the question as to how successful tn
TT are to be comes back again to t
Il, oualitv of the teacher who directs ca
~ school. No amount of introduction
I'll so-called practical studies, no extrel
4 devotion, on the other hand, to
;3* classics can develop children 5 min
- under an iIl-trained teacher who wor
as in the commercial spirit. The teach