South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-08-30
SHOULD MAKE STUDY OF
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONEJ
sign his own method Of teaching. am
hew out the path which he was 10
follow. Hiss Hamilton followed his
course.
First TO Make Effort.
Before the instruction of Laura
Rridgeman no one had ever set about
10 instruct a deaf dumb and blind
person. DR.. Howe's feat is what !
consider without any Qualihcation the
most marvellous feat in the history of
education. Just what it was that
made Or. Howe, great student,
seek 10 instruct this little girl. whose
soul was isolated as far as the world
was concerned, / do not know. Per
haps II was the challenge to the scien
tine mind that such a thing could be
done. 1 like TO think, however that
that IL was the unSelfsh outgoing Of
one soul to another.
DR.. Howe undertook to bring in
to the darkened consciousness of this
Handicapped and benighted girl a lit
tie sunlight that she might get i'm
touch with the material things of this
world He did more than this He
brought into her soul a realization
OF Christianity and she confessed the
Christ publicly and was admitted To
church. In Or. HOwe's institution by
means of the word pasted in raised
letters on the object which she
touched, he brought a definite idea
of material objects into her con
seriousness.
Teachers could not face more
discouraGing problem than the one
undertaken by Dr. Howe, TO teach
Laura Bridgeman. Fellow teachers.
what message there is in the life Of
DR.. Howe. a message of inspiration
that makes us want TO carry on fur
Their the work of teaching, Of bringing
light into the soul of the child"
Previous to his exploitation of the
work of DIR. Howe with Laura Bridge
man, Or. Van Ormer made a strong
plea for all the teachers to study the
history of education. that the worl.
of the great educators might serve
as an inspiration for the teacher to-
day. He declared that Socrates was
a great educator, past master of the
art OF questioning, and that Aristotle
founded the pedagogical theory of re-
Sulation. He also traced the list
OF EDUCATORS down TO Horace Mann.
whom Or. Van Ormer placed as an
educator in the same class as Or.
Howe, who achieved the greatest
pedagogical accomplishment.
The English language is a com
pick growing organism Such was
the Characterization given it by DR..
w. d. Henderson in his opening ad-
dress Monday morning.
English Simple i'm Form.
The English language is simple in
form, complex because its speaking
people are cnterprising. 1t is more
complex than any language spoken
today with one exception, the Chi
nese. / say that it is simple because
l.
guages. students of old English and
middle English who have traced the
development of the language from
its inception will readily realize the
changes that have been brought
about. old English was as highly
infected as the German or French.
Take the German for instance
There you will find Der Mann 'Das
MadChen,' Die Frau In English it
is the man. the woman, the girl. In
German every word has its case end
ing, English has none. on the other
hand English is made up Of all the
languages Latin was one OF its
prime contributors. Take 2gain the
word bicycle. It's origin is Greek
and Latin. languages that today are
fixed. standing still.
The English is progressing, de-
Veloping, expanding. call it what YOU
will. The dictionaries are almost in
disrupte as soon as they are publish
ed, so unstable is speaking and writ
ing English. The trouble with teach
ers today is that they are trying to
make English formal language,
similar to the dead languages, and
they attempt 10 lay down iron clad
rules for word pronunciation, etc.
Can Find Americans.
Abroad il is easy TO find the
Americans in a hotel. 1 happened TO
be abroad when the war broke out
and in the hotels the Americans
we're easily recognizable. If you
could not see them you could hear
them. | suggest TO YOU teachers that
YOU instruct your children to speak
a little more softly and not use the
continual harsh nasal shrill accent SO
typical of the American woman.
There are three things every Eng
lish teacher should know. The history
Of a language. the nature of Ian
guage, and the growth and develop
ment of a language. ON these last
two points I shall cOnfine my morn
ing talks but in my afternoon lee
lures / shall depart from the topics
designated in the program and talk
on The Nature OF Human Conduct