The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-02-11
That Boy and That Girl

THE best way to educate m,
child?-that is the problem tina
confronts every conscientious par
ent.
Many parents leave this problem
to the school and the school teach
er. But the wise mothers ant
fathers know that their own par
is important-far more important
The education of every boy ant
girl should begin in the home
. And. when school days arrive, i
should continue in the home. The
home influence is potent, either t
help or to hinder the teachers eff.
| forts.
The problem of education is to
interest the child. If the child is
interested, he will study. If ne
will study, he will learn. But
how is the child to be interested?
Some children take naturally to
some studies. some to others. But
the child rarely takes naturally to
first lessons in reading and spell
ing.
He needs something to arouse
his interest. Educators recognize
this fact and give him object les
sons, wall charts, letters a foot
high. and every other pictorial
stimulus that ingenuity can devise.
But has it ever occurred to you
that it is in the power of every
home to provide an inspiration
and a stimulus for greater than
any that are now at the command
of the school teacher-a stimulus
that will create and sustain the
child's interest, that will turn study
into pleasure, that will make
every child eager to study and
anxious to learn?
To know this is to know the
solution of this greatest of all
problems in child education.
What things naturally interest a
child? The strange and the Won
derful things, always. Who ever
saw a child that was not fasci-
mated with miniature engines and
other mechanical toys? Think,
then, what results are possible if
some similar mechanical wonder
can be introduced into the home
as an agent in education. Wisdom
begins with wonder!
There is such mechanical
stimulus, and its name is the type
writer. All grown persons know
this. They know how the marvel
Gus printing piano" has attracted
their own attention. Many of
them can testify to the absorbing
interest with which they them
selves first thrummed the keys, and
of their eratified curiosity and de-
light in the finished work. Now,
we know, from the study of child
nature, that any sensation of this
kind that grown person feels, a
child must feel with vastly greater
force. Sensations take a far
stronger hold on the little ones, TO
whom every sensation is new.
Those of US who passed the pc
Rod of childhood before the in
vention of the typewriter can tes-
tify to the pleasure we got fro n
our toy printing presses and rub
Der stamps. If we give child
even single type, or if he ticks
one up by chance, how he delights
to use it! How quickly he stamps
it into dough, putty, clay, any
thing that will "show," and how
ready he is to ink it and print with
it on walls, the fly leaves of his
books, and other places where he
should not!
Imagine what an immensely!
greater JOY he feels in getting his
fingers on a machine full of type
He sees the regular, beautiful writ
ing, done in this strange, myster:-
Gus way, and it fascinates him. We
do not have to drive that child g
his lessons any longer, not II his
lessons give him chance at the
And the novelty does not wear
off. His curiosity developes into
genuine, permanent interest. He
asks for something to copy. lie
is at it constantly. 1t is play to
him. and he learns without effort.
He learns To write his own narie. |
the name of his pet dog, the names
Of everything he sees about him. !
And what he writes he can read.
The next step is copying from
books arl papers. Then. g rat
urally as connected speech follows
the first pr1tt!ing words of the in
fart, nc leans tC compose Original |
things. He learns to pu. lis
thoughts on paper in clear, under
st.trdalle language, an art, by Tie |
way, d. many grasp only imp'I-
fC city in lifetime
At eyery step the parent can
help. Any mother or fathe. can
easily guide the child in his work
and thus perform the true func-
tons of a teacher. But even with
out this guidance the results are
1t has been repeatedly demon
5trated that child who knows
about reading, one who is
not even familiar with the names
Of the letters will teach himself
On the typewriter more quickly
than he can be taught with book.
Nor is this all. The typewriter
5 more than the great stimulus;
t Is also the great corrector A