Year: 1868

PUBLICATION by AUTHORITY OF KENT COUNT,
| TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.


| No. s.


We intend to devote but one paper more
to the general discussion of Educational mat
ters after which we will speak of the mannel
Of teaching individual studies, and ye
when we come to consider how much thert
is to be said how much that ought to bt
said; how much the cause is worthy of oul
hest thoughts and how badly it is Otter
treated and how much people need to be
talked TO, and importuned in every way to
awaken in them true comprehension of the
matter; we almost feel like laying down the
pen in despair. Oh that those who are
| truly In earnest In this cause and who see Its
Importance, the world over, had ga thousand
tongues to cry out the words of awakening
and encouragement! We have to recapitu-
late that the scheme Of education we have
laid down, is not necessarily so extensive as
to lead to superfciality. This may be q
fault as well in one study as dozen, and is
wholly dependent upon the mannerin which
the pupil is allowed to carry on the work of
studying. The comprehension of fundamen-
tai principles is the true measure of thor
oughness... principles are few and widely
applicable. Details choke the world with
fulness, while but few of them can be as-
qulred Individually" Hence the necessity
Of the care in the preparation of textbooks
we have advocated in the preceding paper.
"Let more of principles, then, be taught
which point nt-ooneWhere. Put principle
into child's consciousness, and he will in
evitably acquire the comprehending details
easily and orderly, and animated Ivy spirit
of intelligent inquiry, whenever he goes into
Gods beautiful world he will have his eyes
open to see and mental hands to reach out
and take hold of, and classify, and under
stand, and possess"


And how important to keep in mind what
is meant by education. Socrates was an
educator in the true sense of the word since
his first object was TO draW out what was in
the mind of the one with whom he was con-
versing by questioning and analysis. Beech
er, who is always worth hearing, succinctly
sums up the matter in these words, "Ed-
ucation is not simply learning to read and
write. That is the gate that leads to educa-
tion. But education means the develop
ment of all the faculties that God has put in
to man, and the bringing them to the high
"a 80 ,,,A IL. ~
state of cooperation. In the genuine term
education is included the education of the
body-physical education, the education of
the emotions--domestic education; the edu-
cation of the soul-religious education; and
the education of the understanding -intellec-
tual education. The means of this education
are tho family, the church, the school, and
the shop--or rather, work in all its varieties.
These things are not merely incidental.


In the providence of God, in the divine
economy, men are strong-as have said
by that which is inherent in them; and the
means of developing these things are the
family, the church, the school and the great
workshop, These are not harbors of ease,
places Of refuge or joy; they are schools and
schoolmasters." What noble appeal for
culture in its widest sense for that education
that ignores no faculty of the soul, butlabors
for the harmonious development ofthem all.
These ends are not obtained in our ordinary
schooling, in which spelling, arithmetic,
and perhaps little Grammar and statistical
Geography occupy all of the school life of a
child and he leaves school knowing moth
ing of that which is important above all
things-to think and reason for himself. A
large proportion of children leave school
without having their perceptive faculties
sufficiently cultivated to enable them to un.
derstand ordinary English. 1t is fact out
side of simple narrative or didactic writing,
they are completely at a loss, have no con-
cep,ion whatever of an argument. And the
reason is that In this, as in most other things
they are not taught 20 look for themselves +;
| to understand that beneath printed page
there is something far more important than
the words themselves, namely-thoughts.
We have heard teachers, not a few, con-
fess that they themselves could not compre-
hend writings, as low in the scale of pro-
found thought us many of the pieces usual
ly found in our Fourth Readers; if this be
so what can we expect of the pupils? This
is the blind leading the blind, and they never
emerge from the darkness in which both are
wandering. Ifyou would teach child to
dig jewels fron the earth, would you not
| first show him what to look for, then how
to proceed to do its So too teach him to
search for tloughts--dig few up for him,
show him that they are not to be found only
in few favored spots or on the printed
page, but that they are strewn thickly over
the universe, and he will soon learn to find
them for himself. Education must be to
answer its true ends-physical, intellectual,
moral and religious Where either of these
is omitted the defect is precisely equal to the
extent of the omission. The first must teach
the child how TO treat his nature so as to
get the greatest amount of work out of his
body, and the greatest quickness and accu-
racy OF the senses. The second must devel-
op power Of thought, and give him clear
understanding of what is around and above
him. The third must produce as far as pos
sible pure tastes, cheerful tempers, a loving
heart, and tender conscience. "Religious
culture is development of the will This
begins, therefore, as soon as the child is
taught to apply to anything, and if he learns
it early, it will save him many hard knock
in after life, and will enable him to finish


most successfully the work allotted to him.
There are few who will deny that this is the
true object to be gained, though they may
differ widely from each other, as to the way
IL can be reached. CHAs. M. SUPER.


Milford, Del.


| Delaware Public Schools.