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EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT*
Organ of the Georgia Teachers Association-
Organ of the State School Commissioner, G. J, Orr.
WB.W.BOKKELL, Edilor.
A Scientific View of
the N ecessityof Edu
cation.
‘Education means properly to draw forth,
and implies, not so mnch the communication of
knowledge, as the dicipline of the intellect, the
establishment of the principles, the regulation
of the heart’—Webster. In other words, it is
the means by which a proper development of
onr three-fold mental nature, intellectual, sensi
tive and moral, may be effected. In order that
we may perceive most plainly the necessity of
education, it has appeared proper to the aulnor
of this paper to first consider the fundamental
phenomena of the mind.
Two methods have been adopted by investi
gators in their attempts to attain a knowledge
of the truth of this mysterious inner part of man.
One, the method of the metaphysician, consists
in the study of mind exclusive of the body; the
other, that of the materialist,seems to commence
with the body and to end in the body. In the
strife of these two, we have another application
of the old fable of the struggled the two knights
over the shield which they viewed from oppo
site sides.
•Now, the moral of this story as respects our
present enquiry, is that as the entire shield is
really made up of a gold half and a silver halt
which joined each other midway, so the mind
and the brain, notwithstanding those differen
ces in properties which place them in differ
ent philosophical categories, are so intimately
blended in their actions that more valuable in
formation is to be gained by seeking for it at
the points of contact than can be obtain d by
the prosecution of other methods of research.’—
Carpenter. He who looks upon his subject in
the light of modern philosophy, regarding mat
ter as the mere vehicle of torce, can see where
both sides, metaphysical and materialistic are
light, and where both are wrong. He can lay
t e foundations ot his science in the whole con
stitution of man, and build it with materials
furnished by experience of every kind, mental
and bodily, normal and abnormal.
What is the mutual relation between the two
parts of our duul nature; mind and body? The
point of contact of these gold and silver sides
of humanity, is the brain; here let us begin our
investigations.
The brain isoften called the organ of the mind,
but such cannot be the relation between them.
An organ is a mere instrument, a tool for the
accomplishment ot a certain work. Its excel
lences or its defects may effect the ease and per
fection with which the work is executed, but
cannot effect the character of the agent. A skill
ful artisan may do wretched work with wretch
ed tools and yet be skillful all the same. A Raph
ael or a Buonarotti, with rude charcoal for pen
cil and a rough wall for canvas, will produce
no such marvels as those glorious forms which
sprung fipm better furnished easels, have lived
and breathed through the centuries, and yet be
Raphael or Buonarotti still. Far different is the
relation between the mind and the brain. Eve
ry perfection or defect in one is reflected in the
other; if one ia inactive, the other is quiescent;
if one is diseased, the other is disordered; if one
is destroyed, the other (in its^manifestatiuns at
least) is annihilated. Even the slightest chang
es in the physical condition of the brain are im
pressed npon the mind; if too much blood flow
into the cerebral arterhs, confusion of thought
and even unconsciousness at once follows; it
impure blood be supplied to the great nerve oen-
tre, melancholy,histeria, and other morbid men
tal states, announce the result; even jar the pul
py, throbbing mass, and contusion of thought
or insensibility proclaims the dependence ot
the mind. On the other hand, the states of the
mind, particularly emotional ones,effect no less
sensibly the physical condition of the brain. Joy
and hope tend to perpetuate its healthy action,
while fear, grief, anguish and despair equally
tend to produce disease and even, in extreme
cases, suspension of its life forever.
Not only does the condition of the mind de
pend upon that ot the brains but even its char
acter, its aptitudes, and capabilities. In those
races whose progress in civilization is small and
whose intelligence is therefore but little de
veloped, but whose emotional and instinctive
natures preponderate, we find brains which
give a physical evidence of their mental char
acter. The cerebral hemispheres are very small,
while the sensorium cerebellum and medulla
oblongata are large and prominent. The skulls
of the prehistoric men— cave-dwellers, lake-men
and flint-folk,’ whose progress in the arts was
very small, reveal to us that the brains which
once filled their long empty cavities were ex
ceedingly small. Among those races whose de
velopment in knowledge and whose progress in
the arts have reached the perfection of the nine
teenth century, we find brains which in the
grert size of the cerebral hemispheres, the depth
of the convolutions and the comparative small
ness of the sensorium, are so many physical
indices of the preponderance of the intellectual
over the sensitive, of the volitional over the
anton atic principles.
Even among persons of our own Anglo-Saxon
race, the heirs of generation after generation of
intelligence, we find illustrations of this fact.
The intellectual power of each one of us de
pends largely upon tbe size of his brain. The
brains of men ol great intellectual abilities have
always, when examined, been found to be
laige: That of Cuvier, the great naturalist,
weighed 59£ ounces: that of the famous surgeon,
Dupuqtren,” 58 ez. those ol Daniel Webster ancl
Napoleon, an ounce or two less. These intellect
ual giants Lad gigantic brains as compared with
those of ordinary men which weigh from forty
to filty ounces. On the other hand intellectual
pigmies have bet n found to have pigmy brains;
in the case ot an idiot,so low a weight as twenty
ounces having been recorded. Curiously enough,
geniuses, whose influence is ever more upon
the emotions than intelligence of others, whose
lives are moie governed by emotion than reason,
who seldom have any pow er oi comprehending
the ordinary tflairs ol life, and w/Lose example
isiaiel) LeJd up tor imitation, have never been
found to have large brains.
Intellectual pow er depends not only upon the
size ot tLc ceitbial hemispheres, but also upon
tbe extent of the giey neive matter or cortical
layer that invests the white cential mass of the
biain called iLe medn’laiy. Of the immense
amount oi bleed that is supplied to the brain,
nine-tenths uie received by the cortical arteries,
a meie mouicnm being distributed through the
larger mecuilaiy. It re in the cortical layer that
we have to lee.}, for the source ot nerve or brain
power. Bere is tLe abode of tbe intellect and
the will; here reason sits enthroned, and from
this lorum issues those mandate s wLicL give di
rection and control to onr muscular movements
and even to our veTy (bougLts. Comparative
anatomy has shown that the se animals in whom
this layer is ot small extent have no proper will;
their tile is that of automata—is instinctive:
while in mammals the predominance of reason
and will is coexistent with and in prop>oition to
a greater coitical area. The increased area is
produced by tbe dipping ot the cortical in folds
into the mass of the medullary forming what
are known as the convolutions of the brain. In
the lower mammals, as the rabbit, these convo
lutions are wanting—the hemispheres having a
smooth, unbroken surface: in higher orders, as
the horse or the dog, they are strongly marked,
while in man the highest type ot the brain life,
the folds are deep and numerous, giving an
enormous increase of cortical substance.
In different races of men, we find these folds
of different depths, and the layer consequently
of varying extent. In the most degraded races,
the convolutions are shallow, and, as we ascend
the scale of humanity, we find that as they
deepen, intelligence and will power increase.
Even in the same race we find, however, indi
vidual differences, corresponding to varying in
tellectual endowments. Tae brain of an idiot
is almost as smooth as that of a rabbit, while
that of a Cuvier or a Webster would exhibit the
convolutions in almost abnormal development.
Again, perfection of brain development, and
collaterally of mind-power, seems to depend
upon the complexness of structure of the inte
rior white medullary matter ot the. cerebral
hemispheres. This is composed of fibres, ar
ranged in three sets: The first is doable, con
sisting of an ascending series proceeding from
tbe sensory tract upward to the cortical and con
veying the results of sense impressions; and a
descending serits from the cortical to the ter
minals of the motor tract of the spinal chora;
(these were called by Rail the nerves ot the in
ternal senses, since they bring intelligence aud
will into relation with ttie mechanism ot sensa
tion aud of automatic or instinctive motion.
A second set of fibres joins different parts ot tbe
same hemispheres aud in man is numerous and
I peculiarly complex in arrangement: one group
of them is known as the fornix or great com
missure. The third set of fibres, known as the
corpus callosum, connects tbe two hemispheres
and is also, greatly developed in man. Cases,
however, have been known in which it was de
ficient or even wanting in man it is always so
in fishes, reptiles and birds, marsupials aud ro
dents.) It is curious that those persons in
whose brain there rxists this defect have an en
tire want of forethought—they are utterly unable
to apply the teachings of the past to the fore
casting of the future. Comparative anatomy,
combined with carelul study ol habits aud mod
els ot thought and action in other mammals as
well as man has shown that rapidity and readi
ness of mental action depend upon the num
ber and arrangement of these fibres. Persons
of phlegmatic temperaments may have large
brains aud vigorous intellects, but they have a
deficient number of these fibres; while persons
of quick, nervous, sanguine dispositions, pos
sess them in groat number and in complex ar
rangement.
Let us now take a brief resume of what has
been so hastily and imperfectly set before you.
It has been stated that the proper psychological
study is to commence with the points ot contact
of the mind and train: that the relation ot the
brain is not that of tool to artisan ot organ to
intelligence: that during that period ot its exist
ence in which alone we can study the mind (dur
ing life,' there exists a perfect aud remarkable
correlation between it and the brain: that with
brain-power we find associated mind-power;
with brain-deficincies, mind-deficiencies, with
brain-disease, mind-disease; with brain (e. i.,
cerebutn) extinction, mind-extinction, so far as
it is outwardly manifested.
It has been shown that in adults of the same
race who are co-heirs of the same heritage ot
generation atter generation of culture and intel
ligence, there exists wide differences of cerebral
find collaterally of mental development. Let us
now prqceed to examine into the cans 3 of these
differences and see tl we the pedagoguerie of
Georgia, may not fitd new light thrown upon
the necessity aud the utility of our noble calling.
Before doing so, I wish to disclaim with abhor
rence the materialistic doctrine of the material
origin of mind—of the identity of mind and
b aic, and of the consequent immortality of the
soul. All that I do seek to establish is what 1
can safely appeal to your experience to your ob
servation and to your consciousness ior confir
mation. That there is a mysterious correlation
and interdependence between the material and
immaterial parts of our dual existence—soul aud
body, mind aud brain.
At birth, the brains of all healthy children are
alike, with perhaps some slight aud unimportant
modifications. All have the same possibilities
of fature growth and develoj ment. 'Why is it
that in the adult state they are so different?
Why is it that children of the same race, of the
same kindred, of the same parents eveD, have so
often brains and minds so utterly dissimilar?
Born to the same heritage, cast as it were, in
the same mould, how can the developed results
be so entirely diverse? Let us try to answer
this question.
Is the difference of men in mental power due
to heredity ? I answer, ‘No !’ If heredity were
the ruling principle in brain-development and
its co-relative, mind-development, we Bhould
find all children of the same parents possessed
of similar mental characteristics, which is sel
dom the case. We inherit from our parents a
brair, not brains. Tbe influence of heredity
ceases at birth; all that we get from our parents
after that is the result of association. The cere
brum thus inherited, may be abnormal, as a re
sult of disease or bad conduct of our parents,
but if normal it is like the cerebrum of any other
infant of the same race or country.
Let us examine the condition of the cerebrum
and mind of a young intent. The cerebellum
and the sensorium are almost perfect, but the
cerebrum—the abode of intelligence and will is
embryonic, a soft, pulpy mass, with but traces
of determinate form und structure. As a result
the babe's animal functions are all alert and ac
tive, its organs of sense, though it has not learn
ed their use, are perfect. It has no intelligence
its nerve-phenomena are all ot the body. It
sleeps the greater part of tbe time; when hun
gry or cold it wakes and cries; when fed aud
warm it sleeps agair. It sees nothing, for per
ception, the result of experience, is net yet de
veloped, but a light, or bright objects, give it
pleasure, and it will cry if they be removed from
its gsze. As time goeB on, its little experience
and the budding power of perception conjoined
with nascent memory, render it capable of see
ing oljects in our sense of the word. It then
begins to compare, and can distinguish its
mother from father or nurse; ideas begin to
form, crudely at fiist, but gradually cry stalizing
into clear-cut forms. What has been said of
sight is true of hearing. At first it hears noth
ing; a loud noise will not wake it; but it soon
brgins to find pleasure in certain sounds—it as
sociates some with its mother and turns and
crows with delight at the approach of her voice.
So, step by step, the mind-growth goes on and
pari passu ILe cerebrum assumes more and more
its perfect form.
What are the meana by which this growth of
mind and brain are effected ? The answer is ob
vious—by cxereise. The great law of the human
body, that use i dds to tbe power of using, ap
plies to brain-life as well as to muscle-life— to
tbe mind as well, orco-ielatively with, the brain.
As the muscle-cultivator must develop fibre
after fibre by club and dumb bell exercise, so
must the brain-trainer bring forth nerve-centre
after nerve-centre by perceiving, thinking and
willing. In the earliest stage of the process of
mind-development, the process of acquiring
ideas is antomatic. Ideas suggested by any ob
ject ere necessarily the result of Attention, and
tbe attention of Ihe young child is automatic in
th’s sense: it is solely determined by tbe attrac
tiveness of the object; and its diversion Jrom
one object to anoiher depends upon the relative
loiceol the two attractions. We see the force
of this attractiveness of the object in the delight
with which the infant grasps the toy in its little
hands, raises it to its lips, and holding it at vari
ous distances, gazas at it with absorbed atten
tion. Daring tbe early stages of childhood, it
is this attraotic-eness of the object that calls forth
the observing faculties leads, to the formation ot
ideas and promotes the growth of mind and
brain. This whole process is instinctive or au
tomatic, inasmuch as the will has nothing to do
with it. It is for this reason that instructors
have found object-lessons so useful, as well as
because the authority and enthusiasm of the
teacher arouse tbe will to aid the attraction of
the object in fixing the attention to one object
until all that is possible can be learned of its
nature.
As the child grows older it is necessary that
its attention be directed to objects which may
have little or no attraction for it. Here it is that
the work of the teacher is necessary and begins.
We can see the necessity ot this work by
observing tne untaught -even adults. They go
through life, passing without notice hundreds
of objects daily because they have no attractions,
tor tnem;yet when their attention is properly
directed to the same objects, eager curiosity takes
the place of lisllessuess, and bright intelli
gence dawns in stupid eyes. The writer has of
ten noticed this, when, on a geological tramp,
he has found a rare and beautiful fossil, in the
curious eyes of the ignorant mountain guide, in
his eager attention to the story revealed by the
the silent stone, and the intent consequent
search lor more ‘funny rooks.’ The poor un
taught mountaineer’s attention was generally
automatic aud only became voluntary under the
impulse ol another’s will. The wiil-power of
his cerebrum had never been developed in the
direction of his intellectual wants, but solely in
that of his animal necessities.
Herein lies the- necessity of education—not to
store the mind with treasures of knowledge —
not to make animated encyclopte ias—but to de-
vslope the will power of the mind, the cortical
of the cerebrum. To make this will-power so
strong as to overcome the automatic action of
the attention, so firm that no attractiveness of
other objects cau divert its grasp until its end is
accomplished; to replace the automatic life of
the child by tne full-brained life of tbe man; to
add nerve-centre to nerve-centre by judicious
training; to replace mental weakness by mental
strength—such is the glorious, the honorable,
tbe responsible life of the teacher.
It is the subordination of instinct to reason,
of tbe automatic to the volitional, tnat distin
guishes man from lower creatures, and it is the
extent of this subordination that separates the
scholar from the boor, the taught from tbe un
taught. The object of all our labors in the
schoolroom should be, not, as the practice of so
many seems to indicate, the development oi the
memory, but the education .of the will. It is
this power alone that, in spite of the superior
attractiveness of other objects, can fix the atten
tion upon one, can give us what we call concen
tration of thought. This mental habit is tbe
habit of all others that is essential to the man of
action as well as the man of books, to the
throngers of the forum as W6ll as the inmates of
the quiet study, to ,the horny-palmed farmer a3
well as the burner of the midnight oil. It is the
possession of this habit that Las given to tbe
worid a Newton aud a Napoleon, a Watt and a
Shakspeare, a Spurgeon and a Beaconsfield.
The formation ot this habit—the making the
student the fortunate possessor of that powerfal
engine of thought and of action — concentrated at
tention -this is the work of the teacher. Ardu
ous and protracted, too often thankless and ill-
remunerated, it yet brings to him who has with
in him the true spirit of his calling, like virtue,
its own exceeding great reward.
, —
The Public Schools of Texas.
Proceedings of the Georgia
Teacher’s Association.
Third Day. Friday, August 1st.
1878.
The suspension of the public Free Schools of
Texas, which results from a Constitutional pro
vision to the effect that appropriations cannot
be made for a longer period than two years, is
a calamity which seriously effects the educa
tional interests of the State, and calls for more
than a passing notice from every friend of ed
ucation. It is useless to animadvert upon the
cause or canseB which have brought about the
present disaster to our Public School interest,
but the truest philosophy is to deal with the
condition and exigencies of the case, as they ac
tually exist, and their relative and specifio tff ct
upon the school system. It is estimated ibat
the appropriation for the current scholastic
year, whicn can lawfully be used, would not
run the schools more than one month. By an
estimate of the Comptroller of Public Accounts,
the Board of Education say that the available
School revenue for the year endiog August 31st,
1879, will be $900,000, but cannot be applied
till authorized by law, except $300 000, which
the Board is authorized to use. Ihe 10th Leg
islature meets next January, and will doubtless
authorize the use of the available fund immedi
ately. It now rests with the several communi
ties and the teachers to say whether or not they
can afford to carry on their Schools until Jan
uary next, on a credit, or whether they are wil
ling to trust the patriotism of their legislators
in providing for their pay. We know that
school teachers are a hard worked and poorly
paid class, and it is to be regretted that there
exists the necessity for them to wait for their
hard earned wages. There is no more honora
ble calling than the prolessional teacher and we
hope ere long to see the ranks of this grand
army of noble men and women swelled and the
cause of education advanced until every where
all classes may be benefited. Communities and
teachers should face the existing s ate of affairs
squarel-, and give the matter their careful at
tention.*— Goliad (Texas) Guard.
General News.
The citizens of St. Louis have recently been
muoh excited over the election of school direc-
tors.
The retention of the study of German in the
schools, was the issue at stake, the Americans
opposing the Germans, and protesting against
the expense cf such a branch of instruction. ^
alone, the former claims, costs the city $100, UOU
a year.
The graded school in Abbeville has opened
with fine prospects.
Miss Juliette Corson is to conduct a course in
cookery before the Montreal Ladies Educational
Association.
To Teacher* and the Educational Public.
The following books published by Messrsi D.
Appleton & Co., have this day,August 5ffi, 1878,
been adopted by the State Board of Education
of South Carolina. Appleton’s readers, copy
books, Cornell's First Step in Geography,primal
and intermediate geography, Qaackenbos pri
mary and English grammars,Illustrated Lessons
in our Language, First Lessons in Composition,
Composition and Rhetoric.
Hugh S Thompson.
State Supt. Education.
In the schools under charge of the London
Board the Bible is read, Scripture instruction
is given daily in all the schools, and prizes are
given for proficiency in Scripture knowledge.
At a School Board fete given at Crystal Palace
recently, 4,000 Bibles and Testaments were dis
tributed as prizes. There bad been 105 000 vol
untary competitors. It is stated that a great y
improved moral tone prevails id the schools
since the introduction of Scripture instruction.
The association convened at nine o’clock,
President Baker presiding, and the exercises
were opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. A.
Means.
The report of the committee on official organ
was again taken up, and often some discussion,
it was moved by Prof. Ivy W. Duggan that the
whole matter be referred to a committee of five
with full power to act for the association.
Prof. Orr moved to amend by inserting a clause
advising this committee to adopt some secular
paper published in the stat9, as the organ for
the association.
Tne motion was discussed by Supt. Mallon,
Mr. A. A. Murphey and Dr. A Means.
The motion as amended, prevailed, and tbe
president appointed as the Committee on Pub
lication and Official Organ, Messrs. W. B. Bon-
nell, W. F. Slaton, J. H. Chappell, B. Mallon,
G. J. Orr.
Principal T. E. Atkinson offered a resolution
requesting Prof. Orr, the State School Commis
sioner, to adopt as the medinm of his official
decisions and communications the paper selected
by the committee.
The resolution was passed. Prof. Orr then
made some remarks upon the subject of the
resolution which, in his letter to the president,
he had recommended to be passed.
The resolution had already been presented by
the committee on topics, and reoieved the unau-
imo is sanction of the association.
Prof. Orr said, in substance, that the consti
tution of Georgia gives the power of providing
for the higher education of both races. He
would discuss only the provisions in reference
to public elementary instruction. The substance
of this is made obligatory upon the legislature
by the constitution. The people demand a
thorough system of public schools. He de
scribed hs one of the proposed means for rais
ing revenue for this purpose, the Moffet Liquor
Punch, and showed that it was excellently
adapted for the collection of the tax. It would
tend to diminish the amount of liquor con
sumed, and at the same time aid and support
education.
The passage of the dog-law is also authorized
by tbe constitution. It would encourage sheep
raising throghout the state, and the proceeds of
the tax would go to the support of our schools.
He gave an interesting account of his visit to
Washington, in the interest of Georgia aud the
South. There were encouraging prospects of
receiving financial aid from the general govern
ment.
If the proposed bill is enacted by Congress,
it will give Georgia $80,000 annually. This,
with the amount now received, and the amounts,
that may b3 realized from the laws just advocat
ed, would aggregate about one million dollars
per annum. With this sum, the public schools
could be kept up throughout the state for six
months or longer.
In response to a request made by the Secre
tary, Prof. Orr stated that it was a great mistake
to suppose that the public schools would injure
the high schools and colleges. t)n the contrary
the establishment of the system would prove
vastly beneficial to the higher institutions.
At eleven o'clock, a m., Supt B. Mallon read
a paper in which he discussed tbe question
'SHOULD PHIZES BE OFFERED AS INCENTIVES TO
STUDY INI SCHOOL ?’
The leading ideas were as follows: The form
ation of character is an important part of edu
cation. There are lower and higher motives of
action. We should address the higher, not stim
ulate the lower motives. There are some cases
in which the offer of prizes is productive of no
evil, but good; but in most cases it is productive
of jealousies and undue emulations.
The effect of prizes depends much upon the
character of the teacher.
Prof. Chappell thought that the offer of prizes
need not interfere with the purity and nobility
of the motives of pupils.
The association then received the report of
the Committee on Nominations and place and
time of meeting.
The following named members were nomi
nated as offijers for the ensuing year:
President, S. P. Sanford, Macon.
First Vice Pres., Dr. S. G. Hillyer, Forsyth.
Second Vice Pres., W. H. Fleming, Augusta,
Third Vice Pres., S. C. Caldwell, Rome.
Fourth Vice Pres., I. W. Duggan, Sandersville.
Fifth Vice Pres. J. F. Bonnell, Oxford.
Secretary, W. B. Bonnell, Atlanta.
Treasurer, A. B. Niles, Griffin.
The nominations were on motion confirmed;
and the officers declared elected. Rome was
selected as the place for the next meeting, and
the week including the first day of May, 1879,
was chosen as the time.
The Committee on Resolutions reported a
series of complimentary resolutions, which was
duly received and adopted as follows:
1st. Resolved: That we hereby tender the thank
of this association to Prof. C. E. Lambdin and
the authorities of Gordon Institute for the use
of their beautiful hall for the session of this
body.
2nd. Resolved: That we hereby express our
grateful sense of the courtesy and hospitality of
the citizens of Barnesville, so freely manifested
to the members of the association during its
present session.
3rd. Resolved: That the members of this
Association hereby express their high appreci
ation of the handsome musical entertainments
given by Prof. Gut euberger, the pupils of Gor
don Institute and others on Wednesday and
Thursday nights to the members of this body.
4th. Resolved: That to the severai Rail Roads
which have favored the members of this Asso
ciation by passing them over their lines at
reduced rates, we hereby tender our respectful
acknowledgements.
5th. Resolved: That the thanks of the Asso
ciation are due and are hereby tender to Rev Dr.
A. J. Battle for his tasteful and eloquent address
on the subject of Imagination.
After a few remarks by President Baker, the
Association adjourned sine die.
W. B. Bonnell, Secretary.
Our Schools and Colleges.
Gordon Institute, at Barnesville, is one of tbe
leading institutions of the State. It has a full
corps of earnest, enthusiastic, energetic teach
ers, and is furnished with all the improved ap
pliances end facilities for successtul instruction.
ltr pupils stand well wherever they go, and
among the colleges no sohool has a better rec
ord and reputation.
Prof. Woodall, recently of Talbort county, is
now associated with President G. E. Lambdin,
and Prof. G. E. Guettenberger is at the head of
the music department.
The Institute deserves and will command a
fine patronage.
Mrs. G. Y. Browne is still in oharge of the
G eorgia Female College at Madison.
There are 188,000 children in the sohools un
der the charge ot the London Board.
Both Sides of the Question.
The following extracts from high authority
in education, is a striking illustration of the dif
ference of opinion. It is much like the story
of the two knights and the shield. Let the read
er compare the articles critically; they are sub,
mitted without further comment.—[Ed.
Improved Education.
The reign of cram in primary schooling is se
riously threatened, and Boston leads the revolt.
Henceioith, if success attends the effort, the Bos
ton public school teacher will teach, not simply
hear recitations as heretofore, and the pupils
will acquire knowledge after the normal manner
of chiidhood, by being taught, by seeing and
thinking, instead of by memorizing words from
books. Language will be taught by talking les
sons with and about pictures, plants, animals,
every-day life and experience. Oral instruction
will also be given upon form, color, measures,
animals grouped by habits, vegetables minerals,
hygiene and the banian body. The metric sys
tem will be taught from the metric apparatus. No
spe.ling books will be used, the reading books
taking their place. Iu the grammar grade gram
mar, as usually studied, has been abolis 3d
with the spelling book. Instead of parsing and
other technical work, lessons will be given in
composition, in the use of capitals, in letter
writing and in the arrangement of sentences.
Much of the time formerly devoted to geogra
phy will be given to natural philosophy and
physiology. Oral instruction will bean import
ant feature of ail the classes, and in the lowest
two it will predominate. In the lower classes
the subject of oral instruction will be natural
history, plants from May to November, animals
from November to May, trades, occupations,
common phenomena, stories, anecdotes, myth
ology, life in the middle ages, biographical and
historical sketches, and experiments in physics.
This method labors under one serious, we tear
fatal, diffi3ulty —the teachers will have to know
something —Their knowledge will have to be
real ‘live’ knowledge, not dead verbiage, and
they will need to know a good deal about the
natural, social and industrial lile that the chil
dren come in contact with, out of doors and at
home. Such knowledge is not to be gained from
books; and it is hard to turn a book student into
a practical observer. We sincerely hope, how
ever, that the teachers of Boston will succeed in
their difficult task, and demonstrate to the rest
of tbe world the feasibility of this promising
and long-needed reform. — Scientific American.
The Sin Francisco Examiner, under the head
of ‘The Oral Instruction Humbug,’ enters the
following criticism upon it, the points of which
we consider justly taken: .
Without going into an examination of extend
ed review of the system of oral and object teach
ing, there can be one objection urged to it which
of itself is enough to condemn it. This is the
patent fact that no two teachers can or will im
part instruction alike by such a method, whereas
books of the same edition are all exactly alike
and uniform. A teacher of bappy fancy and
ready faculty of description and explanation,
would probably so enlist the attention of the class
as to cause his pupils to learn from him with
greater facility than they could derive instruc
tion fram tbe books. But all teachers are not
in these ways gifted or favored, and a dull,prosy,
uninteresting tutor, with whom his class could
have no sympathy and very little patience, would
he unable to advance them in their studies or
education. .
Then, again, the great difference there is m
the order of intellect in children. Some can
learn best from objects and practical instruc
tion ; otheri from books; add there are many to
whom lessons are like rivets, which have to be
hammered in and clinched by slow and labori
ous process. These must have hooks and time
to iearn, or they will never progress. Oral in
struction or object-teaching to either of the
classes last instanced would be generally ineffi
cacious. Much as book study causes drafts upon
tbe memory and the thinking processes ot the
mind, the instruction which is orally imparted
is still more exhaustive. A pupil with a book
may learn the appointed lesson slowly or quick
ly,as the power ot mind is cast, but in oral teach
ing all are obliged to learn as the teacher recites
and explains or go untaught. It is equivalent
to the exaction of that impossible faculty to
mortals-the similar process of thought and
memory, iu absolute harmony and unison with
the prompter or instructor; the endeavor to com
pel the many to see a thing and to think of it
precisely as the one who explains it sees and
thinks.
Until teachers shall all be cast in the same
mould, mentally and morally, and the children
they shall teach shall be equally endowed with
memory and understanding, the art ol instruc
tion by word of mouth, as soldiers are drilled,
and the teaching by objects, without rule or
standard, ought never to be substituted for the
good old way, which has founded the greatest in
stitutions cf learning that have ever blessed the
realms of thought and intellect, and illuminated
the world of letters with the noblest scholarship
which has in all ages commanded the admira
tion ot the loftiest, and strengthened, refined
sand graced mankind
It is not well to toad a child down with lesson
books, nor to crowd out health to cram in stud
ies, much after the manner thatturkeys are fat
tened for market; but books from which to learn
little by little, and always well, are far better
than oral and object teaching in our publio
schools, or in any other. The abolition of books
involves also the abolition of sound instruction
and soiid learning. Oral instruction is super
ficial instruction. Object-teaching is objectless
tuition. The two impose upon present attention
and sight that which ought to go to the memory
and the understanding. Boston will make her
self an object of contempt in the ill-advised adop
tion of the system. It ought never to be harbored
here.—-V. E. Journal of Education.
The Innocent Schoolmaster.
He doesn’t know very much. He can ask the
questions laid down in his text-book, and can
determine with a good degree of accuracy wheth
er the answers are repeated correctly. He car
ries a pen over his ear, a stick in bis right hand,
and a book in his pocket. He considers it of
muoh more importance to secure obedience and
submission than intellectual discipline. He
frequently says : “Learn your lesson ! If you ask
any questions you shall be punished ! It is not
for you to know the reason why ! Wiser heads
than yours or mine have written these books,
and it is your duty to learn what is written, and
mine to make you do it! Study !!”
He requires absolute, unquestioning lubmis-
sion. Ho neither thinks tor himself, nor per
mits his pupils to do so. He believes his books,
and follows bis nose. He is the sworn enemy
of normal schools, teachers institutes, and uni
versal free education. With new text-books he
lias no patience, and takes no special interest
in new inventions ; in tact, he rain ;r more than
half believes that Edison is a numbug. He
daily puts on the skull-cap of his own ignorance,
and lives in the loggy atmosphere of his favorite
pipe, and one of these days he will wrap the
drapery of his snuff-stained garments about him
and lie down unhonored, unwept, and unre
membered.
The above is no ideal sketch. We have many
such teachers yet lingering in the valleys of our
dark comers. It is only by persistent effort
that they can be driven from tbe teachers’ ranks
iDto the darkness of obscurity.— Barnes Ed.
Monthly. -