Part 23 (1/2)

_Fourth_ I have heard several classes in geography bound states and counties with a considerable degree of accuracy, when none of them could point to the north, south, east, or west Indeed, a portion of them were not aware that these terms relate to the four cardinal points of the coraphy is a description of the earth,” but they do not know as they ever _saw_ the earth They have no idea that _they live upon it_ Scholars in grammar frequently think that the only object of the study is to enable them to recite the definitions and rules, and to _parse_ They do not look for any assistance in thinking, speaking, or writing correctly, neither do they expect any aid therefro what they read

Classes in arithmetic not unfrequently think the principal object in pursuing that science is to be able to _do the su to the rule, and perhaps to _prove_ them Propose to them a practical question for solution, and their reply is, ”That isn't in the aritheous may say, ”If you'll tell me what rule it is in, I'll try it!” Practical questions should be added by the teacher, till the class can readily apply the principles of each rule to the ordinary transactions of business in which they are requisite Generally, in grammar, arithmetic, and elsewhere, there is too much inquiry, _comparatively_, after the _how_, and too little after the _why_]

Now if these paragraphs, descriptive of the condition of common schools and the qualifications of teachers at the commencement of the educational reform in New York, are applicable to those states of the Union whose provisions for general education are not equal to what hers then were, nothing can be plainer than that there exists an imperative demand for the establishment of normal schools in every part of the Union Massachusetts has three; but her provisions in this respect are not adequate to her necessities

Union schools, and systees, should possess a nor men and women who have the requisite natural and acquired ability should be employed as assistants in the lower departments, and should sustain essentially the relation of _apprenticed teachers_, to be pro as they shall prove themselves worthy or otherwise In the public schools of the city of New York there are about two hundred teachers of this description These and all the less experienced teachersnormal instruction from a committee of teachers whose instructions are adapted to their wants A similar feature has been adopted in other cities, and inus

In connection with the suggestions I have just introduced from a former report, I wish to say, I know of no refor instruction at once _thorough_ and _practical_ The suggestion in the note on the 428th page, in relation to teaching the alphabet, will adeneral application As fast as principles are learned, they should be applied Practical questions for the exercise of the student should be interspersed with the lessons in all our text-books, when the nature of the subject will adiven by the author, they should be supplied by the teacher

I will illustrate by an exae of a class in natural philosophy There were no questions in the text-book used for the exercise of the student, as here reco upon the hydraulic press, the author said, in relation to the force to be obtained by its use, ”If a pressure of two tons be given to a piston, the diameter of which is only a quarter of an inch, the force transmitted to the other piston, if three feet in diameter, would be upward of forty thousand tons” The teacher inquired of the class, How much upward of forty thousand tons would the pressure be? Not one in a large class was prepared to answer the question So such a question After a few familiar remarks by the teacher, the class was dismissed This question, however, constituted a part of their review lesson The next day found it solved by every member of the class Several of the scholars said to the teacher that they had derived more practical information in relation to natural philosophy from the solution of this one question, than they had previously acquired in studying it several quarters

In treating upon the velocity of falling bodies, such questions as the following ht be asked: Suppose a body in a vacuum falls sixteen feet the first second, how far will it fall the first three seconds? How far will it fall the next three seconds? Howthe ninth second than in the fifth? If this paragraph should be read by any teacher or student of natural philosophy who has not been accustoest that it may be found pleasant and perhaps profitable to pause and solve these questions before reading further

The i that is learned, is no less essential in ious education than in physical or intellectual Indeed, any thing short of this is jeoparding one's dearest interests; for ”to hiood and doeth it not, to him it is sin” The practical educator should bear in ression in his ious nature as well as in his physical and intellectual ”Cease to do evil; learn to do well,” is the Divine cooodness The practice of the latter is essential to the healthful condition of the soul It is important that we seek earnestly to be ”cleansed froress in excellence will at best be slow While ”the way of the wicked is as darkness, and they stumble at they know not what,” it is nevertheless true that ”the path of the just is as the shi+ning light, that shi+nethe do of the nature ofthat ”the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdo authority,” hath said, ”Seek ye first the kingdo less than consumlect of these precepts? Should we not rather cheerfully coe all teachers, and all who receive instruction, to regard this law of progression, so that, while their physical and intellectual natures are being cultivated and developed, they may not remain ”babes” in the practice of race and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?”

We can not expect the student will excel his teacher, if indeed he equals him, in merely intellectual pursuits; much less can we reasonably look for superior attainion If, then, the teacher would secure the hest motives, he must show them that he himself cheerfully and habitually complies, in heart and in life, with all the precepts of the Great Teacher, hoed all authority, and from whom he derives his When the members of a school become convinced that their teacher habitually asks wisdom of the Supreme Educator, whose will he aied to yield obedience to the precepts of Christianity, and, with suitable encouragement, will take upon themselves the easy yoke of Christ[75]

[75] In a forious education elt upon at length The i as they do the only perfect code of ainst their use, were duly considered I wish here simply to add, that their exclusion from our schools would be even more sectarian than their perverted use; for the atheistical plan, which forbids the entrance of the Bible intosectarianism, shuts out Christianity, and establishes the influence of _a single sect_, that would dethrone the Creator, and break up every bond of social order

Even coht, and illustrated by judiciously constructed examples, may be made not only more practical than it has usually been heretofore, but while the student is beco acquainted with the science of numbers, itthe advantages of knowledge and virtue, and the expense and burden to the coreat work of moral culture, as is beautifully illustrated by the following examples, selected from a recent treatise on that subject:

”In the town of Bury, England, with an estimated population of twenty-five thousand, the expenditure for beer and spirits, in the year 1836, was estimated at 54,190 If this was 24 per cent of the entire loss, resulting from the waste of money, ill health, loss of labor, and the other evils attendant upon intoxication, as the average loss from intemperance, for eachthe pound sterling at 480 Ans 43,332”

This one exa young ed in its solution in habits of total abstinence, than a score of lectures on temperance, or as , also,abuses of soevity than a y and moral science: ”It has been estimated that a man, in a properly ventilated rooreater inconvenience than would be occasioned by ten hours' work in a room badly ventilated; and that, where there is proper ventilation, a ood labor on account of uni to this estimate, what is the loss in thirty years to each individual in a badly-ventilated work-shop, valuing the labor at ten cents per hour? Ans 5008” What an astonishi+ng result! Five thousand and eight dollars moneyed loss to each individual who respires i labor at but ten cents an hour

Now suppose this loss occurs only in the case of the eight hundred thousand voters in the United States who are unable to read and write--and it reater number of persons--and _one fourth of the annual loss would be sufficient to maintain an efficient system of common schools in every state of the Union the entire year_

It has soh stations in society, that persons of the second or third order of intellect ht of what has been said, this statement needs but be made to prove its fallacy In order properly to fill the teachers' office, we need ht to a high state of cultivation A well-qualified and faithful school-teacher earns, and of right ought to receive, a salary equal to that paid to the clergyman, or received by the ood school can ordinarily engage with proportionate success in more lucrative pursuits So true is this remark, that scarcely a man can be found that has attained to any considerable eminence as a teacher, who has not been repeatedly solicited, and perhaps strongly _tee in pursuits less laborious and more profitable Many yield to this temptation, and hence much of the best talent has been attracted to the other professions School coenerally secure the services of teachers of any grade of qualifications they desire, upon the si an adequate remuneration

We have said, as is the teacher so will be the school We es, so ordinarily is the teacher Let it be understood that in any townshi+p, county, or state, a high order of teachers is called for, and that an adequate reiven, and the demand will be supplied Well-qualified teachers will be called in from abroad until competent ones can be trained up at home Here, as in other departments of labor, as is the demand, so will be the supply

The best ive character and stability to the vocation of the teacher is to select coe of their schools, and then pay them so liberally that they can have no pecuniary induceenerally done, and teaching will soon be raised, in public estimation, to the rank of a learned profession; and the _fourth learned profession_--the vocation of the practical educator--will be taken up for life by as great a proportion of men and women eminent for talent, cultivation, and moral worth, as either of the other three professions have ever been able to boast

SCHOOLS SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH THE YEAR

Schools should be kept open at least ten fullthe year; in other words, _the entire year_, with the usual quarterly or sean School Report_

It is not enough that good school-houses be provided and well-qualified teachers be eth of tily and oing forward, should be the business of both teachers and scholars If children are habituated to industry, to close application, to hard study, and to good personal, social, andthe period of their attendance upon school, these habits will be favorably felt in after life, in the development of characters whose possessors will be at once respectable and useful e in which they live On the contrary, if children are allowed to attend an indifferent school threethe year, to work three months, to play threethree months in idleness, the influence of this course will be felt, and it will be likely to give character to their future lives

Under such circuood, if any, that children will receive while attending an indifferent school one fourth of the year, will be more than counterbalanced by the evil influences that surround the the half of the year they devote to play and idleness We can not reasonably expect that children brought up under such unfavorable and distracting influences will become even respectableto the generation in which they live

In villages and densely-settled neighborhoods schools should be kept open at least ten fullthe year; in other words, _the entire year_, with the usual quarterly or semi-annual vacations; and, if possible, they should not, under any circuht months And, I e of a school, wherever practicable, fro, the place of the parent But what kind of government and discipline should we expect in a family where a new step-father or step-mother is introduced and invested with parental authority every six e half of the year! Much more may we inquire, what kind of instruction and educational training e school whose wants are no better provided for! A school-teacher should be selected with as great care as the minister of the parish; and when selected, the services of the one should be continued as uninterruptedly and permanently as those of the other Then will be beautifully illustrated this interesting truth: It is easier, cheaper, and pleasanter incohtly to train the rising generation, than it is to reforrown old in sin