_The Philosophy of Teaching._
THE TEACHER,
THE PUPIL, THE SCHOOL.
BY
NATHANIEL SANDS.
_NEW YORK_:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1869.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
_THE TEACHER, THE PUPIL, THE SCHOOL._
_TEACHER AND PUPIL._
Of the various callings to which the division of labor has caused man
specially to devote himself, there is none to be compared for nobility or
usefulness with that of the true teacher. Yet neither teachers nor people
at present realize this truth.
Among the very few lessons of value which might be derived from so-called
"classical" studies, is that of the proper estimate in which the true
teacher should be held; for among the Greeks no calling or occupation was
more honored. Yet with a strange perversity, albeit for centuries the
precious time of youth has been wasted, and the minds and morals of the
young perverted by "classical" studies, this one lesson has been
disregarded.
What duty can be more responsible, what vocation more holy, than that of
training the young in habits of industry, truthfulness, economy, and
sobriety; of giving to them that knowledge and skill without which their
lives would become a burden to themselves and to society? Yet, while the
merchant seeks to exercise the greatest caution in selecting the persons
to whom he intrusts his merchandise, and yields respect to him who
faithfully performs his commercial engagements; he makes but scant inquiry
as to the character or qualifications of the MIND-BUILDER upon whose
skill, judgment, and trustworthiness the future of his children will
greatly depend.
The position assigned by our social rules to the teacher accords, not with
the nobility of his functions, but with the insufficient appreciation
entertained of them by the people, and is accompanied by a corresponding
inadequate remuneration. And what is the result? Except a few
single-hearted, noble men and women, by whom the profession of the teacher
is illustrated and adorned; except a few self-sacrificing heroes and
heroines whose love of children and of mankind reconciles them to an
humble lot and ill-requited labors, the class of school-teachers
throughout the whole civilized world barely reaches the level of that
mediocrity which in all other callings suffices to obtain not merely a
comfortable maintenance in the present, but a provision against sickness
and for old age.
What aspiring father, what Cornelia among mothers, select for their
children the profession of a teacher as a field in which the talents and
just ambition of such children may find scope? Nor can we hope for any
improvement until a juster appreciation of the nobility of the teacher's
vocation, and a more generous remuneration of his labors shall generally
prevail.
It is to the desire to aid somewhat in bringing about a juster
appreciation in the minds alike of teachers and of people of the utility
and nobleness of the teacher's labors and vocation that these pages owe
their origin.
When we consider the nature of the Being over whose future the teacher is
to exercise so great an influence, whose mind he is to store with
knowledge, and whom he is to train in the practice of such conduct as
shall lead to his happiness and well-being, we are lost in amazement at
the extent of the knowledge and perfection of the moral attributes which
should have been acquired by the teacher. It is his duty to make his
pupils acquainted with that nature of which they form a part, by which
they are surrounded, and which is "rubbing against them at every step in
life." But he can not teach that of which he himself is ignorant. Every
science then may in turn become necessary or desirable to be employed as
an instructive agent, every art may be made accessory to illustrate some
item of knowledge or to elucidate some moral teaching.
Man is his subject, and with the nature of that subject and of his
surroundings he must be acquainted, that the object to be attained and the
means for its attainment may be known to him.
What is man? What are his powers, what is his destiny, and for what
purpose and for what object was he created? Let us enter the laboratory of
the chemist and commence our labors. Let us take down the crucible and
begin the analysis, and endeavor to solve this important problem. In
studying the great Cosmos we perceive each being seeking its happiness
according to the instincts implanted in him by the Creator, and only in
man we see his happiness made dependent on the extent to which he
contributes to the happiness of others. What, so far as we can see, would
this earth be without any inhabitants? What great purpose in the economy
of nature could it serve? A palace without a king, a house without an
occupant, a lonely and tenantless world, while we now see it framed in all
its beauty for the enjoyment of happiness.
The Being upon whom the art and science of the teacher is to be exercised
is one to whom food, clothing, fuel, and shelter are needful; possessed of
organs of digestion, whose functions should be made familiar to their
possessor; of breathing organs, to whose healthful exercise pure air is
essential; a being full of life and animation, locomotive--desirous of
moving from place to place; an emotional being, susceptible to emotions of
joy and sorrow, love and hate, hope and fear, reverence and contempt, and
whose emotions should be so directed that their exercise should be
productive of happiness to others. He is also an intellectual being,
provided with senses by which to receive impressions and acquire a
knowledge of external things; with organs of comparison and of reason, by
which to render available for future use the impressions received through
the senses in the past. Lastly: he is also a social being, to whom
perpetual solitude would be intolerable; sympathizing in the pains and
pleasures of others, needing their protection, sympathy and co-operation
for his own comfort, and desirous of conferring protection upon and of
co-operating with them. But, further, he is a being who desires to be
loved and esteemed, and finds the greatest charm of existence in the love
and esteem he receives; to be loved and esteemed and cared for, he must
love, esteem and care for others, and be generally amiable and useful.
Such is the Being, susceptible of pain and pleasure, of sorrow and joy,
whom the MIND-BUILDER is to train up so that, as far as possible, the
former may be averted and the latter secured.
The teacher, then, must train him in habits of industry and skill, that
work may be pleasant and easy to him, and held in honorable esteem; for
without work, skillfully performed, neither food, clothing, fuel nor
shelter can be obtained in sufficient quantity to avoid poverty and
suffering. Knowledge also must be acquired by the laborer, in order that
the work which is to be skillfully performed may be performed with that
attention to the conditions of mechanical, chemical, electrical, and vital
agencies necessary to render labor productive. A knowledge of the
conditions of mechanics, of chemistry, of electricity, and of vital
phenomena should be imparted by the teacher; and to impart this knowledge,
he must first possess it.
How sublime, then, are the qualifications, natural and acquired, which the
true teacher should possess! How deep should be our reverence for him who,
by his skill and knowledge, is capable, and by his moral qualities
willing, to perform duties so onerous and so difficult. What station in
life can be regarded as more exalted; whose utility can be compared with
that of him who proves himself faithful to the duties he assumes, when he
takes upon himself the office of a teacher of youth?
The question which is ever present to the mind of the true teacher is:
What can I do to insure the happiness of these beings confided to my
charge, whose minds it is given to me to fashion, not according to my
will, but according as my skill and judgment shall, more or less, enable
me to adapt my teachings to their natures? What shall I seek to engrave
upon the clear tablets of their young and tender minds, in order that
their future lot may be a joyous one? Let me illustrate (he will say) my
profession. I will raise it high as the most honored among men, and for my
monument I will say: "Look around; see the good works of those whom I have
taught and trained; they are my memorials!"
Such may, such will become the hope and aspiration common to teachers in
that good day to come, when their labors shall be honored as they deserve;
when parents, in all the different ranks into which society falls, shall
vie with each other in the respect and honor tendered to the teacher,
whose true place in society is at least not beneath that of the Judge.
The teachers to be developed by such a state of society will, as their
first step, seek to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of the work they
propose to accomplish, and will then seek to adopt the most judicious
means to reach the end proposed. They will adapt their methods of teaching
to the nature of the object to be taught and to the order in which the
faculties of the human mind naturally unfold themselves, for true
education is the natural unfolding of the intellectual germ. In order to
obtain the knowledge necessary of the object to be taught, the true
teacher turns to nature as his guide, for the voice of nature is the voice
of God, and in reading her statutes we read that grand volume in which He
has left an impress of Himself. The science of nature is nothing more
than the ability to read and interpret correctly the lessons taught. There
was a period when mankind knew very little of the planet upon which they
lived and moved and had their being; _there was_ a time when they knew
almost nothing; and there _will_ come a time when they will know almost
every thing that can be known by finite man. The earth is our _mother_,
and _nature_ is our teacher, and if we listen to her voice, she will lead
us higher and higher until we will stand the master and the king in the
glorified temple of wisdom. To reach results so grand and a position so
exalted, our natures must unfold in exact harmony with all the laws and
forces which surround and control us from the time our existence commences
until its close.
From the period of conception until birth the child draws to itself all
the essential elements required for the organization of a human being; the
capabilities and powers of the parent are taxed and called upon to
contribute their material to enable nature to reproduce itself.
The child is born, and then, in a higher and more enlarged and more
independent state of existence, commences drawing to itself the materials
and substances necessary for its growth and unfolding. It draws in its
mother's milk, it draws in the air, and it builds up in itself the unseen
forces of life. Nature, true to her mission, goes on unfolding the child,
and teaches it daily and hourly the lessons best adapted to its condition.
In a few days after it is born, its powers of observation begin to show
signs of life and action, and it can distinguish light from darkness; in
a few weeks its mother and nurse are known--in a few months quickened
intelligence displays itself in all its actions; in about twelve months it
has learned the most difficult art of balancing itself so as to walk, and
also to speak a few words; at from two to two and a half years of age,
only thirty months from birth, it has learned a language which it speaks,
and has become familiar with a vast number of things surrounding it. From
a state of entire ignorance it has in thirty months learned what would
fill volumes. Horses, cows, pigs, dogs, toys, whips, birds, people, trees,
houses, fruit, food, clothes, music, sounds, parents, friends, and a
thousand other things are all familiar to it. Without professional
teachers, almost without effort, all this valuable and indispensable
knowledge has been acquired, through the unconscious adoption on the part
of the mother of the true system of education--_e duco_--I lead forth, and
hence nurse, cherish, build up, develop.
The child feels or reaches out, like the tendril, to the material world,
seeking to make itself acquainted with that world; even the young infant
soon begins to observe closely, soon knows its mother from all other
persons, clings to her, loves her above all; soon it recognizes light from
darkness, sweet from bitter; soon, when it sees a dog it will recognize it
and jump with delight almost out of its mother's arms; it will show an
eager delight to watch the motions of the horse, and imitates the sounds
employed by adults when driving. He spreads forth the tentacles of his
feeble mind for knowledge, and his mind "grows by what it feeds upon," and
it is for those intrusted with the infant's training to respond
intelligently to the child's desire, to place within its reach the mental
food adapted to its digestion, to nourish and develop it so that its
mental hunger shall be at once gratified and excited anew.
It is here, and to this end, that the able teacher steps in, to perfect
the development of the future man and woman. He educates, by assisting the
natural unfolding of the intellectual germ, he places within reach of the
child-mind the food needed to its growth, and the child-mind reaches out
its tentacles and absorbs the nourishment offered to it. Thus the mind
grows from _within outward_, and the teacher aids its development, as the
careful husbandman by tilling and enriching the soil according to the
nature of the plant he cultivates, produces a healthy and fruitful plant.
The true teacher does not seek to teach by simply putting books into the
child's hand, and bidding it to learn; he addresses himself to those
faculties and powers of the child's mind, which bring it in relation with
the world in which it lives. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and
thence observation, judgment, perception, reason, memory, hope,
imagination, and the love of the beautiful are appealed to, developed and
strengthened by natural exercise, even as the organs and limbs of the body
are developed and strengthened by gymnastic and other appropriate
exercises.
Education, mental and physical, is but the ABSORPTION of surrounding
elements into the mind and body--an arrangement an assimilation of
materials so as to incorporate them into the being to whose nourishment
they are applied, just as the tree or plant assimilates to its growth and
subsistence the materials which it draws from the air and the soil.
It is thus apparent that a great change in the system and principles now
adopted in teaching is required, and if we change the principles we must,
of course, change the instruments. These are now adapted to the method of
teaching from WITHOUT inward. If we are to invert the system, and teach
from within outward, then must our means and appliances be adapted to this
change. The task, the forcing process, the stuffing and cramming must all
give way to the natural mental growth, fostered, cherished, unfolded by
culture, in accord with nature and with law. The inquiry then arises: What
are to be the new means and appliances for mental culture? We have but to
turn again to Nature as our teacher and our guide; her instincts are
unerring. The seed germinates and pushes forth its root from within
outward. The expansion or growth takes place by means of the elements
which it attracts to itself, when these are placed within its reach, and
towards which it stretches forth its organs. These elements it assimilates
into and makes a part of itself. This process of Nature, so familiar to
most of us, serves to illustrate exactly what should take place in
intellectual growth. The mind hungers and feels out for and is impelled by
a natural internal impulse to gather to itself the elements of knowledge;
the wise teacher steps forward and becomes to the germinating intellect
what the sun and dew and rain are to the plant. The mind must be fed in
conformity with its longings, its wants, its desires. "Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness." The teacher develops this
hunger and thirst by stimulating inquiry, and by presenting to the mind
the use and beauty of knowledge; and when the mind gives signs that its
hunger is temporarily appeased, that time is now required for mental
digestion and assimilation, the wise teacher rests, and would no more
attempt to stuff and cram the mind than the wise mother would seek to
force food into her child's stomach.
Intellectual growth of some kind, not less than bodily growth, whether
good or evil, is constantly taking place. It should be the teacher's care
to render that growth a healthy one, calculated to insure the happiness of
the subject, and, in securing his own happiness, to contribute to the
happiness of others.
The body being visible to the physical eye, its growth is also visible,
and we do not think of feeling impatient at the long months and years
required for it to attain its full proportions; nor do we seek by any
forcing process to produce a man at 10 instead of at 20 or 30 years of
age.
Were the mind and its growth also visible to the eye, we would be equally
careful in our treatment of it. Man's first impulse in an uncivilized
state has generally been a resort to force for the accomplishment of his
objects; and as he took his first step forward the habits of his barbaric
life remained with him. Hence, the first steps in teaching were by
force--the lash, the rod, the school penal code; but even as when hungry,
wholesome and well-dressed food rejoices us, so will the mind gladly
accept the mental food carefully prepared for it by the true teacher.
We live in a world adapted by its Creator to our happiness and highest
well-being. It is not only possible, but easy, to win from Nature all that
is necessary or desirable, for our sustenance and comfort. It is the true
teacher's duty to fit the child thus to win its happiness; and such a
teacher has ever present to his mind the question: How am I to perform
this duty? What sort of teaching and training am I to give to the subjects
of my care? Let us endeavor to find some direction to guide us to Nature's
answer to this question.
_TEACHING AND TRAINING_
Whether we regard private schools or public schools, boarding or day
schools, we find that much which goes on at them affords an important
lesson, not as to what to follow, but what to avoid.
Is there any thing worthy of the name, of confiding intercourse between
teacher and pupil known upon this continent, or to extend our inquiry, we
may say, known anywhere? Here and there exceptional instances will be
found, as we have before said, both in this country and in Europe, of men
and women devoted to their noble profession, between whom and their pupils
there has grown up the strongest bond of parental and fraternal affection.
To these teachers the pupils run in every difficulty for its solution, in
every danger for protection; but with these exceptions the teacher is
looked upon as a task-master, sometimes even as a spy; the tasks set to be
shirked as much as possible, the observation of the teacher to be eluded
and deceived.
Lesson-time over, the children resort to their tame animals, to their
weaving-machines, their wind-mills and dams; to their gardens, kites and
ships; to swimming, rowing, foot-ball, marbles, leap-frog, base-ball and
cricket. In the practice of these games, skill, dexterity and knowledge
are acquired of which the pupils appreciate the utility, and enjoy not
only for present, but for anticipated future use.
Natural History, to be taught in school and made a reality, by following
the guide given us by nature in the amusements to which children resort of
their own accord, should be a prominent subject of instruction and
training in the school. Cultivating the faculties of observation and of
analysis, it should be among the earliest subjects of instruction, and, at
the same time, of amusement.
But they ought not to be taught from books; nature and the teacher are the
only books to be employed until considerable progress has been made by the
pupils. It is so easy to procure the things themselves for the study of
botany; an abundant supply of wild flowers can be so readily obtained,
sufficient to enable each child to be supplied with specimens for
examination and dissection. The interest of the children in their study
can be so easily awakened and sustained by the judicious teacher, the
difficulties of the supposed hard words of scientific names disappear so
readily, that the real difficulty is to understand how so obvious a
subject of instruction is either wholly banished from the schools, or
sought to be taught only from books, without any reference to living
nature.
The variety and multiplicity of insect life affords ample opportunity for
the study of that branch of natural history--and entomology would be found
not less beautiful and interesting than botany; the delightful excursions
in which teachers and pupils would join for the gathering of objects of
natural history would at the same time serve to strengthen the bond of
affection which should exist between them. The nature of his own body and
the functions of his various organs will soon interest the pupil, and
along with instruction therein he would learn the qualities of the
different kinds of animal and vegetable substances in use for food, their
relative value and importance in building up his body; he would learn to
compare the food now in use with that which was employed by our ancestors,
and what has given rise to the adoption of the new and abandonment of the
old; the methods of cookery best adapted to each kind of food, and what
kinds of food are suitable for particular ages and states of health; what
material, vegetable or animal, is most suitable for clothing, separately
or in combination. He would learn to compare our present style of clothing
with that adopted in past ages; he would learn the history of the changes
which have been adopted, and while feeling desirous of retaining such as
have been wisely adopted, might learn from past experience to desire to
return to some good habits as to clothing which have been abandoned.
The tight-fitting garments in which we unhealthily clothe our bodies, a
fashion for which we are indebted to the use of armor in times when the
chief occupation of man was mutual slaughter, and the great object of
desire to secure protection against hostile weapons, might some time come
to be discarded for the more healthful practices of the ancient Asiatics
and Romans, if a general knowledge of the unhealthfulness of our present
practices should come to prevail.
The necessity and meaning of light and cleanliness, the indifference of
the human body to all natural changes of temperature, when strengthened
and maintained in health by wholesome food and efficient bathing, might
lead to the taking of effective measures to restore the old Roman bath to
general use.
As regards shelter, why a building on the ground is generally to be
preferred to a cave or shelter in the ground--what materials are best
adapted for roofs, what for walls, floors, windows, why we use stone or
brick in one part of the country and wood in another; what sizes, shapes,
means of warmth and ventilation, for privacy and social enjoyment, should
be adopted, and as regards furniture and utensils, what are most suitable
for the several parts of a dwelling; what should guide our selection of
material, fabrics, shape, size and pattern; how to establish a
communication from one part of a building to another; how water and light
are to be had most readily. All these things should form the subject of
school study and inquiry.
The means of locomotion, how streets, roads and paths should be laid out
and maintained; the construction and use of carriages, cars, wagons,
tramways, railroads, ships, steamers, propelling power; where bridges
should be built, and how; viaducts and embankments to cross valleys,
cuttings and tunnels to penetrate hills and mountains; these, too, simply
at first, and afterwards in more elaborate detail, should form subjects of
school instruction, the rules determining the selection of each and the
methods of their construction not being preached in lectures, _ex
Cathedra_, but evolved by a patient questioning of nature, by experiment
and the Socratic method of inquiry. Exercise of the limbs under the
direction of a skilled instructor, so that all the muscles of the body may
be duly trained, and a healthy body built up to support a healthy mind.
The kinds of recreation to be selected, whether bull-baiting,
cock-fighting, rat-catching or prize-fighting, should be preferred to
games of skill and strength, to the drama, literature, works of art,
public walks, gardens, and museums; the comparative influence of all these
upon the health, strength, courage, activity, humanity, refinement and
happiness of society; how people may be led to prefer such as tend to
general well-being to those which have a tendency to brutalize and debase.
All these also should be dwelt upon in the school.
How stores of food, of clothing, of fuel and of the materials for building
may be collected and preserved; how present labor may be made to supply
future wants, and the thought of future enjoyment be made to sweeten the
present toil. How the means of instruction and of amusement may be
secured. How all engaged in supplying one need of society co-operate with
all who are engaged in supplying its other needs. What form of government
is best, and how it may be best administered. How upright judges may be
secured, justice administered, and society protected against internal and
external foes. These and all the other subjects enumerated would, if
handled by a true teacher, be found most attractive to children.
The names given to the subjects at which we have glanced are: Natural
History, the Mathematical and Physical Sciences in all their branches,
Vegetable and Animal Physiology, the Political and Social Sciences; which
should be presented in the order in which the attention and desire to
learn could be aroused.
It will hardly fail to strike the mind of the reader that nothing has yet
been said about giving instruction in the use of those tools for acquiring
knowledge, reading, writing, ciphering and drawing. The true teacher will
understand the omission. The commencement of the instruction in reading,
writing, ciphering, drawing, and in spelling, would take place as part of
the object lesson which should be adopted as the first step to knowledge,
and should be retained in the most advanced classes as the most perfect
method of applying the knowledge which has been acquired. It would soon be
understood by the pupils that the power of reading, of writing, of
designing and of calculating is essential to the acquirement of knowledge,
and to any thing like extent and variety of information on subjects
relating to individual and social well-being. The desire of acquiring this
knowledge would quicken the faculties of the children, augment their
industry, and lighten the labors of the teacher to an indefinable extent.
The teacher who should fail to impart a moderate degree of skill in these
arts to most, and of excellence to many, at the same time that adequate
progress was made in the study of the sciences we have named, should be
deemed unfit for his profession, and not be allowed to relieve himself
from disgrace by magnifying the difficulties of his task or by complaints
of the idleness or want of capacity of his pupils. As children will take
interest in what they learn in proportion to their understanding of its
bearing upon their own happiness, and upon their actual life and
surroundings, the knowledge of themselves as beings acted upon by
surrounding objects and by their own kind, should be carefully imparted to
them simultaneously with the knowledge of the qualities of the surrounding
objects destined to act upon them.
Children thus worked upon by skilled and earnest instructors; led to find
out and observe the properties of that Nature of which they form a part;
their minds nourished by the enjoyment which follows the mastering of
every difficulty, and the addition of every fresh item of knowledge to
their previous store; trained also in habits of healthfulness and of
amiability; will not only cheerfully give themselves to study, but will
also seek to dignify by their conduct and to improve by practice the
knowledge they progressively acquire, soon understanding, among other
things, why they are sent to school and the importance of that education,
part of which they are to acquire at school.
As the object of the school-teaching should be to prepare the pupils for
actual life, they should be made familiar with the idea that all their
means of subsistence and enjoyment can only be obtained by labor; not only
should their attention be called to the fact, but they should be made
sensible how much skill, knowledge and labor and economy were needed for
the creation of existing stores, and are needed for their maintenance in
undiminished quantity; nor can this be done in any way more fitly or
completely than by performing under their eyes, and causing them to take
part in, the actual business of production. The well-ordered school is an
industrial school, in which every industrial occupation, manufacturing or
agricultural, for the carrying on of which convenience can be made, should
be successively practised by the children, under the direction of skilled
workers.
The farm, the factory, the shop, the counting-house and the kitchen,
should each have its type in the school, and present to the minds of the
children a picture of real life; while their practice would impart a skill
and adaptability to the pupils which would insure their preparedness for
all the vicissitudes of the most eventful life.
Can any reason be suggested for adopting a different system of instruction
for girls than that which shall be determined on as best fitted for boys?
We confess to our inability to perceive any--both are organisms of the
same all-pervading nature--to both the most intimate knowledge of that
which skill and perseverance secure, seems to be desirable for their
happiness, and that of all mankind. Of the two, perhaps, the greatest
knowledge is needed for the woman, FOR HERS IS THE MORE IMPORTANT AND MORE
PERFECTED ORGANISM; to her is committed the performance of the chief
functions of the highest act of organized beings, viz., reproduction;
therefore, upon her knowledge and conduct, far more than upon that of the
man, depends the future of the beings in whom she is to live again.
Another great object with the true teacher, will be so to train the
judgment of his pupils as to avoid that forming of unconsidered opinion
which is the parent of prejudice and a chief obstacle to progress. Trained
to investigate the foundations of every fact in nature and in science, to
weigh the evidences on which they are asked to receive assertions, whether
of a physical, moral or social nature, they will ever have a reason for
the faith that is in them; and will know how to SUSPEND JUDGMENT when the
means of knowledge are insufficient.
Such pupils will not be apt to form opinions either in physical science,
politics, or industrial life, without having first thoroughly examined the
bases of the opinions they form and express, while the prejudices imbibed
from nurses or parents, will be subjected to vigorous investigation, and
either received as sound doctrine, or discarded as ill-founded and
superstitious. Of how many prejudices are we not the victims, without
being ourselves in the least conscious of the fact! Our political
opinions, our social customs, are taken up like the fashion of a coat,
without reason or reflection; and habit and association, but too often
hold us captive long after reason has pronounced her condemnation; our
minds have been warped from truth, and we fail to perceive our own
deficiency, to recognize the mental dishonesty with which we are
afflicted. All this will be averted in the case of those who in their
youth are trained to a rigorous investigation of every fact presented to
their minds, until the habit of truth, not merely of speaking and telling
the truth, but that mental truthfulness which shrinks from accepting a
falsehood for truth, and acknowledges ignorance rather than utter what is
not assured--will become as much a part of the pupil's nature as is his
desire for food. In short, he would be so trained as to feel as great a
repugnance to plunge his mind into moral, as his body into material filth.
Again, while ever merciful and pitying to the criminal, he would be
intolerant of falsehood wherever it might be found; and he would deem
himself derelict in his duty, as a man and as a citizen, did he leave
corruption to rot and fester in the Commonwealth, because he and others
like him would not take the trouble to raise their voices against
wrongdoers!
What a different aspect would not this great city of New York offer to our
inspection to what it now presents, had a generation been trained in the
knowledge, and practised in the observance of their duties as citizens!
Did those merchants and traders, who, in their private dealings would
scorn a lie, but recognize the duty they owe as citizens and as men of
truth, they would, by uniting, soon sweep away the serious discredit to
our country and to Republican Institutions, the festering corruption of
this city and of the State; yet it is to their supine, nay wicked
tolerance of the evil that we owe the specimens of judicial corruption by
which we are robbed and dishonored. Can it be said that any system of
education can be sound, which shall fail to demonstrate, at least to the
older pupils, their duties as citizens, to take an active, intelligent and
upright interest in public affairs; that shall fail to instruct them in
the principles by which their judgments should be guided, and lead them to
discard every action in public affairs, which they would not approve in
private life?
We must cease to live in books, in past mystifications, in useless
theories, in foolish and unprofitable discussions, in ancient ideas and
customs, and grasp the living present with all the richness, fullness and
beauty of its life. The chemistry of nature, the work of her great
laboratory, should be the study of youth as of age, instead of dead
languages and the vain and foolish mythology of Greeks and Romans
wherewith at present we poison the minds of the young.
"Can we take burning coals into our bosom and not be burned?" Can we
suffer the impressionable minds of youth to be impregnated with the filth
of the heathen poets in their imaginings of gods as disgusting as
themselves, without staining the pure tablet of the mind with spots and
grossness, while the children acquire a distaste for that glorious nature
whose volume should be their constant study?
We have to deal with the great present, with life, not with death--to
promote health, physical and moral, not to propagate infectious sickness.
The present, wisely improved, leads to a happy future, and is the only
road to that goal. We can not jump the present and its duties and reach
the future so as to enjoy it, neither can the dead past lighten the labors
of the living present. There is a past which still lives and vivifies the
present, but the quaint and filthy imagery in which the ancient priests
disguised from the profane--from all but the initiated--the mysteries of
their lore, can be of small account to a people whose great duty is the
dissemination of light and truth.
Every thing that has any relation to man's comfort and well-being, or to
his happiness as a social being, that it is, and not the dead past that we
should learn, and of the things that affect us most nearly we should learn
first. What did the ancients know of steam, of electricity, of the
material elements of nature, of her forces? And little as we know, how
much of that little could be learned from a lifelong study of ancient
lore? If there be aught of value in the laws of ancient Rome which has not
been translated into our native tongue, let it be translated; but let not
our youth waste precious years in learning to play upon an instrument
(Greek or Latin) which when learned can give forth no sound. But if we
turn to Nature and to her grand volume, we there find all the knowledge
man can acquire. From her study, too, we can learn a lesson, not perhaps
among the least important, as to the limits fixed by nature to human
knowledge. To know of a surety what those things are which never can be
known to mortal man, is a knowledge, the want of which has driven many to
puerile and superstitious practices, and many more to madness and despair.
From the great book of Nature, God's book, is to be learned the principle
of justice, of love, of wisdom, of truth; and as the germ of justice is
developed in the mind, the mind is brought in contact with the Great
Fountain, absorbs a portion of its light, enlarges, develops, becomes
stronger, assimilates to itself the essence of the great Godhead, and
renders man godlike.
So with each of the other faculties of man; each draws its nourishment
from its special FOUNTAIN. Wisdom, love, justice, and truth should
preside; and if judgment, sympathy and conscientiousness be judiciously
trained and developed, they will help to develop harmoniously all the
other faculties. But to this end they, and each and all of man's
faculties, must be brought into a wholesome, natural contact, each with
its proper food; and by natural we mean not that contact which might
peradventure happen if left uncared for, but such as the nature of the
faculty demands for its development in due harmony, to produce the
greatest amount of happiness to its possessor. To supply this food, to
bring to each faculty its proper aliment, is the business of the true
teacher. If we desire a child to be truthful, we must bring it in contact
with truth, and bring it to love truth by causing its practice to inure to
the child's enjoyment. If we wish it to be wise, we must bring its mind in
contact with wisdom, exercise its analytical powers, and train its
judgment; let it see sound judgment producing happiness; let it see how
beautiful and desirable is the possession of wisdom, and the child will
soon learn to seek it for its own sake.
To chastise a child for speaking that which is untrue may fill it with
fear, but does not make it love truth. The love of truth and of wisdom
must be cultivated as we cultivate the love of music. "Seek me early, and
ye shall find me." "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." That which
the mind seeks it will find. The natural relationships are established,
and it is only for us to work in harmony with, and not obstruct or
interfere with them. It is the "true relationship of things" we need to
learn. There is nothing in us that is not in nature. All the forces
developed in man are but developments of nature; and all the forces
required for his nourishment and strength exist in the bosom of Nature.
Matter, light, heat, electricity are not produced by him. In nature they
exist; remove any one of them and he perishes. To Nature then must we ever
turn as the reservoir of nourishment and as the teacher, by the study of
whose volume we learn all of wisdom that can be known of mortal man, or
that can tend to his well-being; and her true relationships must be the
constant object of our search. Before the knowledge of her true
relationships disappear superstition and fear and mystery. The lightning's
flash, the thunder's roar, the falling meteor and the sun's eclipse cease
to terrify and alarm. Witches, hobgoblins and demons come no longer to
trouble us; the most unusual phenomena awaken only philosophical research
and curiosity. And what is true of the full-grown man is not less true of
the child.
That school wherein children above the age of infancy fail to assist the
teacher in his instruction, is an ill-ordered school. It is not the
subject, but the teacher who is uninteresting; he scolds, worries and
punishes his pupils, when he himself is the fitter subject for the lash.
He awakens the sense of fear which should lie dormant, while the other
faculties of his pupils slumber in spiritless inactivity.
As the object of education is to prepare children to enter successfully
and happily into life, and wisely to discharge all the duties devolving
upon them as they unfold into men and women, and occupy the sphere
assigned to them, the simple rule for the course of instruction seems to
be, that they should learn those things in the order in which they can be
received by the child's mind, which most vitally affect their well-being
and happiness.
As only a healthy, well-developed body can afford a home to a healthy,
well-developed mind, physical culture claims early and constant attention,
and should receive that careful regard to which the truth contained in
the well-known aphorism: "We are fearfully and wonderfully made," entitles
it. The teachings of the sciences of Pathology and of sanitary science
should be judiciously and carefully elucidated, practically and
theoretically; presented step by step to the mind of the child; and the
child's body and mind should be carefully trained, so as to develop all
its physical and mental powers in harmony. Gymnasiums for the body,
conducted by men who have made themselves masters of anatomy and
physiology, should be an essential feature in every school, so that
ignorance and the desire to excel may not lead to putting a strain upon
the system calculated materially to injure organs which need careful and
judicious development. Plays, games, dancing, marching and the gymnasium
all require the careful supervision of a teacher well versed in a
practical knowledge of the human system, and thoroughly appreciative of
the great truth, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made." But the
foundation for the school as for the life career must be laid at home, and
much as the teacher can do, he can never supply deficiencies resulting
from the want of a well-ordered home or of a healthy home training. Never,
save under necessity, should the parent yield up his sacred duty to
another, at least during the tender years of childhood.
The education of the heart and of the affections, is as essential as the
school education, and these can never be so well cultivated as under the
influence of home. All must be developed in order to maintain the true
equilibrium. The boarding-school is not the place for children to attain a
sound moral development, and the sooner parents generally understand this
truth, the better for their children, for themselves and for society. As
well uproot the flower, or shrub or tree, and expect it to flourish, as to
cut the child off from the influence of home, and the care of a loving
mother, father, brother and sister, and hope that the sympathetic
faculties of its mind can attain their just development.
Physical culture, heretofore neglected among us--the body being left to
grow up as it may happen or chance--will form a prominent feature of
training in every well-ordered school. All the muscles of the body will be
in turn exercised, developed. The ancient Greeks afforded us here also a
wise example, which we have signally failed to imitate.
Let us secure for our children all the advantages we can from an
enlightened and natural system of education, and do all we can to perfect
both mind and body. How often is the cry repeated, "Mamma, tell me a
story," and mamma, tired and weary, says she is too busy, or, for the want
of a better, tells over again for the hundredth time, "Little Red Riding
Hood," or some other equally foolish or more injurious tale, such as
Bluebeard or Cinderella. Anecdotes of great men, suitably arranged, events
in history and biography, carrying with them valuable and important
morals, will afford all the amusement the child desires, without
developing a love for the marvellous and false, which leads it away in
infancy from the simple, truthful, and natural. If children are to be
taught to think naturally and truthfully, we can not begin too young, and
it is the duty of parents to remember that Valentine and Orson,
Cinderella, Bluebeard, and such stories, are a web of false and
exaggerated statements that will, and do produce injurious effects upon
the child's mind. The story of Aladdin's Lamp has made many a child desire
to enjoy wealth without labor, and has exerted a most pernicious, though
unsuspected, influence upon his future. Children, not less than men, seek
an easy road to the objects of their desires; and while works of
imagination are to be by no means discarded in mental training, such
should not be selected as give false notions of the busy and industrial
life into which the child is to be introduced. Even in the choice and use
of the finest works of fiction, the greatest caution is necessary. The
little one can hardly distinguish between a fable that amuses it, and a
lie told to shield it from punishment. If it hear nothing but truth, it
will know nothing but truth; and a truthful mind is a glorious thing to
behold in children as in men. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop;"
therefore let there be no idle brains, but let all work usefully and
pleasantly. Usefully we say, for even amusement is useful. We live in a
world of use, in a world of beauty, a world that can be greatly improved,
and human happiness largely increased, according as we avail ourselves of
the knowledge already acquired for the right teaching and training of the
young, so that they may grow up and develop into happy, self-supporting
men and women, diffusing happiness to all around, themselves happy in
proportion to the happiness they cause.
_THE SCHOOL._
Upon the organization and arrangement of the school largely depends the
success of the educator. Two things must be borne constantly in mind.
First, to create truthful and intellectual atmosphere, where wisdom,
honor, and knowledge can be inhaled as with the breath, and second, to
make the school cheerful and attractive in every way possible. We must get
rid of the idea now generally prevailing among children, that the school
is to be resorted to with regret and escaped from with pleasure.
So soon as the child will look at and become interested in pictures and
toys, and will listen to tales and little stories, it can profitably be
introduced in the school, the first department of which should be the
Infant-school, or, as the Germans so aptly term it, the children's garden,
or Kinder Garten.
Here plaiting, modelling, and building, with simple object lessons for the
older infants, develop their powers of observation, and give employment
and impart skill to little fingers which might else be engaged in
destroying furniture or clothes, or in pilfering from the sugar-bowl.
Practical familiarity with the properties of lines, angles, circles,
spheres, cylinders, cubes, cones, and the conic sections will be acquired,
which will give a life and reality to the geometrical studies which will
occupy them in their school career. Dancing and singing will relieve the
tedium of sitting, shake off the surplus energy, give rest to the body,
and power, time, and tune to the voice. Models of houses, stores,
workshops, kitchens, farms, and factories, which later on they will assist
in making, will be a source alike of amusement and instruction.
In the children's garden no teacher should have charge of more than about
twelve children, who should regard her as their mother-teacher, while she
should seek to win the love and confidence of the little ones as the
beginning of her work.