མཔ་vསས Pvས་ས་བp kful, it is for this. Patchwork knowledge has not he order of the day, but the order of the years. Columbian Orator and English Reader to the First -from the times of our grandfathers to those of our > harvests of superficial knowledge have been immense, lly turn to any plan which shall fill the mental grannore substantial though less bulky and less showy o root out the evil we conceive to be the great mission hools; and in the contest now waging between them ademies, we are almost constrained to toss up our cap th a shout the return of systematic scholarship and owth untrammelled by superficiality. the best field for discipline, an Ohio Academy where Chronics, Theotics, Epistatics, Geotics, Technics, and ceive an equal share of attention, or an unassuming tts High School, with its simple Mathematics, and no n of that? Give me a school where every scholar the entire theory of Vulgar Fractions and of the Diecimals; can elucidate by common sense or algebraic y rule in Arithmetic, from Interest to Banking; can hundred lines taken at random from Paradise Lost; = grammatical construction, the allusions to ancient and ancient geography; can give the derivation of ominent words, and the meaning of all; who manifest iliarity with Plane Geometry, and I ask not for or Graphics, Hylology or Polemics. These, as they nly pursued, promote not mental growth but mental They no more satisfy the demands of a healthy extellect, than titbits from a French cook can subdue e of a voracious Yankee farmer. call forth 2 of T his ha Traveller al for su ool Readers, as our generation and as the few generanow the term, deserve to be classed in the same cateese unsuitable studies for schools, and to be as heartily They do not furnish information, for no author has and other literature presented in a book like th Rather what would he not say? What to condemn it? The compendium of English Authors step in advance of the old system. Th book under the guidance of a judicious at the close of his school days feeling 1 of English literature, and with some genius. He has the materials to make ton and Shakspeare, Cowper and Golds acquaintance may be. And better is th the budget of patches which our school F the object gained is simply the mechan of Reading. Triend of thorough scholars Patchwork knowledge has , but the order of the res English Reader to the F ur grandfathers to those of knowledge have been immers a hich shall fill the mental g gh less bulky and less sh conceive to be the great miss test now waging between th constrained to toss up our of systematic scholarship y superficiality. pline, an Ohio Academy whe istatics, Geotics, Technics, of attention, or an unassum its simple Mathematics, and e a school where every sch Vulgar Fractions and of the e by common sense or algebr from Interest to Banking: at random from Paradise Lis uction, the allusions to an hy; can give the derivation he meaning of all; who man Geometry, and I ask not gy or Polemics. These, as not mental growth but me fy the demands of a health rom a French cook kee farmer. eneration and as the few get! e to be classed in the same s for schools, and to be as hear can sh information, for no author subha t But even such a compendium as the Ultima Thule in this direction. We m tilated works of genius. Readers may for the scholar of awakened powers, we call forth his admiration, and give him ing of sympathy with his author. For in his hands a tragedy of Shakspeare, Traveller of Goldsmith, an Oration of all for such purpose, the grand old P and others, I would select the one best a pacity, and then hope for large results. in this matter. When copies of Milto two dollars a dozen, why should our sch lets of our reading books? Not all s so easy to build up as to pull down. among the rational reforms of the pre tively called for which shall give to our in the study of elegant literature, the i sulting from "something attempted, som text-books, practical teachers, if we may judge by laints, find it very difficult to get such as will suit se. Trial after trial is made: the work which was to the schools as the long sought masterpiece, after a is condemned, like its predecessors, to make way for ublication. Is the fault in the books and their authe unreasonable requirements of teachers? r enough that too high expectations are often formed. n supersede the necessity of having a living teacher: y one rely upon text-books alone to secure his scholwasting their time, and what is worse, spoiling their oose, lazy habits of thought. Yet it is not strange ach dependence is placed on books in teaching. We recita with under his in ntly assured that this method or that will save nine he time: another will inject the young mind in a all the sciences and half the arts in a sort of dilute sit not then natural to be a little intoxicated with the provement, and a little spleeny when it fails? hearte most i paring by his multit Rightl the M e often thrown aside as worthless, because they have satisfaction when put into the hands of scholars for were not intended. Mistakes of this kind often octry schools. Committees, learning that a text-book pproved in city schools of a certain grade, adopt it, all distinctions, perhaps, indeed, half ignorant that -and then repent at leisure of their unlucky choice. too, has something to do with the matter. uestion were put to the teachers of this Commonat excellences should a faultless school-book possess? of them would be more sorely puzzled to answer it are disappointed in their search for such a work. se who have a clearly defined theory of teaching,number is not great, there is much diversity of The question must first be settled, What is the best instructing the three classes into which the minds ils naturally divide themselves, namely, those of avcity, those above average, and those below? Many angular of follo сую riety in the oks alone to secure his sch in l ittees, learning that a tert recitations from a syllabus, though it 1 with success in many of the German s understood and seldom practised. Ins his instructor how to study, the schol heartening experience, perhaps too late most important of all. He is made to paring his recitation; to secure that e by his understanding, but by heart. 1 multitudes of scholars become little mo Rightly enough, the ancients made M the Muses. Memory is indeed the p simple perception, and all its wonderful I is not to be exercised or developed alo proved by cases where facts play a pron by quickening the imagination, and w from them predominate, as in Mecha disciplining the reflective faculties. E are inordinately condensed, become serving only to oppress the imaginat And in general, books which give simply elaborate their arrangement, are se learner. Many of our best mathematicians singularly unsuccessful in preparing ele of following the order of discovery, investigation, they give a rigid synthesis indeed to the proficient, but dry and student. Elementary books should abound in difficulty lies in gaining the proper idea them. Copious illustration does not. a single one, as the using of fifty ex in arithmetic; but in applying the cases, interesting, if possible, and c other. For instance: suppose the d may take the form or notes at the end of the work; and th considerations apply not only to the mathematics, ostract sciences, to grammar especially. Half the on this subject are full of crabbed rules, everything ft to the teacher, and the other half so overcharged es and repetitions, that the laws of the language put in an appendix to enable the scholar to make tance. THE us in fa we kno the wor rammar suffers most. The grammar of the classical ith their multitude of inflections and therefore comis taken as the standard, to which the English must form. Our language has lost nearly all its inonsequently its syntax should be very simple. What cal tongues is expressed by inflections, the whole icles, interrogative, contingent, indefinite, and the essed with us by auxiliary words, or by a particular raction and to It is ва Ford, A assert it are man of mora science. To explain the traces of inflection that remain, and indeed the only proper way is to recur at once al language. A dozen lessons in any respectable Grammar will give a class of scholars, if of the for the study of grammar, a better knowledge of nology than most of them get in their whole course in way. It is proper to observe here, that no teacher, High School or Grammar School, ought to rest till as well a Look at will find writers Youth. also to a Horace life. T bastily down, no |