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Las diagrammes suivants illustrant la mAthode. > 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 a €at/>*^ ^4^^' %rJ^ <^l'^ B jf\. ON ,E1)UCAT10NAL SUBJECTS HV IHF. EEV. JOHN MAY, M.A., INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS, Carlkton, Ontario. " The aim of Plducation is thi^ ; to make a man all that his natural gifts, the accident of his birth, and the claims of his fnttire profession mill allo7i> hi in to become."' rjR. KaKI, II II I.KHRANI). 1. "Cram." 2. "What shall my Calling be." 3. Curricula. 4. Miscellanea. ^^UJ/-/^ OTTAWA : I'RIN'rKI) BY A. S. vVOODBURN, KLGIN STRKKI", 1880. I ( % ,) ■;i!ilA '^ \'' ■,;.. -^ jO' t U^^-^'^^ -rt |A« n-h ► . » . 1 ■/ / . .. _1 i A. A. — ON K.DUGATI0NALAUBeIE<3TS BY THE REV. JOHN MAY, M.A., INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS, Cari.kton, Ontario. -•"♦►•- P " T//e aim of Eti neat ion is M/r ; A> w/rtXv a wan all that his natural gifts, the accident of his birth, and the claims of his future profession uacheloi' or Master of Arts, who, without special " Coaching," would never have attained tlie envied distinction. This bein": a well-known historical fact, vou will not be surprised to learn that I am not one of those who re- gard " Cramming " as a process simply and utterly value- less. On the contrary, consid(M-ed as a means to an end,- and that end guccess at examinations, on which one's life success may hinge, —Cram nnist always hold a ven- erable place educationally, or at least so long as Ex- aminations continue to be conducted as they now are, and have been for ages. Oiirjn-esent nfound this M'ith Educa- tion. See to it that you are fully Crammed : and now let us enquire how this ma}' best be accomplished. In our day, and pre-eminently in this country, there should be no difficulty in C/ramming youi'self, or in getting Crammed. The facilities are numerous. You do not need to l(>ok for them. Thev meet you at every turn. On everv conceivable subject from the spelling book up to the highest pinnacle of learning, is the way strewn with " ladders to learning," *' helps to read." Should you luipi)L'n to get " ploughed " can you blame Miss Brown who has cooked English History to suit the most fastidious palate ; putting it up in a dainty little dish ? or Dr. Syntax who has beaten out the English (Trammar into two nice yolumes ? or Mr. Robei'tson who has smoothed the rough road to Par- nassus 'i or Dr. Smith, wdio has dished up just enough English Literature I or Mr. Jones, who has filed the roughnesses off the Mechanical Powers ^ ()rMr. Brown, who has made Statics so easy 'i i^o. You have oidy yourself to blame, should you fail to scrape together from so many accommodating sources, sufficient material out of which to manufacture answers to an}' set of questions which is likely to be placed before you. Perchance, however, you do not know exactly how to set about this work. Well then, remember, in the first place, that whilst " Cram" is a short cut to "Pass," there are also short cuts to " Cram." He is little better 10 CRAM. than a block-liead who crams pell-mell, by sheer dint of memory. There is a stylish, a scientiiic way of doing it. The secret is so precious that I feel almost reluctant to disclose it : but here it is. Before you begin to " Cram " on any given subject, make a speci- al study, not so much of the subject as of the Examiner, Endeavour to diagnose his infirmities ; to measure him in all his length, and breadth, and depth, and heighth. Is he to be your examiner in Geography ? Study the book he is sure to have published on that subject. Is he a great ** light "on Arithmetic or Algebra ? Master his methods. In a word, let your real acquaint- ance with any branch of study be great or small ; there is one thing you must never overlook — the style, meth- ods, peculiarities, or eccentricities, of the Examiner. Thoroughly posted in this direction, the chances, ceteris paribus^ are in your favour ; equally well posted in any other, without this, — the chances are against you. Should any one object to this advice as savouring of immorality, I would simply reply that to my mind the whole region of Cramtand emits a faint odour of unre- ality and want of truth ; and if it be not immoral to Cram at all, it connot be immoral to Cram the best way you can. It can never be thought vicious to do a virtuous thing to the best of one's ability. I may add that an excellent and legitimate mode of Cramming, is, to take notes of your reading as you go along, committing these afterwards to memory. Were I going up for Examination, I should work vigorously in this way to within a few days of the ordeal ; when I should pitch the whole thing to; the moles and bats, betaking myself to the invigorating exercise of rowing, fishing, shooting, or cricket. Never go jaded to an Examination. II. In Relation to Development. I now come to the second part of my subject, viz : " Cram " in its relation to Development, or, as an instrument of Education. And perhaps I could not do -1 b« a f( SB t( CRAM. 11 \ better tlian say at once that it is liarclly to be deemed a means of Education at all. In order to pave the way for the establishment of this assertion, it will be neces- sary to enquire at the outset, wliat Education means. Now, what does it mean ? It means the very opposite of " Cram." The very Etymology of the word condems " Cram." " Drawing out" can never signify " filling in." It is true that we cannot develope the mind without, at the same time, feeding it. The farmer alternately crops and manures the soil ; nor would he gather any harvest but weeds without the sowing of seed. But his ultimate aim is to fill his granaries by developing to the utmost the dormant, but fructiferous energies of Mother Earth. He puts in little : he draws out much. To get at the root of the matter, let us ask, " when does P^ducation begin ? " Is it when the child enters on its school career ? No. I am strongly disposed to hold that thejnost important part of a child's curriculum, because the most permanent and far-reaching in its effects, is that which precedes his school days. From the natal day Education dates. Seed sown at this stage strikes its roots deep into the mellow virgin soil : the field is forestalled : the harvest is everlasting. Don't flatter yourselves, teachers, that you began the work, that you laid the corner stone. Long before a child is committed to your care, he has been at school. His mind is not a tabula rasa — an unwritten sheet. lie has had communication with his surroundings. lie can speak a language whose very alphabet he knows not ! The dog and the cat, the piping bird, the purling brook, the stinging mosquito, his father's frown, his mother's caress, have been his tutore. Who taught him a language in a few months, which, at a later date, it would nave taken him years of patient effort to I acquire ? Nobody ! No Grammar : no dictionary ; no tutor : he speaks ! Any " Cram " ? Did you ever see a mother " Cram " a language into her infant ? And yet lie speaks it, and speaks it well I He has \ 12 CRAM. acquired some of tlie rudiments of liis education : the " twig "lias already received that twistwliicli will showin the " tree " ; and, whether you will receive it or no, this pre-scholastic education, iis undei'lying all, will affect that of the school, and the University, and his whole career just as the sea-swell waves the ship-masts in ]X)rt ; or the subterranean uneasiness of the earthquake rocks tlie tall trees of tlie forest. No. His mind is not a clean slate. Herein is your mistake. That mind is thick-strewn with the germs of thought ; and your business, if you know your lousiness is, to cause these germs to grow. Yours it is, not more to begin scatter- ing seedason a vacant soil, than to cherisli andtosterthe seeds already there. What is the Alphal)ct, what the words you teach, but vehicles of expression, — outlets for ideas whose elements are in the mind already, as well as inlets for the materials of more. And if vou realize your vocation, you will find that it consists, so far as mental training \k concerned, mainly in developing thought and the habit and powe.- of thinking. Your field is the inind. Drill it well. Cut out the thistles. Choose your seed. Sow thin. "NAHiat would you think of a farmer who should sow twenty bushels of wheat to the acre. This is what we are doing in our schools — twenty bushels to the acre. This is " Cram " ! Mental education means mental development. It consists in taking the mind as it C(jmes from the hand of the Creator, and causing all its faculties to " grow with the the child's growth, and strengthen with his strength.'' If we,would preserve intellectual symmetry, we must not cause or suner any one faculty to out-run the rest. " Cram " iniiates memory : and a monstrosity results. Prime essentials in this delicate work are, calmness, not Hurry; coolness, not fever heat; nmiltmn not mnlta,' thoroughness, not "smattering" : thought, not " Cram." Learning so conducted is healthful for' the mind ; liealthful to the l)ody ; and a beautifier of the countenance, making it beam with an etherial light. Memory, perception, judgment, imagination, unculti- Tii CRAM. 13 It \ vated, are the toolsj in a crude state, b'^ wliicli, if left uncultivated, man would have to hew his way through this rugged life. The Teacher's office it is, so to tram, temper, polish, sharpen, and complete t.'iem, that, with them, a man may cut hie way through the rocks of Time, as though these were made of cheese ! The schoolroom is not so much a place where knowledge is acquired, as it is a shojf, in which the implements by which a man is to acquire knowledge in his post-scho- lastic days, are wrought to the highest j^itch of perfec- tion. The work of tlie school-room is not to delve the mine of man's exhaustlcss knowledge ; but to get ready the tools for digging. Hence a youth might leave School or College at the age of twenty-one, singularly deficient in general knowledge ; and yet be highly educated in the true sense. In his hands is now a lever by which to move the world of knowledge. He has simply postponed the acquisition of nuiltifarious information, — preparing, as he was, the implements by which to dig deep into its mines, or plough its boundless fields. The uneducated mind, in quest of truth, is but a hoe or a spade ; the educated is a gang-plough driven by steam. A boy barely able to read, incaj^able of telling wliether Toronto is in Canada or in Portugal, yet master of the Forty-seventh Prop, of Euclid—and such a supposition is quite legitimate —is truly educated so far. The " hedge-schools " in Ireland, producing the best Non-University mathematicians in the world, have proved this. These schools gave Geometry, the Chief Science, it due place : they dished up beefsteak, not veal. You will never educate truly by making subjects easy / but by cutting down the number to the best. In these are the seeds that fructify. Healthy, symmet- rical, intellectual development cannot be achieved by , overcharged Programmes of Study. A boy too greedily grabbing at nuts, usually carries off a sorry handful. 1 care not how useful any branch of knowledge may be, it must be excluded if some other subject educates better. Botany is a useful Science : but it does not educate 14 CRAM. like Euclid. Arithmetic can never be excluded from any School Programme : for, perhajjs no subject so markedly combines the utilitarian with the developo- ment idea. So, also, since man may rot live by mathe- matics alone, you must, to the world's end, saturate him with Classical literature, or leave him a dry tree. Branches of study are like the subjects which the anato- mist dissects. Take the healthiest, the best : let.these be few, but sifted from top to bottom. Let the whole mental force impinge upon them. Let the bow be bent to the full, at times ; but not kept l)ent long at a time at the first. Let no ditticulty be shirked, or gone round ; but when some probleni of unusual stubbori.iiess crops up in the pupil's path, let him focalize all his mental might on this ; rolling up the sleeves (jf Resolu- tion, and with mallet and wedge M'hacking um ay, until his intellectual perspiration ends in victory, and increased intellectual muscle. Here is solid gain ; swift advance ; a stride in true development, without one scrap of Cram. A single obstinate obstacle hewn to pieces after a stern, protracted struggle, does mor i to ])rumote education, both mental and ethical, than a hundred tasks which cost no effort. How I love to see a boy malletting might and main at one of these gnarled, knotted blocks !— for, I know that if succdss crown his efforts, he has set his foot one step higher on the ladder of intellect ; that his entire spiritual manhood has risen to a higher plane, ecpiipped with self-added ])ower to grapple with difficulties of what kind soever. I look on with delight, not unmingled with concern. I cheer him on, I watch with jealous eye for the first symptoms of exhaustion. I ev'en watch till the mallet is flung away in despair. Then, uot till then, do I rush to the rescue. I turn the block over. I point out a spot at which the wedge may enter. I strike no blow ; but I shew him where to hit. I lead him to rely mainly on himself ; but I do not abandon him wholly to himself. I give him hints : his it is to follow them up. Behold the difference between the true te CO d( CRAM. 15 teacher and tlie quack ! The latter either solves the problem for his pupil, or leaves him to conquer or be conquered. O sacred work of instruction, what mur- ders have been committed by thy unskilled or unfaithful professors ! I want small farms deeply ploughed ; few acres vigor- ously tilled. I want to see, in the schools, few subjects, thoroughly discussed ; short hours strenuously occupied. For all children, the three It's thoroughly mastered : for the majority little else : for our High Schools and Universities, limited ranges, and no " Cram." Our present course enfeebles the body ; and its main ten- dency is to produce brilliant incapacity. The men of mark ; the pioneers of original thought,— have these, as a rule, been gold-medalists! Is Prince Leopold a wrangler ! Yet he stands intellectually first ainong the sons of Albert the Good ! he has never been Crair^med. His case is a lesson for educators. But reform must begin at the top. The gangrene is in the University. So long as College vies with College, not in developing mind so much as in develop- ing voluminous calendars, so long will "Cram" Hourisli, above, below, and all around. This grabbing at uni- versal accomplishment seems to grow with the world's age ; ami, in proportion to its growth, is its subversion of Education. It means, for a people, neither physical robustness nor intellectual enero^y, but a shallow, con- ceited, chattering imbecility. If we would devclope the brst minds in the best way, give us in your semi- naries less of your cast-iron uniformity,— a Ireer scope for options. Then will taste iind its a])propriate channels ; talent drop into its native groov^e ; and we shall have, at once the useful education of alU and the real "survival" and elevation " of the fittest." It is sufficient for any country that the few best minds should be cheered in their ascent towards the higher pinnacles of learning : tor the mass of men and women, Cram them as you will, the doom is written to be either professional failures, or, what would be better 16 CRAM. for tliciu and tlie world, " hewers of vvood and drawers of water " to tlieir brethren. Let them plough, and scrub, and sew on shirt buttons, and mind tlie babies: this is what our country needs. But, if extended programmes dissipate and bewil- der, " Cram " chokes. And how many forms it assu- mes! Did you ever hear oi physical " Craui V They have it in the gymnasium. I cannot here deal with the subject ; but 1 have my doubts concerning this excessive mechanical muscular development. Can the vital forces be thus overtaxed ? Is the heart never de- frauded in the interest of arms and legs ? Again : the College student snatches a brief hour for a walk, medi- tating alone or conversing with a companion about his studies: what is this but physical " Cram f Such exercise is all but useless. There is also morale or religious^ '* Cram." I think I have detected it in the Sunday School ; and I know I liave heard it drop from the pulpit, again and again. When the staple of pulpit teaching amounts to tliis : " You ought to do this : you ought not to do that ; " — what is tins but " Cram ? " — and, like mental Cram, barren of results. The soul's depths are not stirred. The heart's affections are not kindled. The seeds of eternal principles are not thrust into the soil. The rock- melting motives of God's nameless love and awful majesty are overlooked. It is a feeding of immortal souls on husks, — pulpit '' Cram." Yes, all " Cram " is husks. There is nothing in it whereby a man may live. Were a person to swallow a straw hat, it might stun his appetite ; but how about digestion, sustenance ? Crarn never digests. It contri- butes little or nothing towards the intellectual frame, unless it be intellectual dyspepsia. You might as well dine on slate pencils ; or your bonnet, pins, ribbons and all. The " wizard of the North " used to pull whole feather beds out of an empty hat. This is the hat for me ! Something out of nothing ; or, at least, much out of little ; — this is education. This man stood on the i' st f( til ct d\ Ol 11 Oil thi h( [hi de an CRAM. 17 "- I stage ; displayed the empty liat ; began. First liand- ful small ; next larger ; next larger still ; till at last the feathera came forth in mi»htv rolls. He was edii- eating the hat ! So must ye wizards and wizardesses draw out of the youthful mind ever increasing stores of that precious thought which is, seemingly, not in it. If at the last you would he crowned, see to it that vig- orous work shall duly alternate with hearty play, so that the " human form divine" may be built up in health, and strength, and beauty ; endeavour to inspire your pupils with a keen relish for learning ; to endow them with the priceless habits of self-reliance and in- dependent thought ; implanting now and then, here and there, seed-t noughts which shall fructify to mighty harvests ; doing everything camly, yet vigorously ; with placid composure, yet riveted concentration of thought ; — As in the cool shade and by the still watei*s, and not under the broiling sun of feverish competition. And, finally, see to it that the moral sense is kept keen, and bright, and pure; so that the whole man,— body ,^ soul, and spirit,— may prove a blessing to himself and others here, and be blessed amongst God's children liereaf ter, in the Great School yonder, where they shall learn for ever and not grow weary. ! I n it How |)0Ut itri- I What shall my calling be? •«•»> I. The TRAININCr WIIIOII SHOULD PRECEDE A CHOICE. II. The considerations which should determine it. There comes an hour in the life of every young man wlien this question must receive a practical reply : an hour lade-n with significance to liimself and othei*s. There are four solemn epochs in (every) hutnan life : the hirth day, the marriage day, the death day, and that on which the question here to he discussed de- mands a tinal solution. And surely, when we consider the life consequences of a stop which is usually irre- traceable, it will hardly be deemed an exau^lit surely to have tlie first voice in selectin<»- her: and he uho isd(stine(l to reap the l)lessin-arned to read ! I maintain that, as a rule, readin<^ has not liitlierto been taught in our schools, as it deserves to to be taught. It has been a sort of cross between reading and a (iregorian chant. Signs of improve- ment are appearing, — and none to soon, (rood reading is not only a pleasing and elegant accomplishment, but also an excellent intellectual exercise. Vou must un- derstand a passage and enter into its spirit before y(m can read it in public. Good reading im[)lies not only a good voice, trained organs, clear delivery, tfec ; but also an appreciative interpretation of the passage read. Hence, the acciuisition of this accomplishment involves mental growtli or expansion to no mean degree. Many people seem to regard learning to read as a mere surface matter. This is a mistake. Good reading can only be the fruit of intelligence and culture. But I find it difficult to treat fully on this head apart from that of the Second " R," ok writincj, the teacliing of the two not only running side by side, but actually interlacing in such a matmer that complete separate discussion of them seems impossible. It was long the practice in this country to send a child to school at five years of age armed with a primer only, or perchance a bit of pine shingle on which the Al- phabet was pasted. This book was bioad at the top, but whittled down to a handle at the other end. The in- nocent sufferer, mounted on a s})lit basswood bench, his legs dangling in mid-air, was compelled to contem- plate this fascinating shingle six mortal hours a-day under the more austere wooden-legged dominies of that enlightened, happy period. To withdraw his eyes from his shingle for a moment was " an iniquity to be pun- 22 WHAT SHALL MY (CALLING BE. islied l)y the judge." In tin's doleful manner did he pass tliro' ills first, second, and tliird readers, and four or live years of his joyous curriculum. Pen, pencil, slate, were all denied him. What a grim introduction to learning; what a punishment for no fault conunitted ; what a fearful waste of most precious time, was that ! We are doing better now. Every child is provided with a slate and a pencil. The Alphabet is learned in and by making it. In this way, by the time a child can read any lesson in the First Book he can also write it. Wiiilst learning to write, his reading is promoted, not hindered. He is also, at the same time, although unconsciously, learning, in the very best way, how to spell, to use capitals and points. And, best of all, his work is quite as much an amusement as a task. Im- agine the rapid, ever expanding development in a school in which work has thus begun, continued, and ended ! and nearly all school work can be done with slate and pencil. Oral teaching has its use: it is indis- pensable : but v;e have been giving it a disproportionate space. It produces inaccuracy— slop-work. By means of it a teacher can m;.ke a tine shew ; and it is perhaps the best way to wake up a class when sluggish : but it has also a tendency to improve the best in the class, leaving the inferior members daily more and more in the rear. The pupils at the head of the class do most of the answering ; those at the foot being well content that it should be even so. Such teaching is slipshod, and every way inferior. The tendency of the written method is just the opposite of this. It produces accu- racy, depth, thoroughness. The learner, whilst master- ing any given branch in the very best way, is also acquiring that facility of pen and readiness of expres- sion which are so universally desirable. How shall you better teach composition than by exacting a reproduction of the substance of the pupils' lessons, in their own language ? If they do this orally you have a magnificent mental exercise ; you drill in masculine condensations; you clinch the nail of memory; and WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BE. 23 a in have lline and you give no mean training in the first approaches to oratory. Noi is there any valid ohjection to this early nse of the pencil on the score of " spoiling the hand," should ordinary care be taken by the teacher. Beginners should write large : every word, every letter beaig formed with the greatest care, The tendency of young children is, to write too small. Whenever haste and mere scribbling begin to appear, the remedy of solid counteracting special lessons in Penmanship of a full plump type, should be promptly applied. At worst, however, nothing can be ir.ore objectionable than that vulgar hand so prevalent in Ontario even among Candidates for Certificates. This hand is the outcome of defective early training. The mere ( opy Book has been too much depended on to make ready, fluent, graceful writers A flourishing ornamental, or commercial hand may have a useful place ; but that place is not among the best scholars in the world. We do not really want flourishes, nor indeed flne writing of any kind, as a rule, especially for the male sex. What we do want for the mass is fluency of quill, combined with accuracy and readiness of expression, in a neat, plain legible hand. We want to have our children so taught that long before they leave school, they can write a presentable letter, keep a simple ac- count, frame a resolution, or give a receipt. The penmanship taught in this country has been but too generally of little practical value : whilst the every-day usefulness of that to be acquired as indicated ai>ove can hardly be over estimated. There is however, a subject of even higher practical importance ; and that subject is AKITHMETIC. This is a branch of learning universally indispen- sable. Men who could neither read nor write have lived, and some of them not unsuccessfully ; but with- out Arithmetic nobody ever has lived, or can live. Numerical calculations fall to the lot of all ; and may 'm\ ii 24 WHAT SHALL MY (CALLING BE. be made without any knowledge of letters : but they must be made. Thousands who know not the Alpha- bet, are able to make rapid mental computations. And is not this, after all, the chief object of this study ? As an instrument of mental culture, Arithmetic is of eourse, excellent ; but, for the mass of men, ought it not to receive a more practical turn than it usually does ? How many an illiterate old woman in her apple stall could put to the blush, in rapid calculation, some smart young fellows who have mastered Sangster or Ilaniblin Smith ? It is the old story. Probably the number of people who will, can, or ought to dive deep into the study, is comparatively small ; for the major- ity we demand dexterity rather than depth; accuracy in preference to a mighty power in discovering solu- tions. This solving of abstruse problems is very valu- able regarded simply as a factor in mental development ; and as such, no man values it more highly than myself : and I approve of setting such problems be- fore our classes. What I object to is, that the solution of these problemsjon the slate should monopolize so much of the time devoted to Arithmetic. Imagine a young farmer, before whose mighty sledge hammer McLellan's hardest Arithmetical boulders flew to pieces when at school, caught some day on the market figur- ing on a slate the value of a few bushels of potatoes ! Are such cases improbable ? One of the commonest complaints among parents touches precisely on this point : '' John has been through such and such an Arithmetic ; but I find that he cannot tell me what 3()f bushels of wheat would come to at $1.12J per bushel, without a slate and pencil ! " These slates and pencils. What shall I say to them ? Time was when their main use was in studying Arith- metic. I believe that they ought to be used less for Arithmetic than for anything else. This will be con- sidered a heresy by some. To divorce Arithmetic from the slate ! W hat lunacy ! I do not ask it : but I want a rational, harmonious relationship between them. Pure, WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BE. 25 jin? Kith- for fon- rom it a ire. useful, practical Arithmetic will flourish as long as it is master, and Slate is servant : but with us Slate is master. Every day I see proofs of this : clever slate solutions ; absurd oral answers : and vice versa. One day I asked a class the value of 7J:0 lbs, of hay at $15.00 per ton. The best scholar in the class, having worked out the question on his slate, replied $87.25 ! He was really a bright boy : but his foot caught in the slate, and he fell. The slate becomes a snare. The pencil may have to do more than its share of the thinking. The whole matter is more than half mechanical. 13efore I was twelve years old I had groped my way through Gray, Walkingham, and Gougii ; and " could get the answers " ; but how I got them I sometimes couldn't tell. I am of opinion that the slate should only be used as a last resort. I believe that under proper train- ing from the first day in school, (for Arithmetic ought to begin the first day) there are very few problems indeed that would not finally yield to persistent slateless solicitation. This would impart to your Arithmetical labours that useful character universally needed. More- over, the intellectual gymnastic tluisenjoyed is priceless ; and I may add, the latent capacity of the average mind for numerical calculation is something marvelous. There is something palpably lazy in these pencil estimates. What the mind ought to carry is laid on a stone I This is swimmina: with bladders. The first thing that you should do alter i-eading a problem is to put your hands behind your back, shut your eyes, and think ! The mental strain v,'ould, no doubt, be considerable ; but we want mental strain — short, sharp, frecjuent — not mental distraction produced by a multiplicity of studies. Strain away over the three R's. Draw hard. Bend your bow to the utmost according to its quality. J^end often. Kelax often. This educates. A youth so trained, exercised, disciplined ; a youth who can read well, write well, and flash the lightning figures through his nimble brain, — under ordinary circumstances, aided by tutorial and p»arental supervision, is already in \w^ r m WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BK. a position to form an idea of the main direction of his mental forces, and consequently what his calling ought to be. I have laid all possible stress on the three R's"; because, whatever else 3'oung people may learn, in these essentials they ouglit, every (jne of them, to receive a thorough training. There are other bratiches of useful knowledge, however, which may be partially, at least, acquired by all, and thoroughly mastered by some; such as Geography, History and Grammar. My opin- ion, however is, that by far too much time is spent on these subjects. To the mass what is the use of Geo- graphy save as a key to History? a help to intelligent reading on certain subjects ? In itself, as tnught, it is a lean subject, — of little educational value. History is awfully overdone in our Teachers' Examinations ; which is a hint to overdo it in the schools. But such history as you can get in an ordinary Text Book is a meagre, hungry, disgusting thing. Histcu-y must be got, not from bare-bone School Books, but from lireside reading ; — perhaps in post-scholastic days. Moreover it is a subject crawling with lies. As for English Gram- mar, give me old Lennie, or even a Text Book of 30 pages ; and with this and the Readers, I shall undertake to produce better Grammarians than we are now produc- ingwith our unwieldyand most oppressively bewildering Text Books on that subject. Indeed, the more I reflect on this whole question oi Elementary English Education, the more am I convinced that from the Ordinary Reader we can teach almost all the elementary subjects, pari passu with the Reading lesson itself ; and that we have been too much disposed to make a separate and distinct job of each. With the Reader and very moderate Text Book aid I can teach (1) Reading, (2) Writing, (3) Spelling, (4) Punctuation, (5) Use of Capitals and Italics, (6) Composition, (7) Geography (8) History, (9) English Grammar, etc. Hence our l^ext Books on mos*" of these subjects ought to be very concise. The living teacher, Rea derinhaud, can do the rest. I believe in small Text WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BE. 27 Books. The workof tlni^chool-roomli^skeletonwork. Its object is to develope tlie fiicnlties rather than to store the memorv or g*/e full flino: to information. Here the keel is laid : the ribs attached : the masts planted : the helm and wheel brought into their places : but the painting and the ornaments ; the cushioned seats, and the music, and the canvass,— these must be added 'ipart, collaterally, but chietlv after the school days are over. And how ? By general reading. I would exaet a certain moder- ate amount of dry, school, drill from boys— leaving ample time for recreation, play, general reading : and a great pity it is that such reading is so scarce in the houses of the people. Drill developes the powers : reading expands the intelligence, refines the tastes, rounds the mental figure. Drill withe ut a wide range of reading produces a skeleton, however strong the bones and well- knit the joints : " Cram " produces a body, phthisical and dyspeptic. General reading should go hand in hand with school drill. Our houses should abound with books and papers : our sections with Libraries. But most people will not read. Why ? Because they have little taste for reading. And why so ? Because this taste was not cultivated from infancy. And how would you remedy this ? I answer : By introducing a chikVs paper into every school ; and devoting half an hcnir each day to the reading and discussion of it. This is the way to create a thirst for literature ; without which your best " Crammed " and best drilled pupils will grow up little better than rampikes in a brule, instead of plump, well-foliaged maples. Now, after a boy has had a thorough drill in the three ll's, with collateral and incidental training in the other branches mqntioned above ; and has enriched his mind by general reading, and developed his physique by wholesome sports and exercise, the time will probably have arrived when the necessity of steer- ing his course in some definite direction will begin to force itself on his attention ; and he will be able to weigh with intelligence Si'Clj m 28 WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BE. (Part II.) The considerations which should determine his choice of a vocation. Oii(» of tlic tliiiii2;s oil which Ontario prides herself is, her System of Education ; and, for so young a country, slie lias no need to be ashamed of her schools. But is there no danger of going too fast or too far ? Hav(; we any real need for nineorten Colleges, and al)out lOU High Schools ^ Is the keen competition between these a real benefit to Education 'i Is the feverish Cram- ming which results a wholesome thing for body or mind ? Are the facilities afforded in these Institutions a genuine blessing to the land or the individual ? These questions are legitimate one.^, especially in view of the fact that the youth of the country are being drawn off in alarming numbers from manual labour and agricul- tural pursuits, to ligjiter, easier, more high-toned, or more remunerative occupations. That our present system has a strong tendency to produce this result, there cannot be a glimmer of a doubt. That thousands of the sons and daughters of the sturdy pioneers of the country have become discontented with their lot ; — a lot far better than that of their fathers, — have learned to regard honest labour as degrading ; and are rushing townward for clerkships, milleneries, professions, agen- cies, &c ; and that this is a fact which cannot be disputed and ought to be deplored, I think no sane man will undertake to question. Be the cause what it may, the fact remains. The individual and the state both suf- fer. When too many rise, nobody rises. If mediocrity in a profession be not desirable, what shall we say of incompetency ? Encourage only the best — nature's !t •". rr-^cy of mind — and these are few — Ten High i:<»k jok could hold them all. Indeed even these do not iicnd mnch encouragement. Genuine merit will burst iU) way through all obstacles. Incompetency means misery to the individual ; loss to the community ; for he who makes a bad teacher might have made a first- WHAT SHALL MY CALLIN(; HE. 29 rate ploughman. A country canno; prosper wlien too many consume, and too few produce ; wlien it is thought a higher calling to be a meaourer ot* calico than a tiller of the soil. Nor can it he a wise legisla- tion which tends to decimate the ranks of the farmer and the artizan in order to over-crowd the learned pro- fessions with mediocrities or absolute incompetents. Were the whole community taught the three it's, and most of those who want professions left to get them as best they could, we should have a more contented body of servants, artizans, labourers and farmers ; a vastly superior body of public and professional meiL We liave not one Public School too many ; have we too many High Schools 'i The Education given in the Public School should be free as air : it is my opinion that those who seek a higher education than this, ought to obtain it by personal sacrifice and generally at their own expense. Tliis would be better for the country, juster to the tax-payer, a relief to the profcvS- sioris, and eventually a blessing to the youth who had to ascend the Hill of Science through great tribu- lation. In this paper I have in view principally the agri- cultural class. Among farmers there is a common no- tion, but a very false one, that farming is not a high occupation socially. It is not hard to find the origin of this idea. Ontario was originally settled for the most part by emigrants of the humbler type. They were not rich nor did they hold high social pretensions. Nevertlieless their descendants are the lords of the soil : a high position. There is no occupation so indepen- dent as that of a farmer : therefore it is pre-eininsntly the calling of a gentleman. This independence stamps it as different from all other pursuits. In itself it towers above them all. And it is just as likely — in- deed more likely — to afford a competence as any other. I am sure that the percentage of farmers who attain to comfort if not affluence is far above that in any other calling. But the farmer complains of hard work \ VV-:%\ 30 WHAT SHALL MY <'ALLL\(I IJE. Tliere are worse things than lianl work. True, in itself it <;an liiirdly be considered a desiral)le tliinii^ to come in from the field, weary, and witli the bones aeliini>:; but rememl)er, the appetite is good; digestion active ; the mind at ease ; the slnmber sonnd and sweet. I wisli I eoukl only get farmers to realise the fact that there is a worse kind of weariness than tliat (►f the mnscles ; — that heart ache is worse than an aching bone. How little does yonr average fanner know of the worries, the lieadaches, the mental weariness, the midm'glit tossings, the daily anxieties, the apprehensions of the Teacher, the Merchant, the Physician, the Clergyman, or the iinfortnnate School Inspector! He phjughs his iield as he will ; he fei:ces it to suit himself : no one dares to interfere or dictate. He is "monarch of all he snr- veys !" AVho bnt himself can say as ninch 'i The man who sei'ves the pnl)lic has a vory different tale to tell. IJis mind doth not dwell at ease. Heis never qnite free from actnal or antici[)ated trouble. " Monarch of all I survey!" Glorious ideal. If I were monarch of a good hundred acres of land, I should pitch yonrschf^ols to Jericho to-morrow! Grand thought! To stroll around yonr iields, jnuij) your own fences, gaze on the spreading oaks, hearken to the bleating ot yonr own sheej), eat yonr own potatoes, luxnriate on your own but- termilk, put your own hands into your own pockets, and look around and whistle, and say : " All this is mine ; and all the Browns, Joneses, aiid Robinsons may go to — church for me !" And although eligible farms in Old Canada may not be within every young man's reach, New Canada opens her arms to receive and to welcome all who are willing to labour, and to endure hardness: all who ])rize independence and shrink from the misery which nnsuccess in a profoe- sion is only too certain to entail. Who, with such a prospect before him, would lease himself to the deep liumiliations of a supposed lifo of gentility, which, in most instances, is really a life of lamentation i " Wltat shall my calling he f " In peeking the an- WHAT rtllAIJ. MY rAF-LlNd BE. 31 8wer to tliis (inestion, you oiiglit to <:!:ive due weiglit to jour peculiar circumstances. If 1 )orii to an in lieriti mcc an- whicli, judiciously used, will sutlice for tbe supply of your temporal wants, why then you are pretty safe in givinjij fre(^ swiui^j toyour "natural selection," provid- ed your mental, moral, and physical qualities warrant you in sodoinij^; for even in your case you must not do as you ])lease. without reh your outward person suffer loss, vour better part retains tliat liealth which only a good con- science can bestow ? IFapiw man compared with what you might have been, amputating to death, preacliing souls to sleep, or losing good honest cases in court ! Kememher also that no amount of ancestral wealth warrants you in ruining my leg, somnifying my soul on Sunday, or imperilling my dearset tenjporal interests in the halls of justice. If you are a rich blockhead by virtue of the like qualities in your father, and nmst needs have occupation for occu|)ation'8 sake, you had better travel ; or take to ballooning ; or devote your- self to pisciculture; killing ])otato bugs; exterminat- i ing Canadian thistles ; or endeavoring to locate the ' preciseeconomic valueof any oneindividual mosquito. A very agreeable and innocent amusement has been found in writing a thesis on the " endocranium and maxill- ary suspensorium of the bee," also in analysing the 32 WHAT HIIALL MY CALLIN(; HE. infu8oriae to be found in tlio odoriferous exlmlations from the sole of tlie foot. (Jr, if indeed mentally capa- ble of ])r6found research, yon might find your gold- beladen existence pass pleasantly and harmlessly in diagnosing the nebulae^ — in determining whether the Milky Way is aiot, after all, a macadamized road of granulated lime stone: whether the world is 0,000, or 600,(K)(),000 years of age ; whether there ever was a Ilonier or a Sheakaj^eare ; or, what might be the tan- gible, actual, visible, weighable, material, geometrical value of a " real live '• protoplasm^ when stripped of its encompassing verbiage. Other men of leisure have managed to pass very harmless lives in cognate pursuits; and will be held in everlasting remembrance by a grateful humanity for the amusement, if not instruct- ion, wdiich they have afforded to their less gifted fellow-creatures. To you who not only would consult your predilec- tions in the matter, but 7)iust also have an eye to the " bread-and-butter" aspect of the question, I would say : " Consider well your environment ; your family pros- pects ; your mental power and its drift ; your bodily strength ; your temperament; the means atyour disposal ; the chances of so increasing them as to attain your object; the present and prospective state of the various callings or professions : — lay all such considerations together, and — then decide. I suppose that most of us who have failed, looking back can see whitherward we ought to have bent our steps — too late ! These mournful retro- spects should never be ; and they never would be if young people were always alive to the awfulness of making a mistake that shall hang like a weight of lead on all the years. I think I can help you to decide. I address particularly a farmer's son, who might have a good farm if he chose ; but he has taken a fancy to be something else than a farmer. You want to be a school teacher perhaps? Well, it is a noble calling. Can mortal hands engage in a more important work than moulding young immortals for this life and the next ? WHAT SFFAIJ, MV CAIJ.INfi I!K 33 a be ool an Han Sacred, awful task I liow few arc; e(|nal to it. If it 1)0 true of the pot't that he is "horn" "not made,'' it is not less true of the <;(^nuine teacher. Teachin}; is a gift, an ins])iration. Have you this u^ift { ('an you qualify to pass^ (Jan you l)e content with a small salary ? How about your temper, patience, self-control i After weary years of wearinj^ work, how would you like to retire as a poor superannuated ])edano^ue '{ J*erhaps you would like to be an Inspector \ That is just because you have never been one, and know not what it is. Would you like to be a phvsician or a surwon ? You are not needed as such. Ilave you the steady hand and firm nerve required^ How wouldyou like a life in which there is no certain time for rest, nor a very certain time for pay I Tt is a most beneficent profession. There is something (lodlike in this healing of the sick : but the labor is great, the remuneration small. Pendianco the clerical profession would suit your taste ? Here I will not advise you. Judge for yourself. Would you be a lawyer % Ah ! now we have it ! big miggets of gold ! yes, but, all dug out by a few. Like most other callings this has its prizes ; but the profession is already overstocked, and none but the very best can ho])e to enrich or distinguish themselves. It might also be called a respectable profession, were it not for the countless swarm of pestilent inferiorities that have, somehow, gained an entrance within its pale. These cormorants, who scramble for the crumbs that fall from the Division Court Tables, have made the profession mahidorous for all time. If you would enter on mercantile pursuits, all I can say is, that I am assured not more than three merchants out of every hundred succeed. The land surveyor, and the civil engineer are quite as often out of work as in it ; although well paid when employed. Of course if your ambition is to rise above the position of a farmer, it were only waste time to ask you how you would like to learn a trade ; — to be a shoemaker, a carpenter, a tailor, or a stone mason. Are you sure however, that in your ambition to engage in cultivating I 34 WHAT SHALL MY CALLING BE. the hi^lier underBtandings of children, yon are not i'uilty of unfairness to their nether understandings 'i that in makingyourself aninferiorschoolniasteryouwouklnotbo spoiling an excellent shoemaker? There is nothing de- grading or disgraceful in ant/ lawful cnllirig : I should rather be a Urst-class mechanic than a third-rate pro- fessional man. There are mediocrities and nonentities in every walk ot life ; and perhaps they would do less liarni tilling the soil than in any other occupation. Many a one who could never be taught how to make a watch, might easily learn how to dig a ditch, or build a fence, or scatter seed in seed-time. There is something wrong when the learned professions teem with noodles, and tlie trades with botches ; seeing tliat the rest of the connnunity thus suffer doubly at their hands : first, direct- ly by their botching and bungling ; second, remotely, by their a bsence from the farm, where they might be eminent- ly useful, perfectly harmless, a .d always in demand, — for you cannot overcrowd this calling. 13elievc me, it is no joke to havo a suit of clothes sent home late on Saturday night — a suit in w^hich you were to appear in church next day — and find them fit so badly that you cannot wear them. Very likely you will have all the greater need to go to church ! Doubtless, nature meant that tailor to cut clods, not cloth. Or suppose the suit to fit, and and you go to church but hear a useless discourse: again you say of the preacher, ^' This sower has got into the wrong field." And so we come back to where we started : the wrong man in the right place : the square man in the round hole : little men in the armour of giants : asses mistaking themselves for Arabian steeds : men making laws who cannot write them : or feeling pulses, who ought to he feeding out pulse / or training " young ideas," instead of trees, how to shoot. It is said that Dr. Pomeroy, the clairvoyant physician, takes his patient's hand, goes off into the clairvoyant state, and names the disease. Would that we had some Pom- eroy to take each youth by the hand and say unerringly, you are a doctor, and you a carpenter, and you a tmer WHAT MIAf-L MY (^ALLINO UK. 35 of the soil. How smootlily then woiiUl roll the wheels of life ! No jarring. No waste. No giantH weariiif^ boy's trousers. No dwarfs strnttiiiij^ in the arinour of Saul. Until that happy time arrive, let us choose as best we can ; knowing that for Time at least, the decision to ourselves and many others may he fraught with weal or woe, whatever it may prove for Eternity. ■111 ■Vli* » H^^. jeMfam^. QN» Curricula » <•> — I. MULTOS. We attempt too iiuicli in our schools and Colleges. The range of studies is beyond tlie grasp of any one intellect. The efiect is bad from any 2)oint of view ; but Education Herself is tlie chief sufferer. When the whole mass of our youth become saturat- ed with that instruction which is the birthright of every child and a necessity in every instance, — the three E,'s at least, thoroughly mastered, — the solid foundation of genuine Kational Instruction has been laid. This is the level plain or rolling landscape from whose fertile bosom should spring up, here and there, the hills of Secondary, the mountains of Final Education. It is a stool from which ambitious youth may climb to higher things. From this platform he who feels with- in him the ability and the wish to rise, may accomplish his purpose by making sacrilices and enduring priva- tions. These sacrifices and privations furnish at once a test of this ability and and)ition, and render possible that annealing process which burns acquirements into the very being, and renders elevation valuable and enduring. When rising is easy many will rise : when too many rise, nobody rises. We are making mistakes here. We are crowding the land with the offspring of High School and College to the detriment alike of the indi- vidual and the Community, We are forcing a host of mediocrities or worse up to a plateau on which it was never intended by Nature that they should tread ; and where they elbow and jostle Nature's Greater ones in the struggle for existence. Nature's intellectual nobles are aiu few in number ; and these need no forcing no petting, no unusual privileges, — only protection from ) CURRICULA. 37 mediocrity. There is a iniglity intrinsic value in the very difficulty of rising. Uugged, nut rosy, arc the roads that wind up the slopes of the Hill of Science. You are not befriending aspiring youth by too smoothly macadamizing these paths. So many scramble for prizes that these are comparatively few and small. I am not a warm advocate of too profuse assistance to students. The less help you render a clever lad, — and it is only such that ought to seek a profession, — the better ultimately for himself and for masculine scholar- ship. After all, the world does not need many scholars : these can only be made out of the very best nuiterial : such material is scarce. Within it, however, is that expansive force which will burst its way throu"'h all obstacles. Let us, mediocrities, stand aside, we do not need Double Firsts or Senior Wranglers between the plow handles : but we do want intelligent plough- men ; and we want to see the high places of the land filled with men to whom Natu'*e has issued her patents of Mobility. Diamonds of this kind, although scarce, are yet so numerous as to p'reclude the necessity of trying to polish and beautify the coarser stones. Wo are, in Canada, an agricultural people ; and our inter- ests are jeopardized, our social equilibrium disturbed, by a very common desertion of rural labour for school teaching, clerkships, or professions. Thus, whilst Agriculture looses, Scholai'ship makes no real gain ; the learned professions are degraded by an inliux of Inferiorities more or less artificially produced. Is it not sheer folly to give a young man or woman the highest possible Education with its concomitant refinements and literary delicacies, and then expect them to take to '9\ • m. scrubbing or hoeing turnips with enthusiasm II. MULTA. When a youth's education fits him for the life battle, it is a blessing. When it unjits him, it is a curse. And it is possible to educate a young man away from 38 CURRICULA, ^ all aptness for battling with the world as he may chance to meet it. Modern Education has done tliis more than once. We have too much taught too many people : we are also trying to teach too many things. Kot in Ontario alone, but, it would seem, all over the worlds prevails a very epidemic of mental covetousness. Men must needs know all that is knowable. It is a vain ambition. It is what no man has ever achieved or ever shall. A Methuselah would be mad to attempt a task like this. The older grows the world, the remoter the accomplishment of a desire so insane. This rage for universal knowledge accounts, I suppose, for the wide range of studies exacted from students at the higher seats of learning. I do not say too many sub- jects are taught in our Colleges ; but that too much is asked from each student. Teach what you will ; but let the principle of options prevail. We teach too many things at one and the same time to one and the same student. This evil is not unknown in our Public Schools. I have known young children have to sit up till 11 o'clock at night poring over their lessons for the next day. It is a sad sight. It means life-long injury to mind and body. And what is the gain ? A few snatches of half-culture, with shattered health, impeded mental growth and power. In such instances, however, the Teacher is to blame rather than the Pro- gramme ; or, perhaps I ought to say, the high pressure which drives him to over-task liis pupils in order to maintain his credit at Examinations. In Ontario, the Public School Programme has been reduced to very reasonable dimensions; and if the admirable directions which accompany it were duly regarded, no injury could arise from over-work. With both the letter and the spirit of these instructions I most heartily agree. They do credit to their author and to tlie Minister of Educa- tion. AVisdom is stamped on every line of them. And, if the High School course is too burdensome, I suppose the blame must lie at the door of the University. Whither this last may shift the responsibility I cannot I CURRICULA. 39 ire to the 1 say, unless it be to the shoulders of Public Opinion — supposed to be enlightened. It seems that Public Opinion, on the whole, leans towards continually in- creasing the number of studies in the various CarriGU' ?a/— the enlightenment may well be questioned. At College I have w^itnessed very sad results from this attempt to master too many things at once. The mind it distracts, gluts, disgusts : the body it robs of the exercise and recreation which are its due, and the power of digestion, without which both body and mind will soon come too grief. When the student is attacked by both mental and physical indigestion at once, his case is bad enough. A calm, unflurried, tho^igh intense mental activity is not only not objectionable from a hygienic point of view, but positively tends to promote the health of the whole man. Not so mental inaction on the one hand, or fevered mental overstrain on the other. The human mind may exercise itself in close, deep, intense, nay prolonged meditation without de- triment, so long as no distraction occurs to ruffle its contemplations. But this is just what does occur hourly when the student has " too many irons in the fire.'' The body suffers ; the mind is surfeited — disgusted. The distaste for studies thus engendered will last for years, perhaps for life. " It is cleai," says a high authority, *' that the hasty mental fingering of a dozen heterogen- eous subjects robs them all of the freshness of their interest ; and the half-instruction in them which we receive at school, destroys their zest for all our after life." There is too much truth in these words. I know from experience that the smoke, and fog, and cobwebs which gathered in the old College days over certain " hastily fingered " subjects, have only been dispelled, in my case, and a fresh interest created in these subjects by a determination to begin anew, and form a calm, rational, re-acquaintance with them. Perhaps tlie majority of students never get over the nausea. In any case recovery takes time, convalescence dawning as the blood begins to cool, or the Evening Sea-breeze ill ■a 'i 40 CURRICULA. of Life to sooth the fevered temples ar:d refresh the wearied soul. How dreadful ! the sanctuaries of learn- ing made the fountain-heads of a life-long distaste for it! The crowning twin Educational heresies of our time are these : (1) Whatever is worth hiowiny owjht to he taught in school : (2) Whatever eamiot he converted into an immediate practical^ or cash^ value^ ought to he excluded. These heresies prevail extensively among the " New Lights " — " advanced thinkers" — and seli- styled " scientists ; " — gentry who occasionally retrace their steps to eat their own progeny ; — who sneer at the poor antiquated divine and his dogma, when they are in the very act of exploding their own. And what can be more plansible than the idea that whatever is worth knowing ought to he taught in school ! Surely I ought to try to know all that is worth knowing ? This is the tone abroad. Every new thing if useful " ought to be introduced into our schools." I wonder we have not dynamite manufacture on our school programme ! Where is there a more effective agent of imman prog- ress ? Why not teach the children how to make, handle, and use it ? Is it not disgraceful, in this enlightened age, that a man should travel on a Railway and yet not know anything about the engine '{ Send telegrapnic messages in totiil ignorance of electricity ? Vote at Elections, and yet be ignorant of Jurisprudence or Political Economy ? Sell geese at 'Xinas, without hav- ing taken a course in oi'nithology ? Breathe common air every day, and yet die without knowing even the names of its constituent elements ? Such ignorance is inexcusable. In one of our County schools, 1 was once present whilst a class was questioned on Human Phy- siology. And edifying it was to witness the rattling brilliancy with which they named and numbered the various parts of the human frame, — the number of bones in the hand, foot &c., ifec. I could not help asking myself : "Cui bono?" If my foot should get crushed, what would it profit me to know how many bones are fi CUKRK'ULA. 41 F Ire in it i Away witli siicli a wa^te of time I Life is too filiort for it. School life cannot afford it. Of what conceivable nse is it for a child to know the number of bones in the human foot i Should any one of these bones become displaced, would lie be found one whit nearer the skill to set it right than another child who ut the nature and uses of the endless iniinitude of plants ? Herein may be locked away a very magazine of ''reliefs" for pain. Somebody, some day, may find the key : the mass of the educated must be content to remain in igno- rance, unless a jingle of hard names constitutes scientilic knowledge. Iluxley says:""'^ " ^''or my own part, I would not raise a finder, if I could therebv introduce inerehooh'Worh\\\^Q,\Q\\Q,Qmto every Arts Curriculum in the Country. Let those who want to study hooks devote themselves to Literature^ in which we have the perfection of Books both as to substan(;e and as to lorm. Books are the money of Literature, but only the counters of Science, — Science being the know- ledge oifaet^ of which every verbal description is but an incomplete and symbolical expression. And be assured that no teaching of Science is worth anything as a mental discipline, which is not based upon the thuselah might, with much pro- priety, have tnlv'^n half a century to get his doctor's degree ; and mi^iit 'ery i iiHv have been required to pass a practical examination upon the contents of the JBritish Museum, before commencing to practise as a promising young fellow of two hundred or thereabouts." Kot in school, or during school days are these things to be learnt, but after school days are over — if ever. For most of us no matter if never. The second heresy would exclude whatever cannot be immediately used, or converted into cash. This doctrine is, if possible, more pestiferous than the last. There aresubjectsof great value as intruments of culture, which are yet, to the mass, of little direct, tangible, financial use. Such is Geometry ; a subject of which it can hardly be said as it may be said of Arithmetic that it can be turned to daily account. And yet, who w^ould desire to see (Geometry cut off the programme ? Who would compare the vulgar trickery of figures with the noble science of Geometry. It is the science of God, — the Architect of the universe, — whose bound- less realms certain "scientists" would circumscribe with parallel lines which meet ! I know of no subject of less direct cash value to most people, nor of any in which I should prefer to see my son proficient, except m CURRICULA. 45 mot his ast. ire, ble, ich tic ho le? ires Ince Ind- t-ibe iect in lept I perhaps Classical Literature. A study which, above all others, developes, guides, streugthens the reasoning faculties, ought not to get the ' go-by ' in an age of Reason. No, no. It will never do. There are useful Brandies which ought not to be taught in school, (I mean the common school especially) ; useless ones which ought, and which must, if we would not descend in culture below the level of our ancestors. Beware of quacks. If every human being possessed an accurate know- ledge of all that is, would the sum of human happiness be really greater than it now is ? The wise man says : " In much wisdom is mnch grief : and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." There is a wide range of fact not desirable for every one to know, even were such knowledge possible. I don't know the number of bones in my hand, or how they help to move this l^en : I never knew ; yet I learned to write, and can still write,I imagine, just as well as if I had learned all about my hand before I suffered it to grasp a pen. Voluntary and involuntary, flexor and extensor muscles, do their work all the same whether I know their num- ber, name, positions, and uses or not. Does a man see any better after he has learned the rudiments of Optics than he did before ? Ought he refuse, on principle, to hear sweet sounds, until he has done justice to Acou- stics? Who would not enjoy the "bag-pipes," even had he never learned u note of music ? Indeed, once admit the principle that we ought to know a thing be- cause it is true, and teach it because it is worth know- ing ; and you at once stretch human life on a rack from which there is no release, and in which there is no healthy growth, development, or ease : — you sentence it to a curriculum of sheer distraction. There is no limit— no halting-place. If a child ought to be taught the number of bones in his foot, why not also, in his hand ? Why not the muscles and their names ? and all of Anatomy ? and physic ? and surgery ? and medical jurisprudence? Why stop at man? Here come the •■''■''I ■< '.ill Ill iii' f'M 44 CUKRICULA. Dog, tlie llorsu, the Snake? tliu Fish, the Bird: why not analyze and niasterthesc to the last (listin(;tive hair, or scale, or lin, or feather? Why not '' ineniorize" tlie number of teeth assigned to a normal bull-dog? The knowledge would be about e(]nal in value to that of the nund)er of bones in the human foot. Why not diagnose the fangs of a blue moccasin ? or, enumerate and classify the scales on a black bass ? But the former liaunts the long-grassed '•" bottom kinds " down by the wild Western River ; and the latter loves the deep water : to be consistent, thither must you follow tliem, so as to learn all about their hahitats as well as them- selves. Love is useful : what were the world without Love? llow tremendously important to human beings it is that they should love "wisely" and — not '"too well ! " Yet wdiere are your Text-books ? Your pro- fessors of the precious Art ? What art more important than that of shoe-making ? But if all couhl make shoes, nobody would have good ones : and the sermons would be worse than they are. JSe sutor ultra crepUlam. The school world must respect the old principle of the Division of Labour. Without this, human society would come to a stand-still, or cro crashinii: '' heels over head." It is a nice thing to know how to make a watch : but, if your son is destined for the Law, he has no time for watch-making. We must have more Op- tions after the three R's : and special subjects must always be left to special men. I know of but one Science on which all kinds of people are qualified to five an opinion — the Science of Theology. I never new a man hold his tongue on this from a conscious- ness of ignorance. Surrounded by this rage for universal attainment, it demands no little courage in a man to be, and to remain, ignorant of many things, — I had almost said proud of his ignorance. Yes, a man can afford to be even proud of his ignorance when he knows that he stands jirst in anyone line, a position w^iicli can only be attained by being content to remain ignorant * of much which. CURRICULA'. 45 others know, or lialf-know.* TTntil we fi^ain this courage, we can never rise to a higher status than llalf- cnlture. No individual can liope to excel in many things at once. Be your natural gifts what tliey may, you can only reach tiie top on one ])ath. You must have your s})ecialtyand stick to it. How is it, then, that we expect of children something analagous to what we ourselves confessedly cannot pretend to attempt i I cannot he at once a first i-ate Doctor, Preacher, Lawyer, Statesman, Farmer, and Mechanic ; hut 1 expect my son to be a first-class Tieader, Writer, Arithmetician, Geographer, (irrammarian, Algebraist, Historian, (tco- metrician, with a smattering of Botany, Chemistry, Philosophy, Mensuration, Book-keeping, and (reology ! If the adult, in order to succeed, must confine his efforts to a single line ; how shall a ehild carry a dozen branches abreast 'i This question must be squarely met : other- wise straw rather than wheat shall be our harvest. I'll vl'li ] 'V. ■ III. MULTUM. We must substitute i/i iiltum. for omdta. Our Public School Programme (jf studies is not really overcharged. Its rational use rests with the Teacher, Parents, and Trustees, Let Public Opinion rave. As m;^6'Amay be taught as ever, with shorter hours, fewer and smaller Text books. The time devoted to any subject ought to bear a just proportion to its value. Much of the teaching may be made incidental, collateral. The time *My estecmod fri^rnl, tho Hi:v. A. C. Nr.sp.riT, M. A., Rector of Richmond, has kindly sent me the followintr fromtlie Chwrdi <,iunrtf.rhj /trfleiuforUrtohrr. — "The Roanl by whom the studies of the Theoloffical School at Oxfyrd nrc controlled and directed, hav« lately decided on a chanse of no small importance. They propose to break up the hu^e and unmanaireable mass of dozmatic Theology into three sepa- rate subjects between which the stmlcnt nuni Vdcf his choiix ; and, in his reading, they direct his attention to the subject so chosen, rather than to any particular book which they may require him to read. The F-xamination will aim at trstimj hia (jnisj) on the j)?n»ci/'?('s with which th" suggested books are concerned, The student will thus work with a definite aim before him: he will hfive a thread to follow as he makes his way along. Even if he looses something by narrowing his attention to one special tield, he will gain iiijinltclii more than hi' looses '))/ srcnriiuj intrlliijfut possfs- ion of the matters which he handles, instead of being lett, at the end of his course, with a Tag ue and insecure hold on a system of doctrine which ilendens bij its mass, and tf.irihh-rs by its vcriety. An accurate grasp on any one of the main theological subjects is a sure method«of entry upon a/i the other subjects with whioh it is so Intimately united." m If'* 1^1 4 CURRICULA. devoted to such subjects as Geography should be reduced to a miiiiniuin. In this way room would be left for a more thorough drill in solid, intellectual matters, such as Euclid. English Grammar has usurped too much space. Why should it be so entirely separated from tlie little family group to which it belontj^s ? Writing, Spelling, Composition, Grammar should go hand m hand, and be chiefly taught from the Readers. If these were absolutelypure in style, the pupil would insensibly, but gradually imbibe a like purity of composition, and an accurate use of speech. As the matter stands at present, the best pupils in our schools are distinguished rather for a knowledge of the rules of Grammar, than for easy, graceful, and elegant diction. Even Teach- ers themselves, are sometimes known to speak the Queen's English with awkwardness, and write it without grace. To conclude : let the school drill be daily supple- mented by continuous general Reading. In this way the youth of the land will go forth to the battle of Life ■with faculties well-trained for the conflict, and with an <3ver-expanding intelligence. » ^ » — ^' i MISCELLANEA • ♦• I am a strenuous advocate of a General Elementary Education, — more thorough and real than that we boast of, though less pretentious, — but I am no blind worshipper of this Modern god. I am not one of those who consider Education a panacea for our social ills. I do not deem " Ignorance the mother of Vice ; "* nor Virtue inseparable from Intelligence. Besides the mat- ters discussed in previous Papers, there are many things debateable in our Modern Systems. Many of the pre- valent ideas on Education are utterly unsound — some of them simply pernicious. Some things which pass current as axiomatic truths, are not only untrue, but * " If Ignorance were the mother of vice, and if our pnl'lic-school system wer* what it is set up to be, the fruits of thi* latter would by this time have been mani- fest, plulDly visible to the wholn world, in our mor*l advancement as a people, in a higher tone in our society, in the greater purity of our politics, and the incorrup- tibility of our legislators, in the increase probity of the executive otticers of our State and Municipil Governments and of our Corporate financial bodies, in the superior wisdom and more solid integrity of our bench, in the sobriety of our matrons, the modesty of our maidens, the greater faithfulness ot wives, the diminution of <]ivorces, the steady decrease of vice and crime and idleness ann that the mere fii^ht of Intel- lectual Education pi-oduces JSforal elevation of the masses. This is indeiMl the nd.vpn tPctie of our Sehool Bvstein. Many honestly helieve this : some douht it: )tli Id oriiers d^Mjy it fofo celo. These last contend that col( intellectual Li«,dit, witluMit moral warmth, '' will not produce a healthy social life," any more than a healthy physi(;al life can exist in the lii^dit of a thousand suns, without the fjjenial warmth of one. "My own jud«r- ment is that man's three-fold nature must he eqaallij cultivated all round if y(Mi would liave liim sound and safe in every way: .md that in practice, we really treat tlie cultivation of the Intellect as the whole or nearly the whole of Educatioiu 1 helieve it is God's will, not that man should remain in a state of nature, but that all parts of his bi»'g should be caused to grow harmoniously together. According to the "Keport of the President of the New York lioard of Education" for 1870, nearly four million dollars were paid for public education in that city in one year. A writer connnenting on this state- ment, says : "" According to independent and competent evidence from all (piarters, the mass of the pupils of these public schools are unable to read intelligently, to spell correctly, to write legibly, or to do anything that reasonably well-educated children should do with ease. They cannot write a simple letter; they cannot do readily and with quick comprehension a simple " sum " in practical Arithmetic ; they cannot tell the meaning of any but the commonest of the words they spell so ill. They can give rules glibly ; they can recite from memory ; they have some dry, disjointed knowledge, of various ologies and osopMes ; they can, some of them, read a little French or German witli a very bad accent ; but, as to such elementary education as is alike the foundation of all real higher education, and the sine qua non of successful life in this age, they are, most of MISCELLANEA. 4» J? Ung so [•om nt ; I the nne of them, in ahnost as helpless and harren a condition of mind as if they had never crossed the threshold of a Bchoolliouse." ,^ Another writes : *' Scholars of fourteen years of age did not know how to read, write, or cipher. Thev could, it is true, repeat the pieces in their school reaa- ers, parse and spell in classes, and rattle off rules in grammar and arithmetic, not one word of which they underetood ; but if they were called upon to write the shortest of letters or the simplest of composition, or to go through the plainest of arithmetical combinations, tlieir failure was complete." Thus far the schools of New York city. This picture has a startling likeness to our own eome years ago. We do better now. In Carleton, I insist on it that every pupil of fourteen should be able to read well, have a tiuent pen , know how to express his thoughts, and have thoughts to express ; spell correctly ; be ready, quick, accurate in mental numerical calculations, and not bother his head too much about isms and ologies COJVIPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS. This is eminently an age of Examinations. I do not mean to discuss the question of Public. School Ex- aminations, at which, the shallower the exhibition, the greater usuall v the applause of admiring Parents and V isitors. I shall confine myself to examinations such as Teachers are required to undergo. The East India Service and the Civil Service in England are now re- cruited through the medium of competitive examina- tions ; and the Public Mind seems to assume the finality of these examinations as a test of fitness for office. My experience of fourteen years as a member of an ex- amining Board does not lead me to a similar conclu- sion. Competitive Examinations are indispensable^: but as a test of Capacity they are not conclusive. Con- ducted under cast-iron rules, the judgment, the wisdom of the Examiners is all but excluded. A candidate who succeeds in getting so many marks, passes as a i 'i, 50 MISCELLANEA. ,M matter of course : another who falls short by a mark or two, fails. Even were the marking infallible, the test would not be absolute. Some examiners may con- sider themselves all but infallible ; but is there one infallible examiner in existence? But, assuming the marking to be absolutely correct, does it follow that the result is unassailable ? I do not think no. In this age of " Ci am," with our ingenious and multifarious facilities for " Cram," the chances are that solid worth may be set aside for shallow, showy expertness. The man that gets the most marks is not always the best scholar. Modesty and nervousness have caused many to fail in a public examination. And then, how many qualities necessary in a good teacher, are there, which cannot be taken account of under this system. I would adhere to the system as it is, and so far as it goes : but I do not think it should be final. Candidates should be further required to pass an oral examination. They should be asked to discuss some question in presence of the Board, or to write a thesis, which would bring out their mental Capacity, not their "Cram." Professor Huxley says: "Examination — thorough, searching examination— is an indispensable accompaniment of teaching; and I am almost inclined to commit myself to the very heterodox proposition, that it is a necessary evil. I am an old Examiner, having for twenty years past been occupied with ex- aminations on a considerable scale, of all sorts and conditions of men, and women too — from the boys and girls of elementary schools, to the Candidates for Hon- ors and Fellowships in the Universities. I will not say that in this case, as in so many others, the adage, that familiarity breeds contempt, nolGb good ; but my admiration for the existing system of examination and its products, does not wax warmer as I see more of it. Examination, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master ; and there seems to me to be some danger of its becoming our master. I by no means stand alone in this opinion. Experienced friends of mine do not \ f MISCELLANEA. 61 \ hesitate to say that students wliose career they watch, appear to them to become deterioiated l)y the constant effort to pass this or that examination ; ffeet as we hear of men's brains becoming affected by the daily neces- sity of catcliinor a train. T/tey work to pass, not to hiow ; and outraged science takes her revenge. They do pass, and they do not know. I have passed sundry examinations in my time, not without credit ; and, 1 confess I am ashamed to think hoio very little real knowledge underlay the torrent of stu-ff which I was able to pour out on paper. In fact, that which exami- nation, as ordinarily conducted, tests, is simply a man's power of work under stimulus, and his capacity for rapidly and clearly producing that which, for a time, he has got into his mind." Professor Huxley is right. Public opinion, however, jealously watching, says: " marks, only marks." The truth is that in this Ke- publican age, everybody distrusts everybody, — the result is cast-iron rules which shut everybody's mouth and satisfy nobody. Our experiments in Education will eventually land us back in the old methods. Cen- tralization, system, may have their advantages; but local influences will not be challenged with impunity. How can the " Centra. Committee " know from his " Papers " whether the Candidate wears a shirt collar, or appears before his pupils with unpolluted boots ? I suppose, however, that shirt collars, and polish, are not matters of consequence. Our Examinations are a test