L^y
LIBRARY
or THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
%eceM j^fj g ,gg3 .,80
Accessions No. H<\<^ • S" . ciiiss No.
Uime ^juci^Liun ixMin oil, ijciicr- i> /iitnu- i'iiper, loiiiu, pp. ou lu
A lirirf (ieography of Oiumdaua Coimty. 16mo, pp. 48, with Map 25
The School liullctin Year Book, 1885. Cloth, 16nu), int.-r leaved, pp. 160 1 00
Bassett (J. A.) Latitude, Longitude and Time, Hanilla, 16nio. pp.42 25
Beebe (Levi N.) Fiist Stepi< among Figures. Cloth, 16nio, pp. 326 100
Pupils' Editim. Cloth, I61110, pp. 140 45
Beesau {Am&.h\e) The Spirit of Educalion. Cloth, 16nio. pp. 325, and portrait 1 25
Bennett (C. VV.) National Education in Europe. Paper, 8vo, pp. 28 15
Bradford (W. II.) Thirty I'o^sUile Prohlemn in Percentage. 16ino, pp. 84 .. . 25
Blakely (VV. A.) Chart of Parliaincntary linles. rarchnient Paper, pp. 4 25
Brown (I. II.) Common Sctiool FJxaminrr (Hid Re.view. Pp. 371 1 00
Buckhani ;llenry B.) Handbook for Young Teacfiers. Cloth, IGnio, pp. 152. 75
Biigbee, (A. (i ) Exercl'^es in EnglUh Syrdax. Leatherette, 16mo, pp. 85.. 85
Key to the name. Leatherette, 16mo. pp. 86 85
Bulletin Spelling Pad-'<, 70 pajjes. Each 15
Book-Keeping Blankx. Day-Book, Journal, Ledger, Cash-Book, Sales-
Hook, In sets or singly. Press-board, 7x854, pp. 28. Each 15
Compoxiiion Book. Manilla, 7x9, pp. 44 15
Claris Register. Press-board cover. Three Sizes, (a) 6x7, for terms of
tweuty weeks (h) 5x7, for terms of fourteen weeks. Pp. 48 25
(c) Like (7>) but with one-half more (72) pages 85
Bnrchard ((). K.) Two Moidhs in Europe. Paper, l6mo, pp, 168 50
Biirritt (,I. L.) Penmanshi}) in Puttlic Schools. l2mo, pp. 62 and chart — 60
Canfleld (James H.) 77i<? Opportunities of the Rural Poor for Higher Edu-
ncation . Paper, 8vo. pp. 24 15
CarliHle (J. S.) Two Orent Teachers. Johnson's Memoir of Roger As-
cham, and Selections from Stanley's Life of Thomas Arnold. Cloth,
Ifimo, pp. 252 10
Catalogue of Books for Teachers. 8vo, pp, 72 06
Cheney (p\) A Glnhe Manual for Schools. Paper. 16mo, pp, 95 25
Civil Service OueHti on Book. IGmo. cloth, pp. 282 1 50
Code of Public luHtruction, State of New York, 1888, pp. 1075, »l«« 4(H)
Colored Crayon, for Blackboard, per box of one dozen, nine colors 25
CoIIinH (Henrv.) The International Date Line. Paper, 16mo, pp. 15 15
CoineuiuM, Orhis Pictus. Cl<»th. 8vo, large paper, top edge gilt. Pp.282 3 00
Comfort ((Jeo. F.) Modern Layiguagex in Education. Pai)er,16mo. pp.40. 26
({Jeo. F. and Anna M ) Woman's Kdvcation and Woman's Health.
Cloth, 16ino, pp. 155 1 00
Comfort, (Silas F ) Orthographic and Isometric Projection. 16mo, pp. 64.. 75
Cook« (Sidney n.) Politics and Schools. Paper, 8vo. pp. 23 25
Cooper (Oscar R.) Compulsory I^ws and their Enftrrcement. Paper, 8vo,
PP 6 15
Cnbe Root Blockn, carried to 8 places 1 00
CycInpuMlia of Education Cloth, 8vo, pp. 562.. 8 75
Davis (W. W.) Suggest inm for Teaching Fractions. Paper, 16m 0, pp. 48.. 25
*FrartionnlAj)i}arntu.'*.\n ho\ 4 00
De Graff (K. V.) Practical Phonics. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 108 75
Pocket Pronunciation Book. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 47 II
C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER, SYRACUSE, N. Y. /
, . . r'
DeGraflf (E. V.) The School-Room Guide to School Management and Meth-
ods of Teaching. 70th Edition. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 350 1 50
Development Lessons. Cloth, 8vo., pp. 301 1 50
The Song Budget. Paper, small 4to, pp. 76. 136f ?i thousand 15
The School-Boom Chorus. Boards, small 4to, pp. 147 35
Calisthenics and Disciplinary Exercises. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 89 25
De Guimps (Roger). Pestalozzi, his aim and worH. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 331... 1 50
Denominational Schools. Discussion ot 1889 Paper, 8vo, pp. 71 25
Dickinson (John W.) The Limits of Oral Teaching. Paper, pp.24 15
Dlehl (Anna Randall-) A Pi^actical Ddsarte Primer. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 66. . . 50
Diplomas, printed to order from any design furnished. Specimens sent.
(a) Bond paper, 14x17, for25 5 00
•'•'♦«" 50 6 50
(b) " " 16x20," 25 5 50
«« " " « 50 7 50
(c) Parchment, 15x20" 5 6 00
Each additional copy 75
Durham (J. H.) Carleton Island in the Revolution. Paper, 16mo, pp. 128. 50
Sckardt's Anatomical Charts, per set 15 00
iSducation as Viewed by Thinkers. Paper, 16mo, pp. 47 15
Kmerson (H. P.) Latin in High Schools. Paper, 8vo, pp. 9 25
Essays on the Kindergarten. Cloth, l2mo, pp. 175 100
Farnham (Geo. L.) The Sentence Method of Reading. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 50. 50
Fitch (Joshua G.) The Art or Questioning. Paper, 16mo, pp. 36 15
The Art of Securing Attention. Paper, IHmo, pp. 43. Second Edition.. 15
Lectures on Teaching, Reading Club Edition. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 436, 1 25
Froebel(Fr.) Autobiography of. Cloth, 12mo, pp, 183 150
Gill (John.) School Management. 44th Thousand. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 276.... 1 00
Granger (Oscar.) Metric Tables and Problems. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 23.... 25
Gray (Thos. J.) Methods and Course.'* in Normal Schools. Paper, 8vo,pp. 19 15
Griffin (Ida L.) Topical Geography, with !^ethods Leatherette, 12mo, pp.142 50
Hailinann (W, N.) Kindergarten Manual. Boards, 8vo, pp. 68 75
The New Education. 8vo, pp. 146. Two series. Each . 2 00
Hall (Marcelia W.) Orthoepy Made Easy. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 100 75
Harlow (W. B.) Early English Literature. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 138 75
Harris, (W. T.) Natural Science in the Public; Schools. Paper, ]6mo,pp. 40. 15
The Educational Value of Manual Training. Paper, 8vo, pp . 14 15
Art Education The True Industrial Education. Paper, 8vo, pp. 9 15
University and Sc/wol Extension, Paper, 8vo, pp. 12 15
The General Government and Public Education. Paper, 8vo, pp. 8 15
Report on Pedagogical and Psychological Observation. Paper, 8vo, pp. 6. 15
Heermans (Forbes.) Stories of the Ear West. Cloth, Ifimo, pp.260... 125
Hendrick (Mary F.) Questions in Literature. Boards, 16mo, pp. 100... 35
Hendrick ( W ) " The Table is Set." A Comedy for Schools, 16mo, pp. 80. . 15
School History of the State of New York. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 203 75
Hinsdale (B. A.) Pedagogical Ch'Hrs in Colleges. Paper, 8vo, pp. 11 15
Hoose (James H.) Studies in Articulation. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 70 50
On the Province of Methods of Teaching. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 376 1 00
Pestalozzian First- Year Arithmetic. Boards, 16mo, pp. 217 50
Pupils' Edition. Boards, 16mo, pp, 156 35
Second Year Arithmetic. Boards, i6mo, pp 236 50
♦Hornstone Slating, the best crayon surface made. Per gallon 8 00
Slated Paper, per square yard (if by mail, 60 cts) 60
Hoss (Geo. H.) Memory Gem^. 16 rho, paper, pp. 40 15
Hughes (James L.) Mistakes in Teaching. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 135 50
How to Secure and Retain Attention. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 98 50
Huntington (Rt. Rev. F. D.) Unconscious Tuition. Paper, 16mo, pp. 45.. 15
Hutton (H. H.) A Manual of Mensuration. Boards, 16mo, pp. 168 50
Jackson (E. P.) Class Record Cards. 90 white and 10 colored cards 50
Johnson's Chart of Astronomi/. On blue enamelled cloth, 40x46 inches 3 50
Johnston's Wall Maps. Send for Circulars.
* Jones's Vacuum Blackboard Erasers. Per dozen 1 00
Juliand (Anna M.) Brief Views of U. S. History. Leatherette, 16mo,pp, 68. 35
Keller (C.) Monthly Report Cards. 2%x4 inches. Per hundred 100
Kennedy (John.) 77ie Philosophy of School Discipline. 16mo, pp. 23... 15
Kiddle (Henry.) SOOO Grammar Quedions, with Full Answers and Refer-
ences to all leading Text Books. Cloth. 16mo, pp. 220 1 CO
Knott (E. E.) The Ready Reference Law Manual. Cloth. 8vo, pp. 381 2 fO
Liandon (Jos.) School Managp.ment. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 376 1 25
l.atham (Henry ) On the Action of Examinations, 12mo, pp. 400 1 60
Liaurie (S. S.) John Amos Comenius ; his Life and Educational Works,
Cloth, 12mo, pp. 229 1 00
Lawrence (E. C.) Recreations in Ancient Fields. Cloth, 12mo, pp.177... 1 00
THE
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIN&.
IN FIVE PARTS.
PART I. ON METHOD AS APPLIED TO EDUCATION.
PART II. ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES.
PART IIL ON THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFERENT METHODS AND
SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTION.!
PART IV. ON THE APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO THE
VARIOUS BRANCHES OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.
PART V. ON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND DISCIPLINE.
By T. TATE, F. R. A. S.
With an Introduction by Col. Francis W. Parker.
SECOND AMERICAN EDITION, FROM ENTIRELY NEW PLATES.
^'^ OF THK "^^
IJHri7ERSIT
SYRACUSE, N. Y. ;
W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER.
1885.
^^.
-^o'^
NOTE TO THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.
No English book on education has been oftener called for than this
during the past Ave years; but a;s the original edition was exhausted and
the publishers did not replace it, copies have been wholly unattainable.
Accordingly, I have re-printed it at Col. Parker's desire and from a copy
lent me by him, following the English edition exactly, even to the paging,
but reducing the price to $1.50 per copy. It is not, however, stereotyped
and only one thousand copies have been printed.
NOTE TO THE SECOND AMERICAN EDITION.
The publisher confesses that he lacked faith when Col. Parker asked
him to reprint a book like this for American teachers, and the original
edition of a thousand copies was published more as a favor to Col. Parker
than in the hope that it would ever be sold.
But a general awakening to the necessity of pedagogical reading, and
especially the establishment of Teachers' lieading Circles all over the
country, with lists of books to be read by every member has aroused an
unprecedented call for standard works on teaching. In nearly every such
list this work has been one of the lirst selected,— as, for instance, in New
York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois, and other States. To meet this
demand the present edition has been prepared. By the use of more
open type the number of pages is increased from 830 to 400, and the book
can now be supplied in any quant itics ordered.
Copyright, 1884, 1885, by C. W. Bardken.
,>\ O? THE
I7EBSIT
PREFACE TO THE AJlSlCAN EDITION.
I venture to present an extract from the Quincy
Report of 1878 and '79. "The principles of instruction
that I am trying to make the foundation of all the
teaching in Quincy were long since discovered and
established. With a few exceptions in minor points,
all the eminent w^riters upon philosophical teaching,
from Bacon to Spencer, have explained these principles
and urged their application in practice. There has been
no famous teacher for the last two hundred years who
does not owe his fame to the application of them.
* * * * It may be asked, 'If these principles are
so simple, and supported by such high authority, why
are they not well known to the thousands of intelligent
teachers in this state?' I will answer indirectly by
stating a fact. Until within a short time the best
standard works upon education were not to be found
on the richly loaded shelves of the book-dealer in our
American Athens."
Happily a change has taken place in the educational
world within the last few years.
" I sell twenty-five books on education now to one I
sold five years ago," is the report of one of the most
prominent booksellers in Boston.
IV PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
All the English pedagogical works taken together
would make but a comparatively small library, and of
this small number very few indeed pretend to discuss at
any length the fundamental principles of teaching.
Methods and details of methods form the stock in
trade of most pedagogical writers. These books do
very little except to perpetuate a useless unending strife
over methods that differ because the motives that
determine them differ. The only books that radically
help are those which discuss profoundly the principles
and ideals of education.
When 1 was a young teacher with some aspirations
for a situation in Boston, that distinguished educator,
J. D. Philbrick, then Superintendent of the Boston
Schools, told me that there was a Science of Education
founded upon mental laws, and that the way to true
success in teaching could only be found by a close study
of that science.
I took his excellent advice, obtained a list of the best
works on pedagogics and sent to England for them, as
they could not be bought in this country.
At the head of the list stood Tate's Philosophy of
Education. In re-reading the book I recognize the fact
that it has given me more substantial aid in teaching
than any other English work 1 ever studied. It may be
that there are better books, but just at that time it was
the book for me.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. V
Its author was a firm, undaunted believer in the Kew
Education. No one can tell what the so-called New
Education really is, from the very fact that many if not
most of its principles and resulting methods have yet
to be discovered. We stand on the border-land of dis-
covery in education.
If it is impossible to present any adequate idea of
the New Education, the position of its disciples may be
easily defined. They lelieve that there is an immense ma/rgin
between the known and the unknown in education. The un-
believers, on the other hand, hold that, with some possi-
ble exceptions, the march of progress in education has
closed with them.
The followers of the New Education count in their
ranks every great thinker and writer upon education
from Socrates to Horace Mann, "who point to higher
worlds and lead the way." Thought that penetrates
hidden forces in nature and expresses itself in wood,
iron and steel, has within eighty years revolutionized
the civilized world; is it then too much to hope
that when the same mental energy is turned upon the
evolution of thought and thought power, still more
wonderful changes will be made ?
The New Education simply means the thinking,
thoughtful teacher who has an ideal founded upon the
vast possibilities of human development, an ideal far
VI PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
beyond himself, and outside tlie reach of methods he
now uses.
The stationary followers of the Old Education liave
an ideal they can easily reach, and, having done so, the
smile of perfect pedantic satisfaction freezes up on
their faces, a striking manifestation of the utter com-
placency to be found in limited ideals.
Very few teachers can read this book without receiv-
ing fresh inspiration for the highest work ever given by
the Creator of the human soul to his creatures; the
work of guiding the child's being towards a realization
of the possibilities of growth into goodness and power.
Francis W. Parkek.
Cook County Normal School, Feb. 13, 1884.
PREFACE
This work is the result of the labour and reflection of
many years; it, in fact, embodies the experience of my
life as a practical educator. It contains an exposition
of all the leading principles upon which my other works
on education have been written; and in order to under-
stand, fully, the drift and purpose of the one, the
teacher must study the expositions and principles of the
other. Wherever I have adopted the ideas of others,
I have always, to the best of my recollection, made a
due acknowledgement of the obligation.
I am not acquainted with any work which really
treats of the i3hilosophy of education in connection
with the practice of it. Our books on education are
either too purely speculative, or too exclusively em-
pirical, and, so called, practical.
My most earnest desire is, that this work may be the
means of directing the attention of the practical edu-
cator to the philosophy of education, and to the
development of those systems and methods which are
best calculated to establish in our schools a thoroughly
sound and enlightened education.
T. TATE.
Otkr Stanflarfl Worh on TeacMng.
Sent post-paid on receipt of the price hy the same publisher.
ENGLISH.
Payne's " Lectures on the Science and Art of Education."
Paper, 50 cts. Cloth $1.00
Fitch's " Lectures on Education." 1.25
Smaller edition 1. 00
Herbert Spencer's "Education, Intellectual, Moral and
Physical." Paper, 50 cts. Cloth 1.25
AMERICAN.
De Graff's " School Room Guide.".. 1.50
Page's "Theory and Practice of Teaching." New edition,
revised 1.25
Hoose's " On the Province of Methods of Teaching." 1.00
Payne's •* Short History of Education." 50
Col. Parker's " Notes and Talks on Teaching. " 1 . 00
Miss Partridge's " Quincy Methods." 1.50
ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introduction - - . . . . i
PART I.— ON METHODS AS APPLIED TO EDUCA-
TION.
CHAPTER I.
Methods and Systems op Instruction. — Definition of
Terms, &c. - 10
Different Methods and Systems of Education at present
employed in Elementary Schools.
CHAPTER II.
Importance of Method - - - - 16
Method in Education, — in Art, — in Science, — in Poetry,
—in Oratory, — in Nature. A distinguished Teacher
must have a Method.
A Glance at the History op Method - - 21
Socrates, — Euclid, — Bacon, — Newton, — Archimedes.
Primary Education, — Locke, Rousseau, — Pestalozzi,
— Lancaster, — Bell, — Government scheme of Educa-
tion.
Present Condition and Future Progress op Educa-
tion ------- 27
Necessity of further Progress. Educators divided into
two Classes. The Baconian Philosophy considered in
relation to the Progress of Modern Education.
Philosophy of Method ... - 38
Education based on an Induction of Facts. The Prin-
ciples of Method considered subjectively as well as
objectively. Difficulties peculiar to the Inquiry. Im-
portance of Definitions. Collection of Facts. To dis-
CONTENTS.
tinguish between Facts and Opinions. Comparison
and ClassiiScation of Facts. Relation of Cause and
Effect. General Principles. Evils of implicit Confi-
dence in Method. Experiments required to test Sys-
tems; and "Methods. To estimate the Results of Method.
CHAPTER III.
To ASCERTAIN THE NATURE OP THE BeING TO BE EDUCATED.
General Facts relating to the Development of the
Intellectual Faculties . - - - 46
Primitive Intelligence as shown in Perception and
Intuition, considered as the Basis op Development op
the Intellectual Faculties - - • 68
Sensation, Reflection, and Intuition. The infant Soul con-
tains implicitly all the Faculties of the developed In-
telligence.
Classipication of the Faculties op the Mind - 74
Four distinct Stages of Development. Classification of
the Faculties of the Mind as a whole. Classification
of the Intellectual Faculties. Explanatory Remarks.
— First Stage, —the Perceptive Faculties.— Second
Stage,— the Conceptive Representative Faculties. —
Third Stage, — the Cognitive Faculties. Fourth Stage,
— the Cogitative Faculties.
Essential Points to be considered in relation to
Method as applied to Education - - - 85
1. Nature of the Faculties. (1.) The peculiar Function
of each Faculty. (2.) Mutual Relation of the Facul-
ties — Relation of Succession — Relation of Assimilation
— Relation of Aggregation. (3) The Faculties consid-
ered with respect to their simultaneous Action and
Cultivation.
2. The Subjects best adapted for the Cultivation of the
different Faculties.
3. Nature of Motives acting on each class of Faculties.
CONTENTS. XI
4. The Habits of Action to be established in relation to
each Class of Faculties.
5. The Methods of Instruction adapted to each Class of
Faculties.
6. Application of Results to the different Periods of Ed-
ucation; Five Educational Periods, — Infancy, — Early
Childhood,— Childhood,— Early Youth,— Youth.
CHAPTER IV.
General PRiNCirLEs of Teaching, or Elements of
Method ....... lOO
We should follow out the Intention of Nature. Princi-
ple of Utility and Development. Principle of Harmo-
nious Development. Instruction should be progressive.
Principle of Self-development. We should appeal to
the Senses. The Reasoning Faculties should be cul-
tivated on an enlarged Basis. Teaching from the
Simple to the Complex. Facts taught before Causes,
&c. The Concrete before the Abstract. Constructive
Teaching. Principles before rules. Oral and Collect-
ive Teaching — Principles of School Classification. In-
struction should give Pleasure — to secure the Attention
—the Principle of School Routines— First or Prelimi-
nary Lessons— The Infant School System — Imposition
of Tasks — School Discipline. Thorough Teaching —
Reproduction of Lessons — Examples and Applications
— Reiterations of Lessons. Cultivation pf Habits.
PART 11.— ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE INTEL-
LECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES.
CHAPTER I.
Pbeliminary Notions - - - - 1Q2
Importance of Psychological Analysis in relation to
Teaching. A Glance at our Childhood and Early
Youth. A Cursory View of our Intellectual and Moral
Faculties, as regards their mode of Development.
Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II.
CULTIVAITON OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES.— CULTIVA-
TION OF THE Perceptive Faculties and of the
Faculties of Primitive Judgment, Conception,
Imitation, Abstraction, and Language - 175
The Senses. Knowledge derived from Experience. The
Cultivation of the Senses necessarily includes the cul-
tivation of the Perceptive Faculties. Certain Proper-
ties detected by different Senses. Children should
express in Language the Results of their Observations
and Judgments. The Conceptive Faculties should
be cultivated with the Perceptive Faculties. Notes-
of a Lesson for cultivating the Conceptive Faculties.
Definition of Terms— of Form, «&c., how given.
Children should write their ideas in their own Lan-
guage.
CHAPTER III.
Cultivation of the Intellectual Faculties, continued.
— Cultivation of the Faculty of Attention - 186
Importance of Habit. Attention should be voluntary.
Suggestive Teaching. Causes which tend to destroy
the Habit. Fresh Motives, &c. Mode of treating
Boys of different Tempers, Tastes, and Talents,—
the Feeble— the Sluggish— the Volatile — the Timid —
the Quick. A Digression on Thought, Language and
Genius.
CHAPTER IV.
Cultivation of the Intellectual Faculties, continued.
— Cultivation of Memory and Recollection - 206
Memory influenced by Attention, Habits, and Associa-
tions. Philosophical Associations. Rules for the Cul-
tivation of Memory, applied to various Subjects of
Instruction, in the Course of which the Method of
Contrast and Comparison, and that of picturing out
Scenes, are fully explained.
CONTENTS. Xlll
CHAPTER V.
Cultivation of the Intellectual Faculties, continued.
Imagination and Taste. . . - - 247
Imagination dependent on Culture. The Picture Style
of Teaching. The Imagination cultivated by Poetry,
Fables, and Tales. The Sentiment of the Beautiful
cultivated by Drawing and Music.
CHAPTER VI
Cultivation op the Intellectual Faculties, continued.
—Reason and Judgment ; Wit and Invention - 354
General Principles for the Cultivation of the Reasoning
Powers. Relations of Things and Events, viewed in
six Distinct Aspects. How processes of Reasoning
should be anal}/ zed. Sources of False Reasoning
pointed out. Rules for the Conduct of the Under-
standing. How to foster the Development of the In-
ventive Powers.
CHAPTER VII.
Cultivation of the Moral Faculties - - 283
General Principles. Moral Training based on Religion.
The Sentiments of Veneration and Faith. The Benev-
olent Affections. Habits of Action. Influence of Ex-
ample. The three Cardinal School Virtues: Truth-
fulness—Honesty — Humility. Classification of Sub-
jects in relation to the Cultivation of the Intellectual
and Moral Faculties.
PART III.— ON THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES
OF DIFFERENT METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF
INSTRUCTION.
Systems of Instruction . . . . gos
The Individual and Collective Systems. Home Educa-
tion. The Pupil-Teacher System. The Mixed Sys-
tem.
XIV C0:N TEXTS.
Methods op Instruction .... 311
Synthetic and Analytic Methods. Examples of the
Synthetic and Analytic Methods of Teaching. Inter-
rogative or Catechetical Method. Principles and
Rules common to the two Forms of Interrogation —
Special Rules for Examination Questions— Special
Principles and Rules relative to Suggestive Interroga-
tions—The Simultaneous Method — Examples of Simul-
taneous Teaching after the Catechetical Method — The
Elliptical Form of Teaching — Examples. The Con-
structive Method. The Illustrative Method. The
Lecturing Method. Mixed Method. On the Repro-
duction of Lessons in Writing. On certain Plans or
Artifices for Economizing Time, &c. — An Examina-
tion Lesson on Spelling — An Examination Lesson on
Arithmetic. Respective Advantages of the three Great
Methods of Examination. Ou the Preparation of
Lessons. Notes of a Lesson. On the Periodical Ex-
amination of Classes and Registration of Progress. On
the Qualifications of the Schoolmaster in relation to
his Professional Duties — The Teacher's Attainments —
The Teacher's Capabilities and Character. Aptitude
for Teaching. On School Registers for Recording the
Result of Different Methods of Instruction, and also
for testing the Capabilities of Teachers in relation to
these Methods. General Conclusions derived from the
Writer's Registration of the Results of Methods, &c.
PART IV.— ON THE APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT
SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO THE VARIOUS
BRANCHES OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.
The Scriptures; History; &c. - - - 347
Reading AND Spelling; Etymology; Grammar - 350
Specimen of a Reading Lesson. The Look and Say Plan
— The Phonic Plan On teaching the Alphabet, &c.
Grammar more fully considered — Lessons on Gram-
CONTENTS. XV
mar — Lessons on Composition and the Analj'Sis of
Sentences.
Arithmetic ------ 358
Lessons on the Addition of Fractions. Lesson on Rule
of Three. Mental Arithmetic.
Geography -...-. 363
Dr.^wing ------- 364
General Principles and Rules. Model Drawing— Dupuis's
System.
Writing ...---. 376
Pr-\ctical Geometry and Mensuration - - 377
Drawing Instruments, &c. Lessons on Geometry — Ob-
servations relative to Familiar Modes of Exposition.
Algebra. A' Lesson on Equations - - - 381
Mechanical and Physical Science. A Lesson on Chem-
istry --..-- 383
Natural History ------ 385
PART v.— ON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND DIS-
CIPLINE.
School Buildings and Fittings. School Apparatus—
List of Apparatus for General Use — Routines of Les-
sons .-.-.- 389
Classification. The Pupil-Teachers - - 392
School Discipline. Order, &c. .... 395
'tjkiveesittj
THE
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION:
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING.
INTRODUCTION.
As man is not only a physical, but also a thinking and
an accountable being, so therefore education, in its com-
prehensive sense, may be viewed in three aspects — that
is, in relation to our pbysicial, intellectual, and moral
nature. I here propose to consider the last two depart-
ments of education; to determine, if possible, the best
methods whereby our nature may be educated intellect-
ually and morally. The end of all education should be,
to promote man's happiness, not only during his present
transitory existence, but throughout the eternity which
is to follow.
The principal means of education in this country are —
school instruction, books, public lectures and discourses,
and exhibitions of works of science and art. But the
efficiency of all the popular means of education are
dependent upon, and in fact inseparably connected with,
A
*Z PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the primary instruction of the schoolroom. The treas-
ures of our literature and science are inaccessible to him
who has not been taught the first rudiments of language.
Hence it is, that the brilliant productions of the poetic
genius, or the gigantic creations of the science of any
particular age, afford us no data for estimating the state
of education among the mass of the people of that age.
On this subject John Forster eloquently observes: —
"Long after the brilliant show of talent, and the creation
of literary supplies for the national use, in the early part
of the last century, the deplorable mental condition of
the people remained in no very great degree altered. To
pass from beholding that bright and sumptuous display
in order to see what there was corresponding to it in the
subsequent state of the popular cultivation, is like going
out from some magnificent apartment, with its lustres,
music, refections, and assemblage of elegant personages,
to be beset by beggers in the gloom and cold of a winter
night."
The schoolmaster must begin the work of education.
The subject of method, therefore, should be treated
chiefly in relation to the work of the schoolmaster.
Education is a Science as well as an Art.
Practical teachers, as well as the public generally,
had, until recently, regarded education more as an art
than as a science, consisting merely of a few arbitrary
and empirical rules which may be modified or altered
to suit the tastes and attainments of the teacher, or to
answer the opinions and circumstances of the managers
of schools. This unfortunate prejudice has, no doubt,
had itB origin, to a great extent, in the fact that the
ETC. 3
greater portion of the teachers were unfit for their office.
Few minds were capable of viewing education apart
from its miserable and unworthy representatives, or dis-
sociating it from the operation of the schools which came
within the sphere of their own immediate observation.
Twenty years ago, anybody was considered good
enough for a schoolmaster. If a tradesman failed in
business, he was thought to be learned enough for a
schoolmaster; a feeble, sickly youth, who was not con-
sidered strong enough to practise any regular trade, was
thought to be sufficiently qualified to undertake the
duties of school keeping; if a mechanic happened to get
a limb fractured he would, as a matter of course, save
himself from starvation by opening a school; when a
man who had seen better days applied to the parish
officers for out-door relief, they gravely debated the
question whether it was more expedient to send him to
the quary to break stones, or to confer upon him the
office of parish schoolmaster.* Such was the low esti-
mate formed of the qualifications requisite for a school-
master. This state of things, doubtless, tended to re-
tard the progress of education both as a science and an
art, for the odium attached to the office, as well as the
insufficiency of the remuneration, prevented properly
qualified persons from undertaking the duties. But
within the last fifteen years, a change in public opinion
has been gradually taking place : the working and
middle-classes have been led to see the value of a sound
elementary education, and thereby to estimate more
* In the towns of Newcastle and (xateshead, twenty-flve years ago, two
schoolmasters had wooden legs,— one had a cork leg, two went upon
crutches, two were little better than deformed dwarfs, and not a few
were '♦ sticklt ministers " and broken-down tradesmen.
4 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
highly the difficulties and importaDce of the duties of
the common schoolmaster. This salutary change is in
a great measure due to the government schemes of edu-
cation. I confidently hope that the day is not distant
when the force of public opinion will elevate education
into the rank of a recognized science.
Elementary education has two great ends: 1. To de-
velop the intellectual and moral faculties; or, in other
words, to develop the faculties of the perfect man;
2. To communicate to the pupil that sort of knowledge
which is most likely to be useful to him in the sphere
of life which Providence has assigned him.
The science of education must be based upon the
nature of the being to be educated; that is to say, upon
the laws which govern the development of the intellectual
and moral faculties. These laws may be determined as
well by observation as by psychological analysis.
Every faculty of our nature has its proper period and
peculiar mode of development.
Now the philosophical educator will always suit his
methods of instruction to the age of his pupils, or rather
to the state of the intellectual and moral development
of the faculties of his pupils; and he will also administer
to them that intellectual aliment, both as to kind and
degree, which is best calculated to promote the growth
of the faculties at their different stages of development.
Method, and the piinciples of method, therefore, neces-
sarily become to him distinct and all-important matters
of inquiry.
A good teacher, before laying down any plans for
the management of his school, makes himself acquainted
with the tempers, habits, capabilities, and attainments of
EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE, ETC. 5
his pupils. He then asks himself the two great ques-
tions; — What shall I teach? How shall I teach? He
is well aware that these questions cannot be satisfac-
torily answered without a thorough knowledge of the
nature of the beings whom he has to teach, as well as a
comprehensive acquaintance with the various methods
whereby instruction may be communicated.
All artificial and unnatural methods of instruction,
violating the laws of mind, necessarily demand the use
of unhealthful stimulants. There is always a want of
organization in schools where the plans and methods of
the master are framed without any regard to the con-
struction of the human mind, or the peculiar tempers,
tastes, and capabilities of the pupils: such masters
always blame their pupils for the failures of their system,
but never seem to be aware that the excellence of a
system depends upon its adaptation to the intellectual
and moral conditions of these pupils. A teacher who is
ignorant of human nature, is like an engineer who
sets to work to erect a bridge before he has made him-
self acquainted with the properties of the material em-
ployed in the structure; when his work is completed,
he finds, perhaps, that the material is ruptured by the
pressure, or by the expansion due to heat; it is true,
he might console himself with the reflection that his
plan would have been excellent if it had not been for
the peculiar properties of the material. A wise en-
gineer would first make himself acquainted with the
nature and properties of his material, and then, knowing
the difficulties which he would have to encounter, he
would provide against them accordingly. In like manner
the teacher who is thoroughly acquainted with the laws
6 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCA.TTON.
regulating the juvenile mind, suits his methods of in-
struction to the soul which he has to rear, and, fully
foreseeing the difficulties which he has to encounter,
lays his plans accordingly, — he is quite prepaied to
supply strength to what may be weak, and to introduce
a self -corrective agency to meet any ebullitions of temper
or waywardness of disposition.
Our ignorance of mental philosophy has hitherto led
us into various erroneous methods and systems of edu-
cation. The teacher showed an ignorance of the tastes
and capabilities of the infant mind, when he overtasked
his juvenile pupils with the dull, dry detail of technical
learning, in the place of communicating to them that
kind of knowledge which is best calculated to foster the
deveh)pment of their perceptive and observing faculties.
Teachers, in their ignorance, at one time believed that
the first object of primary instruction is to cultivate the
verbal memory of their pupils, when, in fact, the verbal
memory is one of the few faculties of our nature which
need no cultivation. This erroneous opinion led to the
adoption of the task system. In accordance with this
system, little boys had to commit to memory frightful
colunms of spelling, long paragraphs of geography, ab-
stract grammatical definitions, declensions of nouns, and
conjugations of verbs. The debasing system of rewards
and punishments formed a necessary adjunct to this un-
natural system of instruction.
In this system the cultivation of the reasoning powers
was entirely disregarded, and the aids of philosophical
memory, or the faculty <>f M«!>^<>cintioji, wore nov<'r called
in requisition.
The same erroneous opinion of human nature led to
EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE, ETC. 7
the adoption of the rule and rote system of instruction,
whereby the pupil had to work out results by formulas
and dogmas rather than by the independent and health-
ful exercise of his own reasoning powers. For example,
in the teaching of arithmetic and practical geometry,
the pupil was required to work out his problems by a
rule appealing to his memory and simple apprehension,
rather than by the exercise of his own reasoning powers.
These unnatural methods of instruction have given
rise to our debasing systems of discipline. Under a
proper system of teaching, children rarely require any
other motive to attention than the pleasure which the
acquisition of knowledge affords them ; but what
natural motive can induce a child to study what is above
his capacity, or to commit to memory what he cannot
comprehend ? hence the teacher's only resource was to
act upon the vanity or upon the fear of his pupils.
The art of education consists in the practice of its
principles. It stands in the same relation to the science
of education, that any other art does to the scientific
principles of that art. A man may be thoroughly ac-
quainted with tiie principles of any particular art, with-
out being an adept in the practice of it ; in order to
become this, he must practise the art until he has ac-
quired the requisite amount of tact and skill. At the
same time, it must be observed, that the highest amount
of skill can only be obtained by a thorough knowledge
of the principles of the art, combined with the constant
application of these principles. Thus, for example, a
man may be thoroughly acquainted with the principles
of architectural construction, and yet he may not be able
to frame a door or to build a shed. In like manner a
8 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
raan may be intimately acquainted with all the leading
principles of education, and yet, at the same time, he
may not be able to give efficient instruction to a class of
little boys. It is a lamentable error to suppose that if
a man has knowledge he must necessarily possess the art
of communicating that knowledge. In order that a man
may become a good teacher, he must not only be thor-
oughly acquainted with the various branches of element-
ary education, and intimately acquainted with the great
leading scientific principles of education, but he must
also acquire that tact and skill in the management of
numbers and classes, and that fluency of diction, power
of illustration, and facility of availing himself of con-
tingent circumstances, which can only be attained by
long practice and patient study.
The art of education, without a due regard to its sci-
ence, degenerates into empiricism ; and the science,
without the practice of the art, becomes little better
than a code of barren abstractions without the vital
principle of development.
The philosophy of education should go hand in hand
with the practice of it ; — every step of advance taken
by the one, should be followed by a corresponding pro-
gress of the other ; philosophy should suggest plans
and theories, art should test them and try them ; phil-
osophy should build up a structure of general principles
and rules ; art should supply the facts — the materials —
by which, and upon which, the structure should be
reared.
Division of the Subject.
The philosophy of education may be divided into five
parts ; —
DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 9
1. On method, as applied to education.
2. On the cultivation of the intellectual and moral
faculties.
3. On the comparative advantages of different systems
and methods of education.
4. On the application of different systems and methods
to the various branches of elementary education.
5. On school organization and discipline.
10 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCA.TION.
Part I.
ON METHOD AS APPLIED TO EDUCATION.
CHAPTER I.
METHODS ANn SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTK »N.— DEFINITION OF TERMS, ETC.
Different Methods and Systems of Education at present em-
ployed in Elementary Schools,
By a method of education is meant the peculiar way
in which a subject is taught ; and by a system is meant
those peculiar arrangements, both as to organization and
modes of teaching, whereby instruction generally may
be given to the pupils of a school. A system is the de-
velopment of a method applied to certain objects.
A difference of opinion at present exists relative to the
use of the terra method as applied to education. Ac-
cording to some writers, method simply means the way
in which a subject of instruction may be treated ; so
that there are only two methods of education, namely,
Synthesis and Analysis. Such a restrictive use of the
term is not only based on a contracted view of the sub-
ject, but it does not give the entire conception usually
associated with the term. We use the term in a more
comprehensive sense : A method of teaching compre-
hends, not merely the way in which the subject-matter
is treated, but also the means, artifices, forms of expres-
sion, &c., that are employed in conveying instruction to
a class of children in a common school.
SYNTHESIS AND ANALYSIS. 11
There are two great methods whereby a subject may
be treated, viz., Synthesis and Analysis. By the
former method we put the parts of a subject together ;
by the hitter we take the subject-matter to pieces. The
method of synthesis is the method of induction, whereby
we ascend step by step from the simple to the complex
— from the particular to the general formula ; the meth-
od of analysis is the method of deduction, whereby
we descend from the abstract principle to the various
particular forms which it comprehends. As both meth-
ods are employed in the discovery of truth, so both
methods may be used in the exposition of truth. The
expenraeutalist may show the composition of water syn-
thetically by holding a tumbler over the flame of a can-
dle (or a flame of hydrogen gas), at the same time call-
m^ attention to the moisture that is formed on the
interior surface of the glass; or, more exactly, by de-
tonating, by means of the electric spark, the proper
mixture of hydrogen and oxygen; in these experiments
water is formed by the combination of its elements: —
he may also show the composition of water analytically
by means of the galvanic battery; in this case the poles
of the battery analyze or decompose the water, that is,
reduce it to its simple elements, the hydrogen being at-
tracted by the one pole, and the oxygen by the other.
We teach arithmetic deductively, or analytically, when
we lay down a general rule and require our pupils to
work out the particular example by tliat rule, for in this
case we proceed from the general formula to the particu-
lar example — from, the abstract princi})le to its special
application. On the contrary, we teach arithmetic in-
ductively, or synthetically, when we proceed at once to
12 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
work out, step by step, the particular example from cer-
tain simple, known elementary principles, without taking
any abstract rule for granted; in this case the pupils are
led to prove the rule for themselves.
The method of synthesis is constructive; by this
method the skilful teacher builds up thought upon
thought — truth upon truth — until his pupils have, almost
insensibly, acquired a vast accumulation of knowledge.
I have called the method of synthesis a constructive
METHOD, because it is analogous to the way in which
mechanical contrivances are completed: thus, the
ingenious builder lays stone upon stone, beam upon
beam, until he has reared a vast and beautiful structure,
exciting, it may be, the wonder and admiration of the
world: in this way, too, surprising results may be at-
tained in education.
Synthesis may be called a suggestive method of in-
stniction; because it is progressive, proceeding, step by
step, from the known to the unknown, — from the simple
to the complex.
By far the larger number of the great physical laws
of nature were discovered by induction, and even many
of our leading mathematical theorems and principles
were established by the same process. Now if it be true
(and we hive reason to believe that it is true; that the
method of exposition should correspond to the method
of discovery, it follows that the method of induction or
synthesis is, for the most part, the more eligible for
primary instruction. At the same time, it must be
observed, that there are certain subjects of knowledge
which may be efficiently taught by the method of analy-
DIFFERENT METHODS AND SYSTEMS. 13
sis. But this subject will hereafter receive a more ade-
quate consideration.
The methods of synthesis and analysis may be either
DEMONSTRATIVE or DOGMATIC. When the teacher uses
the former method of communicating knowledge, he
addresses the observing and reasoning faculties of his
pupils, who believe in what is communicated to them
because they see it to be true, or because they can prove
it to be true. On the contrary, when he uses the latter
method, he appeals to the memory and faith of his
pupils, who, in this case, believe in what is communicated
to them simply on the testimony of their teacher — they
believe because their teacher says so.
Demonstrative teaching embraces all those plans and
artifices whereby a knowledge of principles may be more
or less completely communicated to the pupils: on the
other hand, dogmatic teaching gives rules and formula
in the place of principles and investigations.
Besides these general methods of teaching, there
are certain modes or artifices which have regard to the
peculiar form or way in which the knowledge is com-
municated. The INTERROGATIVE method teaches by
question and answer; it may be used simply for repro-
ducing the knowledge which has been already commu-
nicated to the pupil, or it may be used in connection
with the principle of suggestion; and then it assumes the
form of an important instrument of intellectual culture,
which may be called the suggestive method of inter-
rogation.
"^rhe elliptical form of instruction requires the pupils
to fill up certain blanks or ellipses, which the teacher
intentionally leaves in hi^ dts^o.ufse. This form of
uiriVEEsiTr)
14 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
instruction is only a slight modification of the sug-
gestive method already mentioned. In both methods
the teacher and his pupils carry on a sort of tete a tete
lecture.
In the SIMULTANEOUS form of instruction, the pupils
are supposed to give simultaneous responses to the
teacher's questions or suggestions. This simple arti-
fice has been sometimes confounded with the collective
system of instruction, with which it is necessarily asso-
ciated.
The ILLUSTRATIVE METHOD consists in conveying a
knowledge of abstruse things, or even ordinary things,
by means of illustrations addressed to the senses or to
the imagination of the learner.
The LECTURING METHOD cousists in giving the lesson
in the form of a continuous lecture, all questions on the
subject of the lesson being deferred until it is finished.
A combination of any of these methods may be called
a MIXED METHOD of instruction.
The methogl generally employed by good elementary
teachers, as shall be hereafter shown, is generally a
combination of the demonstrative and the synthetic,
while that which is usually adopted by sluggish and
careless masters is a combination of the dogmatic and
the analytic.
There are two leading systems of teaching at present
in use which have regard to number or organization;
the one may be called the collective system of teach-
ing, which consists in the teaching of a considerable
number at one time; the other the individual system
of teaching, which consists in the teaching of one pupil
at a time.
DIFFERENT METHODS AND SYSTEMS. 16
The PUPIL TEACHER System, which has been recently
introduced into this country, may be regarded as forming
an essential part of the collective system of teaching as
it is at present practised in our elementary schools. The
pupil teachers are supposed to follow the same plan of
teaching as their master, and under his supervision.
The MONITORIAL SYSTEM of Lancaster and Bell contains
the essential features of the system of pupil teachers;
but with this important difference, that whilst the
MONITOR is merely a boy selected by the master from
the pupils in his school, the pupil teacher is a paid
official recognized by her Majesty's Inspectors, and who
is time after time examined by them, and receives regular
instruction from the master in all the duties of school
keeping, with the view of fittting him for the discharge
of his immediate duties, and also with the view of pre-
paring him for the profession of schoolmaster.
The system of home instruction consists in assign-
ing to the pupils certain lessons or exercises to be
studied or completed at home. This system may be
combined with either of the two leading systems just
described.
The tripartite system, first proposed by Professor
Moseley, has received its name from the architectural
arrangements of the school. In this system the school-
room is divided into three apartments, in one of which
the master is supposed to teach all the classes in rotation.
The leading object of this plan. is to bring all the chil-
dren in the school under the direct instruction of the
master, and to counteract undue noise.
A combination of any of these systems may be called
a MIXED system of instruction.
16 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
The word method signifies a way of transit, or the
way of passing from one thing to another. According
to the philosophical acceptation of the term it compre-
hends the idea of unity, associated with progression, or
a succession of uniform sequences. To arrive at this
idea, we must exercise the faculties of abstraction, by
which we view many things as one; by which we con-
template not facts only, but likewise the relations of
facts; by which we recognize the law which connects
these relations.
The comparative advantages and defects of the dif-
ferent methods and systems of teaching will be hereafter
more fully considered.
CHAP. II.
IMPORTANCE OF METHOD.— HISTORY OF METHOD.— PRESENT CONDITION AND
FUTURE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.— PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD.
Importance of Method.
There is method in Education. It is a dangerous error
to suppose that any man may teach if he has only the
requisite amount of attainments. Can it be possible
that the art of training and developing the various
faculties, emotions, and principles of an immortal and
accountable soul is the only art which we have by in-
tuition? Is the destiny of the noblest creation of God,
the immaterial, the thinking, the undying principle,
fashioned after His own image, to be intrusted to the
care of him who has never studied the vast and complex
relations of the task which he undertakes, and who, in
IMPORTANCE OP METHOD. 17
the impious pride of self-sufficiency, despises the accu-
mulated experience of those who have spent their lives
in the work of teaching, and have borne unmistakable
testimony to the difficulties which have beset them at
every step in the discharge of their sacred duties?
There is method in Art: the builder and the ma-
chinist, the manufacturer, the sculptor, the painter, all
complete their constructions and fabrications on the
principles and methods which embody the results of
vast experience, and which have been their constant
study for the whole period of their lives. There is
method in Science: there was a want of method when
the philosophers of antiquity affirmed, that air and water
were elementary bodies, that the celestial bodies moved
in circles, of which the earth occupied the center, and
that water rose in the barrel of the common pump from
nature's horror of a vacuum; and even in more recent
times, the same want of method was shown when Des-
cartes affirmed that the planetary bodies floated in a
whirlpool of ether.
Who can estimate the marvellous change that has
been effected by the philosophy of method first proposed
by Bacon ? Nature, as if at the touch of the enchanter's
wand, yielded up her treasures of knowledge; physical
science, after the death-like slumber of ages, sprung into
vigorous existence; and even in our own time, under
the guidance of this method, mind has achieved the
most despotic dominion over matter; new sciences have
been born, far surpassing in utility, beauty, and gran-
deur all that had been accumulated throughout the past
history of humanity.
Poetry has its method. So remarkable is this method
18 PIliLOSOPHY OF EDUCATiOiJ.
that a great poet will by a single word — an idea — open
to us a whole series of relations and conditions. In
speaking of the style of Shakespeare, Coleridge ob-
serves: — " Who, like him, could so methodically suit
the very flow and tone of discourse to characters lying
so widely apart, in rank and habits and peculiarities, as
Holoferiies and Queon Katherine, Falstaff and Lear ?
When we compare the pure English style of Shakespeare
with that of the very best writers of his day, we stand
astonished at the method by which he was directed in
the choice of those words and idioms, which are as fresh
now as in their first bloom ; nay, which are at the present
moment at once more energetic, more expressive, more
natural, and more elegant than those of the happiest
and most admired living speakers or writers."
There is method in Oratory. Who has not felt the
power of Oratory ? Whence does this power proceed ?
An eloquent public speaker must always possess method;
he may be without technical learning, and even without
those refinements of manner and diction which usually
constitute a gentleman; he may be without the prestige
of rank, or wealth, or party, and even without those
conventional literary or scientific titles which are too
often accepted as the badges of superior intellect, or as
the j)a8sport8 to distinction and power; yet there is
something in him which rises superior to all these dis-
advantages, — there is method, based u})on a knowledge
of the tastes and ruling passions of his audience, which
charms and captivates them by its beauty, convinces
them by its exactness and transparency, and overawes
them by its depth and power. Beginning with a simple
detail of facts, ho generalizes, abstracts and draws con-
IMPORTANCE OF METHOD. 19
elusions; with a constant regard to the final impression
which he wishes to produce, he sees from the first what
will be the efi^ect of each successive step; all nature is
tasked to supply him with illustrations and analogies, —
youthful Spring with his freshness and his song, or
golden Autumn with her stores of fruit and her sheaves
of corn, — lovely Summer with her flowers and her sun-
light, or stern Winter with his storms and his shadows,
— the air, the earth, the ocean, the dread magnificence
of heaven, — all may be invoked to lend power and en-
chantment to his discourse; from the world about him
he rises to the world of thought — from the visible to the
invisible — and there finds new materials for argument
and persuasion; having connected argument with argu-
ment, and added illustration to illustration, he sums
up the accumulated evidence, in order that it may fall
with the greatest effect upon the minds of his audience,
and that they may be convinced of the truth of the lead-
ing conception, the end and aim of his discourse. In all
this there is unity with variety, but it is the variety
which arises out of unity, — this all-prevading idea
constitutes the method. The intellectual faculties which
characterize the oratory are very nearly allied to those
which are requisite for forming the distinguished
teacher.
Everything in nature has its peculiar method of devel-
opment; and this development may in almost every case,
be aided and improved by the judicious application of
the principles of this method. A grain of corn when
thrown into the soil will germinate, and grow, and bud,
and ripen into seed, without the special care of man;
but all these processes would be very much aided and
20 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
improved by the application of the methods which agri-
cultural chemistry has discovered. Just so it is with the
germ of intelligence — the immaterial principle. It seeks
to develop itself — it germinates, grows, and blossoms,
and ripens and expands into developed intelligence, with
out the application of any artificial means; but the in-
telligence thus developed without the aid of culture, is
that of the savage, not that of the perfect man, capable
of acting and thinking in accordance with reason, and in
conformity with the law of his Creator.
It is true, that many men are born with a predilection
for teaching, and seem to qualify themselves for the dis-
charge of its duties with comparatively little study or
reflection. Such teachers are exceptions to the rule; and
there can be little doubt, that even they would have been
vastly benefited by a study of method as applied to teach-
ing. It is said that Pascal was born a Geometer, but it
is very questionable whether we should ever have heard
his name, had his genius not been cultivated and de-
veloped by a systematic course of instruction. So it is
with education: the most distinguished teachers are to
be found among those who have shown a predilection
for the work, and whose minds have been at the same
time constantly directed to a study of methods of edu-
cation.
/ Before a man can become a distinguished teacher he
must have a method : all that he has seen, or experienced,
or read, relative to the nature of the being to be edu-
cated, must have assumed the form of a substantial
unity — an idea — an all-pervading law which connects
relations apparently the most dissimilar, and gives one-
nesp and harmony to the most heterogeneous mass of
HISTORY OF METHOD. 21
facts and conditions, — which constitutes his exponent
of the past, and the symbol of the calculus which is to
enable him to solve every problem which may arise in
the future, — which involves all his past experience, and
out of which he must evolve his conduct in the future, —
which sheds a light over the path that lies behind him,
and becomes the polar star to guide him in his voyage
on the dark and shoreless ocean that lies before him.
No language can adequately transmit that idea — that
method — to other minds; for it is in him merely the
key-note with which is associated a long train of har-
monious combinations and sequences: it exists in him
alone, and for him alone, and before others can stand on
the same vantage ground with him, they must give the
same patient attention to the philosophy of method, and
submit themselves to the same strict, process of self-
examination and self-development.
We repeat that no man ever yet became a great teacher
until method had become to him a living and substan-
tial reality. This method may, and no doubt does, as-
sume forms suited to the intellectual and moral qualities
of each individual, even accommodating itself to the
idiosyncrasy of each, and the varying external condi-
tions and circumstances of each; but the grand features
of this method, like the elements of our physical and
moral constitution, wull be the same in all.
A Glance at the History of Method.
Socrates was not a great geometer, but he gave a
method of plilosophy which determined the character of
the schools of antiquity; and the catechetical form in
which he gave his instruction has been distinguished by
22 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
his name. Euclid probably never discovered a single
proposition of geometry; but he gave us the idea and
form of a synthetic method which has shed an effulgence
of light on the path of philosophy, and which will en-
dure as long as there is a human soul to think, a science
to be cultivated, or a law of nature to be discovered.
Bacon made no discovery in mathematics, nor did he
add one fact to our stock of physical knowledge; but he
effected a greater purpose — he gave us the method of
universal philosophy: what the one did for a single de-
partment of abstract science, the other achieved for
universal knowledge. Newton was a great discoverer
in every department of mathematical and physical sci-
ence; but he also gave us, in his " Principia," the em-
bodiment of a synthetic method of teaching mixed
mathematics which will probably co-exist with the law
of gravitation itself. Archimedes was also a great dis-
coverer, but, in a certain sense, his genius died with
him; he did nothing to perpetuate himself, for he had
no recognized method, and bequeathed to posterity no
creative principle beyond the isolated facts and proposi-
tions which he discovered; his mind was essentially
individual, and his contempt for concrete science, which
his mind was eminently qualified to adorn, caused the
secret of his power to die with him.
But let us consider the history of method iin>i\'
strictly in relation to primary education.
The ancient classical nations did nothing for primary
education; they established splendid schools of philos-
ophy for their young men, but left the instruction of
their children to slaves, or neglected it altogethei'; and
during tlw ?Mi,)<ll(. ^o-.w — t],,* «'|u»c1i of cliivilry — (he only
HISTORY OF METHOD. 23
school-room was the cell of the monk or the cave of the
anchorite. And what was the state of education after
the Reformation ? From the undue reverence with
which the works of antiquity w^ere regarded, education
began with the classics, and for the most part ended
with them. Poetry was clothed in the garment of
heathen mythology, and even our philosophy was more
engaged with the history of what was false than with
the investigation of what was true. Education became
a series of tasks — the memory was enthroned over all
the other powers of the mind — reason, invention, and
the principle of self-development were disregarded; and
under this unnatural and unphilosophical system, a great
memory and a great mind became almost synonymous
terms. This method was analytic and dogmatic, for its
main element consisted in giving a knowledge of rules
and words rather than things — of names rather than
positive ideas. Although the leading principles of pri-
mary education are contained in the great work of the
father of inductive philosophy, yet it would appear that
their importance was neither felt nor acknowledged by
his immediate followers.
Such w^as the state of education throughout Europe
when Locke began to write. This distinguished philos-
ophher considered that the chief business of primary
education is to develop the faculties of the child; that,
as the first ideas of children are derived from sensation,
so the perceptive faculties should be the first cultivated
or develo[)ed; and that verbal memory is almost the
only intellectual power which does not admit of being
improved by education. Locke's method of education
was a corollary to his metaphysical philosphy. It was
24 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
synthetic and demonstrative — its main element being
the development of the intellectual powers and moral
feelings through the instrumentality of things or sub-
jects which might be known and understood by the
child. The method of Loclce soon became recognized
throughout Europe and America. The author of
" Emile," in France, became its most enlightened and
most eloquent expositor: and Pestalozzi, in Germany,
carried it into practice, followed it out in all its details,
and gave the spiritual essence a substantial form — " a
local habitation and a name." But in the fatherland of
the great metaphysician, his method remained for more
than a century a dead letter, — and even till very re-
cently the methods which he exposed and denounced
held an undisputed dominion in the education of the
people in this country. But we have accepted from the
hand of the pupil what we would not receive from the
hand of the master; and we have unwittingly become
the followers of Pestalozzi, when we might have been
the disciples of our own immortal Locke. But why
speak of the country of Locke? Great men have no
country — they belong to humanity.
To descend to more matter-of-fact, but not less
instructive forms of method: Joseph Lancaster and Dr.
Bell contributed to the development of method as ap-
plied to primary education, when they established the
monotorial system. No doubt it had long been observed,
that the older boys might, under certain circumstances,
be advantageously employed to teach the younger ones;
but the idea of organizing such a plan, so as to make it
applicable to our common national schools, belongs to
these men. The errors and defects of this system are
HISTORY OF METHOD. 26
apparent: — its efficiency is suVjsidiary to, and de-
pendent upon, more comprehensive views of method;
it ignores the education of the master as well as that of
the monitors; and necessity rather than choice leads to
the adoption of these monitors, whose temporary func-
tions, imposed upon them by their master, are relin-
quished at a time when their skill is beginning to be useful.
Whatever may have been the defects of this system, it
contained an idea which obviously suggested the adop-
tion of the apprenticeship system, or the system of pupil
teachers. The monitorial system was a measure of
economy, adopted to mitigate an existing evil — to give
the best education to the greatest number of children at
the least possible cost. At best it could be regarded
only as preliminary to some more complete system.
Now, while the apprenticeship system embodies this
principle of economy, it recognizes at the same time an
important principle in the philosophy of method, viz.,
that the art of teaching, like other arts, can only be ac-
quired by practice and an early attention to the most
approved forms of communicating our ideas to others.
In order that a man may become a joiner, or any other
kind of mechanic, he is apprenticed, at an early age, to
a man who is master of that particular art; so, in order
that a man may become a teacher, he should be appren-
ticed, at an early age, to a schoolmaster who is thor-
oughly master of his work. This apprenticeship system,
taken in connection with the system of inspection, and
the establishment of training colleges for schoolmasters,
must be regarded as the greatest measure which has
ever been proposed for the education of a people. In
these schemes we observe the recognition of the import-
26 PEIILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ance of method. Universities may make scliolars,
divines, and philosophers; but they cannot train school-
masters. It is the peculiar province of the professors of
our training colleges to effect this, by expounding the
principles of education in relation to methods of teach-
ing, — by showing the application of these meihods in
the actual management of a school, — and by communi-
cating that kind of knowledge which is best calculated
to render the teacher useful in his profession. When
the Committee of Council on Education published their
Minutes of 1846, they virtually announced to the world
that there was method in education, and that no man
could become a truly useful teacher without a knowl-
edge of tliat method. Acts of Parliament, or legislative
engines, cannot of themselves make men virtuous aiid
religious; but it is legitimately within the range of their
power to decree that Ignorance, which is the most fruit-
ful source of vice and irreligion, shall exist no longer.
This government system of education is not in all
resj)ects what the practical educator could wish; but we
may hope that experience, aided by a careful induction
of facts, will in time correct what is wrong and improve
what is defective.
Jean Paul Richter asks — " What have the political
vowels of Europe — the English — done for clucation ? "
We answer, almost everything ! Our great meta[)hy-
sicians first gave the true philosophy of method; we first
adopted the monitorial and infant-school systems; and
although we have been slow to combhie and improve all
that we have discovered, we have at length organized a
system of national education which bids fair to become
the most efficient that has ever been proposed.
its presjent condition and future progress. 27
Present Condition and Future Progress of
Education.
In taking a view of the state of education in this
country, we have much to congratulate ourselves upon.
We have been silently progressing; methods of educa-
tion have been improving step by step; but, at the same
time, we must confess that we have not yet arrived at
the ne plus ultra. Still much lies before us to be ejffected.
Many educational prejudices want to be swept away,
and many new principles require to be introduced. Not-
withstanding, we ought to feel gratified, and to con-
gratulate ourselves upon what has been done, as it
gives us the hope that something more will yet be done.
We live in an age of progress: no branch of human
knowledge but is advancing — ay, with an accelerated
motion. In our own times new sciences have been
created, and new departments of art have been brought
to bear on all conditions of society. The mighty power
of steam has been developed in our own time. Every-
thing around us has been advancing; and education
should advance with the advancement of society.
Educators may be divided into two classes. There is
the conservative educator, and there is the educational
reformer. The conservative educator, like the con-
servative politician, would wish everything to remain
as it is and as it has been. The education of fifty years
past ought to be the education of the present period.
Things liave gone on well enough in the past, and
why should they not do the same in the future ? Such
is the view of these educational oonservatiyes. They
may yield a little to the pressure of public opinion; but
28 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
still the principle remains unchanged in their hearts.
They may admit, when they are compelled to express
themselves, that the education of the people will not
tend to the subversion of government, and in such things
as that they will go along with you; but still in their
hearts they are conservative in relation to the advance-
ment of education. The other class, the educational re-
formers, advocate utility and progress. They would
not only have us improve our educational methods, but
they would have more of the principle of utility intro-
duced into our schools. They would not have the boys
in our national schools taught things that are merely
curious, or things merely to gratify the prejudices of
particular individuals; but they would have them taught
those things that will bear upon the future pursuits of
life. We have not yet attained to that. We still, in
many of our schools, go on with the old routine — read-
ing, writing, arithmetic, with the addition, ad libitum^ of
catechisms and formularies. Day after day the same
dull routine goes on. Oh ! how the monotony of the
dull routine deadens the faculties of the children, and
not only of the children, but of the educator ! It is a
well-known fact, from the statistics of insanity, that
in those countries where the pursuits of men are most
monotonous, there we find the greatest prevalence of
insanity. It appears, therefore, that it is the monotony
of the pursuits that produces the insanity; and we cannot
wonder that the intellectual faculties of such school-
masters should retrograde, instead of advance, nor can
we wonder that the children, constituted as they are by
their good and great Creator with faculties which lead
thera to seek after a knowledge of the properties and
THE BAC0N1A.N PHILOSOPHY. 29
uses of the various objects in the world around them,
should be uninterested in the dull routine in which they
are engaged.
The Baconian Philosophy considered in relation to the Progress
of Modern Education. Utility and Progress should charac-
terize all our Methods and Systems of Education.
Bacon was one of the most enlightened educators that
ever appeared on the earth, — for his philosophy was as
fully applicable to the advancement of education as to
the development of the experimental sciences.
The spirit of the Baconian philosophy may be charac-
terized by two words, — utility and progbess. The
ancient philosophy was stationary, because it disdained
to be useful: It propounded imposing abstract theories
which had little or no bearing upon the actual condition
of man in society: — It took its aim at the stars, and
therefore hit nothing: — It speculated about virtue and
happiness, but added nothing to the comforts or enjoy-
ments of human existence: — It professed to reform and
enlighten the world, but left it as dark and degraded as
it ever had been: — It was a sort of intellectual gym-
nasium, in which the faculties were exercised; but this
intellectual action yielded no work — no fruit — as regards
the progress of society; the mind revolved in a circle of
speculative theories, the starting point of to-day became
the goal of to-morrow, — there was motion, but no pro-
gress. The command given by this philosophy was,
" Mark time ! " and thus, for two thousand years, the
human intellect continued to mark time. The father of
the inductive philosophy gave the command, "Advance! "
and society, obedient to this command, has multiplied a
30 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
thousandfold its resources of enjoyment and happiness.
This philoso[)hy was practical — it attempted nothing
wliich could not be accomplished, — it aimed at a plain,
tangible mark, and hit it. It sought to improve the
sciences by advancing the arts. It took the common-
sense method of induction, which had from time imme-
morial been successfully followed by the artisan, as the
great instrument for advancing philosophy. Its object
was UTILITY, and its end progress.
It is not generally known or generally acknowledged
that Bacon's philosophy, as an inductive philosophy, wa«
really derived from the workshop. The inductive prin-
ciple had been practised for ages by the workman in his
various processes of art. This was thought unworthy
of attention by the philosopher of the platonic schools;
but Bacon saw that under this inductive principle the
arts had advanced, while the sciences, then so called,
had remained stationary; and his own strong common
sense showed him that the principle which advanced the
arts might also advance universal science.
Let us inquire, How does this philosophy apply to
modern education ?
According to the Baconian philosophy, utility and
progress should characterize all our methods of educa-
tion. To secure progress, we should aim at what is
practicable and useful. Until within the last twenty
years, the platonic philosophy infested all our systems
of education. The inductive philosophy, which created
new sciences, and infused fresh vitality into the old
ones, left our educational systems as it found them, all
but worthless as regards the education of the people of
a great cojnmercial, scientific, manufacturing, and en-
THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. 31
gineering nation. In our middle and higher class schools, \
the languages of the ancients, the logic of the ancients, >
and the geometry of the ancients formed the great sub-
jects of -school instruction; whilst practical science,
general knowledge, and nearly all those subjects which
bear directly upon the interests of man as an active and
thinking agent, were virtually ignored. This system
even failed to accomplish the contracted end which it
had in view. It professed to exercise and strengthen
the intellectual faculties; but the only faculty which it
could strengthen, admitting that to be possible, was
memory. To remember, recite, and admire what the
ancients had done, was the highest end which it pro-
posed. It therefore produced a race of slavish imitators,
and not a race of original, vigorous, and practical think-
ers. Facts, and the induction of facts, were deemed
unworthy of their platonic philosophy.
Now Bacon had taught, in his philosophy, that the
powers of memory can do little towards the advance-
ment of science. He ranks the achievements of memory
with the exhibitions of the mountebank: "The two per-
formances are of much the same sort. The one is an
abuse of the powers of the body; the other is an abuse
of the powers of the mind. Both may excite our won-
der; but neither is entitled to our respect." Locke, the
great metaphysician, also advocated the same view at a
subsequent period.
Even geometry was considered to suffer a degradation
whenever its abstract demonstrations were combined
with more simple modes of exposition, or whenever it
was applied to the business of life, — its essential and
eternal truths were vitiated by the association. This
32 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
opinion obtains very largely amongst a certain class of
educators, even at the present day. "Take care; do
not simplify your geometry; do not attempt to give
your children any common-sense definitions of geo-
metrical truths, otherwise you will vitiate the eternal,
immutable truths of geometry. You must begin with
Euclid, and you must end with Euclid." Men that
speak loudly in praise of Bacon as the father of modern
philosophy, will never tell you about this, — that he
exposed the systems of education which they are now
employing in the education of the people of this country.
Now Bacon taught that geometry, as well as all the
other branches of mathematics, was valuable as a branch
of education only so far as it contributed to supply the
wants of society; and that such practical applications,
so far from detracting from the discipline which it gave
the mind, in reality made that discipline more forcible
and complete. He viewed mathematics as an instrument
for the extension of art and science, and considered that
it should be studied, not as an end, but as a means to an
end, without which the study would be, in a great meas-
ure, fruitless.
In short, like the platonic philosophy, the aim of the
education of these schools was to raise man above the
influence of vulgar wants.
The principle of utility and })rogre8s would lead us to
conclude that the education of the boy should fit and
prepare him for discharging the duties of the man. But
what did the collegiate-trained, aristocratic teacher care
for the duties and interests of the carpenter, the wheel-
wright, the engine-V>uilder, or the scientific experiment-
alist ? Their pursuits were altogether foreign to his
THE BACONIA.N PHILOSOPHY. 33
education and association; of their habits of thought he
knew nothing, and cared as little; between him and
them there was an impassable gulf ; he lived in a quies-
cent world of abstractions; they lived in a world of
action and progress. How could the one become the
educator of the other ?
These remarks, made in reference to the middle and
higher class schools, will apply, with only a slight mod-
ification, to the primary schools of the corresponding
period.
Interest quickens man's perceptions and invigorates
his intellectual powers. The artisan works out his
results chiefly by inductive processes of reasoning,because
he finds the highest degree of certainty, and a sufficient
degree of exactness in the method, and performs his
inductions well and carefully, for his interest depends
upon his deductions. Hence it was, that whilst phi-
losophy remained stationary, the arts went on pro-
gressing. Bacon observed this, and therefore recom-
mended the inductive process for the advancement of
philosophy. What the artisans had performed success-
fully on a limited scale, he proposed to employ in the
advancement of universal science. Thus Bacon's phi-
losophy was harrowed from the worhhop; and what he did
for science, we may now do for education; we must har-
row from the workshop by adopting in our schools, more
or less, those processes of reasoning, habits of thought,
and peculiar modes of self-instruction, employed by our
practical men.
If the great intellect of Bacon could condescend to
borrow from the workshop, why should we be ashamed
of borrowing from the same source ? But yet so it is.
B
34 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Talk to some of our professional men — it may be our
lawyers, or our clergymen — about borrowing ideas, and
taking hints from the working man, they would smile at
you with contempt, and say, " Can men who have had a
college education obtain any information from persons
of the lowly class, whose education has been altogether
neglected?" Ay, neglected, to be sure; neglected so
far as the schools in which these men had been placed
in their childhood are considered; but those workmen,
when they left the schools, had to commence a course
of self-education; and that self-education has had its
results; that self -education makes the English workman
what he is, — the piide of his country, the most skilful
artisan of the world.
Notwithstanding all that has been done for primary
education within the last twenty years, we are still very
far from having realized the Baconian condition of
utility and progress.
We are still under the dominion of abstract theories of
education consecrated by great names, and sanctioned
and patronized by great societies. That philosophy is
false, and not less hateful than it is false, which arrests
the progress of knowledge by extinguishing the spirit of
inquiry and destroying freedom of thought and action.
The platonic philosophy enslaved the human mind for
two thousand years, and during that long period it pro-
duced no fruit, because it superseded inductive processes
of inquiry by laying down theoretic dogmas and sublime
philosophic fictions. Bacon emancipated the human
mind from this degrading and enfeebling slavery. He
showed mankind that the inductive method would lead
them to new truths, far exceeding in brilliancy and util-
THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. 35
ity anything which the ancient gods of philosophy,
whom the people had blindly worshiped, had ever dis-
covered. It is not necessary to say how" wonderfully
this prediction has been fulfilled. Thus our platonic
theories of education must one day fall before the induc-
tive method of inquiry.
In moral questions there is, perhaps, no such thing as
absolute certainty. A question in education cannot be
solved in the same manner as a problem in geometry.
Moral evidence has little in common with mathematical
evidence; and the inductive method of research is in
many respects widely different from the analytic method,
by which we demonstrate abstract truths. In the induc-
tive sciences, such as education, we seem only to approx-
imate to truth. We can hardly ever say that we have
actually arrived at the absolute truth; but we approach
nearer and nearer to it, according as we extend our
inductive processes. The truth lies in the asymptote of
a curve, towards which we are always approaching, but
which we may never absolutely reach. At the same
time our approximations have always the stamp of util-
ity, for they are practically true; that is, they are true as
far as the actual wants of society are concerned, The
inductive method never puts a stop to further inquiry;
it is itself progressive, and recognizes the principle of
progress. It gives no divine revelation; on the contrary,
it appeals to reason, and challenges further inquiry.
Watt concluded, from his experiments, that the sum of
the latent and sensible heat of steam was a constant
quantity: this, although not found by subsequent exper-
imentalists to be strictly true, was nevertheless a grand
approximation to truth, which conducted him to those
36 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION. j
magnificent inventions which have changed the des-
tinies of the world. The same spirit should be adopted
in relation to the development of our methods of edu- ^
cation. i
The inductive method has already done something for
the progress of education, but its importance is not yet i
sufficiently acknowledged or understood. We are still J j
the slaves of conventional forms and prescriptive theo- L j
ries; we are still too much overawed and cowed into ser- / |
vility by high-sounding names, and by the dogmas of |
self-serving professions and ambitious societies. The |
progress which we have made should be taken as the
guarantee of further advancement. The positions we j
have gained must form the base of operations for still *
greater achievements.
When I was a boy, geography was taught by rote;
now it is taught much more efficiently by means of maps. j
Arithmetic was imperfectly taught by rules; now it is ■
admirably taught by an exposition of principles; but
there are still many important branches of knowledge ]
very imperfectly taught by the rule and rote system. j
We must not abandon the hope of future ^oyr^w. With I
respect to utility^ there is much which remains to be ac- \ i
complished. We want a greater enlargement of the f \
basis of intellectual and moral development, suited to the f j
advanced state of our arts and sciences. The rich stores ^ \
of scientific knowledge, which we now possess, should
be more thoroughly and systematically taught in our ;
schools, not only as a means of intellectual and moral
culture, but also on account of their immediate bearing
on the business of life.
Let us enter an elementary school in one of our manu- I
A PROVINCIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 37
facturiiig cities. The master still teaches on the old
individual system. There is no blackboard, or any kind
of experimental apparatus. There are maps, it is true,
hanging on the walls, but they seem to have been little
used, for they are covered with dust. The school is not
noisy, but there is the constant chatter and titter of
idleness and frolic. There is discipline of a certain
kind, but it is not moral discipline. The boys are sons
of mechanics and factory laborers, and, like their par-
ents, they will have to enter the workshop or the fac-
tory. They are sharp, intelligent-looking boys, and seem
capable of learning anything wliich the schoolmaster
might attempt to teach them, or of taking advantage of
his occasional fits of listlessness and abstraction; but
they are idle, and feel no interest in their tasks. The
dull routine of reading, writing, and arithmetic, with
catechisms and formularies, goes on day after day. The
school is characterized neither by utility nor by progress.
The master sits at his desk, apparently in a deep " brown
study;" let us look over his shoulder and see what he
is doing. He is studying the ancient geometry, and on
one side of his desk are some books of the ancient clas-
sical authors. He is a scholar and a mathematician.
What a misdirection of intellect ! What fruit has his
knowledge yielded him ? or what advantage has it been
to the pupils of his school? It has been a negation; or
rather, it has been worse than a negation. These boys
want to be taught in matters relating to the employments
which they will soon have to follow. The master is idle,
as a teacher, because the boys will not attend to his
abstract prelections; and the boys are idle because the
master will not instruct them in those things which form
38 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION. :
the subjects of their every-day associations. The school- !
house is surrounded by engines, by factories, by chemical
works, and by workshops of all sorts. What a mine of
intellectual wealth lies at his very door available for ;
school instruction ! How useful he might become ! He ;
might fill these hives of industry with a far more in- |
telligent and skilful class of operatives, and thereby not '
only advance the interests of the operatives themselves, ?
but contribute to the productive resources of his country. !
Hark ! the steam whistle ! He starts as a man aroused I
from his slumber. Does that sound awaken some useful ;
trains of association ? The steam-engine, with its huge i
train of cars, passengers, and merchandise, starts on its j
winged course. It goes onward and onward, and woe ;
betide the thing that obstructs its progress. It rolls from i
hamlet to hamlet, and from city to city, carrying with it i
the products of industry and intelligence. Type of the
age of progress ! has the shrill blast of thy whistle re- i
minded the schoolmaster that utility and progress are
realities demanding his consideration, and claiming the !
tribute of his powers ? Poor dreamer ! have you really i
returned to your problems ? Are you content to remain i
stationary, whilst everything around you reminds you
that utility and progress are the motive principles of the i
age; and that beings such as you, with all your classical i
lore, must be swept away as the surf of the ocean before I
the advancing tide of civilization ? |
Philosophy of Method. I
Having arrived at an educational epoch in which the |
importance of teaching, as well as of tlie method of ■
teaching, is duly recognized, it becomes a matter of in- ■
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 39
quiry, How are we to distinguish the true from the
false? Amid such an accumulation of facts, methods,
and systems, what are the evils arising out of the abuse
of method, and by what principles of philosophy are our
systeius to be tested and improved ? In short, what are
the laws which govern the philosophy of method ?
Education, like all other sciences, must be based upon
a careful induction of facts. All true ideas of method
must be derived from a careful study of the nature of
the human faculties, as regards the mode as well as the
order of their development. It is, therefore, the first
business of the science of method to discover the laws
and conditions which regulate the development of the
mind, — to follow Nature wheresoever she may lead us,
and not to lay down preconceived rules for her guid-
ance. Our attempts to teach by abstract notions,
formed independently of a careful study of facts, are as
ridiculous as the conduct of the savage who sowed gun-
powder, instead of trying to make it. It is true, that in
the progress of all science there must be an initiative
idea, but then this idea must be tested and perfected by
an appeal to experience and experiment. When the
ancient astronomers affirmed that the orbits of the
planets were circular, because the circle was the most
perfect figure, they committed a great error in philoso-
phy, for the true proof of their initiative conception
should have been sought for in nature, and not in any
abstract principle. So, in like manner, all our theories,
or general principles of teaching should be tested by an
appeal to facts of observation and experiment. The
relative efficiency of different systems should be deter-
mined, by placing them under the same circumstances
40 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
and relations, and then, by a careful induction of facts,
we should establish some general principles of method.
The certainty of our conclusions, in such cases, depends
upon two circumstances; — first, on the facilities which
we have for tracing effects to their causes, and con-
versely for following causes to their legitimate effects,
— second, on the faith which we have in the constancy
and uniformity with which the same relations and con-
ditions occur. Thus, for example, the phenomena of
the material world are always open to observation and
experiment; and, at the same time, the pei-fect uniform-
ity with which they take place, leads iis to speak with
confidence of the future, from what has taken place in
the past. A chemist, after having determined the par-
ticular action of one substance upon another, from bis
instinctive belief in the permanence of the laws of
nature, at once decides that the same action will always
take place under the same circumstances; but experience
alone must lead him to find out what are the essential
circumstances and relations for producing the particular
action, and what are merely casual or accidental; in
short, experience, or repeated experiment, must lead
him to discover the true relation of uriiform sequence —
the relation of cause and effect.
Let us penetrate a little further into the recesses of
this subject. Facts are the point of departure of all
philosophy; these become matters of consciousness; ob-
servation there lays hold of them before committing
them to induction, which forces them to yield iq^ the
principles which they contain. The method of observa-
tion and induction was first given by Bacon, but it has
become the spirit of the age, — the spirit of the world of
1»HIL0S0PHY OP METHOD. 41
civilisation and development. It constitutes the unity
of the age characterized by the most striking diversities
and antagonisms. Philosophy has its origin in observa-
tion and experience only; to be so limited is to be lim-
ited to human nature; but what else could we have, or
would we have ? The experimental philosophy of Bacon
(characterized by observation, experience, and experi-
ment) is sufficient for the attainment of all knowledge,
and for the completion of every science. It has passed
sentence on the ancient systems of philosophy, — it has
destroyed all that was merely hypothetical, but it has
perpetuated all that was based on observation. A single
fact not unfrequently consecrates a mass of errors, and
sometimes gives to the wildest theories a certain amount
of credit among men. Everything true and permanent
in the systems of philosophy, scattered throughout the
course of time, is the fruit of observation; and every-
thing permanently useful in society is the result of the
experimental method. To arrive at a permanent system
we must not only observe, but we must observe every-
thing faithfully, truly, and completely, without preju-
dice and partiality. We must use only the method of
observation, but we must apply it to all facts, wherever
they exist; on its impartiality depends its accuracy, and '
to be impartial it must be universal. Method, as applied
to education, is a mixed inquiry, comprehending ques-
tions of physics as well as metaphysics; and a compre-
hensive method of observation is necessary to establish
the desiderated alliance between the two classes of phe-
nomena, not by the sacrifice of the one to the other, but
by the unity of the method employed in ascertaining the
law connecting the phenomena, which, though different
42 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
as to kind, are nevertheless coexistent and inseparable
as to results. When observation has put us in posses-
sion of nil the elements of our science, we then proceed
with the work of classificalion, generalization, etc.
In order to fulfil these conditions, the principles of
method^ as applied to education, must be considered sub-
jectively as well as objectively; that is to say, in
relation to the me, as well as in relation to the not me.
The science of the me is called Psychology; it gives the
history of the soul as derived from consciousness
and reflection; it is, therefore, entirely occupied with
internal facts and phenomena. The objective is our
intellectual principles considered in relation to their ex-
ternal objects. Here we must observe how the minds of
children develop themselves; and also, how the mind of
man, regarded historically, or in connection with the
progress of society, has developed itself.
All questions relating to methods of , instruction are
contained in the three following: —
1. What are the characteristics of the actual, or the
developed intelligence ?
2. What are their jsrmeWt;* characteristics?
3. What are the intermediate conditions, or occasions,
connecting the actual with the primitive; or, in other
words, how is intelligence developed ?
The first two questions are almost exclusively sub-
jective; the last is objective as well as subjective.
Here we start with the actual state of the faculties,
and arrive at their primitive state by following the in-
termediate links connecting the one with the other. To
determine the actual, is the easiest problem, and its
solution is the first step towards the solution of the
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 43
others. This is the experimental method: we first ob-
serve and register, all the principles or laws which
actually govern the action and development of the
faculties; — we admit only those facts and principles
which really exist, but of those we reject none; — we ask
not why they exist, or for what they exist; it is enough
that they do exist, and what is in nature must form an
element of science; — nor are we in haste to classify the
results, in order to bring out some favorite theory; we
are content to wait patiently until their registration is
completed, so that their relations may be rendered
apparent, and that their theory may gradually unfold
itself.
The philosophy of method, as applied to teaching,
is not less difficult than important. The diversity of
views which at present obtains in relation to systems of
teaching, is a sufficient evidence of the difficulty of the
subject, and a sufficient testimony to the want of some
recognized principles.
The following are some of the difficulties peculiar to
the inquiry: —
1. Although the same powers and affections are found
in every human being, yet these powers and affections
exist in different degrees and states of development in
different individuals. Hence it follows, that a system
of instruction which is adapted to one class of pupils
may not be suitable to another.
2. Different causes may, and no doubt often do, pro-
duce the same or similar effects. This arises from the
constitution of the mind itself, for we know that it
admits of various modes of development.
3. Teachers differ much in their capabilities and
44 PHILiJSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
acquirements; and they rarely restrict themselves to the
use of any special system of instruction.
However, an earnest study of the X)rinciples of method
will enable us to surmount these obstacles. In con-
ducting our inquiries, the following summary of rules
and principles, having a special bearing on the subject,
should be duly considered.
Importance of Definitions.
No science can make a satisfactory progress unless its
technical terms are clearly and precisely defined. This
is especially true in relation to the science of education.
At present we have scarcely any recognized terms in
education; we dignify by the name of a system or
method some trifling modification of a general principle,
and we make use of terms without sufliciently limiting
their amount of meaning. Thus we speak of "the ellip-
tical method," as if it contained some peculiar principle
which was not involved in "the interrogative system "
of instruction; some persons erroneously use the term
" simultaneous teaching," to mean the same thing as
" collective teaching." As a preliminary step, therefore,
to ihe attainment of exact knowledge in the science of
method, we should always define the terms which we
employ, before proceeding to the detail of facts, or the
elucidation of principles.
Collection of Facts.
The first step, in the attainment of a kiKJwledge of
right methods of teaching, is an extensive acquisition of
facts. In recording these facts, all the conditions and
collateral circumstances should be carefully noted, for
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 45
even circumstances which appear trifling at the time,
may really be important links in the chain of sequences.
Educational facts may be derived from books on
mental philosophy, from our own individual experience
and observation, as well as from the experience and ob-
servation of others. We are not to look to legislators
and school managers for the discovery of these facts,
nor even should we rely too much upon the hasty im-
pressions of the visitors of schools. It is upon the
labors of the practical teacher that we must chiefly de-
pend; it is his business to watch the development of his
pupils' faculties as they expand themselves under the
various modes of instruction; — it is his business to col-
lect facts, to record observations, and to institute ex-
periments.
In forming a collection of facts, the following rules
must be observed: —
1. All the facts should be fully ascertained or authen-
ticated; and whilst no essential facts connected with the
subject should be wanting, all trivial and incidental cir-
cumstances should be omitted.
2. The statement should contain a complete and fair
view of all the facts involved in the inquiry, and none of
the facts should be in any way modified to pander to
any prec<mceived theory.
Teachers should aid each other in the collection of
facts, and Government Inspectors should afford them
every facility for the attainment of this object. Some
facts transmitted to us may appear to be contrary to our
individual experience; let us beware how we reject
them ! Our prejudices may be standing in the way of
the advancement of the truth. We should test the facts
46 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
by some new experiment, or we may find some hitherto
neglected series of facts in our own experience which
may lead us to a right decision. Hitherto, the facts
accumulated by teachers have been almost ignored. An
inspector enters a school with a stern determination of
observing everything for himself, without calling in the
aid of the teacher; after spending a few hours in that
school, he leaves it with the belief that he has collected
all the facts of its last year's history. Lamentable error !
that teacher, if worthy of his office, could have given
him the history of the growth and development of every
boy's mind and character, with a true account of the in-
fluences which had been brought to bear upon them. We
look to the hearty co-operation of inspectors and teachers
for the accumulation of facts. But the inspector must
not always appear before the teacher in the stern char-
acter of censor and judge; he should also appear as a
friend and fellow-worker in the great common cause.
In forming a collection of facts, the following sources
of error should be carefully guarded against: —
1. Receiving facts from persons whom we have reason
to suspect of having some interested object to serve in
disguising or modifying them.
2. Receiving important facts from persons in whose
judgment and power of observation we have not the
fullest confidence.
3. Receiving partial statements of facts given witli
the view of sii])porting some favorite system of edu-
cation.
4. Receiving opinions as facts. In guarding against
this fruitful source of error, it is above all things neces-
sary that we should
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 47
Distinguish between Facts and Opinions.
The confounding of facts and opinions should be care-
fully guarded ag^ainst; for we are all too apt to mix up
our own impressions and favorite theories with the
detail of facts, and hence it is often very difficult for us
to separate the one from the other. When a teacher
states that he has found a certain system of instruction
produce the most satisfactory results, he does not restrict
himself to a simple statement of facts, for he gives his
opinion of the character of the results, whereas he
should simply describe what these results were. A
teacher gives us an opinion in place of a fact, when he
states that he has found the elliptical system of instruc-
tion produce such and such results, when a full and
simple statement of facts would be, that in the course of
teaching on the collective system, he had adopted the
form of elliptical response. The master of a school
teaches, for the most part, after a particular system, and
his pupils make progress; this progress is ascribed to
the particular system; now the progress of the pupils is
a fact, and that the master taught by a particular sys-
tem may also be a fact; but that this system of instruc-
tion was the true cause of the progress is an opinion;
for it is giving the relation of cause and effect between
two facts; and it is quite possible that some hidden or
unobserved influence may have solely, or at least mainly,
contributed to the progress of the pupils. The omission
of a fact in the chain of sequences is often as injurious
to the cause of truth, as a misrepresentation of the case.
Our statement of facts, therefore, should not only be
free from opinions and impressions, but it should at the
48 PUILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
same time be full and faithful, and not distorted in any
way with the view of supporting some preconceived
notions or theories.
These are some of the rocks on which our method is
often wrecked, — it is necessary that we should signalize
them.
Compa/rison and Classification of Facts. Relation of Cause
and Effect,
In order to arrive at general conclusions, our first
step is to arrange the facts according to the points in
which they agree; our next step is to strip our groups
or collections of facts of all their extraneous circum-
stances and contingent conditions; that is to say, by a
comparison of our different groups of facts, we must
separate those conditions which are essential to the
result, or desired effect, from those which are accidental
and non-essential. Having arrived at a uniform and
invariable series of sequences, our next step in the pro-
cess is to trace the relation of cause and effect. When
one event is invariably followed by another event, we
speak of one being the cause, the other the effect. Now
to the facts which are so uniformly associated, we have
no hesitation in attributing the true relation of cause
and effect. Let us take an illustration from Dr. Wells'
theory of dew. The facts of this case are these: moist-
ure or dew is found on the surface of plants in clear,
cloudless nights, but little or no moisture is found on
the ])lants in cloudy nights; these results take place for
all plants, whatever may be their color, <fec., and what-
ever may be their absolute temperature. Here the
incidental or non-essential facts are the color, absolute
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 49
temperature, &c.,of the plants; the essential facts are, that
dew is formed on clear nights; and that no dew is
formed on cloudy nights; hence the cloudless sky is an
essential condition for the formation of dew.
In education, the tracing of the relation of cause and
effect, among a succession of events, is always a matter
of difficulty and delicacy, and is often attended with
considerable liabilities to error. But the difficulty of
the task should not deter us from the undertaking. The
following sources of fallacy deserve especial notice: —
1. The cause which we assign may be merely an inci-
dental circumstance, and not essentially connected, as a
uniform sequence, with the result.
This fallacy frequently occurs in matters of education,
for how often do we find some trifling mode or manner
of teaching — such as the class arrangements, &c. — dig-
nified by the name of a system, which is said to work
out such and such results !
2. The events, which we regard as cause and effect,
may be closely connected, but not in the relation of
cause and effect. The true cause may be hidden or
overlooked in our haste or in our fondness for some
favorite theory.
For example, it is a common thing to hear the advo-
cates of the individual system of instruction appeal to
the fact, that good scholars were formed under that
system; while the truth is, the so-called good scholars
were made, for the most part, independently of the
characteristic features of that system, viz., by home
instruction, by the time of training, and by the exten-
sive use of class-books.
It remains yet to be determined what conditions are
60 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
essential, and what are only accidental, in most of our
present system of education. It is to be hoped that
some distinguished person amongst Her Majesty's In-
spectors, who are in possession of a vast number of facts,
will confer this boon on society.
General Principles.
Having traced among our groups of facts the relation
of uniform sequence, the next step in our process is to
bring a number of them together, and to discover in
them some common fact, or element, or general princi-
ple. This common element, or general principle, be-
comes a distinct subject of contemplatiou, and it is
taken as characteristic of a whole class. In forming this
generalization two things are especially to be observed:
1st, the principle should be a real fact; 2nd, it should be
true for all the cases without exception.
Let us illustrate the two processes of classification and
generalization.
We take a number of bodies differing in their external
form and color; one is an iron ore, another a steel bar,
another has the shape of a horse-shoe, but they all agree
in attracting iron, and they also agree in having iron in
their composition, — we classify these bodies, and call
them magnets; color, form, <fec., are accidental proper-
ties of the class, and composition and the fact of attract-
ing iron are the essential qualities of the class. But we
now discover, that if any one of these straight or ob-
long magnets be freely suspended, one extremity will be
always directed towards the north, and the other
extremity towards the south; here we discover a com-
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 51
men or general principle belonging to the whole class —
viz., polarity ; this is a process of generalization.
The relations of things form the materials of method;
and the general principles regulating these relations
constitutes the leading element of method as applied to
those particular things.
Having brought together a number of different sys-
tems of instruction which are always attended with a
common result, we must endeavor to discover some
principle which is common to them all, — this common
principle will give us the idea of a general method of
instruction, which will be operative amid a certain
variety of incidental conditions.
As a general principle is nothing more than a conven-
ient form of expressing a general fact, its legitimate
application is limited to the particular cases from which
it has been deduced. Hence the error, into which many
teachers fall, of pushing certain systems beyond their
legitimate sphere of application.
A general principle, according to the strict acceptation
in which we have hitherto taken it, is simply a general
fact, but it sometimes assumes the form of a theoby or
an HYPOTHESIS. In an hypothesis, a thing or principle
is supposed to exist; but, like a strict general principle, it
should adequately explain all the facts which belong to
the subject-matter. General facts simply give the rela-
tion of law without making any assumptions; hypotheses
express the relation of ascertained facts by the supposed
operation of a thing or principle, which may or may
not exist; hypotheses, in most cases, only serve the pur-
pose of conveniently grouping together an extensive
series of facts and phenomena. Thus, for example, that
62 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the planetary bodies attract one another with forces
which are directly as their masses, and inversely as the
squares of their distances, is a general fact; for the force
really exists, and really acts by the law which is assigned
to it. In Franklin's electrical theory, electricity is sup-
posed to be a subtle fluid, which may exist in excess or
in deficiency in bodies, thus giving rise to the two kinds
of electricity, which, according to this theory, are called
positive electricity and negative electricity. The
hypothesis, in this case, serves the purpose of connect-
ing together a large number of facts. Now that there
are two kinds of electricity, possessing certain distinct-
ive properties, is a general fact, but that these properties
belong to a single fluid is a conjecture — an hypothesis —
which is more or less useful to us according as it more
or less completely explains the observed phenomena.
General facts, as well as theories, are sometimes sug-
gestive, that is to say, they sometimes lead us to suspect
the existence of some new fact or principle; in such
cases, however, it is the province of observation and
experiment to confirm or overthrow the truth of the
conjecture.
Educational theories should be looked upon with
distrust, and if acted upon at all it should be with
extreme caution. They should be regarded in no othi^r
light than as convenient modes of connecting a series of
facts, or as suggestive of some course of expeiimental
inquiry. For example, a teacher would run into a mis-
chievous error if he were to act upon the phrenological
hypothesis, that the faculties and affections of our intel-
lectual and moral nature respectively act through and
by particular portions or organs of the brain, and that.
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 63
Other things being the same, the development of any
particular faculty or function is in proportion to the
magnitude of that particular organ, or region of the
brain, through which the faculty or function is supposed
to act. To those teachers who seem disposed to put
faith in this imperfect theory, we should say: — Why
act upon any theory, when you can ascertain, with the
greatest precision, the true character and capabilities of
your pupils by actual observation ?
There are two extreme views, in relation to general
methods of instruction,which are equally unphilosophical,
and which should be equally avoided. The one is an
implicit confidence in method; the other is an utter
skepticism as regards the utility of any method whatever.
Evils of Implicit Confidence in Method.
No system of teaching can be efficient unless the
master possess all those qualities which the system itself
presupposes. If a teacher is wanting in any of those
essential qualities, it would probably be better for him
to modify the system to suit the circumstances. More-
over, the state and condition of the pupils may not cor-
respond to that which the system presupposes. The blind,
unreasoning attachment of teachers to systems has often
brought ridicule upon themselves and discredit upon the
systems which they professed to follow. Failures of this
kind have, no doubt, often led to the unphilosophical
opinion "that each individual ought to have either his
own system or no system at all."* The teacher should,
in the fullest sense, be the master and not the slave of
* Quarterly Journal of Education, No. IX.
54 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the system by which he teaches. The modes in which
the facuhJes of children develop themselves are suffi-
ciently various to admit of slight modifications in the
systems of instruction, in order to suit the capablities of
the master. We can hardly say of any existing system,
that it is the only efficient one; and as more or less im-
perfection is to be found in every existing system of
education, so it is equally true, that more or less truth
may be found in all of them. Until masters are thor-
oughly educated for their work, we must hold that the
system should be made for the man, and not the man
for the system.
As children love change and novelty, a good teacher
will vary his subjects of instruction as well as his
methods of instruction accordingly; his judgment must
be exercised in selecting those methods which are most
suited to the existing conditions of his school.
No intelligent teacher would ever attempt to carry
out to the strict letter any of our existing rules and
systems. The following may be taken as a well-estab-
lished rule in teaching children some of the simplest
elements of knowledge: " Begin from the beginning of
the subject, and never take a second step till you are
8u;-e that the first is perfectly acquired." Now, this
rule, though true in its spirit and intention, is very far
from being strictly true as applied to some subjects. In
teaching the alphabet, for example, who would ever
think of making a child perfectly learn one letter before
it is taken to another; or, in teaching arithmetic, of
making the child perfectly learn the rule of addition
before it is taught anything of substraction ?
It will be instructive to consider more in detail, some
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 65
of the evils resulting from a slavish attachment to
systems.
I. Evils of attaching undue importance to the non-
essential features of a system.
II. Evils arising from not giving due attention to the
limits of certain modes of instruction.
III. Evils arising from the neglect of auxiliary aids.
IV. No system can be efficient without intelligence
and industry on the part of the master, and without he
is religiously imbued with a high sense of the dignity
and importance of his work.
I. One teacher cannot give Bible lessons without a
gallery,— another cannot teach arithmetic without the
Festalozzian boards, — another defers the teaching of
drawing until his committee can afford to purchase
Messrs. Parker and Co.'s models, — and so on. To such
teachers we would say, beware of an undue attachment
to the mere mechanical forms of individual systems.
Imbue your minds with the spirit of these systems, and,
above all, study the philosophy of their method. If you
want a plant to grow, you water the root, not the leaves
and branches; so, in like manner, the teacher should go
to the root — the fundamental principles of education.
II. Some modes of instruction, very good as regards
their legitimate sphere of application, may become use-
less, if not ridiculous, when pushed beyond their proper
limits. It is desirable that these limits should be duly
ascertained and defined, by a strict induction of facts.
On the other hand, a method of instruction should not
be despised because it is not of universal application.
Because the writing system of Mulhauser, for example,
should not be found efficient in making finished writers,
56 PHILOSOPHY OP* EDUCATION.
is no reason wliy it should not be one of the most eligi-
ble modes for teaching the first elements of foi-m to
children. In this case, the business of the philosophical
inquirer is to determine the extent to which the system
should be carried.
Again, a mode of instruction may be subsidiary to
some more general method, with which it is necessarily
associated, and to which it may give a higher efficiency.
In this case we should determine the relative importance
of the subordinate method, and the most favorable
conditions for its application. On the other hand, the
modes of instruction which are employed together,
should be in harmony with each other, and also in keep-
ing with the other recognized principles of method.
The methods of instruction adapted to the young,
may not always be best calculated for the instruction of
adults. In this case we should determine the period at
which this change of method should be made. An able
teacher, who had been successful in teaching arithmetic
to boys by the Pestalozzian boards, attempted to teach
adults on the same plan; but he failed, and thereby
brought himself and his system into unmerited con-
tempt.
III. The teacher should watchfully guard against uny
undue confidence, not only in his own teaching power^i,
but also in the system by which he teaches. He should
be ever ready to avail himself of all the means within
his reach, for giving increased efiiciency to his system.
Without, for example, in the least undervaluing his sys-
tem of collective teaching, he should not overlook the
aid which he may occasionally receive from individual
instruction; nor should he despise the use of Text Books,
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 67
especially when associated with home instruction. The appar-
ent discrepancies in the results of some of our existing
systems are doubtless, to a great extent, due to the
want of a proper appreciation of certain subsidiary aids
to class instruction.
lY. Much remains to be effected by the individual
merits of the teacher. Methods of teaching are little
better than dead letters in the hands of stupid and indo-
lent pedagogues, but they become living, eflScient prin-
ciples in the minds of thinking and active teachers. Sys-
tems should be tested by the teacher and modified by
him, if found necessary, to suit the various tastes, habits
and future pursuits of the children placed under his care.
He must become a moral philosopher, always reflecting
and experimenting upon matters of education. The
school-room is his laboratory and his studio; the little
boys by whom he is surrounded are the subjects of his
reflections and experiments, and the great end is their
intellectual and moral amelioration. The teacher is a
much more elevated being than the mere mechanic.
The results of machinery are splendid and overpower-
ing; but then all that is truly great in these results is
due to the creative mind that gave the method, — the
law, physical or mathematical, or perhaps both physical
and mathematical, by which these results are produced.
The machine makers, according to our systems in the
division of labor, are little better than machines making
machines; one forges a bolt, another files it, and an-
other puts it in its place; one casts a wheel, another
turns it on the lathe, and another superintends the ma-
chine that cuts teeth upon its rim; thus each man toils
from morning till night, and the labor of one day is the
68 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
type of the labor of that which succeeds. It is not so
with the teacher; creative minds cannot so cut out and
divide the labor of instruction, or so Jay out the princi-
ples and methods of teaching, as to supersede the exer-
cise of his reasoning and reflective powers. His work
is professional, — it is akin to the medical man's. The
teacher is no machine, — his mind is above all rules
and superior to all authority in relation to his work.
Boards of education and visiting committees should not
interfere too much with the immediate duties and pecu-
liar functions of the schoolmaster. Elevate bis social,
intellectual, and moral condition, but do not legislate
for him with respect to methods of instruction.
In order that a teacher should be thoroughly devoted
to his work, he should be duly sensible of its importance;
— he should believe, that the future character of a coun-
try depends upon the education of its children; — he
should be fully aware, that, in the soft and virgin soil of
their souls, he may plant the shoots of poison or sow the
seeds of sweet-scented flowers or of life-giving fruit; —
he should realize the momentous thought, thaX the little
prattling, thoughtless children by whom he is sur-
rounded, are to become the men of the approaching age.
As a necessary consequence of all this, he should care-
fully look to the predilections of children; — that child
who is amusing himself with drawing triangles and cir-
cles may, under proper training, hereafter become
another Pascal; — that little dirty urchin who is plucking
flowers by the wayside, may become the poet or the
orator of his age; — that thoughtful, feeble body who is
watching the effect of the steam as it blows and puffs
from the tea-kettle, may become another Watt, des-
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 59
tined to multiply the resources of our national wealth
and power; — that ruthless little savage, who is leading
mimic battles of the snow storm, may become (unless
his evil tendencies are counteracted by education) an-
other Napoleon, who may seize with a giant grasp the
iron thunderbolt of death, and on the wreck of a people's
hopes and happiness build himself up a terrible monu-
ment of guilt and greatness.
The work of the soul-devoted teacher should not
cease with the school hours; — the predilections and
spontaneous ebullitione of feeling in children, in their
moments of leisure and play, should be carefully watched
by him, in order that he may encourage and aid the dea.
velopment of what may be good or useful, and be able
to suppress, or direct into a legitimate channel, what may
be evil or dangerous.
Under a new and better order of things, an efficient,
soul-devoted teacher will become one of the great
thinkers of his age. His leisure hours will be given to
the study of the philosophy of mind and the principles
of method, and his daily labor will consist in the practice
of that philosophy and those principles. Child of hope !
despair not in the discharge of your arduous duties, and
doubt not but that public opinion will award to you that
social position to which your talents and usefulness en-
title you; — toil on in all faith and humility! the hour of
your emancipation is not distant, — injustice is always
followed by a reaction, — and the dark, cheerless period
of debasement and uncalled-for self-sacrifice will be fol-
lowed by light and gladness, when under the blessing
of God you shall possess the means as well as the capa-
60 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
bilities for adding lo our knowledge of the science of
method as applied to education.
Experiments required to test Systems of Education.
A system of instruction may be formed with a due re-
gard to the abstract nature of the being to be educated,
but it may not be practicable under the conditions and
circumstances of a given school, where perhaps large
masses of children have to be taught under the super-
vision of one master, with limited material aids; hence
it is necessary that all systems should be brought to the
test of experiment.
Whilst sound principles of education gain new force
by every fresh confirmation of their truth, false theories
lose some portion of their hold on the prejudices of men
by every new exposure of their fallacy. Some thor-
oughly digested systems of experiment are yet desider-
ated in education. The form and object of experiments
are directly under our control, and in this respect the
results of experiment are more valuable than facts de-
rived from observation and ordinary experience. For
this purpose we should like to see some experimental
school established under our Government Inspectors,
where, for example, any two rival systems of instruction
might be placed exactly under the same circumstances
with the view of determining their relative efficiency.
People generally are slow in adopting what are called
improved methods; their prejudices are always in favor
of what is old and English, and nothing but an experi-
mentum cruets will alter their predilections. Many old
systems are associated with certain extraneous circum-
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 61
stances which consecrate their errors and give them
an apparent truth. Thus, for example, the individual
system of teaching, which at present obtains in most of
our middle class schools, is so interwoven with the sys-
tem of home instruction that we cannot see all the evils of
this system so fully as we should do if it were standing
on its own merits. It should be stripped of this favora-
ble association in order to exhibit it in its true aspect.
And it may be here worthy of observation, that it would
be well for us to ascertain, with some degree of exactness,
how far this home instruction should be employed in
connection with the system of collective teaching, which
is at present in operation in our schools for the poor.
The importance of experimental facts may be illus-
trated by the history of physical science. Before the
time of Galileo it was believed that water rose in the
common pump from nature's horror or a vacuum. An
experimental fact was wanting to expose the fallacy of
this hypothesis; that fact was supplied to Galileo by
the workmen of Tuscany when they found that water
would not rise in the barrel of a pump higher than 34
feet. In like manner, we may find that some fortunate
experiment or fact of observation, may lead to a rever-
sion of some of our existing dogmas in education. In
conducting experiments, it may be useful to observe, the
truth of a great general system of education may be
confirmed in two ways, viz., by altering the conditions
under which it is made to act, or by altering the inten-
sity of the element which constitutes its distinguishing
feature. When the pupil of Galileo substituted mer-
cury for water, to test the presence of atmospheric
pressure, he rightly considered, that if there was a
62 rniLOSOPHY of education.
constantly acting law of pressure, the column of the one
fluid would be to that of the other in the inverse ratio
of their densities; it is well known that the result of the
experiment confirmed the truth of the theory. Not
satisfied with this confirmation, Pascal proposed to try
the experimentum crucis by varying the intensity of the
operating principle, and he therefore had the Torricellian
experiment performed upon the top of a mountain, where
the atmospheric column was diminished; the result of
this experiment, it is scarcely necessary to say, fully
established the great principle of atmospheric pressure.
In like manner, it may not be too presumptuous to sup-
pose, the truth of many of our general theories and
systems of instruction may be confirmed or overthrown.
To Estimate the Results of Method,
Without undervaluing the communication of positive
knowledge in the education of children, we should in
general attach the greatest importance to that system
which tends most to develop and improve their intellec-
tual and moral powers. But it is possible that, in our
regard for this darling idea, we may overlook the fact
that the study of those subjects which are the most use-
ful is generally the most instructive. The school of the
poor should never become an intellectual gymnasium,
where the future destinies of the children are disregard-
ed. Children, in the course of nature, become men and
women, and their pursuits and studies in school should
prepare them for playing their parts in the great world
in which they must move and act. In the education of
a young gentleman, it matters little whether his muscles
aro st rtnotluMK'd by digging in the garden, or by exer-
PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 63
cises with the parallel bars in the play ground ; but with
the child of poverty it is very different, — his lot is labor,
and labor should form a part of his school training ; to
an Eton scholar, it may be of little consequence whether
he learns land-surveying, or whether his tutors teach
him to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics or an"y other
hieroglyphics, provided his intellectual powers are exer-
cised and developed; but with the son of the mechanic
it is different, — his period of school training being
limited, he has no time to spare for learning things which
have only a remote bearing on his future employment;
to him, the school-room should be, in a certain sense,
the vestibule of the workshop. In estimating, therefore,
the results of systems in primary schools, a due regard
should be paid to this two-fold aspect of education.
In the education of adults the matter is somewhat
different, for in this case the chief end, if not the sole
end, of class instruction should, obviously, be the com-
munication of that knowledge which shall be imme-
diately and directly beneficial to them in their respective
avocations.
The object of education should be to develop all the
faculties of our nature — physical, intellectual, and moral;
and that, too, in harmony with one another. A system
sometimes tends only to develop one set of faculties to
the neglecting of all the others. When this is the case,
the teacher should adopt some system which shall be
supplemental to the other, so that the two systems,
acting in conjunction, shall exercise all the faculties of
the pupils. The same observations apply to the subject
of study. For example, the study of arithmetic, or
geometry, exercises the mind in only one kind of evi-
64 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
dence — mathematical evidence ; therefore, in this case, the
teacher would do well to give, side by side with arith-
metic, some easy lessons on physical science, where the
mind of the pupil is exercised in moral evidence.
CHAP. HI.
TO ASCERTAIN THE NATURE OF THE BEING TO BE EDUCATED.-GENERAL
FACTS AND PRINCIPLES.— PRIMITIVE INTBLLIGENCE THE BASIS OF DEVEL-
OPMENT.— CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACULTIES.-ESSENTIAL POINTS CON-
SIDERED IN RELATION TO METHOD.
To ASCEETAIN THE NaTURE OF THE BeING TO BE
Educated.
As a knowledge of human nature is the true basis of
the science of education, it is essential to the discovery
of general principles of method, that we should have a
complete record of general facts relative to the develop-
ment of the intellectual and moral faculties, and that it
should be fully ascertained, by actual observations and
experiments, what subjects and methods of instruction
are best calculated to aid the development of these
faculties at the different stages of their growth; in order
to complete the science of education, we require some-
thing more than a mere knowledge of the general prin-
ciples of mental philosophy. Such a course of inquiry
would not only contribute to advance the science of
education, but it would also give us a more complete
view of the natural history of the human mind.
It has been said that psychological analysis will lead
us to a knowledge of the laws regulating the develop-
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. 65
ment of our faculties; but in the inquiry we may be
very much aided by observing how humanity, or the
mind of society, has developed itself in the different
stages of its advancement; that is to say, how the mind
of man has discovered truth after truth, and built up
science upon science, in attaining our present elevated
condition of civilization and intelligence. It is obvious
that the mind, considered historically, that is, object-
ively, must give us the broad features of the mind
considered per se, that is, subjectively. Those natural
instincts and impulses which evince themselves in the
individual mind, must undoubtedly exhibit themselves
on a grand scale in the development of the race itself,
or the mind of man acting in society.
We give the following as amongst the most important
general facts or laws relating to the development of the
faculties.
General Facts Relating to the Development of
THE Intellectual Faculties.
1. The faculties follow a law of progressive develop-
ment.
2. They are cultivated by being properly exercised on
appropriate subjects.
3. They are weakened by being over-taxed, or by
being exercised on inappropriate subjects. They admit
of a wrong development.
4. All our knowledge of the material world is derived
through the senses. Material objects, and the various
phenomena of the external world, are the subjects upon
which the faculties first exercise themselves. Material
aids promote the activity of all the faculties.
o
66 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
5. The natural force of the faculties differs in different
individuals.
6. The voluntary faculties, such as attention, are
influenced by motives. Children like to do things in
company with one another. With children, the natural
and most healthful incentive to attention is the associa-
tion of pleasure with instruction; nature has connected
a refined intellectual pleasure with the healthful exercise
of tlie faculties; curiosity of the desire of knowledge,
and the love of the beautiful and the wonderful, are the
great actuating principles of early childhood, and their
gratification is always accompanied by pleasurable
emotions. Unnatural modes of instruction give rise to
harsh and vitiating modes of discipline.
7. Habits are formed by the repetition of the same
acts. The habits of attention and concentration are the
great main-springs of education. The habit of directing
the undivided or concentrated force of the faculties to a
given subject is never fully acquired in early life, —
children love change and novelty.
8. One class of faculties may repose whilst another
class of faculties is being exercised.
9. The faculties are most vigorous when they are
exercised voluntarily. The principle of self-dependence
is one of the most powerful agents of culture. Children
have a natural craving for knowledge as well as for
occupation.
10. The strength of any faculty and the desire for
exercising it, are greater according as it has been more
or less called into activity. The sooner a faculty is
called into healthful action, the greater, other things
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. 67
bein^ the same, will be its strength. The cultivation of ^
the reasoning faculties should not be too long delayed.
11. The facaltieSj in the course of their development,
act and re-act upon one another. The complete devel-
opment of any faculty depends, more or less, on the
development of some other faculty.
The mind is really one indivisible substance having
different states and modes of action; these states and
modes of action being called faculties.
Some of the faculties are almost simultaneous in their
action as well as in their development.
All the faculties of the mind exist in a greater or less
state of activity at every stage of development.
The mind as a whole admits of cultivation at every
stage of development. The moral faculties may be cul-
tivated in connection with the intellectual faculties; and
so on.
12. For the purpose of culture, the faculties may be
divided into groups or classes.
13. Our subjects, as well as our methods of instruction,
may be varied or modified to suit the different classes of
faculties.
14. Each class of faculties has its characteristic mo-
tives of action as well as habits of action.
15. Each faculty has a primitive state corresponding
to its spontaneous development. Primitive judgments
form the basis of all our knowledge.
Certain faculties have also distinct states of develop-
ment correspo7iding to the subjects upon which they are
exercised. These states have an important bearing on
early education.
16. All our knowledge is derived from three sources,
68 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
viz., Sensation^ Reflection^ and the Primitive Laws involved
in our mental operations.
Primitive Intelligence, as Shown in Perception
AND Intuition, Considered as the Basis of Devel-
opment.
There is a pre-established harmony between external
nature and the laws regulating the operations of the
mind. Through sensation, or the impressions derived
from the senses, the immaterial (the mind) comes into
contact with the material, and springs (through its own
inherent energies) into all the various forms of devel-
oped intelligence. Without sensation, the mind could
not germinate; and without the reflex power, which the
mind exercises over these sensations, intelligence could
not exist; but this is not all, — the awakened intelligence
derives fresh vitality from the primitive laws involved
in its own operations. Hence our knowledge, the
aliment of intellectual life, is derived from the three
following sources: Sensation, Reflection, and Intuition,
or the primitive laws involved in our mental opera-
tions.
The infant soul contains implicitly all the faculties of
the developed intelligence; reason is there, with all its
essential characteristics, but it is there only in its
intuitive form. The mind intuitively comprehends and
feels the relations subsisting between itself and the ex-
ternal world, without being able at once to give its
knowledge anything like a formal or abstract expression.
It spontaneously and unconsciously forms primitive
judgments or inferences, recognizes the beautiful and
participates it, and acts under the conviction of certain
INTUITIVE PERCEPTIONS. 69
fundamental principles of belief. All the materials of
perfect intelligence exist in these primary or primitive
intuitions, but they have to be reduced to definite forms
and consistent combinations.
Nature is truly a revelation. To the human soul
nature speaks in an intelligible language, which thebrute
cannot understand. The brute looks on nature as it looks
on a book, — it sees lights and shades, but nothing beyond;
on the contrary, the human intelligence at once de-
ciphers the symbolic characters of that book. The val-
idity of our intuitive perceptions must, therefore, be re-
ferred to this pre-constructed harmony between the soul
and nature.
Our primitive intuitions comprehend judgments, sen-
timents, and fundamental principles of belief.
Perception is the first stage of intelligence; but per-
ception, regarded as a distinct stage of intelligence,
involves something more than a summation of sensual
impressions. By perception we become immediately
conscious of the qualities of material objects. Out of our
perceptions arise certain necessary and intuitive judg-
ments. We perceive the properties of an object sepa-
rately as well as in connection with the object consid-
ered as a collective unity, and thus recognize and dis-
tinguish objects by their properties; every such cognition,
obviously, involves a judgment; in point of fact, a prop-
osition, which, though not expressed, is not the less felt
and understood as such. We perceive the physical
qualities of an object, but apprehend something more, —
we are conscious that the me^ the percipient, is distinct
from, and independent of, the not me, or the thing per-
ceived. The sentiment of the beautiful is intuitive: we
70 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
look at a flower; — we perceive that it has a certain
shape, size, and color; but w^e apprehend far more than
this, — the perception is associated with pleasurable
emotions, and an indefinable sense of the beautiful fills the
soul. We listen to an exquisite piece of music; — we
have a perception of tone and time, but along with this
we have the perception of harmony. The moral and re-
ligious sentiments are intuitive; the virgin simplicity of
a child's moral nature is too apparent to require illustra-
tion; education too often blights this original simplicity.
Our intuitive sentiments involve some of the deepest
thoughts and principles of our existence.
Our primitive judgments or intuitive perceptions are,
of all our forms of intelligence, the most vivid and com-
prehensive. They give us all the elements of our subse-
quent knowledge, not in signs, or abstract representa-
tions, but immediately, in our self-consciousness. They
are universal and invariable, for they are found as well
in the savage as in the civilized man. They are neces-
sary and absolute; for to be different from what they
are is impossible. They are formed spontaneously and
intuitively; that is to say, anterior to and irrespective
of any reflective processes; they are unreflective because
they are spontaneous, and spontaneous because they
flow directly from the prinieval harmony existing be-
tween the material and spiritual worlds. They embody
all our experience; that is, experience in its most com-
prehensive sense.
Our experience (according to the usual acceptation of
the term) comprehends the knowledge derived from sen-
sation and reflection; but does our knowledge stop here?
We roust be careful that we do not leave out some ele-
INTUITIVE PERCEPTIONS. 71
ment of t)ie inquiry, and then repair the mutilation by
arbitrary inventions. The fact is, all knowledge legins
with experience, but it does not end with experience.
There are certain intuitive principles of belief, as well
as certain primitive judgments, such as the relation of
cause and effect, which cannot be derived from experi-
ence. Let us propose the question: — What is our prim-
itive impression relative to causation? Do we regard it
simply as a relation of succession, of antecedent and con-
sequent, or something more ? Now the relation of suc-
cession, which is really derived from experience, is a
very different thing from the relation of cause and effect.
When we say that fire melts wax, we mean something
more than that the phenomenon of fluidity succeeds the
phenomenon of the contact of fire; in fact, we believe
that there is some active principle in the fire which pro-
duces the fluidity. Again, our acts are not only
sequences to the operation of the will, — we regard them
(from the primitive laws of our mental operations) as
the direct effects of our volitions. Thus, every act of
attention is voluntary, but every voluntary act is char-
acterized by the circumstance that we consider ourselves
as the responsible cause of it. A cause, therefore, is not
merely an antecedent to a phenomenon, it is something
more; it possesses an active productive power; we can-
not escape the conclusion, for it is involved in our men-
tal existence. To adduce any further illustrations of the
nature of our fundamental principles of belief is unnec-
essary; enough has been said to render manifest the
general truth, — that they are based on the laws which
the Creator has established.
Every branch of knowledge must pass through the
72 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
intuitive before it can reach the abstract form; that is,
the form of abstract representation. There is a reality,
a depth, an exhaustlessness, in our primitive knowledge,
but it is vague and undefined; it must become ohjeetified
before it can become definite; it must be fixed in the
representative form of language before it can become an
element of exact science.
Such is the primitive intelligence, — the intelligence of
perception and intuition. We now enter upon a new
and broader platform of development. Hitherto all our
cognitions have been immediate; that is to say, they have
flowed directly from the sensations derived from con-
crete things; now the faculties of memory, conception,
and representation come into active play, and create a
new world of cognitions, at once spiritual and material,
— the world of ideas, of signs, and representations. The
facts of perception are no longer idealized impressions,
existing, as it were, only subjectively, or in our con-
sciousness; they now assume the representative form of
lnnguage,which is a symbolical representation of though*,
whereby we give a sort of independent and external ex-
istence to the results of mental operations. The mind
translates all its primitive judgments into language, and
the judgments so symbolized are called propositions.
Primitive propositions (like primitive judgments) ex-
press the relations of concrete things. Language
ex[)resses our primitive judgments first in the form of
primitive propositions; but by the aid of the faculty of
abstraction, these judgments are gradually generalized,
and then the corresi)onding propositions become general
and abstract. Again, by the faculty of abstraction, we
separate the elements of a proposition in order to con-
Intuitive perceptions. IS
sider them separately; these elements are abstract ideas.
Thus, in the development of the understanding, we be-
gin with judgment; then follow propositions; and last of
all we have abstract ideas; judgments are formed by the
faculty of judgment, one of the original functions of the
mind.
We have observed that primitive judgments expressed
in language are called propositions, or it may be axioms.
Now it is important to bear in mind that these abstract
representative forms involve nothing more than what is
contained in the primitive forms. When you tell a child
(with your ^' subject, copula, and predicate ") that "A
rose is beautiful," you tell him nothing but what he pre-
viously knew and apprehended in the form of a primi-
tive judgment; that is what you really do, — you show
him how to express his primitive judgments in language,
and thereby show him how he may give fixedness and
precision to his intuitive cognitions; that is, how he may
give to his silent thoughts and emotions "a local habita-
tion and a name."
The law regulating the acquisition of knowledge is
this: we cognize the concrete before the abstract, the
concrete being the simple, the abstract the difficult.
Primitive judgments formed in connection with the sen-
sations derived from concrete things, precede abstract
representations arid processes requiring the exercise of
abstract judgment and reason. A child judges of the
color of an object before he has formed any abstract
idea of color; he judges of the relation of numbers be-
fore he has any idea of number apart from its concrete
representations; he judges of form before he has any
cognition of the abstract definitions of form, and so on.
Y4 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
Primitive judgments form the basis of all our knowl-
edge, whether of abstractions or of processes of reason-
ing. An axiom is an abstract expression of a primitive
judgment fonned in relation to the perception of actual
objects; tliese judgments exist in the mind and form the
subjects of pertec^t cognition before they are regarded
in their axiomatic furm. Thus, for example, a child
would not understand you, if you were to tell him that
two and three make five in consequence of the axiom,
that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts; but he
would think and reason in accordance with it, if three
objects and two objects were placed before him in order
that he might ascertain their sum.
Primary education begins with the culture of our in-
tuitive perceptions; this culture chiefly consists in afford-
ing occasions and stimulants for their development, and
in fixing them in the mind by means of representative
language; this is what we mean by the cultivation of the
perceptive faculties. Hence object lessons, picture les-
sons, etc., constitute the best forms of early culture.
To enlarge on this subject, at present, is unnecessary;
enough has been said to render manifest the general
truth, — that the young mind, at every stage of its devel-
opment, is more or less influenced by the culture of the
primitive or perceptive faculties.
Classification of the Faculties of the Mind.
The mindhm intellect, feeling, and will. We think,
we feel, we act, that is to say, we have thoughts and
feelings, and we have also the power of controlling our
thoughts and feelings. Hence our internal phenomena
comprehend intellect, feelings or emotions, and will.
CLASSIFICATION OF FACULTIES. 15
The ideal type of the human soul (the image of God)
consists in the full and harmonious development of these
three elements; the intellect, in this perfect state of de-
velopment, is characterized by freedom of thought;
the emotions by benevolence or love; and the will by
unrestricted power. Under proper culture (with the
blessing of God>, the soul gradually assimilates itself to
this perfect state of development. It is true, that in the
present world we may never reach this ideal state of
development, nevertheless we may be constantly tending
towards it.
The strength and activity of a faculty depend on the
force of the will which animates it; and in like manner,
the character of our emotions is determined by the
active force of the will. If we want to ascertain the
stage of development of the intellectual and moral fac-
ulties, we must look to the state of the will as regards
its freedom : this is the true index to all the other ope-
rations of the mind. In infancy, when the faculties are
feeble, there is little or no voluntary power; the mind is
chiefly governed by instincts or intuitions. On the
other hand, as we acquire more and more intellectual
and moral power, so we gain more and more force of
will. Our acts (intellectual as well as moral) are deter-
mined by actuating principles; that is to say, by
motives, by habits, and by instincts. Our force of will
and thought is evidenced by the character of our actuat-
ing principles.
Four Distinct Stages of Development.
There are four phrases in our language which have
reference to four characteristic or distinct stages of
mental activity: 1 perceive the thin^; I have a conception
76 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
of the thing; I know or understand the thing; and I can
prove the thing. The faculties called into operation in
the first act may be named the perceptive faculties;
those in the second, the conceptive or representative
faculties; in the third, the knowing faculties, or the
faculties of the understanding; and in the fourth, the
reasoning faculties. These four classes of faculties
characterize four distinct stages of intellectual develop-
ment. Co-ordinate with these four intellectual stages
we have also four distinct stages of development of the
emotions and will. The first intellectual stage is marked
by a maximum of sensibility with a minimum force of
will; the second by a diminution of sensibility with an
increase of the force of will; the third, by a further
diminution of sensibility, with a further increase of the
force of will; and the fourth by a minimum of sensibility
with a maximum force of will. These four stages, then,
respectively comprehend the condition of the intellect,
the emotions, and the will; that is, of the whole mind.
All the functions of the mind, more or less developed,
exist in these different stages; at the same time it must
be understood that one stage gradually merges into that
which succeeds it. These stages of development sepa-
rately exist under a condition of transition and assimila-
tion. The commencement of each is marked by the birth
of a new faculty which had previously existed only in a
latent or embryo form. They are distinguished from
one another by the ])eculiar activity of the faculty which
characterizes each; and they are mutually connected by
the necet^sity of a certain amount of simultaneous action
and development.*
*The following mode of representation may aid the conception in real-
izing the mutual relations of these stages of development.
Human intelligence, in Its different forms of development, is interni^-
CLASSIFICATION OF FACULTIES.
11
The classification of the intellectual and moral faculties
here proposed, is distinctly exhibited in the following
tabular forms.
I. Classification of the Faculties of the Mind as
A Whole.
StagM of
Development.
The Intellectual Facul-
ti»B.
The Moral Faculties.
The Feelings.
The Will.
1st Stage.
The Perceptive
Faculties.
Passive emotions
and sentiments.
Instinct and pas-
sions with little
voluntary power.
2d Stage.
The Conceptive
or Representa-
tive faculties.
Sentiments, active
emotions.and af-
fections.
Instincts and pas-
sions with some
voluntary power.
3d Stage.
The Knowing fa-
culties, or the
faculties of the
understanding
Affections more
enlarged and ac-
tive.
Considerable force
of Will.
4th Stage.
The Reasoning
faculties.
Benevolence or
Love.
Freedom of Will.
dlate between the animal organism, the zero of intelligence, and the
infinite. Between the zero of intelligence and the infinite there are four
ascending stages, respectively continuous, but each joined to the one
which succeeds it by an abrupt line of connection indicating the explicit
deve! opment of a new power. At each step of the ascent, we approach
the infinite and recede from the zero. At the base of these four ascend-
ing stages or platforms of development, we place the line which marks the
level of the animal organism. Ascending from this base line, we have the
first stage of development, which marks the region of intuition: somewhat
abruptly this stage connects itself with the second stage of development,
which marks the region of representation, and so on, until we arrive at
the most elevated stage of human development, the region of thought and
reflection, which continually approaches the line of infinite elevation
without ever reaching it. However high human intelligence may rise in
region of thought, it must always be infinitely removed from the infinite
intelligence, the image of God ; but the first stage of human intelligence
in its descent approaches nearer and nearer, until it is indefinitely near
to the zero of intelligence, the animal organism.
78
PUILOSUPHY OF EDUCATION.
II. Classification of the Intellectual Faculties.
SUgw of
Development.
Characteristic Cla«i of
Facultiee.
General Character of
each Clag..
Individaal Faculties in each
Class.
1st Stage.
Tlie rerceptive
faculties.
Intuitive.
Sensation. Perception.
Attention. Observa-
tion. Retention. Pri-
mitive judgment or
intuitive perception.
2(1 Stage.
The Conceptive
orllepresenta-
tive faculties.
Representative.
Memory. Imitation.
Conception. Imagin-
ation. Association.
Recollection. Repre-
sentation as exhibit-
ed in language. Pri-j
mitive judgment as-
sociated with con-
ception.
3d Stage.
The Knowing fa-
culties, or the
faculties of the
Understand-
ing.
Cognitive.
Abstraction. Classifi-
cation. Generaliza-
tion. Explicit com-
parison, composi-
tion, and analysis.
Judgment, etc.
4th Stage.
The Reasoning
faculties.
(Cogitative.
Reason as exercised
in: Demonstration;
Induction; Explicit
Observation, Reflec-
tion ; Speculative
thhiking, etc.
Explanatory Remarks.
First Stage. — Here the charac teristic faculty is per-
ception; but all the faculties of intelligence must exist
rudimentally or implicitly in this stage of mental phe-
nomena. The chief motive principles are instinct ;nul
intuition; yet at the same time it must be observed that
there cannot be the slightest consciousness of a sensation
without an act of attention, that is, without some activ-
ity of will, On the whole, our mental phenomena, at
fSETENTION. MEMORY. t^
this stage, are characterized by sensibility and senti-
ment, rather than by thought and reflection.
Observation is a compound faculty comprehending
(more or less according to circumstances) Discernment,
Comparison, Composition, and Implicit Abstraction.
Observation may be either implicit or explicit; that is,
it may be to a great extent an unconscious act of the
mind, or it may be in the highest sense a voluntary act,
performed from a preconcerted plan and for the attain-
ment of a specific and defined object. In the latter sense,
observation is decidedly a faculty of reason; in the
former sense it belongs to the perceptive class of
faculties.
Primitive Judgment is the faculty of judgment in its
first or primitive form, by the exercise of which the
child at once cognizes simple truths or intuitive propo-
sitions. Observation and Primitive Judgment may be
regarded as the rudimental or embryo forms of Reason.
Retention is the primitive or rudimentary form of
memory. With a slight effort of will the prominent
features of an impression are retained in the mind; this
power we have called retention: but after the impres-
sion bas entirely faded from the mind it is revived or
recalled by the power of memory. By attention the
mind lays hold of sensational impressions, idealizes them,
and fixes them in the soul in the form of primitive
knowledge. Strictly speaking, we do not retain the
sensational impression, but only those prominent portions
of it to which the attention has been most powerfully
directed, and which the mind has idealized, or made, as
it were, part of itself. We look intently at a striking
object, — we close our eyes; the image of the object is
80 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
retained in the mind, not by a conscious effort of will, or
by an ordinary act of memory, but by a power some-
what resembling it. The products of sensations, consti-
tuting the results of experience, soon find a lodgment in
our mental treasury, and of their existence the mind be-
comes conscious whenever similar sensations are pre-
sented. The recurrence of the same sensation gradually
gives rise to the power of consciously recalling it.
In this stage, external phenomena and their relations
are viewed, less as subjects of thought than as objects of
sentiment and feeling: the mind, standing, as it were, face
to face with the objects of perception, is necessarily more
engaged with the contemplation of the objects them-
selves than with its own self-consciousness; hence the
mind is more sensual than reflective. Now a new class
of faculties, memory and conception, are about to play
their part in the mental history, and to draw the mind
more away from the dominion of mere sensational im-
pressions: We now pass from the sphere of perception
and intuition to that of conception and representation.
Second Stage. — Here the first faculty to be considered
is memory. We exercise this faculty when we recall
ideas or intuitions with the full and distinct consciousness
of connection between the type and the antitype. At-
tention, as a decidedly voluntary power, now exercises
the most powerful influences in the development of the
other faculties. We look intently at an object of beauty ;
a sensation is produced, the attention is aroused: we
look again at the object and examine all its prominent
features, as well in their relations to one another as in
their relations to the object as a whole; we idealize the
sensation, that is, we throw it into a form suited to our
CONCEPTION. 81
apprehension: here the mental operations involved in the
act of perception enable us readily to recall the image
we have consciously constructed. Strictly speaking,
memory is a repetition of a mental operation accompanied
with the consciousness of its prior existence; what we
recall is simply the product of the mind's operations.
When we remember a thing, we reproduce the mental
operations connected with the immediate perception of it.
The next faculty to be considered is conception. In
every act of memory the image which is recalled is
always connected, in our consciousness, with the actual
impression which had been previously produced by the
object: but this image may become so idealized that we
at length lose sight of its connection with the original
impression ; in fact, the idea, apart from the object itself,
may become a distinct object of consciousness and con-
templation: this mental process is called conception.
The peculiar function of conception is to store the mind
with ideas formed out of our immediate perceptions, by
aid of attention and memory. This accumulation of ideas
tends to elevate the mind more and more above the in-
fluence of external impressions; to give the mind a more
independent existence; to engage it more in the con-
templation of the world of its own creation, — the world
of conceptions and inward representations. Imagina-
tion is a higher kind of conception; the latter is r&pro-
ductive, the oih^v productive or creative. Imagination com-
bines and modifies our conceptions of existing things in
such a way as to produce a purely ideal or fictitious
representation. Conception is something more than
memory on the one hand, and something less than imag-
ination on the other.
82 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
The faculty of association mow gives us a new power
over our mental operations, — it gives order and arrange-
ment to our ideas and conceptions, and enables us to
represent them by signs and symbols. By the faculty
of association, certain sounds and written signs become
suggestive of, or associated with, certain ideas; the name
of a thing, for example, whether spoken or written, be-
comes associated with the conception or idea of the
thing, so that the presence of the one suggests that of
the other. But we arrive at this result progressively.
The origin of language gives us the origin and natural
history of the faculty of representation. Our first out-
ward signs of ideas are gestures; a nod is the represen-
tation of an affirmation; a shake of the head, of a nega-
tion, and so on. Our natural wants are also indicated
by characteristic gestures. Sounds imitative of the
peculiar cries of animals are taken as the signs of the
idea of those animals. Our natural expressions of pleas-
ure, pain, surprise, etc., also readily become the symbols
of the mental states which they indicate. Spoken lan-
guage naturally comes before written language; a child
perceives a particular object; we point to it and express
its name; the process is repeated until at length the
idea of the subject and the name of it are inseparably
associated in the child's mind. A child interprets a life-
like picture as we do a book; he reads in that picture the
history of the acts, passions, and habits of the creatures
represented. Picture writing is the next obvious stage in
the representation process, and it is not difiicult to con-
ceive how the pictorial process of representation would
gradually merge into a purely symbolic representation.
A written language, then, composed of arbitrary syra-
ABSTRACTION. 83
bolic characters, is the highest evidence of the free
exercise of the representative faculty. It completely
objectifies our ideas, and gives, as it were, a twofold exis-
tence to the products of thought. Words and ideas
exercise a reciprocal influence on each other; the visible
representation suggests its corresponding idea, and the
idea suggests its corresponding representation.
By the faculty of recollection we retain words, and,
through them, reproduce the ideas which they sym-
bolize.
Third Stage. — Language not only enables us to ex-
press our ideas by signs or words, but it further enables
us to express the various relations which these ideas bear
to one another, that is to say, it enables us to express
our judgments in the form of propositions. This is a
step in advance of the foregoing stage of development.
Now we have to express our primitive judgments, em-
bodying all the results of our experience, in the form of
propositions; but, besides this, we have to classify, ex-
tend, and generalize these judgments, and to express
them in the form of general or abstract propositions.
The faculties of abstraction, classification, and general-
ization, which have been hitherto only incidentally and
implicitly exercised, must now be methodically and
explicitly brought to bear upon the materials of knowl-
edge.
There are two kinds of abstraction, viz., mediate and
immediate. In mediate abstraction, we compare the
qualities of different objects, reject their differences in
order to fix upon their resemblances, and from these
resemblances we derive a general or abstract idea. In
immediate abstraction, we compare the parts or qualities
84 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
of a single object; eliminating and neglecting the indi-
vidual and variable parts, we disengage the general and
invariable part, and give it the form of an abstract or
general idea. In both cases the end proposed is the
derivation of a general idea; this general idea, being
fixed and expressed by a term, will be henceforth used
as a common sign of a complete class of phenomena.
The mind, by fixing its attention on abstract words, or
general terms, as the signs of ideas, disengages itself
from the minor details involved in the contemplation of
the concrete world.
Having gained a new store of abstract and general
terms, we express our judgments in those terms, and
thus derive abstract propositions. We compare abstract
terms with each other, so as to determine their agree-
ment or disagreement; we analyze propositions express-
ing our judgments, and put the elements together in
another form better suited to our apprehension. These
mental operations indicate that we have passed into a
higher region of thought, and that we have arrived at an
altitude of development which gives us a wider, a more
exact, and a less obstructed range of view than we had
at the anterior period of development.
Fourth Stage. — Being provided with the great in-
strument of thought — language — reason now freely
expands itself; it wings its ways into every region of
inquiry in search of truth; it methodizes all its materials
of thought, and proceeds to investigate truth according
to certain definite and explicit modes; it lays down cer-
tain self-determined principles of action, and suborns to
itself all the other operations of the mind; with a pene-
trating and comprehensive glance, it looks back upon
ESSENTIAL POINTS IN METHOD. 86
all the processes of thought through which it has passed,
and links the past with the present, and the present with
the future. Reason, in this condition of freedom, is not
merely cognitive, it is also cogitative; it not merely
seeks knowledge, but it also seeks to discover the
sources of knowledge; — it endeavors to penetrate truth
to its very centre, — to trace truth to its origin, history,
and consequences.
Inductive reasoning leads us to a knowledge of the
general laws of nature; deductive reasoning enables us
to tell the antecedents of any given phenomenon, and to
foretell its consequents. By abstract or speculative rea-
son we attain a knowledge of universal truths^ embracing
alike the laws which govern the operations of nature,
and the operations of thought. Our intelligence is now
much higher in the scale of development, than that
which we characterized by conception and understand-
ing; it contains the ideality of the one combined with
the exactness of the other; it embodies all the anterior
developments in one harmonious, definite unity; — in
short, it is complete freedom of thought under the con-
dition of law and responsibility.
Essential Points to be considered in relation to
Method as applied to Education.
I. The nature of the faculties.
II. The subjects best adapted for the cultivation of
each class of faculties.
III. The nature of the motives acting on each class of
faculties.
lY. The habits of action to be established in relation
to ^ach class of faculties,
86 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
V. The methods of instruction adapted to each class
of faculties.
VI. Application of results to the different periods of
education.
I. Nature of the Faculties.
The nature of the faculties may be viewed under the
following aspects: —
1. The peculiar function of each faculty.
2. Mutual relation of the faculties.
3. Classification of the faculties with respect to their
simultaneous cultivation.
1. The Peculiar Function of each Faculty.
What we have further to adduce relative to the nature
of each faculty, has a special bearing on method as ap-
plied to education.
It has been observed that reason and other faculties
of thought, exist in a rudimentary form at the very
earliest stages of development; but there is a period in
our intellectual growth when these faculties attain cer-
tain definite or explicit stages of development. So far
as regards the purpose of elementary education, it may
be asssumed that each faculty may exist in two distinct
states of development, viz., in its first or simple form of
development, or in its latest or complex form. What,
then, are the characteristics of these two states ?
Certain faculties may exist in distinct and determinate
states of development^ depending for the most part on the
nature of the subject of instruction ; that is to say, whether the
subject be concrete or abstract.
In general a faculty will exist either in a simple or in
FUNCTIONS OF THE FACULTIES. 87
a complex state, according as the subject to which it is
directed is concrete or abstract. Thus, we may have
either simple conception or abstract conception; simple
abstraction or complex abstraction; simple memory or
recollection, ideality or imagination; intuitive reasoning
or abstract reasoning, ond so on. These faculties at the
first stage of their development have simple and definite
functions, whereas at the latest stage they assume new
and more complex functions as we rise higher into the
region of intellection. It is true that these two states
of development gradually merge into each other, accord-
ing as we blend the two classes of subjects together.
Conception. — Our simplest conceptions are formed by
the aid of models and pictorial representations; abstract
conception is the conception of a thing formed from a
verbal description of it.
Imagination. — This faculty, in its latest state of de-
velopment, creates fictitious scenes and events, and in-
vests mere abstractions with all the qualities of vital
existence. But the ideality peculiar to young children
is very little removed from simple conception; with the
aid of visible representations they form the idea of
absent objects or distant scenes; a stick with a rag tied
round it is invested with all the qualities of a living
baby; a small picture enables them to realize the idea of
an unseen reality; in this case the ideal conception is
formed in connection with the concrete representation.
Abstraction. — A child's first abstractions are derived
from a comparative examination of the properties of
concrete things: He forms an abstract idea of number
by counting various familiar objects; he forms the
abstract conception of a quadruped by observing the
88 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
fact that cats, dogs, horses, etc., have a certain quality
in common, viz., four legs or four feet. Whereas in
some of our higher abstractions the subject undergoes a
process of intellection, or intellectual elaboration, before
the abstractions are completed. Thus, in order to
realize the idea of a noun, the child must frequently
form a double or complex abstraction ; for the name of a
thing (e. g. bird) is a noun, not the thing itself; on the
other hand, ahorse is really a quadruped.
Some eminent writers on education assert " that the
faculty of abstraction is the latest in the development of
the human mind." Now this is only true as regards the
faculty of complex abstraction, for even young children
readily exercise the faculty of simple abstraction.
Ideas of number, form, magnitude, weight, color, etc.,
belong to our simple abstractions; ideas connected with
our mental operations, the analysis of langunge, pure
science, etc., belong to our complex abstractions.
Reason. — A child's reasoning chiefly consists in mak-
ing simple deductions or inferences from palpable facts
or from the relations of concrete things; whereas renson,
in its highest form of development, investigates the
relations of abstract things. Mental arithmetic, taught
by objects, calls into activity this early or first form of
reason; physical laws, geometry, etc., taught in the
same manner, also exercise this first form of reason.
The peculiar function of reason is the investigation
and recognition of truth ; but in every process of reason-
ing there is always something taken for granted or
assumed to be true. The truths assumed may be self-
evident axioms, facts derived from observation and ex-
periment, principles derived from induction, or abstract
FUNCTIONS OF THE FACULTIES. 89
propositions which have been previously established.
When a child reasons about familiar things, or familiar
phenomena, the axioms forming the basis of his infer-
ences are not expressed in an abstract form of lan-
guage, — they are rather understood from their actual
and special relation to the subjects or objects; in fact,
his belief in these axioms is of that silent, unconscious,
instinctive kind of belief.
The simplicity or complexity of process of reasoning
depends upon, 1. The nature of the subject; 2. The
method; 3. The nature or form of the axiomatic truths
or propositions, as the case may be.
1. The nature of the subject. The subject may be
either concrete or abstract. In the former case, other
things being the same, our reasoning will be simple or
intuitive; in the latter case abstract.
2. The method may be experimental, inductive, ten-
tative, or some other method which appeals to the per-
ceptive faculties; or it may be abstract, that is, the
method may appeal to the reflective faculties, and not to
the perceptive faculties. In the former case, other things
being in keeping, our reasoning will be simple or intui-
tive; in the latter case abstract.
3. The nature or form of the axiomatic truths or pro-
positions. These may be explained in connection with
the particular subject, or they may be expressed in the
form of abstract truths. In the former case, other things
being in keeping, our reasoning will be simple or intui-
tive; in the latter case abstract.
Hence we come to the general conclusion, that our
reasoning will be more or less abstract or difficult,
90 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
according as the faculty of abstraction is more or less
exercised in the process.
That our intellectual faculties may exist in two dis-
tinct states of development seems to have been over-
looked by teachers, as well as by educational writers:
these states, as we have endeavored to show, depend on
the nature of the subject to which the faculty is directed;
the concrete exercising the simple form of the faculty,
and the abstract the complex form of the faculty. The
result of this misconception has been that the cultivation
of tlie higher faculties has been too much neglected in
our elementary schools. We have no hesitation in say-
ing that the higher faculties, in their first or simple
forms, may be healthfully exercised at an early age. A
child of seven years readily forms simple abstractions,
and reasons clearly about concrete things.
2. Mutual Relation of the Faculties.
The following points of relation are worthy of consid-
eration : —
1. Relation of succession. 2. Relation of assimilation.
3. Relation of aggregation.
1. Relation of succession. In our various mental pro-
cesses there is a natural order of succession as regards
the action of the faculties. Thus, sensation is followed
by perception; perception and attention are followed by
memory and conception; conception, observation, &c.,
by abstraction; and so on. This order of succession
seems to correspond with the order of development as
given at p. 77.
2. Relation of assimilation. All the faculties are at
first feeble and circumscribed as to their modes of action,
MUTUAL RELATION OF THE FACULTIES. 91
but under proper culture they gradually gain strength
and assume new modes of action. This growth and de-
velopment is in many cases equivalent to the assimi-
lation of one faculty to another. Thus: — attention in-
tensified becomes concentration, or that faculty whereby
we direct the undivided force of the faculties to a given
subject. Observation intensified and methodized becomes an
important element of inductive reasoning. The con-
ception of a thing, from a verbal description, is an ideal
operation nearly allied to imagination. The conceptive
faculties verge upon the abstract faculties; to form a
true and complete conception of a complex object we
must examine its parts, compare them with each other,
and form a conception of them separately as well as in
their relations to the whole. And so on to other fac-
ulties.
3. Relation of aggregation. A complex mental oper-
ation may be regarded as an aggregation of certain
simple operations. Each class of faculties has a leading
faculty characterizing the group. Perception is the
leading or characteristic faculty of the perceptive facul-
ties; conception and representation, of the conceptive
and representative faculties; the judgment, of the know-
ing faculties; and reason, of the reasoning faculties.
Each successive group may be regarded as an aggre-
gation of all the faculties in the groups preceding it,
connected with the faculties peculiar to each group.
The different stages of a faculty depend on the mode
of the aggregation.
Recollection, or philosophical memory, is simple
MEMORY acting in conjunction with the faculty of asso-
ciation, and sometimes with that of reason.
92 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Ideality is the ideal faculty acting in conjunction
with the perceptive faculties. Imagination is a more
ideal kind of conception.
Simple AnsTRAcrrioN is the abstractive faculty acting
in conjunction with the perceptive faculties. Complex
ABSTRACTION is the abstrnctivc faculty acting in con-
junction with the conceptive faculties or the representa-
tive faculties, or with an abstraction previously formed.
Intuitive reason is the rational faculty acting in
conjunction with the perceptive faculties, and it may be
with simple abstraction. Abstract reason is the
rational faculty acting in conjunction with complex
abstraction.
In order to cultivate any faculty, or class of faculties,
we should make ourselves acquainted with the mode of
aggregation.
3. The Faculties considered with respect to their simultaneous
Action and Cultivation.
The connection between some of our faculties is so
close that we cannot exercise one without exercising
another. Thus, perception, as well as conception, is
almost always associated with primitive judgment, etc.;
the faculty of conception cannot be exercised without
memory; the faculties of conception and language are
invariably exercised together, — the conception of a
thing and the name of the thing are almost inseparable;
the faculties of abstraction and classification depend
upon those of conception and comparison; reaeon and
judgment presuppose the development of observation,
conception, comparison, abstraction, and language, and
so on.
SUBJECTS FOR CULTIVATION OF FACULTIES. 93
As many of our faculties are almost contemporaneous
in their action, the cultivation of one class of faculties
necessarily involves the cultivation of some other. To
cultivate any faculty by itself is scarcely practicable,
and, indeed, if it were practicable, it is not desirable. In
giving a lesson, the skilful teacher suits his instruction
to the cultivation of a series of faculties having a mutual
affinity.
Each class of faculties may be cultivated by itself or
in combination with some other; special attention should
be given to the leading or characteristic faculty in each
class. But certain combinations are more eligible for
simultaneous cultivation than others. The conceptive
and representative faculties should be cultivated along
with the perceptive faculties. Memory depends solely
upon the activity of attention. Language, especially
technical and abstract terms, should be first taught in
connection with the exercise of the perceptive faculties.
Abstraction, judgment, and reason, in the early states of
their development, should be cultivated in connection
with the observing or preceptive faculties. The recol-
lective faculty, or simple memory combined with the
faculty of association, should be cultivated in connection
with the reasoning faculties. And so on to the other
cases. As a general rule applicable to early training,
we should say that the perceptive faculties should form
the basis of cultivation for all the other faculties of the
mind.
II. The Subjects best adapted for the Cultivation
OF the different Faculties.
Classification of subjects. — The leading topics of
school instruction may be reduced to five.
94 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
1. The knowledge and application of facts and prin-
ciples of direct observation, under which may be in-
cluded Object Lessons, Lessons on familiar natural
phenomena and natural history, Mental Arithmetic,
Drawing, Writing, Speaking, Meaning of terms and
phrases, etc.
These subjects specially cultivate the perceptive fac-
ulties, and the conceptive and representative faculties,
together with simple abstraction and intuitive reason.
2. The knowledge and application of signs and sym-
bols, to which we may refer Reading, Orthography,
Symbolical Arithmetic, etc.
These subjects chiefly cultivate the representative
faculties.
3. The knowledge of facts generally, which includes
Descriptive Geography, Natural History, Narratives,
History (especially of our own country), etc.
These subjects especially cultivate the knowing facul-
ties.
4. The knowledge of general laws and abstract rela-
tions, to which we may refer Natural and Experimental
Philosophy, Physical Geography, Arithmetic, Algebra,
Geometry, Grammar, etc. These subjects specially cul-
tivate the reasoning faculties.
5. The knowledge which inculcates sentiment and ex-
cites reflection, comprehending General Reading, Poetry,
Music, Religion, etc.
These subjects specially cultivate the imagination and
all the higher or reflective faculties, together with the
moral and religious sentiments.
THE HABITS OF ACTION. 95
III. Nature of the Motives acting on each Class of
Faculties.
The most important motives of action, so far as relates
to intellectual culture, are as follows: —
1. Curiosity, or the desire for knowledge. 2. Love of
the beautiful and the wonderful. 3. The pleasure con-
nected with the healthful exercise of the faculties. 4.
The pleasure of success. 5. Sympathy and emulation.
6. Desire of approbation. 1. Hope of reward. 8. Fear
of punishment. 9. Love of distinction. 10. Love of
truth. 11. Sense of duty. 12. The pleasure derived
from the possession of knowledge and the consciousness
of power.
The first four motives are specially applicable to the
cultivation of all the faculties at their early stages of
development; as far as regards the cultivation of the
perceptive, conceptive, and representative faculties,
scarcely any other motives of action are necessary. But
the range of motives must be enlarged with the growth
and development of the faculties. The cultivation of
the knowing and reasoning faculties frequently requires
the aid of almost every legitimate motive. Motives of
action should be varied according to the diversities of
intellect, character, and subjects of instruction. When
one motive loses its power another may be effective.
IV. The Habits of Action to be established in rela-
tion TO each Class op Faculties.
The most important habits of action, so far as relates
to intellectual culture, are as follows :-7-
1. Continuous attention. 2. Car^ftdnofe^wvation. 3.
■^3*
96 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Vivacity — Earnestness — Mental activity — Promptitude.
4. Docility — Veneration — Obedience — Order — Exact-
ness. 5. Self-reliance — Thoughtfulness — Self-culture —
Self-examination — Self-control. 6. Concentration — Ab-
stractive attention — Systematic study — Analytic ex-
amination — Distributive classification of knowledge —
Realization and self-appropriation of knowledge — De-
cision of character — Strenuous and laborious application.
1. Reflection — Candor — Devotedness in the pursuit of
truth — Self-dedication — The philosophic spirit — Correct
thinking, speaking, writing, and feeling.
The first five habits should be specially cultivated in
relation to all the faculties at their early stages of de-
velopment. These habits, however, have special rela-
tion to the perceptive, imitative, and conceptive facul-
ties; but the range of habits must be enlarged with the
growth and development of the faculties. The habits
included in the 6th group should be established in rela-
tion to the exercise of the knowing or understanding
faculties; and those included in the Vth group should
be established in connection with the cultivation of the
reasoning faculties.
V. The Methods of Instruction adapted to each
Class of Faculties.
The general principles of Method, contained in chap.
IV. are more or less applicable to the cultivation of all
the faculties; and Part II. of this work contains specific
methods for the cultivation of the different classes of
faculties.
EDUCATIONAL PERIODS. 97
VI. Application of Results to the different
Periods of Education.
Five Educational Periods.
Our early life may be divided into five periods. I.
Infancy, comprehending about four years. 2. Early
childhood, extending from four to about seven years of
age. 3. Childhood, extending from seven to about ten
years of age. 4. Early youth, from ten to about four-
teen years of age. 5. Youth, extending from the age of
fourteen to manhood.
First Period. Infancy.
The infant has first to acquire the right use of his
senses. During the latter part of this period the per-
ceptive faculties attain a considerable degree of vigor
and acuteness; and the conceptive and representative
faculties, constituting the first evidences of mental exist-
ence, also characterize the later part of this period. As
the brain, the organ of thought, is in an imperfect state,
our instruction should be entirely of a desultory charac-
ter; we should wait for the spontaneous development of
the faculties. Speaking, singing, and the names of
familiar objects constitute the chief subject matters of
instruction.
Second Period. Earhj Childhood.
This period is marked by a greater activity and pre-
cision of the conceptive and representative faculties, as-
sociated to some extent with the knowing faculties, and
the first glimmerings of reason. The sensibilities of the
child are also quickened, and the impressions produced
98 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
by external objects are deeper and more lasting. Atten-
tion, at first spontaneous, now becomes a voluntary fac-
ulty. At the early part of this period, instruction
should be identified with amusement, and all technical
learning should be carefully excluded. We should invest
our subjects of instruction with some charm calculated
to engage the feelings. During this period the mind
should be prepared for commencing the exertions re-
quired at the subsequent period. Without being techni-
cal or strictly systematic, our subjects of instruction
should be comprehensive, the exclusive object of all our
instruction being the development of the faculties.
Speaking, singing, object lessons, lessons on striking
natural phenomena, picture lessons, mental arithmetic,
and the facts of Scripture (life of Christ, etc.), should
form the chief subjects of instruction throughout the
whole of this period. At the latter part of this period,,
writing, drawing, reading, common arithmetic, and
geography should be taught in such a way as to form the
basis of future instruction. Intuitive truths, or simple
propositions, may also be taught as inferences from
familiar facts.
Third Period, Childhood.
This period is chiefly marked by the dawn of reason
and imagination, and the fuller development of the fac-
ulties of the understanding. During this period, the
studies of the preceding period should be extended and
associated with easy processes of reasoning and abstrac-
tion. The abstract terms and phrases of language,
arithmetic, geometry, natural science, and grammar,
should be taught in connection with their concrete
EDUCATIOXAL PERIODS. 99
forms. Lessons on general knowledge should also be
given, comprehending simple stories, narratives, histori-
cal sketches, and descriptions of natural scenery, in
prose as well as in verse.
Fourth Period. Early Youth.
Although the perceptive and conceptive faculties still
maintain their ascendency, yet during this period the
understanding and reason attain a certain degree of
strength. Reason now gives strength and vivacity to
all the other faculties, and especially to the recollective
faculty. As the mind is now capable of more sustained
exertion, the habit of intensified attention, or the habit
of directing the undivided force of the faculties to a
given subject, should form an important object of cul-
ture. The subjects of instruction belonging to the fore-
going period should be enlarged, and studied more sys-
tematically, yet not without a due regard to the im-
perfect state of the reflective faculties. Language,
mathematics, and the physical sciences and useful arts,
should be specially studied, not only as a means of intel-
lectual culture, but also as subjects having a direct bear-
ing on the business of life.
Fifth Period. Youth.
During this period all the faculties of our nature at-
tain their full development. Every subject must now
be studied in its most technical and systematic form;
that is, supposing the preceding periods have been duly
improved. Every study must now be pursued with
earnestness, vigor, and determination; and duties, re-
quiring strenuous and continued labor, should be per-
100 rnitOsoPHY of education.
formed with cheerfulness and exactness for the sake of
the end to be attained. Competitive examinations and
rewards now become appropriate as well as powerful
stimulants to exertion. During this period the subjects
of study should have a special bearing on the profession
or business for which the youth is being educated.
CHAP. IV.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING, OR ELEMENTS OF METHOD.
Have we arrived at any well recognized general princi-
ples of method as applied to education ? If so, what
are they ? Unfortunately the philosophy of method has
never yet been systematically studied by practical
teachers, nor have its principles been fairly applied by
them with the view of determinining what are the true
general principles or axioms of education. However, a
careful induction of recognized psychological facts has
led us to regard the following as deserving a place
amongst those axioms or general principles. The un-
settled state of our knowledge on this subject will form
the best apology for the imperfection, or it may be the
errors, of the following summary of general principles.
It will be observed that many of these princii)les give
different faces or aspects of the same general principle;
such aspects are essential to the full development of the
subject matter, and give a precision and a distinctiveness
to the different modes in which an important general
principle may be applied.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 101
I. Our methods of education should act in co-operation with, and
should form adjuncts to, the natural order and mode of devel-
opment of the physical, intellectual, and moral faculties of the
children ; in short, we must teach children after the way by
which nature intended that they should be taught.
This must comprehend all other general principles of
education.
The faculties of children develop themselves slowly;
one faculty shows itself before another; some are as
active, and almost as vigorous, in the child as they are
in the full-grown man, — such as perception, simple
memory, curiosity, &c. ; on the contrary, certain faculties
never attain their full development until the child has
arrived at the period of maturity, — such as recollection,
or philosophical memory, imagination, abstraction, rea-
son, &c.
All the faculties are invigorated by being properly
exercised; whereas, on the other hand, they may be en-
feebled by being overtasked, or by being exercised on
subjects which do not come within their proper sphere.
The subjects of instruction, as well as the methods of
instruction, should be adapted to the strength of the
faculties.
Our business is not to destroy any faculty, but to
follow out the intentions of nature in relation to its de-
velopment; — our business is not to create any faculty,
but to cultivate all the faculties which God has bestowed
upon the child, according to the plan or method which
He has ordained.
The cultivation of any faculty should have a relation
to the period at which it develops itself; thus, for ex-
102 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ample, the faculty of observation is strong in young
children, that of abstract reason is weak; hence we
should communicate knowledge to young children
through their 2)erceptive faculties, and we should at the
same time be careful that we do not overtask the faculty
of reason. Certain faculties attain distinct states of
development corres23onding to the growth of the mind
as a whole; ideality, simple abstraction, and intuitive
reason are developed at an early period; whereas, com-
plex abstraction and abstract reason are the latest in the
development of the human mind.
As a first condition of success in teaching, the master
should be thoroughly acquainted with the laws regulat-
ing the development of the faculties of the being to be
educated; his work becomes comparatively easy and
pleasant when his methods of instruction are framed in
accordance with these laws.
The various faculties require distinct modes of culti-
vation; so that what may be requisite for the develop-
ment of one, may not be best adapted for the develop-
ment of another; one course of study may cultivate the
faculty of recollection, another course that of imagina-
tion; and so on. In order, therefore, to give a full
elucidation of this subject, it is necessary that we should
consider the various faculties of our nature in detail, with
the view of determining the best modes for their
respective cultivation. This we purpose to do in another
part of this work. But there are certain general princi-
ples which have respect to the development of the mind
as a whole, and these we purpose to consider before giv-
ing an account of the cultivation of particular faculties,
or particular classes of faculties.
CHIEF OBJECT OF PEIMARY EDUCATION. 103
On the cultivation of peculiar tempers and talents of
children, Locke observes: "We must not hope wholly
to change their original tempers, nor make the gay-
pensive and grave, nor the melancholy sportive without
spoiling them. God has stamped certain characters*
upon men's minds, which, like their shapes, may perhaps
be a little mended; but can hardly be totally altered
and transformed into the contrary. lie, therefore, that
is about children, should well study their natures and
aptitudes, and see by often trials, what turn they easily
take, and what becomes them; observe what their native
stock is, how it may be improved, and what it is fit for;
he should consider what they want, whether they be
capable of having it w^rought into them by industry, and
incorporated there by practice; and whether it be worth
while to endeavor it. For in many cases, all that we
can do, or should aim at, is, to make the best of what
nature has given, to prevent the vices and faults to
which such a constitution is most inclined, and give it all
the advantages it is capable of. Every one's natural
genius should be carried as far as it could; but to
attempt the putting another upon him, will be but labor
in vain; and what is so plastered on, will at best sit but
untowardly, and have always hanging to it the ungrace-
fulness of constraint and affectation."
II. The chief object of primary education is to develop all the
faculties of our nature, physical, intellectual, and moral. At
the same time, the development of the faculties of children above
a certain age, should have a due regard to their future em-
ployment in the present world, as well as to their future destiny
in the world to come. Instruction should be characterized by
the principle of utility and development.
104 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
The first ten years of a child's life is peculiarly the
period of deyelopraent. During this period the acquisi-
tion of knowledge is in itself a very secondary object, —
it is a TMans for securing a great end, and that end is
Ihe development of the faculties. No knowledge, however
valuable in itself, can compensate for the deadening
influence w hich its acquisition may have had upon the
faculties of the child; on the other hand, no knowledge,
however trifling in itself, should be despised which en-
livens and invigorates these faculties.
The mind, from its very constitution, seeks to develop
itself. A boy is not a mere recipient of knowledge; his
faculties are continually developing themselves by exer-
cise. Everything in the world around him tends to
stimulate this development. His Creator has placed
him in this beautiful world, where all its laws and phe-
nomena tend to quicken, develop, and elevate his phys-
ical, intellectual, and moral faculties. The creature
should surely follow out the intentions of the Creator !
But educators, in the place of fostering this develop-
ment, have too frequently directed their energies to
counteract it, — instead of regarding knowledge as a
meanSy they have looked upon it as an e7id. " Some pro-
pose (observes Woodbridge) as the object of all their
efforts, to communicate as much positive knowledgje as
possible; they often produce living encyclopaedias, unfit
for useful activity. Others perceive how little this ac-
cumulation of abstract knowledge avails in preparation
for active life, and direct their attention almost ex-
clusively to matters of a practical nature. On this plan,
there is no small danger of producing mere instruments
for others — men almost incapable of original thought or
KNOWLEDGE A MEANS TO AN END. 105
independent action." These systems taken separately
are obviously imperfect. The faculties, as we have
already shown, can always be developed in harmony with
the useful nature of the subjects of instruction, for what
is most instructive to the mind of the hoy will generally be
found to be the most useful to the man; so that, in reality,
there is not necessarily any antagonism between the
principle of utility and that of development. Without
losing sight of the importance of practical knowledge,
especially at the latter stages of elementary instruction,
the truly enlightened educator will ever regard the
development of the faculties as the great end of all his
teaching; but from the various useful matters of in-
struction, he will always select that which is best calcu-
lated to secure this end, and his mode or system of
teaching will always have a reference to the same great
end. The question with him will not be, — have I con-
veyed the greatest amount of technical knowledge in
the least possible time ? have I engrafted the ideas of
the men upon the mind of the boy ? but it will rather
be, — have I awakened any element of intellectual or
moral vitality which had hitherto lain dormant? have 1
invigorated or purified any faculty which had hitherto
existed in a feeble, or in an imperfect state of develop-
ment? and has all this been attained with a due regard
to the future pursuits and destiny of the pupil ?
" England expects every man to do his duty." The
schoolmaster has a sacred duty to discharge in relation
to his country, — he has to educate his pupils in such a
way that they may be fully prepared for carrying out
the work which she expects them to perform. England
has a great destiny to fulfil; on her empire the sun
106 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
never sets; she holds under her sway the fairest and
richest portions of the glohe; and to all of them she has
to extend the blessings of her civilization. What our
people have done for North America, we have yet to do
for South Africa and Asia; the jungle, the lair of the
lion and the tiger, has to be converted into corn fields
and gardens; our mining appliances have to be trans-
ported to the gold fields of Australia; railways, facili-
tating the transport of material and produce, have to be
constructed in all our great colonies; and our various
forms of machinery, economizing time and labor, have
to be established wherever nature affords facilities and
scope for their application. Now which is the class of
men best qualified for carrying out this mighty work?
Is it our classical scholars and abstract mathematicians?
Surely not; we want men of heads and hands; men of
skilled labor, thoroughly conversant with all our prac-
tical sciences and arts. Teachers ! such is the class of
men at present wanted by your country, and the training
of such men should form one great object of your school
instruction.
III. But the end of education is 7iot merely to develop the facul-
ties of the child; it is also to develop them all in harmony with
one another, and with a due regard to their proper order and
relative importance.
Nature, or rather the God of nature, intended that
the development of the intellectual and moral faculties
should be complete and harmonious, that no faculty
should be cultivated at the ex])ense of another, and that
every vicious and morbid tendency should be restrained
and corrected. The work of education should be cor-
DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE HABMONIOUS. 107
rective as well as directive. The basis of our instruction,
as well as the methods of instruction, should be com-
mensurate with the complete development of the
faculties.
Every faculty should be cultivated the moment it is
capable of healthy action, for the ultimate force of any
faculty is dependent upon its early exercise not less than
upon the frequency with which it is exercised. In early
youth all the faculties are under our control, and may
be readily moulded by education; but at a later period
they acquire such a rigidity and set as to resist further
change or improvement.
Whilst all the faculties have each an independent
mode of action, and admit of distinct modes of culture,
the complete development of one faculty often depends
on the exercise of another; for example, the faculty
of recollection, which is the most perfect form of mem-
ory, depends upon the exercise of the reasoning powers.
We should not, therefore, unnecessarily defer the culti-
vation of the higher faculties.
In many of our schools, no means are employed for
the cultivation of the perceptive and observing faculties,
and the reasoning powers are either entirely neglected
or cultivated upon too narrow a basis.
That system of instruction is especially defective
which cultivates the intellectual powers and neglects the
training of the affections and moral feelings.
The system, practised in too many of our schools, of
cramming boys with a knowledge of particular subjects j
is not only erroneous in method, but highly reprehensible
on the ground of moral principle. One boy is almost
exclusively taught drawing, another mental arithmetic,
108 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
and SO on, with the view of exhibiting, at some public
examination, the little intellectual prodigies to an ad-
miring crowd of visitors. This one-sided system cannot
be too strongly denounced; it is a lie of the most mis-
chievous character, — it is deceptive in its aim as well as
in its results, — it heartlessly sacrifices the future happi-
ness of the child to pander to a morbid taste on the part
of the public for witnessing cases of unhealthful pre-
cocity of intellect. The school-room should never be-
come a hot-bed for stimulating the growth and develop-
ment of early genius. As all the boys, in each class of
a national school, breathe the same air, engage in the
same physical exercises, and subsist upon the same kind
of diet, so, as a general rule, the same intellectual and
moral aliment will be found suitable to the appetites of
all, and the same instruments of development will be
found adapted to the powers of all. If it be requisite to
adopt any exceptional rule to the general form of class
instruction, we should say, let the master specially help
those that cannot help themselves — let him check the
wayward, and at the same time let him gently lead the
feeble nurslings of his flock; let him specially care for
the dunces, and leave the geniuses, under certain restric-
tion, to care for themselves. That school is not in a
healthful condition, where there is a great disparity in
the attainments of the pupils, and where there is a want
of an harmonious development of all the faculties and
8usce})tibilities of the pupils. At the same time, it must
be conceded that the management of peculiar tempers,
dispositions, and tastes must depend upon the individual
skill and judgment of the master. While he adheres to
his general plan of class instruction, he will not " pemiit
INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE PROGRESSIVE. 109
himself to misapprehend, or to pervert according to his
own contracted views, that which the Creator has or-
dered in infinite wisdom," — he will not confound the
amiable and good with the mischievous and wicked, —
he will not discourage the intelligent and industrious by
connecting them with the ignorant and lazy, and w^hen
mere class arrangements fail in giving a proper scope
for the exercise of the minds of superior boys, he will
assign them some special duties for their self -improve-
ment and development.
IV. In order to promote the harmomous development of the
faculties, instruction should he progressive, — the range of
subjects, as well as the methods employed in teaching them,
should he extended and completed as the faculties of the pupil
are expanded and developed.
According to this method, the instruction first given
to little children should be as simple as possible. But
as their minds become more and more developed, the
subject matter of our instruction should be extended and
systematized accordingly, and the range of instruction,
as well as the manner in which that instruction is carried
out, should be duly proportioned to, and commensurate
with, the growth of the faculties. It is a false idea to
suppose that we can teach children from a perfect text-
book on any given subject.* It is a law of our intel-
*The plan of employing complete text-books has, in my opinion, con-
tributed to the formation of more dunces than Nature herself has ever
produced. Our so-called perfect text-books rank amongst the greatest
evils to be found in our present system of instruction. The very com-
pleteness and so-called strictly logical arrangement of these books, are
the great causes which render them unsuitable for the development of the
human faculties; the juvenile mind is, at the very threshold, repulsed by
the stately order of their definitions, their axioms, their postulates, and
110 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
lectual and moral nature that we never arrive at a per-
fect knowledge of any subject at once; that can only
be attnined by mastering the different parts of it little
by little, and time after time. The leading or promi-
nent points of the various departments of human knowl-
edge, must be fully understood by the younc: mind,
before it is capable of entering into the details and sys-
tematic combinations forming any comj^lete science.
Hence our instruction should not only be progressive, as
regards the development of particular departments of
knowledge, but should also be progressive as regards
the development of the ensemble, or the collection of sub-
jects which constitute the matters of instruction. Let
us take a few examples.
In the teaching of grammar, we should not teach from
any perfect text-book, such as Murray's or Morell's, but
we should iirst go through a very simple, yet compre-
hensive system of grammar, explaining the simplest and
most prominent definitions and principles, without fol-
lowing them into their minute details.
In the teaching of practical geometry, we should first
give the pupils a simple preliminary course of instruction,
selecting the most simple, striking, and useful problems,
and arranging them according to the most simple and
natural order.
tlieir abstractions. No wonder that such a system, followed out rigidly,
lias caused pedagogues and task masters to place the stamp of dunce upon
the brow of some of the highest orders of intellect, and to drive such
Intellects from the close hot-beds of school instruction to seek for that
liealthful developme-it which is to be found in a free and unrestrained
communion with the objects of nature. All unnatural and constrained
systems of education invarial)ly disgust boys of superior mind?, and cause
I hem to seek the development of their faculties In the way by which
nature intended they should be developed.
SELF-DE VELOPM ENT. Ill
In the teaching of arithmetic, we should first carry
the pupils through a simple and comprehensive course
of calculation, embodying all, or nearly all, the funda-
mental operations of numbers, before we attempted to
carry them through the so-called systematic course of
arithmetic, involving long and irksome calculations,
intended to give expertness and skill in the manipulation
of numbers, rather than to awaken and invigorate the
intellectual faculties.
In the teaching of familiar sciences, we should first
teach just so much of all the useful sciences, without a
slavish regard to their technical arrangement, as could
be comprehended by the pupils at their particular stage
of intellectual development, constantly observing, at the
same time, that the subjects of instruction are arranged
according to their order of simplicity and natural affinity,
rather than according to their order of conventional
classification. For example, if we wanted a child to
understand two laws or principles, which had some ana-
logy with each other, or depended upon some common
principle, we should not trouble ourselves with inquiring
whether the one law belonged to statics, or the other to
hydrostatics; it would be enough for our purpose to
know that the one would enable us to illustrate the
other. And so on to the treatment of other objects.
V. Our system of teaching should foster the principle of self,
development and self instruction.
Children like to discover things, and to do things, for
themselves, and they always attach the highest value to
the knowledge which is thus acquired. The suggestive
method of instruction is admirably calculated to foster
112 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
this principle of selT-development. A knowledge of the
properties of objects, of the elements of number, and of
some of the most obvious laws of nature may be readily
taught in tliis way. In the course of our instruction we
sliould regard the little pupil, not as a mere recipient of
knowledge, not as a passive machine to be moved at our
will, but as a thinking and voluntary agent, capable of
collecting ideas, and even of originating them, when the
proper materials or subjects of thought are placed before
him. But the teacher must not allow his pupils to
wander in a wrong direction in search of truth. He
must be constantly by their side, to shield them from
danger, and to guide them to truth, — to correct their
errors, and to confirm their discoveries. In order that
this spirit of self-development may be maintained in a
condition of vigorous activity, the teacher should never
require his pupils to do anything which they are not
able to do; and he should never tell them anything
which they are capable of finding out for themselves.
His teaching should be suggestive. As one of the best
means of self-development,
IFe should foster volunlary efforts.
The teacher should constantly endeavor to incite chil-
dren to voluntary efforts; this is especially applicable
to subjects of home instruction. AVith the generality of
children this may be readily effected: instead of saying
to a boy — "Come! you must learn your lesson; if you
do not I shall whip you very severely," — it would be
much better to say to him — " You have an interesting
lesson to learn to-night; when you have done with your
play you will, I am sure, find pleasure in learning it."
VOLTJNTAEY EFFORTS TO BE FOSTERED. 113
We should catch children in the proper frame of mind
for learning; and if they are not in that frame of mind,
when we want to give them instruction, we should
endeavor to create it. The usual seasons of amusement
should never be selected for graver kinds of instruction;
for in order that children may give an earnest attention
to any subject, their minds should not be pre-occupied
with any matter of particular interest.
We should catch the clue of thought in a child's mind,
and then, by following it out, give it the direction which
we wish it to take. In short, we must observe, follow,
and then lead. By this means, we may acquire an un-
limited control over the child's intellectual and moral
habits, without exercising any positive constraint on his
liberty of action.
By this method, we not only cultivate the reflective
and inventive powers of the child, but we foster the
principle of self-dependence, which is so essential to his
future success in life.
Independence of thought is nearly allied to invention;
and children are capable of both. Children are more in-
ventive at six years of age than they are at ten; and
independence of thought, like the first untainted odor of
the fresh flower, loses its power as the child advances in
years. Our present systems of education seem to check
the growth of the inventive faculties, by filling the mind
with knowledge, rather than attending to the develop-
ment of original power. We teach too much by author-
ity, and pay too little regard to the independence and
unbiased exercise of the reasoning powers. When we
put a question to children, we generally let them know,
one way or another, what sort of answer we expect from
114 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
them; and they, as a matter of course, in the place of
thinking and judging for themselves on the matter of
inquiry, endeavor to find out what our view of it is, and
frame their answer accordingly. Boys thus ape the
habits of thought and manners of men so much that they
lose the beautiful bloom of early childhood long before
the reflective period of manhood has commenced. In
this way they may acquire knowledge, but it is gained
at a fearful cost. Why do we not encourage children
to make and invent things? why do we not give them
the means of constructing toys and simple machines,
and of making simple experiments for themselves ? The
answer is apparent — we are too desirous of moulding tlie
infant soul after our preconceived ideas. Newton's first
invention was a little water mill; and Watt's first steam-
engine, at least as far as principle is concerned, was his
mother's kettle. Why have we so few thinkers amongst
us, and so many great scholars, whose heads are so filled
with the ideas of others, that they have no room for any
thoughts of their own ? Because we keep constantly
filling the minds of our children with ideas, but rarely
seek to develop that power which gives a command over
those ideas.
VI. In early childhood our subjects of instruction should appeal
to the senses.
The first object of instruction should be the develop-
ment of the perceptive and conoeptive faculties; this is
best done by a series of graduated lessons on the prop-
erties and uses of external objects. These lessons, if
properly conducted, open up to the mind of the child
the first great sources of knowledge, awaken curiosity,
INSTRUCTION APPEALING TO THE SENSES. 115
encourage a laudable spirit of inquiry, and cultivate
habits of observation and attention. Beginning with
the most familiar things, such as the properties and uses
of the articles about the house, the teacher advances with
slow steps, making sure that his pupils comprehend as
far as it is desirable that they should do so, every suc-
cessive lesson; and as their faculties expand, the teacher
takes care that the subject matters of instruction are en-
larged accordingly.
Before a child can think, he must be supplied with
the first elements of thought; the names and properties
of external objects constitute these first elements. Ob-
jects are distinguished from one another by their prop-
erties, and a knowledge of these properties can only be
acquired by sensation and perception; in fact, the child
must see these properties before he can have any idea
or conception of the objects to which they belong. One
body is round or square, black or white, hard or soft,
transparent or opaque, solid or fluid, etc., according to
the impression which the body itself produces upon the
senses of the child; hence it follows that the educator
should convey a knowledge of the properties of objects,
and the names by which they are called, in connection
with the actual perception of the objects themselves.
The name of a thing, or the name given to the prop-
erties of a thing, should never be given apart from the
perception of the thing itself. After the thing is with-
drawn, the name of it, as well as the conception of it,
remains fixed in the mind; the vividness and truth-
fulness of the conception formed of a thing being always
in proportion to the intensity of the interest which the
thing itself excited in the mind, Thus words are always
116 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
associated with ideas. A child's mental existence almost
entirely depends on the exercise of the faculty of con-
ception.
At this early stage of development, the proper intel-
lectual aliment is a knowledge of facts^ — these facts become
the hrst subjects of reflection, and thus prepare the way
for a higher development. As the first step in philosophy
is to make a collection of facts, so the first stages of in-
struction should be the communication of a knowledge
of facts, without any attempts to convey a knowledge of
causes, for this should belong to a higher and subsequent
period of instruction. Nothing can be more out of
place, or more absurd, than the attempts of authors, as
well as of teachers, to explain the causes of familiar
phenomena to very young children; or to bringdown to
the level of their capacity, subjects which presuppose
the intelligence of riper years. Such instructors fill the
head of the pupil with learned words and phrases, which
convey no j^ositive idea to him; torture his memory and
understanding with a catalogue of frightful names; and
render the work of education a painful infliction, in the
place of a delightful duty.
A knowledge of the properties of external objects should he
taught hy eompo/rison and contrast^ and things that are unkfiown
hy those that are k7iow7i. Thus, for instance, in explaining
the property of transparency, we should show that glass
is transparent, — that there are other bodies which are
also transparent, — that there are some bodies which are
only half-transparent or semi-transparent, — and tliat
there is a great number of bodies which are opaque.
Here the property is made a subject of comparison and
contrast. Again, the picture of a tiger, aided by the
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST. 117
resemblance which he has to a cat, will enable us to con-
rey a sufficiently correct conception of this gigantic
specimen of the feline race; thus we should say to the
child: — A tiger is a great wild, savage cat, which can
tear an ox to pieces with its large claws and teeth with
as much ease as our house cat can tear a little mouse. In
this way we should convey a knowledge of the unknown
thing, by means of the qualities of a thing that is known.
Commencing with what the child knows, we conduct
him by easy gradations to a knowledge of what he does
not know. In like manner, the conception which the
child forms of his earthly father enables him to form an
idea of his heavenly Father: thus he readily understands
what is meant by the language — " Our Father, which
art in heaven."
Pictorial representations aid us in giving vivacity and
vigor to the faculty of conception.
We should lead the child to draw simple inferences
from the properties of the objects presented to his
senses. Glass scratches copper, — glass is harder than
copper. Iron sinks in water, — iron is heavier than
water; wood floats on water, — wood is lighter than
water: and so on.
The great end to be attained by object lessons is to
familiarize the young mind with the meaning of scien-
tific terms and facts, so as to facilitate the systematic
study of science at a later period. Water flows from
one vessel to another, — water is called 2l fluid. Lead is a
solid, but the heat of the tire causes it to melt^ — lead is
fusible. Water boils in the kettle; the heat makes the
water boil; the steam that you see coming out of the
mouth of the kettle is water in the form of vapor, — what
118 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
you see going on is called vapori%ation. A little water is
spread over a plate; the water gradually disappears;
what you see going on is called evaporation : and so on.
These lessons should, of course, always be methodical,
and suited to the ages and capabilities of the children.
Some of the most important properties and definitions
of numbers and geometrical figures may be readily
taught by means of tangible objects.
Object lessons, to be instructive and interesting, should
always contain something fresh and sparkling. Unfor-
tunately, teachers are too much in the habit of reiterat-
ing again and again the same sort of lessons, containing
similar enumerations of properties, &c. Such teachers
seem to have no idea that progress should characterize
all our instruction. In our object lessons we should
always leave something for the conceptive faculty to
work out; by this means we give an intellectuality and
ideality to our lessons; graphic pictures and striking
contrasts or analogies interest the feelings, and thereby
give depth and vigor to the conceptions; things that are
visible are associated with things that are invisible; ob-
jects that are near with those that are distant; events
that are present with those that are past; and the pres-
ent and the past taken together constitute the clew by
which we penetrate the mazes of the future.
A child must take many things as facts of observation
which he may have afterwards to establish by a process
of abstract reasoning, or by a process of induction; and
it necessarily follows that many of our first lessons, in
certain departments of knowledge, must be imperfect;
we must often rest satisfied with giving tangible de-
monstrations when logical processes would fail to be
CtlXTlVATlON OF THE HIGHER FACULTIES. 119
understood; and where demonstrations cannot be given,
illustrations must supply their place; we must teach
particular forms of propositions when the general form
lies beyond the intellectul grasp of the child; and many
truths, plain and almost tangible in themselves, will be
accepted as axioms or as facts, which would not be
classed under that category by the learned logician.
Simple expositions of familiar and important truths not
only exercise and develop the mind, but they are the
most efficient means of imparting real, positive knowl-
edge.
VII. The reasoning and higher faculties should he cultivated on
an enlarged basis of instruction.
The subject matter of instruction should be commen-
surate with the expansive nature of the faculties. Our
rich stores of scientific and useful knowledge furnish us
with the means of giving a superior kind of culture to
the reasoning powers. The present basis of school in-
struction is not broad enough to afford scope for the
full development of the reflective faculties. In addition
to the subjects of language and mathematics, some of
the most useful and interesting branches of physical
science should be more thoroughly and systematically
taught in our upper schools, not only as a means of
intellectual culture, but also on account of their imme-
diate bearing on the business of life.
Whilst a sufficiently large basis of instruction gives
breadth and expansiveness to the reflective powers, a
narrow basis tends to give them a set or leaning, which
stands in the way of their future development. Now
we maintain that these faculties are cultivated only
120 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
imperfectly by means of classics and mathematics,—
they do not properly exercise all the reflective faculties;
they are too limited in range, and too abstract and
scholastic in form; they do not sufficiently bear upon
the great purposes of life, or prepare the boy for ful-
filling the duties of the man. As all kinds of philo-
sophical apparatus can now be purchased at a com-
paratively cheap price, it is to be hoped that teachers
will suit their instruction to the advanced state of our
science and civilization, and that they will no longer
restrict their subjects of instruction to that narrow
range of l<iif>vvledge which characterized an age that
is past.
VIII. Instruction should proceed from the simple to the complex.
Although this principle of education is generally known
and acknowledged, yet comparatively few teachers
understand it rightly, or practise it completely. It
is by no means uncommon to find teachers practising a
dogmatic and technical system of instruction, while
at the same time they believe that they are teaching
from the simple to the complex: our dogmatic modes of
instruction are simple enough as regards the work of the
master, whilst they are anything but simple when con-
sidered in relation to the mental efforts required of the
pupil. As this species of self-delusion is so fatal in its
consequences, it is important that we should exactly
understand what is meant by teaching from the simple
to the complex. We teach from the simple to the
complex when we explain the various particular forms
of a general or abstract principle before we attempt to
explain the general principle itself: or when we explain
FROM THE SIMPLE TO THE COMPLEX. 121
the simpler elements or parts of a subject before we
attempt to teach the subject as a whole. Id order to
keep within the sphere of the child's capabilities, we
must advance by slow and sure gradations from the
things that are known to the things that are unknown.
What the child does know should form a stepping-stone
to what he does not know. In short, we should teach a
subject little by little, now a little and then a little,
until we have taught the whole of it. Let us take a few
examples: —
In learning to write, the child should learn to make
straight lines before hooks, and letters before words.
To prove any general j^rinciple of calculation, we
should first show the principle as applied to a variety of
particular examples.
If we wanted to show the nature of an abstract prop-
osition in geometry, we should first show the prin-
ciple as applied to some of the most simple and familiar
cases.
To make our pupils acquainted with a technical or
abstract term, we should express the idea intended
to be conveyed by that term in familiar language, giv-
ing at the same time a variety of illustrations of its appli-
cation.
And so on to other subjects.
If a teacher wishes to be really successful with chil-
dren, he must become like a little child in thought,
feeling, and action; he must, for the time being, cease
to be what he is, and become what he was once. Un-
doubtedly some teachers possess this remarkable power.
This power, which seems to be characteristic of superior
teachers, is no doubt more a natural than an acquired
122 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
gift; yet, notwithstanding, it admits of being strength-
ened and developed by habit and reflection. The
learned tutors of colleges, and the proud men of science
laugh to scorn the humble attempts of the true teacher
to simplify a process of reasoning, break down the diffi-
culties of a problem, or illustrate the truth of a general
law of nature; — too conscious of their own mental power,
they seem to have forgotten that they were once chil-
dren, and that their own abstract conceptions have been
the result of long and rejjeated eiforts; — they must have
the whole of a subject taught, or none of it; — they can-
not permit the gigantic proportions of a favorite subject
to be reduced, or in any way stripped of their abstract
formalities; — their recognized books, like holy writ,
must neither have anything added to them, nor anything
taken away from them; — they would rather that the
doom of stationary ignorance should rest upon the child
of the poor than that he should acquire knowledge in
any other way than they have prescribed. How long
will authority and conventional observances continue to
fetter our school literature, and to cast a disastrous
shadow over the progress of education? A man may
know Greek, without being able to teach grammar; and
he may be master of the higher calculus, without being
able to give simple expositions of the principles of
arithmetic. In fact, a person may be too learned for
a teacher for children; for men of profound knowledge
usually expect too much of their pupils. It is said that
Emmerson, one of the best mathematicians of his age,
always complained that its pupils were all incorrigible
dunces: the fact is not at all surprising when the dog-
^ FACTS AND EXPERIMENTS. 123
matic character of the man's system of teaching is taken
into consideration.
Besides great skill, the teacher must possess many
moral qualities, in order to develop and train the facul-
ties of children; he must especially possess great
patience, gentleness, forbearance, and faith. On this
subject Woodbridge beautifully observes: "The example
of our Saviour himself in the education of his disciples,
teaches us the importance of applying these principles
both to intellectual and moral subjects. How grossly
erroneous were their ideas in reference to his character
and destination: how childish and unworthy their plans
and their contests; and yet with what slowness did He
unfold the great truths He came to reveal ! — how much
did he leave to be learned after his death ! — with what
gentleness did he tell them, *I have many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now:' — with what
patience did he bear with their errors, their follies, and
their sins ! — with what mildness did he generally reprove
them! — Let the educator beware that he does not
attempt to be wiser than his Master, and teach things
which demand efforts for which the infant mind is too
feeble."
TX. Facts should he taught he/ore causes; and experiments,
illustrating general laws or principles of nature, should he
given he/ore the general laws or principles are expounded.
In many cases, a young person can readily understand
the nature of a law, if it is presented to his senses in an
actual matter-of-fact form, when he would be utterly
unable to comprehend the technical form in which that
law is usually expressed. The particular facts upon
124 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
which any general law depends, give to that law a local
habitation and a familiarized form which enable the
young mind to become, as it were, its own interpreter.
General forms of expression are often little better than
high-sounding terms and empty names, which, if studied
apart from the facts which they comprehend, rather
mystify and darken the principles involved in them than
convey any instructive knowledge to the mind. The
true educator will never be hasty in drawing generaliza-
tions, or in expounding causes; in some cases he will
content himself with giving an exposition of general
facts, well knowing that these facts, if thoroughly
understood, will remain in the minds of his pupils like
seeds, which time and reflection will afterwards cause to
vegetate and to grow into the full and developed forms
of general principles. At the same time he will con-
stantly bear in mind that his facts should be taught in
such a way as to conduct his pupils to a knowledge of
causes and principles; and his experiments should be
made so as to lead to a knowledge of physical laws.
Let us take a few examples.
If I wanted to teach a child the meaning of the term
elasticity, I should show by experiment the form
which the property assumes in different familiar sub-
stances.
If I wanted to explain the distinctive properties of
different geometrical figures, I should actually draw^
these figures in a way corresponding to the conditions
of the abstract definitions which 1 should have after-
wards to give.
If I wanted to teach the laws of magnetism, I should
first make the experiments illustrating these laws, and
THE CONCRETE BEFORE THE A.BSTRACT. 125
then afterwards lead the pupils to express in their own
language the law, or laws, which might be derived from
the facts or experiments.
If I wanted to show the principle of the lever, I
should divide a thin lath into a certain number of equal
parts, and after balancing it on the edge of a book, I
should place different weights at the marks made on
the lath, so as to balance each other, and then call the
pupils' attention to the law upon which the equilibrium
depends.
If I wanted to explain the leading principles of elec-
tricity, I should first give a series of experiments, con-
ducted with an aparatus formed with the most familiar
articles of household use, such as wine-glasses, sealing-
wax, tea-trays, brown paper, gutta percha, &c., taking
care that the leading facts established by the experi-
ments were fully admitted and understood before I gave
my expositions of the laws, or it might be of the theo-
ries proposed to explain the operation.
And so on to other subjects of instruction.
X. We should teach the concrete before the abstract.
In this method of instruction we employ the qualities
and uses of familiar things and objects to elucidate or
explain the terms, facts, and principles of science and
art. In this way we lead the mind of the pupils from
the perception of the things which are visible and tan-
gible, to the conception of abstract and general princi-
ples. According to this principle also, the knowledge
of language ought to precede the knowledge of gram-
matical rules; and the meaning of abstract propositions
126 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ought to be explained in connection with their concrete
forms.
Teacliers often deceive themselves when they think a
child has followed them in the explanation of an abstract
proposition. If they would make the inquiry, they
would generally find that the child had seized upon
some concrete form of the abstraction, or that he had
attached some whimsical sense to the terms employed.
At the day school I was taught that *' a verb is a word
which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer." I thought
that the poor verbs were miserable little things, for all
their being and doing ended in suffering. At the Sun-
day school I had to answer the following question,
from the Assembly's shorter catechism : — " Qties. Wherein
is the moral law summarily comprehended ? Ans. The
moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Com-
mandments." Now when I answered this question I
invariably thought of a small village called Moralaws
which had ten remarkable trees growing near it, which
I thought were something like the Ten Commandments.
This method of teaching involves the principle of
what is now known by the name of the science of famil-
iar things. Let us take a few examples.
If I wanted to explain some general property of num-
bers, I should do it by means of counters, or balls, or
marks. If I wanted to show the nature of inflammable
substances, and the properties of the atmosphere con-
sidered in relation to combustion, I should direct the
attention of the pupils to the flame of a candle, and show,
by various simple experiments, how the vital air main-
tains the ignition of the tallow, etc. Thus the facts ex-
CONSTRUCTIVE TEACHING, 127
hibited in a burning candle become, as it were, the hooks
upon which we hang our science of combustion.
No teacher need be at a loss for examples. He may
find sermons in stones, valuable lessons in the toys of
his pupils, and even a soap bubble may be made to dis-
course most excellent philoKophy.
XI. When practicahle, our teaching should he constructive.
By means of this method, as I have before explained,
we, as it were, build up, part by part, or piece by piece
of the subject matter of instruction, until we arrive at
the completion of the whole.
For example, in explaining the construction of a ma-
chine I should not draw the whole machine and then
proceed to explain the mode of its action; on the con-
trary, 1 should explain the action and construction of the
different parts as I sketched them upon the blackboard,
and when I had completed the whole, I should explain
the combined action of all the parts. In like manner, in
teaching drawing or practical geometry according to the
constructive method, I should not draw the whole pic-
ture or figure, as the case may be, and then proceed to
explain its construction; but I should explain the con-
struction of the parts as I sketched them, — giving line
upon line, and precept upon precept. In this way the
instruction advances, step by step, with the progress of
the pictorial representation. We suit the action to the
word and the word to the action; the one illustrates the
other; the language of the exposition responds to the ac-
tion of the teacher and the movements of the pencil: thus
the work of instruction advances by easy gradations,
until the whole subject is brought before the eye and
128 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the mind of the pnpil, with all the relations and combi-
nations of its parts. The same thing is observed in the
teaching of arithmetic. I write down step after step, or
process after process, taking care that each successive
step, or process, is thoroughly understood before the
succeeding step, or process, is written down. In teach-
ing the science of familiar things, also, I should explain
the properties of, and the physical or mechanical laws
involved in, the different parts or portions of the object
or thing forming the subject of the lesson.
XII. Expositions of principles applied to particular cases should
be given before rules.
Mere rules never reach the depths of the soul, and are
therefore forgotten as soon as they are out of use; and
what is learnt by rote is little better than so much useless
lumber in the mind. Rules, in many cases, are not mere
negations, — they become positive evils; they rarely, if
ever, aid the development of the mind; in many cases
they positively retard it. By rules we attain results, w^ith-
out the labor of investigation. There is something,
soporific in rules,— something which throws an enfeebling
languor over the intellectual powers,— something which
inflates our vanity, w^ithout adding to our self- espect, —
something which gives us tke pretensions of tie empiric,
and the knavery of the juggler. We liol J th .t the Rule
and Rote system, as it is usually followed, i i mi "lectually
and morally erroneous.
To the earnest instructors of children w : \, uiikl .say:
Never teach by rules, when you can t-^ach h/ Miinciples;
never get a child to learn anytliing by >( until he
understands the subject-matter. \\\ >. h '< : 'ands
RULES AND PEmCIPLES. 129
it, then he will readily learn it by heart and not by rote;
the subject will have penetrated his soul, — he will love
it because it has become a part of himself, — it will be
engraven on his mind, as with a pen of iron, and there
it will remain, unchanged and unchangeable, for ever.
Some teachers, in order to gain a reputation with the
wonder-loving public, put the language of the philoso-
pher into the mouths of children, — make them recite
Euclid with the volubility of parrots, and chatter about
climatology, entomology, and a host of other ologies, —
give them rules and technical forms by which they solve
problems that demand the powers of a mathematician to
investigate. Now there is deception in all this, for the
pupils are made to appear what they really are not; chil-
dren in years and powers, they are made to mimic all
the gravity and wisdom of the sage; and what makes
the deception more deeply culpable, the children them-
selves are made parties to the falsehood.
This method of teaching from principles is eminently
calculated to foster the development of the reflective
faculties; — it stands in perfect contrast to rule and rote
teaching. The latter is dogmatic, the other is persua-
sive; the one supposes the pupil to be a passive recipient
of knowledge — a mere automaton which acts as it is
acted upon ; the other regards the pupil as a reasoning,
reflective and voluntary being, capable of working out
results by his own independent effort: the one is limited
in its application to the particular subject on which it is
given; the other seeks to develop those faculties in the
pupil which may enable him to grapple with any subject
that may arise, or, in fact, to create for himself the rules
E
130 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
and principles which govern the science to which the
subject belongs.
XIII. Instruction should he given to children (yrally and col-
lectively.
There is nothing like the living voice, looks, and
action of the master, for intensifying the attention and
concentrating the faculties of children. He suits his
language and illustrations to the faculties which he
wishes to call into activity, and he advances with his
subject, step by step, according as his pupils make pro-
gress. Teaching of this kind is a lively reality, not a
dead letter, like a mere reading lesson.
Children like to do things in company with one
another, — they like to learn together as well as to play
together. This sympathy of association gives a cheer-
ful tone to the mind of the instructor as well as to the
minds of the instructed, and also calls into play a health-
ful spirit of emulation. Besides the answers of the
most intelligent children form one of the best means of
instructing the most backward pupils in the class.
The efficiency of collective teaching greatly depends
upon the completeness of our classification of the pupils.
It is of the highest importance, therefore, that the teacher
should fully determine the true principles on which his
pupils should be arranged in classes.
The Principle on which Children should he classified.
While tlie standard of instruction should not be above
the capabilities of the pu}>il, neither should it be below
them. We mav kill bv stMrviiMj^ as well as bv over-
CLA.SSIFICATION OF CHILDREN. 131
feeding. In like manner, our intellectual and moral
aliment may be too weak and simple to supply all the
elements of growth and development, or it may be too
strong and stimulating for the functions of digestion and
assimilation. This nourishment should be apportioned
both as to kind and quantity, so as to maintain all the fac-
ulties of the child in a healthful and vigorous condition of
activity and growth. The classification of the children in
a school should have a special regard to this principle : they
should be classed, not according to size, age, or attain-
ments; not according to their mechanical dexterity or
their progress in the technical forms of particular de-
partments of knowledge; but according to their mental
power and their capabilities of improvement and de-
velopment. A boy, for example, may be an expert
calculator, or he may have a good verbal memory; yet,
notwithstanding, his general mental power, or capacity
of development^ may be defective: such a boy should be
placed in a class corresponding to him in general mental
power. Whenever a boy shows a decided advance
beyond the other members of his class, he should be
transferred to a higher class; or, if that is not expedient,
he should have some special work assigned him; on the
contrary, when a boy lags behind his fellows, he should
either be placed in a lower class or have some individual
attention given to him, in order to bring him up to the
average standard of capabilities. There is no subject
of school management which requires more attention
and judgment on the part of the teacher than that of
classification. We have here endeavored to point out
the true principles upon which it should be based.
132 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIOI^.
XIV. Instruction should give pleasure to children, and where
this 18 not the case there is something wrong as regards either
the mode of instruction, or the subject-matter selected for
instruction. A teacher should govern his pupils by the prin-
ciple of love rather than by that of fear.
The proper exercise of our faculties, whether physical,
intellectual, or moral, affords us pleasure. Light is not
more pleasant to the eye, or melody to the ear, than
truth is to the mind, or healthful exercise to the body.
Instruction must afford children pleasure, if it be given
in accordance with the general principles which we have
endeavored to explain; — not that luxurious pleasure
which enfeebles their character and renders them unfit
for strenuous exertion, but that nobler pleasure which is
concomitant with the healthful exercise of the faculties.
One of the first points to be gained in giving instruc-
tion is
To secure the attention of the children.
If a teacher once acquires this power, his work be-
comes easy and agreeable to himself, and instructive and
pleasant to his pupils. The great secret in fixing the
attention of children is to interest them — to mingle
delightful associations with learning, — never to over-
strain their faculties, or to fatigue them by keeping
them too long directed to one particular subject. It
seems to be a law of our nature that when one faculty
is exhausted by exercise, another faculty may be exer-
cised without a sense of weariness. Thus, for example,
if a boy is tired with reading history, in the course of
which a particular class of faculties is exercised, such as
SECURING ATTENTION OP CHILDREN. 133
memory and reflection, he may, without any sense of
weariness, have his attention directed to some facts of
experimental philosophy, where another class of facul-
ties is called into activity, such as perception and obser-
vation. And when the mental powers generally are
fatigued, then the child will feel the highest enjoyment
in exercising his physical powers.
A good collective lesson should not only engage the
attention by the interest which it awakens, but it should
further intensify the attention by stimulating the prin-
ciples of emulation and sympathy. The most healthful
motives to application are supplied by the peculiar nature
and form of our instruction.
When a boy gets fatigued, or overtasked with any
subject, he instinctively seeks for enjoyment in talking
or in play; this want of attention the grave preceptor
calls idleness and mischief; but the boy is right and the
master wrong; the boy is only acting in accordance with
the intentions of his Creator; while the master is stupidly,
ay, and impiously if it were not stupidly, acting contrary
to these intentions. If the master would teach in accord-
ance with the general principles which we have endeav-
ored to expound, the boy would never play when he should
be at work, or allow his mind to wander in search of
enjoyment, when a full measure of rational pleasure is
afforded him by instruction.
With children the pleasure derived from instruction
should be regarded as the chief actuating motive to at-
tention. The too frequent use of such incitements as
praise, emulation, rewards, etc., demoralizes the charac-
ter by bringing the selfish feelings too often into exer-
134 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
cise. These motives tend to foster vanity, pride, envy,
and other selfish emotions.
Care should be taken that the attention of the chil-
dren is not withdrawn from the lessons by any extrane-
ous noise, by the presence of too many visitors, or by
any other cause. To secure these conditions, the school-
room should be in a quiet spot, and its fittings
should be such as to place the teacher in the most favor-
able position with respect to his pupils. Sometimes
schools are built beneath railways, over livery stables
and workshops, and even undeTneath burial grounds;
how can the founders of such schools expect their master
to teach efficiently?
These remarkable laws of our physical and moral
nature give us
The Principles upon which School Routines are based.
1. The subjects of the routine should be specially
adapted to the capacities of the children in each class.
2. The whole, or absolute time, devoted to any par-
ticular subject should be in proportion to its relative im-
portance and its adaptation to the minds of the children
in the particular class.
3. The period given continuously to any subject
should be longer or shorter, accordingly as the subject is
less or more fatiguing to the minds of the pupils.
4. The order of succession of the subjects of the
routine should have a special regard to the faculties that
are brought into activity by those subjects.
No two lessons should come in succession which exer-
cise the same faculties: thus, for example, it would be
PRELIMINARY LESSONS. 135
erroneous to have a lesson on arithmetic immediately
after a lesson on algebra, or a lesson on history after a
lesson on the Scriptures. The subjects which follow each
other in the order of succession should not only exercise
different faculties, but there should be a variety in the
form and kind of the exercises themselves: thus, for ex-
ample, arithmetic may be taught after grammar, or after
history; and writing, or reading, or music, may be taught
after arithmetic.
5. In a well organized school, the routines of the re-
spective classes will be framed to suit one another, so
that the work going on in one class may not interfere or
jar with the work going on in the adjacent classes.
Thus, while a lesson which is necessarily associated with
a certain amount of noise is being given to one class,
the adjacent classes should have lesons given to them
which are accompanied with comparative silence; for
example, while a reading lesson is being given to one
class, a writing or a drawing lesson may at the same time
be given to the adjacent classes.
With a due attention to these principles in the con-
struction of routines, a large school may be maintained
in an harmonious condition of activity and progress,
without any unnecessary noise or confusion.
It is desirable that we should here make a few addi-
tional observations relative to the subject of
First or Preliminary Lessons.
First lessons should embrace the prominent features
of the subject without entering into its details, — they
should be comprehensive without being profound.
Children like to disport themselves in the stream of
136 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
knowleclge, without wishing to be plunged into its
depths. The knowledge conveyed to children must at
first be only supei'ficial; like little butterflies in the
sunshine, they like to taste the sweets of every flower.
We assert, in spite of the frown which we imagine to be
gathering on the brow of the so-called methodical
teacher, that, with little children, tkue teaching must
BE superficial TEACHING. But it docs not follow from
this that a true teacher is a superficial teacher; he must
have great skill and judgment, united with a comprehen-
sive knowledge of the subject-matter of instruction, in
order that he may be able to select from the whole mass
of knowledge the parts which are best calculated to in-
terest his pupils, and at the same time to lay the foun-
dation of a higher and subsequent course of instruction.
It is important that we should make a distinction be-
tween the method by which the master actually teaches,
and the mental process by which he arrives at the prin-
ciples which should be followed in that method. While
he gives a Tesson to his pupils by the method of synthe-
sis, the arrangements of the parts, &c., of that lesson
must be the result of analysis.
But in our first lessons to little children, there must be
a great deal of desultory teaching. Their appetite for
new facts or novelties is so gieat that they cannot dwell
long upon each. The world to them is full of wonders,
and nothing gives them more pleasure than to witness
these wonders. Their instincts lead them to expect that
there is much that is wonderful in the works of nature,
as well as of art. Their Creator, as we before observed,
has placed them in a world where everything tends to
develop and elevate their faculties. There is not a
PRELIMINARY LESSONS. 137
greater harmony subsisting between the mind of the
musician and the tones of his instrument than there ex-
ists between the soul of the child and the constitution
of external nature, — the one has been made for the
other. The intelligent instructor will not fail to turn to
account this love of the wonderful. A child looks
through a telescope: how wonderful to hira is the sight,
— he sees the far distant towers and trees as plainly as
if they were close before him ! Do not mar the impres-
sions thus produced upon his mind, by attempting to
explain the causes, — let these impressions remain as facts
of science, which he will afterwards understand; he
knows enough if he is told that a telescope is made of
certain round-shaped pieces of glass put into a tube; no
disparagement to his intellect, if he does not know any-
thing further about the cause of the effects. A child
expects, from the very constitution of his nature, to see
many things which he cannot comprehend; but effects
and facts he can appreciate, jmd that is enough for him
at the first stage of his instruction. Such facts are seeds
which time will cause to germinate and ripen. Show a
child the appearance of a drop of stagnant water through
a microscope ! How wonderful to him is the sight ! That
little drop is teeming with animal life ! In like manner,
many other wonderful facts in connection with natural
and experimental philosophy may be taught to the
child.
Our instruction should often assume the form of nar-
ratives; for children feel a peculiar pleasure in hearing
stories about animals, or about the lives of little children
like themselves, or about the adventures of remarkable
men. A well-told story may not only convey much val-
138 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ual»le knowledge to a cliiUl, but may also Inculcate many
practical principles of action.
Religion should be taught, to a great extent, in the
same way : Newton, who uncovered his head when the
name of God was uttered, would have taught religion to
children without giving expression to a word. Vital
religion, says Richter, grows not by the doctrines of the
Bible so much as by its narratives; the best Christian
doctrine is the life of Christ, and after that the suffer-
ings and deaths of his followers.
Instruction should^ as far as possihle^ he associated with amuse-
ment ; in the hands of good teachers, toys, games, and
pictures will become important instruments of intellec-
tual culture. This subject naturally leads us to say a
few words respecting
The Infant School System.
In the Infant school, instruction should never be sep-
arated from amusement and enjoyment. The acquisi-
tion of knowledge must be pursued as an amusement,
and even the learning to read should have its pleasant
associations. The great object of the infant school
teacher should be to cultivate the faculties of the chil-
dren by gratifying their virtuous instincts. It is, how-
ever, much to be regretted that many infant school
teachers have attempted to introduce graver subjects of
instruction; better let a child of four or five years of
age romp and play in the fields, than allow him to be
cooped up for the purpose of committing some dull task
to memory.
Children at their games are learning: — they are insensibly
becoming acquainted with themselves, with the charac-
INFANT SCHOOL STSTEM. 139
ters of their playfellows, and with the properties and
uses of external things. Children teach one another,
not only formally and directly, but also unconsciously
and indirectly. One boy shows another boy how to
make duck and drake upon the water, — how to fly a
kite, — how to construct a sling, or a pop-gun, or a whis-
tle, or a variety of other infantine pieces of apparatus.
And we consider that one of the most essential, probably
one of the most indispensable, forms of juvenile instruc-
tion is THE BOY TEACHING THE BOY; the gravity of man-
hood often breaks the enchantment with which infan-
tine knowledge is invested.
Our instructions should have a constant regard to
health, physical development, and enjoyment. Children
are happy little things, — they have no regret for the
past, no care for the present, and no fear for the future, —
they are in the spring time of their existence; the pres-
ent is all enjoyment, and hope sheds an enchanting halo
over the days that are to come. Who does not feel sad
when he reflects that these joyous days are gone for
ever ? Look at the early spring birds as they skip and
fly from twig to' twig, — up higher and higher still among
the green branches, — in the fulness of their joy, they
chatter to each other and fill the woods with song, —
beautiful little creatures ! you remind me of happy,
playful childhood, — your joys are as brilliant as they are
fleeting. Ruthlesa man! cast no shadow over this sunny
period of the children's existence ! let them enjoy the
bliss of this transient period, as their God has ordained, —
let them frisk and play, — they are doing more for them-
selves than you can do for them; for while they seek
their enjoyment as an end, the Creator has ordained that
140 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
this desire for enjoyment shall be the means of develop-
ing their physical, intellectual, and moral faculties: they
are thus unconsciously working out the end of their
creation with far more certainty than if they were fet-
tered by the leading strings of a nursery maid, or placed
under the stern supervision of a rigid pedagogue.
This leads us further to observe that we should en-
deavor to
Avoid, as far as possible, the Imposition of Tasks.
Nothing should be rendered a task which can be as
well or better taught by actual teaching on the part of
the master, or which may be acquired by a repetition of
voluntary efforts on the part of the pupil. The task
SYSTEM invests learning with unpleasant associations,
and renders the acquisition of knowledge a painful and
soul-debasing infliction, instead of a healthful and in-
vigorating exercise for the faculties. These inflictions
are remembered by us to the latest hour of our existence.
On this subject Locke observes: '* None of the things
they are to learn should ever be made a burden to them,
or imposed on them as a task. Whatever is so pro-
posed, presently becomes irksome: the mind takes an
aversion to it, though before it were a thing of delight
or indifference. Let a child be but ordered to whip his
top at a certain time of the day, whether he has or has
not a mind to it; let this be but required of him as a
task, wherein he must spend so many hours morning
and afternoon, and see whether he will not soon be weary
of any play at this rate. Is it not so with grown men ?
What they do cheerfully of themselves, do they not
presently grow sick of, and can no more endure, as soon
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 141
as they find it is expected of them as a task ? Children
have as much a mind to show that they are free, that
their own good actions come from themselves, that they
are absolute and independent as any of the proudest of
you grown men, think of them as you please."
Let us now consider the subject of
School Discipline.
We have stated, as a corollary to our general axiom,
that a teacher should govern his pupils by the principle
of love rather than that of fear.
The great ruling principle in a school should he love. As a
first great step to the establishment of discipline, the
master should really love his pupils. Love them ! Can
tlie genteel, well-dressed teacher love those little rag-
ged, vagabond -looking boys, gathered from all the
filthy streets and alleys of this crowded city ? Love
them ! Why not ? The most dirty of them all has an
immortal and accountable soul, capable of comprehend-
ing the works of his Creator. Love them ! The Chris-
tian teacher must love them, — Jesus died for them, not
less than for the offspring of the rich; and it was re-
specting such children that He said, "Suffer little chil-
dren to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such
is the kingdom of heaven." Now, as love always begets
love, if the master really loves his pupils, they in return
will love him. But if they love their master, they will
also endeavor to please him, and to avoid doing anything
which is calculated to give him pain. In this way the
master's will becomes the rule of the school; and as
children necessarily imitate those whom they love and
respect, the master's character becomes the liAw of
142 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the school. Even some of our domesticated animals are
best governed by kindness. In the government of a
school, the greatest of all ends is to lead the children to
love what is good and hate what is evil, — to follow
virtue and shun vice.
The principle of love should pervade the whole school,
and the teacher should embrace every opportunity for
cultivating the benevolent affections of the children by
acts of kindness and practical lessons of love. Love,
like the light of heaven, irradiates and beautifies what-
ever it touches; fear, like darkness, invests everything
with gloom. Love one another is the precept of the
Great Teacher. Love is the most powerful principle in
our nature, — it reigns in heaven, for God is love, — it
would change hell into heaven, and earth into a prime-
val jmradise. If this i)rinciple were fully developed in
a school, the child would perform its duty for the love
of it, and not from the fear of punishment or the hope
of reward.
Fear should never he a ruling principle in a school. No
school can be in a healthy condition where the children
are governed mainly by the fear of punishment. Fear
is an enfeebling passion, — it paralyzes the intellect,
— it makes boys deceitful, slavish, and hypocritical, — it
is the last and lowest motive which can actuate a human
being for good. The prison and the gallows are made to
frighten wretches, sunk to the lowest depths of moral
degradation, from the commission of crime. Punish-
ments may check the progress of vice, but they cannot
foster the principle of virtue. Capital punishments,
especially when they are nuinero\is and unmerited, be-
token a disastrous condition of a state — they are fre-
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 143
quently the hideous forerunners of anarchy, or the fear-
ful epilogues of some national tragedy. So, in like
manner, the prevalence of punishments, or a slavish
dread of the master, in a school, is a sure indication of
mismanagement and instability. That unnatural still-
ness in a school, which proceeds from fear, is like the
deceitful calm which presages the outbreak of the tem-
pest; without the warning of a moment, the pent-up
passions may burst away the barriers by which they are
restrained.
Many teachers, especially of the old school, have an
unfortunate love of despotic authority, — their birch is
their sceptre, and their antiquated stool is their throne.
This mischievous propensity, no doubt, in a great meas-
ure proceeds from the circumstance that it is easier to
command than to persuade, and that it is less troublesome
to maintain order in a school by the terror of the rod
than by the force of reason and moral suasion. But if
teachers would give only half the attention to the pre-
vention of faults that they at present give to the punishment
of them, the labor of teaching would not only be rendered
more pleasant, but also, in the long run, more easy. As
prevention is always better than cure, so we should
especially look to the causes of disorder, and the best
means of avoiding them. The course of a stream is best
changed by cutting off the fountain: in like manner the
current of disorder is most effectually stayed by drying
up its sources. Harsh modes of discipline are necessarily
associated with unnatural modes of instruction.
If kindness, moral suasion, and the inculcation of re-
ligious principle fail in reclaiming a boy, then as a last
hope the master must of necessity have recourse to pun-
144 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ishment; but even in the act of punisliment, the master
should show that he is actuated by an earnest love for
the transgressor. As crimes, in most cases, bring their
own punishment, so youthful offenders may be often left
to correct themselves, after having suffered the conse-
quences of their faults. The public opinion of a school,
when ])roperly developed, is also a great check to the
commission of crime, as well as an important aid in the
cultivation of habits of virtue.
The formal rules of a school should be few and well
chosen, and their observance should always be promptly
enforced. A teacher should never magnify a fault into
a crime, or allow the punishment to exceed the offence.
As the possession of natural gifts does not merit reward,
so the want of them cannot deserve punishment. Talents
should not always be the subject of commendation, or
dulness the object of censure; for a boy may be dull in
spite of his application, while another may possess tal-
ents without industry.
XV. Every subject should he taught thoroughly^ at least as far
as the nature of the subject and the capabilities of the pupils
will allow. They should learn nothing which they may have
afterwards to unlearn.
Strictly speaking, this general princi])le should have
formed a corollary to our twelfth axiom; but with the
view of guarding against misapprehension, we here give
it as a distinct subject of discussion. No principle of
education has been more abused than this; its specious
name gives currency to a false coinage.
Perfect knowledge is only a relative term, for, abso-
lutely considered, we can never know anytiiing perfectly;
THOROUGH TEACHING INDISPENSABLE. 145
however, we may aim at perfection, although we may
not hope to reach it. By teaching a subject thoroughly,
therefore, we simply mean that the information which
we communicate to our pupils should be complete and
exact, as far as it extends, and that we should not rest
satisfied until it is fixed in their minds; at the same
time, we should not attempt to push our instruction be-
yond their capabilities, nor deceive ourselves with the
idea that we have taught anything thoroughly, which has
been merely learnt by rote. The most imperfect and
fruitless kind of teaching is that where the master
attempts to convey a perfect knowledge of all the parts
of a subject, before the faculties of his pupils are pre-
pared for grasping such an amount of knowledge. A little
knowledge, fully understood and thoroughly digested,
creates intellectual power. The amount of knowledge
fixed in the mind is not of so much account as the ideas
which are evolved by the intellectual process of elabora-
tion.
To teach a suhjed tlioroughly^ we should teach it from facts
and principles, and not from formulae and rules; the subject
should he learnt gradually, and its varied aspects should be
allowed to unfold themselves, as the intellect of the
learner becomes more and more ripened and developed.
If we wish to rear a lofty structure, we should look well
to the foundations, and the superstructure should be
built up gradually, and all its parts be allowed to be-
come duly consolidated by time. We should not aim
too much at immediate results, or attempt to crowd the
labor of years into a single day. If we demand too
much at once of our pupils, we are almost sure to receive
from them much less than we might reasonably claim.
146 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Whatever a teacher may require his pupils to do, lie
should see that tlie thing is done with a suitable degree
of finish and exactness; at the same time, he should bear
in mind that the power to do a thing perfectly can only
be acquired by repeated efforts. As no man ever yet
became learned in any subject by reading one book
upon it, so the teacher should not expect his pupils to learn
any department of a subject thoroughly, until he has di-
rected their minds to it again and again, giving them at
each recurrence more and more enlarged views of it.
Owing to the inseparable connection subsisting between
the different branches of a subject, our knowledge of it
must be comprehensive before it can become exact in all
its details, — the outline of the subject must be first rough
hewn before the delicate touches of finish can be applied
to it. Faraday, it is said, began the study of chemistry
by reading Blair's catechism; and Newton's first book
of mathematics was Barrow's easy course of geometry.
One of the best means of teaching a subject thor-
oughly is the
Reproduction of Lessons.
The ideas which we convey to a cliild are of little im-
portance, compared witli the benefits arising from the
vigorous exercise of his powers in reproducing, arrang-
ing, or combining these ideas. The knowledge which
we convey to our pupils is the ore thrown into the cruci-
ble; but the knowledge which we draw from them is the
gold after it has been elaborated and refined.
Reading, says Bacon, makes a full man, conversation
a ready nian, and writing an exact man. In order to
give cliiMn'n a readiness of expression, they should be
EXAMPLES AND APPLICATIONS. 147
accustomed to relate, in their own language, whatever
they may have seen, read, or heard; this will also in-
duce habits of attention and reflection, and will show
them how the ideas of others may reall)^ become their
own. This may be made one of our first lessons in lan-
guage. But one of the highest forms of instruction, in
an elementary school, is to require the pupils to repro-
duce, in writing^ the lessons which may have been read
by themselves in a class book, or which may have been
given to them orally by the master. This exercise not
only thoroughly fixes the subject in the mind of the
pupil, but, if properly carried out, forms, at the same
time, one of the best lessons in spelling, penmanship,
and composition. With the view of sustaining a proper
tone of mental activity, dispatch, not less than accuracy,
should be looked to in these exercises.
In order to teach general principles thoroughly, we
should give
Examples and Applications.
Children, even at an early age, instinctively ask us —
What use is that thing? Let us see it in nature. Their
minds cannot sufficiently grasp a general proposition
apart from the things to which it applies. This is espe-
cially true in relation to all subjects of calculation and
science; here the child readily understands the exam-
ple or the fact, when he has not the slightest compre-
hension of the rule or the law. In morals, too, the child
w ill readily understand the nature of stealing from the
narrative of some juvenile culprit, while he would be
perfectly mystified by some grave and dogmatic disqui-
sition on the principle of honesty. Generally speaking,
148 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the most talented boys in a school will not give an earn-
est attention to a subject until they have been shown its
utility, that is, until they have been shown some of its
applications; such boys will not take everything on the
mere authority of their master, especially if the thing
is within the range of their comprehension, — they must
see and understand the matter for themselves.
Without underrating or evading tlie difficulties of the subject^
our explanations should he clear and simple. IFe should avoid a
slavish me of text-hooks.
The teacher should constantly bear in mind that what
is perfectly easy to him may be really very difficult to
his pupils; so that, after all he may have done to render
a subject clear and simple, his pupils may find it diffi-
cult enough for their comprehension. It is a mistake,
therefore, for a tenclier to tell his pupils that he has
made a subject perfectly easy, thereby intimating that
he neither ai)preciates their efforts, nor expects them
to apply themselves vigorously to the subject. If a
teacher cannot give a clear exposition of a subject, he
had better leave the matter in the hands of his pupils;
a complex or learned exposition is often productive of
irremediable evils. The system of Jacotot, which re-
quires the pupil to lenrn every subject, as well as every
branch of a subject, thoroughly before he leaves it, has
been carried to a ridiculous extreme by many educators.
According to them, the easiest way of learning a subject
is not the hest way; for the main business of education is
not so much to infuse knowledge as to develop power.
The fallacy of this system is at once shown by the fact that
it does not answer the end which it professes to accomplish;
ADVANTAGES OF SIMPLICITY IN TEACHING. 149
for we hold it to be a well established law of our intel-
lectual nature, that the faculties are best cultivated by
those exercises which are apportioned to their strength,
and not by straining them to their utmost tension. If a
subject, or any particular department of a subject, is
taught thoroughly, that is, from facts and principles,
and not by rote, it is impossible to simplify it too much,
or to impair its efficiency as an instrument of intellectual
culture. The good teacher will constantly endeavor to
lead his pupils in the royal road to learning, — that is
to say, he will try to make the road easy and pleasant, —
he will cut off its tortuous windings, macadamize it, and
remove all unnecessary obstacles, — he will not create
difficulties for the mere sake of trying the strength of
his pupils, nor tax their endurance for the purpose of
inculcating patience and humility. The little, pedantic
mind delights itself in trifling with difficulties, and in
making difficulties of trifles; the superior mind invests
every subject with its own comprehensiveness and logi-
cal simplicity. A good teacher never darkens counsel
by words, or obtrudes the intricacies of a subject for the
purpose of exhibiting his own power.
Why has mathematics hitherto been considered too
difficult for ordinary boys to understand? Simply be-
cause some Pom Asinorum is thrown in their way at an
early stage of their progress,^— because abstract propo-
sitions are taught apart from their application; and be-
cause in place of having to learn the simple fundamental
laws of quantity, the boy is required to deal with sym-
bols involved with roots upon roots and operations
within operations. You may as well teach boys history
from Lingard, grammar from Home Tooke, or drawing
150 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
from the cartoons of Raphael, as attempt to teach them
geometry from Euclid, or arithmetic and algebra from
some learned work which professes to be at once a class
book of the university and a manual of the school-room.
No man will teach a subject thoroughly if he restricts
himself to the use of a particular class book, more espe-
cially if it be a so-called perfect class book, for a com-
plete work upon any subject is certainly not the best
book to begin with. Alas for education ! if ever the
examinations of our schools and training colleges should
be based upon an invariable order of text-books. Under
such an arrangement, education would become a recog-
nized system of cramming, — a prescribed amount of
knowledge would be got up, no matter by what means,
provided the end should be attained. We hold that ex-
aminations should test the development of power, rather
than the acquisition of knowledge; but such a plan of
examination would ignore this development. The mind
filled with knowledge in this way has been compared to
a well-filled granary, but bears no resemblance to the
fruitful field which multiplies a hundred-fold that which
is thrown upon it.
This overweening attachment to text-books, and to a
so-called thorough education, leads to the neglect of gen-
eral knowledge as well as of the development of power.
Its tendency is to confine general education within very
narrow limits, and to restrict elementary instruction to
the mere rudiments of knowledge.* It gives us the dry
bones of the body of education, without the flesh, and
the warm blood, and the vital principle — the principle of
*In this respect we are certainly much in advance of our American
brethren.
SLAVISH USE OF TEXT-BOOKS TO BE AVOIDED. 151
intellectual and moral life, of growth and development.
Instead of cramming his pupils with all the minute
details of a subject, the truly methodical teacher will
rather seek to develop in them a power of working out
the details of a subject for themselves; he has a far sub-
limer object in view than the slavish adhesion to the cut
and dried forms of a text-book; he may not teach any
particular science thoroughly in all its technical details,
but he seeks to effect a far higher end, to develop in
them that power which may, at some future period, not
merely enable them to Tcnow a science, but to create a
science. The drudgery connected with the details of
some departments of knowledge often exercises an uh-
healthy influence upon the mind; for example, the com-
mitting to memory long catalogues of words, the exact
dates of historical events, the lengths and breadths of
countries, etc., tends to stultify the intellect of the pupil
and to withdraw him from the contemplation of more
interesting facts and principles.
It must, however, be admitted that if a boy is to re-
main only a short period at school, he had better learn
a little well than a great deal badly: the first rudiments
of knowledge, comprising reading, writing, and arith-
metic, should above all things be fairly learnt by him
before he leaves school; for a knowledge of these first
rudiments becomes to him the great instrument of future
development and acquisition.
On the injudicious use of books, Woodbridge ob-
serves: —
" It is of the highest importance to conduct the pupil
in such a manner that he will not afterwards be con-
tented without a thorough knowledge of everything
152 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
within his reach. It is in this view important not to
allow him to devote too much of his time to mere read-
ing. It is easy to read and to amuse ourselves in this
manner without understanding thoroughly what we
read. There is a constant inducement to seek that
occupation and interest in running over a number of
books which should be found in examining deeply every
subject w^hich is presented. Such reading is the most
certain means of forming superficial students and super-
ficial thinkers. It produces a disgust for study, and
renders the pupil incapable of that continued and fixed
attention which is necessary to success in more than one
branch of knowledge; often in the course of reading the
pupil learns superficially those facts which form the most
interesting parts of his lessons, his interest in them is
destroyed, and he no longer pays the attention necessary
to learn the facts he has antici])ated in connection with
the principles they illustrate. If the books are not
written in the spirit of the method adopted by the
teacher, as is frequently the case, they will produce con-
fusion in his mind and impair his confidence in his
guide. Fellenberg therefore believes that this taste
should not be too much encouraged, and that, in a per-
fect system of education, there should in fact be little
time allowed for reading There should be such ample
provision botli for instruction and amusement, adapted
to the capacity and taste of the pupil, that it shall be
(to a great extent) unnecessary either for the one or the
other."
One of the most obvious, and i)robably one of the
most simple means of teaching a subject thoroughly, is
the
REPETITION OF LESSONS. 153
Repetition or Reiteration of Lessons.
Repetition is said to be the main-spring of instruction;
but we have reason to believe that the principle has sel-
dom been applied, in elementary schools, in its most
legitimate and most advantageous form. On tbis sub-
ject Miss Edge worth observes: —
"Repetition makes all operations easy; even the fa-
tigue of thinking diminishes by habit. That we may
not increase the labor of the mind unseasonably, we
should watch for the moment when habit has made one
lesson easy, and then we may go forward a new step.
In teaching the children at the House of Industry at
Munich to spin. Count Rumford wisely ordered that
they should be made perfect in one motion before any
other was shown to them: at first they were allowed
only to move the wheel by the treadle with their feet;
when, after sufficient practice, the foot became perfect
in its lesson, the hands were set to work, and the chil-
dren were allowed to begin to spin with coarse materials.
It is said these children make remarkably good spinners.
Madame de Genlis applied the same principle in teaching
Adela to play upon the harp.
" In the first attempts to learn any new bodily exer-
cise, as fencing or dancing, persons are not certain what
muscles they must use, and what may be left at rest:
they generally employ those of which they have the
most ready command, but these may not already be the
muscles which are really wanted in the new operation.
The simplest thing appears difficult till by practice we
have associated the various slight motions which ought
to be combined; we feel that from want of use our
164 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
motions are not obedient to our will, and to supply this
defect we exert more strength and activity than is
requisite. *It does not require strength; you need not
use so much force; you need not take so much pains,'
we frequently say to those who are making the first
painful, awkward attempts at some simple operation.
Can anything appear more easy than knitting, when we
look at the dextrous rapid motions of an experienced
practitioner? But let a gentleman take up a lady's
knitting needles, and knitting appears to him, and to
all the spectators, one of the most laborious and difficult
operations imaginable. A lady who is learning to work
with a tambour needle puts her head down close to the
tambour frame, the color comes into her face, she strains
her eyes, all her faculties are exerted, and perhaps she
works at the rate of three links a minute. A week
afterwards, probably, practice has made the work
perfectly easy; the same lady goes rapidly on with her
work; she can talk and laugh, and perhaps even think,
whilst she works; she has now discovered that a number
of the motions, and a great portion of that action which
she thought necessary to this mighty o})eration, may be
advantageously spared.
"In a similar manner, in the exercise of our minds
upon subjects that are new to us, we generally exert
more effort than is necessary or serviceable, and we conse-
quently soon fatigue ourselves without any advantage.
Children, to whom many subjects are new, are often
fatigued by these overstrained and misplaced efforts.
In these circumstances a tutor should relieve the atten-
tion by introducing indifferent subjects of conversation;
he can, by showing no anxiety himself, either in his
REPETITION OF LESSONS. 156
manner or countenance, relieve his pupils from any
apprehension of his displeasure, or of his contempt; he
can represent that the object before them is not a mat-
ter of life and death; that if the child does not succeed
in the first trials he will not be disgraced in the opinion
of any of his friends; that by perseverance he will cer-
tainly conquer the difficulty; that it is of little conse-
quence whether he understand the thing in question
to-day or to-morrow: these considerations will calm the
over-anxious pupil's agitation, and whether he succeed
or not, he will not suffer such a degree of pain as to
disgust him in his first attempts."
When a lesson is repeated, it should be done with the
view of making the child thoroughly acquainted with
the subject-matter; but repetitions are given chiefly to
load the memory with words, without any regard to the
enlightenment of the reason. If the pupils do not
thoroughly comprehend a lesson which has been given
to them, the teacher, in going over it for the second
time, should adopt some fresh modes of illustrating or
demonstrating, as the case may require, the leading
ideas contained in it. By this means the monotony of
repetition will be avoided, and a new aspect will be
given to the subject, which will be highly instructive to
their minds.
Miss Edge worth then goes on to observe: —
*' We have said that a preceptor, in his first lessons on
any new subject, must submit to the drudgery of re-
peating his terms and his reasoning, until these are
sufficiently familiar to his pupils. He must, however,
proportion the number of his repetitions to the temper
and habits of his pupils, else he will weary instead of
156 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
strengthen the attention. When a thing is clear, let
him never try to make it clearer; when a thing is under-
stood, not a word more of exemplification should be
added. To mark precisely the moment when the pupil
understands what is said, — the moment when he is
master of the necessary ideas, and, consequently, the
moment when rej^etition should cease, is, perhaj^s, the
most difficult thing in the art of teaching. The coun-
tenance, the eye, the voice and manner of the pupil
mark this instant to an observant preceptor; but a pre-
ceptor who is absorbed in his own ideas, will never
think of looking in his pupil's face; he will go on with
his routine of explanation, whilst his once lively, atten-
tive pupil exhibits opposite to him the picture of stupe-
fied fatigue. Quick, intelligent children, who have
frequently found that lessons are reiterated by a patient
but injudicious tutor, will learn a careless mode of
listening at intervals; they will say to themselves, *0h,
I shall hear this again ! ' And if any stray thought
comes across their minds, they will not scruple to amuse
themselves, and will afterwards ask for a repetition of
the words or ideas which they missed during the ex-
cursion of fancy. When they hear the warning adver-
tisement of * certainly for the last time this season,' they
will deem it time enough to attend to the performance.
To cure them of this presumption in favor of our pa-
tience, and of their own superlative quickness, w^e should
press that quickness to its utmost speed. Whenever we
call for their attention, let it be on subjects highly inter-
esting or amusing, and let us give them but just suffi-
cient time with their fullest exertion to catch our words
and ideas. As these quick gentlemen are proud of their
THE CULTIVATION OF HABITS. 157
rapidity of apprehension, this method will probably suc-
ceed; they will dread the disgrace of not understanding
what is said, and they will feel that they cannot under-
stand unless they exert prompt, vigorous, and unremit-
ted attention."
XVI. In all our instruction we should attend to the cultivation
of halite.
Habits, according to the old adage, become a second
nature — they render labor easy, and the performance of
duty a pleasure, — they fortify us against the contagion
of bad example, and shield us from the force of sudden
temptation. Intellectual habits are not less essential to
the man than those habits which have a relation to
conduct: thus, for instance, the habit of working out
results from first principles and not by rules, exercises
a most salutary influence in tiie development of the
faculties of children.
Habits of thought, as well as habits of conduct, can
be established only by time, repetition, and practice.
^Useful habits are formed gradually, — a little thing done
well leads the way to the performance of a greater;
and what appears hard to-day may, by repeated trials,
become perfectly easy to-morrow. As right habits can
only be formed gradually, we should never exact too
much fiom a child. Habits of attention, reflection,
application, industry, virtue, and piety are better in-
culcated by example than by precept; for children are
peculiarly imitative beings; if the parents of a child,
for instance, are always employed, the child cannot long
remain idle, — he will soon acquire the habit of industry;
and so on to other cases. Well-timed practical exam-
158 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
pies or illustrations will have far more influence in
developing the character of children than abstract rules
or precepts. And as no proposition should be given
without a proof, so no duty should be exacted without
a reason.
"Virtues and vices (says Locke) can by no words be
so plainly set before their understandings as the actions
of other men will show them, when you direct their
observation and bid them view this or that good or bad
quality in their practice. And the beauty and un-
comeliness of many things, in good or ill breeding, will
be better learnt, and make deeper impressions on them,
in the examples of others, than from any rule or instruc-
tions that can be given about them. And what ill they
either overlook or indulge in themselves, they cannot but
dislike and be ashamed of when it is set before them in
another.
"And here give me leave to take notice of one thing
I think a fault in the ordinary method of education;
and that is, the charging of children's memories, upon
all occasions, with rules and precepts which they often
do not understand, and are constantly as soon forgotten
as given. If it be some action you would have done, or
done otherwise, whenever they forget or do it awk-
wardly, make them do it over and over again, till they
arc perfect: whereby you will get these two advantages.
First, to see whether it be an action they can do, or is
fit to be expected of them. For sometimes children are
bid to do things which upon trial they are found not
able to do; and had need to be taught and exercised in
before they are required to do them. Secondly, another
thing got by it will be this, that by repeating the same
LOCKE ON METHOD. 169
action, till it be grown habitual in them, the perform-
ance will not depend on memory, or reflection, the con-
comitant of prudence and age, and not of childhood:
but will be natural in them. Thus, bowing to a gentle-
man when he salutes him, and looking in his face when
he speaks to him, is by constant use as natural to a well-
bred man as breathing; it requires no thought, no reflec-
tion. Having this way cured in your child any fault, it
is cured forever: and thus, one by one, you may weed
them all out, and plant what habits you please.
" I have seen parents so heap rules on their children
that it was impossible for the poor little ones to remem-
ber a tenth part of them, much less to observe them.
However, they vrere by either words or blows corrected
for the breach of those multiplied and often very imper-
tinent precepts. Whence it naturally followed that the
children minded not what was said to them; when it
was evident to them that no attention they were capable
of was sufficient to preserve them from transgression,
and the rebukes which followed it.
" Let therefore your rules to your son be as few as
possible, and rather fewer than more than seem abso-
lutely necessary. For if you burden him with many
rules, one of these two things must necessarily follow,
that either he must be very often punished, which will
be of ill consequence, by making punishment loo fre-
quent and familiar; or else you must let the transgres-
sions of some of your rules go unpunished, whereby
they will of course grow contemptible, and your author-
ity become cheap to him. Make but few laws, but see
they be well observed, when once made. Few years
require but few laws, and, as his age increases, when
160 THILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
one rule is by practice well established, you may add
another.
" But pray remember children are not to be taught by
rules; which will be always slipping out of their memo-
ries. What you think necessary for them to do, settle
in them by an indispensable practice, as often as the
occasion returns; and if it be possible, make occasions.
This will beget habits in them, which being once estab-
lished, operate of themselves, easily and naturally, with-
out the assistance of the memory. But here let me give
two cautions.
" 1. The one is, that you keep them to the practice of
what you would have grow into a habit in them, by kind
words and gentle admonitions, rather as minding them
of what they forget, than by harsh rebukes and chiding
as if they were wilfully guilty.
" 2. Another thing you are to take care of is not to
endeavor to settle too many habits at once, lest by a
variety you confound them, and so perfect none. When
constant custom has made any one thing easy and nat-
ural to them, and they practise it witout reflectioi), you
may then go on to another.
" This method of teaching children by a repeated
practice and the same action done over and over again,
under the eye and direction of the tutor, till they have
got the habit of doing it well, and not by relying on
rules trusted to their memories, has so many advantages,
which way soever we consider it, that I cannot but won-
der (if ill customs could be wondered at in anything)
how it could possibly be so much neglected. I shall
name one more that comes now in my way. By this
metliod we shall see, whether what is required of him
HABITS OF ATTENTION. 161
be adapted to his capacity, and any way suited to the
child's natural genius and constitution: for that too
must be considered in a right education."
The habits of attention and concentration are the great main-
springs of education.
As we have already observed, the great secret in se-
curing the attention of children is to interest them; and
the habit of attention is cultivated by keeping the fac-
ulty in a state of vigorous activity during the whole
course of our instruction. The habits of listlessness and
inattention are engendered by injudicious or inappro-
priate plans of teaching. The habit of directing the
undivided force of the faculties to a given subject is the
great main-spring of self-education. But this habit, in
its fullest vigor, is rarely acquired in early life; notwith-
standing, the teacher should be prepared to avail him-
self of all the occasions most favorable for its cultiva-
tion. The principle of emulation and a judicious system
of rewards are two of our most powerful supplemental
aids in the cultivation of habit.
TJie habit of observation should be specially cultivated.
Object lessons are highly calculated to foster the
habit of observation. Children should be accustomed to
examine, analyze, and inspect every object of interest
around them: the flowers and minerals by the wayside,
the animals of the fields, the warblers of the forest, the
various household utensils, etc., all present us with ex-
cellent subjects for exercising the observing faculties.
The habit of observing the structures, uses, and proper-
ties of familiar things, prepares the mind for entering
upon a higher course af scientific inquiry.
162 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Part II.
ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND
MORAL FACULTIES.
CHAP. I.
PRELIMINARY NOTIONS.— IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN
RELATION TO TEACHING, ETC.
No class of men require a knowledge of intellectual and
moral philosophy more than teachers: self-knowledge is
valuable to all, but it is especially valuable to thera.
Self-knowledge, in its fullest acceptation, requires that
we should know ourselves in relation to the three states
of our existence, — the past, the present, and the future:
consciousness tells us what we are^ remembrance informs
us what we have been, and reason, by combining the facts
of our past and present existence, enables us to antici-
pate what we shall he. But self-knowledge, in this com-
prehensive sense, is rarely found amongst teachers: we
seem to regard our minds as little as we do our watches,
— we look at the dial plate, but heed not the internal
machinery — the springs, the regulators, or the beautiful
combinations of wheels within wheels by which the re-
sults are produced. A man who is entrusted with the
direction of a machine should surely be acquainted with
the principles of its construction. Now the teaclier has
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTIES. 163
to regulate and develop the faculties of a human soul, —
his mind has to act upon another mind so as to give a
right tone and direction to its development. Here mind
is the agent which acts, and mind is the object acted
upon. The teacher should, therefore, study the philoso-
phy of our intellectual and moral nature.
The most wonderful work of God is the human soul,
for it has been created after His own image; and the
laws which govern its action and development demand
the most patient study. The highest of all intellectual
efforts is that of the mind engaged in the study of itself,
— the principle of thought engaged in the investigation
of the laws and processes of thought, — the intellectual
vision turned inwardly upon itself. Here we must arrest
the current of thought, in order to determine the modes
and conditions of its action and development.
The child is the man in embryo: the child has the
same faculties as the man, but they are in a different
state of development. In order that a man may teach
children, he should thoroughly sympathize with them, —
he should realize their habits of thought and action,
peculiar tastes and modes of self -development; he should
frequently, in imagination, conceive himself to be a
little child, and recall to himself all that he thought and
felt when he was a little child; so that he may be able
to tell what effect any particular form of instruction or
mode of training will have upon them. A teacher,
therefore, should not only know himself as he is, but he
should also look back to the early history of his own
mind, and analyze the facts of this past experience with
the view of determining the causes which had been most
operative in stimulating the growth and development of
his faculties.
164 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Let us for a moment glance at the panorama of our
early years, with tlie view of realizing our thoughts and
feelings relative to the educational influences which
were brought to bear upon our own intellectual and
moral development. This psychological inquiry will
bring home to us the momentous fact that there is not a
single act, not a single thought, of our past life, that has
not had its influence in fixing our present intellectual
and moral condition. What we are is but the last link
in a long chain of sequences, extending from childhood
to youth, from youth to manhood, from manhood to
age; and what we shall be will only be an extension
of the links of this chain of sequences.
A glance at our childhood and early youth.
Let us in imagination live our lives over again, with
the view of realizing the different stages of our intel-
lectual and moral development, and of exposing the
errors of certain systems of education. This will not be
difficult if we confine ourselves to a simple statement of
facts, without refining too much upon the use of phrases,
or mixing up our apprehensions with recondite theories
relative to mental phenomena.
We all remember how, in our early childhood, we
loved whatever afforded us pleasure, and hated whatever
gave us pain, — how we loved the beautiful and the good,
and dreaded what was ugly and bad, — what horror a
butcher or a butcher's shop excited, and how visions of
blood and cruelty haunted us in our dreams, — what
pleasure we derived from every strange scene and every
new toy, — how we dreaded our hard task-masters, and
how delighted we were when we were permitted to
acquire knowledge in our own way.
CHILDHOOD AND TOUTH. 165
We all remember how in our boyish days we made
whistles and pop-guns, suckers and slings, — how in our
games we mimicked the ways and doings of man in the
great world, — how we loved to wander in the fields
and pluck the flowers and listen to nature's wild music,
— how we distinguished birds one from another, or
different animals one from another, — how we loved to
gaze upon the sea and the sky, or to penetrate the
depths of the trackless forest, or to climb the rugged
cliff, — how the contemplation of nature filled our little
souls with ecstacy, and how we wondered if other
people felt the same emotions that the words God,
Eternity, Immensity, &c., excited in our minds, — how
imagination conjured up fictitious scenes, and peopled
them with the creations of our own brain, — how we
hated the drudgery of tasks, because we could not
understand them, and with what pleasure we turned
from them to read stories of animals or tales about
children,~how readily we believed in everything that
was told us, and how our religion intermingled itself
with superstitious notions, — how we told ghost stories,
in the long winter nights, to our playfellows, sitting
round the fire, — how we wished that our school days
were over, that we might think and read as our own
instincts directed us, without being under the iron rule
of hard masters, — with what pleasure we anticipated
the approach of holidays and periods of festivities, and
how we looked to the future, when we should be with-
out pain or anxiety, and when we should enjoy the full
exercise of our faculties.
We all remember when our school days were over,
and when we fairly commenced the process of self-
166 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
development — with what avidity we read books tiiat
suited our capacities and tastes, and what pleasure the
exercise of our intellectual faculties afforded us, — how
the dogmas of our school learning were forgotten or
disregarded, — how we studied men and things for our-
selves, and how our own faculties and feelings became
distinct objects of contemplation, — how our past joys
and sorrows, thoughts and emotions, passed in review
before us, and liow hope and high resolve shed a halo
over the future, and urged us on in the career of life.
And now, when the fairy existence of early youth is
past, what remains for our matured age ? The illusions
of hope have melted away like the unsubstantial visions
of the night, — life has lost its greatest charm, and the
stern realities of existence meet us on every side, — most
of the gay friends of our childhood are in the cold
grave, and the voices that once charmed us, as with the
sweetest melody, are silent and still. What remains for
us? Action! usefulness! and the prospect of meeting
our lost friends in a better state of existence !
This review of the facts of our past existence supplies
us with valuable suggestions relative to the work of
elementary education.
A cursoi'y view of our intellectual and moral faculties as regards
their mode of development,
Man is a thinking and responsible being; hence we
speak of our intellectual and moral nature, — of the
powers of intellect, which have respect to knowledge,
and of the moral powers, which have respect to conduct.
We think, feel, and act; we have thoughts and emo-
tions, and we have also the power of controlling our
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES. 167
thoughts and emotions. Hence our mental phenomena
may be divided into three classes: 1. Simple intellect,
comprehending those faculties by which we perceive,
remember, compare, conceive, imagine, and reason. 2.
Emotions, usually called passions or affections; these
maybe eithei* passive or active; passive emotions simply
affect us with pleasure or pain; active emotions affect
our conduct, and they may be either right or wrong,
virtuous or vicious. 3. Over all these powers and emo-
tions is i^laced the principle of self-control, — the volun-
tary principle — the will, which constitutes man a
voluntary being, and which, acting in conjunction with
REASON and the power of conscience — that inherent
instinctive sense of right and wrong — also constitutes
him a moral and responsible agent.
Let us now endeavor to trace the successive stages of
our intellectual and moral development.
External objects produce impressions upon our senses,
which impressions we call sensations; we become conscious
of these sensations, and we perceive the objects which
produce them; hence we regard sensation and perception
as belonging to the first stage of our mental development.
Sensation is the effect which external objects have upon
our senses; perception is an act of the mind, and hence
we speak of the faculty of perception.* But a sen-
* Brown and his followers object to the use of the word faculty or power
as applied to these distinct acts of the mind; they consider that the use
of such phraseology ascribes distinct functions to the mind, somewhat
after the manner in which we ascribe distinct senses to the body. Now
we take the broad facts of mental phenomena, as they are received and
understood by all; and by the word faculty, as here used, we simply mean
a certain distinct mental act, or, it may be, a certain distinct state of the
mind. Some very substantial reasons must be given in order to cliange
the phraseology of a people.
168 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
sation may take place without being followed by its
corresponding perception; thus, for example, an object
may be placed before our organs of vision without being
perceived by us; in fact we must give our attention to a
thing before we can have a full perception of it; hence
we recognize the existence of that voluntary power of
the -mind which we call the faculty of attention. We
remember past impressions and perceptions; hence we
are said to possess the faculty of memory. We recall
at our will past impressions and scenes, and conceive
them to be, as it were, placed before us with all the
vividness of the original impressions; hence we are said
to possess the faculty of conception. By this faculty
we make the idea — the conception — of an object a dis-
tinct subject of consciousness and contemplation. We
not only remember and conceive, but we also compare
the impressions of objects, whether present or absent,
with each other, and thus distinguish them one from
another, or form a judgment relative to their respective
qualities; hence we are said to possess the faculties of
comparison and of primitive judgment; these form the
first elements of the process of reasoning. Things are
perceived by us under certain relations of place, time,
&c ; we recollect them in the same order of place, time,
&c.; hence we are said to possess the faculty of recol-
lection; which is something more than simple memory,
for it involves the faculty of association. By the fac-
ulty of association certain written signs or sounds
become suggestive of, or associated with, certain ideas.
The name of a horse, for example, whether written or
spoken, becomes associated with the conception or idea
of a horse, so that the presence of the one suggests that
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT. 169
of the other. The gift of language, or as we might say,
the FACULTY OF LANGUAGE, not less than reason or the
moral sense, distinguishes man from the lower animals.
By means of language, that wonderful symbol of
thought, we hold communion with one another, — we
record the results of our experience — our ideas, — and
thus the life of a man, in a certain sense, is not bounded
by his own individual term of existence, but embraces
the whole period of the past existence of his species.
We imitate the sounds which we hear, and copy the
forms which we see; hence we are said to possess the
faculty of IMITATION. We not only believe in the facts
which we derive from perception and observation, but
we also readily accept the facts communicated to us by
others; hence we are said to have an instinctive belief
in testimony; hence that remarkable aptitude which
children show for receiving instruction, and the unrea-
soning trust which they repose in the statements of their
parents and teachers. This may be not inappropriately
called the faculty op learning.
Let us now trace some of the earliest developments of
imagination, abstraction, and reason.
We imagine things to exist, and invest them with vari-
ous imaginary qualities. With the aid of visible repre-
sentations, we form an idea of absent objects and things,
— a small picture enables us to realize the idea of a
mountain stream, or of some beautiful natural scene;
hence we are said to possess the faculty of Ideality,
which is obviously nearly allied to that of imagination.
We OBSERVE the relation between events: — a stroke
upon the table, for example, is followed by a sound; the
stroke is recognized as the cause, and the sound as the
170 l*HiLOSOPBy OP educaTtok.
effect; Uie stroke is repeated, and the same sound is
produced, and we instinctively believe that the same
effect will always follow the operation of the same
cause.
We see a series of objects having the same color; —
they may be different in form, taste, &c., but they have
the same color: — we form a conception of that color,
apart from the other properties of the bodies, — that is
to say, we form an abstract idea of it.
We see a lot of balls, — they may be different in color;
some may be rough, others may be smooth, but they
have all the same form — they are all balls; we realize a
conception of this form apart from the other properties
of the bodies. A particular figure formed by three
straight lines, and therefore containing three angles, is
called a triangle; but we may draw another figure
bounded by three straight lines, which shall differ very
much from the first in the absolute and the relative
lengths of the sides; yet still we call this figure a tri-
angle, for it is bounded by three sides and contains
three angles: hence we form the abstract idea of a tri-
angle, corresponding to the definition which limits or
defines this species of form. And so on to other cases
of geometrical form and magnitude. In like manner we
arrive at a knowledge of the various properties of
bodies.
We see a lot of balls, — we count them by ones — they
make up a certain number; but they may be grouped in
different ways, and the total number will be made up of
the number in the different groups put togethei-; thus,
for example, if there are five balls, we may put them
into two groups, one of which shall contain three balls
ABSTRACTION AND GENERALIZATION. I7l
and the other two; then we arrive at the fact that three
balls and two balls make five balls; but we may count,
in the same manner, with buttons, or with any other ob-
jects; hence we form the abstract conception of num-
bers and properties of numbers, without regard to the
particular objects which represent them, whether they
be balls, or buttons, or cubes, or anything else. The
results, thus obtained, expressed in language become
established truths or propositions, and we remember
them as such.
In all these cases we exercise the faculty of abstrac-
tion, which at the same time involves those of classifi-
cation and generalization. By the faculty of abstrac-
tion, therefore, we arrange objects into classes, genera,
and species. Thus we observe that some objects have
certain common properties, by which we distinguish
them from other objects; hence we classify them and
call them by some name indicative of the class: thus we
soon distinguish between a horse and a cow, &c.: hence
also we generalize, that is to say, we take a comprehen-
sive view of a multifarious collection of facts by select-
ing one which is common to them all.
Co-existent with this stage of intellectual develop-
ment, certain appetites and passions exhibit themselves.
The taste of a sweetmeat affords us pleasure, the taste
of a drug is unpleasant; we love and desire the one,
while we dislike and avoid the other. Some sensations
and ideas are accompanied with pain, others with pleas-
ure; we love the person that is kind to us, because his
kindness affords us pleasure, and we hate and fear the
person that treats us with cruelty, because his cruelty
gives us pain.
172 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
The sentiment of taste — the sense of the sublime and
beautiful— early develops itself. We admire a beauti-
ful object, because the sight of it affords us pleasure, —
the flowers with their varied forms, and colors and
scents, — the green fields and woods, — the bright sun,
lighting up the wide earth with life and joy, — the
silver moon, as she sheds her soft and balmy light over
the slumbering world, — the stars, as they twinkle in
the depths of the azure canopy of night,— all are beau-
tiful to us — all are charming to us — because they all
awaken within us the sentiments of love and admiration.
But the contemplation of the sublime, not less than
the beautiful, affords us pleasure: the snow-clad moun-
tain, — the deep ravine, — the boundless expanse of field
and forest, — the vast ocean as it swells and foams and
responds to the moaning winds, — the rolling thunder
and the flashing lightning, — all are sublime — all fill our
souls with the sentiments of awe, veneration, and
WONDER, and impress us with the ideas of vastness,
power, immensity, and infinitude. Above all, and over
all, we adore and love the great God, who made the
world and all its fulness, and enthroned Himself amid
its riches and goodness.
We love knowledge in all its forms, because its
acquisition affords us pleasure. Not satisfied with what
we already know, we seek to know more; hence that
insatiable appetite for knowledge — that ceaseless curi-
osity, which is ever craving for knowledge, but is never
satisfied, and which forms one of the most remarkable
features of the infant mind. We love approbation, and
the consciousness of mental power affords us pleasure.
We eagerly strive with our companions in the race of
THE MOEAL SENSE. 173
improvement; hence we are said to possess the principle
of EMULATION.
We also soon distinguish between what is good or
bad in conduct: the sense of the beautiful is closely
related to, and connected with, the moral sense, or that
faculty whereby we distinguish what is good and beau-
tiful, and therefore praiseworthy, in our actions, from
what is bad and displeasing, and therefore blameworthy.
The inherent conviction of our moral responsibility
leads us to follow the one and avoid the other. We
see that self-indulgence, if carried too far, is injurious
to ourselves, and often detrimental to the happiness
of others; we hence recognize two distinct principles,
or rather two distinct classes of emotions in our nature,
— the one class has been called the selfish emotions,
the other the benevolent emotions; the one seeks the
gratification of self, the other seeks to promote the hap-
piness of others. The principle of sympathy leads us
to adopt the golden rule of conduct, viz., to do unto
others as we would that they should do unto us. We
pity those that are in pain or distress, — we sympathize
with them, that is, we in a certain sense make their
misery our own, and thus we are led to relieve them.
But our instincts are not all for good: we suffer inju-
ries or injustice from others; those injuries excite within
us the emotions of hatred and revenge, and other
malevolent passions; but we cannot indulge these
passions without causing misery to ourselves as well as
to others; hence arises the necessity of self-control.
We tell LIES — falsehoods — to screen ourselves from
the consequences of our follies, or it may be to gratify
our vanity; but our conscience raises its voice against
174 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the violation of truth. We take the pro]ierty of
others, or seek to indulge ourselves at the expense of
others; but the golden rule tells us that theft, injustice,
&c., are wrong, and that honesty, justice, &c., are right.
The love of approbation frequently engenders vanity,
and the consciousness of power produces pride and
CONCEIT. Education stimula'tes the development of our
virtuous emotions, and checks the development of those
that are evil. Scripture, the revealed word of God,
lends its all-powerful aid to inculcate what is good, and
to denounce what is evil. We are there informed that
God is holy as well as good, just as well as merciful; as
judge of all the earth, therefore, He will punish the
wicked and reward the righteous in the world to come.
Of all our intellectual faculties, imagination, reason,
judgment and invention are the latest in attaining their
full growth and development.
Out of our impressions of actual scenes and events,
we imagine or, as it were, create fictitious scenes and
events, and invest them with all the vividness and
warmth of reality; hence we are said to possess the fac-
ulty of IMAGINATION. We Separate facts or general
principles from each other, and throw them into new
combinations with the view of deriving some new result
or fact; in this case we are said to exercise the faculty
of INVENTION, which is obviously very nearly allied to
that of imagination.
We analyze facts, compare them with each other^
observe their relations, and deduce from these relations
certain general facts or principles; we compare our
mental impressions with external things, draw conclu-
sions, and establish certain principles of belief; in all
CtJLTlVATlON OF DIFFEEENT FACULTIES. iVS
these cases, we are said to exercise the faculty of rea-
son, or it may be that of judgment. By reason we
investigate truths, and determine the laws of evidence
and belief. Reason is the highest faculty of our nature,
and admits of an indefinite degree of cultivation.
A more exact analysis of the mind, with a classifica-
tion of its faculties, is given in Chap. III., Part I., of
this work (see page 11).
CHAP. II.
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES.— CULTIVATION OF THE PER-
CEPTIVE FACULTIES AND OF THE FACULTIES OF PRIMITIVE JUDGMENT,
CONCEPTION, IMITATION, ABSTRACTION, AND LANGUAGE.
Our first knowledge of the existence and properties of
the material world is derived through our senses; hence
it follows that our knowledge of the properties of mate-
rial bodies is limited by the number and acuteness of
our senses. It is generally believed that we have five
senses, — sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch; but to
these has been added the sense of muscular effort, or the
sense of resistance to muscular action.
Some properties are cognizable by one sense only;
but in general our knowledge of the external world is
derived from the combined action of several senses.
Thus color can only be known to us by the sense of
sight, sound by the sense of hearing, taste by the sense
of taste, cold or heat by the sense of feeling, odor by
the sense of smell, and weight or force by the sense of
muscular effort; but the properties of form, size, num-
176 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ber and texture are cognizable by at least two of our
senses, viz., sight and touch; the ideas of number and
succession may be conveyed to the mind by any of our
senses; thus a succession of sounds, tastes, &c., may
impress us with the idea of number as perfectly as a
series of objects placed before the eye can do. Our
impression of solidity, roughness or smoothness, is de-
rived from touch combined with muscular action. And
so on to other cases.
The first notions derived from our senses, however,
seem to be limited and imperfect. Our real knowledge
is only acquired by experience, in the course of which
the impressions derived from one sense are used to sup-
ply the deficiencies and correct the errors of the impres-
sions derived from another sense, and by the mind acting
upon the impressions derived from all the senses. Thus,
for example, the primary objects of vision are color and
apparent form; but the result of experience, derived
from the sense of touch, &c., enables us to judge of
distance and magnitude by our vision. It is well known
that we have no idea of the distance of an object unless
we have some knowledge of its magnitude, and vice versa.
In like manner, we have no idea of the intensity of
sounds unless we have some knowledge of their distance,
and vice versa. Experience also enables us to judge of
the distance of an object by the degree of its brightness,
or by tlie degree of distinctness of its outline: hence it
is that in a picture distant objects are drawn faintly and
with an indistinctness in the outline of their minute
parts. The apparent form of a body is (^ften very differ-
ent from the true idea which we conceive of it; in fact,
our conception of an object derived from vision is as
CULTIVA.T10N Ol' THE PEECEPTIVE EACTTLTIES, iVY
much a matter of judgment as of sensation. We avail
ourselves of this principle in perspective drawing, where
we diminish the size of the lines representing known
objects to convey the idea of distance, and fore-shorten
the lines which represent the parts of objects seen
obliquely. These observations show that we have to
learn the right use of our senses. It is the business of
the teacher to aid nature in accomplishing this end.
On the cultivation of the senses, Miss Edgeworth
observes: —
"Rousseau has judiciously advised that the senses of
children should be cultivated, with the utmost care. In
proportion to the distinctness of their perceptions will
be the accuracy of their memory, and probably, also the
precision of their judgment. A child who sees imper-
fectly cannot reason justly about the objects of sight,
because he has not sufficient data. A child who does
not hear distinctly cannot judge well of sounds; and, if
we could suppose the sense of touch to be twice as
accurate in one child as in another, we might conclude
that the judgment of these children must differ in a
similar proportion. The defects in organization are not
within the power of the preceptor; but we may observe
that inattention and want of exercise are frequently
the cause of what are mistaken for natural defects;
and, on the contrary, increased attention and cultivation
sometimes produce that quickntss of eye and ear, and
that consequent readiness of judgment, which we are
apt to attribute to natural superiority of organization or
capacity."
The cultivation of the senses necessarily includes the
cultivation of the faculty of perception. This faculty
178 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
demands the earliest attention and cultivation ; its first
development is best attained by directing it to the
examination of form and number, and afterwards to
the various other properties of bodies. A sufficient
time should be allowed the child to examine and observe
the different parts and pecularities of the object at
which he looks; and we should not expect him to give
his attention to more than one subject at a time. He
should be led to compare one object with another, or it
may be different parts of the same object with each
other. He should be shown how to direct all his senses
to an object with the view of determining all its prop-
erties. He will, in the course of this examination, fre-
quently find that he is able to detect the same property
by different senses. Thus, for example, the teacher
may say to his pupil — What shape has this object (a
ball)? F. It is round. T. How do you know that it is
round ? P. I see that it is round. T. Is there no other
way by which you can know that it is round? You
seem to hesitate, — now take it in your hand and run
your fingers over its surface. P. I feel that it is round.
T. But your feeling tells of another property which that
object has, — what is that proj)erty ? P. It feels smooth.
T. But there is another way by which you know that it
is smooth ? P. It looks smooth, — it is glossy or bright.
T. True — your experience teaches you that bodies which
appear bright or glossy are almost always smooth. Now
close your eyes, and take this body in your hands, — can
you feel what color it has ? P. I cannot feel color.
T. Now open your eyes, and tell me what color it has.
P. I see that it is red.
In cultivating the peri'i'plive faculties, the teacher
CULTIVATION OF THE PEECEPTIVE FACULTIES. 179
should frequently require his pupils to judge of the
distance of an object from its apparent size, or from its
distinctness of outline, and vice versa, or of the distance
of a sound from its intensity, or of the distance of a
place by the time which it takes them to walk to it. The
eye should be exercised in noting the position of objects
with respect to each other, and in comparing the mag-
nitude of the angles formed by lines and planes. They
should be accustomed to use the foot rule in measuring
the lengths and breadths of different things, and also
their distances from one another, so that they may at
once be able to verify their judgments relative to the
sizes of different objects. The weights and capacities
of bodies should also be made a subject of observation.
In order to give an idea of density, or the lightness or
heaviness of a substance, the attention of the child
should be directed to the size of a pound of tea as
compared with the size of a pound of sugar, or to the
weight of a sovereign as compared with the weight of a
shilling.
In all these exercises, the child should be required to
express in language the results of his observations or
judgments; and, whenever it is practicable, he should
be required to draw the object or objects to which his
attention has been directed; nothing tends to cultivate
the eye and the hand so much as drawing. Proceeding
in this way, the teacher will combine perception, ob-
servation, JUDGMENT, drawing, AND LANGUAGE IN THE
SAME EXERCISE.
The habit of exact perception and observation will be
further cultivated by directing the attention of the
child to various natural phenomena, such as we have
180 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
described under our general axioms. It is almost un-
necessary to say that music will exercise the same influ-
ence in the cultivation of the ear that drawing does in
reference to the eye.
The conceptive faculties should be cultivated at
the same time as the perceptive faculties. After the
attention of a cluld has been sufficiently directed to an
object, it should be lemoved from his sight, and then he
should be required to describe it in language, or, it may
be, by drawing a representation of it. In like manner,
after certain operations of numbers have been explained
to him, by reference to familiar objects, such as balls or
strokes, he should be required to perform by the ordi-
nary process of mental calculation, similar operations
without the aid of such objects. He should also be re-
quired to describe, in his own language, particular
scenes and events which he may have recently wit-
nessed.
A teacher should address his instruction to the eye as
well as to the ear. The subject should be illustrated
by pictures, drawings, or figures, as the case may re-
quire, and new phrases or words should be written in
large characters upon the blackboard. In all cases, the
conception of any new thing should be aided by words,
by symbols, by figurative representations, or by models.
After all the properties of a body have been examined
by the pupils, the names given to these properties should
be thoroughly impressed upon their minds. These prop-
erties, as we have before remarked, should then be made
a subject of comparison or contrast, as the case maybe,
with the corresponding properties of other bodies; and
then the property or properties by which the object on
CULTIVATION OF THE CONCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 181
which the lesson is given is distinguished from other
bodies should be distinctly pointed out, and the judgments
thus foraied should be expressed in simple and appro-
priate language. The uses to which the body is applied
should then be exhibited; and the connection between
its distinguishing properties and its uses should be care-
fully explained and illustrated.
Children like to dwell in the ideal world, — the world
of conceptions. The depth and vividness of their con-
ceptions are intensified by the emotions elicited by our
lessons. The following subjects of instruction are highly
calculated to interest the feelings, and to invigorate the
conceptive faculty: zoology, comprehending a descrij)-
tion of the habits of the wild animals of the forest;
geography, comprehending descriptions of strange and
distant lands; mental arithmetic, in which the funda-
mental operations of numbers are conducted without the
aid of symbolical notation; astronomy, describing the
revolutions of the vast globes which move through the
amplitudes of space; and so on. As an example, let the
subject of the lesson be the form and magnitude of the earth.
Notes of a Lesson for cultivating the Faculty of Conception.
Age of the pupils ahout seven.
The world is a globe like an orange; the orange is a
little globe, but the world is a vast globe many thou-
sands of times larger than the orange. When you look
from the top of a high hill, you only see a small portion
of the earth's surface; beyond the distant hills and trees
which bound your view there are hills and trees, and
again hills and trees, far, far, beyond. Navigators have
sailed round the earth. The length of a line going round
182 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the earth is about 25,000 miles. You cannot tell what
a great distance this is, but I shall try to give you some
idea of it. You have travelled in a railway train, and
you know how fast it moves; well, I once travelled in a
fast train from London to York in four hours; now it
would take the train constantly going about three weeks
to go round the earth. Such is the great size of the
earth. But the distance round the earth is almost
nothing when compared with the celestial spaces. You
have seen the evening star (Venus) when the sun is
sinking in the western sky; — the sun is seen beside the
farm-house, and Venus over the forest, only a few miles
from the farm-house; now the real distance betwfen the
sun and Venus is upwards of 60 millions of miles, or
more than two thousand times the girt (circumference)
of our earth. And so on.
In this lesson we shall have cultivated other faculties
besides that of conception.
Definitions of terms should be gived, as far as prac-
ticable, in connection with the things or properties
which are designated by these terms. Thus, for exam-
ple, if we wish to give a definition of the term elasticity^
we should take a piece of india-rubber and stretch it out
before the pupil, saying to him at the same time: Now
I am exerting a pulling force, so as to stretch this long
piece of india-rubber; what do you observe in reference
to the alteration in its shape V P, You have stretched it
out, — it is longer than it was at first. T. Now I release
it, — now the stretching force ceases to act, — what do
you now observe ? P. It has returned to its original
shape. T. This property is called elasticity, and the
india-rubber is said to be elastic. Now tell me, in your
CULTIVATION OF THE CONCEPTIVE FACULTIES. l83
own language, what you mean by the property of elas-
ticity. P. That if the body be stretched out, and then
let go (released) from the force, it will return to its
original shape. T. True; but we may express the same
thing thus: elasticity is that property whereby a body
returns to its original shape after the force which has
altered its shape is withdrawn.
Definition of form should be given in connection
with the actual construction of the figures which we
wish to define. As our geometrical definitions and pos-
tulates are based upon experience and observation, one
of the first steps in mathematical instruction is to sliow
how geometrical figures may be described in accordance
with their definitions, and, at the same time, to aid the
mind of the pupil in forming general or abstract con-
ceptions of these figures. The best way of showing the
possibility of drawing a perfect figure is actually to draw
it, with a greater or less degree of accuracy, according
to the conditions of its abstract definition. Thus, if we
wish to give the definition of a circle, we should take a
string and describe a circle with it, before the pupil,
saying to him at the same time: — The figure bounded
by this chalk line is called a circle; the fixed point
about which the string revolves is called the centre of
the circle; the length of the string, which constantly
remains the same, is the radius', the chalk line itself,
which forms the boundary of the figure, is called the
circumference ; and the line drawn through the centre,
meeting the circumference on opposite sides, is called the
diameter. Now what have you to say about the distance
of the circumference of a circle from its centre ? P. It
is always the same. T. In other words, you would say
184 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
that the radii of a circle are all equal to one another.
Now although this circle is not so perfect as it is possi-
ble to draw one, yet you can tell me what a perfect cir-
cle is. P. A circle is a figure bounded by a line which
is everywhere at the same distance from a point within
it called the centre.
In like manner, the pupil should be led to give in his
own language the definitions of the terms radius, diaiue-
ter, circumference, &c. Without materially altering the
language employed by the pupil, the teacher may find it
desirable to improve or correct it.
Above all things, children should be accustomed to
write their own ideas in their own language. The
writing of the contents of a book is better than the
study of a whole commentary upon it; and the writing
of the subject-matter of a single page often stimulates
the appetite for learning more powerfully than the read-
ing of a whole folio. On this subject Richter observes:
" Since writing signifies but the sign of things, and
brings us tlirough it to the things themselves, it is a
stricter isolator and clearer collector of the ideas than
even speech itself. Sound teaches quickly and gener-
ally; writing, uninterru])tedly and with more accuracy.
It is certain that our representation is much more a
mental seeing than hearing, and that our metaphors
play far more on an instrument of color than of sound,
and therefore writing which lingers under the eyes must
assist the formation of ideas to a much greater extent
than the rapid flight of sound. The scholar, indeed,
carries it so far that when he reflects he really seems to
read a printed page, and when he speaks, to give
a little declamation of a quickly and well written
CULTIVATION OF THE CONCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 185
pamphlet. Let the boys write out their own thoughts
sooner than copy yours, so that they may learn to ex-
change the heavy-ringing coin of sound into more con-
venient paper money. And let them be spared the
writing-texts of schoolmasters, containing the praises of
industry, of writing, of their master, or of some old
prince; in short, subjects about which the teacher can
produce nothing better than his pupil. Every represen-
tation without some actual object or motive is poison.
I cannot understand schoolmasters ! Must the man even
in childhood j^reach from the appointed Sunday text,
and never choose one for himself from nature's bible ?
Something similar may be said about the writing of
open letters (an unsealed one is almost inevitably half
untrue) which the teachers of girls' schools require, in
order, say they, to exercise their pupils in epistolary
style. A nothing writes to a nothing: the whole affair
undertaken by the desire of the teacher, not of the heart,
is a certificate of the death of thoughts, an announce-
ment of the burning of the materials. Happy is it if
the commanded volubility of the child, arising from
coldness and addressed to emptiness, do not accustom
her to insincerity. If letters must be forthcoming, let
them be written to some fixed person, about some definite
thing. But what need of 'so much ado about nothing,'
since — not even excepting political or literary news-
papers — nothing can be written so easily as letters on
any subject when there is a motive for them, and the
mind is fully informed of the matter."
186 PIIILOSOrilY OF EDUCATION.
CHAP. III.
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, CONTINUED.— CULTIVATION
OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION.
In all our exercises of the senses, tlie faculty of atten-
tion should be assiduously cultivated by all the artifices
which we may have within our power. The habit of
directing the faculties promptly and intensely to what-
ever subject comes before them, lays the foundation of
the intellectual character. This habit requires careful
cultivation: all the pupils should be expected to concen-
trate the whole of their powers of observation on the
subject brought before them ; imperfect perception should
be carefully guarded against, and erroneous conceptions
promptly corrected; no subject should be diminished
until all its legitimate points of interest have been fairly
exhausted; and carelessness, lassitude or indifference
should never be pemiitted for one moment to exist.
Besides the immediate benefits arising from such a
course of education, it exerts a most momentous influ-
ence on the future characters of the pupils, — it decides
in a great measure, as Fellenberg observes, "whether
they shall be superficial and desultory throughout life,
or whether they shall maintain the contrary habits of
application and accuracy with honorable perseverance."
So much depends upon the faculty of attention, that its
culture should form a leading subject of practical
education.
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 187
Tq cultivate the faculty of attention, the effort on
the part of the child must be voluntary. By constraint,
you may get a child to learn the task you have assigned
him J but by this exercise you do not cultivate his power
of attention, — you have only stimulated the child to
exertion by the fear of punishment, or it may be by the
hope of reward. By displaying the wonders of nature
or art to a child, you render his attention voluntary, and
out of a passive, servile creature, you make an active,
self-dependent agent. The best means of cultivating
the habit of attention, therefore, is to associate pleasure
with the exertions of the pupil, especially the pleasure
which flows from success.
To cultivate the faculty of attention, our teaching
should be suggestive; that is to say, we should always
leave something for our pupils to work out themselves;
we should never do anything for them which they can
do for themselves; and whenever we assist them, it
should be done in such a way as to lead them as speed-
ily as possible to go on without assistance. We should
not seek to remove the fair difficulties which lie in a
pupil's way, but rather teach him how to surmount them.
Never do anything, says Abbott, for a scholar, but
teach him to do it for himself. How many cases
occur, in the schools of this country, where the boy
brings his slate to the teacher, saying he cannot do a
certain sum ! The teacher takes the slate and pencil, —
performs the work in silence, — brings out the result, —
returns the slate to the hands of his pupil, who walks off
to his seat, and goes to work on the next example, per-
fectly satisfied with the manner in which he is getting
188 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
on. Such a practice, obviously, cannot conduce to the
cultivation of the faculty of attention.
We weaken the habit of attention by requiring our
pupils to study too many things at once, or matters
which are above their capacity ; by directing their minds
too long to any one subject; by urging them up to, or
beyond, the point of fatigue; or by repeating too fre-
quently the same exercises without variation. When-
ever an exercise becomes too easy or too monotonous for
our pupils, it then ceases to engage their attention, and
acts injuriously upon their minds by engendering habits
of listlessness and indifference. When a child, for ex-
ample, writes the whole page of a copy head, we gener-
ally find that the last line is the worst written.
A skilful teacher will sometimes turn to account the
incidental circumstances which are calculated to draw
off the attention of his pupils from his lesson : a butterfly
enters the school-room, — in a moment all eyes are upon
it; instead of scolding them for this apparent violation
of order, he cheerfully enters into their thoughts and
feelings, catches the butterfly, and forthwith gives them
a conversational lecture upon their beautiful winged
visitor. Faraday never lectures so brilliantly as when
he happens to fail in making an experiment.
When children become wearied out with long or in-
tense attention, their enthusiasm may often be revived
by bringing in some fresh motive for exertion. Darwin
thus happily illustrates this principle: — *' A little boy,
who was tired of walking, begged of his papa to caiTy
him. * Here,' says the reverend doctor, * ride upon my
gold-headed cane;' and the pleased child, putting it be-
tween his legs, galloped away with delight."
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 189
On the cultivation of the habit of attention, Miss
Edge worth observes: " Whatever is connected with pain
or pleasure commands our attention: but to make this
general observation useful in education, we must examine
what degrees of stimulus are necessary for different
pupils, and in different circumstances. It is not prudent
early to use violent or continual stimulus, either of a
painful or peasurable nature, to excite children to appli-
cation, because we should by an intemperate use of
these weaken the mind, and because we may with a
little patience obtain all we wish without these expe-
dients. Besides these reasons, there is another potent
argument against using violent motives to excite atten-
tion; such motives frequently disturb and dissipate the
very attention which they attempt to fix. If a child be
threatened with severe punishment, or flattered with the
promise of some delicious reward, in order to induce his
performance of any particular task, he desires instantly
to perform the task; but this desire will not insure his
success; unless he has previously acquired the habit of
voluntary exertion, he will not be able to turn his mind
from his ardent wishes, even to the means of accomplish-
ing them. He will be in the situation of Alnaschar, in
the Arabian tales, who, whilst he dreamt of his future
grandeur, forgot his immediate business. To teach any
new habit or art, we must not employ any alarming ex-
citements; small, certain, regularly-recurring motives,
which interest, but which do not distract the mind, are
evidently the best. The ancient inhabitants of Minorca
were said to be the best slingers in the world; when
they were children, every morning what they were to
eat was slightly fastened to high poles, and they were
190 PHILOSOPHY of education.
obliged to throw down their breakfasts with their slings
from the places where they were siisjiended, before they
could satisfy their hunger. The motive seems to have
been here well proportioned to the effect that was re-
quired: it could not be any great misfortune for a boy
to go without his breakfast; but as this motive returned
every morning, it became sufficiently serious to the
hungry slingers. It is impossible to explain this subject
so as to be of use, without descending to minute par-
ticulars. When a mother says to her little daughter, as
she places on the table before her a bunch of ripe cher-
ries, 'Tell me, my dear, how many cherries are there, and
I will give them to you,' — the child's attention is fixed in-
stantly; there is a sufficient motive; not a motive which
excites any violent passions, but which raises just such
a degree of hope as is necessary to produce attention.
The little girl, if she knows from experience that her
mother's promise will be kept, and that her own pa-
tience is likely to succeed, counts the cherries carefully,
has her reward, and upon the next similar trial she will
from this success be still more disposed to exert her
attention. The pleasure of eating cherries, associated
with the pleasure of success, will balance the pain of a
few moments' prolonged application, and by degrees the
cherries may be withdrawn, and the association of
pleasure will remain. Objects or thoughts that have
been associated with pleasure, retain the power of
pleasing; as the needle touched by the loadstone, ac-
quires polarity, and retains it long after the loadstone
is withdrawn, whenever attention is habitually raised by
the power of association, we should be careful to with-
draw all the excitements that were originally used, be-
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 191
cause these are now unnecessary; and, as we have for-
merly observed, the steady rule with respect to stimulus
should be to give the least possible quantity that will
produce the effect we want. Success is a great pleasure;
as soon as children become sensible to this pleasure, that
is to say, when they have tasted it two or three times,
they will exert their attention merely with the hope of
succeeding. We have seen a little boy of three years
old, frowning with attention for several minutes together,
whilst he was trying to clasp and unclasp a lady's brace-
let; his whole soul was intent upon the business, he
neither saw nor heard anything else that passed in the
room, though several people were talking, and some
happened to be looking at him. The pleasure of success,
when he had clasped the bracelet, was quite sufficient;
he looked for no praise, thpugh he was perhaps pleased
with the sympathy that was shown in his success. Sym-
pathy is a better reward for young children in such cir-
cumstances than praise, because it does not excite van-
ity, and it is connected with benevolent feelings; besides,
it is not so violent a stimulus as applause. Instead of
increasing excitements to produce attention we may
vary them, which will have just the same effect. When
sympathy fails, try curiosity; when curiosity fails, try
praise; when praise begins to loose its effect, try blame;
and when you go back again to sympathy, you will find
that, after this interval, it will have recovered all its
original power. There are some people who have the
power of exciting others to great mental exertions, not
by the promise of specific rewards, or by the threats of
any punishment, but by the ardent ambition which they
inspire, by the high value which is set upon their love
182 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
and esteem. Wben we have formed a high opinion of
a friend, his approbation becomes necessary to our self-
complacency, and we think no labor too great to satisfy
our attachment. Our exertions are not fatiguing, be-
cause they are associated with all the pleasurable sen-
sations of affection, self-complacency, benevolence, and
liberty. These feelings in youth produce all the virtuous
enthusiasm characteristic of great minds; even child-
hood is capable of it in some degree, as those parents
well know who have ever enjoyed the attachment of a
grateful, affectionate child. Those who neglect to culti-
vate the affections of their pupils, will never be able to
excite them to nolle ends by nolle means. Theirs will be
the dominion of fear, from which reason will emancipate
herself, and from which pride will more certainly revolt.
If Henry the Fourth of France had been reduced like
Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, to earn his bread as
a schoolmaster, what a different preceptor he would
probably have made! Dionysius must have been hated
by his scholars as much as by his subjects; for it is said,
that * he practised upon children that tyranny which he
could no longer exercise over men.' The ambassador
who found Henry the Fourth playing u[)Oii the carpet
with his children, would probably have trusted his own
children, if he had any, to the care of such an affection-
ate tutor. Henry the Fourth would have attracted his
pupils whilst he instructed them; they would have
exerted themselves because they could not have been
happy without his esteem. Henry's courtiers, or rather
his friends, for though he was a king he had friends,
sometimes expressed surprise at their own disinterest-
edness: * This king pays us with words,' said they, * and
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 193
yet we are satisfied ! ' Sully, when he was only Baron
de Rosuy, and before he had any hopes of being a duke,
w^as once in a passion with the king, his master, and
half resolved to leave him; 'But I don't know how it
was,' said the honest minister; ' with all his faults, there
is something about Henry which I found I could not
leave; and when I met him again, a few words made
me forget all my causes of discontent.' Children are
more easily rewarded. When once this generous desire
of affection and esteem is raised in the mind, their exer-
tions seem to be universal and spontaneous; children are
then no longer like machines, which require to be wound
up regularly to perform certain revolutions; they are
animated with a living principle, which directs all that
it inspires."
While the teacher endeavors to engage the attention
of all his pupils, and equally to ensure the progress of
all, he must not expect to find that they will all manifest
the same amount of attention, or that they will all make
the same progress. " Do not hope," says Abbott, " to
make all your pupils alike. Providence has determined
that human minds should differ from each other, for the
very purpose of giving variety and interest to this busy
scene of life. Now if it were possible for a teacher so
to plan his operations as to send his pupils forth upon
the community, formed on the same model as if they
were made by machinery, he would do so much towards
spoiling one of the wisest plans which the Almighty has
formed for making this world a happy scene. It is im-
possible, if it were wise, and it would be foolish if it
were possible, to stimulate, by artificial means, the rose,
in hope of its reaching the size and magnitude of the
Q
194 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
apple-tree, or to try to cultivate the fig and the orange
where wheat only will grow. No; it should be the
teacher's main design to shelter his pupils from every
deleterious influence, and to bring everything to bear
upon the community of minds before him whicli will
encourage, in each one, the development of his own
native powers. Error on this point is very common.
Many teachers, even among those who have taken high
rank, through the successes with which they have
labored in this field, have wasted much time in at-
tempting to do what can never be done; to form the
character of those brought under their influence, after a
certain uniform model, which they have conceived as the
standard of excellence. Their pupils must write just
such a hand, they must compose in just such a style,
they must be similar in sentiment and feeling, and their
manners must be foimed according to a fixed and uni-
form model; and when, in such a case, a pupil comes
under their charge whom Providence has designed to be
entirely different from the beau-ideal adopted as the
standard, more time and pains and anxious solicitude
are wasted in vain attempts to produce the desired con-
formity than half the school requires beside."
The teacher must suppose human nature to be neither
better nor worse than it really is; he must not expect to
find the faculty of attention ready formed in the minds
of his pupils; on the contrary, he must expect that the
cultivation of this faculty in his different pupils will
demand his constant study, and that unless means are
adopted to secure this end all his labor will be utterly
lost. Some teachers seem never to make it a part of
their calculation that their pupils will be guilty of wil-
CULTIVATION OP THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 195
fill inattention or do anything wrong, and then, when
any misconduct occurs, they are disconcerted and irri-
tated, and look and act as if some unexpected occurrence
had broken in upon their plans. A man comes home
from school at night perplexed and irritated at the petty
acts of misconduct and inattention of his pupils.
"Sir," we might say to him, "what is the matter?"
" Why, I have such boys, I can do nothing with them.
Were it not for their inattention and want of respect, I
might have a very good school."
" Were it not for the boys ! Why, is there any pecul-
iar depravity in them which you could not have fore-
seen?"
"No; I suppose they are pretty much like all other
boys," he replies despairingly; "they are all hair-brained
and unmanageable. The plans I have formed for my
school would be excellent, if my boys would only behave
properly."
" Excellent plans," might we not reply, " and yet not
adapted to the materials upon which they are to oper-
ate ! No. It is your business to know what sort of
beings boys are, and to make your calculations accord-
ingly."
The means which we. employ in cultivating the habit
of attention, therefore, should have a due regard to the
natural differences of temper and talents of our pupils.
Inattentive boys may be ranked under five classes, viz.:
the feehUy the^ sluggish, the volatile, the timid, and the
quich. An observing teacher soon discovers to which
class any particular boy should be referred, and, know-
ing the cause of inattention, he is able to apply the
proper remedy.
196 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
1. The boy of feeble intellect is inattentive be-
cause of his incapacity. He shows a feverish anxiety
to understand what is said to him, and, failing to do so,
he soon relaxes his attention and gives up in despair.
The boy's dulness should never be a subject of censure,
nor should he be stimulated to exertion by the hope of
reward. Everything should be made as easy for him as
possible; and as weariness is sure to follow any unusual
stretch of attention, his lesson should be short as well as
easy. Above all things we should be patient with him,
and never taunt him with the trouble which he may give
us. By such means, the feeble boy may become as re-
markable for his steadiness and perseverance 'as he is for
his want of intellectual power. Such boys not unfre-
quently become useful men. " If the Creator has so
formed the mind of a boy that he must go through life
slowly and with difficulty, impeded by obstructions
which others do not feel, and depressed by discourage-
ments which others never know, his lot is surely hard
enough, without having you to add to the trials and
sufferings, which sarcasm and reproach from you can
heap upon him. Look over your school-room, therefore,
and whenever you find one whom you perceive the Cre-
ator to have endued with less intellectual power than
others, fix your eye upon him with an expression of
kindness and sympathy."
2. The sluggish, lazy boy is inattentive from a want
of all mental activity. He hates learning for the trouble
which it gives him, and nothing seems to afford him so
much enjoyment as lounging at his ease. His intellectual
powers may be originally good, but he allows them to
rust away for want of use. Here some powerful stimu-
CtTLTIVATlON OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 197
laiits are required to arouse him from his mental torpor;
every motive to exertion should be tried, until we hit
upon the right one. Locke divides sluggish boys into
two species: those who are indolent only at their books
or lessons; and those who are indolent in everything,
even at their play; the mental distemper in the former
case seems only local and accidental, whereas in the lat-
ter case it is general and constitutional; the one, under
proper management, may be readily cured, but the other
almost defies the power of remedy. The book-saunterer,
as Locke would call him, is generally the leader at all
sports and games; and when any daring act of mischief
has been done, he is sure to have had a hand in it. Scott
and Byron, as boys, belonged to this class, since their
want of aptitude for learning was doubtless attributable
to the dogmatic system under which they were taught.
We should never despair of a boy who exhibits great
energy of character at his games; for in a sluggish mind
of this kind we often find the slumbering energies of a
higher intellect; like the rough diamond, it must be cut
and polished before it can shine with its proper bril-
liancy and loveliness. The most hopeless dunce is that
boy in whom confirmed sluggishness is combined with
feebleness of intellect. ^
3. The volatile boy is inattentive from his love of
novelty. He is continually staring about him, he is the
first boy in the class to notice anything unusual, and his
exclamation of surprise is generally the key-note of a
general outbreak. He is fond of fun, and is a general
favorite in the school, for he is neither feared nor en-
vied. His disposition to wander from subject to subject
prevents him from becoming sufficiently acquainted with
198 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
any. In order to counteract this tendency, we should
endeavor to fix his mind upon some subject for which
he has shown something like a predilection, by direct-
ing his attention to it again and again, until we have
succeeded; having once developed the faculty in rela-
tion to one subject, it then becomes a comparatively
easy task to succeed with other subjects. Examples of
application and perseverance should often be held up for
his imitation, with a view of giving a proper direction
to his ambition and enthusiasm.
4. The timid boy is inattentive for want of a sufficient
confidence in his own powers, as well as from a want of
that implicit trust which children generally repose in
their teachers. The mischievous boys in the school look
upon him as fair game to be hunted down. He sconces
himself in the most distant nook of the school-room, and
looks forth from his retreat upon the maps, the great
card containing the routine of lessons, the blackboard
with all the mysterious chalk lines upon it, the master
with his pointer in his left hand and the chalk in his
right, — he looks upon all these, as well as the other school
apparatus and appendages with fear and trembling.
Poor child ! how can he direct his attention to the les-
son that is being given by the master, who probably
stands, thundering forth his expositions and demonstra-
tions, as if he were commanding a brigade of artillery.
In order to counteract this timidity, he should be
treated with gentleness and persuasion; he. should be
encouraged to apply himself to his work, by being shown
that he is quite able to perform it; he should never be
pressed for time; he should be shown that patience and
earnest attention can do as mucli, or even more, for
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. 199
him, than quickness of intellect, and that to be slow and
sure is more coninjcndable than to be quick and uncer-
tain. Such children are confirmed in their diffidence,
when they find that they cannot understand or remem-
ber one-tenth of the knowledge forced upon them by an
injudicious teacher.
5. The quick, clever boy is inattentive from his ex-
treme mental activity, and from his excess of self-confi-
dence. He is a great talker, but a bad listener; he
readily attains a superficial knowledge of a subject, but
never attempts to penetrate its depths; from the quick-
ness of his apprehension, he cannot listen with patient
attention to the long sermonizing lessons of a slow
teacher, if he is unfortunate enough to have a slow
teacher, who methodically doles out his knowledge by
the hour; at the close of such a lesson, he rouses himself
up, catches the few concluding remarks, and upon ex-
amination appears to have gained a fair knowledge of
the lessons. The powers of such a boy should be fully
taxed; and to cure him of his presumption and conceit,
he should be occasionally puzzled with questions, not
difficult in themselves, but requiring for their solution
those peculiar attainments in which he is most deficient,
Such boys rarely, if ever, realize the brilliant expecta-
tions of their friends; like the very early spring blos-
soms, they soon wither and die; whereas true genius is
slow in its growth— the noblest trees are latest in bear-
ing fruit, and the largest animals are last in arriving at
perfection. Mere talent requires labor for its develop-
ment, but genius develops itself spontaneously and un-
obtrusively.
6. The boy of genius is not ijiJ^feaJi^eJiithe ordinary
if<y?^ OF TH
200 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
acceptation of the word; for he is occasionally capable
of the highest efforts of attention; he sits in a half
dreaming mood, watching for the moment when a subject
suited to his peculiar taste shall present itself; to a
common observer he appears dull, but it is the dulness
which proceeds from inward thought. His absence of
mind is often mistaken for stupidity; and his laconic,
yet significant, answers to questions, are frequently at-
tributed to a want of a logical concatenation of ideas;
but to appreciate him, we should consider what he does
not say, not less than what he actually does say. He is
a quiet, retiring, reflective, strange boy; — nobody can
understand him, — he is always doing what he should
not do, and rarely does what he is required to do, — he
talks when he should be silent, and loses his power of
speech when he has to answer a question; nobody can
understand him, because nobody will understand him;
but all at once he shows a predilection for some par-
ticular study, — nature at length asserts her prerogative,
— his winged spirit bursts the walls of its prison house,
and mounts on high into its kindred sphere of thought;
now everybody understands him, — everybody knew
perfectly well that his wayward acts were aberrations
of genius, and that there could be no mistaking the
sovereign stamp which nature had impressed upon his
brow. Poor boy! if you had fallen in taking your
etliereal flight, what scorn, what obloquy would have
been yours!
It becomes the sacred duty, not less than the high
privilege, of the schoolmaster of the poor to foster and
protect the boy of genius, struggling amid the pressure
of indigence and persecution. When his heart is about
CULTIVATION OF THE FACULTY OF ATTENTION. -iv/x
to sink under the conflict, let hfm be told of the tri-
umphs of those kindred spirits who have gone before
him; Thomas Simpson, who studied mathematics at the
loom, — Hugh Miller, who mused on geology when he
was hewing stones, — Michael Faraday, who made chem-
ical experiments when he was a journeyman book-
binder, — Ferguson, who watched the stars as he tended
his flocks, — Gifford, who studied Latin when he was
making shoes, — Peter Nicholson, who wrote his work
on carpentry when he was at the bencli, — Robert Burns,
who carolled his sweetest songs as he followed the
plough — Benjamin Franklin, who drew the lightning
from the clouds when he kept a printer's shop.
What are we to do with a boy of genius? The fact
is, we should rather ask — What should we refrain from
doing? We cannot cultivate his faculty of attention,
for in him it grows best spontaneously; is it not better
therefore, to leave him to the beiit of his own genius?
Laplace would have been as inattentive at an opera as
Mozart would have been at a mathematical lecture.
The faculty of concentration, or continuous attention,
which requires careful culture in ordinary minds, seems
to spring spontaneously into existence in the mind en-
dowed with genius. This spontaneous development of
attention may be regarded as one of the surest evidences
of genius. Great men have always been remarkable for
the power of-concentrating all the energies of their soul
on their favorite subject. Newton attributed his own
greatness to the power which he had of "keeping a sub-
ject constantly in his mind." The mathematician,
absorbed day after day in the investigation of the prop-
erties of lines and symbols, gives evidence of this con-
ooo PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
tinnous attention. The philosopher, who shuts himself
out from the gay worhl, denies himself the ordinary en-
joyments of existence, and curbs the kindly sympathies
of his nature, to live in a world of abstractions — the
world of his own thoughts — he too gives evidence of
this remarkable power. Genius seems to be impelled by
an irresistible law to deny itself everything which lies
without the sphere of its action, and to live upon the
impalpable essences of its own creation. Such men are
scarcely to be envied, — they too often become martyrs
to their application, or unhappy victims to the intensity
of their own powder. In concluding these observations,
we venture to give
A short digression on thought, language, and genius.
Who can measure the pulsations of thought ? Even
our mightiest thoughts come and go like flashes of the
subtile lightning. Language retorts the passage of
thought, as imperfect conductors impede the passage of
electricity. Thought is something very different from
language, yet we find it difficult to separate the one from
the other. We may have an exuberance of language
with a poverty of thought; and we may have thoughts
which language but poorly conveys. Ordinary thinkers
are never at a loss for words; but original thinkers often
feel the insufficiency of language — their ideas have to
struggle their way into the world of expression. Common-
place thoughts are easily expressed, but language often
fails to transmit some of our higher conceptions. There
are thoughts to which language never yet gave expression
just as there are systems whose light has not yet reached
our world. Writings of genius are not so much valued
THOUGHT, LANGUAGE, AND GENIUS. 203
for the mere knowledge which they contain, as for the
marvellous power which they have in creating thought.
Thoughts of genius are always new, — they are always
suggestive, — they awaken fresh trains of thought in
every mind that seeks to interpret them; this is no
doubt chiefly owing to the inadequacy of the language
to give a sufficiently full expression to the vastness or in-
tricacy of the thought, so that there is always something
like indefiniteness about the language. The truth is,
language cannot comprehend the length and breadth
and depth of a great conception; for the language is
but the shadow of the substance. Ever since the dawn
of creation, the sun has shed his light upon the host of
planets which surround him, yet he has lost nothing of
his original splendor; so in like manner the glorious
productions of creative genius have shed their light, age
after age, upon the world, yet they still shine on with
undiminished brilliancy and lustre. How exhaustless
are the works of genius ! that god-like power which cre-
ates a world for the study of generations of ordinary
men. Newton affirmed that the diamond was inflamma-
ble, but four generations had passed away before the
conception was confirmed by experiment; and his law
of gravitation has not yet attained its full development.
After a lapse of three centuries, the conceptions of
Shakspeare have lost nothing of their virgin freshness
and bloom.
Slight circumstances often determine the peculiar
bent of genius. The swinging of a chandelier in a ball-
room led Galileo to the invention of the pendulum; the
great philosopher heard not the inspiring music, saw not
the gay, glittering throng with which he was sur-
204 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
rounded, felt no rapture at the smile of beauty; bis at-
tention was concentrated on tbe syncbronism of the
vibrations of tbe chandelier; thousands had age after
age looked upon the same thing, without iiaving caught
hold of the grand idea which it was calculated to sug-
gest. While in the act of bathing, Arcbimedes was led
to the conception of specific gravity; his attention was
awakened by feeling the buoyancy of bis body when
submerged in the water. The falling of an apple, it is
said, led Newton to tbe discovery of gravitation. Had
none before him asked the question — why does the apple
fall ? Doubtless many had asked the question, but to
them nature bad given no satisfactory resj^onse, — she
had only echoed back the inquiry; but the simple fact
became, in the mind of the prince of philosophers, the
first link in the chain of induction, which led him to the
great principle which animates the material universe.
Our greatest philosopher was knighted: does the name
of Newton appear less illustrious by being shorn of its
title of nobility ? Newton might do honor to the title,
but it could confer no honor upon him. No public
monument has yet been reared to bear testimony to a
nation's gratitude for the achievements of her greatest
son: everywhere we meet with statues and towers and
triumphal pillars, erected to record the existence of our
monarchs, or to commemorate tbe deeds of our states-
men and warriors; but, as if conscious of the insuffi-
ciency of such a tribute, we have reared no monument
to him, whose fame is as far above that of kings, or
statesmen, or heroes, as heaven is above earth. Foolish
conception ! raise a monument of stone and mortar to
perpetuate the memory of Newton ! his monument is
THOUGHT, LANGUAGE, AND GENIUS. 205
the temple of the universe, and his name is written in
imperishable characters in the great laws which he dis-
covered. The pyramids of Egypt will moulder and
decay; empires, which at present rule the world, will
one day appear as little specks upon the stream of time;
old ocean will change its channel; but, secure amid the
wreck of time, the fame of Newton will be seen tower-
ing in growing majesty and grandeur, for the laws
which he discovered will have then received a fuller de-
velopment. The superhuman genius of Newton ap-
peared at its proper epoch, that is, when the laws of
gravitation had to be revealed to humanity. No physical
law has been discovered out of which such vast results
have been evolved; indeed, it is difficult to conceive
that there actually remains to be discovered any law of
nature more comprehensive than that of gravitation, —
which enables us at once to look back upon the past his-
tory of the solar system, and forward to the aspect which
it will present at any given future period, — which enables
us to determine the existence, position and magnitude of
planetary bodies which had eluded the searching power
of the telescope, — which carries our intelligence into
those regions of space where the human eye has not
penetrated, or over which the light of our sun has not
yet travelled. Upon what apparently trifling circum-
stances great discoveries often depend ! Long before
the present seas had rolled, or the present vegetation
had covered the earth, a huge monster fortuitously left
its footprints upon a plastic strand, which in the lapse of
cycles of ages became hardened and covered over with
rocks and clays; but the geologist excavates these im-
prints, and in his hands they become the medals of ere-
206 nilLOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ation, telling of its vast antiquity, and of the races
which had been time after time swept away from the
face of the globe before it attained its present condition
of perfect maturity. How marvellous are the discoveries
of modern philosophy ! Truly the human race is but in
its infancy.
CHAP. IV.
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, CONTINUED.— CULTIVATION
OF MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION.
The art of memory, says a distinguished writer, is the
art of attention; so that, in fact, the cultivation of
memory reduces itself to the cultivation of the habit of
attention. If we take care to engage the attention, we
may safely leave the memory to take care of itself.
There is, however, a great difference between simple
memory and that modification of it which we call recol-
lection. Memory is a receptive faculty, and seems to
act, in some measure, independently of the will ; it is, per-
hai)s, more subject to physical conditions than any other
intellectual faculty, and being considered, in itself, more
a natural than an acquired gift, it almost entirely lies
without the sphere of the educator. On the other hand,
recollection is to a great extent a voluntary power,
which grows with our intellectual growth, and there-
fore admits of the highest degree of culture.
CULTIVATION OF MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION. 207
The power of remembering facts in the exact order
in which they transpired, or of remembering words in
the order in which they were spoken or printed, may be
called a mere local memory, where no judgment is exer-
cised by the individual in the selection or arrangement
of the materials; but that kind of memory which is
based upon a proper classification of the ideas, and not
upon mere local or incidental relations, may be called a
philosophical memoi-y — the recollective faculty in its
highest sense; for while it constitutes a distinguishing
feature of the truly cultivated mind, it must at the same
time be regarded as one of the most important instru-
ments in the formation of the intellectual character.
Teachers are too apt to overrate the value of a mere
local memory: the truth is, the boy with a ready, par-
rot-like memory pleases everybody, whereas the boy
who has to cogitate and con over what he wishes to re-
member, rarely stands high in popular estimation.
There are great original differences in the power of
memory amongst boys: some boys have naturally a
quick as well as a retentive memory; others readily re-
ceive knowledge, but as quickly lose it; indeed, a quick
memory is not generally a retentive one, for we find
that what we readily learn we easily forget, and what
we are at some pains to acquire we never lose. Some
schoolmasters consider that the best kind of memory is
that which simply retains the greatest number of ideas
for the longest time; others, with more discrimination,
prefer the recollective, reflective kind of memory, which
selects and arranges the facts and ideas as they are com-
mitted to the intellectual treasury for future use. A
great verbal or local memory has hitherto been too
208 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
much regarded as the sign and seal of intellectual superi-
ority. A good memory is what everybody can appreciate,
but the higher powers of intellect cannot be tested by a
common observer. The leading educational axiom, with
a certain class of teachers, seems to be — exercise the
memory, and out of its exercise all the other intellectual
faculties will be evolved — give the child the materials
of thought, and all the higher functions of thought will
develop themselves — fill the memory with ideas, and
then reason, judgment and imagination will spring up
spontaneously. This is a gross error in education: the
memory does not exercise the wonder-working powers
which these teachers would assign to it; except, per-
haps, in classical learning, a mere verbal memory is not
of the greatest importance in the acquisition of know^l-
edge, and in reality it is of very little account as regards
the development of the other powers of the mind. A
great memory is not at all essential to greatness of in-
tellect: Newton and Shakespeare were neither remark-
able for extraordinary erudition nor for unusual powers
of memory. Indeed, men who are prodigies in this re-
spect are never otherwise distinguished for intellectual
endowments: their minds become so loaded with the
ideas of others, as to render them incapable of exercising
any independent thought. Memory, to a great man, is
an humble confidential servant, — a sort of a keeper of
the stores, — who is expected to guard and preserve care-
fully whatever is committed to his charge, and at the
same time to be always ready to bring forward anything
at the moment it is wanted. We hold that an unusual
manifestation of this j)owor in childhood tends to coun-
teract the healthful development of the other intellectual
CULTIVATION OF MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION. 209
powers. The boy who can readily commit the language
of others to memory, is not compelled to exercise his
judgment upon the ideas which are intended to be con-
veyed to his mind; besides, through a want of discrim-
ination on the part of the master, boys with a ready
memory almost invariably rise to the highest places in
the school, and thus no adequate inducement can be
held out to them to cultivate any other faculty; they
consequently seek distinction by the path which is most
accessible to them. Teachers are not sufficiently aware
of the evils resulting from a negligent disregard of
the laws of our intellectual and moral nature. That boy
whose memory is cultivated at the expense of his judg-
ment, cannot become a really useful member of society;
his vanity is inflated by the unmerited applause, and he
is unconsciously led to indulge in dreams of future
greatness which will never be realized: on the other
hand, the boy with a slow, unostentatious, recollective
memory, is slighted and discouraged. A teacher should
never compliment a boy for having a good natural
memory; boys of this kind soon enough gain distinction
for themselves, for a good memory is a truly marketable
sort of thing, which meets with patronage in all com-
panies and from all classes of society; and it is further
important to observe that there is no gift of which a
boy more readily becomes unduly and obtrusively vain,
than that of memory. The teacher should, on all fitting
occasions, give the highest praise to the boy who habit-
ually cultivates the recollective faculty. It is, however,
not surprising that classical teachers should attach an
undue importance to the cultivation of verbal memory.
Bofore the discovery of the art of printing, a retentive
210 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
memory was one of the most essential prerequisites for
literary or even for scientific distinction. "A man who
had read a few manuscripts, and could repeat them, was
a wonder and a treasure; he could travel from place to
place, and live by his learning; he was a circulating
library to a nation, and the more books he could carry
in his head the better; he was certain of an admiring
audience if he could repeat what Aristotle or Saint
Jerome had written; and he had far more encourage-
ment to engrave the words of others in his memory, than
to invent or judge for himself." And even within the
last fifty years, before Mechanics' Institutions had been
established, when books were dear and scarce amongst
the middle and lower classes of society, a person with a
retentive memory was highly prized and esteemed in
company. But now, since knowledge has been diffused
over the length and bredth of the land, in the form of
cheap and useful books, this species of memory has been
very much lowered in value. People now have the
power of referring to a book for any particular informa-
tion without being reduced to the necessity of consult-
ing a man who may have read the book. We need not
now encumber our memory with passages from any
author which we may wish to quote; it is only necessary
for us to turn to the page of the book itself where the
subject is treated. Mere erudition, too, has lost much
of its value in the present age of literature. We have
grown too wise for our hoary and decrepid tutors — the
ancients. We cannot any longer amuse ourselves with
the puerilities of ancient philosophy, or pay our adora-
tions at the shrine of paganism, with all its miserable
ideal creations of gods and goddesses. Tlu' world lias
CULTIVATION OF MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION. 211
at least passed the first stage of its infancy, and the
dawnings of its approaching youth are already being
seen from the tops of the mountains. Positive philo-
sophy in its strictest and most useful sense, and Chris-
tian philosophy in its highest and purest sense, have
been transfused through the countless channels in which
our knowledge at present flows, — from the all-creative
minds as a centre to the utmost extremities of the body
of society. At the same time, it must be admitted that
a good verbal memory, under proper management, and
duly subordinate to the higher power, is not without its
value in the formation of the intellectual character, nor
is its use to be ignored as an instrument in the acqui-
sition of technical knowledge. But we again assert that
the main business of the teacher is the cultivation of the
faculty of recollection — the philosophical memory — not
that of mere local or verbal memory.
Having pointed out some of the evils which have
crept into our present plans of education, relative to the
cultivation of the memory, we shall now proceed to con-
sider the principles upon which memory, in its widest
sense, may be strengthened and improved.
Memory is very much influenced by attention, and hy our existing
intellectual habits.
We always remember those things best on which we
have bestowed the most earnest attention. All those
means, therefore, which we employ for the cultivation of
the faculty of attention, will also tend to cultivate that
of memory.
The degree of attention which we bestow on any sub-
ject is a voluntary act, but the peculiar direction which
212 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
our minds will take depends almost entirely upon our
previous intellectual habits and associations. " Of four
individuals," says Abercrombie, "who are chiving an
account of a journey through the same district, one may
describe chiefly its agricultural produce; another, its
mineralogical character; a third, its picturesque beau-
ties; while the fourth may not be able to give an ac-
count of anything except the state of the roads and the
facilities of travelling. The same facts or objects must
have passed before the senses of all the four; but their
rememberance of them depends upon the points to which
their attention was directed. Besides the manner here
alluded to, in which the attention is influenced by pre-
vious habits or pursuits, some persons have an active,
inquiring state of mind, w^hich keeps the attention fully
engaged upon whatever is passing before them; while
others give way to a listless, inactive condition, which
requires to be strongly excited before the attention is
roused to the degree required for remembrance. The
former, accordingly, remember a great deal of all that
passes before them, either in reading or observation.
The latter are apt to say that they are deficient in mem-
ory: their deficiency, however, is not in memory, but in
attention; and this appears from the fact, that they do
not forget anything which deeply engages their feelings,
or concerns their interest."
Our power of memory is limited by our predilections:
no person has a memory for every subject of knowledge^
because no person possesses a taste and talent for every
subject. The mathematician readily remembers his
theorems and formulas, whilst he forgets even the name
of the existing prime minister. The antiquarian, obliv-
MEMORY INFLUENCED BY ASSOCIATIONS. 213
ious of the common occurrences of the day, suffers not
a single past event which is hallowed by time to escape
from his intellectual treasury. The school-boy, who
perfectly remembers the names of flowers, and trees, and
birds, and animals, tells his master that he cannot say
his task, because he has got a bad memory. The girl,
who retains the nnmes of all the articles of fashionable
dress, cannot even remember the titles of Iier father's
books. Under proper management, however, the person
who can remember things may also be made to remem-
ber words. In order to give a child a memory for any
particular subject, we should invest it with some charm
calculated to interest his feelings.
Memory is very much influenced hy Associations.
The principle of association performs a most impor-
tant part in nearly all our mental operations. By the
association of ideas, two or more conceptions, or ideas,
which have been contemplated together, or in immediate
succession, become so connected or associated in our
minds that one of them recurring recalls the others in
the same order in Avhich they were at first contemplated.
Moreover, a particular idea suggests another idea which
has some kind of relation to it; the second idea suggests
a third, and so on to any continued series or train of
ideas. This train of successive suggestion may go on
to such an extent that the last idea, or the one which we
stop to contemplate, may have no relation to the one
with which we first started, excepting in the chain of
association existing in our minds. The particular chain
of thoughts which arises in our minds is no doubt much
influenced by our intellectual habits, and by associatioiis
214 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
previously existing in our minds; but there are also cer-
tain general principles of relation, whereby one thought
suggests another. These principles of association may
be referred to three heads: 1. Contiguity in Time and
Place; 2. Resemblance and Contrast; 3. Cause and
Effect.
1. Associations of this kind have a relation to succes-
sion of time or place. When a boy commits a column
of spelling to memory, he remembers the words in the
order of succession, both as to time and place. To im-
press the words upon the memory, they must be repeated
for a certain number of times in the order in which they
are to be remembered. This mode of exercising the
memory is excessively irksome, and anything but in-
structive. There are, however, some local associations
which are highly pleasurable or painful, as the case may
be, and which make very deep impressions upon the
mind. Thus we associate an idea with the person by
whom it was communicated, or with the place where we
first formed the conception, and the idea is recalled by
us whenever the person or place enters our thoughts.
After long years of travel, by land and water, 1 visit
again my native i)lace, — I wander along a river's bank,
— I look upon an old beech tree, whose wide-spreading
branches afford a cool shade for some children at play,
— memory waves her magic wand, recalls the past into
existence, and peoples the scene with beings long since
dead; — on that flowery bank sit my father and mother,
in their holiday attire, — she smiles in his face, as he
looks upon their children at play beneath the old beech
tree, — I see them too, — I call them by their names, and
they answer me; ah ! the vision fades, — Stay ! dear
MEMORY INFLUENCED BY ASSOCIATIONS. 215 j
loved ones, stay ! Why will ye fly back to the house of ]
death, and leave me to the desolation of my own thoughts, ]
— to mourn over the memories of the past? -
'• Mark yon old mansion frowning thro' tlie trees,
Wliose liollow turret wooes the whistling breeze.
That casement, arched with ivy's brownest shade, ■
First to these eyes the light of heaven conveyed. |
The mouldering gateway strews the grass-grown court, I
Once the gay scene of many a simple sport ; i
When nature pleased, for life itself was new, j
And the heart promised what the fancy drew. !
See, thro' the fractured pediment revealed, ;
Where moss inlays the rudely sculptured shield, :
The martui's old, hereditary nest;
Long may the ruin spare its hallowed guest! j
As jars the hinge, what sullen echoes call! i
Oh, haste, unfold the hospitable hall! "
That hall, where once, in antiquated state, i
The chair of justice held the grave debate. \
Now stained with dews, with cobwebs darkly hung, '
Oft has its roof with peals of rapture rung ; 1
When round yon ample board, in due degree, \
We sweetened every meal with social glee.
The heart's light laugh pursued the circling jest.
And all was sunshine in each little breast. <
!
'Twas here we chased the slipper by the sound, ■
And turned the blindfold hero round and round. ■
V;
Ye Household Deities! whose guardian eye
Marked each pure thought, ere registered on high, ^
Still, still ye walk the consecrated ground,
And breathe the soul of Inspiration round.
As o'er the dusky furniture I bend, j
Each chair awakes the feeling of a friend. j
The storied arras, source of fond delight, ;
With old achievement, charms the wildered sight; '
And still, with Heraldry's rich hues imprest, • ^
On the dim window glows the pictured crest, ■
The screen unfolds its many-colored chart. \
The clock still points its moral to the heart. ^
That faithful monitor 'twas heaven to hear, {
When soft it spoke a promised pleasure near; J
216 PHILOSOPHY O^ EDUCATION.
And has its sober hand, its simple chime,
Forgot to trace the feathered feet of time ?
That massive beam with curious carvings wrouglit,
Whence the caged linnet soothed my pensive thought;
Those muskets cased with venerable rust;
Those once-loved forms, still breathing thro' their dust,
Starting to life— all whisper of the past."
How true to nature is Byron's picture of tlie Dying
Gladiator !
•• I see before me the Gladiator lie;
He leans upon his hand,— his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony.
And his drooped head sinks gradually low.
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow.
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one.
Like the first of a thunder shower; and now
The arena swims around him— he is gone,
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.
He heard it, but he heeded not— his eyes
Were with his heart, and that was faraway;
He recked not of the life he lost nor prize.
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay,
Thei'e were his young barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian mother— he, their sire,
Butchered to make a Roman holiday-
All this rushed with his blood— shall he expire—
And unavenged ?— Arise, ye (lOths, and glut your ire. "
In cultivating the memory of children, the judicious
teacher will not fail to associate important ideas with
local scenes and events.
The order of time and succession is one of the earliest
principles of association; but children should be taught
how to employ higher principles of association; badly
educated people continue through life to remember
things by the mere association of time and place; ideas
which have no real or rational connection with each
other remain in their minds to the end of existence,
associated together. ()n<' person lies a string about his
KESEMBLANCE AND CONTRAST. 217
finger, another makes a knot in his handkerchief, and
so on to other artifices, in order to remind them of
something which they particularly wish to remember.
We scarcely need observe that the memory of such
people has not been properly cultivated in childhood.
2. Associations of resemblance are rarely so vivid as
those of contrast; and hence it follows that scenes or
events which are in contrast with each other are more
likely to be remembered than those which have a re-
semblance. Contrast, like light and shadow, makes
the objects more prominent; resemblance sometimes
proves the greatest stumbling-block to memory. The
quiet beauty of the landscape is best remembered when
it is associated with the picturesque majesty of the
rugged mountain scenery; the playfulness of childhood
most readily suggests to us the gravity of age; and the
happy home of peaceful industry and purity is most
readily associated in the mind with the wretched dens
of idleness and profligacy. Thus, we remember more
by contrast than by resemblance. Men of great moral
daring and adventure always have a more vivid recol-
lection of the events of their existence, than those who
pass their lives in peaceful seclusion. Our past life
appears long or short, according to the number of events,
or according to the number of ideas, which we remem-
ber: old men who remain much at home find so little to
remember in the course of a year of their monotonous
existence, that a day of their youth really appears longer
to them than a year of their dotage.
3. Although causes and effects generally stand in the
relation of contiguity as to time and place, yet there is
something more than mere contiguity in the connection;
218 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
for the constancy and dependence of the connection sub-
sisting between a cause and its effect give us the idea of
a more intimate relation. The minds of children are so
constituted that they most readily remember effects in
connection with their causes: for example, they readily
associate the light of day with the presence of the sun;
storms, with winds and clouds; the heat of summer, with
the long days of sunshine; the improvement of the mind,
with application to study; misery with crime, and hap-
piness with virtue; and so on. Associations of this kind
are most interesting and instructive; one idea becomes
the nucleus of a whole series, and idea becomes so linked
with idea that we are enabled to form a continuous
chain of them ; thus, for example, we readily remember
the following chain of associations: rain falls from the
clouds, — the clouds are chiefly formed by winds and
mountains, — the cold on the tops of the mountains con-
denses the moisture in the air, and thus clouds are
formed — the cold on the tops of mountains is caused by
the thinness of the air, &c., — thin air is colder than
dense air, because it has a greater capacity for heat, —
and so on. The phenomena of nature, as well as the
results of science and art, will be most easily remembered
when they are associated with their causes. A boy who
is acquainted with the physical geography of England
finds no difficulty in remembering the localities of our
manufactures, of our agriculture, of our shipping trade.
In like manner, the great events of history are readily
remembered when they are taught in connection with
their causes. AthI so on to other subjects of clcnuMitary
instruction.
7:^\
RULES FOR THE CULTIVATION OF MEMORY. 219
Philosophical Associations.
Associations are called philosophical when a fact or an
idea is, by a mental process, associated with some fact
or idea previously known, to which it has some relation.
The fact or idea thus acquired is said to be put by in its
proper place, so that it may be easily recalled to the
mind by means of this connection or association. The
habit of forming such associations gives rise to what
we have called the philosophical memory. One great
object of education, as we have already observed, should
be the cultivation of this kind of memory.
" Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain ;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise !
Each stamps its image as the other flies.
Each, as the various avenues of sense
Delight or sorrow to the soul dispense,
Brightens or fades; yet all, with magic art,
Control the latent fibres of the heart."
These general principles of association naturally sug-
gest to us the following practical rules for the cultiva-
tion of memory.
Rules for the Cultivation of Memory.
1. The memory of child/ren is cultivated hy leading them to
form associations on natural and proper principles. Some of
these principles deserve special notice.
1 . Facts or ideas should he arranged in their order of logical
In relating a story, for example, the natural chain of
events should not be broken by the introduction of any
trifling or extraneous matter, calculated to destroy the
unity of the subject.
220 PHILOSOPHY OP EDlTCATlO^r.
2. Classification and generalization are great helps to the
remembrance of fads or ideas.
Every fresh fact, or idea, sliould be put by in its
proper place in the mind, that is to say, the new fact or
idea should be associated with its proper class of facts
or ideas already existing in the mind.
A general principle gives the key to the remembrance
of a whole series of facts or events. Physical facts are
best remembered through a knowledge of their general
law; effects, through a knowledge of their cause; and
results, through a knowledge of the general principles
upon which they depend.
A general formula, in mathematics, enables us to re-
member, with the utmost precision, all the particular
cases which it comprehends. In the subject of gram-
mar, the general fact that all nouns ending in y, when
preceded by a consonant, form their plural by changing
the y into ies, very much aids the memory; and so on to
other general principles of language. If a child is told
that James II. was cruel, bigoted, and blindly despotic,
he has got in his mind a general fact which will assist
hira in remembering the most remarkable events in this
monarch's reign. The best way to n)ake a boy remem-
ber the directions in which the constant and periodic
winds blow, is by teaching their cause. A knowledge
of the general physical properties of a substance affords
the greatest aid to the pupil in remembering the various
experimental facts which may be given in relation to it;
thus, for example, a knowledge of the general property
that acids combine with alkalies enables the pupil to re-
member the result of any particular combination of
RULES FOR THE CULTIV ACTION OF MEMORY. 221
these two classes of substances. These illustrations
might be indefinitely extended.
Teachers, therefore, should constantly aid their pupils
in grouping their ideas under general heads or princi-
ples. Even in the common concerns of life this is of
great utility.
*' Betty," says a farmer's wife to her servant, "Betty,
you must go to market for some things." " Yes, ma'am."
" But, oh-deary-me ! you have got such a bad memory
that if you have only three or four things to do, you are
sure to forget one of them. Do try this time to remem-
ber what I want. You have so many good qualities, and
you are so tidy and so good-looking, that I really do not
wish to part with you, but your forgetfulness is insuf-
ferable." " Yes, ma'am, — but if my Maker has given
me a bad memory, how can I help it ? " " Listen to me
— I want suet and currants for the pudding." "Yes,
ma'am, suet and currants for the pudding." "Leeks
and barley for the broth; don't forget them." "No,
ma'am, leeks and barley for the broth." "A shoulder of
mutton, a pound of tea, a pound of coffee, six pounds of
sugar; be sure you don't forget the sugar, Betty, for
we have not a bit in the house." " Ko, ma'am, I won't
forget the sugar." "And mind you call at the dress-
maker's, and tell her to bring out with her the calico for
the lining, some black thread, and a piece of narrow
tape." " Yes, ma'am." " Stay, Betty, you'd better tell
the grocer to give us a jar of black currant jam."
During this colloquy the honest farmer had been ap-
parently engaged in making entries in his farm-book,
but in reality quietly and attentively observing what
had been going on. He had his own views about Bet-
222 PHILOSOPHY of education.
ty's bad memory; he felt, too, that Betty's confession
was no atonement, and most certainly gave no promise
of amendment. The fact is, the honest farmer had al-
most a father's love for poor Betty.
"Come here, lass," said he, "come here, and let me
see if I cannot get you to mind what you are going for."
"Yes, sir." " Now then, tell me what you are going to
bring from market." " Well, sir, there is sugar and tea,
a shoulder of mutton, coffee, — coffee — let me see — and
." " My good girl, that is not the way of doing-
business. You must arrange your articles under differ-
ent heads, as the parson does his sermon, or you will
never remember them. Now it appears to me that
there are three things to provide for: 1st, Breakfast,
2d, Dinner, 3d, A Dressmaker.
" 1st. What are you going to get for the breakfast ?"
" Sugar, tea, and coffee, and jam, — which I shall get at
the grocer's."
" 2d. What articles are you to get for the dinner ?"
" There's the butcher's meat, the broth, and the pud-
ding." "Now, what have you to get for each of them ? "
" Well, sir, the shoulder of mutton, leeks and barley for
the broth, and suet and currants for the pudding."
" Very good — where do you get them ? " " The mutton
and suet at the butcher's; the leeks at the gardner's;
the barley and currants at the grocer's. " But you had
something to get at the grocer's for the breakfast ?'»
" Yes, sir, I had sugar, tea, coffee, and jam, to get for
the breakfast, and besides I have barley and currents to
get,— so that — let me see — I have altogether six things
to get at the grocer's." " Very good, Betty, — you are
getting to understand matters. Now, when you get to
UTILITY OF GROUPING IDEAS. 223
the grocer's, fancy one part of this counter your break-
fast table, another part of the counter your dinner table,
and then run over all the articles and see that you have
got them all right." " Oh yes, sir, that is capital; I feel
sure that I shall not forget anything to-day."
" 3d. The dressmaker. What has she to bring with
her to-morrow?" "The calico, the thread, and the
tape." ** Now go, Betty, and remember that I feel much
interested in your success."
" Well, Betty," says her mistress, "you have got back."
"Yes, ma'am." "But have you brought all the things
right ? — let me see, — sugar, tea, coffee, barley, . . . . ;
well-a-day! if you have not brought everything right
this time." " Betty," says her master, " I am glad to
see that you are an apt scholar; and I do believe that if
you would always try to disentangle things,' in the way
we have done to-day, you might, by and by, rival the
schoolmaster for memory, and the people say that he
can repeat the catechism backwards." " Yes, sir; I am
certainly much obliged to you, and I shall always try to
follow out what you have shown me to-day." " Remem-
ber also never to blame your Maker for faults which are
due to your own negligence: be good, and endeavor in
all things to improve the talents that He has given you,
and I should not be at all surprised if you render your-
self fit for becoming a farmer's wife."
3. Reasoning is one of the best helps to memory.
Results should be, as far as possible, associated with
the processes of reasoning by which they are derived
This is especially applicable to all mathematical subjects.
Many students find a greater difficulty in remembering
results than in remembering the steps of reasoning by
224 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
which these results are established. Such persons will
say to you, — " I do not remember the formula exactly,
but I remember the way in which it is got, and that to
me is far more valuable."
One of the greatest drudgeries, in the form of tasks,
is committing arithmetical tables to memory. But even
here, if the memory is aided by reasoning, the drudgery
of the task is very much lessened. Thus, for instance,
in learning the multiplication table, the child should be
shown how to derive the successive results of the table,
after the manner described in Tate*s Principles of Arith-
metic.
The ideas, rather than the words, of an author, should
be remembered. The passage which we wish to remem-
ber should be analyzed, and the essential ideas separated
from the non-essential. In order to show that ideas,
not words, are the great things to be remembered, the
teacher should explain to his pupils how the same ideas
may be expressed in different forms of language. Prob-
lems in arithmetic afford excellent illustrations of this:
let us suppose the following question to be proposed by
a master to his pupils: —
Question. A draper paid eight pounds ten shillings
for six pieces of line linen, containing eighty yards; how
much should he pay for twenty-five yards of the same
kind of linen ?
Or thus in other words: —
Question. How much should a draper pay for twenty-
five yards of fine linen, allowing that he had paid eight
pounds ten shillings for eighty yards of it ?
" Here," (we may suppose the master to say to his
pupils), " we must first write down an abstract of the
RESEMBLANCE AND CONTKAST. 225
data, or things given, necessary for solving tlie question,
or, in otlier words, we must separate the essential data
from the non-essential. Now the number of pieces is
not necessary for the solution of the question, because
the measure of the whole is given, and the cost required
is for a certain number of yards, without any regard to
the number of pieces. The essential data of the question
are as follows: —
"The cost of 80 yards is 8^. and 10«.; the cost of 25
yards is required. Having made this abstract of the
question, we may now go on with the solution," &c.
4. Associations of resemblance and contrast are great helps to
the memory.
This principle of association may be used with ad-
vantage in almost every branch of instruction. In geog-
raphy, the pupil should contrast different regions of the
globe with each other, or, it may be, trace their various
prominent points of resemblance as to form, climate,
population, &c. The same course should be pursued
in history, divinity, arithmetic, chemistry, and other
branches of natural philosophy, &c. The teacher should
classify, for the use of his pupils, the subjects which are
most eligible for being viewed in contrast or resemblance,
as the case may be. The following brief forms of
classification will sufficiently indicate the nature of the
method proposed.
Geography.
Subjects of contrast. The old world and the new world;*
the two hemispheres;* the frigid and torrid zones —
climate, vegetable productions, &c. ; Russia and Switzer-
* The subjects marked thus are eligible for comparison as well as
contrast.
226 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
land; Spain and England; the Andes and the Cheviots;
the Amazon and the Thames; London and Paris;*
Lancashire and Devonshire; eastern and western coasts
of continents; temperature of the land and temperature
of the ocean ; inundations of Siberian rivers with inun-
dations of tropical rivers; the Hindoos and the Russians;
the Llanos of South America in the dry and the wet
season; the climate of New South Wales with the
climate of Canada; the rains of the torrid with those of
the temperate zone; the Esquimaux with the Patagon-
ians; Quito with the Steppes of Astrakhan in Southern
Russia; the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland; the
Valley of the Mississippi with the Desert of Sahara; the
rivers of eastern with the rivers of western America;
Cornwall and the district around the Wash; &c.
Subjects of resemblance and comparison. Spain and Italy;
France and England; the Thames and the Seine; Man-
chester and Lyons; Paris and Edinburgh; Glasgow and
Manchester; Edinburgh and Dublin; Great Britain and
Vancouver Island; Great Britain and New Zealand;*
the Islands of Ceylon and Madagascar; the gold fields
of Australia with those of California; the water-shed
between the basins of Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of
Mexico with the water-shed between the basis of the
Baltic and the Black and Caspian Seas; the Isthmus of
Suez with the Isthmus of Panama; Milford Haven and
the Moray Firth; the Vale of Exe and the Vale of
Eden; the Paris basin with the London basin; the coast
of Norfolk with the opposite coast of Holland; Hull and
Liverpool as seaports; the exports of Russia with the
exports of Canada; the currents of the South Atlantic
with those of the North Atlantic; tfcc.
KESEMBLANCE AND CONTRAST. 227
History.
Subjects of contrast. Alfred the Great and Charles II. ;
Cromwell and Charles I.; Mary and Victoria; Elizabeth
and Mary of Scotland; Henry VIII. and John; the 14th
century and the 19th; Cranmer and John Knox; Jeffries
and Hale ; Watt and Napoleon ; &c.
Subjects of resemblance. William I. and Edward I.
Charles I. and James II.; Henry III. and Edward lit.
Cromwell and Napoleon; Marlborough and Wellington
Richard I. and Edward VI.; William III. and Richard
III.; Wolsey and Thomas a Becket; Bacon and New-
ton; Blake and Nelson; Captain Cook and Columbus; ifce.
The Scriptures.
Subjects of contrast. Adam and Christ; Cain and Abel;
Esau and Jacob; David and Solomon; Joshua and
Samuel; Paul and John; Paul and Balaam; Matthew
and Luke; Enoch and Judas Iscariot; Joseph and Moses;
Samson and Gideon;* Judaism and Christianity;* &c.
Subjects of resemblance. Moses and Christ;* Samson
and David; Noah and Lot; Elijah and Elisha; Paul's
conversion given in Acts, 9th chap., and in Acts, 26th
chap. ; Death of Christ as given by the four Evangel-
ists; &c.
Mathematical Geography and Astronomy,
Subjects of contrast. Surface of the earth and a known
portion of it; latitude and longitude; summer and win-
ter; Jupiter and the Earth; the sun and the planets;
distance of Neptune and the distance of the moon ; dis-
tance of Neptune and the distance of the nearest fixed
stars; the sun and the moon; &c.
228 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
Subjects of Comparison. Comparative magnitudes of the
planets; approximate numbers representing tlie relative
distances of the ])lanets from the sun; &c.
Properties of Bodies.
Properties in contrast. Long and sliort, round and an-
gular, &c.; hard and soft; fluid and solid; transparent
and opaque; elastic and non-elastic; black and white;
nutritive and poisonous; &c.
Properties in resemblance or comparison. Resemblances 'of
form; degrees of hardness or softness; more or less
transparent; resemblances of color; more or less elastic;
more or less nutritive; &c.
Experimental Science.
Subjects of contrast. Acids and alkalies; oxygen and
hydrogen,* &c.; north and south poles of a magnet;*
positive and negative electricity;* reflection and refrac-
tion; conduction and radiation; &c.
Subjects of resemblance. Chlorine and sulphur;* nitro-
gen and carbonic acid;* light and heat; ebullition and
evaporation; dew and fog; electricity and magnetism;
&c.
Arithmetic and Mathematics.
In no subject is the memory more aided by resem-
blances and contrasts than in that of mathematics.
Subtraction is the reverse of addition; division is the
reverse of multiplication; and the processes of Rule of
Three may be regarded as combinations of the four ele-
mentary operations of numbers. The analogies of the
cylinder, cone, and sphere, are too obvious to escape
RESEMBLANCE AND CONTRAST. 229
notice: the pupil who has been shown how to derive the
surface of the sphere from that of the cylinder will
never forget those rules of mensuration treating of these
three solids.
The Alphabet.
The dissimilar letters of the alphabet should be taught
to children before those that are similar; for, as we have
already shown, resemblances, in such cases, confound
the memory of children. The child should be taught
the Egyptian characters first, on account of their being
the most simple form of the letters; and the master
should draw them on a bold scale with chalk upon the
blackboard, while he is giving his lesson.
In order to interest the children, and help them to
form familiar associations, graphic names may be given
to the different letters, descriptive of their peculiar
forms. Thus, Q ™^y be called the round 0> D half
the round Oj S ^ pot-hook; J a walking-stick; [J a
horse-shoe; B crooky-back; V ^ fool's cap upside down;
A a fool's cap with a bar through it; | a blind stroke;
H two blind strokes with a bar between them; &g.
While comparing the forms of different letters with
each other, the teacher will very much aid the memory
of the children by showing them how one letter may be
converted into another; thus, p is readily converted
into B> ^^ ^"to R; C ii^to an 0> ^"^ ^^^n Q i"to Q>
I into L, or into X> I into P, and then p into E> ^"<i
so on.
The Spelling and Meaning of Words.
The spelling of words together which have nearly the
same sound, but are differently spelt, such as of and offy
230 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
were and where, &c., is a bad plan, on account of the re-
semblance of the words; and the method of teacliing
spelling by columns of words alphabetically arranged is
equally objectionable. The niceties of spelling and
meaning should belong to a higher stage of instruction.
Words in contrast having the same radical part are
easily remembered; thus we have
Words in contrast. Agree and disagree; join and dis-
join; temperate and intemperate; humanity and inhu-
manity; thankful and unthankful; kindness and unkind-
ness; &c.
The following illustrations of the method of instruc-
tion here proposed will no doubt be acceptable to many
of our readers.
Illustrations.
GEOGRAPHICAL CONTRASTS AND RESEMBLANCES.
\. The Old and New World.
Contrasts.
The Old World. The New World.
History ancient. History modern.
The principal mass, of the Old The New World extends from
World, Asia and Enrope, extends North to South, over two-fifths of
from East to West, over one-half of the circumference of the globe,
the circumference of the globe.
The mountain ranges run from The mountain ranges run from
East to West. North to South.
Asia — Europe — lies within the America comprehends all cli-
torrid, north temperate, and north matic zones, and hence presents a
frigid zones. greater variety of phenomena.
Mountain ranges somewhat cen- The mountain range extends like
tral. a band along the western border.
Rivers of Europe small. (ireat water basins. Rivers and
Lakes very large.
Traversed by different mountain One mountain chain, the Andes
chains. and Rocky Mountains.
Vast table lands or plateaus. The Vast plains which form two-
mountains and plateaus of Asia thirds of its surface,
cover five-sevenths of its surface.
GEOGKA.PHICAL CONTEASTS AND RESEMBLANCES. 231
Volcanoes on the Continent.
Coast-line of Europe very much
indented.
Inhabitants white, dark, black,
&c.
Animals. Lion, Tiger, Leopard,
Elephant, Giraffe, Cow, Crocodile,
Nightingale, &c.
Great volcanoes on the islands.
Coast-line not so much indented
as Europe, but more indented than
Asia or Africa.
Native inhabitants chiefly red
men.
Animals. American Lion.Jaguar,
Panther, Grizzly Bear, Buffalo, Al-
ligator, Mocking Bird, &c.
Resemblances.
Land in two great masses.Europe
and Africa in the West, and Asia
In the East.
Isthmus of Suez connects Africa
with Europe and Asia.
The coast-line of Europe is more
broken or indented than that of
Asia, and still more than that of
Africa.
Europe better adapted for human
societies than Asia or Africa.
Europe 1 mile of coast to 150 of
surface ; Africa 1 mile of coast to
620 of surface; Asia 1 mile of coast
to 480 of surface.
The direction of the land corre-
sponds with the general direction
of the mountain masses.
The southern extremity termi-
nates in a point directed towards
the Southern Ocean, while they go
widening towards the North.
The peninsulas have nearly all
the same direction.
The highest mountain in the
Himalaya is a little more than 5
miles above the level of the sea.
Land in two great masses, North
and South America.
Isthmus of Panama connects
North with South America.
The coast-line of North America
is more broken or indented than
that of South America.
North Americaa better adapted
for human societies than South
America.
North America 1 mile of coast to
230 of surface; South America 1
mile of coast to 380 of surface.
The same as in the Old World.
The same as in the Old World.
The same as in the Old World.
The highest mountain in the An-
des is nearly five miles above the
level of the sea.
2. Europe and Asia.
Contrasts.
Europe. Asia.
In the highest condition of civili- The cradle of civilization but
zation and progress. now chiefly sunk in ignorance and
superstition.
232
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Reli{i;ion chiefly Christianity.
Contour most varied, but its pe-
nlnsuhis are not large. Indenta-
tions in all parts, by the ocean and
by inland seas; thereby enjoys 1
mile of coast for every 150 square
miles of surface.
The inland seas, and the ocean
lying between the indentations,
form nearly one half of its surface.
Open to inland navigation.
Lies between the other portions
of the Old World and America.
Best adapted for human societies.
Its physical features are highly
diversified.
Brolien in relief by mountains
and valleys. The highest moun-
tains do not exceed 3 miles in
lieight. Extensive plains fresh
with vegetation.
Its numerous i)eninsulas form
about one-third of its surface.
Like a perfect tree, with numer-
ous spreading branches, clothed
with luxuriant foliage.
Itivers numerous, but not large.
Climate chiefly temperate.Winds
and rains variable.
All the vegetables essential to
life grow in almost every portion.
Wild animals are not numerous.
Domesticated animals very nu-
merous.
Neither flowers nor birds have
much variety or brilliancy of color;
but the flowers refresh us with their
scent, and the birds delight us
with their song.
Kich in minerals.
Keligion chiefly Mahometanism
and idol-worship.
Contour more uniform. Has vast
peninsulas on its eastern and
southern coasts, but the indenta-
tions of the coast-line are not so
numerous; it in consciiuence only
possesses 1 mile of coast for every
460 S(iuare miles of surface.
In spite of the depth of the inden-
tations, there remains a great pre-
ponderating mass of unbroken laud
towards the centre.
Open only at its margins.
Farthest removed from the New
World.
Vast portions scarcely accessible
to commerce.
All its physical features are on a
gigantic scale.
Great mountains nearly double
the height of those in Europe.
Vast plateaus and deserts.
Its vast peninsulas only form
one-flfth of its surface.
Like a vast trunk, with a few
large branches, with a scanty foli-
age.
Rivers large, but not numerous.
Burning heals in its e<iuatorial
portions, and extremes of cold in
its northern portions Subject to
tropical winds and rains.
Exuberant vegetation In its trop-
ical portions, and sterility in the
frozen tracts of Siberia.
Wild animals exceedingly nu-
merous.
Domesticated animals not nu-
merous.
In the tropical regions, the flow-
ers and birds have the most bril-
liant colors: but the flowers have
little scent, and the birds have no
song.
Poor in minerals.
HISTORICAL CONTRASTS AND RESEMBLANCES.
233
3. England and Spain.
Contrasts.
England.
Forms the greater portion of an
island.
For the most part level, yet
beautifully diversified with hills,
valleys, and plains.
The elevation of the highest
mountain, Scaw Fell, in Cumber-
land, is only a little more than half
a mile.
The rivers are numerous, and
many of them are navigable for a
considerable distance into the in-
terior.
The climate is damp and change-
able.
Grows all kinds of grain, &c., but
the climate is too cold for the vine.
Rich in coal, and also in iron,
copper, and lead ores.
The religion is Protestantism.
Has advanced very rapidly since
the Reformation.
The population of the capital is
upwards of four millions.
The work-shop of the world. A
land of steam-engines, railways,
and manufactures.
The greatest country In the
world.
Possesses the most perfect polit-
ical institutions.
The people are pious, industri-
ous, generous, and brave.
Its colonies flourish in every part
of the globe.
Stands foremost in the ranks of
modern science and art.
Famed for her philosophers,
poets, statesmen, and heroes.
The greatest maritime power in
the world's history.
Spain.
Forms the chief portion of a pe-
ninsula.
Mountainous; a considerable
portion forms a plateau.
The elevation of th • highest
point of the Pyrenees is abou 2^/4
miles.
The rivers are not numerous.and
none of them can be said to be
navigable.
The climate is generally warm
and salubrious.
Fine agricultural country. Crows
grapes and oranges.
No coal.
The religion is Romanism.
Has retrograded since the period
of the Reformation.
The population of Madrid, the
capital, is only one eleventh that
of London.
Cannot supply its own people
with manufactured goods.
One of the most contemptible
states in civilized Europe.
A prey to civil discords;— no
protection to life or property.
The people are bigoted, indolent,
treacherous, and base.
Its colonies are dismembered and
enfeebled.
Has done nothing to advance
humanity.
Possesses no name associated
with greatness.
Her ships are barely sufficient for
her own limited commerce.
234
PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
HISTORICAL CONTRASTS AND RESEMBLANCES.
1. Alfred the Great and Charles II.
Contrasts.
Alfred the Great.
Charles II.
The glory of his country. Amid
dangers and toil, devoted himself
to Ills country.
The saviour of his country.
Established just and merciful
laws.
A true patriot. Laid the founda-
tion of the future greatness of his
country; said that "The English
ought to be as free as their own
thoughts."
Rewarded his friends and concil-
iated his enemies. Temperate,
frugal, studious, prudent and pious.
Burnt the calces when thinking of
his country. Divided his time.
Converted his enemies to Christi-
anity.
Beloved and revered during his
life, and almost idolized after his
death.
A disgrace to humanity. After
much bloodshed, he became king,
and then devoted his country to
himself.
Sold his country to France.
Violated the rights and privileges
of his people.
Cared only for having tlie name
and privilege of a king. Content If
the natloo would only last his time
Ungrateful to his friends, and
heedless of his enemies. Sensual,
extravagant, Idle, thoughtless and
profuse.
Hated and despised during his ]
life, and at his death the dogs were |
permitted to lick his blood. i
2. Mary and Victoria.
I\I:iry.
Desi)()ti(t and cruel, iiigoted and
intolerant. Morose and miserable.
A blind Romanist.
Died childless.
A friend of Ignorance and super-
stition.
Lived in an age of darkness and
Ignorance.
An {vge of thumbscrews, racks,
and other Instruments of torture.
Contrasts.
Victoria.
Liberal and benevolent. I'lous
and tolerant. Cheerful and happy.
An enlightened Protestant.
Lives the mother of a large fam-
ily.
A promoter of education and re-
ligion.
Lives In an age of knowledge and
progress.
An age of science, of steam en-
gines, and of all the arts which add
to lunnan happiness.
SCRIPTURE CONTRASTS AND RESEMBLANCES.
235
SCRIPTURE CONTRASTS AND RESEMBLANCES.
1. CAIN AND Abel.
Contrasts.
Cain.
Cain was the first born. A tiller
of the ground.
Was wicked.
Offered to God the fruit of the
ground.
His offerings were not accepted
by God.
Slew his brotlier.
The first murderer. Branded
with God's curse.
Cain became a vagabond.
Cain had Children.
Abel.
Abel was the first that died. A
keeper of sheep.
Was religious.
Offered to God the firstlings of
his flocks.
His offerings were accepted by
God.
The voice of his blood cried unto
the Lord from the ground.
Enjoyed God's favor.
Abel died in the hope of salva-
tion.
Abel died childless.
2. MosKS AND Christ.
Besemhlances.
Moses.
Delivered the Israelites from the
bondage of the Egyptians.
The founder of the ceremonial
dispensation. The founder of Ju-
daism.
Delivered to man the ten com-
mandments.
Led the Israelites through the
wilderness.
Moses lifted up the brazen ser-
pent In the wilderness, so that
those who looked upon It might be
healed of the bites of the fiery ser-
pents.
Moses conducted the Israelites
towards the land of Canaan, the
promised land flowing with milk
and honey.
Christ.
Delivered us from the bondage of
sin.
The founder of the New Testa-
ment dispensation. The founder of
Christianity.
Gave to man the law of faith.
Said to his followers, "Lo, I am
with you, even unto the end of the
world."
Christ offered up Himself upon
the cross as a sacrifice for the sins
of man , so that those who look upon
Him may be healed of the leprosy
of sin and corruption.
Christ leads His people to the
heavenly Canaan,
236
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
3. Adam and Christ.
Contrasts.
Adam,
Adam was created.
Christ.
ThrouKh Adam we lost a terres-
trial paradise.
Adam brolce tlie law.
By Adam's sin, death came into
the world— death temporal as well
as spiritual.
In Adam all die.
Through Adam sin came into the
world.
Through Adam man was ren-
dered liable to God's wrath and
curse.
Through Adam we arc the ser-
vants of the devil.
Through Adam disease and pain
entered the world.
Adam, as the first man, is our
natural father.
Adam's death was not propitia-
tory, for he suffered death on ac-
count of his own sin.
Through Adam we are called up-
on to fulfill the works of the law.
Christ, as the Son of God, existed
from all Eternity, and was the Cre-
ator of all things.
Through Christ we shall gain a
celestial paradise.
Christ fulfilled the law and made
it honorable.
By the death of Christ, we shall
be restored to life.
In Christ all shall be made alive.
Through Christ we shall be
clothed with righteousness.
Through Christ man is restored
to God's favor.
Through Christ we become the
servants of God.
Through His stripes we are
healed. He has a fellow-feeling in
all our pains, and pleads our cause
at God's right hand.
Christ is the spiritual father of
all those who trust in Tlim.
Christ's death was an atonement
for the sins of the world, for He
had no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth.
Through Christ salvation conies
by faith and not by works.
5. To improve the memory we should associate important ideas
with things., scenes., and events. We should give graphic pictures
of important scenes anil events.
Maps, useful and scientific pictures, scripture texts,
and important school rules, should be hung in the
school-room. These objects, being kept before the eye^
suggest important trains of association. After a time
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS WITH EVENTS, ETC. 237
such things, no doubt, fail to arrest the attention; but,
in order to avoid this consequence, they should be
removed at stated periods, and fresh ones put in their
place, or they may simply be taken away tor a time and
then replaced. The teacher will at once sec the value
of having such rules as the following hung up in the
school-room: — 1. A suitable place for everything, and
everything in its place; 2. A])roper time for everything,
and everything in its time; 3. A distinct name for every-
thing, and everthing called by its name; 4. A certain
use for everything, and everything put to its use; 5. Try
to improve at school every day; 6. Guard against vul-
gar language ; 7. Pray daily to God, and praise His
holy name. The rules put up by the master should
always have a relation to the existing circumstances:
thus, for example, during the fruit season the following
would be highly appropriate — '* Never eat sour or un-
ripe fruit."
Teachers cannot be too strongly impressed with the
fact that our school-day associations exist in the mind
to the latest period of our existence.
" The School's lone porch, with reverend mosses grey,
Just tells the pensive pilgrim where it lay.
Mute is the bell that rung at peep of dawn.
Quickening my truant feet across the lawn;
Unheard the shout that rent the noontide air,
When the slow dial gave a pause to care.
Up springs, at every step, to claim a tear.
Some little friendship formed and cherished iicre;
And not the lightest leaf, but trembling teen)s
With golden visions and romantic dreams ! "
Geography should be taught in connection with his-
tory. No teacher should give a lesson on the geography
of a country without associating the leading geographi-
238 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
cal facts with the most remarkable events of its history,
or with its existing resources of trade and wealth. He
should also introduce historical and picturesque de-
scriptions of the great cities of the country of which he
treats. Great cities constitute the identity of a people;
— their past history is sculptured on their monuments,
churches, and public buildings; — their existing industry,
and real sources of wealth and power, are exhibited in
their machinery, their factories, their shipping, and their
market-places or thoroughfares, where the products of
nature and art are bought and sold; — their intellectual,
moral and political tendencies may be seen in the tastes,
habits, and pursuits of the people that crowd their pub-
lic rendezvous; for the ceaseless struggles of opinions,
passions, and interests which here manifest themselves,
may be regarded as the throbbings of the great heart of
society, which extend themselves, as certainly as by the
action of an hydraulic law, to the utmost extremities of
the living mass.
The events of scripture history should be taught in
connection with the map of Palestine. In like manner,
history should be taught in connection with geography.
Local associations give vividness and power to the re-
membrance of events.
" And hence the cliarm historic scenes Impart;
Hence Tiber awes, and Avon melts the heart."
A man who has looked upon the field of Bannockburn,
where the devoted band of Scottish patriots withstood
the onslaught of the mighty host of their oppressor, will
never forget the historical events connected with the
battle. " That man," says Johnson, " is little to be en-
vied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the
GEOGRAPHY SHOULD BE ILLUSTRATED BY HISTORY. 239
plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow
warmer among: the ruins of lona." Who can look on
the statue of Henri IV., standing on Pont-Neuf, which
crosses the Seine in the heart of Paris, without having
the remarkable events of this chivalrous monarch's. life
more deeply impressed upon his memory ? The birth-
places or the sepulchres of great men form some of our
most remarkable links of association.
" 'Twas ever thus. As now at Virgil's tomb
We bless the shade and bid the verdure bloom ;
So Tully paused, amid the wrecks of Time,
On the rude stone to trace the truth sublime,
When at his feet, in honored dust disclosed,
The Immortal Sage of Syracuse reposed."
Picturing out scenes. Children are passionately fond of
pictures, whether real or imaginary, whether addressed
to the outward or to the inward sense of vision. This
passion constitutes one of the most unconquerable in-
stincts of our nature: but why should we wish to con-
quer it ? none but antiquated governesses or old maiden
ladies would do such violence to our happy nature.
•• 'Twas here, at eve, we formed our fairy ring;
And Fancy fluttered on her wildest wing.
Giants and genii chained each wondering ear;
And orphan sorrows drew the ready tear.
Oft with the babes we wandered in the wood.
Or viewed the forest feasts of Robin Hood :
Oft fancy-led, at midnight's fearful hour,
With startling step we scaled the lonely tower.
O'er infant innocence to hang and weep,
Murdered by ruffian hands, when smiling in Its sleep."
The gallery lessons given to children should contain
pictures addressed to the imagination. This mode of
instruction not only secures their attention by gratifying
their intellectual instincts, but also supplies their recol-
lective faculty with appropriate links of association.
240 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
The picturing style of teaching gives life and vivacity
to a class; whereas the dull, dry, sermonizing style of
giving a lesson is better than any soporific to be found
in the Pharmacopoeia. The tick -tick of the clock in our
room is rarely heard: so it is with the repetition of cer-
tain set forms of words: the sounds grow familiar to our
ears; and the ideas, however sacred, like an oft-told
tale, cease to make any impression on our minds.
This is especially the case with respect to scripture
reading. The plan of picturing out the scenes and events
connected with a passage of scripture that may have
been read, is eminently calculated to produce the most
vivid and lasting impressions on the minds of children.
In order to illustrate this plan of teaching, let us sup-
pose the first three verses of the sixth chapter of St.
John to have been read by the master to his pupils.
How few of the children would trouble themselves at
all about the familiar sounds that had fallen upon their
ears ! and of the few who had given their attention to
the matter, how many of them could form any clear
conception of the ideas intended to be conveyed ? A
skilful teacher, it is true, might, by the usual method of
interrogation, succeed in making the children compre-
hend the subject-matter of the verses; but how long
would they retain the ideas thus conveyed to them ?
how many of them would be able to answer the ques-
tions that might be put to them by thf master on the
following day ?
But now suppose that the master could, by some
magic power, show to his pupils the real scene which
these verses describe.* Suppose he could go back
•Tills picture is mainly taken from Abbott's " Young Christian."
PICTURING OUT SCENES. 241
through the eighteen hundred 'years which have elapsed
since those events occurred, and taking his pupils to
some elevation in the romantic scenery of Palestine,
from which they might overlook the country of Galilee,
show them all that this chapter describes.
"Do you see," he might say, "that wide sea which
spreads out beneath us, and occupies the whole extent
of the valley? That is the sea of Tiberias; it is also
called the sea of Galilee. All this country which spreads
around it is Galilee. Those distant mountains are in
Galilee, and that beautiful wood which skirts the shore
is a Galilean forest."
" Why is it called the sea of Tiberias ? " a child might
ask.
" Do you see at the foot of that hill, on the opposite
shore of the lake, a small town ? It extends alone^ the
margin of the water for a considerable distance. That
is Tiberias, and the lake sometimes takes the name of
that town.
"But look! Do you see that small boat coming
round a point of land which juts out beautifully from
this side of the lake ? It is slowly making its way across
the water; we can almost hear the splashing of the oars.
It contains the Savior and some of His disciples. They
are steering towards Tiberias: now they approach the
shore; they stop at the landing, and the Savior, followed
by His disciples, walks up the shore.
" Some sick person is brought to the Savior to be
healed. Another and another is brought. A crowd
collects around Him. He retreats slowly up the rising
ground, and, after a little time, He takes His place upon
242 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
an elevated spot, where He can overlook and address the
throng."
If teachers could accustom themselves to the habit of
drawing pictures like this, how strong and how lasting
would be the impression made on the minds of their pupils!
Yeai's, and perhaps the whole of life itself, would not
obliterate the impression. Even this faint description,
though it brings nothing new to the mind, will make a
much stronger and more lasting impression than merely
reading the narration would do. And what is the
reason ? Why, it is only because we have endeavored
to lead you to picture this scene to your minds, to con-
ceive of it strongly and clearly. Now any teacher can
do this for himself, in regard to any passage of scripture.
It is not necessary that we should go on and delineate in
this manner the whole of the account. Each teacher
can, if he will task his imagination, picture for himself
the scenes which the Bible describes. And if he does
bring his intellect and his powers of conception to the
work, and read not merely to repeat formally and coldly
sounds already familliar, but to bring vivid and clear
conceptions to his mind of all which is represented there,
he will be interested himself and will also interest his
pupils. He will find new and striking scenes con-
tinually coming up to view, and will be surprised at the
novelty and interest which this simple and easy effort
will throw over those very portions of the Bible with
which the ear has become most completely familliar.
6. Frivolous, unnatural, or unpleasant associations should he
avoided. Fear enfeebles tJis memory, and terror paralyzes it.
Our associations should always be in keeping with the
ENFEEBLING INFLUENCE OF FEAR. 243
dignity of the subject. The unnatural and trifling modes
of association adopted by the advocates of systems of
MNEMONICS, are unworthy the notice of intellectual
teachers of youth. If any artificial system of memory
is necessary, it should be constructed on the principle of
the chemical nomenclature, which is really one of the
best systems of tnemoria techniea that ever has been
invented.
The plan of giving tasks as punishments cannot be too
strongly deprecated: it invests learning with painful
associations, and most effectually engenders a sullen and
wilful habit of inattention.
Fear enfeebles the memory, by producing tremor and
nervous debility. How can a boy exercise his memory
when the terrors of the rod are placed before him ?
How can the intellectual faculties exercise themselves
freely or vigorously when the soul is manacled ? When
the axe of the executioner is about to fall upon the
doomed wretch, can you expect him to admire the sur-
rounding scenery, or to observe the various passions
pictured on the faces of the eager crowd ?
" Come here, you dunce," says the pedagogue to his
task-ridden pupil — " Come here, — well now, what
dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy Belief ? "
To which the boy with trembling and hesitation answers
—"First I learn ." "Well, what do you leam?"
To which the boy, rendered stupid by fear, replies —
"Please, sir, I don't know." "You saucy blockhead —
there, take that, and that, — now you stand there, and
never move from the spot until you have committed the
whole of the question, word for word, to memory. In
an instant give over crying, or I shall give you some-
244 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
thing to cry for, — what are you sobbing for ? " " Please,
sir, — I canuoL — help — it." "You cannot helj) — saucy
again — I'll make you help it, — there — there — and there
— now you remember that the rod bites, if you cannot
remember your task." True, the boy will probably
remember to the day of his death that he was cruelly
thrashed because he could not repeat the answer to the
question on the Articles of Belief.
A wise teacher, in the place of thrashing his dull
pupil, would assist him completing his task, by first
impressing the ideas contained in it on his memory.
After having read the answer twice or thrice over, he
might proceed as follows: "The answer to this question
contains three parts. The first relates to God the Fa-
ther; the second to God the Son; and the third to God
the Holy Ghost. Let us now break down the ideas con-
tained in the first part. In whom have we to believe?"
" In God the Father." " What is God here said to be?"
" He is said to be the Father." " What have you to do
in reference to God the Father? " "I have to believe
in Him." "What did God the Father do for you?"
" He made me." " What did He make besides ? " " He
made all the world."
Proceeding in this way, the judicious teacher might
analyze the whole of the answer; after this is dt)ne, the
pupil would probably find little difficulty in committing
it to memory.
v. The memory should be cultivated m relation to common
things and everyday events.
The most ordinary and trifling occurrences may be
made a source of intellectual improvement: as the habits
INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE GIVEN REGULARLY. 245
of animals, or the manners of a people; the construction
of articles of furniture and clothing; the structure of a
feather, a leaf, or a flower; the mode of building houses,
or the making of a pin; and so on.
The difference of information found amongst men
does not depend so much upon the number of sights
which they have witnessed, as upon the remembrance
of the ideas which those sights are calculated to sug-
gest. Mr. S. never goes on a jouiney, no matter how
short, without being able to amuse his family by relat-
ing to them some incident, or to describe to them some-
thing new. "I don' know how it is," says Mr. B., who
had travelled over the world for the mere sake of loco-
motion, " that my friend Mr. S. finds so much to talk
about. He cannot go a journey of a dozen miles without
having had adventures enough to serve a man for a life-
time; for my part, I have visited most of the great cities
in the world, but I can hardly get people to listen to my
stories." The fact is, Mr. S. was an observing man, and
never allowed an opportunity to slip without storing his
memory with useful facts; with him every new event
became the nucleus of a new series of thoughts.
8. Instruction should be given on a regular and connected
plan.
Every lesson should have its proper time assigned to
it, and it should always be given at that time. A sub-
ject should never be taught by fits and starts; for noth-
ing so much enfeebles the recollection as sudden leaps
from one branch of knowledge to another. When the
foundations of one science are fairly laid, then another
one may be commenced; but a schoolmaster, like the
246 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
blacksmith, should never have too many irons in the
fire. "Nothing," says Abercrombie, "appears to con-
tribute more to progress in any intellectual pursuit than
the practice of keeping one subject habitually before the
mind, and of daily contributing something towards the
prosecution of it." Important subjects of knowledge,
having thus had time for their roots to spread them-
selves in the soil, become, as it were, incorporated with
the mind itself.
II. The memory is stre^igthened hy all those exercises ivhich
tend to cultivate the habit of attention.
We have already explained some of the most impor-
tant artifices which may be employed in the cultivation
of the habit of attention; the following, however, de-
serve especial notice in relation to the faculty of recol-
lection.
1. Interrogate your pupils upon what they may have read.
2. Get your pupils to put questions to each other at the end of
a lesson ; and also to talk tog ether ^ after school hourSj about the
subjects of the day^s instruction.
3. The pupils should write^ in their own language,
what is most important for them to remember.
These notes should be neatly and methodically writ-
ten — they should not be mere extracts from books, or
verbatim reports of lessons.
4. Make your pupils familiar m?«^A important principles and
results.
It is not suflicient for your pupils simply to remember
important principles and results, — they should remember
CULTIVATION OF IMAGINATION AND TASTE. 247
them perfectly, that is, in such a way that it would be
impossible ever to forget them.
"James," a teacher might say to his pupil, "have you
learnt the fourth line of your multiplication table yet ? "
"Yes, sir, — I said it to you yesterday." "It is true,
my boy, you said it, but it was done with some hesita-
tion. You must learn it so thoroughly that nothing can
put you out when you are called upon to repeat it. Now
you go on with the fourth line, while I repeat the fifth,
and we shall see whether you put me out, or I put you
out."
As a matter of course, James is put out; whereupon
the teacher might go on to say, — "Now I have put you
out." "Well, sir, but I could have said it correctly if
you had not ^jarred with me." " Exactly so. But do
you think that I could put you out in repeating the
alphabet ? — Let us try.
"Here, you see, I cannot put you out, because you
have learnt the alphabet perfectly. Kow it is equally
important that you should learn the multiplication table
perfectly."
CHAP. V.
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, CONTINUED.-ON THE CUL-
TIVATION OF IMAGINATION AND TASTE.'
There is no faculty of the mind which requires more
careful culture than that of imagination. When prop-
erly regulated and directed, it may be made to contrib-
ute to the development of all that is noble and estima-
248 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ble in our nature. It forms an essential element of
inventive genius. By imagination we are enabled, as
it were, to place ourselves in the situation of others, and
to sympathize with them in their distress, or to partici-
pate in their sorrows. A man deficient in imagination,
however estimable he may be in his general conduct, is
usually unsocial, illiberal, and selfish. On the other
hand, a person with a wild, misguided imagination, oc-
cupies his mind in the pursuit of idle dreams and delu-
sions, to the neglect of all those pursuits which are cal-
culated to ennoble a rational being. The imagination
should always be kept under the control of reason, and
it should never be allowed to wander too long at discre-
tion amid beautiful and fallacious scenes, so as to impair
the judgment. The unrestrained indulgence of imagin-
ation often exercises an enfeebling influence over the
other powers of the intellect: but a properly regulated
imagination gives strength to all the other faculties, and
adds a charm to existence.
" His the city's pomp:
Tlie rural honors his. Wliate'er adorns
The princely dome, the colunui, or the arch,
The breathing marbles, or the sculptured gold,
Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim,
His tuneful breast enjoys. For him, the Spring
Distils her dews, and from the silken gem
Its lucid leaves unfolds: for liim, the hand
Of Autunni tinges every fertile branch
With blooming gold, and blushes like the morn.
Each passing hour sheds tribute from her wings;
And still new beauties meet his lonely walk,
And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze
Flies o'er the meadow— not a cloud imbibes
The setting Sun's eltulgeuce— not a strain
From all the tenants of the warbling shade
Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake
Fresh pleasure, uureproved."
CULTIVATION OF IMAGINATION AND TASTE. 249
To cultivate the imagination, we should exercise it on
legitimate objects, and this should be done in harmony
with the development of the other powers of the mind.
The imagination is exercised — (1) by fictitious narra-
tives; (2) by compositions of the poet and the orator,
addressed to the passions; (3) by sallies of wit and hu-
mor; (4) by works of art addressed to the sense of the
beautiful.
The man who excels in all, or any, of these produc-
tion of imagination, is said to have an inventive genius;
but it is obvious that this must depend quite as much
upon the strength of the faculty of reason as upon that
of imagination. Geometers and scientific discoverers
are often much indebted to the fertility of their imag-
ination. Persons of extraordinary power of imagination
are not unfrequently deficient in judgment. Why?
Certainly not from any want of harmony between these
faculties, but rather from the want of a proper educa-
tion; for a man of philosophic intellect must have a
vigorous imagination: the genius of the poet and that
of the mathematician are more nearly allied than people
generally suppose.
I. The picturing style of teaching (described in relation to
the cultivation of memory) is one of the best means of devel-
oping the imagination of children.
Very few of our works of imagination are simple
enough for tne comprehension of a child, — the sen-
tences in them are too long and involved, and the figures
and analogical phrases are too far beyond the range of
his experience. We cannot expect authors (who gener-
ally care more for their own fame than for the improve-
250 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
raent of their readers) to put in print all the little and
apparently trifling things which they would say to a
child. An experienced teacher, on the other hand, nat-
urally clothes his ideas in short, pithy sentences, and
draws his illustrations and figures of speech from the
things with which his pupils are most familiar: he will
frequently analyze the figures or analogies which he
employs, so as to render their appositeness more vivid
and apparent, and to show the difference between a
metaphor and an analogical phrase; and above all things,
he will constantly endeavor to inspire his pupils with a
love of nature, and to kindle within them the sentiment
of beauty. When he has occasion to call the attention
of his pupils to the aspect of the morning sky, he speaks
of the "blushing morn," or, it may be, "the rosy morn;"
if anything comes suddenly into his mind, it "flashes "
upon him; if he draws a picture of an extensive forest,
he speaks of "the trackless woods;" if he makes a com-
parison between imagination and reason, he speaks of
fancy's flash and reason's ray. He speaks of reason as
the rudder of the soul, which guides us through the
stoimy sea of lite; of hope as the anchor of the soul; of
religion as the great pillar of the state; of remorse as the
never-dying worm which gnaws the vitals of its victim; of
crime as a loathsome monster, and virtue as a lovely angel
clothed in light; of the darkness of ignorance, and the
light of knowledge; of old age as the autumn of life,
when all that is lovely withers and decays; o^ XX\q ichisper
of the breeze, and the roar of the tempest.
II. The imagination of children is cultivated by simple pieces
of poetry, or hy prose compositions of taste and feeling.
CULTIVATION OF IMAGINATION AND TASTE. 251
Simple good poetry delights the ear of children, at the
same time that it elevates their characters; aud even the
harmony of elegant prose, if not beyond their compre-
hension, will melt their tender souls. The best books
for children are those which contain simple phrases of
beauty, which turn on figures that depend on points of
harmony or analogy between the physical and the moral
world. " Pilgrim's Progress " is one of the best books
for children of ten or twelve years of age. Children
should never be allowed to read poetry which they
cannot understand, far less to commit it to memory.
How matter-of-fact a poetical conception becomes after
it has been profaned, day after day, by senseless repe-
titions ! How many of our intellectual pleasures have
been marred, by our having had the language of poetry
impressed upon our memories at a time when we could
not realize its import ! Rhetorical readings, in schools,
are something like the exhibitions of the common phan-
tasmagoria—things to laugh at. Teachers commit a
gross mistake when they attempt to bring the higher
faculty of imagination too soon into play ; just in the
same way as many persons lose at chess by moving their
queen too early in the game. Every faculty must be
fully developed before the infant soul can spread its
wings and fly towards the higher heaven of poetry.
True poetry is the holy of holies of the intellectual tab-
ernacle, into which no one should enter until all his
faculties are matured and consecrated.
III. Fables and simple tales are amongst the best means of
cultivating the imagination of children.
Children must romance, whether we permit them or
252 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIOK.
not, — it is one of the most uncontrollable laws of human
nature. Good fables and tales always contain instruc-
tion, — they turn facts into poetry, and instruct the
reason through the imagination. Some little stories
contain, in an unobtrusive form, more practical wisdom
than many learned homilies. Who would wish to for-
get the story about the fox and the grapes; or the dog
and the shadow; or the shepherd boy and the wolf; or
'the dog in the manger; or the cock and the diamond;
or the lion and the mouse; and so on? Nothing affords
children a more sparkling entertainment, than to listen
to the parley between the lion and the ass, or between
the fox and the crow; while each of them adheres to
its character with dramatic strictness, each, at the same
time, personates some moral quality. The perception
of this analogy leads, in the most pleasurable manner,
to the cultivation of abstraction and reason.
What child does not read the Arabian Nights' Enter-
tainments with the most lively emotions ? Children
like to transport themselves, on the wings of imagina-
tion, from the cold and sober realities of our northern
clime to the warm and romantic scenes of oriental climes,
with their glitering caverns and golden palaces, their
genii and their wonderful lamps and rings, their brilliant
skies and gorgeous flowers.
*' Let Fiction come, upon her vagrant wings
Wafting ten tliousand colors through the air,
Wliile, by tlie gUinces of lier magic eye,
She bends and sliifts at will, through counUess forms,
Her wild creation."
Good tales contain nothing really deceptive; for a
child, with a properly regulated mind, knows perfectly
well when he passes the boundary line which separates
CULTIVATION OF IMAGINATION AND TASTE. 253
the region of fiction from that of facts. The very worst
tales are those which adhere too rigidly to every-day
scenes and events, and inculcate religion and morality
with all the mock solemnity of a theological primer.
Those very pious, truthful, sermonizing tales (such as
Peter Parley's) outrage the patience of children, and
really defeat the end which they have in view. How
can the soul of a child approach its God, clothed in the
garb of fiction !
None of our modern novels are sufficiently adapted to
the juvenile mind; they are too long; their stories, for
the most part, are neither simple enough, nor romantic
enough; and besides, they generally pre-suppose a
knowledge of human nature and character which boys
below fourteen years of age cannot possibly possess.
We should like to see a few novelettes written after the
fashion of Waverly, or The Last of the Mohicans, but
rendered somewhat more infantine in the characters de-
scribed.
No tale should do any unnecessary violence to the
feelings and sympathies of children: if the storytells of
hideous wild beasts in pursuit of some innocent little
child, they should always at last meet with a proper
punishment: or if it describes dismal dungeons or deep
caverns, some way out of them should always be found,
leading to celestial scenes of loveliness and enjoyment;
or if it relates the adventures, by sea and land, of some
tameless being, he should always at last find a quiet and
happy home. We do not appear to have made any ad-
vance in this kind of literature, at least for the last
quarter of a century. Hans Andersen's fairy stories of
the Flying Trunk, the Wild Swans, &c., are very much
254 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
inferior to our old oriental tales: what modern story of
adventures can be placed by the side of our old and dear
friend, Robinson Crusoe ?
IV. The sentiment of the leautifuly in children^ should he cul-
tivated hy drawing and tmisic.
Children should be taught drawing and music, almost
as soon as they can speak. They should be early led to
copy the most beautiful forms, and to sing the sweetest
songs. Whatever is insipid, or defonned, should never
be placed before them for imitation. The sentiment of
taste should be constantly cultivated, by directing their
attention to whatever is captivating in nature, or beauti-
ful in art. The cultivation of taste not only affords us
a refined source of pleasure, but also, somehow or other,
gives force and acuteness to the moral sense.
CHAP. VI.
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, CONTINUED— ON THE CULTIVA-
TION OF REASON AND JUDGMENT.
Reason is that mental faculty whereby we distinguish
truth from falsehood. When we duly exercise this fac-
ulty, we compare facts with facts, and events with
events, and from their relations and bearings we deduce
certain conclusions. We say that a man possesses a
sound judgment, when he judges correctly of the rela-
tions of facts, events, or circumstances, and gives to each
its due amount of influence in the conclusions, or dedue-
CULTIVATION OF REASON. 256
tions, which he makes. Reason is, in a certain sense,
opposed to imagination, inasmuch as it deals solely with
facts and realities. Reason is distinguished from simple
memory, by which facts or events are merely connected
by the laws of association, without any regard to their
natural or philosophical relation. Reason, in a well-
regulated mind, holds the mastery of all the other fac-
ulties: it gives strength and precision to every one of
them, and harmonizes and regulates their operations as
a whole; as we have already shown, it especially im-
proves the memory, and checks any unhealthy exuber-
ance of imagination. No faculty in our nature is more
susceptible of cultivation than reason; and the neglect
of its cultivation is attended with the greatest possible
evils, as well to the individual as to society at large. No
doubt there are original differences in the power of
reason, but we have no hesitation in stating that the
chief source of the differences in this power found
amongst men is to be traced to culture and discipline.
When we neglect the cultivation of the reason of young
persons, their minds become engrossed by trifles, or car-
ried away by the wild freaks of imagination; and the
most sacred and momentous opinions are either treated
with unbecoming levity and indifference, or accepted
without thought or reflection. Such persons readily be-
come the victims of sophistry, or the willing slaves of
superstition and bigotry. They have not the power, be-
cause the habit has not been cultivated, of giving a full
and candid examination of all the facts which ought to
influence their opinions in any subject of inquiry. Such
persons never pursue truth for its own sake, — they do
»ot know what it is to yield their minds to the force of
256 PHiLOsoniY of education.
truth; and, as a necessary consequence, tlieir opinions
are formed from prejudice or passion.
Reason is, of course, aided by other mental faculties,
such as memory, attention, conception, and abstraction,
but especially by attention and conception. These two
faculties, as we have already shown, are strictly volun-
tary faculties, and therefore may be greatly strengthened
and developed by exercise and habit. A vivid concep-
tion of all the })arts of a subject of investigation, is the
first great step gained in the process of inquiry.
It has not been considered necessary, in what follows,
to make any distinction between an act of judgment and
an act of reason. Our higher kinds of judgment seem
to involve all the essential elements of a process of rea-
soning.
The following general rules may be laid down for cul-
tivating the reasoning powers of children.
I. The minds of children should he first exercised in easy
processes of reasoning, adapted to their state of mtellectual
development. Their reaso?i should be first exercised in the dis-
cernment of the relations, connections, tendencies and analogies of
familiar facts.
Until a child has some knowledge of facts and effects,
he cannot inquire into principles or causes. Our first
steps in the process of reasoning are observation and
comparison; then follow deduction and generalization.
A child is capable of forming conclusions long before he
can put his reasoning into language. The teacher should
be in no haste to break the spell of this silent — this
truly ideal — process of reasoning; it is better that ideas
— conceptions — judgments — should precede language,
CULTIVATION OF REASON. 267
for the formality of language too often casts a blight-
ing shadow over what might otherwise have been a
glowing vital conception. But this solitary communion
of a child with nature cannot always go on; it is proper
that the child should be for a time cast upon the bosom
of nature; but after the nursling has attained a certain
stage of spontaneous development, it is necessary that
he should be able to express his ideas in language, in
order that he may profit from the results of the experi-
ence of others. Hence it follows that the vocabulary of
children should be gradually enlarged with the enlarge-
ment of their ideas or real knowledge. Words become
a hindrance to reasoning, when the vocabulary of the
child exceeds his ideas. This we cannot help regarding
as one of the greatest evils in our present systems of
education; and we are sorry to observe that men high
in authority have recently given, indirectly at least,
their countenance to the evil, by exacting a knowledge
of the latter, rather than the spirit, of certain subjects
of instruction, — such as religion, geometry, arithmetic,
and algebra.
The reason of children is frequently misled by the
erroneous use of words. We should constantly encour-
age them to explain their views and opinions, in order
that we may rectify their errors. Some people do not
care what absurdities they utter in reasoning with chil-
dren; they do not hesitate to talk to them about things
which are far above their comprehension, and they have
always a ready explanation to give of matters involving
the greatest mystery. Such tutors fill the young mind
with errors and prejudices, which years of training may
fail to eradicate ; for it is often more difficult for us to
I
268 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
unlearn what is false than it is to learn what is true. To
judge whether a subject of reasoning is within the com-
prehension of a child, we should consider whether the
facts or events upon which it is based are within the
range of his experience.
Reasoning must not be rendered a task, or conducted
in so formal a manner as to weary the mind of the pupil ;
the exercise of his reason must be spontaneous. We
should give him the facts and materials for reasoning,
rather than make a direct demand upon his reason. A
desultory style of presenting those facts will best secure
our purpose; for it is a law of the human mind that
while we can achieve but little in the higher processes of
reasoning without the strictest observance of order, — in
the iirst steps of reasoning, on the contrary, we seem to
derive the most healthful excitement from the very ab-
sence of order. Every experienced teacher knows this
to be true, and unconsciously acts upon this conviction.
The reasoning powers of a child are exercised whenever
we put the question why, or receive the answer because.
The higher principles of a science should never be
taught before the pupil has been made acquainted with
the relations and analogies of the most familiar facts.
But many teachers, for the sake of following what they
conceive to be a logical order, or, it may be, the arrange-
ment given in their text-books, reverse the natural
order, and teach the most abstract and least attractive
things first.
Mathematical subjects afford one of the best exercises
for the reasoning powers. Mathematical reasoning is
simple, and free from all uncertainty; this depends
chiefly upon the following circumstances,
FIRST EXERCISE OF THE REASONING FACULTIES. 259
1. Nothing is taken for granted or on mere authority;
for its principles of reasoning are axioms, or self-evident
truths.
2. Its proper objects are the relations of numbers,
lines and spaces, things which are cognizable by our
senses, and which can be defined and measured with a
precision of w^hich the objects of no other kinds of rea-
soning are susceptible.
The earliest conceptions of a child relate to form and
number, and they are the first wliich their minds are
capable of viewing abstractedly: hence, the elements of
arithmetic, algebra, and geometry should be amongst
the very earliest subjects of study, for the purpose of
developing the reasoning powers. Mathematics, how-
ever, like other first suVjjects of study, should be taught
progressively, avoiding as much as possible the formal-
ities of technical demonstration; and principles should
always be taught in connection with their applications.
It is a gross error to suppose that a pupil will have
the power of applying abstract principles, merely be-
cause he is able to demonstrate the truth of these prin-
ciples. A knowledge of Euclid is one thing, and the
employment of geometrical theorems in the business of
life is another. The bringing of familiar facts and
abstract principles into apposition is not only attractive
to the young mind, but also exercises the reasoning
powers in a way which no other subject can do. Who
does not remember the pleasure that he felt when he
saw the doctrine of similar triangles applied to the find-
ing of the height of a tower by means of the shadow of
a stick?
Although the mathematical sciences may form one of
260 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
the best initiatory trainings of the reasoning powers,
yet it is comparatively inefficient in giving that higher
finish and development to the powers of reason. It only
exercises the mind in appreciating one kind of evidence,
— namely, mathematical evidence. Some other subject,
therefore, should be adopted for the purpose of develop-
ing the reasoning powers of children in relation to moral
evidence.
These branches of knowledge* may give a false direc-
tion to the mind, if they are not taught with caution,
and in connection with moral science. The certainty and
peculiar nature of mathematical science often inspire
the disposition to demand the same kind of demonstra-
tion in other points. The wonderful extent to which we
can trace and imitate the operations of nature, tempts
us to rest on second causes, and forget that Power which
is necessary to establish and maintain the laws which we
only discover. For this purpose, these studies should not
only be conducted in a religious spirit, but should be
accompanied and alternated with those which will give
another direction to the mind. A pupil thus learns much
of the nature of moral evidence^ and moral relations, and
is accustomed to employ these, as well as mathematical
demonstration, as a part of his series of thought, and as
a sufficient ground for his conclusions.
On this subject Abercrombie observes: "Notwith-
standing the high degree of precision which thus dis-
tinguishes mathematical reasoning, the study of mathe-
matics does not, as is commonly supposed, necessarily
lead to precision in other species of reasoning, and still
♦ Woodbridge.
MATHEMATICAL AND MORAL EVIDENCE. 261
less to correct investigation in physical or mental science. •
The explanation that is given of this fact seems to be
satisfactory. The mathematician argues certain conclu-
sions from certain relations of quantity and space, which
are ascertained with absolute precision ; and these prem-
ises are so clear, and so free from all extraneous matter,
that their truth is obvious, or is ascertained without dif-
ficulty. By being conversant with truths of this nature,
he does not learn that kind of caution and severe exam-
ination which are required in other sciences for enabling
us to judge whether the statements on which we pro-
ceed are true, and whether they include the whole truth
which ought to enter into the investigation. He thus
acquires a habit of too great facility in the admission of
data or premises, which is the pait of every investiga-
tion which the physical or mental inquirer scrutinizes
with the most anxious care, — and too great confidence
in the mere force of reasoning, without adequate atten-
tion to the previous processes of investigation on which
all reasoning must be founded. It has been, accord-
ingly, remarked by Mr. Stewart, and other accurate ob-
servers of intellectual character, that mathematicians are
apt to be credulous, in regard both to opinions and to
matters of testimony; while, on the other hand, persons
who are chiefly conversant with uncertain sciences ac-
quire a kind of scepticism in regard to statements, which
is apt to lead them into the opposite error."
The physical and mathematical sciences are full of
simple facts and principles which are highly calculated
to cultivate the reasoning powers of children. History,
too, if properly taught, may be made a great instrument
in the cultivation of their reasoning powers: not that
262 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
4iistory which merely relates the dull, dry detail of events
in their chronological order, and gives more prominence
to the installation of a monarch than to the discovery of
a physical law, or to the advent of a great man whose
soul is destined to rule the world of philosophy: not that
history which perseveringly follows the blood-stained
foot-prints of warriors or the chicanery of crafty, little-
souled statesmen, or the various ramifications of the
petty schemes of ambitious autocrats, who fret their day
upon the stage of existence, then die, and leave no sign
behind them: not that history, in short, which ignores
the philosophy of history; — but that history which gives
the record of really great events, which follows the de-
velopment of society, marks the relations of events to
each other, and resolves them into epochs. The child
will thus be taught to study the nature of moral rela-
tions and moral evidence. In the same manner we
should like to see language and literature taught.
In all these subjects, the teacher should lead his pupils
to distinguish between the relations of facts and events
which are merely incidental, and those that are fixed and
uniform. * From the relations of familiar facts and events,
he will frequently rise to the illustration of general prin-
* Twenty years ago, when amateur teachers were few, the writer of
this work gave lessons on tlie science of common things (or what he called
" science at home ") to an evening class of boys, varying from twelve to
fifteen years of age.
These lessons were illustrated by simple and striking experiments,
juade with apparatus constructed, for the most part, out of the ordinary
articles of household use. The subjects selected for instruction were not
only useful in themselves, having a relation to the occupations of life, but
also so simple as to be within the comprehension of his young pupils,
llecondite facts of science, however useful in their remote applications,
were generally avoided when they did not admit of graphic or experi-
mental illustrations.
"science at home." 263
ciples; at other times, he will descend from the general
principles to the familiar facts or events which illuvstrate
them. But before children are' taught any systematic
The following is a list of the subjects on which these familiar lectures
were given :—
What is the best kind of gravel for making a path ? The properties of
the lever, shown by a rod balanced upon the edge of a book. The best
way of making a fire. How a candle burns, and why you should not take
the snuif off too close. Why the smoke rises in the chimney; and how a
smoking chimney may be, to a certain extent, cured. To explain the use
and construction of a wheel-barrow. How breathing and flame vitiate
tlie air; and how pure air should be supplied to apartments. Bad smells
are not only disagreeable, but .hey carry with them the seeds of disease
and death; how bad smells may be prevented: importance of cleanll-
nesss; of drainage; and of good dwelling-houses. How to sink a well.
How to make a pump. How to economize labor. How to econo-
mize food, and to preserve common articles of use. How to pre-
serve health: you should live upon plain, wholesome food; you should
perform some physical labor; your clothes should be adapted to the
season, and to the state of the weather. Where the water of the river
Ouse comes from, and where it runs to. And so on.
Tliese lessons on common things were productive of the most satis-
factory results. The boys were so interested in the lessons that they
would at any time leave their games to attend the class. Many of the
parents did not, at first, quite understand what their children had to
do with science; but when they found that tlie teacher liad been ex-
plaining how to make a fire, how to prevent the chimney from smok-
ing, &c., they became as much interested in the lessons as their children
—and thus the parents speedily became powerful auxiliaries in carrying
on the work of education. It is true that some parents stood out for
a long time against the new-fangled system,— they merely wanted their
boys taught reading, writing and accounts. Indeed, a mother thrashed
her son for asserting that the teacher had shown him how the earth
turned round every twenty-four hours. "Hold your tongue, sirrah!
don't tell me such lies," said this prejudiced mother; "master could
never put such a falsehood into your head. Has not the stack-yard
stood at the back of our house ever since I was a child, a girl, and a
married woman, and does it not stand there still?" But this argu-
ment did not carry conviction lo the boy's mind, and as a last resource
he was thrashed for his obstinacy.
Noble lords, and learned doctors, and newspaper editors, have lately
discovered the importance of teaching the science of common things
in our schools. And some of them, no doubt, will have their names
emblazoned in our blue books as the great renovators of popular edu^
cation.
264 ruiLOSOPHY or education.
course of stiuly, tl)ey should be led to reason and to
exercise their judgment upon common things, facts, and
events.
" Thus the men
Whom nature's works can charm, with God himself
Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day,
With his conceptions; act upon his plan;
And form to his the relish of their souls."
The relations of things and events may be viewed in
six distinct aspects, viz., relations of character, of degree,
of cause and effect, of connection and composition, of
analogy, and of law. We shall give a few examples of
these different kinds of relation, with the view of illus-
trating what is here meant.
(1) Relations of character.
All animals with four feet are called quadrupeds:
then a cow must be a quadruped. A fowl is not a
quadruped — why ? All hot-blooded animals breathe
air: then a horse must be a hot-blooded animal. Trans-
parent bodies can be seen through: then water is a trans-
parent body, because I can see objects through a glass
of water. Acids are sour to the taste, and change
vegetable blue colors to red: then vinegar must be an
acid, for I am sure it tastes sour enough, and the drop
which Jane let fall on her blue apron has made it red.
All quadrilateral figures have four sides: then a sheet
of foolscap paper has the form of a quadrilateral figure.
Heavy substances sink in water: tlien chalk must be a
heavy substance. Inflammable bodies burn: then coal
must be an inflammable body. The particles of a fluid
body readily move amongst themselves: then mercury
must be a fluid body. Metals have a peculiar lustre,
RELATIONS OF THINGS AND EVENTS. 265
called the metallic lustre, like gold and silver: then
copper and lead must be metrds. Artificial substances
are made by man: then woollen cloth must be an arti-
ficial substance. A natural substance is produced by
nature, without the aid of art: then wool is a natural
substance. Bodies, like the air, which support flame
are called supporters of combustion: then chlorine must
be a supporter of combustion, for a candle burns in this
(2) Relations of degree and proportion.
John's shoe is too small for Henry's foot; then the
child will readily make the deduction — Henry's foot
must be larger than John's. Our dog is larger than the
cat: then a hole through which the dog can just go must
be larger than a hole which the cat can just go through,
I cannot reach to the top of the door: then the door is
higher than I am.
I can lift the chair, but I cannot lift the table: then
the table is heavier than the chair. James can push the
table along the floor, but he cannot carry it: then it is
easier, that is, it requires less force, to push the sofa
along the floor than to carry it. I cannot lift that stone,
but I can easily overturn it: then it requires less force
to overturn a heavy body, like the stone, than it does to
raise it up or lift it.
Thomas takes an hour to walk from Charing Cross to
Chelsea, whereas I can walk over the distance in
three-quarters of an hour: therefore 1 walk faster than
Thomas.
Yesterday the water in the kettle took three-quarters
of an hour to boil, but to-day it has only taken half an
^66 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
hour: then it follows that the fire is hotter to-day than
it was yesterday. The sun is longer above the horizon
in summer than he is during the winter: hence the sum-
mer is hotter than the winter. Water never freezes at
Bermuda: thentlie climate of Bermuda must be warmer
than that of England.
A body of a red color can be seen at a greater dis-
tance than a body of a blue color: then red must be a
brighter color than blue.
The shadow of that tree is longer than the shadow of
that house: then the tree must be higher than the house.
A pound weight of bread is larger in bulk than a
pound weight of lead: then lead must be a heavier sub-
stance than bread. Bread floats on water, but cheese
sinks in it: then cheese must be a heavier substance,
bulk for bulk, than bread.
Smoke rises in the air, but silk paper falls: then smoke
must be a lighter substance than silk paper.
(3) Rehtions of cause and effect.
A kettle on the fire will never burn so long as there is
water in it; then the boiling water, or steam, must cany
oflF the heat. It is warmer during the day wlien tlie
sun shines than it is during the night: then the sun must
l)e tlie source of heat. A crow on the top of St. Paul's
Cathedral does not look larger than a sparrow: then the
height of St. Paul's must be very great. When the fire
burns briskly, light pieces of paper are carried up the
chimney: then there must be a current of air rushing up
the chimney. When sealing-wax, glass, or brown paper
is rubbed with a dry piece of flannel, electricity is pro-
duced: then friction generates electricity. Snow flakes
RELATIONS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. 267
fall in the air, soap-bubbles rise in the air: then snow
must be a heavier substance than air, and soap-bubbles
must be lighter than air.
The soap-bubble is a heavy fluid inflated with hot air:
then this hot air must be the thing that makes the soap-
bubble lighter than the surrounding air. After a little
time the soap-bubble bursts; does it burst inwards or
outwards? Inwards — why? The soap-bubble moves
from the shade to the sunshine, — it bursts, — why ? In-
wards or outwards ? Outwards — why ? The soap bub-
ble is globular in its shape — why ?
In order to roast a joint of meat, it is made to turn
before the fire — why ? The meat is turned round in order
that every part of it may be properly roasted. A register
stove throws out more heat than a common fireplace —
why ? Because the register stove reflects the heat of the
fire, or, in other words, it throws the heat of the fire into
the room. Woollen clothes keep our bodies warm in
cold weather — why? Because woollen clothes prevent
the heat from passing out of the body, or, in other
words, we may say woollen is a bad conductor of heat.
Nature has clothed the lower animals either with wool,
hair or feathers — why ? Nature has done for them what
the reason of man enables him to do for himself. In
igniting a fire, we put shavings and wood at the bottom
of the fireplace, and the coals above them — why ? Pru-
dent people take their principal meal about the middle
of the day — why? Men work during the day, and sleep
during the night — why ? When the sky is cloudy, we
are likely to have rain, but when the sky is clear, we
never have rain — why? Ice feels cold, boiling water
feels hot — why ? Because the ice is colder than our
268 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
bodies, and the boiling water is warmer. The iron part
of a spade feels colder than the wooden part — why?
Because the iron conducts, or conveys, the heat from our
bodies more rapidly than the wood. The handle of a
coffee-pot is usually made of wood — why? Deal floors
are warmer than brick floors — why ? In frosty weather,
the water from the clouds falls in the form of snow or
hail — why ? With us the north wind is usually colder
than the south wind — why? At noon-day, when the
sun shines, our shadows fall towards the north — why?
The snow falls upon the mountain tops more than it does
in the valleys or plains— why ? The west wind with us
is usually accompanied with rain — why? Because the
west wind passes over the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore
comes to us charged with moisture. The cast wind is
dry and parching — why? Thunder storms generally
take place at the close of summer — why ?
(4) Relations of connection and composition.
The earth on which we live is globular: then naviga-
tors should be able to sail around it. When a body can
be seen a long way off, it must be very large: then
Winsdor Castle must be very large, for it can be seen
from Richmond Hill;— then the moon must be very
large, for we know that she is far, far above the clouds.
A square whose side is two feet may be divided into
four small squares one foot in the side: then a square
which is two feet in the side must be four times the size
of a square which is one foot in the side. When hydro-
gen gas burns in oxygen, water is formed; then water
must be composed of hydrogen and oxygen. When
phosphorus is burnt in oxygen, a white substance is
RELATIONS OF ANALOGY. 269
formed, called phosphoric acid: then phosphoric acid
must be composed of phosphorus and oxygen. When
sulphuric acid is poured upon chalk, carbonic acid gas is
given off : then chalk must contain carbonic acid. When
red lead, or oxide of lead, is heated, oxygen gas is given
off, and metallic lead is left behind: then red lead must
be composed of lead and oxygen. Drunkards always
shorten their days: then a drunkard must be guilty of
self-murder, or suicide.
(5) Relatiom of analogy.
A piece of cork rises in water in the same way as a
balloon rises in the air, or as smoke rises in the air: as
the cork is lighter than the water, so the balloon is
lighter than the air, bulk for bulk. When a piece of
lump sugar is placed in a spoonful of water, the water
rises up the pores of the sugar, in the same way as water
rises up the pores of a sponge, or as water rises up a
fine tube, or between two plates of glass, placed near to
each other. Water will dissolve sugar, in the same way
as water will dissolve salt, or as spirits of wine will dis-
solve camphor. If a soap-bubble be twirled round just
before it is thrown from the bowl of the pipe, it will
revolve and become flattened at its poles by its rotation
on its axis: when a mop is twirled round, it assumes
a somewhat flattened shape, in the same way as the
whirling motion of the earth has caused its equatorial
parts to swell out. The steam from boiling water, by its
elastic force, sometimes raises the lid of the kettle, in
the same way as the steam of a steam engine raises the
piston or plug in the cylinder. A watch has had a
maker; in like manner the world hj|s had a Creator, A^
270 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
a magnet attracts iron, so somewhat in the same man-
ner the sun attracts the planets in the solar system. As
the contrary poles of a magnet attract each other, so
bodies electrified in contrary ways attract each other;
and as like ]>oles of a magnet repeal each other, so bodies
electrified in the same way repeal each other. As bodies
in front of a fire become warmer than those at the sides,
so in like manner places at the equator more directly
under the sun's heat, become warmer than those places
towards the poles, where the sun's heat glances obliquely
upon them.
What qualities have sealing-wax, sulphur, and pitch
in common ? They are all inflammable, fusible, brittle
when cold, but adhesive when melted, and generate the
same kind of electricity by friction. What qualities
and points of structure have carnivorous animals in
common? An iron hoop is elastic, — name some other
bodies analogous to the hoop in this respect. A biillet
is a sphere, — name some other bodies that are spherical.
What properties have all bodies in common ? Weight,
&c.
When a child learns, for the first time, some new prop-
erty of a thing with which he is quite familiar, he is
taken by that sort of surprise which aifords him the
highest pleasure, and which forms one of the most
powerful incentives to intellectual activity. Thus, for
example, a boy readily admits that the air is a transpar-
ent fluid; but when he is shown that it has weight, like
lead, or any other material substance, he is taken by
surprise — a surprise which is nearly allied to doubt —
and he is thereby prepared to give an earnest attention
to any experiments we may make upon the subject.
RELATIONS OF LAW. 271
(6) Relations of law depending on inductive reasoning.
When iron is healed, its bulk is increased; — when
water is heated, its bulk is also increased; — and the
same holds true with respect to any other substance
which has been tried : then one general law of heat is
that it expands all bodies. Sound travels over eleven
hundred feet in one second; twice eleven hundred in
two seconds; thrice eleven hundred feet in three seconds;
and so on: then, sound travels at a uniform rate.
Misery, disease, and death always follow drunkenness,
dissipation, and all such crimes; then vice and misery
are inseparably connected. Liars and thieves are never
trusted; a truthful and honest person is always es-
teemed: then honesty must be the best policy.
A body, let fall from a tower, falls sixteen feet in one
second, four times sixteen feet in two seconds, nine times
sixteen feet in three seconds, and so on: then the spaces
passed over by falling bodies increase as the squares of
the times.
A ball struck along a floor moves in a straight line;
the harder the blow the further the ball moves; then
something must cause the ball to stop — what is it? Is
it the roughness of the floor (the friction of the floor),
or the blowing of the air? If the floor were smoother
would the ball move further? Would the ball stop if
there were nothing tending to destroy its motion ? Let
us try, — has anybody tried this ? Yes, my child, we
may suppose a teacher to say, this has been tried, and it
is found that the more we remove the resistances of
friction and the air, the farther and farther the ball will
move: then, if these resistances could be removed
272 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
altogether, what should we expect? Why, that the
ball would never stop, that is to say, it would move on
and on, in a straight line for ever, if it did not meet
with any external force or resistance to stop it.
(V) Relations of law depending on deductive reasoning.
The force of gravity decreases as the squares of the
distances: then a body will be lighter at the top of a
mountain than it is at the sea shore: then a pendulum
will vibrate slower at the top of a mountain than it will
do at the sea shore. The atmosphere is an elastic fluid:
then the air at the top of a mountain is not so dense as
it is on the plain. The temperature at which water
boils increases with the pressure upon it: then water
will boil at the top of a mountain at a less degree of
heat than it would do at the sea shore. Rough bodies
radiate, or throw out, heat more rapidly than smooth,
polished bodies: then, other things being the same, hot
water in the kettle will become cold sooner than if it
were in a polished metal tea-pot. The force of the
wind makes a kite fly: then a kite must fly best in windy
weather. When a flame is applied to a mixture of
street gas and atmospheric air, it explodes: a lighted
candle should never be taken into a room where tliere is
an escape of gas. The pressure of water is in proportion
to its depth: then the strength of embankments should
be in proportion to the depth of the fluid which they
have to sustain: then, the strength of beer barrels should
be in proportion to their depth. The intensity of light
decreases as the squares of the distances increase: then
the light of a candle at twenty feet distance will be one-
fourth of what it is at ten feet.
ANALYSIS OF REASON lN(i» 273
The height to which water may be raised, by the com-
mon pump, is in proportion to the pressure of the sur-
rounding air: then the common pump will raise water
to a greater height on the plain than it will do on the
top of a mountain. The resistance of fluids to a moving
body is in proportion to the squares of their velocities:
then there must be considerable loss of power when
railway carriages move with great velocities. The
resistance which friction presents to a moving body is
the same for all velocities: then, so far as friction is
concerned, there is no loss of power in moving railway
carriages at a high speed.
II. After the reasoning powers have been exercised in the man-
ner just described^ the process of reasoning should he analyzed;
and this should he done in connection with simple examples.
It should be shown that every process of reasoning
consists of two parts — the premises and the conclusion
— the thing or things which we take for granted, or
assume to be true; and the proposition which we have
to establish.
The premises consist of, (1) First or intuitive truths;
(2) Propositions and principles, either taken for granted,
or which have already been proved ; (3) Certain facts,
or relations of facts, which we believe to be authentic,
and to which our assumed principles are to be in some
manner applied.
The conclusion is deduced from the application of the
assumed principles to the facts. Here we have not only
to assure ourselves of the correctness of the principles
assumed, and of the authenticity of the facts, but also to
determine whether the principles are legitimately appli-
2t4 I^HILOSOPIIY OF EDITCATION.
cable to the facts; for the principles may be correct,
and the facts may be authentic, and yet the reasoning
may be false, from the want of a true connection be-
tween the principles and the facts.
We examine the truth or falsehood of a process of
reasoning or argument by the method of the ancient
syllogism. Formal logic is of very little use in the dis-
covery of truth, or even in the first stages of school
instruction; yet knowledge of the syllogism will fre-
quently enable a young man to detect the sophistry of
an argument, which might otherwise confound his judg-
ment. An intelligent boy of thirteen or fourteen years
of age may readily understand the nature of a syllogism.
If I simply say that " the greatest philosophers are
mortal, for they are but men," 1 reason, — I employ the
elements of a syllogism: thus we have, —
First, I employ the general fact, — that all men are
mortal.
Second, the special fact, coming under the general
class of facts referred to this proposition, — that philoso-
phers are men.
Third, the inference or deduction from this connec-
tion, — that philosophers are mortal.
The first is called the major proposition, the second the
minor proposition, and the third, the conclusion, or new
proposition. Thus, the foregoing reasoning may be put
in the form of a syllogism: —
Major proposition, All men are mortal ,
Minor propn>titi<m, PhiloBophers are men;
Conclusion, Therefore, philosophers are mortal.
In order that our conclusions may be valid, it is neces-
sary not only that the major and minor propositions
SYLLOGISTIC REASONING. 275
should be separately true, but the minor proposition
must belong to the class of facts included in the major
proposition.
Exercise your pupils in putting simple processes of
reasoning (such as those given under the head of rela-
tions in the foregoing article) into the form of a syl-
logism. Require them to name the propositions or
principles taken for granted (are they intuitive, or have
they been proved ?) — the facts alleged to be true (upon
what evidence do they rest ?) — the major and minor pro])-
ositions (is the former true without exception ? does
the later come under the former ?) and so on.
Give instances of false reasoning, and call upon your
pupils to detect them. Let us give a few examples.
Example 1. Point out the error in the following pro-
cess of reasoning.
The diagonals of all parallelograms bisect each other.
Trapezoids are parallelograms ;
Therefore the diagonals of trapezoids bisect each other.
Answer. Here the major proposition is true; but the
minor proposition is not true, that is to say, it is not one
of the class of facts comprehended by the major; there-
fore the conclusion is false.
Example 2. Point out the error in the following pro-
cess of reasoning:
All created beings are mortal,
Angels are created beings;
Therefore angels are mortal.
Answer. Here, the minor proposition is true, but the
major is not true, for we have no ground for such a
belief.
Example 3. Where is the error in the following reason-
ing?
276 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
All human beings are mortal,
Angels are not human beings;
Therefore angels are immortal.
Answer. Here, although the conclusion is true, the
reasoning is false: for since the converse of a proposition
is not always true, we are not entitled to infer that be-
cause human beings are mortal, therfore angels, which
are not human beings, are not mortal.
III. Some of the most common sources of false reasoning
should he pointed out.
1. The admission of alleged facts without a due ex-
amination.
James, we may suppose a master to say to his pupil,
how do you explain the fact that a steel needle will float
upon water?
I don't know, sir; for steel being heavier than water,
I should have thought that the needle Avould sink in
water. In short, sir, 1 question the truth of the alleged
experiment.
Master. That is just what I should have expected
from you (we may suppose the master to say). You
were quite right to examine the truth of an alleged fact,
especially when it appears to interfere with your pre-
vious experience, or at variance with certain general
principles which you know to be true. At the same
time I shall make the experiment, which establishes the
fact, and you will then see, upon further reflection, that
the phenomenon is due to the operation of a certain
principle, which counteracts the tentlency which the
needle has to sink in the fluid. IHustrntions of this
kind may be readily extended by the teacher.
2. Mistaking incidental connections for those that are
SOURCES OF FALSE REASONING. 2Y7
uniform and constant, or confounding accidental coinci-
dence with causation.
Black ribbon being rubbed with the hand becomes
electrified. A child, upon observing the experiment,
may naturally enough conclude that the color of the
ribbon is essential to the result, imless he is shown, by
further experiments, that the effect is independent of
the color, and that the essential or permanent conditions
are that the substance should be silk, and that it should
be perfectly dry.
"This spring, little James was looking at a man who
was mowing the grass before the door. It had been
raining, and when the sun shone the vapor began to rise
from the grass. *Does the man mowing wa^^ the smoke
rise from the grass?' said the little boy. He was not
laughed at for this simple question. The man's mow-
ing immediately preceded the rising of the vapor; the
child had never observed a man mowing before, and
it was absolutely impossible that he could tell what
effects might be produced by it; he very naturally imag-
ined, that the event which immediately preceded the
rising of the vapor was the cause of its rise; the sun
was at a distance; the scythe was near the grass. The
little boy showed by the tone of his inquiry that he was
in a philosophic state of doubt; had he been ridiculed
for his questions, had he been told that he talked non-
sense, he would not upon another occasion have told his
thoughts, and he certainly could not have improved in
reasoning."
The best way to improve the judgment of children,
with respect to the interpretation of natural phenomena,
is to extend their knowledge, and to lead them to make
278 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
experiments, so that, by the repetition of such experi-
ments, they may discover what circumstances are essen-
tial to the production of any given effects, and what are
merely accidental or accessory.
3. Assuming the converse of a proposition to be true.
In mathematics nearly all the converses of propositions
are true; but in general physics and the business of
life, this is far from being the case. Thus, while all
gaseous bodies are elastic, all elastic bodies are not
gaseous. All horses are quadrupeds; but all quadru-
peds are not horses. Angels are immortal; but all im-
mortal beings are not angels. Magnets attract iron
filings; but all bodies which attract iron filings are not
magnetfs, for any electrified body will attract iron filings;
and so on to numberless instances.
4. Confounding a mere illustration, or an analogy,
with a demonstration.
The relation of the times and spaces of a falling body
is commonly illustrated by the division of a triangle into
a series of little triangles, &c.; but something more is
required to raise the character of this illustration to the
dignity of a demonstration.
The whirling of a stone is often used to illustrate the
law of centrifugal and centripetal forces; but this
scarcely advances us a single step in the demonstration
of the great law which regulates the planetary motions.
Illustrations are exceedingly valuable in their places; but
the pupil should never be allowed to regard an illustra-
tion, or analogy, as a ground for dispensing with a full
demonstration. He should be led to regard illustrations
and analogies as preliminary steps to demonstration.
5. In attaching erroneous or ambiguous meanings to
RlTLES FOR THE PURSUlf OF TRUTH. 279
terms; or in using terms in different senses in the course
of an argument.
Much false philosophy is based upon the ambiguities
of language.
Teachers should carefully rectify the verbal errors of
children.
" Turkey is an unhealthy country," said a friend of
mine on-e day to his pupils, "but this is owing more to
the want of precaution on the part of the people, than to
the badness of the climate." The boys did not appear
fully to understand what was said to them. "Pre-
caution," said my friend, "that is a hard word for you
to comprehend, — what boy will tell me the meaning of
this word ? " The boys hesitated — they first stared at
their master, and then at each other, but gave no further
sign of intelligence, — the case was desperate, — they had
got a tickler. My friend then, with the view of ascer-
taining the full amount of their ignorance, said: — " Now
tell me whether precaution is exported or imported."
The bait took, for the head boy of the class at once
shouted out — " Exported, sir ! " — and, as a matter of
course, the answer, went around the class.
6. When we assume, in a disguised form, the principle
which is to be proved.
This is commonly called begging the question.
Or when we take for granted any principle which
requires proof.
In proving, for example, that the angles at the base
of an isosceles triangle are equal to each other, if we
assume that the angles on the other side of the base are
equal to each other, we should take for granted a propo-
280 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
sition which is almost equivalent to the one which is re-
quired to be proved.
IV. Some general rules should be occasionally given to chil-
dren for the conduct of their understanding in the pursuit of
truth.
The following are a few examples of this kind :
Before commencing any inquiry, strip your mind of
all prepossessions, prejudices, or hastily formed opinions,
and yield yourself freely and dispassionately to the
force of truth.. Earnestly seek tho truth. Never argue
in support of opinions which you do not believe; for
the habit of false reasoning distorts and warps the soul,
and tends to confound all distinction of right and wrong:
let the love of truth be your ruling principle. Remem-
ber, that you are responsible, as well for your opinions
and judgments, as for your actions and conduct.
•• Majestic truth; and where Truth deigns to come,
Her sister Liberty will not be far."
Weigh well the validity of your arguments, or, it
may be, the accuracy of your processes of investigation.
Never form hasty conclusions; always ask yourself, be-
fore you have come to a final decision, — Is there no
other view of the case which is as feasible as the one
which I have taken ?
See that your axioms, or first truths, may be fairly
ranked as such. You may explain first truths, but you
cannot prove them.
Be watchful relative to the authenticity of facts. Jii
the formation of your opinions, and in the regulation of
your conduct, give a due weight to all the facts which
ought to influence your decision.
CULTIVATION OF WIT AND INVENTION. 281
Take care that your assumption, or it maybe your de-
finition, does not include the truth of the proposition
which is to be proved. Remember that the converse of
an established proposition may not be true.
Clearly distinguish between an illustration of a truth
and a demonstration of it. Bear in mind that facts
may either illustrate the truth of a principle, or they
may prove the truth of it. In reasoning from analogy,
inquire whether there exist any points of difference be-
tween the analogous cases, which may make the prin-
ciple of reasoning inapplicable.
ON THE CULTIVATION OF WIT AND INVENTION.
Wit is only a peculiar fonn of reason: wit is reason
exercised in search of grotesque resemblances between
things apparently dissimilar. The decisions of judg-
ment, which is another form of reason, are slow — those
of wit are rapid; but the heavy thunder clouds of judg-
ment not unfrequently burst forth in the lightning
flashes of wit. The passage from the settled gravity of
philosophy to the electric gaiety of wit, is easy and not
unnatural. Great philosophers have generally been re-
markable for their wit. The earliest shoots of intel-
lectual growth are witty. It would be well if the
teacher would try to enliven the dull routine of school
duties by occasional sallies of wit and humor. His ex-
ample would soon be followed by his pupils, for nothing
glances from mind to mind more rapidly than the flashes
of wit: such intellectual efforts are singularly procre-
ative— one witty idea soon doubles and triples itself.
Wit and humor, like gleams of sunshine, shed gladness
and joy over a class of children. The great object of
282 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Divine benevolence, says the venerable Dwight, is the
happiest of His creatures; and he who promotes the
happiness of a little child for half an hour, is a fellow-
worker with God.
Invention, considered with respect to reason, consists
in finding out new relations, or in discovering new truths
from, these new relations, and in putting these relations
in such an order or form as to show how new truths
arise out of them.
If schoolmasters would endeavor to foster the devel-
opment of the inventive powers of their pupils, we might
have fewer learned, unproductive drones, but most cer-
tainly we should have more inventors. We have known
boys to make pulleys and other kinds of wheel machines,
electrical machines and other sorts of experimental
apparatus. Boys soon acquire such a passion for con-
struction and invention that they would rather spend
their market half-pence in the purchase of the materials
for construction than in sweetmeats.
In order to cultivate the inventive powers of children,
the teacher, after having supplied them with facts,
might occasionally throw out suggestions like the fol-
lowing: Could you make anything of paper to illustrate
the construction of the smoke-jack, or the wind-mill,
&G.? Can you make a cone, &c.,outof card-paper? In
how many different ways could you divide the ground
floor of a house into three equal apartments? How
would you join three pieces of wood together so as to
make a model of the principal rafters of the roof of a
house ? What would be an improvement to the common
snuffers, &c., &c.? How would you join, without glue,
CULTIVATION OF THE MORAL FACULTIES. 283
in the simplest manner, two pieces of wood so as to
form a T square ? And so on.
CHAP. VII.
CULTIVATION OF THE MORAL FACULTIES.
Man was originally created after the image of his Crea-
tor, in knowledge and holiness: this was absolutely
necessary, in order that the creature should become the
worshipper of the Creator; for we can only have a
knowledge of God by the contemplation of His own
image as it is reflected from our souls. The fall of man
has neither eradicated any principle from his soul, nor
implanted any new one. This disastrous moral catas-
trophe has destroyed the balance of the various mor.al
and intellectual faculties by giving a preponderance to
what we call the malevolent and animal propensities over
the intellectual and moral ones. One great object of
teaching should be to restore, under the blessing of God,
the various faculties of our nature to their first condition
of purity and harmonious action, by stimulating the
intellectual and benevolent affections, by curbing the
undue activity of the selfish and animal propensities,
and by directing them to their original ends and objects.
There is no principle in our nature which, under the
blessing of God, may not be directed to what is good.
In like manner, the fall of man has neither eradicated
any law or principle in physical nature, nor given birth to
284 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
any new or supplemental principle: it merely destroyed
the balance of the various laws operating in nature, by
giving an undue preponderance to the operation of cer-
tain destructive or rather corrective agencies. The
storm and the whirlwind, which at present frequently
spread havoc and desolation over the earth, and the
noisome weeds, which frequently infest the soil, become
evils only from their undue preponderance. But the
providence of God, co-operating with the labor of man,
which can make the wilderness to blossom as the rose,
which can make the dark and howling regions of the
earth become radiant with joy and gladness, can also
illuminate and purge those dark and foul recesses in the
human soul, which have become the seat of gloomy and
demoniacal passions. The same beneficial influence, co-
operating with the better nature of humanity, which can
convert whatever is apparently evil in the external world
into its original usefulness, can also divert the current
of our evil tendencies into a right channel. The pas-
sions of suspicion, anger, hatred, and revenge, which
arm the midnight assassin with the dagger or the poison
cup, may be legitimately directed to the detection of
error, to the denunciation of vice, or to the punishment
of crime. " Woe unto you," says He who had no guile,
"Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like
unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautifully
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of
all uncleanness." The love of self, which, in the form
of selfishness, is really the most fruitful source of the
moral evils which at present exist in the world, may
become the mainspring of religion; — " Why will ye die !
O house of Israel." Pride, or the consciousness of
CULTIVATION OF THE MOKAL FACULTIES. 285
power, which often leads us to despise what is humble
and to oppress what is weak, may shield us from the
meanness of falsehood, or raise us above the contami-
nation of folly. Rashness and temerity, which often
result in misery to ourselves, and in discomfort to our
friends, may assume the form of that high-toned moral
courage which is one of the most essential elements of
true greatness. Ambition, combined with inflexible
purpose, which like a giant in its strength tramples upon
whatever stands in its path, and ruthlessly sacrifices all
that is great or holy at its shrine, may lead us to glory
in what is good, and to esteem it a greater honor to be
a door-keeper in the house of God than to be a dweller
in the tents of sin. The love of approbation, which in
its vitiated form manifests itself in a vain and heartless
display of our own powers, may, under proper guidance,
stimulate us to merit the approbation of the good and
great, and above all to seek the approbation of God and
our own conscience. The man whose soul has been ex-
panded by philosophy and sublimated by virtue and re-
ligion, possesses the same faculties as the being whose
soul has been cramped and enervated by ignorance, and
corrupted and debased by crime. What a contrast
between two things possessing the same elements ! the
one is like the sparkling and indestructible diamond,
radiant with all the hues of heaven's own light; the
other is like the charcoal, black, crumbling, shapeless,
and worthless. The great business of education, there-
fore, is not to eradicate any principle of our nature, but
to direct all our faculties towards their proper objects —
to foster what is good and to check the development of
what may tend to evil.
286 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
All the moral faculties, without exception, should be
trained from the earliest infancy; for they manifest
themselves at a much earlier period than the higher
faculties of intellect. *' Train a child," says the inspired
writer, " in the way in which he should go, and when he
is old he will not depart from it." The moral training
of a child is, of course, best conducted by his parents,
and especially by his mother. Home is the proper sphere
of moral training; the earthly parent possesses, in this
respect, the delegated authority of the heavenly Parent;
and any system of school education which seeks to
ignore this heaven-stamped authority, must be bad, not
only in its principle, but also inexpedient and errone-
ous in its practice. But do parents undertake this
sacred duty ? or are they always willing to perform it
in an efficient manner ? If parents do not (and we fear
that many of them in the present state of society fall
far short in this respect), is the teacher qualified, or is
he authorized, to undertake the sacred function ? The
question is difficult to answer when put in this com-
prehensive form. At least, however, we may safely say
that he may fairly endeavor, to the best of his abilities
and opportunities, to educate the child placed under his
care in those grand and essential truths of morality and
religion which are recognized by the great body of the
people in this country. But the teacher should always
endeavor to enlist the co-operation of the parents, in
training the moral faculties of their children. There are
few parents so far sunk in ignorance and crime, as to
remain callously indifferent to the remonstrance of a
teacher relative to the future well-being of their own
children. What parents would desire that their own
CULTIVATION OF THE MORAL FACULTIES. 287
moral degradation should be perpetuated in their
children ? The instnictive and disinterested love of the
parent concecrates every moral lesson which he may
give to his offspring. No school teacher can possibly
place himself in the same attitude in relation to his pupil.
"There is a love of offspring," says the eloquent author
of the Natural History of Enthusiasm, "that knows no
restrictive reasons; that extends to any length of
jjersonal suffering or toil; a feeling of absolute self-re-
nunciation, whenever the interests of children involve a
compromise of the comforts or tastes of the parent.
There is a love in children in which self-love is drowned;
a love, which when combined with intelligence and
firmness, sees through, and oasts aside, every pretext of
personal gratification, and which steadily pursues the
highest and most remote welfare of its object, with the
determination at once of an animal instinct, and of a well
considered, rational purpose. There is a species of love
not liable to be worn by time, or slackened, as, from
year to year, children become less and less dependent
upon parental care: — it is a feeling which possesses the
energy of the most vehement passions, along with the
calmness and appliancy of the gentlest affections; a
feeling purged, as completely as any human sentiment
can be, of the grossness of the earth : and which seems
to have been conferred upon human nature as a sample
of emotions proper to a higher sphere."
The moral and religious training of children would be
greatly advanced if our clergy would frequently address
parents from the pulpit, on the best methods of con-
ducting home education; and also if the teacher, along
with the clergyman, would frequently visit the parents
288 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
of his pupils, with the view of showing them how to
proceed with the training of their children at home.
I. All moral training should he based upon religion.
Avaunt, that heartless secular system of training
which would inculcate moral precepts apart from the
sublime and soul-inspiring doctrines of revelation! Be-
gone, with your tape-line and scissors, we do not want
morality doled out to us by the measure! Begone, thou
sneering spirit of scepticism, with all your fine-spun
moral theories of expediency, brought forward to sup-
plant the sublime doctrine of salvation by faith ; you
cannot disguise your cloven foot! Begone from the land
of honest old England — Christian England; destroy not
the quiet happiness which reigns in her hearths and
homes! Back to sceptical France, if you please; if not
there, then back to your native hell, and leave God-fear-
ing teachers to do God's work!
Away with those false metaphysics which would per-
suade us that the idea of God is too subtle for the mind
of a child. Its heartless propounders, no doubt, gauge
the capabilities of the virgin soul of the child by their
own narrow, sin-scorched natures. A more expansive
and practical philosophy tells us that there is no concep-
tion which more easily assimilates itself to the infant
soul, than the idea of the Creator. The idea of God is
directly manifested to us through His Spirit. The Spirit
of God, where is it? where is it not? It pervades all
matter and all space; but it specially manifests itself in
the sanctified human soul, in the form of the third per-
son of the glorious Trinity; and we are told, by Christ,
VENERATION AND FAITH. 289
that the kingdom of heaven will be especially composed
of little children.
II. The teacher should^ above all things, cultivate the senti-
ments of veneration and faith.
Children instinctively venerate what is great and holy;
and that teacher is guilty of the grossest impiety, who
does not foster and develop, on all fitting occasions, the
devotional affections of his pupils. There is scarcely any
subject of instruction without having its religious bear-
ing. Besides the direct and positive religious instruction,
usually given in our schools, the good teacher will avail
himself of every incidental opportunity for inculcating
moral and religious duties. The wisdom and goodness
of God, as manifested in the works of His hands, afford
one of the best means for cultivating the devotional
sentiments of children; — the adaptation of the structure
of animals to their instinct, and to their habits of life, —
the relations of the great physical laws to each other,
and to the essential purposes of vegetable and animal
life, — the intimate connection between the laws of the
physical and moral world, — all these, and many other evi-
dences of divine wisdom and goodness, are highly
calculated to foster and develop the devotional senti-
ments of children.
The love and fear of God should be made the main-
spring of all their actions. Children should be taught
to do good, because it pleases their Father which is in
heaven, and to avoid what is evil, because it offends
Him. There is no sure anchor for the human soul but
that infantine faith in the love and goodness of God,
which exhibits itself in the following forms: faith in
J
290 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
God's providence; — faith in His promises, ps revealed
in His holy word; — faith in His Son Jesus Christ for
salvation; — faith in the moral government of God, and
that, under this government, society is advancing towards
the millenium period, when humanity will have achieved
for itself that intellectual and moral emancipation from
the thraldom of ignorance, and from the slavery of sin,
which prophets have foretold, and of which inspired
poets have sung.
Teachers ! instruct your children how to pray. Won-
derful arrangement of divine mercy ! the tones of that
feeble child's voice ascend from earth to heaven, and
rising far beyond the visible universe, they reverberate
through the mansions of the blessed and reach the ear
of Divinity; and God, well pleased with that little child,
deigns to answer the prayer ! That prayer descends to
the lowest depths of hell, and makes the damned to
gnash their teeth. Teachers ! a poor, guilty child of
earth tells you to teach your children to pray; but the
admonition should not come with less force on account
of the unworthiness of the being that gives it, inasmuch
as you may regard it, should you think proper, as the
tribute which an unauthorized layman pays to religion.
HI. Teachers should constantly cultivate the benevolent affec-
tions of children.
The exercise of the benevolent affections affords us
one of the purest and highest sources of pleasure. Chil-
dren should be shown that it is their interest, as well as
their duty to love one another, — to be kind, forbearing,
and forgiving in their tempers, — and to be ever seeking
to promote the comfort and happiness of their com-
THE BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 291
parnoiis in preference to their own gratification. Tell
them that when we pray to God (in our Lord's prayer)
to forgive us our trespasses, that same prayer bases the
petition on the assumed fact that we forgive them that
trespass against us. But goodness of heart should not
only proceed from virtuous impulse, — it should also be
sanctified by proper motives: children should be taught
to love one another, because love is the fulfilling of the
law, — because God is love — ^because He has manifested
His love in their creation, in their preservation, and in
their redemption.
The school-room should he a happy place. That school is
little better than a pandemonium, where the boys are
allowed to quarrel and fight with one another. Malice,
cruelty, and all vindictiveness of character, are a perpet-
ual source of misery to their possessor, as well as to all
with whom he comes in contact: on the contrary, gen-
tleness, forbearance, and mercy, diffuse joy and glad-
ness throughout the whole school.
'• The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppetli as tlie gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes!
'Tis mightiest in the migiitiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptered sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this—
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation ! We do pray for mercy ;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy."
292 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Good-natured children are always cheerful and happy,
and they become a source of happiness to all their com-
panions; but ill-natured, spiteful children become the
plague-spots of a school, — they make ev^erybody about
them miserable. A happy, cheerful disposition is not
only salutary as regards its moral influence, but it is also
one of the most indispensable conditions of intellectual
progress.
IV. The benevolent affections^ as well as all the other moral
faculties, should he cultivated so as to become habits of action.
We have already explained the importance of estab-
lishing right habits of thought as well as virtuous habits
of action; we have here only further to reiterate that,
in order to establish habits of virtue and religion, the
teacher should constantly enforce the performance of all
important duties at their proper time and in their fitting
place; for it should always be borne in mind that the
neglecting to perform any duty at the time assigned
for it, tends to weaken the habit which we wish to
establish.
V. The teacher must educate the moral faculties of his pupils
by his example as well as by his precepts.
Example bears the same relation to moral science that
experiment does to physical science: you cannot thor-
oughly teach abstract principles without giving them a
tangible form, — "a local habitation and a name." A
teacher's life and conversation should, in all respects,
become the living form and embodiment of his precepts.
But the discrepancy between our precepts and practice
haa assumed the form of a common adage, " Do as I say,
INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. 293
and not as I do." The teacher, of all men in society,
should be the most watchful. He necessarily impresses
the leading features of his own moral character upon his
pupils. What an awful responsibility this involves !
What a moral power he wields for good or for evil !
Each grain of truth or falsehood which he sows in the
field of his labor will multiply itself inde6nitely through-
out eternity.
No motion or dynamical action can be lost in the
physical world; so in like manner, in moral dynamics,
the results of our actions will flow on through indefinite
ages: what finite mind can investigate that moral for-
mula which shall express the remote bearings of a single
example of vicious conduct ! Every moral precept given
by a teacher to his class, and every act performed by
him before his class, will live long after he is dead, and
will perpetuate itself a thousand-fold in distant ages.
How awful is the responsibility of the teacher ! Every
wrong word uttered by him, and every improper act
done by him, v^ill, as regards its remote consequences,
be recorded again and again in the doom-book of God,
there to stand as damning blots against him till the
great day of reckoning !
The thistledown from a single thistle, if left unchecked,
will soon spread the weed over a whole district. A
single plague-spot is sufficient to give rise to the con-
tagion which may depopulate a city. In like manner,
one symptom of moral corruption in the personal char-
acter of a teacher may be the cause of amoral contagion
which shall spread far and wide, and influence the des-
tinies of future ages.
The teacher should bev^are of acquiring any habits
294 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
calculated to provoke censorious remarks. Children are
keenly alive to any defects or imperfections in their
teacher. It is almost impossible for any teacher to ap-
pear what he really is not, before his pupils; his weak-
nesses are sure to become a matter of ridicule, and his
faults a subject of censure; and it would be well if the
evil stopped here; but it does not, for children insen-
sibly, and even in spite of their better feelings, imitate
the manners and conduct of their superiors in knowledge
and station: to laugh at folly does not shield us from its
attack, and to animadvert upon what is vicious is no
guarantee that we are raised above its contamination.
We have sometimes heard conversations like the follow-
ing going on amongst school-boys: —
" I say, Tom, what a fine white choker teacher has
got."
" Do you think that he washed his face this morning ? "
" To be sure he did, but he has stuffed his nose into
his snuff-box."
"Don't you think, Jim, that you could give the lesson
as well as master, if you had that book of his ? "
" How slow master speaks." *' Hold your tongue,
man; don't you see that he is thinking what he'll say
next?"
"I do believe that master was a drinking last night,
for he's half a sleep while he's a talking." *' llow" very
polite. Why don't you return the nod of the gentle-
man ? "
" Do you think he could do that sum without the key,
which he always peeps into when he's puzzled ? "
"Don't you think that master would give a better
INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. 296
lesson without that bit of paper, which he's always a
looking at ? "
"I wonder where he copied his notes from." "Do
you see that there little book that is lying on his desk ?
Well, he took them from that, for I saw him while we
were saying our tables."
" I don't care about being late for school; — teacher is
often late himself."
*' What a raging passion master sometimes puts him-
self in; I wonder if he would like to be struck with a
stick as he sometimes strikes me."
" How awfully long teacher makes the prayers. Do
you think that he could pray without the book? " " I
don't understand the prayers: they seem to be written
for men and women, and not for little boys like us."
'* Teacher never called once upon me, for all the time
I was ill."
" Do you know where teacher goes to of a night ?
He goes to the cricketer's suppers; I saw him once
myself coming out of the * White Hart ' late of a
night."
Our moral duties may be classed under three heads,
viz.: (1) our duty to ourselves; (2) our duty to our
neighbor; and (3) our duty to our God. To treat this
subject adequately, or to give all the rules and maxims
by which our moral faculties may be cultivated, in rela-
tion to these duties, would more properly belong to a
treatise on ethics, rather than to a work on school edu-
cation. There are, however, three cardinal school virtues
which demand the special attention of every school-
master: these cardinal school virtues are (1) Truthful-
ness; (2) Honesty; and (3) Humility.
296 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
ON THE CULTIVATION OP TRUTHFULNESS.
Truthfulness is said, by Professor Moseley, to be the
great central pillar of the school-room. All cases of
falsehood and deceit should be promptly denounced, and
even the slightest evidence of prevarication, cunning, or
hypocrisy, should be unmasked and exposed to reproba-
tion. The concealment of truth is, in many cases, as
great a crime as a direct falsehood. Boys too readily
fall into a habit of adhering to the truth as regards the
letter, but violate it as regards the spirit and intention.
In such cases, the teacher should carefully exj^lain to
his pupils the true character of a lie; — that they tell a
lie whenever they say anything, or do anything, with the
intention of deceiving others. Mr. A. entered his school
one day, and found what appeared to him to be a piece
of cotton rag pinned to the coat-tail of one of the boys,
but which was, in reality, a piece of flannel. " Who
pinned that bit of rag to this boy's coat-tail ? " said he
to his class; but no boy had moral courage enough to
auswer him. He looked round his class, and observed
the evidences of guilt in the countenance of little
Tommy Teaser, who was always the ringleader in all
sorts of spiteful pranks. "Now, Tommy," said Mr. A.,
"tell me the truth; did you pin that cotton rag to tliis
boy's coat-tail?" "Please, sir," answered Tommy, "I
did not pin any cotton rag to his coat-tail." Mr. A. was
not satisfied — he felt confident that the boy had told a
falsehood; but being always very careful in making any
direct charge of falsehood without a full evidence of the
fact, he patiently and cautiously made further inquiries.
"Please, sir," at length said a little boy, "it is a bit of
"iHU CtjLTlVATlOJi Oi' 'r&tTHJ'ULKES^. 29^
flannel, not a cotton rag." " Oh, that is it," said Mr.
A., " and Tommy Teaser tried to deceive me by appar-
ently adhering to the letter of the fact, while he lied in
spirit and intention. Now, my boys, he has not only
practised a piece of deception upon rae, but he has also
lied to himself by attempting to silence his own con-
science. Do always remember, my children, that you
tell a lie when you say or do anything with the intention
to deceive others. I propose, as a punishment for this
great crime, that Tommy Teaser shall not be allowed to
enter the play-ground for the next two days. Do you
not consider that this punishment is only fit and proper ? "
" Yes, sir," was the response of the class.
We should endeavor to keep, as far as possible, all-
temptations to lying and deceit out of a child's way.
The fear of punishment, the love of gain and the love
of approbation are the great causes of lying in the
school-room. Whenever temptations to lying are una-
voidably incurred, the teacher should be more than usu-
ally careful and watchful. When a boy, for example,
is suspected of having committed a fault, it may not be
wise to ask him the direct question, — " Did you do this ?"
for in such case a great majority of timid boys would
most certainly tell a falsehood in order to shield them-
selves from punishment: lying is most frequently a
cowardly act. Again, in the conducting of school ex-
aminations, great care and delicacy should be observed
to PREVENT the boys from practising any deceit: here
the love of approbation is the chief temptation to the
practice of falsehood or deceit, as the case may be. The
teacher should frequently illustrate the evil consequences
of lying, by stories and anecdotes: the fable of the
298 PHILOSOPHY Of EDUCATION.
*' Shepherd Boy and the Wolf " is an excellent example.
The teacher should in all things be an example to his
pupils in honesty and truthfulness. He should espec-
ially guard against disingenuous concealment of his own
ignorance, or that ridiculous pretension to universal
knowledge which too often leads him to mystify what
he cannot explain. The best apology for ignorance is
the acknowledgment of it; and the highest practical
lesson of truthfulness is the candid confession of error.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the reciprocal con-
fidence and trust which subsist between the honest
teacher and his truth-loving pupils. But if one link in
the chain of confidence be broken, the whole is des-
troyed. " When once a child detects you in equivoca-
tion," observes Miss Edge worth," you lose his confidence;
his incredulity will then be as extravagant as his former
belief was gratuitous. It is in vain to expect, by the
most eloquent manifestoes, or by the most secret
leagues offensive and defensive, to conceal your real
views, sentiments and actions from children. Their
interest keeps their attention continually awake; not a
word, not a look, in which they are concerned, escapes
them; they see, hear and combine with sagacious rapid-
ity: if falsehood be in the wind, detection hunts her to
discovery. Honesty is the best policy, must be the
maxim in education, as well as in all the other affairs of
life."
It is almost impossible to conquer the hateful habit of
lying and prevarication after they have been confirmed
by long practice. So remarkable is the habit amongst
a large body of the laboring population in this country,
that they really feel a pleasure in deceiving people, and
THE CULTIVATION OF TRUTHFULNESS. 299
regard a well-told falsehood as the very highest evidence
of superior intellect.
The following graphic description of the character of
the Irish laborer may be regarded as the type of cun-
ning and deceit which exists amongst the uneducated
classes of all countries: —
" All who are governed by any species of fear are dis-
posed to equivocation. Amongst the lower class of Irish
laborers and under-tenants^ a class of people who are
much oppressed, you can scarcely meet with any man
who will give you a direct answer to the most indifferent
question; their whole ingenuity, and they have a great
deal of ingenuity, is upon the qui vive with you the
instant you begin to speak: they either pretend not to
hear, that they may gain time to think, whilst you re-
peat your question, or they reply to you with a fresh
question to draw out your remote meaning; for they,
judging by their own habits, always think you have a
remote meaning, and they never can believe that your
words have no intention to ensnare; simplicity puzzles
them much more than wit. For instance, if you were to
ask the most direct and harmless question, as, * Did it
rain yesterday ?' The first answer would probably be,
*Is it yesterday you mean ?' * Yes, yesterday ! ' *No,
please your honor, I wasn't at the bog at all yesterday,
— wasn't I after setting my potatoes?' * My good
friend, I don't know what you mean about the bog; I
only asked you whether it rained yesterday ?' 'Please
your honor, I couldn't get a car and horse any way, to
draw home my little straw, or I'd have the house
thatched long ago.' 'Cannot you give me a plain
answer to this plain question — Did it rain yesterday ? '
300 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
* Oh sure, I wouldn't go tell your honor a lie about the
matter. Sorrah much it rained yesterday after twelve
o'clock, barring a few showers.'
" Oppression and terror necessarily produce meanness
and deceit in all climates, and in all ages; and wherever
fear is the governing motive of education, we must
expect to find in children a propensity to dissimulation,
if not confirmed habits of falsehood. Look at the true-
born Briton under the government of a tyrannical peda-
gogue, and listen to the language of inborn truth; in the
whining tone, in the pitiful evasions, in the stubborn
falsehoods which you hear from the school-boy, can you
discover any of the innate dignity of soul which is the
boasted national characteristic? Look again; look at
the same boy, in the company of those who inspire no
terror; in the company of his school-fellows, of his
friends, of his parents; would you know him to be the
same being? His countenance is open, his attitude
erect, his voice firm, his language free and fluent, his
thoughts are upon his lips, he speaks truth without
effort, without fear. Where individuals are oppressed,
or where they believe that they are oppressed, they
combine against their oppressors, and oppose cunning
and falsehood to power and force; they think them-
selves released from the compact of truth with their
masters, and bind themselves in a strict league with
each other; thus school-boys hold no faith with their
school-masters, though they would think it shameful to
be dishonorable amongst one another."
ON THE CULTIVATION OF HONESTY.
Picking and stealing is peculiarly the besetting sin of
HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE. 301
the children of the poor. When a boy has once ac-
quired this odious habit, it is almost impossible to cure
him of it. The slightest evidences of dishonesty should
be promptly checked. The teacher should frequently
show, by examples, how petty acts of pilfering lead to
the gallows. He should promptly and carefully check
all the incipient forms of dishonesty, such as the im-
proper use of the property of others; the disposition to
defraud others of their just claim; and so on. While
the teacher should never allow his boys to think that he
suspects them capable of dishonesty, at the same time
he should not throw temptation unnecessarily in their
way. The adage, " Suspect a man, and you make him a
rogue — trust him, and you make him honest," should be
acted upon with caution. The temptations to dishonesty
in the school-room chiefly originate in an undue love of
property; in the love of luxuries; in the want of the
necessaries of existence; and in malevolence of disposi-
tion. In trying to keep children honest, the teacher
should look well to the motives which may be operating
to lead them into the commission of crime, and they
should be dealt with accordingly.
HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE.
The virtues of humility and docility form the bright-
est and most lovely ornaments in the infant character.
They not only tend to promote the order and discipline
of a school, but they, at the same time, induce that
happy condition of mind which is most favorable for
the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, super-
ciliousness and conceit are not only the most prolific
sources of disorder and disorganization in a school, but
302 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
they, at the same time, not unfreqnently entail upon
their possessors the irremediable doom of stationary
ignorance. Conceit is the most enfeebling of all our
passions, and little hope can be entertained of that boy's
future career in life, who indulges himself with the fal-
lacious idea that he has arrived at the ne plm ultra of
knowledge.
I. In order to foster a spirit of hutmlity^ the teacher should
show his pupils some of the mighty results which men
of science have achieved; he should show what inscrut-
able mysteries there are still in nature, which have
hitherto baffled the comprehension of the greatest in-
tellects; he should show them that the greatest philoso-
phers have always been the most remarkable for humil-
ity of character — Newton, for example, wHo compared
himself to a little child picking up pebbles upon the sea-
shore; he should tell them of the humility of Jesus, who
left his seat on the throne of the universe to take upon
himself our nature, and closed a life of sorrow by a
death of agony, that he might restore a guilty world to
the favor of its offended God.
II. If the habit of obedience be proper It/ cultivated, the child
will promptly and cheerfully perform all the exercises and dis-
charge all duties assigned to hnn by his teacher. A due atten-
tion to home exercises, a punctual attendance at
school, and a prompt attention to all the class arrange-
ments, should be constantly and strictly enforced by
the teacher. Children should never be allowed to fol-
low their own whims in preference to the commands of
their master, nor should they be permitted to depart
from the general rules of the school under any specious
Subjects o¥ iKstkuction. 308
pretence, without the direct sanction of their master.
The spoilt child is always seeking to escape from con-
trol; and the teacher should be very careful how he
allows himself to he swayed by the caprices of the little
tyrant. The little world of the school-room may be
regarded as a type of the great world, where there must
be a supreme ruler and a proper subordination of one
authority to another, and where the duty of all is
obedience to the claims of the ruler. Taking this aspect
of the matter, a properly organized school, therefore,
may tend to foster that spirit of obedience and content-
ment which is so intimately connected with national
peace, order, and prosperity. If children have not been
vitiated by bad examples or by improper training, they
will have an instinctive faith in the judgment and good
intentions of their teacher; and, as a necessary conse-
quence, they will eagerly receive his instructions, and
implicitly obey his commands. But if the teacher once
deceives them by practising upon their credulity, or if
he once treats them with harshness or injustice, then
his power over them is lost forever. Thus, the disobedi-
ence of children is often the result of improper manage-
ment of the teacher. No good teacher will require his
pupils to perform any important duty without showing
them the reasonableness of that duty; at the same time,
it must be observed that the highest evidence of docility
of character is manifested where the pupils promptly
and implicitly obey the commands of their master.
CLASSIFICATION OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION IN RELA-
TION TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND
MORAL FACULTIES.
Religion constitutes the great fundamental basis
304 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
upon which all the intellectual and moral faculties
should be cultivated.
Writing and Drawing cultivate the perceptive and
imitative faculties, and, if properly taught, tend especially
to cultivate the taste and foster a love of the beautiful.
Mental Arithmetic cultivates the memory and the
powers of conception and reasoning. It also especially
fosters the habit of promptitude, presence of mind, and
mental activity.
Arithmetic cultivates the reasoning powers, and in-
duces habits of exactness and order.
Grammar especially cultivates the memory and the
conceptive faculties.
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy cultivate the
reasoning powers chiefly in relation to the acquisition of
necessary truths; they also cultivate habits of abstraction.
The Physical Sciences exercise the observing and
perceptive faculties, cultivate all the reasoning powers
in the highest degree, and lead us to appreciate the
force of moral evidence. If properly taught, they also
foster the sentiment of devotion.
Poetry and Works of Fiction specially cultivate
the imagination, the taste, and the moral feelings.
Biography, History, and Narratives specially
awaken the faculty of attention, and cultivate the mem-
ory. They also exercise the moral affections, and lead
to the formation of habits of reflection and self-inquiry.
Music cultivates the taste, and refines and elevates
the moral feelings.
Intellectual and Moral Philosophy cultivate all
the higher faculties of our nature, and induce habits of
abstraction and self-examination.
SYSTEMS OP INSTRUCTION. 3 05
Part III.
ON THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF DIFFERENT
METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTION.
The systems of instruction, at present in use, are — the
individual system; the collective system; the monitorial
or pupil-teacher system; and the system of home in-
struction.
These systems may be carried out on any of the plans
or methods of giving instruction which we have de-
scribed. The most important of these methods are as
follows: the synthetic and analytic methods, which may
be either demonstrative or dogmatic; the interrogative,
or catechetical method; the simultaneous method, which
may be employed in the ordinary Ibrm of questioning,
or in connection with the elliptical method; the lectur-
ing method.
SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCnON.
1. The Individual and Collective Methods.
The individual system may be used with advantage in
small schools, especially if it be occasionally associated
with collective teaching, and in constant co-operation
with the system of home instruction. By the individual
system of teaching, the master is more fully able to
adapt his instruction to the peculiar capabilities of his
pupils; at the same time, it is not so much calculated to
SQ6 PHILOSOPHY OF EDt;cATro>r.
engage their sympathies, or to arouse the principle of
emulation, as collective teaching. Individual teaching
may be conducted after any of the leading methods or
forms of communicating knowledge; that is to say, it
may be either synthetic or analytic, demonstrative or
dogmatic, lecturing or catechetical, &c. If the upper
classes of a school are well supplied with good text-
books, individual instruction becomes very effective,
when it is associated with self-instruction. In this case,
the master has merely to give an occasional glance at
the work of each pupil, and to give him, time after
time, such hints as may be required to stimulate him in
proceeding with his work. Individual instruction, as it
is practised in most> of our Scottish schools, is merely
supplemental to the system of home education. Here
the parents are the real instructors, and the master
merely directs, controls or tests the progress of his
pupils, who are to get up their lessons, tasks, &c., under
the parental authority.
But, whatever may be the advantages of individual
instruction, it is utterly impracticable, as a general sys-
tem, in the common schools of this country. An easy
process of arithmetic will show that a master of a school
containing one hundred and twenty children could not
give more than five minutes' individual attention to each
boy in the course of a day ! So that, after all, we have
not to consider the abstract question, — whether the in-
dividual or the collective system is the best; but which
of the two systems, under existing circumstances, is best
calculated to give the greatest amount of instruc-
tion TO THE GREATEST NUMBER IN A LIMITED TIME. A
modern teacher showm his tnct and skill by multiplying
SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTION. 307
and subdividing his power, and by acting on numbers at
once. The great point to be considered, in the manage-
ment of a large school, is, not how you may rapidly ad-
vance a few scholars, but how you should classify,
arrange and instruct a large number of boys, differing
in age, knowledge, and capacity, so as to give the
greatest amount of instruction to them, as a whole. A
master who is skilful in the management of numbers and
who has practised the collective system, may teach a
hundred boys at one time, on certain subjects, adapted
for gallery lessons, as efficiently as he could teach one
boy: and with a proper arrangement of classes, and a
large blackboard, he could give more efficient instruction
to a class of twenty or thirty boys, on almost any sub-
ject of education, than he could give in the same time
to a single pupil. A good teacher always seeks to em-
ploy his energies to the greatest advantage: he rarely,
if ever, wastes his strength upon one or two boys; what
he does for the benefit of one boy, he does in such a
way as to conduce to the benefit of his whole class
While he teaches his own class, he, at the same time
directs the movements of half a dozen contiguous classes
placed under the management of his monitors or pupil
teachers. The motive power of the master is every
where performing available work: amid the wear and
tear of his various avocations, he economizes the ex-
penditure of his labor, by constantly keeping in view
the principle of acting with the greatest efficiency on
the greatest possible number. Like the machine which
drives a hundred spindles, weaves cloth, blows fur-
naces, &c., he never departs from the great end of his
labor, or for one moment relaxes his directing and all-
308 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
controlling power. But all this requires great skill,
energy, decision and conscientious perseverance. The
modern schoolmaster holds no sinecure's place.
The collective system of teaching should never be era-
ployed in schools where the pupils are not properly
classified. The pupils to whom a collective lesson is
given, should be nearly about the same stage of mental
culture.
II. Home Education.
We have already shown that the master of a family is
God's vicegerent in relation to the education of all the
members of his household; and that every good teacher
will act in co-operation with a proper system of home
instruction. The school subjects most eligible for home
study are — religious knowledge, writing, drawing, arith-
metic, grammar, geography, and reading lessons. Those
subjects are best adapted for home exercises which ad-
mit of being exactly defined, and of being readily tested:
boys work the most industriously when they can see the
results of their labor. Hence it is that drawing and
arithmetic are the best of all subjects for home study.
Drawing cards should be given to the pupils to be copied
at home; and exercises on arithmetic, grammar, geog-
raphy, &c., should be given them out of text-books,
which they should be allowed to take home with them.
The master should always have a certain time set ai)art
for reviewing and correcting these home exercises: with
a ])roper system of management, a few minutes every
morning would suffice; and occasional hints should be,
time after time, given to the parents, relative to their
duties in carrying out the system of home instruction.
SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTION. 309
Such a course would not be without its influence on the
character of the parents themselves.
We suggest the following, as a routine of home les-
sons, for the upper classes in an elementary school:
Monday Evening . . . Drawing and Practical Ge-
ometry.
Tuesday " ... Definitions of Grammar,
Grammatical Exercises,
and Map-Drawing.
Wednesday " ... Arithmetic, or Algebra, and
Tables.
Thursday " ... Texts of Scripture and
Writing.
Friday *' ... Arithmetic, Drawing, and
Reading Lessons.
III. The Pupil-Teacher System.
We regard the pupil-teacher system as one of the
greatest improvements which have taken place in modern
education. No school, whatever may be its character,
should be without pupil-teachers. The advantages of
the system are two-fold: (1) It constitutes the best
nursery for schoolmasters. (2) It forms the great ele-
ment of the order and organization of a large school,
and gives power and efficiency to the whole system of
instruction.
The pupil- teachers should be adequately paid, and the
master should always set apart a certain time for their
special instruction, not only in the ordinary subjects of
technical learning, but also on the subject of method as
applied to education. The master should register the
310 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
progress which they make in the different subjects of
instruction, and he should especially note down the
manner in which they teach their classes, in order that
he may be able to correct their faults, and to stimulate
and improve their teaching powers. The master should
always base his opinion of the teaching power of pupil-
teachers upon the results of their teaching, and not upon
any preconceived theory. The master should keep a
register for recording these results. This registration
of the results of different methods of teaching will not
only advance his own knowledge of method, but will
also form the proper basis of his criticisms upon the
lessons given by his pupil-teachers.
The pupil-teachers should prepare all their lessons,
and the master should inspect their notes, before the
lessons are given to the children.
IV. The Mixed System.
Our best schools are conducted on a mixed system of
instruction, comprehending all the leading features of
the particular systems just described. The peculiar
combination of the systems must alw^ays be determined
by the nature of the school and the peculiar circum-
stances connected with it. In very large primary schools
where the pu])ils can never reach a high standard of
technical attaiimient, the system of instruction must
necessarily consist almost exclusively of a combination
of the collective and pupil-teacher systems; but in a
small school, or where the school is provided with a
good staff of pupil- teachers or assistant masters, the in-
dividual and home systems of instruction should have a
greater degree of prominence given to them. The indi-
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 311
vidual and home systems should, if possible, be fre-
quently employed in the instruction of the advanced
classes.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.
I. Synthetic and Analytic Methods.
As a general rule, the synthetic method is best adapted
for elementary instruction. In order to employ this
method with efficiency, the teacher should first analyze
the subject which he is about to teach, that is to say, he
should separate it, or subdivide it into its elements or
parts, and then he should put these elements or parts
together in such a manner as to conduct the minds of
his pupils, step by step, to the general principles which
he wishes to inculcate or establish. After the teacher
has given a synthetic development of a subject, he may
frequently show, with advantage, how the same subject
may be treated analytically. Demonstrative geometry
affords us some of the best illustrations of these two
methods of teaching.
The analytic method of teaching is best used in con-
nection with text-books and reading-books. After the
pupils have read a certain portion of a book, the teacher
may proceed to analyze the subject-matter, by the usual
method of interrogation. At the same time we cannot
help observing that a really good master will never
allow himself to be fettered with text-books, however
good they may be in themselves. A crutch is only use-
ful to the lame and halting; so, in like mg^nner, a text-
book is only useful to him who is too feeble to depend
upon his own resources.
312 PHILOSOPHY OP fiDUCATlOl?.
These methods may be frequently used, with advan^
tage, in combination with each other. The most gen-
eral rules of education have their exceptions, and,
therefore, no teacher should blindly adhere to any gen-
eral rule.
EXAMPLES OF THE SYNTHETIC AND ANALYTIC METHODS
OF TEACHING.
Let US suppose, for example, that the teacher wishes
to explain to his pupils the law of descending bodies;
then he would proceed in the following manner: — (1) By
the synthetic method. If a stone be let fall from the
top of a high tower, you will find that it will move more
and more rapidly as it falls. During the first second of
its descent it will fall through the space of sixteen feet.
At the end of the second second of its descent it will
have fallen through four times sixteen feet; here the
time is two seconds, and the number of feet is found by
squaring the 2, and multiplying by 16; that is, the space,
in feet, is equal to 2^^ X 16. At the end of the third
second of its descent it will have fallen through nine
times sixteen feet; here the time is three seconds, and
the number of feet is found by squaring the 3 and multi-
plying by 16, that is, the space in feet is equal to 3^ X 16.
And so on to any number of seconds. You see, then,
that the number of feet passed over by a falling body
in any given number of seconds is found by squaring the
number of seconds and multiplying that result by 16;
thus, the number of feet passed over by a falling body
in three seconds is equal to nine times sixteen feet, or
one hundred and forty-four feet. (2) By the analytic
method. The space passed over by a falling body
TWO POEMS OP INTERROGATION. 313
increases with the square of the time; that is to say, the
space in feet is equal to the square of the number of
seconds of the body's fall multiplied by 16. Thus, in
two seconds the number of feet through which the body
will fall is equal to 2 squared multiplied by 16, or 64
feet; and so on to any other number of seconds.
Generally speaking, the analytic form is more concise
than the synthetic.
II. Interrogative or Catechetical Method.
The interrogative or catechetical method of teaching
may be used for two distinct purposes: (1) For the
purpose of examination, or for simply testing the pro-
gress of the pupils. (2) For the purpose of conveying
instruction: when interrogation is employed in this
form, we have called it the method of suggestive in-
terrogation. This method may be used either for indi-
vidual teaching or for collective teaching: the observa-
tions which we have to give on this method are especially
applied to the latter.
The rules to be observed in using the method of inter-
rogation in these two forms, are, in some respects, very
different. But the following rules are common to both
forms:
»
Principles and Rules common to the two Forms op
Interrogation.
1. The answer may be simultaneous or individual,
according to circumstances; but the teacher should al-
ways tell his pupils when he requires them to answer
simultaneously, or when individually. When individual
answers are required, all the pupils who are prepared to
314 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
answer the question should hold up their hands; and
then the master should name the boy whom he wishes
to give the answer; if the boy's answer be incorrect, then
the master must call upon another boy; aifd so on.
2. The language used by the teacher should be as
simple and concise as possible. Every question put by
the teacher should admit of a definite answer. The
questions should be adapted to the capabilities of the
pupils, both as to the matter and language. If a ques-
tion is not at once understood by the pupils, then the
master must change the form of language, or he must
subdivide the question until he is understood. Long
answers should never be expected from young children;
on the other hand, the more advanced boys should be
accustomed to express their ideas in good language.
The teacher should not be satisfied with indefinite or
incomplete answers.
3. Never put questions which simply require a Yes, or
No, for an answer.
4. The questions should be given in such an order as
to form a systematic and progressive development of
the subject. Rambling questions should never be put
until the whole subject has been gone over.
5. Random answering should always be checked; at
the same time, a«due amount of quickness in answering
should be cultivated.
6. Children should be accustomed to answer questions
in their own language.
7. The subject-matter of a question should be some-
times varied in form, so as to require a different form
of language in the answer. As the same facts may be
viewed in different aspects and relations, the teacher
RULES FOR EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 315
should vary the form of his questions so as to embrace
these different aspects or relations; and he should always
put those questions first which take in the most striking
or important 6f these facts or relations.
8. The pupils should be sometimes called upon to
question each other.
9. The teacher should express his approbation when a
good answer has been given to a question of more than
ordinary difficulty.
10. The eye of the teacher should be constantly upon
all the pupils in his class, and whenever he detects the
slightest symptoms of inattention on the part of any of
them, he should at once put a question to the individual
on the matter that had just been explained.
11. Questions should be ^ut at the three following
stages of instruction: — (1) at the commencement of the lesBon^
in order to determine the knowledge of the class on the
subject upon which the lesson is to be given, to excite
the curiosity of the pupils, and to enable the teacher to
adapt his instruction to their knowledge and capabilities;
(2) during the lesson, in order to secure the attention of
the pupils, and to make them more thoroughly acquainted
with the subject of the lesson; (3) after the lesson, in order
to give a general view of the whole subject, and to
make the pupils fully masters of it.
Special Rules for Examination Questions.
1. The questions should be restricted to the subject of
examination. The questions should form a strict analy-
sis of the subject-matter.
2. The question should not contain any hint or clue to
the answer.
316 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCA.TION.
3. Simultaneous answers should never be taken as
decided tests of j^rogress.
4. Not the slightest assistance should be given to the
pupil in framing his answer.
5. In order to give the pupils a requisite amount of
confidence, the questions should be short and easy at
first, and then, as the examination advances, they should
be gradually increased in difficulty. Herein lies the
secret tact of a first-rate examiner.
Special Principles and Rules relative to Sugges-
tive Interrogation.
1. The questions and observations of the master, and
the answers given by the pupils, should together form a
sort of conversational lecture. In order to sustain the
continuity of the lecture, the gradations or steps should
be easy and natural. The teacher should endeavor to
make the pupils take an equal share of the lecture.
Every question, taken in connection with the explana-
tory remarks which may accompany it, should lead to,
or suggest, the answer. The teacher should tell his
pupils so much of a thing, and leave them to find out
the remainder. The question and its answer should be
logically connected with each other: (1) the question
may contain the premises — the answer, the conclusion ;
(2) tlie question may contain the facts — the answer, the
generalization or deduction; (3) the question may con-
tain the ideas — the answer, those ideas differently ar-
ranged or expressed in another form of language.
2. The teacher should frequently preface his questions
with an exposition of facts and principles; but the ques-
tions themselves should always be so framed as to re-
SUGGESTIVE INTERROGATION. 3 1*7
produce the facts and principles in the pupil's own
language.
3. The method of suggestive interrogation being es-
sentially synthetic, the system of question should pro-
ceed according to a systematic and progressive order of
development; that is to say, facts should precede gen-
eral principles, expositions should go before abstract
rules, the concrete should lead to the knowledge of the
abstract, the simple to the complex, the familiar to the
unknown, and so on.
4. The teacher should never pass over a question until
it has been fully answered. If one boy does not answer
it, then it should be put to another boy, and so on; and
if the pupils fail in giving a satisfactory answer, then
the teacher should go over all the previous steps again,
adding some fresh explanations, so as to lead them to
the proper answer. The teacher should never directly
tell them the answer; he should rather show them how
to find it out. If the answer given by the pupils is in-
complete or in any way defective, and yet as good as
the teacher might reasonably expect from them, then he
should supply them with the complete answer, taking
care not to alter the language of the pupils, excepting
where it is absolutely necessary.
5. The questions requiring simultaneous answers
should be few and exceedingly simple.
6. The teacher should put the most difficult questions
to the more advanced boys in the class; and thus make
them become instructors of those who have made less
progress.
318 philosophy of education.
Examples of Good and Bad Examination Questions.
Suppose the pupils of the class to have read the last
seven verses of the twenty-sixth chapter of St. Matthew's
Gospel, and that the master proceeds to give the follow-
ing examination questions:
Questions.
1. Where was Peter when the first damsel spoke to
him ?
2. What did she say to him ?
3. What was his answer to her ?
4. Did he deny Jesus before all the people?
5. Where was Peter when the second damsel spoke to
him?
6. Did he deny Jesus again ?
I. How did he deny Jesus the second time?
8. Who next charged Peter?
9. What reason did they give him for believing that
he was one of the followers of Christ ?
10. How did Peter answer them ?
II. What took place immediately after Peter had
denied his Lord for the third time ?
1 2. Of what did the crowing of the cock remind Peter ?
13. Why did Peter deny our Lord?
14. What sin did Peter commit, and what aggravated
this sin ?
15. What did Peter do when he remembered the
words of Jesus ?
16. What caused him to weep bitterly ?
17. Good people are very sorrowful when they find
that they have been led into sin. What made Peter
so sorrowful?
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 319
Remarks on the Questions.
Nos. 4 and 6 are bad questions, for they simply re-
quire yes or no for the answer. No. 10 is not a good
question, for it is not exact enough, and the proper
answer to it is too long. Nos. 13 and 16 would require
some explanations to be given by the teacher. No. 14
should be given in two distinct questions. No. 17 is
rather too suggestive for an examination question.
No. 4 should be put in the following form: — Before
whom did Peter this time deny Jesus ? And No. 6
would be better put as follows: — What did Peter say to
the maid? No. 13 might be preceded by a question
something like the following: — What would they have
done to Peter if they had known that he was a follower
of Jesus? And No. 16 might be preceded by the ques-
tion: — What reminded Peter of the falsehood he had
told ? How should people feel when they find that they
have committed a great sin ? or. What do people do
when they feel very sorrowful ? What made Peter so
very sorrowful?
Questions on any given portion of the Scriptures may
be put in a great variety of forms, more or less eligible:
thus the text upon which Question 15 is given may be
broken into the following forms of questions: — When
did Peter go out ? What did he do after he went out ?
What were the words of Jesus which Peter remembered ?
How^ many times did Peter deny his Lord before the
cock crew ? And so on.
Examples of Suggestive Interrogations.
No. 1. — On Peter* 8 Denial of our Lord.
Supposing the same portion of Scripture to have been
320 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
read, then the following suggestive questions may be
given : —
1. While Peter sat without in the palace of the high
priest, a damsel came unto him. (1) Who came unto
Peter? (2) Where was Peter when the damsel came to
him ? And so on.
2. This damsel had no good intentions towards Peter.
She wanted him to be condemned, and put to death with
Jesus. What did she say to Peter ?
3. Peter had not the boldness to tell the truth. He
was afraid to die for his Lord. What answer did he
give to the damsel ?
4. Wishing, perhaps, to escape further notice, he went
out into the porch, but here he met with another tor-
mentor, for another maid saw him, and said to the peo-
ple that thronged the porch of the temple, This fellow
was also with Jesus of Nazareth. (1) To whom did she
say this ? (2) Where was Peter when this second charge
was nrtide ? (3) What low name did she call Peter ?
5. Peter got more alarmed. He lost all command of
himself, and added sin unto sin, — he not only again
denied his Lord, but denied him with an oat\ and spoke
slightingly of him. (I) In what manner did Peter this
time deny Jesus ? (2) What words did he use in refer-
ing to Jesus? (3) What sin did Peter here commit,
besides falsehood ?
And so on throughout the remaining verses.
No, 2. — On the Diurnal Motion of the Earth.
Suppose the pupils to have read some single book on
this subject (see Tate's Astronomy, page 13); then the
teacher might question them in the following manner:—
EXAMPLES OF SUGGESTIVE INTERROGATIONS. 321
Teacher. If I hold an orange before a candle at night
(this should actually be done), how much of the surface
of the orange will be enlightened ?
Teacher. How much of the surface will be in the shade?
T. Now, if I turn the orange around, the parts in the
shade will be brought within the light. After I have
turned the orange completely around, how much of its
surface will have been brought within the light of the
candle ?
T. How much of the earth's surface does the sun en-
lighten at one time ?
T. By what means is every part of the earth's surface
brought within the light and heat of the sun ?
P. The earth is made to turn around upon its axis in
the course of every day.
T. (Turning a globe around.) Now where is the axis
in this revolving globe ? Is there a real axis, or only an
imaginary one ?
P. The axis is only imaginary, and it is the line about
which the globe appears to turn.
T. What have you now to say respecting the axis of
the earth ?
P. That it is the line about which the earth appears
to turn.
T. What are the poles upon the earth ?
P. The two points where this imaginary axis meets
the earth's surface.
T. On what point is ray finger now placed ?
P. On the North Pole.
T. (Tracing the equator with his pointer.) What is
this line called, and how is it placed with respect to the
poles ?
322 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
P. It is called the equator and lies at the same dis-
tance from either of the poles.
T. How does the equator divide the globe ?
P. Into two equal parts. One is called the northern
hemisphere, and the other the southern hemisphere.
T. Upon what hemisphere is my hand now placed ?
P. The northern hemisphere.
T, Is there any other way in which the changes of
day and night might be produced ?
P. Yes; the sun might turn around the earth in the
course of a day.
T. If a poor woman wanted to roast a joint of mutton
before the fire, what would she do in order to have
every part equally roasted ?
P. She would tie a piece of string to the mutton, and
make it spin around before the fire.
T. Is there any other way in which this might be
done? Now think.
P. The lire might be made to turn around the meat.
T. But which of these methods is the better ?
P. The first method, certainly; because it must be
far less trouble to make the meat turn around before the
fire, than to make a machine for turning the fire around
the meat.
T. What would you say if a man proposed to do this ?
P. That, although he might show some ingenuity,
yet he would be a very foolish person.
T, Now it is equally ridiculous to suppose that the
sun turns around the earth. It is too monstrous for us
to conceive it possible, that Almighty God, who is the
fountain of all wisdom and goodness, could effect any
of His purposes by the agency of means which it would
THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 323
appear unsuitable, even on the part of his creatures, to
employ.
III. The Simultaneous Method.
In this method, all the pupils in the class are allowed
to speak at once. Here, in order to secure a uniformity
in the responses, the questions put to the class should be
very short and simple. One great object to be served
by this form of teaching is to give vitality and tone of
sympathy to the class. It also economizes the time of
the master, by enabling hira to direct his energies to
large numbers at once. Its great defect is that it
creates noise and confusion in the school, and thereby
interferes with the instruction that may be going on in
the other classes. It is best practised, as a means of
instruction, in connection with the elliptical method of
teaching, and when gallery lessons are given to four or
more classes combined.
The teacher must guard against the following evils
connected with the practice of this method: —
1. Some eager, vain boys will answer before the
others.
2. Some boys will defer their answer until they catch
the answer of the leading boys in the class.
3. Some boys will remain silent.
4. There will sometimes be a confusion in the answers,
especially when the answers are too long.
By a little tact on the part of the teacher, all these
evils may be guarded against.
This method may be advantageously used in the ex-
amination of large classes, when it is requisite that the
324 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
examiner shall economize his time. We shall after-
wards have occasion to notice this form of its application.
The plan of answering questions simultaneously is
also an excellent way of fixing simple and important
facts in the memory. The name of a great man, for
example, is recited aloud by all the boys of a class, they
then spell the name aloud, and lastly the master writes
it upon the blackboard. Thus all their senses are
brought to bear on the thing to be remembered, — how
can they ever forget it?
There are few subjects which may not be taught with
tolerable efficiency, in the largest schools, by a well-
organized method of simultaneous answering.
The best course for a teacher to follow is to vary his
methods of instruction. After teaching for a sufficient
length of time by the method of suggestive interroga-
tion, he should indulge his pupils with a few simultane-
ous answers; and then he may close his lesson with
catechising two or three boys singly before the whole
class, so that all the boys, if they are disposed to listen,
may derive some benefit from the individual instruction.
Example of Simultaneous Teaching after the Cat-
echetical Method.
Subject of the lesson — Peter's denial of our Lord.
Matthew, chap, xxvi., verse 69.
Teacher. Who came to Peter as he sat without in the
palace ? Pupils. A damsel. T. With whom did she say
Peter was ? P. With Jesus. T. Jesus is said to be of
a certain place — what place did the damsel name ?
P. Galilee. T. Where is Galilee? P. In Palestine.
T. Point your fingers to it on the map. And so on.
elliptical fokm op tbaching. 325
The Elliptical Fokm of Teaching.
The advantages of the elliptical form of teaching are
as follows: —
1. The ellipsis does not break upon the continuity of
the lesson or narrative.
2. It is generally more concise than the usual forms of
question and answer.
3. It gives a variety of form to the lesson, and to a
certain extent relieves that censorious-like character of
catechetical lessons.
4. It engages the sympathies of the children, and
more completely gives to the lesson the character of a
common lecture, in which the pupils take a part.
The following principles and rules should be observed
in practising this method of instruction: —
1. The word or words to be supplied by the pupils
should be short and easy. At the same time, the word
to be supplied should awaken some intelligence on the
part of the pupils.
2. Ellipses should be associated with direct questions.
3. The word or words to be supplied should not be
doubtful or ambiguous. Take the following examples: —
(1). In comparing 6 and 9, some teachers would say,
" 9 is greater than — ." Here the word to be supplied
might be any number less than nine; and besides, the
boys would most likely say six without ever thinking
about the matter. In this case, it would be better to
ask the question, " Whether is 6 or 9 the greater ? "
4. The ellipses should be single words or simple
phrases.
326 PHILOSOPUY OF EDUCATION'.
5. Arithmetic, and other subjects of this kind, should
be rarely taught by the elliptical method.
6. As a general rule, an ellipsis should be equivalent
to a good question. (See the rules given in relation to
the suggestive method of interrogation.) Take the
following examples: —
[The words intended to be supplied by tlie pupils, are printed in Italics.]
(1) "The color of common ink is J/rf^/c." Here this
is equivalent to the question — "What is the color of
common ink ? "
(2) " Ink is Hack.'''' Here the word to be supplied by
the pupil is doubtful, for it might be red^ or liquid^ or
any other property of the ink.
(3) " When the flame of a candle is applied to hydro-
gen gas, it will Jwr«." Here this is equivalent to the
question—" What will take place when the flame of a
candle is applied to hydrogen gas?" "It will burn."
Now, in the place of hurn^ some boys might say, ignite;
but this variation in the form of the response would
be rather an advantage than otherwise, provided the
teacher embraces the opportunity of explaining to his
pupils how different words may be properly employed
to express the same idea or thing.
Examples of the Elliptical Method op Teaching.
Subject of the lesson — Peter's denial of our Lord.
Matthew, chap, xxvi., verse 69. " Now, Peter sat with-
out in i\\Q palace: and a damsel came unto him^ saying.
Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee. But Peter, being
afraid to tell the truth, denied before them all^ saying,
I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone
ILLUSTRATIVE METHOD. 327
out of the porch, another maid saw him, aud said unto
the people collected in the porch, This fellow was also
with Jesm of Nazareth. And Peter, still more afraid,
again denied with an oath, I do not know the W2aw," that
is, he wickedly pretended not to know Jesus. And so
on.
IV. The Constructive Method.
This is perhaps the best form of the synthetic method
of teaching: its fundamental idea is that of progressive
development; it, in fact, embodies the essential features
of all our most approved modes of primary instruction.
The first elements of Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry,
Mechanism, Geography, and Grammar may be efficiently
taught by this method.
V. Illustrative Method.
By this method, we convey instruction to the minds
of children by means of pictorial representations, dia-
grams, models, and experimental illustrations, addressed
to the senses, or by pictures addressed to the imagina-
tion.
Pictures may be either descriptive or historical, that
is, they may depict objects, animals, persons, &c., or
they may represent scenes and events. A child reads a
picture as we do a book. Good pictures of animals not
only give the shape, color, and relative size of the ani.
mals, but they also represent the peculiar habits of the
animals. A good picture of a tiger, for example, shows
a child, at a glance, what are its structure and habits, —
how it lives, on what it lives, and in what region of the
earth it lives. The child reads the history of great
328 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
events in a good picture, — the grand features of the
events, the scenes amid which they transpired, the
characters of the different actors, and so on, all readily
fix themselves in the child's mind. Picture lessons con-
stitute one of our most important means of primary
education. On the subject of pictures, as addressed to the
imagination, see pages 180 and 239.
In teaching (such subjects as geography and mecha-
nism), models, and other material aids of instruction,
are most invaluable.
Experimental iUustrations give the matter-of-fact form
of abstract laws and principles.
VI. The Lecturing Method.
Strictly speaking, a continuous style of lecturing is
not teaching. But when lecturing is accompanied with,
or followed by, a close course of questioning, it becomes
an efficient form of instruction, as applied to adults or
to an educated class of boys. Simple conversational lec-
tures on the science of common and useful things, illus-
trated by easy and familiar experiments, have con-
tributed very much to raise the standard of intelligence
in our elementary schools. The experimental apparatus
employed in these lectures should be of the most simple
kind, and, for the most part, constructed out of the
common articles of household use. Expensive instru-
ments should never be placed in the hands of ordinary
teachers, for the skill requisite for using an instrument
is, generally speaking, in proportion to the delicacy of
its conhtructioi). It is not desirable, nor would it be
expedient, if even it were desirable, that teachers should
become finished manipulators: the great facts and laws
The mixed Method. 329
of physical science may always be demonstrated to
children by the aid of apparatus which is within the
reach of almost every respectable l;oiiseholder.
VIT. Mixed Method.
In order to sustain the interest of children, the teacher
should vary his methods of instruction. The very best
methods, when uniformly followed for any length of
time, become dull and monotonous, and, as a necessary
consequence, the pupils cease to feel any interest in the
lesson. Variety in method, as well as variety in the
subject-matter, should form an essential feature in all
school instruction. When the pupils get tired with
questions, the master must try ellipses; and when they
get tired with ellipses, he must have recourse to pictorial
representa'tions, or experimental illustrations, accom-
panied with a sort of tete-a-tete lecture: after having
changed the methods, in this manner, he may return to
his first method, for it will then have regained its
original freshness. The intelligent teacher should mod-
ify, arrange, and combine his methods so as to form a
harmonious whole suited to the peculiar circumstances
of his school.
On this subject, the author of " The Educator's In-
struments " observes: — ''The evidencing of truth to
children lays a heavy and continuous tax upon the
teacher's inventive faculties; for the same lesson, in-
volving precisely similar principles, however oft re-
peated, needs the dress of new language, must come
with new illustration evoked by the various indications
of the taught; and as nothing so tends to clarify and
intensify one's views as looking at them through varied
330 PHILOSOPHY OF EDtJCATlON.
and linrmonizino^ media, so nothing will lead to sucli
just and clear appi-ebension as i)lacing the same truth
repeatedly before the young, in language and with
illustration as if spontaneously called forth at the mo-
ment."
VIII. On the Reproduction of Lessons in Writing.
The advanced bo} s in a school should be frequently
required to reproduce the lessons given to then by the
master. This plan gives efficiency to all the methods
of instruction ordinarily used in our schools; it forms
an almost necessary adjunct to the method of lecturing.
We have already fully explained the advantages to be
derived from this exercise (see page 146); it is, there-
fore, only necessary in this place that we should make
a few remarks respecting the duties of the master, in
relation to these written exercises, and point out certain
artifices whereby the amount of his labor may be les-
sened, without materially infringing upon the efficiency
of the plan.
Alter the time alloted to the reproduction of the
lesson has expired, the master should first ascertain the
number of boys that have completed the exercise. He
should then call upon about half a dozen of these boys
taken at random, to give their exercises. He then
assumes that these exercises may be taken as average
specimens of the work of the class, and that the errors
found in them will give him a tolerably good idea of the
errors contained in all of the others. He rapidly cor-
rects the errors and notes down the imperfections in
these specimens. He then writes the corrected passages
on the blackboard, and explains to the whole class the
PLANS FOR ECONOMIZING TIME. 331
nature of the errors and blunders which have been com-
mitted.
We shall now consider, more fully, some of those
artifices which tend to economize the time and labor of
the master.
IX. On certain Plans or Artifices for Economizing
THE Time of the Master in the Examination of
Classes, or, it may be, in extending and thoroughly
grounding the knowledge which the pupils may
have acquired.
These plans or artifices should, of course, be altered
or modified to suit the peculiar tastes and capabilities of
the master. The following examples are given as illus-
trations of the main features which ought to characterize
all such plans or artifices; these main features are:
(1) The master should act upon the whole of the pupils
of his class, at once, rather than on indwidnals.
(2) He should get all of his pupils to act perfectly in
concert, or exactly together.
1. An Examination Lesson on Spelling.
After requesting, in a cheerful tone of voice, all the
boys in the class to prepare their slates and pencils for
writing down the words which he is about to give them,
he recites the words slowly and distinctly. As he dic-
tates, word after word, the pupils write them on their
slates, in the same order. When the words have been
all written, he calls upon the whole class to spell the
words simultaneously, exactly as they are written on
their slates, leaving a moment's pause between every
two consecutive words to allow those who are wrong an
332 PHILOiOPHY OF EDUCATION.
opportunity of placing a mark a teach misspelt word.
The teacher then requests the boys to count the number
of their errors, and to report the same to him. He next
gives a rapid glanc« at the slates, to see that all is
right, looking with more care at the slates of those boys
in whose honesty he has not the fullest trust. The
master will now be able to register the average attain-
ments of the class. But if instruction be specially his
object, he will write upon the blackboard all those
words which have been misspelled, giving, at the same
time, such remarks as he may deem necessary, relative
to the rules of spelling, or the quality of the writing.
2. An Examination Lesson on Arithmetic.
The teacher or examiner recites, in a distinct tone of
voice, the arithmetical problem which he requires the
class to solve. After a sufficient time has been allowed
them for working out the question, he calls upon those
boys who have finished to hold up their hands, or, it
may be, to stand. He then says — " Let all those boys
hold up their hands, who have the following answer;"
be then reads out the answer, and at once sees the
number of boys who have done the question correctly.
He then desires the boys who have not worked the
question correctly, to mark the erroneous figures in their
answers. A rapid glance at a few slates will generally
be sufficient to act as a check upon any unfair dealing
on the part of the boys. In some cases, it may be ad-
visable to inspect the slates of those boys who had not
finished the question. But the teacher should be care-
ful how he gives any countenance to idleness, or how he
wastes his energies on individuals. If instruction be a
PREPARATION OF LESSONS. 333
special object, the problem should be done upon the
blackboard, accompanied with an exposition of prin-
ciples, &c. The teacher should frequently call upon the
more advanced boys to give this exposition.
Respective Advantages of the three great Methods of Exam-
ination.
There are three great methods of examination, viz.:
the simultaneous, the individual, and the method of
written answers.
1. The simultaneous method of examination awakens a gen-
eral interest, and takes up little time; but we cannot
easily arrive at a correct estimate of the attainments of
the class by the exclusive use of this method.
2. The individual method of examination is more rigid and
more to be relied on than the simultaneous method; but
it takes up more time, and leaves the great body of the
class comparatively unemployed while each individual
is being examined.
3. The method of wrHten answers is the most exact and
searching of all the methods, while, at the same time, it
keeps all the pupils engaged; but it is long and tedi-
ous as regards both the writing of the papers and the
inspection of them.
A judicious examiner will not fail to avail himself of
all the advantages arising out of the use of the three
methods.
X. On the Preparation of Lessons.
No teacher should give a lesson until he has made
himself thoroughly master of the subject. He should
also fix in his own mind how he should treat it, both as
334 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
to aiTangement and method. He should, generally,
draw out a sketch of the lesson in the form of notes, but
he should neA^er refer to these notes while he is giving
the lesson; he ought rather to have these notes fixed in
his mind before he begins the lesson. His notes sliould
be concise and methodical; they should form leading
points in the lesson, with which he should associate the
leading train of ideas which are to constitute the real
knowledge to be given to the pupils. He should not
confine himself to any set form of language; and his
questions, as a general rule, should be framed at the
time of asking them. No teacher should become a slave
to books or notes while he is giving a lesson; books and
notes should be the passive tools of the master — not he
the subservient slave of them.
The master should carefully revise the notes of his
pupil-teachers; and he should never allow the pupil-
teachers to give a lesson without they are fully prepared
to give it with efficiency. He should always place be-
fore them a high standard of teaching power. Every
pupil-teacher should be provided with a book for enter-
ing down his notes of lessons.
The form of the notes of lessons must necessarily vary
with the nature of the subject, and the age of the boys
to whom the lesson is to be given. But there are, no
doubt, certain general principles of arrangement which
are common to all subjects. The following are the notes
of a lesson on ink, supposed to be given to the upper
class: —
Notes of a Lesson.
Subject — Common Ink.
rKOPKiiTiKS:— Liquid, black, and slightly adhesive.
PERIODICAL EXAMINATION OF CLASSES. 335
Use.— Used for writing on white paper. The use depends upon the prop-
erties—why liquid— why black— why slightly adhesive ? What do we
write upon the blackboard with ?— Why we cannot write upon white
paper with white chalk, &c.
How MADE.— Experiment. To a solution of sulphate of iron (green cop-
peias) add a solution of nut galls— a black precipitate is formed.
The addition of some gum helps to keep this black substance from
falling to the bottom, and also to make the ink adhere to the paper.
How T(i TAKE INK STAINS OUT.— Experiment. To the black liquid
formed in the last experiment, add a few drops of oxalic acid. The
color is at once destroyed.
Words to be explained, and their meanings illustrated.— Ad-
hesive,— mention some things that are adhesive.— Sulphate of iron,—
what it is like— what it is composed of— where it is found— and what
it is used for. Nut galls,— what are their properties— wliere are they
got? Precipitate— its meaning. Oxalic acid— what it Is, &c.,— found
in plants, &c.
When a teacher is about to give a lesson on any pro-
posed subject, his first inquiry should be, "Am I suffi-
ciently acquainted with the subject ? " His next inquiry
should be, "How should T treat the subject ? " If he is
not sufficiently acquainted with the subject, he should
at once study it, and seek information upon it. If he
does not know how to treat the subject, he should at
once seek information from those who are properly
qualified to give it.
When the subject of the lesson requires experiments
or practical illustrations, he should not spare a little
trouble or expense to render himself fully qualified for
the performance of his work. Experimental illustrations
should be repeated, ai^ain and again, until he finds that
he can perform them with perfect certainty and success.
XI. On THE Periodical Examination op Classes and
THE Registration op Progress.
The whole school should be examined at stated inter-
vals, with the view of registering the progress of the
336 PHILOSOPHY OF BDUCATION.
pupils, and also for the purpose of remodelling the
classes. These intervals will of course vary according
to the circumstances and peculiar relations of the school,
hut the interval should, in no case, exceed a quarter of
a year. Whatever may be the period fixed for these
general examinations, it should be strictly adhered to,
and the examinations and registrations should be thor-
oughly carried out. When any boy is found qualified
to enter a higher class, or, on the other hand, when any
boy has not kept pace with the progress of his class, no
feelings of delicacy should prevent the master from
making the necessary transfer. We shall afterwards
have occasion to treat of the different forms of school
registers.
XII. On the Qualifications of the Schoolmaster in
RELATION to HIS PROFESSIONAL DuTIES.
The qualifications of the schoolmaster may be viewed
in the three following aspects: — with respect to his
attainments; to his capabilities; and to his character.
TnK Teacher's Attainments, considered in relation
TO HIS Office.
The following attainments may be considered essen-
tial to his success as a teacher, whatever may be the
nature or peculiar character of the school.
1. lie should be thoroughly acquainted with the fol-
lowing subjects: — The leading doctrines and narratives
of Scripture; mental and common arithmetic; reading,
writing, and spelling; English history; and the princi-
ples of teaching.
2. He should have a fair knowledge of the following
QtJALIPICATlONS OP THE SCHOOLMASTER. 337
subjects: — Drawing, mensuration, and practical geom-
etry; geography and astronomy; elementary grammar,
composition, and general history; elementary algebra,
to the end of quadratic equations, together with a little
demonstrative geometry; industrial mechanics, and some
simple course of experimental philosophy.
It is highly desirable that his mind should be well
stored with general knowledge, that he should have a
ready command of language, and that he should be able
to express his ideas with fluency, clearness, and pre-
cision, upon any subject within the range of his knowl-
edge. Profound attainments in any technical subject
of knowledge are scarcely of any value to him as an
elementary teacher. His knowledge should be varied,
rather than profound. An acquaintance with Latin or
Greek, or the higher branches of mathematics and
natural philosophy, would rather interfere with his use-
fulness as an elementary teacher. At the same time, it
is necessary to bear in mind that a schoolmaster should
know a good deal more than he has to teach. What-
ever he has to teach, he should know thoroughly, at
least as far as he may have to teach it. Thus, to teach
little boys drawing, it is not necessary that he should
become an artist; to teach English, that he should know
French; to teach simple equations, that he should know
surds; or to teach some of the most important principles
of geometry, that he should know the fifth book of
Euclid.
All that technical knowledge which leads the mind of
the teacher away from the subjects of elementary edu-
cation tends most undoubtedly to compromise his use-
fulness as an elementary teacher. It is true, people
338 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
talk much about the discipline which such subjects give
to his mind, as if the knowledge which is essential to his
duties as a teacher, did not sufficiently exercise, discipline,
and task his intellectual energies. Would it not be bet-
ter to raise our standard ,of his knowledge in physical
science, and in the principles and art of education, than
to exact from him such an amount of knowledge in
those technical subjects of learning which have no direct
bearing upon the duties of his profession ? But we
suppose that inspectors of schools and masters of training
institutions will always regard their own course of col-
legiate education as tlie proper type of the system which
should be pursued in the training of schoolmasters.*
The Teacher's Capabilities and Character consid-
ered IX RELATION TO HIS OfFICE.
A teacher should be a pious, conscientious man; his
talents should be, at least, respectable; and he should
have a decided predilection and aptitude for teaching.
It is only requisite that we should make some observa-
tions relative to the qualification which we have called
aptitude for teaching.
Aptitude for Teaching.
The most essential of all qualifications for teaching is
that peculiar faculty which we call, for the want of a
better name, aptitude for teaching. Aj)titude for teach-
ing ! what is it ? There is no mistaking it, when we see
it. Everybody recognizes it, when it is presented to his
notice. Is it a quality of the head or the heart, or does it
* Her Majesty's Inspectors nnw give examination papers on method in
connection with all the leading subjects of primary education.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SCHOOLMASTER. 339
belong to both ? Is it a natural or an acquired gift ? Ts
it an instinct, or a habit acquired by efforts, repeated
from the earliest dawn of reason ? Does it grow spon-
taneously by imperceptible gradations of development,
or is it a faculty dependent upon the growth of certain
intellectual and moral powers ?
We witness certain teaching effects, and too readily
rest satisfied with attributing them to what we call
aptitude for teaching, as if it were some original and
mysterious faculty, without at all seeking to discover
the chain of circumstances, and the qualities of mind and
character which have contributed to form this aptitude.
But we cannot allow the subject to remain in this un-
philosopbical condition of mysticism. The aptitude for
teaching must undoubtedly be a qualification resulting
from the development of certain intellectual and moral
faculties of our nature. Let us endeavor to analyze this
remarkable qualification, that is to say, let us endeavor
to discover those qualities, intellectual and moral, with
which it is invariably associated, or, rather, with which
it is connected by the constant relation of cause and
effect.
It will be instructive, not only to ascertain what such
a man must be, but also what he may not be.
1. What a man having an aptitude for teaching may not he.
(1.) He may not be a man of great technical attainments.
(2.) He may not be a man of comprehensive mind, or
possessing great reasoning powers. (3.) He may not be
a man of robust frame.
2. What a man having a great aptitude for teaching must le.
(1.) He must have a love for children, and a knowledge
of their tastes, habits and capabilities. (2.) He must
340 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
be a man of a kind and benevolent disposition. (3.) He
must love knowledge and feel a pleasure in communi-
cating it. (4.) He must be a man of fervid imagination,
and of great enthusiasm, decision, and force of character.
(5.) He must be a man of respectable general attain-
ments. (6.) He must have considerable fluency of
speech, and powers of illustration and exposition. (V.)
He must have faith in the efficacy of instruction, as a
means of ameliorating the condition of society. (8.)
He must be a man of quick and observing habits, and
must be in the constant habit of reflecting and reasoning
upon the various methods by which knowledge may be
communicated to children.
Now as all those qualities, essential to great aptitude
for teaching, admit of cultivation, it necessarily follows
that the aptitude for teaching also admits of cultivation
in the same degree. This aptitude for teaching, there-
fore, is no more instinctive or innate than any of the
intellectual or moral faculties of our nature can be said
to be.
XHI. On School Registers for recording the
Results of different Systems or Methods of In-
struction, and also for testing the Capabilities
of Teachers in relation to these Methods.
These registers should be regularly and faithfully
filled up by the head schoolmaster, who is supposed to
be acquainted with all the circumstances and facts
necessary for doing so, and who is supposed to test the
results of the various lessons given by the pupil-teacher
or by the assistant teacher, as the case may be. The
teacher who gives the lesson is supposed to adhere
SCHOOL REGISTERS. 341
strictly to some definite method or combination of
methods throughout the lesson, whether it be given ac-
cording to the interrogative method, or any other par-
ticular method, or according to a combination of two or
more methods.
No doubt all intelligent teachers have, more or less,
formed certain general views, based on their experience,
respecting the relative merits of different methods of
education. But these views are too frequently based
upon a few incidental facts, and are very rarely the
result of a cautious, candid, and systematic induction of
facts which have been carefully observed and faithfully
recorded, and which are so comprehensive and determ-
inate as to embrace all the circumstances which may in
any way affect the question.
The relative merit of any two methods will, in gen-
eral, be tested by the progress of the same class of
pupils when taught by the different methods, under the
same circumstances. But as the efficiency of a particular
method may depend not only upon the age, character,
and attainments of the pupils, but also upon the peculiar
adaption of the method itself to the mind and capabili-
ties of the teacher, it is necessary that these conditions
should be fully recorded in the register. If sufficient
data of this kind were collected, we should then be able
to arrive at the following generalizations with consid-
erable certainty: —
1. Under a certain range of capabilities of the teacher,
and under a certain average condition of intelligence on
the part of the pupils, what method, or combination of
methods is best adapted for teaching certain given sub-
jects.
342 PIIILOSOPHT OF EDUCATION.
2. What niethorl, or combination of methods, is best
adapted, under ordinary circumstances, to a teacher of
given qualifications and capabilities.
3. What method, or combination of methods, is most
suitable, under ordinary circumstances, for the instruc-
tion of boys of given age, character and attainments.
4. What qualifications and capabilities are best calcu-
lated to form a good teacher.
The following are some of the systems and methods
most eligible for being tested in this way: —
1. The comparative advantages of the individual and
collective methods of teaching. To what extent should
individual instruction be carried, when combined with
the method of collective teaching ? and in what subjects
may the respective methods be most efficiently em-
ployed ?
2. The comparative advantages of the synthetic and
analytic methods, applied to the teaching of different
subjects.
3. The method of suggestive interrogation compared
with the dogmatic method, or with the purely elliptical
form of giving collective lessons.
4. The familiar style of lecturing, on the best recog-
nized form, compared wnth the plan of using reading-
books or text-books. Or the comparative efficiency of
a system which adopts certain advantages belonging to
each.
5. The advantages arising from home instruction,
when associated with certain forms of teaching.
6. Comparison of different modes of teaching children
to read, or to write, or to spell.
I have used this plan of registration in connection with
REGISTRATION OF RESULTS. 343
the model lessons which I have had occasion to superin-
tend; and it has led me to several important generaliz-
ations relative to methods of instruction, to their adap-
tation to the minds of different masters, and to their
suitableness to different classes of pupils; and also with
respect to those qualifications, &c., on the part of the
master, which are most likely to form the superior
teacher. It is not improbable that some of these gen-
eralizations may not have been based upon a sufficient
number of facts, or that they may not have embraced
some hidden circumstances which might vitiate the de-
ductions. Be this as it may, they constitute the chief
results of the experience of my life as a practical edu-
cator.
General Conclusions derived from the Writer's
Registration of the Results of Methods, &c.
1. Relative to Systems oj Teaching.
1. Comparatively few men teach well upon the ellip-
tical plan of giving lessons. The efficiency of this plan
is much increased by being associated with direct inter-
rogation. Bible lessons are peculiarly adapted to the
elliptical form of teaching.
2. It is much more easy to lecture than it is to teach.
Lecturing, especially in an elementary school, should
always be accompanied with a close system of question-
ing.
3. Collective teaching is most efficient when it is fol-
lowed by individual instruction — by individual examina-
tion — or by the reproduction of the subject-matter of
the lesson in writing by the pupils.
344 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
4. Oral instruction, given in the form of familiar lec-
tures by a superior teacher, is in general a much more
efficient mode of instruction than the plan of teaching
from reading-books or text-books, even when accompa-
nied with an analysis of the subject-matter which has
been read by the class.
5. Suggestive modes of interrogation should never be
employed as tests of progress. The questions which we
use for the purpose should not contain the slightest clue
to the answer.
6. As a general rule, having some important excep-
tions, the progress of the pupils is in proportion to the
apparent amount of attention which they give to the
lesson or lessons.
2. Relative to the Qualifications of the Master.
1. Teachers of limited capacity, or whose command
of language is limited, invariably teach best with text-
books, or by the individual system of instruction.
2. Men of fervid imaginations, having a great com-
mand of language and enthusiasm of character, almost
invariably become superior teachers.
3. Decision of character almost invariably forms an
element in the qualifications of a superior teacher.
4. Men who are deficient in general knowledge and in
enthusiasm of character, are generally bad teachers, even
though they may possess great technical acquirements.
6. An earnest man, imbued with the love of children,
is rarely a bad teacher.
6. The love of teaching is generally associated with
the capability for it; but the converse does not so fre-
quently hold true.
REGISTEATION OP RESULTS. 346
7. A man of superior teaching power teaches well by
any rational method. But he will always teach best by
that method which is suited to his peculiar capabilities.
8. Men generally teach badly when they attempt to
teach too much, or when they do not duly prepare their
lessons.
9. Presence of mind, and that self-confidence which is
based on self-knowledge, are essential elements in a good
teacher's character.
10. Success in teaching is more dependent upon the
capabilities of the master for teaching, than upon his
technical acquirements. Teaching-power is not always
associated with superior talents or great acquirements.
11. A teacher must practise a new method until he is
fully master of it, before he can come to any conclusion
as to its efficiency. Teachers are too prone to attribute
their failures to the method they employ, rather than to
the improper way in which they use it.
12. The best meth(»ds are the worst instruments which
can be put into the hands of incompetent teachers. The
best and most intellectual methods require a correspond-
ing skill on the part of the teacher, to use them with
efficiency.
3. Relative to Pupils .
1. The more exciting modes of instruction are best
suited to phlegmatic children, or to the children of the
poor. Children of precocious minds do not require
exciting modes of teaching.
2. Collective teaching associated with individual
questioning, &c., should invariably be used in teaching
boys from six to twelve years of age. The advanced
346 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
boys should have a larger amount of individual teach-
ing.
3. Evening exercises, when the parents are able and
willing to co-operate with the teacher, add greatly to
the efficiency of school instruction.
4. Children in manufacturing and mechanical dis-
tricts, evince considerable aptitude for acquiring a
knowledge of geometry, mechanism, and construction.
Indeed, as a general rule, the predilections of children
have a leaning towards the pursuits of their parents.
School routines should always have a due regard to the
tastes, wants, and capabilities of the pupils.
Forms of Entry in the Register.
Where there are a great many entries to be made in
the columns of a school register, it becomes desirable
that we should have some concise and graphic mode of
symbolizing the results which are to be recorded. The
symbol which I have adopted to express any word, is
simply the first letter of the word, and, where ambiguity
may arise, the first two or the first three letters of the
word. The numerals, 1, 2, 3, are used to express the
amount of any qualification, or the extent to which any
plan or method may be carried. These numerals, affixed
to any symbol expressing a particular qualification, in-
dicate the amount or degree of that qualification, that is
to say, whether it is moderate, fair, or excellent. Teach-
ers, of course, will modify or extend these symbols to
suit their convenience, or they may perhaps find it most
convenient to adhere to the ordinary form of registration.
These symbols, it will readily be understood, do not form
an essential feature of the proposed plan of registration.
APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS AND METHODS. 347
Part IV.
ON THE APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND
METHODS TO THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF ELE-
MENTARY EDUCATION.
The Scriptures; History; &c.
Bible lessons should always be given, in an elementary
school, on the collective system of teaching. The fol-
lowing rules may be advantageously observed in giving
these lessons.
1. The passages on which the lesson is given should
be read by the class. In the course of the reading, the
meaning of the words should be familiarly explained to
the children, and the general purport of the lesson
should be constantly kept before them.
2. The teacher should picture out the subject-matter
of the lesson, after the manner described in connection
with the cultivation of memory (see p. 239). This will,
generally, be best done by the method of ellipses, occas-
ionally varied by individual or collective interrogation.
3. The subject should be elucidated by the method of
contrasts and resemblances (explained in connection
with the cultivation of the memory, see p. 230).
4. The progress of the class should be tested by the
individual method of instruction.
5. The duties to be learned from the lesson should be
fully explained. This will generally be most efficiently
348 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
carried out by the method of suggestive interrogation,
or by the method of ellipses.
6. Notes of the lesson should be written, with con-
ciseness and distinctness, upon the blackboard.
Sketch of a Bible Lesson. — Subject: Trial of Abraham's
faith. Genesis, chap, xxii., verses 1 to 13. Mixed
method: interrogative, elliptical, illustrative, &c.
1. The Reading Lesson. Words and phrases to be ex-
plained in the course of the reading: — The land of
Moriah, burnt-offering, worship, &c.
2. The picture. [The words to be supplied by the
pupils are printed in italics.]
Abraham was a very good man, and had great faith
or trust in his God: Abraham liad one «ow, called Isaac^
one darling boy, that he loved more than anything in
the world: Abraham was very happy with his son Isaac:*
God was about to put Abraham's faith and obedience to
a very great trial: Let us see how God tried Abraham's
faith and obedience. God told Abraham to take his son
Isaac to a mountain a great way off, and offer him there
for a burnt-offering. Oh ! what a trial for Abraham's
obedience this was, to slay his only son as he did lambs
and calves and rams, upon the altar as a burnt-offering.
But Abraham loved and feared God so much tliat he
never doubted for one moment that whatever God com-
manded him to do would be for his good^ — he did not
even ask why he should slay his «o», because he was sure
that God had a good reason for what he required him to
do, Abraham then got up early in the morning, and
saddled his ass, and took two of the young men with him,
♦If the pupils do not till the ellipses, the teacher should ask the question :
" What was the name of Abraham's son ? "
APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS AND METHODS. 349
and Isaac his son, and cut some wood for a burnt-offering,
and started off towards the place where God had told
him to go. After they had travelled for three days and
three nights, they at last came in sight of the mountain:
Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And
he told his young man to stop and take care of the ass^
while he and his son went up the mountain. Behold
Abraham and his son, as they climb the mountain; —
Isaac carries the heavy burden of wood for the lurnt-
offering, and Abraham carries the fire to kindle the
wood, and in his hand is the terrible knife with which he
is to slay his only son as an offering to the Lord; — how
sorrowful Abraham looks, — God has commanded him to
offer his son as a burnt-offering. Isaac seems at a loss
to know what hi^ father is about to do with him. When
they came to the place which God bad told Abraham of,
Abraham laid the wood in order, and bound his son and
laid him upon the altar. His hand is stretched forth, —
and he is about to plunge the knife into his son, but the
angel of the Lord arrested the stroke, saying to Abraham
out of heaven^ — " Now I know that thou f earest God, see-
ing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
from me."
3. Contrasts and ResemUances. — Contrast Abraham's
character with that of Balaam or with that of Jonah.
Compare Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his only son
at the command of God, with the great sacrifice which
Christ offered up, upon the cross, for the sins of the
world.
4. Examination. To what land did God command
Abraham to go to offer up his son ? How was Isaac to
be offered ? For how many days did they travel before
350 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
they came in sight of the mountain ? Who went with
Abraham to the place of sacrifice ? What did he say
to the young man before he left them ? &c., &c.
5. Duties to he learned from the lesson. When we are sore
beset with trials, what should we always do ? How-
ever hard our lot in this world may be, our duty is
simply to obey God, who always knows what is best for
us. If we simply follow the commands of God, however
strange they may appear to our corrupt nature, He will
find a way of escape for us. God often tries our faith
as he did Abraham's of old, by requiring us to perform
painful duties, but we, like him, should obey God, and
leave the results in His hands, knowing that all thi^igs
will at last work out for the good of them that fear Him.
6. Notes written on the blackboard. God's command to
Abraham, — given to try his faith; his journey to Mo-
riah; — Abraham and his son went alone to the place of
sacrifice; — the angel of the Lord prevented Abraham
from slaying his son; <fcc.
History and Subjects of General Reading.
History, and other subjects of general reading, should
be taught by the same method as that which we have
just described in relation to the teaching of the Scrip-
tures.
Reading and Spelling; Etymology; Grammar.
These subjects should be taught, in our elementary
schools, upon the collective system of instruction.
While one boy reads or spells, the other boys must
listen. Important passages should be read simultane-
ously by the class, and sometimes words should be spelt,
THE PHONIC SYSTEM. 351
letter after letter, in the same manner. In the course
of the reading, the master will frequently have occasion
to correct the pronunciation, indistinct utterance, the
accent and the intonations of pupils. Whenever he does
so, he should always endeavor to put his reasons into
the form of a general rule. Above all things, the pupils
should be taught to read with intelligence.
Very young children should be taught to read from
large class- cards, having pictures of the leading subjects
of each lesson. The look and say plan of teaching to read
is certainly the best, especially when it is combined
with some of the most striking principles of the phonic
method. In like manner, the best plan for teaching
children to spell is to get them to write out the lessons
which they have read; the eye, in my opinion, is a bet-
ter guide to correct spelling than the ear. The lessons
for teaching little children to read should contain fre-
quent repetitions of the same word in each lesson. Let
us take an example:
Specimen of a Reading Lesson for Little Children.
Tom is a good boy. A good boy does what he is told.
I told Tom to be good. John is a bad boy. A bad boy
does not do what he is told. And so on.
When the child is able to read words of three letters,
he should then be taught to read words of four or more
letters; and after words of one syllable he should be
taught to read words of two syllables; and so on.
In the course of these reading lessons, the intelligent
teacher will not fail occasionally to avail himself of some
of the most prominent principles of the phonic system
of reading. Certain combinations of letters almost in-
352 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
variably represent certain elementary sounds; as, for
example, — the sound of ad^ In bad, lad, sad, mad, &c.;
the sound of ay in bay, lay, say, may, &c. ; the sound of
un in bun, sun, &c. ; the sound of sh in shut, shark, shave,
shall, &c.; the sound of ch in child, chide, chick, &c.;
and so on.
The ordinary box of reading letters should be used in
showing the child how the elementary sounds go to form
the sound of the word. Thus in showing the sound of
the word 8have, the teacher first gives the sound of the
letters «A, next that of ave, and then putting the letters
together he gives the compound sound ahave.
To follow out the phonic system of reading, in all its
details, is neither practicable nor desirable. The fact is,
this system requires the pupils to make analyses of
sounds, which we ourselves never do in the practice of
reading. The rules of pronunciation in our language
are so very complicated, that it seems to be almost ridic-
ulous to attempt to teach reading on a strictly phonic
plan. By the practice of reading, on the look and say
system (aided by the occasional Innts relative to the ele-
mentary sounds of the most common combinations of
letters), the child gradually and insensibly acquires the
pronunciation of words. On the teaching of the alpha-
bet, see page 229.
The etymology of technical words and philosophical
terms (particularly those that are derived from the Greek
and Latin) should be given in connection with reading
lessons. But the teacher should bear in mind that the
derivation of a technical term does not supersede the
necessity of giving the full meaning of the term, as it is
used in our language; the chief purpose which etymol-
ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 353
ogy serves, in the elementary school, is to aid the pupils
in remembering the signification of technical terms. Im-
portant words and phrases, which occur in the lesson,
should be written, in large characters, upon the black-
board, with their meanings and derivations.
Grammar should also be taught in connection with the
reading lessons. But besides such desultory exercises
on Grammar, the definitions and principles should be
systematically taught by collective lessons, and by simple
text-books upon the subject.
Grammar more fully considered.
Grammar may be taught by a constructive method, or
by a method of progressive development. A first course
of instruction should comprehend all the simple parts of
speech without their inflections, &c. ; the particular and
most familiar form of each definition should be ex-
plained before the general or most abstract form; and
where the definition contains a comprehensive statement,
it should be broken down into its component parts, and
after each part has been successfully explained, their
relative connection, or dependence, should be distinctly
pointed out. A second course of grammar should com-
prehend the inflections of words; and a third course
that of the analysis of sentences and the rules of syntax
and composition. These rules should be based on the
analysis of sentences; for by so doing we follow one of
our most certain general principles of method, viz., that
of teaching the concrete before the abstract. We have
too much parsing in our schools, and too little of the
practice of composition. Teachers should get their
pupils to construct sentences as early as possible; for it
354 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
should be borne in mind that parsing is only a means
for the attainment of an end, that is, to enable the pupils
to write and speak with accuracy and facility. All our
exercises in composition should have some actual object,
they should express familiar ideas, or describe things
and events which actually exist; see page 183. The
old plan of teaching syntax (that is, by giving bad
English to correct under each rule) has not yet been
superseded. In grammar, as in many things else, we
seem to know what is right by seeing what is wrong;
and we are all the better able to follow what is right, by
constantly endeavoring to avoid what is wrong.
A lesson on Grammar. Subject — The noun. Mixed
method, interrogation, ellipses, &c.
Now, my children, I am going to show you what a
noun is. Listen !
A NOUN is the name of an object or thing; as, book,
apple, table, &c.
Hat is the name of a thing ^ — what kind of word is hat ?
Write the following sentence on your slates: "Pears
and apples grow on trees." Now put a line below all
those words which are nouns.
A NOUN is the name of an animal; as, dog, cat, horse,
&c.
Cow is the name of an animal; therefore, the* word
cow is a noun. And so on to other examples.
A NOUN is the name of a person; as, John, Thomas,
Milton, &c.
Andrew is the name of a person ; therefore, the word
Andrew is a noun. And so on to other examples.
ENGLISH GKAMMAR. 356
A NOUN is the name of a place; as, London, York,
Leeds, &c.
Hounslow is the name of a place ; therefore, the word
Hounslow is a noun.
A NOUN is the name of anything which we can speak
of as existing; as, chair, whiteness, darkness, &c.
I can speak of a table as a thing which exists; there-
fore, the word table is a noun, I can speak of the soul
as existing; therefore, the word soul is a 7wun. And so
on.
Now let us collect together all that has been said
about a noun.
A NOUN IS the name of an object, an animal, a
PERSON, A PLACE, OR ANYTHING WE CAN SPEAK OP AS
EXISTING.
Give me as many words as you can think of, which
are nouns.
Why is the word book a noun? Why is the word
HEAVEN a noun ? And so on. Put a mark beneath all
the nouns in the following sentences: — Thomas has got
a dog. London is a large city, &c.
A lesson on Grammar, Subject — The adjective. Mixed
method.
An ADJECTIVE is a word which points out the quality
of a noun; as, large, good, black, &c.
I have a sharp knife. Now what word here points
out the quality of the knife ? Sharp, then, is an adjec-
tive, for it points out or expresses the quality of the
knife.
He gave me some apples. Now all the words
which I put before the word apples to make sense are
850 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION,
adje(;tives, — find out as many of them as you can. Small,
large ^ round, ripe, wiripe, sour, red, sweet, &c.
An adjective limits the meaning of a noun; this,
many, fourth. And so on.
Now let us collect togethei* all that has been said
about an adjective.
An ADJECTIVE IS A WORD WHICH POINTS OUT THE
QUALITY OF A NOUN, OR LIMITS ITS MEANING.
Put a mark beneath all the adjectives in the following
sentences: —
A liorse is a noble animal. The cow gives fine milk.
Why is the word the an adjective ? Why is the word
noble an adjective ? And so on to other examples.
Lessons on composition and the analysis of sentences.
1. To enlarge the subject. Simple sentence, — *' The
dog is ill."*
What is the subject of this sentence ? What is the
predicate ?
Now I shall enlarge the subject of this sentence, that
is to say, I shall add something which shall tell us all
about the dog.
"The dog is ill."
1. The large dog is ill.
2. The dog, Pompey, is ill.
3. The carrier^ dog is ill.
4. The dog of four years old is ill.
5. The dog, being very fat, is ill.
And putting all these enlargements of the subject in
one sentence, we have: —
* H«n-e we suppose this to be really a fact.
ENGLISH GRAMMAB. ; 3o7
The carrier^ s large dog, Pompey, of four years old, lemg
very fat, is ill.
What purpose is served by these enlargements of the
subject ? What do they tell us ? First, that the dog is
large; second, that his name is Pompey; third, that he
belongs to the carrier; fourth, that he is four years old;
and fifth, that he is very fat. What kind of word have
1 used to enlarge the subject in No. 1 ? The adjective
large. And so on to the others.
Enlarge the subject of the following sentence; first,
by an adjective; second, by a noun in apposition; and
so on : " The boy reads."
2. To extend the predicate, k^imple sentence, — " The
boy reads."
The predicate may be extended in the following dif-
ferent ways: —
" The boy reads."
1. The boy ve2n\^ fluently .
2. The boy reads /or information.
(b) The boy reads at home.
3. The boy reads every day,
4. The boy reads standing.
In (1) the predicate is extended by an adverb; in (2)
by 2i preposition or by a prepositional phrase; in (3) by a
noun in the objective case; in (4) by a participle used
adverbially.
In (1) and (4) we use an adjunct of manner; in (2)
an adjunct of cause; in (b) an adjunct of ^/a^;^ ; in (3)
an adjunct of time.
Show the different ways in which the predicate in the
following sentence may be extended: "The boy runs."
358 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Point out the subject, predicate, and object of the
following sentence: "A bad hoy ^ called Thomson^hurt little
William very severely.'^'' What words enlarge the subject ?
What word qualifies the subject? What words extend
the predicate ?
Observation. — Proceeding in this way, the pupil will be
taught t/he art of composition. But in all this there is
comparatively little knowledge of parsing required.
Aeithmetic.
All the junior classes, in an elementary school, should
be taught arithmetic on the collective system. The
synthetic method of demonstration, first explained, at
least in this country, in the writer's treatise on the Prin-
ciples of Arithmetic, is certainly the best adapted for
elementary instruction. The suggestive method of in-
terrogation is most generally applicable to the teaching
of demonstrative arithmetic.
In teaching common or slate arithmetic, the following
general rules should be observed: —
1. All the demonstrations should be given distinctly
upon the blackboard.
2. The essential data of the question (not the whole
question) should be written, in a proper order, on the
blackboard, especially when the question contains three
or more data.
3. The teacher should fully explain every step of the
process as he writes it down. It is a bad plan to work
out the whole question, and then to proceed with the
explanation.
4. The pupils should take a part in the investigation.
The master should require them, time after time, to tell
ARITHMETIC. 369
him what quantities he must write down at the different
steps of the investigation.
Let us take a few examples of this method of teach-
ing arithmetic.
1 . Lesson on the Addition of Fractions.
Let it be required to add one-half and three fourths
togetiier.
Here, before we can add these fractions together, we
must bring them to the same part of unity, or, to speak
more simply, we must bring them to bits of the same
size. Let us suppose that we have to find how much the
half of a loaf added to the three-quarters of a loaf will
make. What do I take as the unit here ? (Ans. A loaf.)
Now, how do we get the half of a loaf? (Ans. By
cutting it into two equal parts.) How do we get the
three-fourths of the loaf ? (Ans. By cutting the loaf
into four equal parts, and taking three of them.) Now,
how should you put the half bits into quarter bits ?
(Ans. By cutting each half into two equal bits, for then
we should have the whole loaf cut into four equal bits.)
Very well. Now, how many fourths will there be in
one-half? (Ans. Two-fourths.) So that you have to
put together, or add, two-fourths and three-fourths.
What will they make ? (Ans. Five-fourths.) But I
want you to give me the sum in mixed numbers. How
many whole loaves would you have in five quarter
loaves ? (Ans. One, and a quarter more.) That is to
say, the sum of one-half and. three-quarters will be equal
to one and a quarter.
I am going to show you how to do this question in
another way.
360 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
i I or 1
i f f I or 1.
Let a stick or a line (A B) be divided on the upper
side into two equal parts, and the bottom side into four
equal parts. What will each of the upper parts be
called ? What will each of the bottom parts be called ?
Look at the figure, and tell me how many fourths there
are in each half. And so on, as before.
The teacher should also do the same thing by the
division of a space.
2. A Lesson on Rule of Three.
Let it be required to find the cost of 9 books, when
the cost of a dozen is 8«. \d.
Let us first write tlie essential data of the question on
the blackboard.
DATA.
Cost of 12 is 8«. \d. ; the cost of 9 is required.
SOLUTION TO BE WKITTEN ON THE BLACKBOARD.
Cost 12 books = 8s. \d.
. • . Cost 36 books = 3 times 8s. Id. = 248. Sd.
-. Cost 9 books = one fourth part of 24«. dd. = ?!f_^ = 6s. O^d.
4
After the teacher has written down the language, "Cost
12 books =," he asks the class, " What shall I put ihis
equal to ? " After he has received the answer, he fills
it in, and then asks, " Why is it equal to 8s. Id.? " " How
many books have we to find the cost of ? " " Now if
we can get the cost of 36 books, we may readily get the
cost of 9, as you will see, when we proceed with the
solution." After writing down, " Cost 36 books =," he
kilN^AL AElTHMtitlC. ^6l
asks, " Will the cost of 36 books be more or less than
the cost of 12 books?" "Why?" "You are quite
right; three times the number of books will cost three
times as much." "Now having got the cost of 36
books, how are we to get the cost of 9 ? " " Exactly so;
one-fourth the number will of course cost one-fourth the
price." And so on.
The more advanced boys should be sometimes called
upon to give a demonstration on the blackboard.
Cental Arithmetic.
This subject should be taught on the collective system,
in connection with the method of interrogation. The
boys prepared with an answer to the question proposed
by the master, should hold up their hands, and the
master must then call upon some boy to give the answer;
and so on to the other artifices described in connection
with the subject of collective teaching. Young children
should be practised for some time in mental calculation,
before they are taught anything relative to the symbols
and notation of numbers. Strokes, counters, balls, &c.,
should be taken as the representatives of numbers, and
all the leading properties and operations of arithmetic
should be demonstrated by the use of these objects,
before any technical modes of calculation are attempted.
All the processes should be thoroughly demonstrative,
and no rules should be laid down independently of the
investigations. All tricks and clap-traps of mental cal-
culation should be conscientiously avoided The boy
called upon to give the answer should give the process
of investigation.
362 philosophy op education.
Geography.
Geography maybe thoroughly taught, to large classes,
on the collective system. The method of suggestive in-
terrogation, followed by, or accompanied with, cate-
chetical examination, seems well adapted for teaching
this subject to all classes in an elementary school. No
branch of geography should be taught without the aid
of a map. Every collective lesson on geography should
be given in connection with a large map, which should
be suspended directly before the class. When any
country, or city, or river, or mountain, is spoten of, its
place u}>on the map should be pointed out, and its
relative bearings, boundaries or extent should be fully
explained. Physical geography and history should
always be taught in connection with descriptive geog-
raphy. (See p. 234.)
If a teacher can sketch well, he should draw his own
maps upon the blackboard. First, tracing the outline
of the country, he mentions the various kingdoms or
seas whose boundaries his chalk is tracing; second, with
a few jottings of his chalk he marks out the principal
mountain ranges, forming the great ridges or apexes of
the water-sheds; third, he traces the rivers winding
their way from iheir mountain source or sources to the
great reservoirs of the waters of the globe. He pauses
for a moment to review his work, — he has sketched out
the works of nature as the hand of the Creator has left
them; now he has to begin to sketch the works of art
and civilization — he has to people the wilderness, and to
trace the progressive steps of civilization; upon the
banks of the tidal rivers, he marks the site of the great
GEOGRAPHY. 363
mercantile cities; on the shores ®f the mountain streams
he plants the names of the oldest industrial cities; on
the coal fields he places those mighty manufacturing
cities which have almost sprung into existence since the
discovery of the steam-engine — that mightiest monarch
of civilization and power, which seems to control the
destinies of the world ;Jast of all, he marks the sites of
those large towns which form the market places of the
rural population. We said that the work was progres-
sive, — every fresh touch of the chalk is associated with
some new idea, and every fresh idea has its appropriate
association with some line or mark upon the board; — the
sketch goes on, — it becomes more and more finished; —
the skeleton becomes lined with sinews, then clothed
with flesh and blood; — every fresh step towards com-
pletion excites new interest in the minds of the boys, —
they wonder how a few jottings can call up the idea of
a mountain range, or how a winding line can call up the
idea of the course of the sparkling river, or how the lit-
tle mark put for the mountain city should awaken, in
their imaginations, the sound of the flip flap, flap flip, of
water mills, and the busy hum of industry; they wonder,
but they know not that the visible picture which their
master has drawn, with his chalk, would be dull and
lifeless without the living moral picture with which it is
associated. Such a lesson is complete in its parts and
perfect as a whole. It is a complete exemplification of
what has been called the constructive method of teaching.
Map-drawing is an excellent means of teaching geog-
raphy. This exercise, as we before observed, should be
set apart for home lessons.
364 philosophy of education.
Drawing.
Collective teaching, combined with the system of home
studies, is best adapted for giving lessons on this im-
portant branch of school education. As this truly use-
ful branch of knowledge does not appear to have re-
ceived that amount of attention, in our schools generally,
which its utility demands, we shall enter more fully into
the details of the method by which it should be taught
in our elementary schools.
1. The teacher should first explain the elements of form.
Drawing, like all other branches of instruction, has its
simple elemetitary principles; these principles should be
learnt by the pupil before he can be expected to make
any satisfactory progress.
All drawing must be based upon a knowledge of the
elenients of form. Before a boy can draw a line cor-
rectly he should know something about the nature of
that line.
All forms, whether in nature or art, may be reduced
to a few geometrical elements.
Straight lines should be copied of various lengths
and positions, and next in order should follow the vari-
ous geometrical figures formed by straight lines.
The CIRCLE is the simplest and most perfect of all
CURVED lines; it, in fact, forms the standard by which
we judge of the relative degree of curvature of the
various portions of any other curved line. To draw a
circle by the hand requires some skill; and the acquisi-
tion is well deserving the trouble. Curves of contrary
flexure, that is, curves which are convex at one part and
DRAWING. 365
concave at another, have been called the lines of beauty.
Examples relating to the circle, with various curved
figures more or less depending upon it, should be given
to the pupils.
These elements of form constitute the alphabet of
DEAWiNG. No satisfactory progress can be made in
drawing until the pupil has become thoroughly ac-
quainted with these forms. You may as well attempt to
teach a boy to read before he is acquainted with his
alphabet, as give him an axe, or any such object, to
draw before he is made acquainted with the different
kinds of lines found in its outline.
In this way drawing is made a useful instrument of a
higher kind of instruction; for the pupil is insensibly,
and at the same time pleasantly, made acquainted with
the names and properties of geometrical figures. Why
should the boy who is supposed to be skilful enough to
draw a chair or a looking-glass, remain ignorant of the
names of the geometrical elements of form ? A child of
five years of age readily learns the names and under-
stands the construction of the most useful geometrical
figures; and not only so, but he really feels a pleasure in
learning them. Now the best way of learning the
names and definitions of geometrical figures is actually
to draw them. Children feel as much pleasure in draw-
ing beautiful geometrical forms, as they do in imitating
the drawings of natural objects, more especially if they
are taught to draw these geometrical forms by method.
The teaching of the first facts of geometry ought to be
considered as one of the most important ends which is
to be attained by an elementary course of drawing
lessons, It is not practicable, and, indeed, it is not de»
366 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
sirable if it were practicable, to teach drawing without
embracing a certain amount of geometrical knowledge.
The pleasure of success is the best incentive to the
pupil in learning to draw; but if the exercises are too
difficult for him, he will give up in despair, believing
that he has no genius for drawing. A teacher gives a
boy as a first lesson, a drawing of an Ass to copy; —
the boy labors earnestly at his task, for he really would
like to draw a donkey, but notwithstanding his repeated
efforts, he cannot decidedly say whether his drawing is
more like a horse than it is like a donkey. That boy
should first learn the alphabet of drawing — the leading
elements of forms— before he attempts to copy such
difficult pictures.
2. The teacher should explain the varioua lines of co7istruction
necessary for drawing a figure.
In these lines of construction we bring principles to
aid the eye and ihe hand. The facility and accuracy
with which an artist will copy any drawing depends not
more upon his skilful command of the pencil, than upon
the method which he adopts, unconsciously it may be, in
determining the leading points of the outline of the
drawing. The figure or model to be draw;n should be
first examined as a whole, and then the leading points as
well as the general outline of the drawing should be laid
down, before any of the minute or subordinate parts are
attempted. All beautiful figures have symmetry; and,
therefore, in constructing such figures, there may always
be found some geometrical forms which will aid us in
the construction. The habit of constructing figures in
this way, besides serving the end for which it is directly
DRAWING. 36 Y
intended, tends very much to improve the observing and
reasoning powers of the pupil; it insensibly and grad-
ually instils into the young mind a knowledge of geome-
trical principles, and lays the foundation of a more de-
monstrative course of geometry. Let us take a few
illustrations.
A pupil having to draw an octagon for the first time
would scarcely know how to begin it; but a glance at
the teacher's lines of construction should give him the
idea of a method which will enable him to draw the
figure with facility and precision.
Few persons, even amongst artists, can draw a perfect
ellipse by the hand; but by attending to a few simple
principles of construction it becomes easy even to a pupil.
All points and lines of construction should be drawn
faintly, in order that they may be readily erased, and
that they may be readily distinguished from the real
lines of the drawing. For various illustrations of the
methods of construction, the reader may consult the
writer's work on Drawing.
3. The teacher should explain the manner of using the pencil or
crayon.
The drawing pencil, or crayon, as the case may be,
should be held in the same manner as the common
writing pen. In order to give freedom of motion to the
hand, the pupil should be accustomed to hold the pencil
loosely, with the first two fingers and the thumb at some
distance from the point. Every line should be seen as
it is being drawn, and, in order to secure this, all lines
should be drawn from left to right, and from the top to
the bottom of the paper. As a general rule, lines should
368 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
be first sketched out faintly, and then any inaccuracies
can be corrected as the line is being finished off. The
beginning and the end of a line should be fixed before
the pupil commences to draw it. Certain intermediate
points should also be fixed before the whole line is at-
tempted to be drawn. Great precision cannot be expected
from young persons at first, nor sliould they be required to
dwell too long upon any particular drawing at this early
stage of their instruction; the patience of a child should
never be worn out by a fastidious regard to what is
called accuracy of finish. The fact is, there is a want of
flexibility in the muscles of the hand of young children,
which time and nature only can fully remedy.
4. Proper drawing instruments and materials should he provided
for the pupils.
The pupils should be provided with slates, drawing-
books, or drawing-paper. If slates are used, the pupil
should draw with a long, soft slate-pencil. Black-lead
pencils, as well as common slate-pencils, if used in draw-
ing, should be well-pointed and of sufficient length to
be used with freedom. If crayons are adopted, they
should be of different degrees of hardness, and fixed in
a port-crayon, one at each end. Some teachers may pre-
fer pen-and-ink drawings; this mode of drawing is
exceedingly useful and convenient for schools; in this
case, the drawings may be first traced with black-lead
pencil, and then afterwards completed with the pen and
ink. Each pupil should be provided with a copy of
some drawing exercises,* so that he may, at certain
♦See Tate's " Dniwing-Book for Little Boys and Girls," containing
upwards of one liundred and thirty drawing exercises. Price 1*. 6rf.
Longman &Co.
DRAWING. 36d
periods, go on with his work without the constant
supervision of the master.
5. Ths pupth should then draw the outlines of familiar objects.
After the pupil has been made acquainted with the
leading elements of form, he will find much interest in
tracing the outlines of familiar objects. Outline draw-
ings, it will be observed, are not really representations
of the objects, for they want the touches of light and
shade, as well as some other artistic artifices, requisite
for forming a true picture. Notwithstanding this, the
drawings are sufficiently like the objects which they are
intended to represent, so as to interest the child in the
resemblance. The pupil should first copy from the
drawing of the object, and then he should have the
object itself placed directly before him to be drawn in
outline. The master should carefully explain to his
pupils the different geometrical forms to which the
various parts of the outline drawing may be referred.
6. The teacher should explain the method of drawing a figure on
the llachhoard.
The teacher should construct the figure (which his
pupils are about to draw) on the blackboard, on an en-
larged SCALE. All the lines of construction should be
explained by him as he draws them, and all the pupils
should go along with him, drawing line after line as
their master proceeds with his exposition. After such
explanations, the master may leave his pupils for a time
to copy the drawing from their sheets with more care
and exactness. The impetus which the master thus
gives to his class will be sufficient to render it self-acting
370 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
for the time which he may require to bestow on the
other classes in the school.
When a model is to be drawn, it should be placed
before the pupils in a position similar to that in which it
is given in the drawing copy: the master should then
show the pupils hoio and why he draws the different lines
in his representation.
There are a few important points upon which children
require to be especially giiided. In drawing vertical
lines, they are very liable to make the lines lean in the
same direction as the lines of ordinary writing. Chil-
dren should constantly have their attention directed to
the proportion of the parts of a figure; as, for example,
a line in a drawing may be exactly the same length as
another line, or it may be twice or thrice the length.
The position of lines should be carefully noted; as, for
example, one line may be perpendicular to another line;
or a line may be drawn exactly between the vertical
and the horizontal; or a line may rise to the left of the
horizontal; and so on. They are very apt to draw a
line before its exact position has been realized in their
own minds. Children, if left to themselve-, will often
begin with some unimportant detail, and thus go on
drawing without method; here the master should show
the child what lines to begin with, how to get a good
general outline, and then how the minute parts should
be finished oiT.
7. The teacher should carefully inspect the tcork done by the
pup /Is.
While the pupils are at work, the master should move
rapidly amongst them, giving hints to some, correcting
DRAWING. 3Yl
the errors of others, and in all cases showing tl>em how
they should do it, rather than actually doing it for them.
A few minutes at the close of each lesson should be
devoted to the examination of the slates or books of the
pupils. The drawings done at home should also be
carefully examined by the master.
8. The master should give his pupils drawing copies for home
exercises.
Our present systems of elementary education seem to
make too little provision for home instruction. Drawing
at home is admirably adapted for supplying the place
of evening tasks, which were once given in the form of
columns of spelling, or paragraphs of geography. Draw-
ing is rather an amusement than a task, and children
need very little persuasion to induce them to devote
some portion of their leisure time to this delightful study.
In home studies especially, children like to show some
evidence of their application, with the view of compar-
ing the work of one week with that of another. Exer-
cises on drawing, as we have already observed, are well
calculated to effect this end.
9. The more advanced pupils should draw the figures upon an
enlarged scale.
Young persons can draw small figures much more
easily, than they can draw large ones. Their eye more
readily catches the proportions of small figures than of
large ones; and their hand is better able to draw short
lines than long ones. Children have a more perfect per-
ception of an object of moderate size then they have of
a large object; the eye takes in all the parts of the object
372 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
more readily in the former case than in the latter case,
and thus a more perfect picture is formed upon the retina.
Hence it is in accordance with nature that a young per-
son should first copy moderate-size drawings before he
attempts to draw upon a large scale. But after he has
drawn the figures upon a small scale, he should tlien
draAV them upon a scale of twice, thrice, or even four
times the size. The drawing of figures on a large scale
gives freedom and power to the hand, and precision to
the judgment. But, besides this, the drawing of figures
on different scales forms one of the most useful lessons
in practical mathematics. If a child is required to draw
a figure on double the scale of any given figure, he sees
that if he takes the base of his drawing double the
length of the base of the original figure, then all the
parts of his figure will be respectively double the corre-
sponding parts of the original figure; and so on to otlier
cases: in this way he -will draw a figure of the same
form as the original, the only difference between the
two figures being that one is drawn upon a larger scale
than the other.
10. After d/r awing from copy^ the pupils should draw from
familiar objects.
Copying is the first step in drawing. It is one of the
easiest acts of imitation. When a pupil makes a copy
of a drawing, he merely transfers the lines on one sheet
of paper to another; but in this exercise of the faculty
of imitation, some reasoning and judgment are involved,
especially if the pupil is called upon to use certain arti-
fices of construction. To give a representation of a
natural object, just as it appears to us, is much more
DRAWING. 373
difficult than to make a copy of a drawing already made
of the object. The lines which we draw in this case are
not the exact counterparts of the corresponding lines in
the object, but merely representations of them, drawn
so as to convey to the organs of perception an impression
of the object. In order to understand how this effect is
produced, we must be acquainted with the laws of vision,
with the effects of light and shade, and with certain
principles of perspective relating to the foreshortening
of lines, &c. In a course of elementary instruction in
drawing, therefore, the pupil should first exercise his eye
and hand in the copying of certain geometrical forms and
simple drawings of natural objects, before he commences
drawing from actual objects. It is, moreover, necessary
that the pupil should first copy the drawing of a natural
object, before he proceeds to give a represetation of it
as it would appear to him when placed before him.
While the pupil is thus acquiring steadiness of hand and
accuracy of eye, he is at the same time gradually be-
coming acquainted with the art of perspective, or the true
mode of representing solid figures on a flat surface. In
order that the drawing may be of service to the pupil,
the object should be placed before him nearly in the
same position as that in which it is represented in the
drawing. A further change of view will sufiiciently task
the skill of the pupil. The muster should be at some
pains to show the coincidence of the lines of the represen-
tation with the actual appearance. He should show them,
for example, why all the vertical lines in the object are
also drawn vertical in the picture; why certain horizontal
lines in the object are drawn rising or falling; as the case
may be, from the horizontal line in the picture; why cer-
374 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
tain lines in the object are drawn much shorter in the
picture than they really are in the object; and so on, as ex-
plained in the writer's work on "Drawing for Schools."
The best stand for the drawing models is a common
table. They may be raised, if necessary, by placing
them on a box or any rectangular object.
1 1 . Ad/vantages of small drawings jor children.
Some teachers suspend large drawings before their
class to be copied. This plan is in many respects higlily
eligible for simultaneous instruction when the pupils can
be placed directly in front of the drawing; but when this
cannot be done, the figure will appear foreshortened and
distorted to those pupils on each side of it. It should
also be observed, that drawing from a large figure is not
strictly an act of imitation, for the copy made by the pupil
is what the figure would appear to be, supposing it placed
at the same distance from the eye as the copy. Besides,
these very large figures are not adapted for home in-
struction. Now, when each pupil is provided with a
drawing, he is able to place it directly before him at the
same distance from his eye as the copy which he is about
to make; hence he finds it more easy to copy a small
drawing so placed than to copy a large drawing suspended
at a distance from his eye. But the greatest advantage
of small drawings is that they may be taken home by
the pupils, and co])ied in their leisure hours.
Chalk drawings, executed however roughly by
THE MASTER ON THE BLACKBOARD, are really much more
efficient means of instruction than the suspending of
large drawing shccits before the class.
DE AWING. ^75
12. The pupih should he taught to draw from Models^ after
the Method of Bupuis.
A boy may be able to make excellent copies of draw-
ings or pictures, without being able to give anything like
a tolerable representation of the simplest natural object;
this requires distinct cultivation. Model drawing is the
best way of teaching beginners to draw from nature.
The following are some of the advantages of teaching
drawing from models: —
(1.) Natural objects are generally too difficult for the
learner to begin with; whereas the models can be con-
structed according to a progressive order of difficulty.
(2.) The models are always under our control; they
may be readily placed at any distance from the pupil,
or in any desirable position.
(3.) They may be made to represent various geomet-
rical forms, and owing to this uniformity of shape, the
drawings taken from one set of models may be compared
with those taken from another set.
(4.) The models may be used in combination with one
another, and thus the different parts of a complex figure
may be first drawn separately before they are drawn in
combination.
(5.) The system of model drawing is especially calcu-
lated to exercise and develop the powers of observation
and comparison, and forms the best introduction to a
system of mathematical perspective.
The models, which the pupils are required to draw,
are made of wood or some other light material; and they
are placed in a proper position before the pupil, in order
to be drawn by him, on paper, or on a common slate. He
si 6 PHlLOSOt*HY OF EDTTCATlO]^.
is taught certain easy processes, by which he is enabled
to find out the apparent size and shape of the various
parts of the model, so as to give its true representation
on paper.
The method of drawing from models was invented by
M. Dupuis. Its grand feature consists in making per-
spective drawing a matter of observation on the part of
the pupil, rather than a subject of mathematical reason-
ing. The principles, practice, and advantages of the
method are fully explained in the author's work on
"Drawing for Schools."
Writing.
This bn^nch of education may be thoroughly taught,
in a common school, on the collective system. In con-
ducting such lessons as w^'iting, it is desirable that the
master should exercise his classes, in all their movements,
in habits of military precision and promptitude. In order
to follow out the collective system in relation to this
subject, the writing to be copied should be written by
the master on the blackboard, or large sheets containing
copies should be suspended before the class. After the
copy books and pens have been distributed, the master
gives the order, — "open copy books;" then all the
pupils in the class must obey the order at the same mo-
ment: the master may next say, — "take up pens;" then
all the pupils must in like manner, promptly and exactly
obey the order: he may next say, — "prepare to write,"
every boy, in this case, must place his copybook and his
own body in the proper position for writing, this position
having been previously explained by the master; he may
now say, — "begin writing;" and all the class commence
GEOMETEY AND MENSURATION. Zl1
their work at the same moment. Similiar orders may be
given when the pupils have finished the first line. The
master must then rapidly inspect the copy books, giving
a him to each pupil as he passes him, and afterwards he
will make some more enlarged remarks upon the writing,
addressed to the whole class, as it generally happens that
the faults of one boy are common to the whole class.
We do not mean to say that an intelligent teacher will
slavishly follow this plan, or indeed any other plan that
might be proposed — at the same time it should be ob-
served, that the plan here given must contain the leading
elements of every efiicient plan which might be devised.
Every teacher will, of course, adapt the details of a plan
to suit his peculiar tastes and habits of thought.
Mulhauser's method of writing seems to be well
adapted forgiving the first elementary lessons in writing;
but the method should not be carried beyond its legiti-
mate limits. In order to give a finish to writing, no
method should supersede that of carefully prepared copy-
heads, such as those given by Butterworth, Foster,
Story, and others.
Practical Geometry and Mensuration.
The pupils should be taught these subjects after the
collective system of teaching, followed up by individual
exercises. Each pupil in the class should be provided
with a pair of compasses, a ruler, and if possible a scale,
having a diagonal scale of equal parts on one side, and a
protractor on the other, and a little triangular square (see
the author's Geometry and Mensuration). The master
should be provided with a large pair of wooden compasses,
having a chalk holder at the extremity of one of its legs;
378
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION,
a long ruler; a large wooden protractor, which need not
be very exactly made, and a large X square. He should
construct his figures without the aid of any other instru-
ments.
The master should draw the geometrical problem on
the blackboard on a large scale, taking care to excite the
attention of the pupils in the class, time after time, by
putting various suggestive questions to them, such as
we have given in connection with the teaching of draw-
ing, &c.
Familiar and common-sense expositions (without as-
piring to strictness of demonstration) should be given
relative to the methods of construction. In the same
manner, the leading problems of mensuration should be
taught.
A lesson on Geometry. Subject — A perpendicular, a
right angle. Illustrated method. From the concrete
to the abstract.
When a man stands upright, he stands perpendicular
to the floor. The floor of this room is level or horizontal;
the wall of the room is vertical, and stands perpendicular
HORIZONTAL LINK.
to the level floor. The surface of still water is level or
horizontal; a plummet line hangs vertically ; tlie plummet
GEOMETRY AND MENSURATION.
379
line is perpendicular to the surface of the water. It will
be seen that the plummet line neither inclines to the one
side nor to the other, that is to say, the openings or angles
which it forms with the horizontal line, on each side, are
equal to each other.
Is the line c D perpendicular to ab? To which side
does it incline ? On which side does it form the greater
angle or opening ? To which side does c e incline ? On
which side does c e make the greater angle ? Whether
does CD or ce approach nearer to the perpendicular
position ? To which side does the line c f incline ? To
neither the one side nor the other. Then the angles on
each side are eqml to each other, and they are called
riffht angles,
A lesson on Practical Geometry. Subject — To erect a
perpendicular. Mixed method. Illustrative, construc-
tive, &c.
I want to show you how to draw one line perpen-
dicular to another. From the given point, or mark, d,
in the straight line a b, I want to erect a perpendicular y
that is, a line which will neither incline to the one side
nor to the other.
880 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
On each side of d, I take d f, of the same length as d
E. (The teacher is supposed to construct the figure as
he describes it.) I open the legs of my compasses so
that the opening between the points shall be greater
than D E or d f; I place one point of my compasses on
the mark or point e, and sweep a portion of a circle; I
now place the point of the compasses on the mark or point
f, and sweep a portion of another circle, cutting: the
former in a point which we shall call c; I join d and c,
and the line d c will be perpendicular to the line a b.
I shall now explain to you why this mode of construc-
tion causes c d to be perpendicular to a b.
There are two things in the construction which cause
the line d c to be perpendicular to a b: First, d e is of
the same length as df; second, the two circles were
swept with the same radius or opening of the compasses.
These two things cause the point c to lie directly over,
or perpendicularly over the point d. If the second radius
or opening of the compasses be taken less than the first
70
opening (here the teacher must describe the figure),
how will the line c d be inclined ? It will be inclined
towards the side f. Why ? For the point where the
two circles cut each other must lie nearer to Fthan to e.
But when the openings of the compasses are the same,
the point where the circles cut each other lies neither more
towards f than towards e, and therefore the line d c is
ALGEBRA. 381
equally inclined to a b, tliat is to say, d c is perpendicular
to AB.
Ohervations. Although this may not be what is called
a logical demonstration, yet it most certainly gives the
pupil A SUFFICIENT REASON for Concluding that the line
c D is perpendicular to a b. It is further worthy of ob-
servation, that such familiar expositions prepare the
mind of the pupil for following more strictly logical
demonstrations. I am well aware that some persons
are disposed to say that the shortest course is to carry
the pupil through Euclid's Elements; but, after the
experience of a quarter of a centrry as a mathematical
lecturer, I have no hesitation in saying that it is quite
impracticable to teach young persons the elements of
Euclid until they have gone over some initiatory course
of demonstrative geometry, by which the mind of the
pupil is led to pass from the concrete to the abstract. It
is true that this initiatory process of demonstration is
always lengthy; but it acts like a mechanical power ^ for what
we lose in time we gain in force.
Algebra.
This subject should be taught by a demonstrative
method, — proceeding from the concrete to the abstract.
The leading simple elementary operations of quantities
should be first taught in connection with the solution of
problems.
A lesson on Algebra. Subject — Equations, &c.
Problem. A man bought a cow and a horse for 28/.;
now the horse cost twice as much as the cow and 41,
more: what did he pay for the cow ?
382 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
Here the problem tells us that the value of the cow
and the horse equals twenty-eight pounds. I may then
write this down in the form of an equation, thus —
one cow -|- one horse = 38^.
Now I must put the horse into cows. What does the
question tell us about the value of the horse ? That a
horse is worth two cows and 4/. more. Then I may
write down —
one horse = 2 cows + 4Z.
We shall now write down, or substitute, this value of
the horse in the first equation; thus,
one cow -j- 3 cows + 4Z. = 28/.
What have I here substituted for one horse ?
Putting the cows together, we have,
3 cows -f- Al. = 28/.
If I take away the 4/. from the left side of this equa-
tion, what must I take away from the other side to keep
up the equality ? Let us do this, — then,
3 cows = 24/.,
. •. one cow = i of 24/. = 8/.
that is to say, the value of the cow is 8/.
Or thus, more symbolically. Proceeding as before, we
have,
one cow + one horse = 28/.
Let us, for the sake of convenience, put a; for the value
of the cow in pounds, that is, let
one cow = x,
but one horse = 2 cows -|- 4/.,
. •. one horse = 2x -\- 41.
Why do I put 2 x for the value of "2 cows" ? Be-
cause X pounds is the value of one cow, and therefore 2 x
pounds will be the value of two cows.
CHEMISTRY. 383
Now let us put these values for the cow and the horse
in our first equation. First writing x for the cow and 2x
4- 4/. for the horse, we get,
x-\-2x-\-4:l. =2SL,
.'. dx+U. = 281.
What have I done here? Exactly, an x added to 2a;
will make 3 x, in the same manner as one cow added to
two cows will make three cows.
In order to leave nothing but x's on the left side of
this equation, what must I do ?
.-. 3« = 24^.,
.-. X = iof 24^. = 8^.,
that is to say, the value of the cow is 8/.
Mechanical and Physical Science.
All our instructions in these sciences should be based
on observation and experiment. The methods of inter-
rogation and ellipses are best adapted for giving familiar
lectures on these subjects.
A lesson on Chemistry . Subject — To distinguish iron
from copper. Mixed method. Experimental, interrog-
ative, elliptical, &c.
Properties derived prom observation. What are
the names of these metals? The one is called iron, the
other copper. The color of the copper is reddish-yellow,
that of the iron dark grey. They have some properties
in common. They both have a peculiar glitter or lustre,
called the metallic lustre, or the lustre common to all
metals. Polished wood has a lustre, but it is not the
metallic lustre. I can readily scratch the copper with my
knife, but I cannQt so easily scratch the iron; what
384 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
inference do you draw from this ? Copper is softer than
iron. They may be both hammered out, — they are both
malleable. It takes a very intense heat to melt them, —
they are not easily melted or fused. But they are both
drawn out into wires, — they are both ductile.
Uses. Name the uses of iron. Name the uses of
copper. On what properties do these uses depend?
Ores of iron and copper. This is a specimen of
iron (yre, that of cop])er ore; the one is called iron pyrites,
the other copper pyrites; the one is called sulphuret of
iron, being composed of sulphur and iron, the other is
called sulphuret of copper, being composed of stilphur
and copper. Compare their coloi-s. The copper ore has
the decider yellow color. I can scratch the copper ore
with my knife, but T cannot scratch the iron ore, — the
copper ore is softer than the iron ore.
Chemical properties or test. Here is a solution
of sulphate of copper. What is its color? what is its
composition ? Here is a solution of iron. What is its
color, &c.?
Here are two glasses, — to the first I add a little of
the solution of the sulphate of iron, and to the other a
little of the sulphate of copper. To these I add a few
drops of the tincture of nut galls, — the first becomes
hlack., — the second is slightly discolored.
Here are two glasses containing pure water, — to the
first I add a few drops of sulphate oj iron^ and to the
second a few drops of sulphate of copper. To these I first
add a drop of ammonia, — a light precipitate is formed
in both glasses. What are these precipitates? Now so
far we have not nrrivcd at any decided test as tp the
NATURAL HISTORY. 386
nature of the two substances; but I now add to each a
larger quantity of ammonia, — in the first glass the pre-
cipitate is redtssolved, and a beautiful deep blue color is
formed, — in the second glass the precipitate remains
unchanged. And so on.
Natural History.*
Natural History, as a branch of Education, has been
almost entirely neglected in our Schools, although it
treats of objects with which we come daily and hourly
into contact, throughout the whole course of our lives.
Much time is devoted to subjects which have but a remote
and indirect bearing on the pupil's future career: yet
how few there are who come out of the Elementary, or
even Grammar School, with the knowledge of the name
and history of the little plant which grows at the side of
the play-ground, or of the rock which appears in the
neighboring valley.
For the neglect of Natural History in our Schools,
Training Colleges are not a little to blame, for they have
rarely given it an adequate place in their curriculum;
and the consequence has been that few teachers have ac-
quired a knowledge of the subject, or become imbued
with a love of Natural History pursuits. The techni-
calities of the science have proved a stumbling block to
many, who have not enjoyed the advantages of special
collegiate instruction. But an intelligent teacher need
not be scared away by such difliculties, for they may be
as easily surmounted as the preliminary obstacles which
bar the entrance into mathematics or classics. Indeed,
* Communicated by the author's brother, Mr. Geo. Tate, F. G. S.
M
386 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
we know no class of men for whom Natural History-
studies are more fitted than for teachers. Most of them
have sufficient leisure for these pursuits, which have this
peculiar advantage, that while they improve the mind
they give health to the body. What more beneficial to
the teacher, than to escape from the crowded school-
room, and to wander over green fields and wild moors,
through shady forests, or along the solitary shore, and to
examine, as he passes, the lovely flower, blushing beneath
the hedge; the rock forming the picturesque cliff; the
insects flitting in the air; or the finny tribes sporting in
the waters!
The introduction of Natural History as a prominent
subject of school instruction would, we are persuaded,
not only impart valuable knowledge, but also improve
the taste of the pupils, and furnish them with healthful
sources of enjoyment. It would be an efficient means of
mental training, well suited to children; for it would
teach how to observe, to note qualities and forms, to mark
agreements and differences, and how to describe natural
objects in precise and distinctive language. The higher
faculties of the mind are also called into exercise, in dis-
covering the relations which the varied productions of
nature have to each other, and in grouping and classify-
ing them according to these relations.
There is probably no occupation which might not be
more or less benefitted by a knowledge of Natural His-
tory; it has a direct bearing on medicine, agriculture,
gardening, mining, and, indeed, most mechanical employ-
ments; but to the emigrant — and in these days many of
our fellow-countrymen seek in distant colonies a more
profitable field of labor than they can find in their native
NATURAL HISTORY. 387
land — it is of incalculable value. Through ignorance of
minerals, quantities of Iron Pyrites, which have the
yellow, glittering aspect of the noble metal, but which
are comparatively worthless, have been sent from dis-
tant lands to England, under the belief that they con-
tained gold. Not long ago, a California adventurer
picked up a bright transparent crystal, which he imag-
ined was a diamond, and for which he refused 200^. ; he
brought it to England, and learned that it was worth-
less. A little knowledge of Mineralogy, which might
have been given in an Elementary School, would have
taught him that this crystal, which he prized so highly,
was only a six-sided prism of quartz, and that it could
not be a diamond, since this valuable gem never assumes
that form.
It is no slight recommendation of Natural History,
that the materials for its study are inexhaustible, and
that they lie in every man's path. Hence it is, that he
who has received elementary instruction in this depart-
ment of science is ever brought into connection with the
beautiful, the wonderful and the perfect; he can inter-
rogate Nature, and understand her responses; he is sur-
rounded with familiar friends — though solitary, he is
never alone — rocks, plants and animals are to him min-
istering spirits, full of hidden meanings, and ready to
contribute to his improvement and happiness.
To children. Natural History can be most efficiently
taught out of doors. Here, if anywhere, pleasure may
be combined with instruction. For this purpose, rambles
should be taken into the country pretty frequently,
when the weather is favorable. Let Botany, for exam-
ple, be the subject studied: the teacher should visit with
388 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
his pupils some pleasant spot where the wild flowers
grow in profusion; the pupils should gather these plants,
and the teacher, seated, it may be, on a grassy hillock,
or on a jutting rock, should, making use of the materials
collected, explain their character, structure and relations.
Nor will the intelligent teacher neglect to link with
direct instruction the legends and the historical or re-
markable events of the district, so as to invest the nat-
ural objects with local associations, giving a deeper in-
terest to his subject. The rector of an academy in Scot-
land, who is an accomplished Entomologist, acts the
peripatetic philosopher with his pupils, and from his
school several good naturalists have gone forth; and we
read, not long ago, an account of a National School in
the south of England, where the children had made no
inconsiderable progress in Botany. We are persuaded
that Natural History could be taught to children even
from an early age, without materially interfering with
the time devoted to other branches; and we may here-
after enter into more practical details on the subject.
In the meantime, we would ask any intelligent teacher
— would not the adoption of some such plan as we pro-
pose have a healtliful influence both on himself and his
pupils ? Would it not relieve the tedium of the ordi-
nary school routine, carried out as it is for the most part
in confined apartments; and while opening out new
sources of instruction and enjoyment, would it not lay
the foundation of much future happiness? Let him
fairly attempt to work out our suggestion, and we are
sure of a satisfactory result.
SCHOOL OEGANIZATION, 389
Part V.
ON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND DISCIPLINE.
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION.
School organization has respect to all those mechanical
arrangements, appliances, and artifices, whereby the
business of instruction may be facilitated and promoted.
The following subjects deserve especial attention : —
I. School-buildings and Fittings.
The best form of a school-room is that of an oblong.
It should be fitted up with parallel rows of desks, in the
form of a gallery, for the different classes; and a raised
platform should be erected at one end, from which the
master can overlook the whole school. The desks should
be arranged into five or six divisions, to suit the number
of classes in the school. The room should contain at
least 7 square feet of area for each pupil to be accom-
modated; and the space of 18 inches should be allowed
for each boy on the forms. The class divisions should
be about 9 feet in length, and may contain from three
to five rows of parallel desks. Every good school should
have a separate room called a class-room^ fitted up with
a gallery having parallel desks, for the purpose of
enabling the master to give instruction to his pupil-
teachers, and occasional special lessons or lectures to the
390 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
advanced pupils of the school. This class-room should
be fitted up with an open fire-place, a large black-board,
a lecture table, and a case for holding experimental and
other kinds of school apparatus.
The schoolroom should be well warmed and thoroughly-
ventilated. The most economical and efiicient means of
warming and ventilating schoolrooms, are those stoves
which attain both of these objects at the same time.
There have been some excellent stoves of this kind in-
troduced into some of our large workshops, but we are
not aware that they have as yet been sufficiently em-
ployed in our schools.
Some schoolrooms are divided into three equal portions,
the first containing space for the children to stand in
semicircular drafts; the second, seats with desks for
writing; and the third, a gallery for simultaneous in-
struction. But it appears to us that this triple division
interferes very much with the order, quiet, and discipline
of the school. A series of parallel desks, arranged in
the gallery form, and subdivided for the accomodation
of the different classes, under proper management, not
only answers all the desirable purposes of this triple di-
vision, but also secures the uniform and continuous action
of all the classes, without any of that noise and confusion
necessarily attendant upon the changes of position, &c.,
connected with the standing drafts.
The schoolroom should be constructed so as to deaden
as much as possible, the echo of the teachers' or the
children's voices; and the school should be in a quiet,
cheerful, and healthy neighborhood. The ground
should be thoroughly drained, and complete water closets
should be provided for the use of tlie children. A play-
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 391
ground should be attached to the schools, where the
childreu may amuse themselves with games and gymnastic
exercises, at the times set apart for that purpose; and
where also the boys should be daily exercised at drill.
The best plans of schools have been given by Sir
James Kay Shuttleworth, in the Minutes of Council for
the years 1839, 1840, 1844, and 184*7-8. Professor
Moseley's tripartite plan is admirably adapted to the
higher class of elementary schools.
II. School Apparatus.
The Black -Board should be supported on an easel in
front of the class. It should be sufficiently large, with a
smooth black surface capable of receiving chalk marks.
All diagrams and expositions should be distinctly
sketched upon the blackboard with prepared chalk. The
teacher should be provided with a pointer, and a duster,
which should be in a damp state when used for rubbing
out the chalk marks.
The Text-Books, Maps, Diagrams, Models, and
Pictorial Illustrations, should be in keeping with the
master's peculiar system of instruction.
The School Library should contain books suited to
the attainments, capabilities, and future pursuits of the
pupils in the school.
The Experimental Apparatus should, at first, be of
the most simple and inexpensive description. It is better
that a master should learn to use a little apparatus with
smartness and precision, than to be constantly handling
a great deal with awkwardness and indecision. It is
important to bear in mind, that reading alone will not
give a man the power of manipulation. Let the teacher
392 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
begin with the simplest possible apparatus, and then go
on progressively until he is able to manipulate with
perfect instruments.
List of apparatus for general use.
Map of the World, of Europe, of England, of Palestine,
of the British Colonies, and a raised physical map of
England.
A terrestrial globe, blackboards for all the classes in
the school, slate-pencils, black-lead pencils, pen-holders,
pencil-holders, earthenware inkwells, strings for slates,
prepared chalk, admission-book, class register books,
attendance and absence register, routines of lessons,
visitor's book, &c.
Routines of Lessons, or Time Tables.
Each class should have a separate routine of lessons,
adapted to the attainments and capabilities of the pupils
composing it. These routines should be suspended before
their respective classes, and the teacher should enter the
routine of his class in the fly-leaves left at the beginning
of his class register. The routines should be framed not
only with regard to the attainments of the respective
classes, but should also have a due regard to the harmoni-
ous operation of the whole school, and the proper alter-
nation of subjects, according to the principles which we
have explained in relation to school routines (see p. 134).
Classification.
Without classification, the collective system of instruc-
tion would be worse than useless. The first business of
the schoolmaster, therefore, is to throw his pupils into
CLASSIFICATION. 393
classes, where the boys in each class shall have the same,
or as nearly as possible the same, attainments and capa-
bilities. The number of classes, in a school, must de-
pend upon its size, as well as upon the differences of age
and attainments of the pupils. A very minute division
is neither desirable nor practicable. It is not at all re-
quisite, to secure efficient instruction, that all the pupils
in a class should have exactly the same attainments; for
a good teacher can always adapt his instruction to suit
boys whose attainments do not differ widely from each
other. As a general rule, a large school may contain
about eight classes, and a school of an average size
about five. The pupils in each class should continue
there for every subject of study until promoted to the
next class. Under a proper system of management, the
subdivision of classes into drafts, for the purpose of at-
taining a more perfect classification, is rarely necessary,
and, in my opinion, should only be resorted to in special
cases.
Basis of classification. The proper basis of classifi-
cation, as we have ah-eady explained (see p. 130), should
be the mental power and capabilities of the pupils. The
following method of classification is simple, practicable,
and sufficiently exact for all ordinary cases: —
First, arrange the pupils into three great divisions;
second, subdivide each division into two or more classes.
Thus, in a school of 120 boys, we should have, on an
average, 40 buys in each division, and 20 boys in each
class.
Tests or qualifications foe the three divisions.
Reading and general intelligence may be taken as the
best tests for fixing the division to which any child may
B94 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
belong. Reading words of one or two syllables may be
taken as the qualification for the third or lowest division;
reading words of two and three syllables, or reading
simple sentences with intelligence, as the qualification
for the second division; and reading words of four or
any higher number of syllables, or reading the higher
class books with tolerable intelligence, as the qualifica-
tion for the first or highest division.
Tests or qualifications for the classes. In this
case arithmetic forms the best basis of classification.
Here a knowledge of principles, not less than mechanical
dexterity, should enter into our estimate of qualifications.
If the third division contains two classes, the lower class
may contain those children that have not commenced
slate arithmetic, or who have only commenced the sub-
ject of mental calculation; the higher class may contain
those children who have commenced slate arithmetic, or
who have made some progress in mental arithmetic.
If the second division contains two classes, the lower
class may contain those children that have not com-
pleted the four elementary rules; the higher class those
that have commenced the subject of reduction.
If the/r«^ division contains two classes, the lower class
may contain those boys who are capable of working
questions in the rule of three, without the use of fractions;
and the higher class those that are capable of under-
standing fractions and arithmetical problems generally.
The Pupil-Teachers.
The pupil-teachers should always be selected for their
general intelligence, good conduct, and aptitude for
teaching. The number of pupil-teachers must, of course.
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 395
depend upon the size of the school; for a school of 120
boys, there should be at least four pupil-teachers. It is
also desirable that there should be a class of assistant
pupil -teachers, who may be considered in a state of pro-
bation, or preparation, for the office of pupil-teacher.
These assistant pupil-teachers may have a draft of a
class given to them, for teaching certain subjects which
may require a greater subdivision of labor. The master
should constantly bear in mind that the organization
and efficiency of his school greatly depend upon the
training of his pupil-teachers.
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.
School discipline includes all those means and appli-
ijnces whereby the order and healthful action of a school
are maintained and promoted.
I. Order, &c.
Under this head may be classed, obedience, punctu-
ality, silence, cleanliness, politeness, and general good
conduct. It is quite unnecessary to explain in detail
how these matters of discipline should be carried out in
a school. The following general principles are well
deserving the teacher's notice.
1. The teacher should endeavor to establish a principle of
limited self-government in his school. This will occasionally
relieve him of some of his most onerous duties; but
even this is the least important end which will be
gained by such a plan. The great end to be attained
by it, is to interest the pupils in the management, and
proper discipline of the school, — to identify them, as it
were, with the good name of the school, to have it said
396 PHILOSOPHY OP EDUCATION.
that the order of the school is mainly due to their own
good sense and self-government.
One of the most obvious plans for carrying out this
plan, is for the teacher to delegate (under supervision)
his authority, in relation to order, <fcc., to his pupil-
teachers. But the principle should not stop here: he
should endeavor to enlist the co-operation of all the ad-
vanced pupils, and to govern the whole school by its
public opinion. The following story given by Jacob
Abbott, about a hat peg, affords us a graphic illustration
of the principle which we should wish to see carried
out. We do not suppose that a hat peg would ever be
the occasion of a dispute, in any English school, but this
does not effect the principle, intended to be illustrated.
The preceptor of an academy was sitting at his desk,
at the close of the school, while the pupils were putting
up their books and leaving the room, when a boy came
in with angry looks, and, with his hat in his hand
bruised and dusty, advanced to the master's desk, and
complained that one of his companions had thrown down
his hat upon the floor, and had almost spoilt it.
The teacher looked calmly at the mischief, and then
asked how it happened.
"I don't know, sir; I hung it upon my nail, and he
pulled it down."
" I wish you would ask him to come here," said the
teacher; "ask him pleasantly."
The accused soon came in, and the two boys stood
together before the master.
*' There seems to be some difficulty between you two
boys about a nail to hang your hat upon. I suppose
each of you think it is your own nail."
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 397
" Yes, sir," said both the boys.
" It will be more convenient for me to talk with you
about it to-morrow, than to-night, if you are willing to
wait. Besides, we can examine it more calmly then.
But if we put it off till then, you must not talk about it
in the meantime, blaming one another, and keeping up
the irritation that you feel. Are you both willing to
leave it just where it is, till to-morrow, and try to forget
all about it till then ? I expect I shall find you both to
blame."
The boys reluctantly consented. The next day the
master heard the case and settled it, so far as it related
to the boys. It was easily settled in the morning, for
they had had time to get calm, and were, after sleeping
away their anger, rather ashamed of the whole affair,
and very desirous to have it forgotten.
That day, when the hour for transaction of business
came, the teacher stated to the school that it was neces-
sary to take some measures to provide each boy with a
nail for his hat. In order to show that it was necessary,
he related the circumstances of the quarrel which had
occurred the day before. He did this, not with such an
air and manner as to convey the impression that his
object was to find fault with the boys, or to expose their
misconduct, but to show the necessity of doing some-
thing to remedy the evil which had been the cause of
so unpleasant an occurrence. Still, though he said
nothing in the way of reproach or reprehension, and did
not name the boys, but merely gave a cool and impartial
narrative of the facts, — the effect, very evidently, was to
bring such quarrels into discredit. A calm review of
misconduct, after the excitement has gone by, will do
398 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
more to bring it into disgrace, than the most violent in-
vectives and reproaches, directed against individuals
guilty of it.
"Now, boys," continued the master, " will you assist
me in making arrangements to prevent the recurrence
of all temptations of this kind hereafter? It is plain that
every boy ought to have a nail appropriated expressly
to his use. The first thing to be done is to ascertain
whether there are enough for all. I should like, there-
fore, to have two committees appointed, — one to count
and report the number of nails in the entry, and also
how much room there is for more. The other is to as-
certain the number of scholars in school. They can
count all who are here, and, by observing the vacant
desks, they can ascertain the number absent. When
this investigation is made, I will tell you what to do
next."
The boys seemed pleased with the plan, and the com-
mittees were appointed, two members on each. The
master took care to give the quarrellers some share in
the work, apparently forgetting from this time the un-
pleasant occurrence which had brought up the subject.
When the boys came to tell him their results, he
asked them to make a little memorandum, in writing,
as he might forget before the time came for reading
them. They brought him presently a rough scrap of
paper, with the figures marked upon it. He told them
he should forget which was the number of the nails, and
which the number of the scholars unless they wrote it
down.
" It is the custom among men," said he, " to make out
their report, in such a case, fully so that it would explain
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 399«
itself; and I should like you if you are willing, to make
out yours a little more distinctly."
Accordingly, after a little additional explanation, the.
boys made another attempt, and presently returned,^
with something like the following:
" The committee for counting the nails report as follows:
^' Number 0/ nails - - 35,
''Room for - - - 15."
The other report was very similar, though somewhat,
rudely written and expressed, and both were satisfactory
to the preceptor, as he plainly showed by his manner in
which he received them.
I need not finish the description of this case, by nar-
rating, particularly, the reading of the reports, the ap-
pointment of a committee to assign the nails, and to
paste up the names of the scholars, one to each. The-
work, in such a case, might be done in recesses, and out
of school hours, and though, at first, the teacher will
find that it is as much trouble to accomplish business in
this way as it would be to attend to it directly himself,
yet after a very little experience, he will find that his
pupils will acquire dexterity and readiness, and will be
able to render him very material assistance in the accom-^^
plishment of his plans.
2. As far as possible, the discipline of the school should he
maintained without the aid of direct punishment; and its health-,
ful tone and action should he rarely promoted by the application
of such powerful stimulants as rewards or flattering commenda-
tions.
We have already explained pretty fully our views reU
ative to the subject of rewards and punishments (see
p. 141, &c.). We have therefore only further to add that,
when the teacher really finds it necessary that he should
400 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
have recourse to punishments, in order to maintain the
discipline of his school, he should act upon some grad
uated system of secondary punishments, before he
inflicts the severest of them. Sometimes a look, from
the teacher, will be suflicient to make a boy sensible of
his fault; a reproof may supersede the necessity of any
further punishment; the withdrawal of some privilege
may do more in correcting a boy of his error, than the
use of the rod; and the moderate infliction of some cor-
poral punishment may be more eflicacious in counteract-
ing crime, than a higher degree of degrading torture.
Whenever rewards are bestowed on boys of a superior
merit and character, they should be given as mementoes
of good conduct, and not as possessing any value apart
from the object for which they are given.
3. Brill exercises are highly calculated to promote the order
and healthful action of a school.
Besides the usual drill exercises in the play-ground, the
teacher should frequently relieve the monotony of his
lessons, by requiring his pupils, time after time, to go
through certain simple gymnastic movements, such as,
"arms folded," "hands on desks," "stand," "sit," "hands
up," "down," **shoulders up," "right hand up," "left
up," "turn," "front," &c.
J^efore a teacher commences a lesson, he should drill
the children into good order; amongst other things they
should be commanded to sit upright, or to sit exactly in
front of their desks, or to place their feet in a proper
position, or to sit at proper distances from each other,
or to place their books or slates properly — and so on.
They should be marched in and out of their classes in
regular military order. Every gymnastic movement
should be performed simultaneously, and with smartness
and precision. All this tends very much to foate r habits
of order and prompt obedience.
/'^^ OF THT?
ADVERTISEMENTS.
^^^-^i'J^'^-?
THE SCHOOL Bl-LLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
The Cyclopedia of Education.
This largest and handsomest of our publications is an octavo volume of
662 pages, price $3.75. IIow indispensable it is to the teacher and to the
school library may be judged from the following testimonials.
" It is admirable in every way. The book is w-orthy of a lower shelf in
everj' teacher's VCavditY .—Educational JVeics, June 8, 1889.
"This handsomely printed book is worth adding to the pedagogical
shelf of any reference library."— 77«e C?itic, Marcli 2:1, 1889.
" An elegant volume, which will find a place in the library of every
teacher. The bibliography at the end of tlie book is the best educational
check-list in the country."— i?. Ileber Ilolbi'ook, in Normal Exponent, May, '89.
" It is the most ambitious work of the kind yet published in English,
and is, therefore, a verv valuable volume for the teacher's library. More-
over, its value is increased greatly by the addition of a very extensive Bibli-
ography of Pedagogy, both English and foreign. "—Po;;'r Educator, :Mch. '89.
" This work occupies a distinct and peculiar field, and will be of contin-
ual value to the educator. The special aim of the editor, Mr. A, Fletcher,
has been to give a clear but concise account of facts and questions belong-
ing to educational topics. Here are a few titles which will give some idea
of the scope of the work : Pestalozzi, Attendance, Analysis of Sentences,
Chemistry, Technical Education, Precocity, Pedagogy, Hamiltonian Method,
Hegel, Universal Language, Utilitarianism, University, Kindergarten. Un-
der these, and many scores of other topics, there is given a mass of carefully
combined information, much of which could not bo found elsewhere."—
Christian Union, Feb. 22, 1889.
^>* " A handbook of ready reference on educational subjects of a high plane
of scholarship has long been a desideratum in this country, and this work in
a large measure supplies this want. It is a handbook of reference on all sub-
jects of education— its history, theory, and practice. The list of contributors
to the work embraces the leading educational writers of England, including
;such names as Oscar Browning, J. S. C'urwen, Sir Philip Magnus, Arthur
Sidgwick, and James Sully. These men are writers of the broadest scholar-
iship, capable of thinking deeply on educational subjects, and what they
have to say is entitled to the highest confidence of the educational world.
^The object dilgently kept in view by the writei-s of this work has been to
make it useful to all who take an interest in educational questions, and
'especially to those engaged in teaching. With this purpose in view the ob-
' ject has been to present a practical view of educational facts and questions
'discussed. An exhaustive treatment of the great variety of subjects has
liiot been aimed at, the end sought being to bring their pedagogic features
Into clear outline. Not the least useful part of the work is a 'Select and
Systematic Bililiography of Pedagogy,' occupying some forty pages. The
Iwork makes a large octavo volume of 5C3 pages. The mechanical execu-
tion is unusually satisfactory. "—Journal o/ Pedagogy, Juno, 1889.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
The Five Great English Books.
The recognition of Teaching as a Science was much earlier in England
than in this country, and the five books which are there recognized as stan-
dards, have probably nb equals in soundness and scope. Hence they are
usually the first books adopted by Reading Circles, and are indispensable to
the library of an intelligent teacher. These are:
1. Essmjs on Educational Refonmrs. By Robert Henrt Quick. Cloth,
16mo, pp. 330. Price $1.50.
This is altogether the best History of Education. " With the suggestion
that stticly should be made interesting,'''' writes Principal Morgan, of the Rhode
Island State Normal School, " we most heartily agree. How this may be
done, the attentive reader will be helped in learning by the study of this
admirable book."
2. The First Three Years of ChildJiood. By B. Perez. With an intro-
duction by Prof. JA3IES Sully. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 294. Price $1.50.
This is incomparably the best psychology for primary teachers, and
forms the proper Basis for pedagpg'ical knowledge. The Journal of Pedagogy
says (April, 1889): " Some of the greatest questions relating to primary edu-
cation can only be solved by an accurate observation and correct interpre-
tation of the infant mind, and as the author of this volume combines the
proper qualifications for the work with ample opportunity, his observations
and deductions are entitled to the highest confidence."
3. Lectures on the Science and Art of Education. By Joseph Patne.
Cloth, ICmo, pp. 384. Pi-ice, $1-00.
The student is now ready t^ take up the Science of Education, which is
nowhere else so brilliantly and effectively presented. The lectures are sin-
gularly fascinating, and the full analysis and indexes in this edition make it
easy to collate and compare all that the authoi* has uttered upon any topic
suggested.
U. The Philosophy of Education, or the Principles and Practice of Teaching.
By Thomas Tate. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 440. Price $1.50.
This gives the application of the Science to the Art of Teaching, and is
without a rival in its clear presentation and abundant illustrations. The
author is not content with giving directions. He shows by specimens of
class-work just what may be done and should be done.
5. Introductory Text-Book to ScJiool Education, Method and Sc/iool Man-
agement. By John Gill. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 270. Piice $1.00.
This supplements the work of all the vest by practical directions as to
School Management. Of the five this has had a sale equal to that of all the
rest combined. The teacher's greatest difficulty, his surest discomfiture if
he fails, is in the discipline and management of his school. That this man-
ual has proved of inestimable help is proved by the fact that the present
English edition is the 44th thousand printed.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Books for Young Teachers.
1. Common School Law for Commxm School Teaches. A digest of the
provisions of statute and common law as to the relations of the Teacher to
the IMipil, t)ie Parent, and the District. With 500 references to legal decis-
ions in '-'S different States. 14th edition, wholly re-^vritten, with references
to tlie Code of 1888. By C. W. Bakdeen. 16mo, cloth, pp. 120. Price 75 cts.
The reason why the teacher should make this his first purchase is that
without a knowledge of his duties and his rights under the law he may fail
either in secui-ing a school, in managing it, or in drawing the pay for his ser-
vices. The statute provisions are remarkably simple and uniform. The de-
cisions of the Courts, except upon two points, here fully discussed, follow
certain defined precedents. An hour to each of the eleven chapters of this
little book will make the teacher master of any legal difficulties that may
arise, while ignorance of it puts him at the mercy of a rebellious pupil, an
exacting parent, or a dishonest trustee.
2. Hand-Bookfor Young Teachers. By H. B. Buckham, late principal of
the State Normal School at Buffalo. Cloth, IGmo, pp. 152. Price 75 cts.
It anticipates all the difficulties likely to be encountered, and gives the
beginner the counsel of an older friend.
3. Tlie Scliool Room Guide, embodying the instruction given by the author
at Teachers' Institutes in New York and other States, and especially in-
tended to assist Pu]:)lic School Teachers in the Pi-actical Work of the School-
Room. By E. V. DeGuaff. Thirteenth edition, with many additions and
corrections. 16mo, cloth, pp. 398. Pi-ice gl.50.
As distinguished from others of the modern standards, this is a book of
Methods instead of theories. It tells the teacher just what to do and how to
do it ; and it has proved more practically helpful in the school-room than
aaiy other book ever issued. ^
/;. A Quiz-Book on the Theory and Practice of Teaching. By A. P.
SouTnwicK, author of the "Dime Question Books." 12mo, pp. 220. Price $1.00.
This is one of the six books recommended by the State Department for
study in preparatit^n for State Certificates. The otliers are Iloose's Methods
{fl.OO), Hughes's Mistakes (50 cts.). Fitch's Lectures (Sl.OO), Paere's Theory and
Pi^actice ($1.25), and Swett's Metliods ($1.25). We will send the six post-paid
for $5.00.
*^ 5. Mistakes in Teaching. By James L. Hughes. American edition, with
contents and index. Cloth, lOmo, pp. 135. Price 50 cts.
More than 15,000 have been used in the county institutes of Iowa, and
elsewlu're superintendents often choose this book for their less thoughtful
teachers, assured tliat its pungent style and chatty treatment will arrest
attention and produce good results,
6 How to Secure and Retain Attention. By James L. Hughes. 16mo,
cloth, pp. 97. Price 50 cts.
This touches attractively and helpfully upon the first serious difficulty
the teacher encounters. No young teacher should neglect these hints.
7. Primary Helps. A Kindergarten Manual for Public School Teachei-s.
By W. N. IIailmann. 8vo, boards, pp. 58, with 15 full-page plates. l*ric;e 75 cts.
In these days, no primary teacher can afford to be ignorant of " The New
Educal ion," and this is jxThaps the only volume that makes kindergarten
principles practically available in public schools.
S. Diiv£ QueMion Book, No. 4, Theory and Practice of Teaddng. Ifiino,
paper, pp. 40. I*rico 10 eta. By A. P. Soutuwick.
A capital preparation for examination.
€. AV. IJAROEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
•THE SCHOOL BVLLETIIT PUBLICATIONS.
The School Room Classics.
Under the above title we have published a series of Monof^raphs upon
Education, as follows, all 16mo, in paper, at 15 cts. each,
1. Unconscious Tuition. By Bishop Huntington. Pp. 45.
"There is probably nothing finer in the whole range of educational lit-
erature."— C/iio Educational Monthly.
"It cannot be read without a wholesome self- weighing, and a yearning
which develops true character."— TVi^ Schoolmaster, Chicago.
2. The Art of Questioning. By J, G. Fitch. Pp. 36.
"Mr. Fitch is happily inside his subject, and as clear as a helV—C/iris-
Han Register.
3. The Philosoj)hy of Sclwol Discipline. By John Kennedy. Pp. 23.
"Clear and logical, and goes dovra to the verj' foundation."— C^ifica
Herald.
L The Art of Secunng Attention. By J. G. Fitch. Pp. 43.
"Perhaps I overestimate Fitch's works, but I fail to find in the state-
ment of any other educational writer a juster comprehension of the needs
and difficulties of both teacher and pupil, or mo^e common sense put into
neater, clearer style."— TAe Student, Philadelphia.
5. Learning and Health. By B. W. Richardson. Pp. 39.
" A timely topic ably treated."— iV. E. Journal of Education.
" Certainly worth many times its weight in gol<\.''''— Eclectic Teacher.
6. The New Education. By J. M. W. Meikle.john. Pp. 35.
" Absolutely the best summary we have seen of the doctrines of Froebel
in their present development. "—xV. Y. Scliool Journal.
I. A Small Tractate of Education. By John Miltox. Pp. 26.
" Far more important in the literature of the subject than the treatise
of Locke.''^— Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
8. The School WorTc-SJwp. By Baroness von Marenholz-Buelow. trans-
lated by Miss Blow. Pp. 27.
"In this treatise the kindergarten view of Industrial Education receives
its best exemplification."— X E. Journal of Education.
9. Sex in Mind and in Education. By Henry Maudslet. Pp. 42.
"A masterly treatment of a delicate subject." — N. E. Journal of Edu-
cation.
10. Education as Viewed by Thinkers. Pp. 47.
This contains 95 classified quotations from leading authorities of every
time and country, and will be of use to every writer and speaker.
II. Hoio to Teach Natural Science in Public Schools. By Wm. T. Harris.
Pp. 40.
Since this was first published in 1871 for the schools of St. Louis, it has
been regarded as the standard authority upon the subject, and this edition,
revised by the author, was prepared by the request of the Committee on
Physics-Teaching in 1887 of the National Association.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLTCATIOXS.
Industrial Education.
1. The Educational Value of Manual Training. By Wm. T. Harris,
LL.D., Commissioner of Education. Paper, 8vo. pp. 14. Price 15 cts.
S. Art Education tlie True Industrial Education. By Wm. T. Harris,
LL.D., Commissioner of Education. Paper, 8vo, pp. 9. Price 15 cts.
These two papers by the prof oundest educational thinker of our time
present powerfully the arguments against industrial education as it is often
advocated and introduced. A careful line is drawn between what is and
what is not the legitimate place of hand-training in our public schools. No
advocate of either side of this question can afford to be ignorant of these
two papers.
3. Aspects of Industi'ial Education. By H. H. Straight. Paper, ICmo,
pp. 12. Price 15 cts.
This is an argument upon the other side, by one of the strongest advo-
cates of manual training, till his death associated with Col. Parker at Oak
Park, 111.
k. The School Work-Shop. By the Baroness Von Marenholz-Buelow,
translated by Miss Susan E. Blow. Paper, 16mo, pp. 27. Price 15 cts.
The Baroness Von Marenholz-Buelow is recognized as the foremost ad-
vocate of the doctrines of Froebel, to which she has indeed given fuller and
more practical expression than he was able to himself. From her point of
view the work-shop in the school-room is the legitimate and necessary de-
velopment of his theory of education. But while she recognizes that manual
labor must be introduced not as an end but as a means to general culture
and development, she argues that laborers can demand of society no higher
right than an education to labor. The argument from this point of view has
never been more strongly presented, and those who would form sound ideas
that they are able to defend should be familiar with this little book.
5. Industrial Instruction a Fedagogic and Social Necessity. Together with
a Critique on Objections Advanced. By Robert Seidel. Translated by
Miss Margaret K. Smith. Cloth, ICmo, pp. 160. Price 80 cts.
This is a more elaborate, extended, and comprehensive argument, and is
indeed by far the strongest and broadest defence of manual training that
has appeared.
6. The Manual Training School, comprishig a full-statement of its Aims,
Methods, and Results, with figured Drawings of Shop Exercises in Woods
and Metals. Cloth, 8vo, pp. .360. Price $2.00.
This volume presents the course of instruction given in the school in St.
Louis of which the author has been so long the principal. It is careful and
minute in detail, abundantly illustrated, and in every way the most com-
plete practical manual that has appeared.
C. W. BAKDKEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
The Word Method in Number.
These cards need only to be seen in
at once, as the principle is already fa-
numbers are all printed in type like
portance of using sa^pt figures for this ^
mated.
The same fiprures are reversed
,, order to be intro- ^ duced
miliar and accept-^^ ed. The
that here shown. ^^ The im-
' exercise cannot be ^ overesti-
upon the opposite^
card he knows the ,
so that as the teacher lifts the
ures on the other side,
As soon as the pupils com- ^W' m e n c e reading,
lessons in number, and the ^r^ first lesson should
gle figures. In this so much ^^ practice should
pil when adding will learn ^^to look upon the
" 13," not as " 4 and 9 are ^ 13," just
as we learn to look up
on cat as an entire word ^^
— not as c-a-ty cat. ^^^ Equal
subtraction, until combinations of two fig-
nations of letters in words.
At first add familiar objects, passing
bers; write the simplest combinations on
the cards, and write the answer in the
times that the method of writing num-
addition may be learned. Then use
cards for drill, adding new cards
from time to time, as new combina-
veloped. Do not introduce next*
At every exercise, review all
answ^ers should be given imme-
cards. Use the cards selected
laneously, so that no answer
ing. Pursue the same plan
In subtraction when the
readily add ten to the min-
the usual manner.
Success will be cer-
duced only after those al-
learned. Reviews should
From scores of testi-
we select the following:
side of the card
'sum of the fig-
they should have
be in combining sin-
be given that the pu-
combi nation | as itself
readiness should follow in
ures are as familiar as combi-
afterwards to abstract num-
the blackboard, as they are on
proper place. Repeat this a few
bers for
the
tions are de-
cards too rapidly.
cards previously
a t e 1 y on present-
tor a particular exercise^
can be guessed from the
in subtraction and mulipli- .
smaller number is above,
Liend, and give the re-
ftain if new combina-
^voady presented
, be constant.
pupils will
' mainder i n
, ''tions are intro-
are thoroughly
monials received
" Will you send me one-half dozen cases of
Cards? I have many Inquiries for them,
have been lavish in their praise of our work
these sets are given away to try tlie card
teen packages of the cards I have order
our class drills more, send Prof. San
him more than he advertises. "—5. G
Fulton, N. y.. May 2, 1889. " Dunn
Normal we used Sanford's Number
primary and intermediate depart
lent for quick work.i
Please sendme three sets'
for our primary and prepara-
has once used them cannot
Ph.D., headmaster Rutgers
have freqiiently advised^
because I know from my
Sanford's Number
Some of our visitors
with the cards. Two of
work. This makes four-
ed. After a few days,when
ford down and we will show
Clapp, principal Union School,
several years at the Potsdam
Cards with great success in our
ments. We found them excel-
tory departments here. A teacher who
'afiford to be without them. "—S./f. Cook,
, ''College grammar school, Jan. 31, 1890. "I
'teachers to buy Sanford's Number Cards,
. ownexperience that they are very valuable
in' aiding the teacher to 'fix in the pupils' memory the results of the element-
ary processes with numbers. "—Tyw. J. Milne, LL.D., Ph.D., president New
York State Teachers' College, Feb. 5, 1890.
- Sent post-paid in neat box, with directions, for 50 cts.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y,
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Specialties in Aritlimetic.
1. Intermediate Ptvblems in Arithtnetic for Junior Cte*se* ; containing
more tlian 4000 problems in Inactions, Reduction, and Decimals. By Emjla.
A. Welch. Cloth, IGmo, pp. 172. Price 75 cts. Key to Part II, pp. 30, 50 cts.
In Syracuse and many other large schools, this takes the place of the
small arithmetics in common use, forming with any larger or " practical "
arithmetic a complete two-book series. The results obtained are in every
instance far above those reached by the ordinary text-book. For city and
gi*aded schools no other collection of problems will compare with these in
practical value and satisfactory results.
S. A Woi'k in Niimi)erfor Junior Classes in Graded Schools. By IMabtha ■
Roe. Cloth, 16mo, pp. IIG. Price 50 cts.
This is similar to the above, and was prepared expressly for the Cort-
land State I^ormal School.
3. The CO Possible Problems in Pe7xentage, embracing a full and exhaust-
ive discussion of the Theory of General Percentage, with 100 illustrative ex-
amples. By ^/. A. Uradford. Manilla, IGmo, pp. 34. Price 25 cts.
k. Latitude and Longitnde, and Longitude and I'ime. Embracing a com- ■
prehensivo discussion, with over 100 illustrative questions and examples.
By J. A. Bassett. Manilla, IGmo, pp. 42. IMce 25 cts.
5. Metric Tables and Problems: a comprehensive drill in the Metric
System, with 175 Problems and Answers. By Oscar Granoer. Manilla^ 16
mo, pp. 23. 25 cts.
G. The International Date-Line, or Where does the Bay Begin f By
Henry Collins. Paper, IGmo, pp. 15. Price 15 cts.
7. A Manual of Mensuration, for use in Common Schools and Acade-
mies. By H. U. HuTTON. Boards, IGmo, pp. 150. I*rice 50 cts.
These five books treat exhaustively and with abundant illustration those
features of arithmetic that are so often the occasion of difficulty. It is
characteristic of good teaching to make the weak places strong, and these
books will make pupils surest just where the average pupil is most uncertain.
8. Algebra for Beginners. By O. S. Michael. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 120.
Price, 75 cts.
A renmrkably simple presentation of the subject, that may be used with
profit in every beginning class.
9. Number Lessons, somewhat after the, Gnib6 Method, giving on one
side the combinations of the digits, and on the other an unlimited series of
drill-exercises. Heavy card-board, 10x11 inches. Price 10 cts.
10. Age-Cards, containing 9 columns of figures, to determine a person's
age by adding the top numbei-s of those columns in which the number repre-
senting tlie person's age is found. Heavy card-board, 4xG. Price 10 cts.
n. The Pegents' Questions in Arithmetic, containing the 1203 questions
given from im(\ to 1882. :Manilla, IGmo, pp. 93, 25 cts. Key, pp. 20, 23 cts.
tW The Arithmetic Questions on Slips .iro no longer published.
1?. Pit)}4f Question Book, No. IS, Arithmetic. By Albert P. Southwicbk.
Paper, 16mo, pp. 39. Price 10 cts.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N, Y.
■THE SCHOOL BVLLETIN PUBLICATIONS,
Papers on Educational Topics.
1. Some Facts about our Public Schools. A plea for the Township Sys^
tem. By C. W. Bardeen. 8vo, pp. 32. 25 cts.
2. Educational Journalism. Historical and Descriptive, with a list of
Journals now Published. By C. W. Bardeen. 8vo, pp. 30. 25 cts.
3. Teaching as a Business for Men. By C. W. Bardeen. 8vo, pp. 20..
25 cts.
4. The Teacher's Commercial Value. By C. W. Bardeen. 8vo, pp. 20^.
25 cts.
Intelligence, Chicago, says of the two last : " If the reader wants two-
spicy and sensible essays by the keenest educational writer of the day, he-
will find in the above what he wants."
5. National Education in Italy, Germany, England, and Wales. By Prof^
C. W. Bennett. 8vo, pp. 28. 15 cts.
6. Modern Languages in Education. By Prof. Geo. F. Comfort. 16mo..
pp. 40. 25 cts. Cloth, 50 cts.
7. Politics and Schools. By Sidney G. Cooke. 8vo, pp. 23. 25 cts.
8. Limits of Oral Teaching. By John W. Dickinson, 8vo, pp. 8. 16 cts..
9. Latin in High Schools. By H. P. Emerson. 8vo, pp. 9. 25 cts.
10. Natural Science in the Public Schools. By Wm. T. Harris. 16mo,,
pp. 40. 15 cts.
11. Powers and Duties of School Officers. By A. P. Marble. 16mo, pp..
27. 15 cts.
12. Sex in Mind and Education. By Prof. H. Maudslet. 16mo, pp. 42..
35 cts.
IS. The New Education. By Prof J. M. D. Meikle.tohn. 16mo, pp. 35..
15 cts.
Ik. Education as a Department of Government. By Warner Miller.
8yo, pp. 12. 15 cts.
15. Aspects of Industrial Education. By H. H. Straight, 8vo, pp. 12.
15 cts.
16 University Degrees. What they Mean, what they Indicate, and How
to Use them. By Flavel S. Thomas. 16mo, pp, 40. 15 cts.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y,
■ THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Books for the School Library.
1. Boderick Hume, the Story of a New York Teachei\ By C. W. Bardeen.
-Cloth, IGmo, pp. 295. Price S1.25.
The book is vivacious, and the author knows the ground he describes.—
The Nation. I can certify that it is true to life.— >^. J. Bickoff.
f. Anecdotes and Ilvmors of School Life. By Aaron Sueeley. Cloth,
12mo, pp. 350, with frontispiece. Price $1.50.
The collection is singularly rich and varied, and the volume is a worthy
contribution to tlie literature of anecdote.— iVe2<; York Evening Post.
Tliis compilation— which is the only one of its kind we know of— is
wortliy a favorite place in the library of the teacher, or the general reader.
—Pa. SchoolJournal.
3. A Day in My Life., or Everyday Experiences at Eton. Cloth, 16mo,
pp. 184. Price, Sl-00.
It is that very rare thing— a work of natural, brilliant, yet perfectly in-
nocent \i\xvciOV.— Literary Churchman.
We are assured on good authority that this amusing little volume is the
genuine production of an Eton boy. We do not doubt it in the least; but we
feel pretty sure that he is not the idle young rascal that he describes himself
as being. We recommend to our readers, both young and old, this most en-
tertaining little hook.— Spectato?'.
h. Day Dreams of a Schoolmaster. By D'Arcy W. Thompson. Cloth,
16mo, pp. ;i28. Price $1.25.
Tliis delightful little volume has long been known for the view It gives
of the reflective and poetical aspect of a teacher's life, but has hitherto been
Inaccessible in the rare English edition. It is now republished in beautiful
form at a moderate price.
5. Thirteen Stories of the Far West. By Forbes Heermans. Cloth, 16mo,
pp. 260. Price, $1.25.
Jlr. Heermans writes of what he has seen and experienced, and he has
cauglit, as perhaps no other than Bret Ilaite has, the peculiarly quaint humor
■of life in the western mines.
6. Becreati07is in Ancient Fields. By E. C. Lawrence. Cloth, 12mo, pp.
177. Price SLOO.
A pleasant hand-book for the historical reader.
7. Tuo Months in Euwpe. By O. R. Burcuard. Paper, 16mo, pp. 168.
Price, 50 cts.
It gives an excellent idea of what may fairly be seen on a vacation trip.
8. Camps and Tramps in the Adijvndacks. By Judge A. J. Norturup.
<!loth, 16m<>, pp. 302. l>rice $1.25.
It smacks of the woods, breathing their true spirit in narration of spirit-
ed adventure.
9. Carleton Island in the Bevolution. The Old Fort and its Builders. By
W. H. Durham. Paper, 16mo, pp. 128, Illustrated. Price 50 cts.
A valuable contribution to the local history of New York.
10. The Tree of Mythology . By Charles DeB, Mills. Cloth, Svo, pp, 281.
Price $3.00.
The best popular work on mythology we have in English.— ?7«i^arian
Jievietv.
C.W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.[:
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Arithmetic by tlie Grabe Method.
1. First Steps among Figxires. A drill book in the Fundamental Rules-
of Arithmetic. By Levi N. Beebe. Cloth. 16mo, 3 editions. PiqALs' Edi-
tion, pp. 140, 45 cts. Oral Edition, pp. 139, 50 cts. Teachers' Edition, includ-
ing all in both the others, with additional parallel matter, Index, and Key,,
pp. 326, Sl.OO.
These books give the only practical exposition of the Gnibe Method, now
generally admitted to produce the best results with beginners. It has beea
used ten years in the primary schools of such cities as Norwich, Conn., and
Auburn, N. y., and for many years every student in the Albany State Normal
School has been directed to purchase a copy to take with him for his subse-
quent use in teaching.
From a multitude of testimonials we copy the following :
" "We are still successfully using Beebe's First Steps. It has many admi-
rable qualities. "—/S^?/j9V N. L. Bis/iop, Norwich, Conn.
" I think it especially excellent for a system of graded schools, where-
uniformity of teaching is essential. It develops in practical shape an idea
that I have long sustained as to the proper method of teaching arithmetic.'*
Stip''t B. B. Snoio, Auburn, N. Y.
"I have recommended Beebe's First Steps as the best work in primary-
arithmetic. . . . The book is received with much favor, and is very helpful,
to me in my work."— Prof. A. N. Iliisted, State Normal School, Albany, N. Y..
"I am much pleased with the book, and wish every primary teacher to
have a copy.'"— Sup' t .1. M. Fivst, Hxidson, N. Y.
" By vote of the Board of Education a copy of the Teachers' Edition-
was placed on the desk of every primary teacher in the c\tY.—Sup''t Edward.
Smith, Syi'acuse, N. Y.
"I consider Beebe's First Steps the best work of the kind that I have-
ever seen, and I take every opportunity to recommend it.'"— Mary L. Sutliff,.
Haiku, Maui, Hawaian Islands, Feb. 9, 1888.
2 Tlie Pestalozzian Series of Arithmetics. Teachers' Manual and First-
Year Text-Book for pupils in the first grade. Based upon Pestalozzi's
method of teaching Elementary Number. By James H. Hoose. Boards,
16mo, 2 editions. Pujnls'' Edition, pp. 156, 35 cts. Teacher's Edition, contain-
ing the former, with additional matter, pp. 217, 50 cts.
This is a practical exposition of the Pestalozzian Method, and has met with-
great success not only in the Cortland Normal School, whei*e it was first
developed, but in many other leading schools, as at Gloversville, Babylon,
etc. It is diametrically opposed to the Grube Method, and good teachers^
should be familiar with both, that they may choose intelligently betweeuv
them.
S. Lessons in Ntimber, as given in a Pestalozzian School, Cheam Surrey^
The Master's Manual By C. Reiner. 16mo, pp. 224. S1.50.
This work was prepared in lass under the supervision of Dr. C Mayo in.
the first English Pestalozzian school, and has particular value ag represent-
ing directly the educational methods of the great reformer.
. C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETW PUBLICATIONS.
Useful Appliances in Arithmetic.
1. The Wcn'd Method in Number. A series of 45 Cards, on which are
printed all the possible Combinations of Two Figures. In box. By H. IL
SJLNroKD, Institute Canductor. Size 3>4 x 6 inches. Price 50 cts.
These cards need only to be seen, as the principle is familiar and ao-
cepted. The type, in written figures, is large enough to be seen across the
Toom, and the combination on one side is given in reversed order on the
■other, so that as the teacher holds the card before him he knows the figures
presented to the class. The pupil is taught to look upon the combination
4-f 9 as itself 13, not as "4 and 9 are 13," just as he looks upon DOG as an
-entire word, not as D-O-Gr. Success is certain if new combinations are in-
troduced only after those already given are thoroughly learned. Reviews
«hould be constant.
2. A Fractional Apparatus. By W. W. Davis. A box of eight wooden
l)alls, three and one-half inches in diameter, seven of which are sawn into
12, 3, 4, G, 8, 9, and 12 parts respectively, while the eighth is left a spheres
Price $4.00.
With this apparatus every principle and rule can be developed, and the
pupils can be led to deduce rules for themselves.
Many other expedients are resorted to, but they are all objectionable.
Suppose a teacher takes a stick and breaks it in the middle, will the pupil
perceive two halves of a stick or two sticks? In teaching fractions object-
ively, that should be taken for unity from which if a part is taken unity is
destroyed. This is not the case with a stick or cube. Apples are objection-
Able for three reasons ; first because they cannot always be obtained ; sec-
ond because they are perishable ; and third, because the attention of the
pupils is diverted by a desire to know whether they are sweet or sour, etc.
:Not can the teacher readily saw wooden balls into divisions even enough for
the purpose designed, the charm of this method being the exact presentation
to the pupil's eye of the fact illustrated.
3. A Manual of Suggestions for Teaching Fractions especially designed
for accompanying the above apparatus. By \V. W. Davis. Paper, 12mo,
pp. 43. 25 cts.
This accompanying manual gives probably the best arrangement of th«
subject into sixty lessons ever made, with practical suggestions which all
teachers will find valuable.
h. Cube Root Blocks, carried to Tlu-ee Places. In box. $1-00.
Our blocks are unusually large, the inner cube being two inches, and the
additions each one-half inch wide.
5. Numeral Frame, with 100 balls, $1.25 ; with 144 balls, $1.50.
"Initiate cliildren to arithmetic l)y means of the ballfrune alone, there-
by making their elementary instruction a simple and natmal extension of
their own daily obscrvatioT\," says Laurie, in his standard book on Primary
Instruction (p. IVi), and as he leaves the subject of arithmetic, ho adds this
Dote (p. 117), as if in fear he had not been sufliciently emphatic :
" The teaching of arithmetic should be begun earlier than is customary,
'Ond always with Via ball frame.''
C. W. BAKOEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Biographies of Noted Educators.
1, PestcUozzi : his Aim and Work. By Baron De Guimps. Translated by
Margaret Cuthbertson Crombie. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 336, $1.50.
" A teacher knowing nothing of Pestalozzi would be like the lawyer that
has never heard of Blackstone. We commend this book strongly as specially
adapted to younger students of pedagogy."— O^io EdH Monthly, June, 1889.
" To those who seek to know how one of the world's greatest reformers
planned and executed his work, how this and that grand principle was
wrought out, how truth was dissociated from error, this volume will be a
delightful treasure. And there are many such who are not content to know
the name and nothing more, but seek to understand the man and the motive.
To such this book is indispensable."— ^(fwca^iowa/ Courant, July, 1889.
S. Autobiography of F?'iedrich Froebel. Translated and annotated by
Emuie Michaelis and H. Keatley Moore. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 183, $1.50.
" He writes so simply and confidentially that no one can fail to under-
stand everything in this new translation. It would be of great benefit to
American youth for fathers and mothers to read this book for themselves,
instead of leaving it entirely to professional teachers."— iVeif York Herald.
Aug. 4, 1889.
3. A Memoir of Roger Ascham, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D. ; and Selec-
tions from the Life of T/iomas Arnold, by Dean Stanley. Edited, with
Introductions and Notes by James S. Carlisle. Cloth, IGmo, pp. 252, $1.00.
, Besides the biography of Ascham in full this volume contains selections
from " The Scholemaster," with fac-simile of the ancient title-page. From
Stanley's " Life of Arnold " those chapters have been taken which refer to
his work as a teacher, and are published without change. Thus the book
gives in small compass and at a low price all that is most important in the
lives of these two great teachers.
L John Amos Comenius, Bisho}) of the Moravians ; his Life and Educa-
tional Woi'ks. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 229, $1.00.
Our recent republication of his famous OrUs Pictus has added interest
to the life of the famous reformer.
5. Essays on Educational Reformers. By R. H. Quick. Cloth, 16mo,
pp. 331, $1.50.
Much the best edition of this famous work, which its vivacious style
makes the most interesting of educational histories.
6. Pedagogical Biography. A series of reprints from Quick's "Educa-
tional Reformers," giving the most important sketches separately. In pam-
phlet form, at a uniform price of 15 cts. each. There are 7 numbers, as follows:
I. The Jesuits, Ascham, Montaigne, Ratich, Milton.
II, John Amos Comenius. III. John Locke.
IV. Jean Jacques Rousseau. V. John Bernhard Basedow.
VI. Joseph Jacotot. VIL John Henry Pestalozzi.
C. W, BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
,*■*•;<''**
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Life and Works of Pestalozzi.
1. Pestalozzi : his Aim and Work. By Baron De Gctmps. Translated
by Margaret Cuthbertson Crombie. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 336, Sl-50.
Demands a deep and earnest perusal.— T'eoc^rs' Aid^ London, Feb. 2»
1889.
Among the best books that could be added to the teacher's library.—
Chautauquan, Oct., 1889.
It is sufficient to say that the book affords the fullest material for a
knowledge of the life of the great educational reformer.— ii^emry Worlds
June 22, 1889.
Should be carefully studied by every teacher.— 7^^ Pac(/?c .E'cZwca^ion^^
Journal, Aug., 1889.
The most satisfactory biography of Pestalozzi accessible to English
residers.— Wisconsin Joii7'nal of Education, Aug., 1889.
There is not a teacher anywhere who cannot learn something by the
perusal of this work.—Science, June 7, 1889.
The work is a timely reminder how far we have strayed in following the
deity of " examination," which should have been kept in its place as the
handmaid of education.— The Schoolmaste7\ London, Feb. 16, 1889.
2. Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism. By R. IL Quick. Paper, 16rao, pp.
40, 15 cts.
i" This is a reprint from Quick's Educational, Reformers, and contains the
best brief abstract that has ever been WTitten.
3. Tlie Pestalozzian Series of Arithmetics. Teachers' Manual and Firet-
Year Text-Book for pupils in the first grade. Based upon Pestalozzi'a
method of teaching Elementary Number. By James H. IIoose. Boards,
16mo, 2 editions. Pupil's Edition, pp. 1.56, 35 cts. Teacher's Edition, contain-
ing the former, with additional matter, pp. 217, 50 cts.
This is a practical exposition of the Pestalozzian Method, and has met
with gi-eat success not only in the Cortland Normal School, wliore it was
first developed, but in many other leading schools, a.s at Gloversville, Baby-
lon, etc. It is diametrically opposed to the Grube Method, and good teach-
ers should be familiar with both, that they may choose intelligently between
them.
h. Lessons in Number, as given in a Pestalozzian School, Cheam, Surrey.
The Master's Manual. By C. Reixer. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 224. §1.50.
5. Lessons in Form, or, an Introduction to Oeometry as given in a Pesta-
lozzian School, Cheam, Surrey. By C. Reiner. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 215. Sl-50.
Both 4 and 5 in one volume, S~00.
These works were prepared in 1835 under the supervision of Dr. C. Mayo
In the first English Pestalozzian school, and have particular value as lepro-
senting directly the educational methods of the great reformer.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
■ THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Froebel and the Kindergarten.
1. Autobiography of Friedrich Froebel. Translated and annotated by
uz MiCHAELis and H. Keatly Moore. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 183. $1.50.
Useful and interesting * * * among the best that could be added to
the teacher's library. —TA^ Chautauquan, Oct., 1889.
There is no better introduction to the Kindergarten.— Tri«co;wi/i Journal
of Education, Sept., 1889.
It is a book which can be trusted to make its own way.— The Independent,
Oct. 10, 1889.
These two books [Froebel and Pestalozzi] recently from the press of the
enterprising and discriminating house of C. W. Bardeen, are the last and not
the least important contribution to American pedagogical literature. The
professional library is incomplete without thQm..— Canada School Journal,
Sept., 1889.
2. Child and Child-Nature. Contributions to the understanding of
Froebel's Educational Theories. By the Baroness Marenholtz-Buelow.
Cloth, 12mo, pp. 207. S1.50.
It is a fit companion to the Autobiography and the two are published in
the same style— a capital idea— and a royal pair of volumes they make.—
Educational Courant, Oct., 1889.
Its design is to illustrate the theory and philosophy of Froebel's system.
It does this so clearly and pleasingly as to give no excuse for criticism. * *
* * The volume is one profitable for every mother, as well as every teacher
of children.—, Chicago Interocean, Sept. 14, 1889.
3. The First Three Years of ChildJiood, By B. Perez, with an Intro-
duction by Pi-of . Sully. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 294. $1.50.
The eminent English psychologist. Prof. Sully says that Perez combines
in a very happy and unusual way the different qualifications of a good ob-
server of Cliildren, and that he has given us the fullest account yet pub-
lished of the facts of child-life. * * * The typography of the work is
excellent, and in external appearance the book is by far the handsomest
American edition issvie^..— Journal of Pedagogy, April, 1889.
h. The Kindergarten System. Principles of Froebel's System, and their
bearing on the Education of Women. Also Remarks on the Higher Educa-
tion of Women. By Emily Shirreff. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 200. $1.00.
5. Essays on the Kindergarten. Being a selection of Lectures read be-
fore the London Froebel Society. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 175. $1.00.
6. Pnmary Helps. A Kindergarten Manual for Public School Teachers.
Svo, boards, pp. 58, with 15 full page plates. 75 cts.
7. The Neio Education. Edited by W. N. Hailmann. Vols. V and VI,
the last published. Each Svo, cloth, pp. 146. $2.00.
S. The New Education. By Prof. J. M. D. Meikeljohn. Pai)er, 16mo,
pp. 35. 15 cts. *
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
The OrMs Pictus of Comenius.
This beautiful volume, (Cloth,
8vo, large paper, top-edge gilt,
others uncut, pp. 197, §3.00) is a
reprint of the English edition of
1727, hut with reproduction of the
151 copper-cut illustrations of the
original edition of 16.58. A copy
of the rare original commands
a hundred dollars, and this re-
print must be considered the
most important contribution to
pedagogical literature yet made.
It was not only the first book
of object lessons, but the first
text-book in general use, and in-
deed, as the Encyclqpceclia Bri-
tannica states, "the first chil-
dren's picture-book."
EXTRACTS FROM CRITICISMS.
The book is a beautiful piece of work, and in every way superior to
most of the fac similes we have so far been presented with.— iV. Y. World,
C W. Bardeen, of Syracuse, has placed lovers of quaint old books un-
der obligation to him.— iV. Y. Sun.
We welcome this resurrection of the Orbis Pictus Sensualum Picttis,
which has lain too long in suspended amination. This master-piece of Com-
enius, the prince of European educators in the 17th century, was the
greatest boon ever conferred on the little ones in primaiy schools.— JV'a^ion.
Comenius's latest editor and publisher has therefore given us both a
curiosity and a wholesome bit of ancient instruction in his handsome re-
print of this pioneer -work.— Critic.
The old wood illustrations are reproduced with absolute fidelity by a
photographic process, and as the text follows closely letter by letter the old
text, the book is substantially a copy of the rare original.— Zi/erary World.
It would be impossible to find an e<lucational work which would exer-
cise a stronger fascination upon the minds of tlie young.— ^;/i. Book-maker.
The reproduction gives an excellent idea of the work and makes a most
interesting volume for reference, especially as an illustration of the customs,
manners, beliefs, and arts of the 17th century.— Independent.
Every educational library r7itist have a copy of the book, if it wishes to
lay any claim whatever to completeness, and as the edition is limited, orders
should be sent early. We say right hero that twenty-five dollars will not
take our copy unless we are sure we can replace It.— Educational Courant.
C. W. BAllDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. *
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Helps toward Correct Speech.
1. Verbal Pitfalls: a manual of 1500 words commonly misused, includ-,
iag all those the use of which in any sense has been questioned by Dean
Alvord, G. W, Moon, Fitzedward Hall, Archbishop Trench, Wm. C. Hodg-
son, W. L. Blackley, G. F. Graham, Richard Grant White, M. Scheie de Vere,
Wm. Mathews, " Alfred Ayres, " and many others. Arranged alphabetically,
with 3000 references and quotations, and the ruling of the dictionaries.
By C. W. BxBDEEN. 16mo, cloth, pp. 223. 75 cts.
Perhaps the happiest feature of the book is Its interesting form. Some
hundreds of anecdotes have been gathered to Illustrate the various pomts
made. These have the advantage not only of making the work entertain-
ing, but of fixing the point in the mind as a mere precept could not do. The
type indicates at a glance whether the use of a word is (1) indefensible, (.2)
defensible but objectionable, or (3) thoroughly authorized.
S. A System of Bhetoric. By C. W. Bardken. 12mo, half leather, pp.
«13. $1.75.
S. A Shorter Course in Rhetoric. ByC. W. Bardben. 12mo, half leather,
pp. 311. $1.00.
h. Outlines of Sentence Making. By C. W. Bardeen. 12mo, cloth, pp.
187. 75 cts.
5. Practical Phonics. A comprehensive study of Pronunciation, form-
ing a complete guide to the study of elementary sounds of the English Lan-
guage, and containing 3,000 words of difficult pronunciation, with diacriti-
cal marks according to Webster's Dictionary. By E. V. De Graff. 16mo,
cloth, pp. 108. 75 cts.
The book before us is the latest, and in many respects the best, of the
manuals prepared for this purpose. The directions for teaching elementary
sounds are remarkably expUcit and simple, and the diacritical marks are
fuller than in any other book we know of, the obscure vowels being mai ked,
as well as the accented ones. This manual is not like others of the kind, a
simple reference book. It is meant for careful study and drill, and is es-
pecially adapted to class n^Q.—New England Journal of Education.
6. Pocket Pronunciation Book., containing the 3,000 words of difficult
pronunciation, with diacritical marks according to Webster's Dictionary.
By E. V. De Graff. 16mo, maniUa, pp. 47. 15 cts.
Every vowel that can possibly be mispronounced is guarded by danger
signals which send one back to the phonic chart for instructions. We are
glad to notice that the Professor is leading a campaign against the despoil-
ers of the vowel u ; he cannot hold communion with an educated man whose
third day in the week is "Toosday."— iVoril/i^m Christian Advocate,
7. Studies in Articulation : a study and drill-book in the Alphabetic Ele-
ments of the EnglLsh language. Eifth thousand. By J. H. Hoose. 16mo,
cloth, pp. 70. 50 cts.
This work not only analyzes each sound in the language, but gives as
illustrations hundreds of words commonly mispronounced.
Dr. Hoose's " Studies in Articulation " is the most useful manual of the
kind that I know of. It should be a text-book in every Teachers' Institute.
— A. J. Pickoff,formerl!/ Sujft of Schools at Cleveland and at Yonkers.
8. Hints on Teaching Ortfweprj. By Chas. T. Pooler. 16mo, paper, pp.
15. 10 cts.
9. Question Book of Orth/ygraphy, Orthmpy, and Etymology., with Notes,
Queries, etc. By Axbert P. Southwick. 16mo, paper, pp. 40, 10 »3ts.
10. Question Book of Reading and Punctuation., with Notes, Queries, etc.
By Albert P. Southwick. 16mo, paper, pp. 38. 10 cts.
C. W. BARDEEN^, Publisher, Syracuse, liT, Y,
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Blakely's Parliamentary Eules.
This valuable little work contains a Chart which shows the relation of
any Motion to every other Motion, and also answers at a glance 2,427 Ques^
tions in the practice of Parliamentary Law. It gives also Comments on the
different Jlotions, with additional notes and explanations, the manner of
stating certain Questions, and one or more forms for making the various
Motions used in deliberative assemblies.
It gives more information, in smaller space, in more convenient form,
and at a cheaper price, than any other manual issued. In fact, as U. S.
Senator Stewart says, " It is the entire subject in a nutshell, and will save
laborious research through volumes of parliamentary law, for which few
have the leisure or the means at hand."
Teachers, Students, Professional Men, Politicians, Of&cials of all organi-
zations, in fact Every Citizen should have a copy. It can be easily folded
and carried in a pocket-book so as to be always at hand.
The arrangement is so perfect that any rule applying to any motion
may be seen at a glance, and one can tell immediatehj whether or not any
given motion is in order when another motion is pending. It thus gives in-
stant information on any point arising, answering from 40 to 65 question in
regard to to every motion, without the trouble of turning a leaf.
Thus it shows in regard to every kind of motion whether it can or can-
not be:
(1) debated, (3) laid on the table, (5) committed, (7) renewed.
(2) amended, (4) postponed, (6) reconsidered.
Also whether it requires: (8) to be seconded, (9) to be in writing, (10)
previous notice, (11) a two-thirds vote.
Also whether it (12) can have the previous question applied, (13) does or
does not open the main question, (14-55) yields to or takes precedence of
each of the other 41 possible motions. It thus answers 55 questions with re-
gard to each of the 42 motions, or 2,310 questions; to which are added 103
rules and notes, 8 definitions, and 6 orders of precedence of classes, making
in all 2,427 questions answered, besides giving each motion and assigning it
to its proper place.
From hundreds of testimonials we give the following:
"Will unquestionably be of great service to persons who desire to re-
vive a knowledge of parliamentary law suddenly, for any important occa-
sion."— //oh. Geo. F. Hoar, LL. D., U. S. Senator.
" Will be very convenient for persons who wish information on parlia>
mentary law in tlie smallest possible compass. "—//on. Geo. F. Edmunds,
U. S. Senator.
"Tlie most complete work of the kind that I have seen. It is handy,
convenient, and of great value for ready reference, and as a guide for presid-
ing officers it is unequalled."— //on. Robert Howe, Sjmiker of the General
Assembly of the Slate of California, Jan. 18, 1889.
On Parchment Paper. 4 i^p. 5x0. Price 25 cts.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Helps in Teaching Literature.
1. A Series of Questions in English and AmeHcan Literature, prepared
for class drill and private study by Maky F. Hendrick, teacher in the State
Normal School, Cortland, N. Y. 16mo, boards, pages 100, interleaved. 35cts.
This edition is especially prepared for taking notes in the literature
class, and may be used in connection with any text-book or under any in-
struction.
S. Early EnglisJi Literature, from the Lay of Beowulf to Edmund Spen-
ser. By Wm. B. Haklow, instructor in the High School, Syracuse, N. Y.
26mo, cloth, pp. 138. 75 cts.
This handsome volume gives copious extracts from all leading authors,
»)f sufficient length to afford a fair taste of their style, while its biogi-aphical
and critical notes give it rare value.
S. Dime Question Booh No. 3, General Literature, and No. 13, American
Literature. By Albert P. Southwick. 16mo, paper, pp. 35, 39. 10 cts. each.
These are among the most interesting books in the series, abounding in
■allusion and suggestion, as well as giving full answers to every question.
They afford a capital drill, and should be used in every class as a prepara-
tion for examination.
U. Iloto to Obtain the Greatest Value from a Book. By the Rev. R. W.
LoAVRiE. 8vo, pp. 12, 25 cts.
No one can read this essay without pleasure and profit.
5. The Art of Questioniiig. By Joshua G. Fitch. 16mo, paper, pp. 36.
15 cts.
Mr. Fitch, on© of Her Majesty's inspectors of schools, now recognized as
the ablest of English writei-s on education, owed his early reputation to this
address, the practical helpfulness of which is everywhere acknowledged.
6. The Art of Securing Attention. By Joshua G. Fitch. 16mo, paper,
pp. 43. 15 cts.
The 3taryland School Journal well says: " It is itself an exemplification
of the problem discussed, for the first page fixes the attention so that the
reader never wearies, till he comes to the last and then wishes that the end
had not come so soon."
7. The ElocuiionisVs Annual, comprising new and popular Readings,
Recitations, Declamations, Dialogues, Tableaux, etc., etc. Compiled oy
Mis. J. W. Shoemaker. Paper, 16mo, pp. 200. 12 Numbers. Price of each,
30 cts.
Though primarily designed for classes in elocution, the character of the
selections is so high that any of these volumes may be used with profit in a
literature class.
8. The Bible in the Public Schools. Paper, 24mo, 2 vols., pp. 214, 223.
50 cts.
These volumes contain the most important arguments, decisions, and
addresses connected with the celebrated contest in Cincinnati, 1869.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
m^?y.^':^wi--%^'^im^m^
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Helps in Teaching History.
1. A Thousand Questions in American History. 16mo, cloth, pp. 247.
Price $1.00.
This work has been prepared by an eminent teacher for use in his own
school— one of the largest in tlie State. It shows rare breadth of view and
discrimination, dealing not merely with events but with causes, and with the
side-issues that have so much to do with determining the destiny of a nation.
S. Helps in Fixing the Facts of American History. By Henry C. Nor-
THAM. IGmo, cloth, pp. 2()8. Price $1.00.
Here all facts are presented in groups. The L— exington.
key-word to the Revolution, for instance, is ' I— ndependence.
LIBERTY, as shown in the accompanying table B— urgoyne's Surrender. '
of Key-Words ; and in like manner the events of E— vacuation.
the late civil war are kept chronologically dis- R— etribution.
tinct by the key-words SLAVES FREED. Chart T— reason.
No. 1 indicates by stars the years in each decade Y— orktown. ,
from 1492 to 1789, in which tlie most remarkable events occured, while the
colored chart No. 2 arranges the events in twelve groups.
5. Topics and lieferences in American History, with numerous ^Search
Questions. By Geo. A. Williams. IGmo, leatherette, pp. 50. 50 cts.
This is a book of immediate practical value to every teacher. The refer-
ences are largely to the lighter and more interesting illustrations of history,
of a kind to arouse the thought of pupils by giving vivid conceptions of the
events narrated. By dividing these references among the members of a class,
the history recitation may be made the most delightful of the day.
A. Dime (Question Books, No. 5, General History, and No. G, United States
History and Civil Governfnent. By Albert P. Soutitwick. IGmo, paper, pp.
37,32. lOcts. each.
5. Outlines and Questions in United States History. By C. B. Van Wie.
16mo, paper, pp. 40, and folding Map. 15 cts. ^
The outgrowth of four years' practical work in the school-room with
map prepared by a pupil as a suggestive model.
6. Tablet of American History, with Map of the United States on the
back. By RuFus Bla>cuard. Heavy paper, mounted on rollers, 8}^ by 5
feet. Price, express paid, $3.00.
The demand for a colored chart to hang upon the wall and thus catch
the often-lifted eye of the pupil, lias led to the preparation of this chart by
an experienced author. The events of the four centuries are grouped iu
parallel belts of different colors, and upon the corners and sides are names
of the States and Territories, with their etymology, etc., history of political
parties, portraits of all the Presidents, Coats of Arms of all the States, etc.
The map is engraved expressly for this chart by Rand & McNally, is colored
both by States and by counties, and gives all the latest railroads, the new ar-
rangement of time-lines, showing where the liour changes, etc.
C. W, BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Helps in Teaching Creography.
I. T^yjim^ (JeogfrapAy, with Methods and Supplementary Notes. By Ida
L. Gritfij^, School Commissioner for the Third District, Oswego County^
N. Y. Leatherette, 12mo, pp. 142. 50 cts.
This is a complete manual of geography, covering the entire subject. It
outlines in detail what should be taught, when it should be taught, and how
it should be taught. In addition to this a large number of Supplementary
Notes are given, which are invaluable to the teacher. * * * It is the
most complete and helpful guide in teaching the subject that has ever been
written.—^. P. Chapin, editor Educational Gazette.
S. Oral Instmction in Geography. By Emma L. Pakdon, Paper, 16mo»
pp. 29. 15 cts.
3. Conversational Lessons leading to Geography. By H. C. Northam.
Lewis County Edition. Paper, 16mo, pp. 43. 25 cts.
L The same. Oneida County Edition. Pp. 46. 25 cts.
5. A Brief Geography of Onondaga County. By C. W. Bardeen. Paper,
16mo, pp. 48, with Map. 25 cts.
The last three are prepared for local use in the State of New York and
have general interest only by way of suggestion.
6. KeTjle Outlines of Geography. By Josephine K. Brown. Paper, 16mo,
pp. 59. 25 cts.
7. The Regents^ Questions in Geography from the First Examination to
that of June, 1882. Manilla, 16mo, pp. 70. 25 cts.
8. Key to the above. Manilla, pp. 36. 25 cts. "^ t i
These 1987 questions and answers have had a larger sale than those in-
any other subject, and are generally recognized as the best general review
attainable.
9. The Uniform Examination Questions in Geography, from the begin-
ning to March, 1889. Paper, 16mo, pp. 30. 10 cts.
10. Key to the above. Paper, lOmo, pp. 34. 10 cts.
These 709 questions and answers served for the examination of 30,000
teachers in the State of New York. The fact that the Key contains more
pages than the Questions, shows how carefully the answers, ofiacially fur-
nished, were prepared.
II. A Globe Manual for Schools. By Flavius J. Cheney, Paper, 16mo,
pp. 95. 25 cts.
A simple and comprehensive hand-book with illustrations and problems.
12. The International Date Line. By Henry Collins. Paper, 16mo. pp.
15. 15 cts.
A conclusive treatment of a subject often debated.
13. Latitude, Longitude, and Time. By J. A. Bassett. Manilla, 16mo,
pp. 42. 25 cts.
Though especially intended for arithmetic classes, this will be useful to
the teacher of geography.
Ih. Dissected Maps as follows: a. Of the United States, b. Of the State
of New York. c. Of the State of Michigan, d. Of the States of N. Y., N. J.,
Del., Md. e. Of New England. /. Of la.. Mo., Ks., Nev., Col., Dak., Wy.,
Mont.
Price of each, in box, 75 cts. Those from ciof are from maps several
years old. The others are new and fresh. The peculiar use of these maps
in teaching geography is now commonly recognized.
C. W. BARBEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
mmmmm^m^^^m^
THE. SCHOOL BULLFTLy PUBLICATION'S.
Helps in Eeading and Speaking.
1. The Sentence Method of Teaching Beading. By Geo. L. Farnham.
€loth, 16mo, pp. 50. Price 50 cts.
As the word method was a step above the alphabet method, so the sen-
tence method is a step beyond the word method. " The unit of thought is
the sentence," and if the child considers the words as units in learning to
read, he must unlearn his habits of reading in order to read naturally. Mr.
Farnham shows how much more easily children will learn to read, and how
much better they will read, where this method is employed. The book is in
general use all over the country— in Col. Parker's Cook County Kormal
School, among others. It is especially valuable for teachers' institutes.
2, A Manual of Elocution. By John Swett. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 300.
Price S1.50.
A peculiarly sensible and practical work, intended to make not " elocu-
tionists " but good readers and speakers.
S. Memory Gems. By Geo H. IIoss. Paper, IGmo, pp. 40. Price 15 cts.
Especially intended for opening exercises in school, where each pupil
rises and repeats some sterling quotation.
h. Memm^y Selections. By Charles Northend. 24 manilla cards in a
box. Three series, Primary, Intermediate, Advanced. Price of each, 25 cts.
The special convenience of these cards is that they may be distributed
among the pupils, so that one box answers for an entire room. The selec-
tions are very highly commended.
5. The Table is Set. A Comedy for Schools, from the German of Ben-
dlx. By AA^'elland IIendrick. IGnio, pp. 30. Price 15 cts.
Nothing is in greater demand than little plays for school entertain-
ments, with ew characters and requiring no scenery, and yet thoroughly
bright and entertaining. This play will be found to meet all requirements.
C. Calisthenics and Disciplinary Exercises. By E. Y. DeGraff. Manilla,
16mo, pp. 39. 25 cts.
These exercises I'cquire no apparatus, and can be used without music.
They are adapted to schools of every grade.
*'• The directions are clear and simple, and the exercises if properly per-
formed, will serve not only to relieve tlie tedium of school-work, but to give
grace of movement, and a habit of prompt response to orders.'"— Wisconsin
Journal of Education.
7. The Gennan System of Light Gymnastics^ with Explanations, Direc-
tions, and 45 Illustrations. Manilla, IGrao, pp. 32. Price 25 cts.
This is the system in common use in the German schools and requires no
apparatus. It is based on the symmetrical deveU)pment of all the muscles,
and has positive health value, besides providing simple and attractive
exercises.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Helps in Language Teaching.
1. Normal Language Lessons .• being the instruction in Grammar j?iven
at the Cortland State Normal School. By Prof. S. J. Sornberger. 16mo,
boards, pp. 81. 50 cts.
Whatever text-book the teacher uses, or if he uses no text-book at all,
he will find this manual of gi-eat assistance. Its classification is simple, Its
definitions are careful, its tabular analyses are complete, and Us reference by
page to all the best autJvors makes it invaluable.
S. Exercises in English Syntax. By A. G. Bugbee. 16mo, leatherette,
pp. 87. 35 cts.
This differs from other handbooks of sentences for class-drill in that It
does not print w^rong sentences to be corrected,— a practice now generally
condemned, because incorrect forms should never be put before the child's
«ye,— but leaves blanks in the sentence to be filled by the pupil from a
choice of expressions given, thus calling in the most effective way to right
usage and its reasons. It is of especial assistance in preparation for Re-
gents' examinations, vv^hich always include much work of this kind. Send
for special circular with specimen sentences, and recommendations.
S. The Regents'' Questions in Grammar^ from the beginning to June,
1882. By Daniel J. Pratt, Assistant Secretary. 16mo, manilla, pp. 109.
25 cts.
This unequalled series of questions is recognized throughout the country
as the best drill-book ever made, and the only satisfactory preparation for
examination.
An edition of these Questions, with complete answers, and references to the
grammars of Brown, Murray, Greene, Clark, Kerl, Quackenbos, Weld «fc
Quackenbos, Hart, Fowler, Swinton, Reed & Kellogg, and Whitney, will be
sent post-paid to any address on receipt of One Dollar. It contains 198
pages, and is handsomely bound in cloth.
4. Dime Questiorf Book No. lU, Grammar. By Albert P. South:wick,
16mo, paper, pp. 35. 10 cts.
This is one of the best books in a deservedly popular series, giving full
answers to every question, with notes, queries, etc. Conductor John Ken-
nedy says: "The bad question book fosters cram; the good one suggests
study. Mr. Southwick's system is good. It is happy and nourishing. I
hope you may sell a million of them."
5. T/ie Diacritical Speller. A practical course of exercises in Spelling
and Pronunciation. By C. R. Bales. 8vo, boards, pp. 68. 50 cts.
This work is novel even in a field so thoroughly worked as spelling. Its
striking features are conciseness and simplicity. The pupil is not drilled
upon what all pupils know, but only upon what most pupils fail in. The
collections of words are made v^ith great skill, and the pupil who uses this
book is not likely to say Toosday or Reuler. The selection of test-words is
particularly happy, and the exercises in sjmonyms will afford material for
many a spare ten mirmt^H.— California Teacher.
6. An Aid to English Grammar ; designed principally for Teachers.
By AsHER P. Starkweather. IGmo, boards, pp. 230. 75 cts.
This is a grammar aid book on a wholly original plan. It is simply a
collexjtion of words which are used as two or more parts of speech, witk
illustrative sentences to show their correct use. — Schjocl Heraldy Chicago.
C, W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
f^3
THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Exercises in English Syntax.
By A. G. BuGBEE. Leatherette, 16mo, pp. 87. 35 cts.
This differs from other handbooks of sentences for class-drill, in that it
does not print wrong sentences to be corrected— a practice now generally
condemned because a wrong form should never be put before the child's
eye— but leaves blanks in the sentence to be filled by the pupil from a choice
of expressions given, thus in the most effective way calling attention to
right usage and its reasons. Thus :
1. " His wealth and .... bid adieu to each other." Use him or he.
2. '• art most in fault." Use tJiou or ihee.
8. and were chosen." Use Tier or she, and he or him.
4. " — do you think was there? " Use who or whom.
No book we have ever published has met a readier or more hearty re-
ception. From the many good words that have come to us, we select the
following :
"I am thoroughly pleased with Bugbee's Exerdus in English Syntax.
Having used for some yeare a ms. work of my own of similar character, I
would be pleased to lay it aside for better and more convenient form.
Please give me your introductory rates."— H. E. Chambers, principal No. 12,
New Orleans, and editor of Progressive Teacher.
"It is not intended to take the place of a grammar but to become a
valuable auxiliary to it. The value of the book is apparent at a glance."—
Commonwealth, Boston.
" The advantages of this plan are so apparent that not a word of com-
mendation need be spoken."— Caro^/na Teacher.
" A useful and sensible manual, and all the better for being free from
ambitious novelties. "—//icZ«/)€nrfe/i<.
" Nothing else so excellent in its way has come to our notice, and we
think its use will do much to train children to correct habits of speech. It
is based on good sound doctrine."— ^d'Mca^iona^ Courant, Louisville, Ky.
"Teachers are well nigh as anxious for exercises in English syntax as
they were before the crusade against teaching that subject. It would bo
difficult to desire the work essayed better done than in this monograph. It
aids the teacher in all of the standard work of the class ; it suggests scores
of things that the teacher wonders why he has not tried for himself.
America is to be congratulated upon having such an array of ingenious men
in the school-room, and publishers like !Mr. Bardeen, who knows how to
find them and how to use them."— iV. E. Journal of Education.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y*
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
( 1 No. 25 Models, f } ?Srf K
No. 1 consists of < 1 Primary Man'l, No, 2 consists of \ i ^^T.^' :^^°f;
1 1 Colored Paper. nninrJp«'n
The Prang System of Drawing.
These publications are the only ones that accord with the Syllabus pre-
pared by Dr. John R. French and adopted by the State Superintendent,
"We are the exclusive agents in this State, and can fill all orders promptly.
We carry in stock a complete line, thus saving our customers transportation
from Boston.
The attention of teachers is called to Prang's Outfits of Models, Colored
Paper, etc., which have been specially prepared for use in Institute instruc-
tion in this State.
There are two of these Outfits— one for teachers who are engaged in
teaching in the Primary grade, (No. 1) or the first three years ; the other for
teachers in the Intermediate and Grammar grades, (No. 2).
These Outfits supply teachers with the ^Models and Manuals, a careful
study of which will prepare for the Examinations in Drawing for the Uni-
form Teachers' Certificates.
No. 25 Models, f ^ ^l^-^'ISg^"'
Manual,
, 1 Colored Paper.
Piice 50 cents each, by inail 75 cents.
PARTIAL PRICE LIST OF PRANG'S DRAWING BOOKS AND MANUALS.
Prang's Drawing Books, Shorter Course, (5 Nos.) per doz., $1 80-
Introductory Book " " 180
Drawing Books, Complete Course (5 Nos.) " " 120
Teachers' Manual, entitled "The Use of Models," each 50-
" " for Shorter Course " 50
Manual, without Clay Modeling " 25
PRANG'S MODELS FOR FORM STUDY AND DRAWING.
SOLIDS.
Set No. 1— for First Primary Year $10 00
Group A, Teachers' size, 6 Models, 4 x 8 in $4 00
" B,Pupils' " 60 " 2x4" 3 00
" C, " " 120 " 1x2" 3 00
Set No. 2— for Second Primary Year $12 OO
Group A, Teachers' size, 6 Models, 4 x 8 in. , $4 50
" B,Pupils' " 60 " 2x4" 4 00
" C, " " 120 " 1x2" 3 50
TABLETS.
Set No. 1— for First Primary Year $6 25
Group A, Teachers' size, 6 Tablets, circle 6 in., $1 25
" B,Pupils' "250 " " 2" 2 75
" C, '^ " 480 " " 1 " 2 25
Set No. 2— for Second Primary Year $8 75
Group A, Teachers' size, 6 Tablets, ellipse 12 in., $1 25
" B, Pupils' "360 " " 2" 4 00
" C, " " 800 " " 1 " 3 50
Sticks— per box of 1500, assorted lengths , $ 75
Send for ComjJleie Illustrated List of individual sets and supplies.
We shall be glad to give any further information on this subject that
may be desired, and also to render such advice as may be needed in regard
to the grading for first introduction of the study.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
pt-'?'^>?-?p^''?t??^^^^
■ THB SCHOOL BTJLfETIN PTTBLTCATIONS.
Music in the Scliool Eoom.
1. The Song Budget. A collections of Songs and Music for Educational
'Gatherings. By E. V. De Graff, Small 4to, paper, pp. 76. 15 cts.
This book owes its popularity to two causes :
(1) It gives a great deal for the money.
(2) The songs are not only numerous (107), but tJiey are the standard favor-
ites of the last fifty years.
This is why the book contains more music that will be vsed than any other
book publishea. For in all other books that we know of, two-thirds of the
tunes are written by the compilers, who are of course partial to their own
productions. Sup't Be Graff wrote no songs of his own, but gathered those
which his long experience as a conductor of teachers' institutes had shown
him to be the most generally familiar and plea^sing.
In fact, the success of this book has been due to the fact that only those
songs Avere admitted that have proved to be universal favorites. This in-
volved a large original outlay, as much as fifty dollars having been paid for
the riglit to use a single song. But the best were taken, wherever ther
could be found and at whatever cost, and the result is a school singing-book
of popularity unexampled. For instance, a single frtn in Cleveland, Ohio,
J. 1{. Ilolcomb &, Co.. had purchased of us up to Feb. 15, 1888, no less than
9730 copies, 4500 within the last six months, besides 2100 of the School Room
Chxrrvs.
2. The School lioom Chorus. A collection of Tw^o Hundred Songs for
Public and Private Schools, compiled by E. V. De Graff. Small, 4to, boards,
pp. 148. 35 cts.
This is an enlarged edition of the Song Budget, with twice the number
of songs. The plates of the last edition are so arranged that it is identical
-with the Song Budget as far as page 68, so that both books can bo used to-
gether. The Budget and Chorus are particularly adapted for Teachers' Asso-
ciations and Institutes, At these prices every meeting of teachers can be sup-
plied with one or the other, while the fact that the tunes are standard
favorites makes it easy for any audience to join in the singing at sight
5. The Diadem qf School Songs ,• containing Songs and Music for all
^ades of Schools, a new system of Instruction in the elements of IMusie,
and a Manual of Directions for the use of Teachers. By Wm. Tillinghast.
Small, 4to. boards, pp. 160. 50 cts.
This book, of which Dr. French, the veteran institute-instructor was
associate author, gives an exceedingly simple and practical system of in-
struction, as well as a valuable collection of songs.
U. Half a Hundred Songs, for the School-Room and Home. By Hattie
S. Russell. 16mo, boards, pp. 103. 35 ct«.
These songs are all original, but without music.
5. T/ie School Vocalist ; containing? a thorough system of elementary
Instruction in VDcal :Nrusi(', with Practical Exercises, Songs, Hymns, Chants,
Ac, adapted to the use of Scliools and Academies. By E, Locke, and S.
NouRSE. Oblong, boards, pp. IGO. Price 50 cts.
6. The School Melodist. A Song Book for School and Home. By E,
Locke and S. Noursk. Oblong, boards, pp. 160. I*rice 50 cts,
7. The Song Life, for Sunday Schools, etc,, illustrating in song the
lourney of Christiana and her children to the Celestial (.^ity. Small 4to
Doards, pp, 176, Price 50 cts.
Nos 5, 6, and 7 are books that have had their day, but of which we have
a few hundred copies of oacli on liand. These we will .sell at 10 cts, each ;
if to go by mail, cts. each e.\tra. They contain iiuich good music.
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Our New Music Book.
The universal
popularity of the
Song Budget, the
sales of which
have probably-
exceeded that of
any other school
music-book pub-
lished, has made
it no easy task to
prepare a similar
collection to fol-
low it in schools
where its songs
had become fa-
miliar. The songs
here given are a
final choice from
more than a
thousand which
had been selected
from every avail-
able source, but
especially from actual and pleasing use in the school room. As the list nar-
rowed down to seven, five, three, two hundred, it became more and more
difficult to reject, and the last twenty were dropped with extreme reluc-
tance. But it was tliought best to adhere to the limits of the Song Budget,
and though this book contains mpre pages the price will be the same.
A large portion of the songs have been rearranged expressly for this
book. Effort has been make to keep within the compass of children's
voices, avoiding the mistake of pitching them too low as well as that of
making them too high ; and also to preserve the harmony without making
the accompaniment too difficult. The proportion of higher class music is
somewhat greater than in the Song Budget, but the advance is no more than
corresponds with the more cultivated taste that already appears from in-
creasing instruction in the art of singing. The Song Budget was fully up to
the school-child's musical taste of fifteen years ago. The Song Centvry is
believed to be quite abreast of the musical taste of to-day. When schools
all over the land are familiar with these songs and call for another collec-
tion, it is to be hoped tlie possibilities of choice will be still wider.
To hundreds of teachers who have aided him in making this collection
representative of the best music sung in American schools, the compiler re-
turns earnest thanks, and hopes they may find reward in the use of this
new century of songs.
C. W. BARDEElSr, Publisher, Syracuse, N, Y.
■THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Official Question Books.
i. 7%« New York State Examination Questions from the beginning to
the present date. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 274, 50 cts.
These annual examinations, onljr by which can State Certificates be ob-
tained in New York, liave a reputation all over the country for excellence
and comprehensiveness. . The subjects are as follows :
Arithmetic, Grammar, Physics, Geography,
Book -Keeping, 'Composition, Chemistry, Civil Government,
Algebra, Rhetoric, Geology, Astronomy,
Geometry, Literature, Botany, Methods,
Drawing, History, Zoology, School Economy,
Penmanship, Latin, Physiology, School Law.
No answers are published, except in the following special volume.
2. Dime (Question Book on Book-Keeping, containing all the questions in
that sui).ject given at the first 15 New York Examinations for State Certifi-
cates, with full Answers, Sdutions, and Form^. Paper, 16mo, pp. 31, 10 cts.
3. The Uniform Examination Questions. By voluntary adoption of the
113 School-Commissioners of the State of New York, certificates are now
given only on examinations held under these questions, which are issued
sealed from the State Department. All these Questions from the beginning to
March 14th, 1889, are now published as follows, and we commend them as
worth the attention of all who have to conduct or undergo examinations.
I, Arithmetic, 317 Questions, 10 cts. II. Key, 10 cts.
III. Geography, 709 " " IV. ''
V. Grammar, 533 " " VI. "
VII. U. S. History, 429 " " VIIL "
IX. Civil Government, 355 " " X, " "
XI. Physiology, ^45 " " XII. " "
h. The Civil Service Question Book. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 282, 81.50,
42.000 places are now filled exclusively by appointments dependent on
examinations. No favoritism is possible. Y^ou do not need the influence of
Congressman or of politician. You have only to learn when tlie next ex-
amination is held, apply for the necessary papers, present yoursself, and
answer the questions asked. The appointments are made from those who
stand highest, and are open to women as well as to men. All the particu-
lars as to tliese examinations, the places and dates where held, and how to
apply, are here given with 943 specimen questions in Arifhynetic, 575 specimen
questions in GfOf/raphij. 400 specimen questions in English Syntax, 100 each
in Amencan IHslory aiid Civil Government, with full treatises on Book-Keep-
ing and on Letter-Writing. To prepare for competition for places at $1,000
arid higher these subjects and tliese only are required. Any one who can
HTiswer the questions here given, to all of which full and complete answers are
added, is ready to enter the next examination.
IIon.ToiixB. Riley, Chief Examiner, State of New York, July 10, 1888,
says : " I am pleased with your Civil Service (Question Book. It will not only
be of service to those intending to try the Civil Service examinations, but
teacli«;rs or others who are obliged to prepare questions for examinations in
the common Englisli branches will find it a great convenience."
The N. E, Journal of Education savs, Aug. 23, 1888 : " It is rarely that any
book can be found with so many valuable and so few unimportant questions."
r>. SOOO Grammar Questions, with Answers. By IIenky KinnLE, A. M.,
formerly Superintendent of Seliools, New York City, and now editor of
Brown's Grammars, (loth, l(!mo, pp. 220. Price. $1-00. It is a great thing
for teachers to l)e sure theij are right, especially on some of the puzzling
questions. As an authority Mr. Kiddle is second to no man living, and these
answers prei)ared by him may be regarded !is absolutely correct.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
■THE SCHOOL BULLETm PUBLICATIONS.-
Instruction in Citizensliip.
1. Civil Government for Common Schools, prepared as a manual for
public instruction in the State of New York. To which are appended the
Constitution of the State of New York as amended at the election of 1882,
the Constitution of the United States, and the Declaration of Independence,
etc., etc. By Henry C. Noktham. 16mo, cloth, pp. 185. 75 cts.
Is it that this book was made because the times demanded it, or that the
publication of a book which made the teaching? of Civil Government practi-
cable led to a general desire that it should be taught ? Certain it is that this
subject, formerly regarded as a " finishing " branch in the high school, is
now found on every teacher's examination-paper, and is commonly taught
in district schools. Equally certain is it that in the State of New York this
text-book is used more than all others combined.
3. A Chart of Civil Goverjiment. By Charles T. Pooler. Sheets 12x18,
5 cts. The same folded, in cloth covers, 25 cts.
Schools using Northam's Civil Government will find this chart of great
use, and those not yet ready to introduce a text-book will be able to give no
little valuable instruction by the charts alone. Some commissioners have
purchased them by the hundred and presented one to every school house in
the county.
S. Handbook for School Teachers and Trustees. A manual of School
Law for School Officers, Teachers and Parents in the State of New York.
By Herbert Brownell. 16mo, leatherette, pp. 64. 35 cts.
This is a specification of the general subject, presenting clearly, defi-
nitely, and with references^ important questions of School Law. Particular
attention is called to the chapters treating of schools under visitation of the
Eegents— a topic upon which definite information is often sought for in vain.
h. Common School Laio for Common School Teachers. A digest of the
provisions of statute and common law as to the relations of the Teacher to
the Pupil, the Parent, and the District. With 500 references to legal decis-
ions in 28 different States. 14th edition, wholly re-written, with references
to the new Code of 1888. By C. W. Bardeen. 16mo, cloth, pp. 120. 75 cts.
This has been since 1875 the standard authority upon the teacher's rela-
tions, and is frequently quoted in legal decisions. The new edition is much
more complete than its predecessoi*s, containing Topical Table of Contents,
and a minute Index.
5. Laws of New York relating to Common Sclwols, with comments and
instructions, and a digest of decisions. 8vo, leather, pp. 807. $4.00.
This is what is known as "The New Code of 1888," and contains all re-
visions of the State school-law to date.
6. The Powers and Duties of Officers and Teachers. By Albert P. Mar-
ble. 16mo, paper, pp. 27. 15 cts.
A vigorous presentation in Sup't Marble's pungent style of tendencies
as well as facts.
7. Mrsf, J^inciples of Political Economy/. By Joseph Aldek. 16mo,
cloth, pp. 153. 75 cts.
Ex-President Andrew D. White says of this book : " It is clear, well
arranged, and the bei?t treatise for the purpose I have ever seen."
C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
■THE SCHOOL BVLLETIN PUBLICATIONS.-
Honglton's Conspectus of Political Parties.
Cloth. Quarto, pp. 100. Price $5.00.
Do You Know the History of Political Parties?
Can You Trace the Growth of the Tory, Whig, Federal, Democratic^
and Republican parties, with all such temporary off-shoots as the Clintonian,
Anti-Mason, Nullification, Loco-Foco, Hunker, Barnburner, Free-Soil, Silver-
Gray, Anti-Nebraska, and the rest ?
Would You Like to be able to explain these terms to your class in his-
tory when you came to them ?
Would You Appheciate a Colored Chart that made all these parties as
plain as day, so that a glance would show what a week's study would not
fix? Then buy HOUGHTON'S CONSPECTUS.
\A/lxA.t Xt CSrlxros.
1. A Folded Colored Chart 5 feet long, with the history of all the Political
Parties from the adoption of the Constitution to 1880.
2. A Folded Colored Chart 5 feet long, with the Cabinets of all the Ad-
ministrations, and the main political issues involved during the four yeai-s.
3. A Colored Political CJiart, double-page, showing the territory con-
trolled by the Republican and that by the Democratic party in 1880.
4. A Colored Chart showing the sources from which Government Rev-
enue is derived.
5. A Colored Chart showing the avenues into which Government Ex-
penditure is directed.
6. Four Colored Charts showing the political proportions of the States in
various relations from 1789 to 1880.
7. A Colored Map showing the Acquisition of Territory of the United
States, and its division among the States and Territories.
8. A List of all Presidential Candidates.
9. Platforms of all Political Parties in all the campaigns.
10. Lists of all the Governors of all the States.
11. Much other Political Infoinnation of various kinds and inconvenient
form.
You will find here just tlie information so often a.sked and so seldom
answered at Teachers' Examinations and in private conversation. It is
safe to sjiy that the same amount of study could hardly bo exi>cnded so
profitably in any other direction. For Civil Government and History classes,
it is invaluable!
The most important features of this book, including the Colored Charts,
may also be had in map- form, to be hung upon the wall, at the same price.
C. W. BAKDEEX, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
THE SCHO OL B ULLETIN PUBLIC A TIONS.-
Helps in Teaching Natural Science.
1. Laboratory Manual of Experimental Physics. A brief course of Quan-
titative Physics, intended for Beginners. By Albert L. Arey. Clotli,,
16mo, pp. 200. Price 75 cts.
This is a directly practical manual for elementary experimental work in
physics. It gives full details for the constraction of inexpensive apparatus,
is abundantly illustrated, and gives on the right-hand pages blanks for en-
tries by the pupil, usually in tabular form. The advantages of quantitative
experiments are recognized, and this book is the first to make them possible
in the ordinary high school. Immediately upon its appearance it wa»
adopted for use in the Rochester Free Academy.
2. Syllabus of Lectures on Physiology. By Tiios. B. Stowell, Ph.D.^
principal of the State Normal School, Potsdam, N. Y. 3d edition. Boards,
8vo, pp. 13.3. Price %\m.
This is, like the above, a manual for practical work, with illustrations,
and with the right-hand pages blank.
S. A Hundred Home-Made Experiments in Natural Science, by Johk S.
KcKay, Ph.D. Paper, IGmo, pp. 50, price 15 cts.
This describes simple experiments so arranged as to teach physics in-
ductively, and contains 17 illustrations. It may be used with profit in any
district school.
L Systematic Plant Record. By Prof. L. M. Underwood, Ph. D., of
Syracuse University. Manilla, 4to, pp. 52. Price 30 cts.
The reputation of the author, who is eminent among the younger scien-
tists of the country, is well sustained in this compendious and convenient
record for the pupil's use.
5. Dim^ Question Books of Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Botany, Zoology,
Physiology, Astronomy. By Albert P. Soutuwick. Paper, 16mo, pp. about
40. Pi-ice of each 10 cts.
Without being exhaustive in these subjects, these little books give much
information and many useful suggestions to teachers. They are capital for
review, and especially as preparations for examination.
6. Dime Question Book of Stimulants and Narcotics, ■pre'paTed in acGord-
ance with the effort to promote Temperance in the Public Schools. By
C. W. Bardeen. Paper, 16mo, pp. 40. Price 10 cts.
It is invaluable to many others besides teachers. It quotes all the
standard authors in its respective topics.— Commonivealth, Boston.
The few remarks about tobacco are, I think, truthful and just, neither
too strong nor too mild. I could wish that our writers on alcohol would
use a like moderation in their statements.— J. Hazleivood, M.D., Grand Bap-
ids, MicJi., member of the State Board of Health, July 31, lS8k.
7. How to Teach Natural Science in the Public Schools. By W. T. Har-
Bis,LL.D., Commissioner of Education. Paper, IGmo, pp. 40. Price 15 cts.
Nothing better on the subject is accessible in so compact a form.—
The Cfi.tic, Aug. 27, 18S7.
C, W, BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
7-7/^ SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.
Helps in Teaching Penmansliip.
1. Wells''it Improved Practical Methods of Penmanship. CJiaidauqua Seriee.
Copy Books, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. Manilla, 7x83^,' pp. 24, per dozen, $1.20.
No. 1 presents a series of 24 oval exercises, combining in simple form
■all of the curve movements employed in writing— and may be used to ad-
vantage through two terms. It is designed to teach arm movement, pur«
and simple.
No. 2 contains a series of drills in large text hand, by means of which
the straight line movement so essential to correct formation is thoroughly
mastered ; and introduces the standard capital letter movements systemati-
cally grouped and followed by drills on the letters themselves.
No. 3 is designed through a series of well arranged exercises to de-
velop and apply the sliding or lateral movement in connection with the arm
action. The movement acquired by this drill is the essential element in all
business or current hand wi-iting, giving both freedom and smoothness to
the text. This number introduces the forms of all small letters and capitals,
with a complete drill on the numerals.
No. 4 gives an attractive series of extended capital movement drills,
together with useful combinations of the capital letters in connection with
words. The special object of this number is to promote freedom and speed
in execution ; it also contains a review of all the letters.
In the Syi-acuse schools, where the method has been in use since 1879,
mimbers 1, 2 and 4 are each used two terms, and No. 3, four terms.
In a testimonial dated June 26, 1889, Sup't Blodgett and ercry one of the
.20 principals of public schools in Syracuse unite in saying :
"This branch, which ten yeai-s ago was considered so difficult to handle
and so generally barren of good results has become one of the most popular
and helpful adjuncts of our school work.
" A fundamental principle of this system is in the substitution of the arm
movements for those of the fingers for all purposes of writing, by means of
which the youngest scholars may secure a freedo7n and strength in the
character of their penmanship much in advance of anythmg hitherto shown.
" We take the term examination papers as the only true test of a schol-
ar's advancement in penmanshfp, and as measured by this severe standard
the results uniformly obtained are not only highly satisfactory, but are In
many instances a revelation as to the possibilities in teachuig business writ-
ing to children in the public schools.
"We are satisfied that this plan of teaching as introduced and carried
•on in our city schools here is entirely feasible, and that under like conditions
•equally good results may be obtained anj'where."
2. A Lesson oji Ann Movement in Writing. By Chas. R. Wells. Paper,
8vo, pp. 32, illustrated, 25 cts.
This is an exposition of the principles and practice of the above system.
S. Penmanship in PuNic Schools. By J. L. Burbitt. 12mo, pp. 62, and
•chart. GO cts.
/♦. The Writing Portfolio. By C. J. Brown. Nos. 1-5, each 25 cts.
C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N, Y.
'^^pf*;-^ iN«%
Mil
Mil
Mil,
Mo
Nat
Nei
No
No
N.»
Nil
!*;»
r;i
Pa
Pe
Pe
Pe
PI
Pt)
P<
*i«
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY,
BERKELEY
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of
50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing
to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in
demand may be renewed if application is made before
expiration of loan period.
DEC 6 tt23
^CT 23 1346
DEC 11)946
DEC 07 «
15
"lotll 2 00
10 00
■1
3 00
r. N.
fi 00
75
75
75
•..12.
15
8 00
15
1 00
I -Ito.
50
1
10
75
75
25
. 25
25
.. m
1 25
10
. 15
t 281.
. 1 00
■19...
. 15
05 .
50
. i5
lou by
IVrlOO.
;5'31 . . . .
I'l). 333.
i.'io.'.'.'.
pp. 109
;,)p.«i:
50?n-8,'26
B
C. W. BARDEEN,
PUBLISHER, SYRACUSE, N. TT
U. C. BERKELEY UBRARIES_
^H^3D
.... 15
cation.
orlisJwp.
I and in
'. Room Classics.
intiiij>loii's Uncorufcif.
ch's Art of Questioni
'iinedy's Plnlosophy
Hficiidine.
..,. ^ Ltch'ii Art of Securing n""'""' „„,.,.,^.^:...^-^--^ 'hinkers
V. liichAnlsoiVs Learning i CDtil3ca3U J Natural
VI. Meikeljoim's iVew Edit . ^ — ...^ ^„, i.,k^ ± u-uuv schools.
Shaw's Scholar's Register, Paper, 5x7, pp. 16. Fer dozen 50
Sheely (Aaron) Anecdotes and Humors of Sc/iool Life. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 350 1 50
Sherrill (.r. E.) The Normal Question Book. Cloth. 12mo, pp. 405 1 50
Shirreff (Emily). The Kindergarten SiMem. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 200 1 00
*Slate Pencil lilackboard Slating. Gallons, covering 600 ft., one coat 10 00
Paper,
-Slated Paper, per square yard (if by mail, 60 cts) ,
Smith (C. F.) Honor art/ Degrees as confeired in American Colleges.
8vo, pp. 9
Song Century, The. One Hundred Standard Songs for^School and Home.
16nio, pp. (>i. (Companion to the iSojJCf -B?/c7creO...
Sornberger (S. J.) Normal Language Lessons, B(
Southwick (A. P.) Twenty Dime Question Books,
queries, etc. Paper, 16mo, pp. about 40. Eac"
Elementary Series.
s. Physioloi^y,
4. Theory and Practice,
fi, U. S. History and Civil Gov't.
10. Algebra.
13. American Literature.
14. Grammar.
15. Orthography and Etymology
18. Arithmt-tic.
19. Physical and Political Geog.
UO. Reading an I Punctuation.
The 10 in one book, clor
Extra Numbers 21. T^
Letter-Writing. EjyK
Quizzi<m. Quirks ^
A Quiz Book of Tr_^^_^
Starkweathei
Stowell ( r
Straig!
50
10
.? book, cloth, $1.00.
jok-Keeping; 23.
10
fers. 16mo, pp. 25 25
.0, pp. 220 1 GO
.imar. 16mo, pp. 216 75
■gxj. Boards, 8vo, pp. 133.. 1 00
ion. Paper, 8vo, pp.12 15
i2mo, pp. 300, nee 150
iOn. Cloth, 12mo, pp. 330 1 50
(!.>■ 5x8 inclies. Per hundred 2 CO
,>?. Paper, 16mo, pp. 40 15
i-- 1 1
of a Schoolmaster. l6mo, pp. 328.
jn-jf. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 200
.tf School Songs. Boards, 4to, pp. 160. . . .
. Plant Record. Manilla, 7x8ii pp. 52
,^ — )Stions, New York. All Questions from the
Marcii 1889, are published as follows :
125
1 00
50
30
T.
IIT.
V.
VIT.
IX.
xr.
AviriimeMc, 317 Questions,
Geography, 709 "
Grammar. 5.33 "
U. S. History, 429 "
Civil Government 354 "
Physiology, 345 "
10 cents.
IT. Key, 10 cents.
IV. •'
VI. "
VITT. "
X. "
XII. "
Valentine (S. Louise.) Numbers Made Easy. In box, with Key
Van AVie (0. B.) Outlines in U. S. History. Paper, 16mo,pp. 40 and map
Welch (Emma A.) Intermediate Arithmetic Problems. Cloth, l6mo, pp. 172
Key to the above, Cloth, l6mo. pp. 30
Wells (C. R.) Improved Practical Methods in Penmanship. Nos. 1-4, Each . . .
A Lesson on Arm Movement in Writing. Paper, 8vo, pp. 32
Williams (Geo. A.) Topics in American History. Cloth, 16mo, pp.50
Any of the above not starred sent post-paid on receipt of the price.
C. W. BAHDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y