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ter of it, but he may be much the worse of it. He may be taught subjects which would naturally appeal to his emotional nature in such a way that no emotion is roused, and the blank which is thus created is really a moral perversion. Hence the immense importance of the inquiry, What is the kind of instruction which is educative? This inquiry has been made with the utmost care by the Germans, and the principles may be regarded as clearly ascertained. I have before me three works on this subject, published within the last two or three years: Dr. Ziller on Educating Instruction; Dr. Roth on Gymnasial Pædagogik; Dr. Schrader on the Doctrine of Education and Instruction for Gymnasien and Realschulen. All these treat minutely of how instruction may educate, and they are merely specimens of a large number of books which deal with this most important subject.

Characteristics of Educative Instruction.

1. It proceeds from individuals to groups. It is not a mere accidental taking up of subjects. But the teacher produces an impression one day which will be the foundation for a stronger next day, until out of the many, the pupil, through his own power, will come to make a unity. This is a natural process in the mind. If a child sees a trec one day, and another another, and a third a ́ third, he soon comes to form some idea in his mind as to what a tree is. He may not be able to define it, yet he has made an induction of his own. And so in regard to a certain set of actions. He knows that this one is beneficial, and another and another; and he soon comes to select that which is really beneficial in the various actions; and though he may not be able to define it, he knows it, and in coming to this knowledge his mind is in full activity.

2. Educative instruction invariably awakens interest. If it does not do this, it is so far a failure. And it awakens this interest through its stirring up the feelings and desires.

The Outer World-The Inner World.

Now the subjects by which the minds of the pupils may be educated are twothe outer world or nature, and the inner world or the experience of human nature. The outer world furnishes us with materials which in their highest developments become the physical sciences. Are they suitable to the young child of the working classes? Unquestionably, if they are presented in a proper way, and in proper measure. It would be absurd to teach a child astronomy, or geology, or botany, or zoology, chemistry, or natural philosophy. The comprehension of any of these as a science in a scientific way is the work only of a very mature mind. A continuous survey of the phenomena and laws of any one science, and the acquisition of the power of making scientific investigations, are impossibilities for any but minds of considerable maturity and culture. But these sciences supply endless materials for arousing and sustaining the interest of children. Only the facts themselves must be presented-not mere accounts of them. The eye must be trained to see, and similar facts must be presented, until the child, by his own powers, sees the similarity. Instances of laws must be presented in sufficient number until the child gains for himself a knowledge of the law. It is here that we are apt to make a great mistake, and give instruction which is not educative. The child must be taught to search out and discover. An abstract statement is valueless to him, if he has not personal experience of the facts from which the abstract proposition has been made; and the abstract proposition will remain mere words for him until he has realized it through

individual instances and actual occurrences. And it seems to me that a teacher interest the child in all the physical Every avenue to knowledge should

should, in laying out his plans, endeavor to sciences, so far as his mind will admit of it. be opened up. It is not multiplicity of knowledge that is to be given-it is multiplicity of interest; and if this is accomplished, the child's training, in regard to the outer world, is accomplished. Then we have the abstract of the external world in arithmetic and mathematics, of which I shall speak afterwards.

The inner world-the world of human experience—is the main subject of the child's instruction. The deeds, aims, hopes, affections of man; these are what will concern him all his life. We may divide this instruction into three parts.

1. The training of the intellect-the giving accuracy and distinctness to his notions—and from this enabling him to reason correctly. This work is accomplished principally through language. The boy whose education ends at twelve must be content with a knowledge only of his own language. In learning it he should at every step be making progress in real knowledge. He should always learn the thing with the word. And much could be done here to give him something like a true idea of what is meant by many of the terms which are much used, but often little understood-such as order, justice, truth, religion. The meaning of these he must reach through concrete examples, just as in the case of the physical sciences.

2. There are the various crafts, if I may so call them, which are to be learned by practice-reading, writing, singing, drawing. These are mechanical, and have little educative power in themselves; but they may be of great importance

as means.

3. Then there are the various groups which can more or less influence the character, as well as cultivate the intellect, when the external and internal combine.

(1.) Geography. This subject may be made powerfully educative. The child of the workman can learn well only the geography of the British Empire; but in learning it he might become impressed with many deeply important truths. If, while he is led over the country, he is brought to think of the rise and fall of towns, of the origin and progress of manufactures, of the secrets of success and failure, and the influence of site upon men and cities, his character might be vastly improved, and his interest strongly aroused. Only, again, we must give the concrete not the abstract, the particular not the general. A fair, impartial, and full narrative of the effects of strikes upon particular trades or establishments would be worth cartloads of politico-economical exposition to a child. We have to produce impressions, not to insist upon the laws. The laws will arise with operative power out of the impressions-the impressions will never be got out of the statement or exposition of the abstract laws.

In dealing with the geography of the country, the child might be taught much in regard to the government and institutions of the country—always in the concrete-with much good to his mind and benefit to himself and the community.

(2.) History. Here, again, we have to give the full concrete and particular. It is in the particular actions of men, either directly observed by the child, or related by those who have observed them, that the child will form his moral standard. And so, at this stage, history must take the form of minute biography. And it seems to me possible that in this way there might be laid out a course of such instruction likely to produce a profound moral effect on the child.

The child must also learn the history of his own country. But this should be written or told directly with a purpose-always truthfully, but still with an aim. Could not a child be taught to feel the value of toleration, the value of industry, the value of conscience, the value of obedience, the value of earnest religious conviction, and receive other such impressions, from many accumulated examples taken from British history?

And, finally, there is the teaching of religion. This is, of all subjects, the most important, and yet it is one to the methods of which almost no consideration is given. What is teaching religion? It is teaching men to love God with all their heart, and their neighbor as themselves. All religious teaching fails if we do not awaken love. It is not knowledge that is the aim; and all instruction that does not directly tend to bring into action love towards God and man is simply useless-nay, it is worse than useless, it is obstructive. This is too wide a subject to discuss here, but I shall quote two passages from Dr. Roth's book on Gymnasial Pædagogik, which will show how religious instruction may be uneducative, that is, not produce religion. "Those teachers who handle the subject in a systematic order," he says, "encourage their scholars to make syllogisms. ‘All men are sinners. I am a man; therefore I am a sinner.' Now if the scholar thinks even so far, will he be awakened thereby to a longing for the forgiveness of his sins? Just as little as if you were to try to persuade a sick man, who has no desire to eat, that he is hungry. Far more likely the scholar, who has been brought to make the syllogism, will be set at rest in regard to his own sinfulness by the thought of the universality of sin." "Assuredly at the examinations made by our youths at their departure for the university, they show so much theological learning, such deep glances into the secrets of the kingdom of God, so thorough an acquaintance with the Scripture, that I look back with shame on my youth; but yet their belief in the existence of God, of the immortality of their own soul, is a matter of the utmost indifference to them. We can see nothing of a firm permanent direction of the heart to God; of a conscious morality of the heart based upon principles."

GOOD TEACHERS AND WISE INSPECTORS.

That instruction may bring out all the powers of the child, and form character as well as train the intellectual faculties, the schoolmaster must be a man of considerable culture, possessed of insight into human nature, and especially young human nature, well acquainted with the best methods of train. ing, and having a high aim for his own life and a noble moral tone in his own conduct. For here it is not the quantity of instruction that is of consequence so much as the quality, provided it be varied enough; it is not the amount of information given, but the interest excited; not the truths mechanically conveyed, but the living and abiding impressions produced on the soul. The teacher has really a cure of souls committed to him. Once find the right man, and he must be trusted in the discharge of his duty. He must be allowed to choose his own ways and means within certain limits; he must study the individuality of each pupil, and vary his mode of action accordingly; and he must have nothing to distract him from the great aim which must guide all his activity. Along with the good teacher we must have good inspectors, men of larger experience, of still greater culture and reach of thought. These should not watch over the teachers as if they were suspected characters; but they should be able to advise them in difficult cases, set them right when they pursue wrong methods, encourage them when they may despond, and help them in every way to carry out the

true end of their vocation. With such a body of teachers and inspectors, the school might do a vast deal, in fact could not help doing a vast deal, to diminish the crime of the country, to ameliorate the condition of the people, to make the country better, and wiser, and happier.

THE REQUISITES OF THe revised cODE INSUFFICIENT.

The great aim of the school is not touched in the Requirements of the Code, which only reaches certain results in reading, writing, and arithmetic, which may be acquired without any educative influence. The learning to read and the learning to write are mechanical operations. In learning to read the child is engaged simply in connecting an outward visible sign with a certain sound. In learning to write he is learning to indicate certain sounds by visible signs. The whole activity is external. As far as the Revised Code is concerned, the child need not understand a single word of what he reads or writes. The only educative power which the operation possesses arises from a defect in our language. Our signs are variable. The same sound may be indicated by different symbols; and sometimes the same sounds represent different thoughts, and are expressed by different symbols, in which case the child must learn the meaning to be able to give the symbols. But in all other cases the process is mechanical. "The appropriation of the language itself, as such," says Beneke, "having reference only to the external, produces immediately and by itself no mental gain." And this is repeated by all who have written on the methods and object of education. There is a little more educative power in arithmetic, yet it is small. Arithmetic furnishes the pupil with models of clearness, precision, and certainty; but the ideas contained in it are few. Indeed, the whole of arithmetic is a mere expansion of one and one make two, and one from two is one. That is all the idea that is in it.

But reading and writing might be so taught as to be educative. If, as should always be the case, the arts of reading and writing are taught with special application and reference to the ends for which they are acquired, vast spiritual benefit might be got. But here comes in the Revised Code, and presents a factitious end to the schoolmaster. The one thing he is to do is to make pupils read and write and cipher, and the one end proposed for him is a certain amount of pay. Drive his pupils into the standards anyhow, irrespective of the full training of the mind, and Government will be satisfied. But what will be the result? The interest in knowledge is destroyed, the individuality is neglected, the moral tone is overlooked, and the one power of learning to read and write, urged on by force, and accomplished mechanically, will very likely soon pass into disuse in many cases, and be lost, or be employed for the lowest purposes.

It seems to me that the plan of distributing the public money in Scotland ought to be totally different. A minimum income should be fixed for all teachers, ample enough to get good men. Where the local rates, say at twopence per pound, and the fees, are sufficient to provide this income, the Government should give no aid directly to the school. But when a parish is poor, the income of the teacher should in all cases be made up by Government to the minimum, and the Government would thus step in where aid is really needed. Government should also pay all the inspectors, and any other general expenses.

HIGHER SALARIES AND TRAINING MUST go together.

You cannot get men in an instant to become teachers. You must begin with them at an early age; if a boy does not see his way before him for a profession in this direction, he will not train for it.

CALDERWOOD-ON TEACHING.*

EXTRACTS.

END AND MEANS OF TEACHING.

IN organizing a National System of Education, and providing guarantees for its efficiency, we are inevitably tempted to narrow the sphere of education to the limits within which our tests are available. The examination test is far from being a complete test of educational results. Yet it is upon this we are constrained mainly to rely when we would take measures to secure a high standard of teaching. Consequently, from the earliest stages of preparation for the profession, the young teacher has abundant inducement to think that every thing depends upon the amount of knowledge he acquires, and the amount he afterward communicates. The course of preparatory study favors this view. The fixed curriculum, the uniform examinations, the standards of excellence, the certificates of first, second, and third class, intended to indicate professional rank-all of them quite essential, every one will allow-tend to encourage the conviction that education is concerned only with knowledge. The certificated teacher has the requisite amount of instruction, and is by inference a competent instructor. He has attained what is essential for professional engagement. Teachers need to guard themselves against this narrowing of their professional aims, and dwarfing of their own intellectual and moral nature.

Even if the end of teaching be restricted to the communication of knowledge, it is plain that the possession of so much information is not the only requirement for instructing others. Knowledge of grammar, geography, history, and modern languages does not constitute any one a professional educator. While yet on the benches of the students' class-room, the candidates for office are constantly led to distinguish between knowledge and teaching power. They find a difference among instructors. It is not always the man who

* On Teaching: Its Ends and Means. By Henry Calderwood, LL.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and Chairman of the Edinburgh School Board. Edinburgh: 1874. 144 p.

Contents:-Introduction. I. Self-Government. II. School Discipline. III. Instruction. IV. Formation of Character. Conclusion.

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