EDITOR'S TABLE. 



389 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



geography jy scnooLS. 

 "TTTIIILE there is great ado about 

 VV methods in teaching this sub- 

 ject, and the " battle of the geographies" 

 waxes fierce before the school boards, 

 but few stop to inquire into the real 

 claims of the study, and he who should 

 venture to say that it has no business in 

 schools at all, that it usurps time which 

 had better be given to other things, and 

 is of very low value as a means of men- 

 tal cultivation, would be regarded as 

 absurd. Yet such an idea is enter- 

 tained by many thoughtful persons, 

 and it increases in force as our edu- 

 cational system is more closely scruti- 

 nized. 



In his celebrated inaugural address, 

 at the University of St. Andrews, Mr. 

 J. S. Mill remarked : " It has always 

 seemed to me a great absurdity that 

 history and geography should be taught 

 in schools ; except in elementary schools 

 for children of the laboring-classes, 

 whose subsequent access to books is 

 limited. Who ever really learned his- 

 tory and geography except by private 

 reading? and, what an utter failure a 

 system of education must be, if it has 

 not given the pupil a sufficient taste for 

 reading, to seek for himself those most 

 attractive and easily intelligible of all 

 kinds of knowledge! Besides, such 

 history and geography as can be taught 

 in schools, exercise none of the facul- 

 ties of intelligence, except memory." 



If this very decisive verdict be 

 thought merely the opinion of a theo- 

 rist, it is easy to reenforce it by the judg- 

 ment of practical men who speak from 

 experience in the management of 

 schools. A committee on "Text-books, 

 and a Graded Course of Instruction," 

 of the public schools of Milwaukee, in 

 their report to the board of School Com- 

 missioners on the study of geography. 



say: "The committee have given the 

 subject full and careful consideration, 

 and have come to the conclusion that 

 the study of geography, as now pursued 

 in our schools, should be radically 

 changed. Considering the time de- 

 voted to it, and the application required, 

 we are of the opinion that no study is 

 productive of results so meagre and un- 

 satisfactory. It will not be contended 

 that much is to be gained in the way 

 of mental discipline from geography as 

 taught in this city, and we might as 

 well say generally throughout this coun- 

 try. The same amount of time and 

 labor, bestowed upon many other 

 branches of knowledge, would do a 

 great deal more for development of the 

 faculties of the mind. About the only 

 positive result obtained is, storing the 

 memory with an array of disconnected 

 facts, which may indeed be made avail- 

 able in astonishing visitors at examina- 

 tious, but are utterly useless as a means 

 of unfolding the thinking powers. Nay, 

 more, the very object of the study is 

 defeated by the methods of instruction 

 commonly in use. It is possible to find 

 whole classes of pupils who have spent 

 several years in 'learning geography,' 

 and who can answer endless columns 

 of questions in locating places ; but who 

 can in no sense be said to have acquired 

 the knowledge which geography 

 rightly understood is intended to im- 

 part." 



They remark further : " The commit- 

 tee are of opinion that altogether too 

 much time is devoted to geography in our 

 schools. It seems to us that a sufficient 

 knowledge of the subject might be ac- 

 quired by considerably abridging the 

 number of lessons, and giving the time 

 to studies of at least equal importance, 

 which are now sacrificed to make room 

 for the geography recitations. A com- 



