EDUCATION. 





will do accurately. His eye should on no account 

 be accustomed to see misspellings. He should copy 

 the words of his book until he knows them per- 

 fectly, and then be asked to copy them without 

 the book. But he should never have set before 

 him words inaccurately spelled to be spelled cor- 

 rectly. At a later stage, when he is quite sure of 

 the spelling, such a task may be assigned him 

 without risk. 



In connection with reading or instruction in 

 language, we have to take up grammar. We are 

 now no longer engaged in a somewhat mechanical 

 art, but with a process which is in the highest 

 degree educative. But it must be taken at the 

 right time, and in the right way. By grammar 

 are meant two quite distinct things the art of 

 speaking and writing a language correctly, and 

 the explanation of the functions of the various 

 parts of a sentence. In the first sense, grammar 

 should be taught from the commencement that 

 is, the child should be corrected when he goes 

 wrong ; and when he has been considerably prac- 

 tised in easy sentences, a few practical rules can 

 be given him, to direct him in his formation of 

 sentences. It is advisable that the instructor 

 should not use a text-book of grammar in these 

 exercises. Continual practice is the most success- 

 ful agent in the process ; rules are of compara- 

 tively slight efficacy. Grammar, in the other 

 sense of the word, should be taught at a much 

 later stage : it is an abstract science, involving 

 some peculiar difficulties in English. In fact, the 

 subject of English grammar is only now begin- 

 ning to receive a proper mode of treatment. 

 Previously it was based on an examination of the 

 classical languages, and terms borrowed from these 

 were applied unappropriated to English. But now 

 the special phenomena of the English language 

 are attracting attention, and the result will be a 

 very great change in our English grammars. 



Another of the arts necessary to the culture of 

 man is that of ciphering. This properly forms 

 part of the study of nature ; but it is so con- 

 tinually used by man in his intercourse with his 

 fellow-men, that we may appropriately treat of it 

 here. This is an art based upon abstraction. 

 And it is the first to introduce the child into 

 abstractions. It is therefore the duty of the 

 instructor to be patient with his pupils in this 

 matter. Stupidity in numbers may be only 

 apparent stupidity. In all probability the child 

 has not formed a sufficient number of concrete 

 perceptions to be able to realise the abstract. 

 The instructor must therefore begin and go on 

 with the concrete for a considerable time. The 

 child must reckon, not with mere figures, but with 

 actual things. He should for a considerable time 

 add and subtract with actual objects. And the 

 instructor will continue this method with advan- 

 tage for some time after the child seems to have 

 an accurate hold of the numbers. Then, when 

 he is able to advance to the abstract, the instructor 

 should continually bring him back to numbers 

 in real life, giving him such problems as occur in 

 the ordinary dealings of man with man. 



There is not much educative power in this art 

 It is based on one idea, that one added to one 

 makes two, or that one taken from two leaves 

 one. The instructor should in all cases seize hold 

 of the principle on which each rule is based, and 

 he should not merely give the rule, but should 



shew by concrete examples, or fully worked-out 

 processes, that the. rule is based on reality. This 

 exhibition helps considerably to educate the mind ; 

 indeed, the educative power of arithmetic arises 

 from the circumstance that it gives the pupil an 

 idea of order, of inevitable and absolutely certain 

 results. It also may, like reading, be made to 

 exercise a moral influence. If questions are put, 

 taken from real life, as to how much money is 

 spent a week on tobacco, or wine, or other such 

 articles if light is thus thrown on the mode in 

 which money is actually spent if the problems 

 are taken from the statistics of one's country, the 

 pupil may realise many facts which it is of import- 

 ance for him to know. 



Closely connected with arithmetic, and allied in 

 nature, is the science of mathematics. This, again, 

 is a purely abstract science, and many pupils 

 meet with great difficulties at the commencement, 

 and some form a strong prejudice against the 

 science, because they have entered on it without 

 having made as many concrete perceptions as 

 were necessary for holding the abstract firmly in 

 the mind. Accordingly, the teacher must have 

 recourse continually to the concrete forms until the 

 mind of the pupil gathers strength, and then mathe- 

 matics forms an admirable exercise in abstract 

 reasoning. It is a discipline to which every mind 

 should be subjected. It gives, in a fuller and more 

 satisfactory manner than arithmetic, an idea of 

 an order that is irreversible, of a reasoning which 

 is sure to arrive at unquestionable conclusions. 

 It is also an essential instrument in the investiga- 

 tion of nature, and in its most advanced stages it 

 calls into play the highest faculties of man, gives 

 him the most intense pleasure, and opens up many 

 of the secrets of the universe. 



There are some subjects of study which are 

 a mingling of the activities of nature with the 

 activities of man. One such subject calls for 

 special notice ; it is geography. Man is bound 

 to know about the land in which he lives, and he 

 should make himself acquainted alike with its 

 natural features, and the changes which have been 

 made on it by man. Here the child should start 

 from his own home. The apparatus which is used 

 in teaching geography is symbolic, and is sure to 

 mislead the child if he does not begin with reality, 

 and is not continually referred to reality. The first 

 lessons in geography should be in the open air. 

 The river near the town ; the hills in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; the town itself, and all that forms 

 the features of the land within the reach of the 

 child's actual knowledge, must first occupy his 

 attention. He should learn to make a map of 

 these, and no name should be given him until he 

 has first seen the very thing, or something like 

 the thing, in reality. Of course he cannot see 

 everything which is named in geography ; but he 

 can see so many things, that every other named 

 can be conceived by him from what he has seen. 

 After the child has been occupied with the features 

 of his home, he can then advance to the geography 

 of his country ; and when he has done this, he 

 may then begin afresh, and study geography more 

 systematically, going over the regions of the earth. 

 In all cases the instructor should engage the 

 interest of the child. In commencing the study 

 of a country with him, he should summon up 

 before him all the circumstances which would 

 induce himself to visit the country, and acting as 



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