56 THE NEW METHOD 



education. . . . He alluded also to the folly of in- 

 troducing into our schools object-teaching. . . . 

 The lecture of the Professor will be the means of 

 doing good, and he deserves the thanks of the whole 

 community for daring to take such a manly stand 

 against a great and growing evil." 



The few assertions made by Professor Sanborn are 

 not quite sufficient to convince all who listened of 

 the correctness of his views. He stated that object 

 teaching is one of the innovations of the day; that it 

 comes from the West, and captivates such teachers 

 as cannot discriminate between innovation and prog- 

 ress. He compared the interest in object teaching 

 to the velocipede mania of last year, stating that it 

 would last about as long and do about as much good. 



He ridiculed the idea of strolling about for flowers, 

 butterflies and everything else for object lessons, and 

 enquired when the children would learn to read and 

 spell, if time is taken for such work. 



This is the substance of his remarks on that topic. 

 It was not necessary to say any more. He succeeded 

 well in showing that he knows very little of the sub- 

 ject, that he neither understands the methods, nor 

 comprehends the philosophy of such instruction ; and 

 instead of ''deserving the thanks of the whole com- 

 munity," it seems to me that he deserves the public 

 censure for undertaking to enlighten the community 



