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pupils are therefore hurried through their academic courses. 

 This — by the way — is characteristic of our countrymen. In 

 education as well as in other matters, every thing must be 

 done with rapidity. The injurious consequences of this sys- 

 tem are numerous. The attention of the pupil is distracted 

 by the multifariousness and variety of his studies; he learns a 

 little of many things, but acquires most things superficially ; 

 and what is still worse, the habit of superficial examination 

 thus acquired in early life is rarely ever shaken off. It is 

 needless to add, that wherever it exists, it is the fruitful source 

 of error. 



This system of instruction has received countenance and 

 currency, from the schemes which are so frequently presented 

 to the public, by teachers who profess to be able to teach many 

 branches of knowledge, and especially the languages, in a 

 very limited number of lessons. The mode of instruction pur- 

 sued by these teachers, is often well calculated to expedite the 

 progress of the learner ; and so far, they may be considered as 

 useful auxiliaries in the cause of knowledge. But the at- 

 tempt to teach any thing worth knowing, by a few lessons of 

 an hour or two each, is not only contrary to all experience, 

 but to the whole analogy of nature. Here and there, a fa- 

 vored genius may be found, who seems to master, as if by in- 

 tuition, the most difficult branches of science ; but in ordinary 

 cases, the advancement of the mind, in any particular direc- 

 tion, is slow r and gradual ; and it generally requires years of 

 patient and laborious application, to secure fullness and matu- 

 rity of knowledge. This law of our nature cannot be over- 

 come ; but reason, experience and analogy all concur in de- 

 monstrating, that the mental growth may be promoted by fa- 

 vorable methods of cultivation, and that improvements in those 

 methods are not only legitimate objects of desire, but with 

 suitable exertions, of expectation and attainment. 



We have witnessed within the last thirty years the discov- 

 ery of such improvements; some of which have challenged 

 the admiration of the world. Of these, the system of mutual 

 instruction, first brought to maturity and to public notice by 

 Joseph Lancaster, is, I apprehend, decidedly the most impor- 

 tant. It has not only led to the greatest results in the schools 



