210 



THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



successful in its scientific teaching even 

 now. Our schoolmasters^ as a rule, 

 are too ignorant to be able to help 

 others in scientific matters. They have 

 got into a groove or rut that they can- 

 not get out of. The teaching of to-day 

 differs but little from the teaching of 

 forty or fifty years ago. To read and 

 write are, of course, necessary prelimi- 

 naries ; then follow grammar, geo- 

 graphy, and arithmetic, just as they 

 did when the writer was a boy, only 

 these are taught now a little more fully. 

 In grammar, for instance, the course 

 of tuition appears to have made it 

 incumbent on every one to have what 

 may be called a scientific knowledge of it. 

 To this we would find no fault, if it 

 could be done without excluding other 

 things; bat we are of opinion that 

 lads could learn to express themselves 

 properly and write grammatically with- 

 out that minute technical knowledge 

 that only seems needed for teachers. 

 In arithmetic, too, the fault we find is 

 the attention to routine and round- 

 about methods of working. A sum 

 must be done by rule, and we have 

 known one of our own boys "sent 

 down" for doing in three lines of 

 figures what ought to have been done 

 in twenty ! The History of England 

 becomes a mere " dictionary of dates." 

 In short, the desire seems to be to 

 cram into the pupil in the shortest 

 possible time, and in the dryest style, 

 the greatest amount of information on 



the subjects which are considered 

 worthy. No doubt, historical know- 

 ledge is of considerable value to the 

 possessor, but what shall we think of 

 the youth who can tell when King 

 John reigned, or Anna Boleyn was 

 beheaded, but who calls a whale, a fish, 

 and a cockroach a black beetle. No 

 doubt we will get out of this groove 

 some time or other, and the sooner the 

 better ; but the time is sadly delayed 

 by routine and red tape. Of course, 

 we are writing with our own particular 

 ideas in our head, but let other people 

 do the same and the desired end will 

 be the sooner reached. Every boy, 

 now-a-days, has to go over the same 

 unvarying track, whatever his tastes 

 and inclinations may be. The lad who 

 has no head for figures has to trudge 

 through the arithmetic just the same ; 

 while he to whom mathematical pro- 

 blems are a pleasure, but who cannot 

 learn by rote, has to plod on at his 

 geography as if he could not get on in i 

 the world without knowing the height 

 of every mountain and the length of i 

 every river in it. 



It is only a few weeks since we said 

 something on this subject before, but 

 spring and summer are the seasons ^ 

 when the " practical mode of teaching " 1 

 can be adopted for natural history. 

 Classes can then be taken out into the 

 lanes and fields, and under the guidance : 

 of an experienced teacher, young people i 

 can be shown, what many home lessons! 



