A "new Departure" In Education

Lynx, Mass., July 1, 1872. FuiejiD Pond : - I havo given yon gome surface impressions ol the Wond a jreace uuouee. x have not attempted to describe or oriticise tho music, but only to state how the occasion strikes an observer viewing it merely as a phenomenon to be studied. The surges raised upon the surface of Boston and New Englaiid Society -wïlï pass away with the Fourth of July, bnt there are other, and deeper, and I thmk pqually oharecteristic influences, which ■vrill continue to pervado society, and shape it liko a crystallizing force, by working within it. I refer espeeially to the educational influencos for which Boston and all the surrounding towns bve become so justly celebra ted. It is not alone in the department of mutical educatiou- for which the fourth oollegiate 01 university institution hu jnst sprung into existence, uuder the hands of the " Mendelssohn Quintette Club," but all departments of education - not les soientifio than classioal - not more in the subject matter of eduoation than in the method of eduoation - and hereupon I desire to make a note espeeially for the information of our western teachers who have not had the opportuniÉy to' observe for themselres the growthand tendencies of educational methods in New England. I may take as an example a private high sohool in this oity, under the management of Prof. E. Johnson - one of those private schools which has álways maintained a first place in the esteem of Massachusetts parents, in spite of all the perfections of the publio aohool system. Lilte most of the private schools hereaway, Prof. Johnson's is not what we would cali a strictly High School, but a school for all grades from ten or a dozen years upward - including prepsration for college, for the Instituto of Technology, or for business pursuita - embracing the study of English, French, Oerman, Spanish, Latin and Greek. Now, the oentral ideas of the method pursued hero are two : First, that the teucher is a teacher and not a htarer ofrecitatiorts. Secondly, that childhood should be i ftught f rem things therr.sehes, and not from brok. The ordei of studies is determinad by the order of development of the child's faculties - lst, Facts ; 2d, Generalizations and Philosophy. It is not deemed so material what particular field of fticts is iirst presonted to tho votmg pupil, provided wo do not weary him with abBtract principies, and waste his chil lh od aml precious youth in acquiring expertness in figuring up resulta in mental arithmetic, and learning tha " chief towns " in Mungary and Cochin China, and such like trush. It is conenrte faots for which the curibua ere and mind of the child are ever eeking ; and childhood is the plastic, recipiënt time for the impartation of a store of valuable facto. This truth suems to be better appreciated here than with us. But now about putting the principie in practico : First, throw school books to the dog?, und throw there also the teachers who cun't get along without them. I speak, of course, in a hyperbole. But let the teacher f uil of knowledge and of ideas take any familiar thing lor a text - a leaf, a pobble, a bit of wood, a carpenter's tooi, a pocket knife, a nowspaper, or anjthing at hand, ar.d direct the child's atteution to its characteristics, the way they are connected with ech other and -R-ith otherthings, how they are produced, vhat they aro good for, and thus n waken the childish curiosity xchich prompt U quettions. The eloments of Euglish Grammar may bo imparted in the same way. The perceptivo faculties, nronsed' and sharpened, will not fail to uotice the letters and syllables of words, and the rare accomplishment of good polling -willbeearly acqnired without aneflfort. To the class of faots bolong the words of languages; and living languages may now be interwoven with the vernacular, and mastored by the pupil, olmost without his consciousness- that is, the practical use and correct prouunoiation of them. As to rules and principies, they come afterwards. with "squareroot," procBSsion of equinoxos," nud the " bi'nomial theorem." In Prof. Johnson-'e BChoolIhave found suoh prinoiples put intcpractice. Globes, maps, rooks, prepartionB-all nature'B store of visible texts- theso are the themes, these tho text-books from whioh knowledgo is gleaned, under the guidance and inspiraron of independent teaohing. It is plain thatthiB is work whicli no ordinary teacher can adequatoly perform. To have a head full of ready knowledgfi of trees and inountains, oceans and wind, hydraulica and grammar, machinery and poetry-this is an plishmont far in advanco ot anytmng xisting in the apprehensions of mere task-assignerg and lesson-hearers. But this is the conception of the competent teacher which begins to prevail in these first-class schools in and about Boston. The e9ümate and. compensation of "high nd' "primaTy" needs aluiost to bo reyersed. There is no learning or espen-i nee or wisdom whioh can not be made directly nef ui oven in the primary schoolroom The primary or intermedíate teacher who filia the truest ideal of an imparter of ideas suitedto the young pupil, is a teacher capable of rilling a professor's chair; but while the idea prevails that young and inexperienced misruss and boya are good enough to do this work the perfect work will not be performed, nor will the hi5h estímate and oompensation be awarded teachers of thig grade. Nor will the highly educated and competent assign themselve to this grade of teaching unless the public, when they io it, is capabio of appreciating them, and valuing the differenoo between the living teacher and the dead fun nel through whose inouth pours the teaching oL the published text-books. An enlightened public sentiment widoly exists in the larger cities about Boston, önd it is this which sustains their characteristic private schools," in whioh the very highest talent is enabled clieerfully and usefully to devoto human life-times. I hope some of our western teachers may take these notes as hints of what thft educated experience of all the land expecta of them ; and I hope, abo, our citizens may be convinced that even the primary Bcho.il cannot justly be put aside with a grade of pedigogical intolligence which is barely able to hold a teit-book in hand and follow the lesson recited by the pupil. The period from ten to fifteen years is as long as that from fifteen to twenty ; and if the subjects and the teaching are properly adjusted to the age tho discipline and knowledge acquired will b as ereat in tho former period as in the latter. There are many things, moreover, which, if not acquired in the former interval, will nover be acquired. It is suprerue folly to occupy the earlier yeurs with subjects which can only be mastered in the later, and then to unnaturally crowd into the later subjects which every principie of human thinking and and mental development pronounces iolely and specially suited to the term of ohildhood and youth. Much as the science of education has been advanced aruong us, it is a serioua and indeed an apalling fact that we have not yet bo adjusted our methods as to win the attention of the young to ueeful and available education to such an extent as to ingure American society and institutions against the threatened perils of overerowing üliteracy.