Educational

Every teacher, yes, every one ïnterested in the cause of educatioD(ai)d who ought not to be interested and to manifest bis iníereat too ?) should read earefully and consider wdl the many good things in the following letter reprinted frona the New York Tribune on The Quincy Methods. These methods are not new. They are vlrttially the same as followed for the past twenty or more years by all real teachers. They are the natural ways of those who know how ;o lead, in an interesting way, the inquiring mind of childhood to the com)rehension'of new ideas. Special prominence was given to these methods by the sensible and earnest application of ;hem in the management of the schools of Quincy Mass., about six years ago. Che following letter of Superintendent 5arker, now in charge of the Boston mblie schools, sets forth his idea of ;he needs of the schools of the country: 'The good work is going steadily and urely on. I am devoutly thankful hat I can help a little. What little 1 ïave done has been done uiider the op)ressive sense of the immense need of jetter teaching. The future life of our ountry depends entirely upon it. The Quincy system, so-called, is an ttempt to apply the science of educaion. It is only uu attempt, and comjared with what can be done for chiliren in public schools it is f ar frorn béng a complete success. The results f the work in the Quincy schools mark he traiisitkm trom the old lifeless text irays of teaching to the living way, vhich will develop the whole rnind and tie whole man. ïhe so-called Quincy niethods learjied and simply imitated would produce a resul t as poor as the nethods whicu we are trying to avoid. iow to answer the question. On the ne side is the nature of the niiud to be eveloped, on tke other the nature of be subject with which the mind is to )e developed, The perfect adaptation u teaching of the subject to the rnind s the perfect niethotf. Any book that ;reats thoughtf ully of one or both sides s the book for the teacher to read. Tirst, study psychology, Porter, Hamton, Spencer. Maater the subject ol ense perception before you take any ther step. Eead Joseph Payne's Lec;ures on the Science of Edueation, Lecure3 on Teaching by J. G. Fitch, Tate's 'hilosophy of Edueation, Garvey's luinan Culture, Spencer on Education, nd kindred books. Above all, in the chool room ask yourself at every step, Why do I take this step ? Have I a ;ood reason tor it ? Am 1 doing this )ecause I was taught so or because my uperintendent teïls ine to do it in this way, or because it is adapted to the nature of tbis child's mind?" Many teachers wül see while reading ,his that they have been themselves eaching according to the Quincy methods. Many others - mere routine teachers wno teach because they can't find omething else more profitable to do, and go through a dull routine in the chool-room - will see very little meanng in it. There is no place, always except the nursery, wliere one is called on for the active display of so many varieties of talent and ability as in the chool-room. There is no person, except the mother, who needs to be so capable, so accomplished, so consummate in meftiods as the teacher. These i vvo, the mother and the teacher, make ;he scholar, the orator, the statesman, ;he theologian, the man, the woman. Chey take the tender, pliable, budding nature and surround it with circumstances best suited to its individual development. For each child has a naiure of its own and requires special reatment. As the florist gives to eaeh riant the soil, the warmth, the moistïre, the stimulus, thesuu. theshade, as ie prunes it at one time and at another allows it to flourish in wild luxuriance, so the mother, the teacher, adapts to each child according to its development, to its needs, the special culture and treatment suited to it, changing bis from time to time as the child changps. Som.. Limes - too of ten- the teacher ïas no co-operation on the part of the parent. Sometimes, and too often, she ïas no co-operation on the part of the board of trustees, and between this upper and nether millstone the heart of many a teacher is ground to despair. Even if she is permitted togo on in her own methods, though they are of the best, the lack of appreciation from parents and trustees chills and disjourages her, or would chili and discourage her but that every true teacher f eels that she accounts to God for the discharge of her sacred trust, and not ;o any man or woman. Horace Greeley once said when a prize of $50,000 was offered for the best written effort on some subject: "No man can write his oest for $50,000 or for any larger sum of money. The best efïorts of a man spring from the love of his work." So it is with the teacher. The best, the only good teaching, is done for the love of teaching and from the consciousness of the high and noble calling of the teacher. In conclusión we repeat what has been many times said in this column: the teacher will be most successful in developing the minds of those children who have been prepared at home to leurn at school. The prairie sod must flrst be broken up and lie fallow awhile, then be prepared to receive the seed, or no abundant erop can be expected. So the child must have his mind opened, prepared, ready to receive instruction at school, or it will make but little impression on him. In the nursery the mother can lay the foundation in hei child of the knowledge of every scienee and of art. "Mamma," said a little six-year-old, "explain this to me." "] will when you are older, my child you can't understand it now." "Bul if you would try to explain it to me I would try to understand it, and I think Icould." What reasonable motlier could resist such a plea? In trying to adapt her explanation to the nature o: her child's mind she adopted the Quincy methods' though they were not then called by that name, and whether she really succeeded in explaining the phenomenon inquired into, she did suc ceed in developing that child's mind, in stimulating while gratifying his love for knowledge, and in planting a germ of truth therein which would unde favorable conditions grow and mature and prodnce fruit.