tions in the neighbouring States, though it is lamented PART I and deprecated by all the American authors who have examined the educational Institutions of other countries, and many others who are competent witnesses of its defects and evils, and who have the virtue and patriotism to expose them. The author of the excellent work heretofore quoted,-School and Schoolmaster-remarks: "The grand error is, that that is called knowledge, which is mere rote-learning and word-mongery. The child is said to be educated, because it can repeat the text of this one's grammar, and of that one's geography and history; because a certain number of facts, often without connexion or dependance, have for the time being been deposited in its memory, though they have never been wrought at all into the understanding, nor have awakened in truth one effort of the higher faculties. "The soil of the mind is left by such culture really as untouched and as little likely therefore to yield back valuable fruit, as if these same facts had been committed to memory in an unknown tongue. It is, as if the husbandman were to go forth and sow his seed by the way side, or on the surface of a field which has been trodden down by the hoofs of innumerable horses, and then when the cry of harvest-home is heard about him, expect to reap as abundant returns as the most provident and industrious of his neighbours. He forgets that the same irreversible law holds in mental as in material husbandry; 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' School The superficial and pernicious system of teaching U. S. and learning thus exposed and deprecated, forms the Books. basis on which a large portion of the American Ele *School and Schoolmaster. By Dr. Potter, Union College, pp. 32, 33. PART I. mentary School Books are composed, professing to be so constructed as to require very little intellectual labour on the part of either Teacher or Pupil. In the old Cities, and oldest educational Institutions in the United States, this anti-intellectual method of teaching, and the books which appertain to it, are very properly condemned. Their per fluence in Canada. Many of the most wealthy youth of that country have gone to Europe, either for their education or to finish it; and there is a gradual return there to the more solid and practical system of Instruction. Yet in their second-rate Colleges and Village nicious in- Academies, and most of their country Schools, this "word-mongery" system prevails; and many of the books which are essential to its operations, and many of the delusive opinions on which it is founded, have been introduced into this Province, and have excited a pernicious influence in some parts of it. It is with a view of drawing attention to the evil, and its appropriate remedy, that I make these remarks. The Secretary of the Board of Education for the State of Massachusetts, after a visit to Europe, contrasts this sparkling and worthless system with that which obtains in Prussia. He speaks with reference to the method of teaching some of the higher branches; but his remarks are equally applicable to the method of teaching Grammar, Geography, History, &c. The principle and animus of the method are the same in all departments of instruction. Mr. on superfi cial teaching and learning Mr. Mann says: "With us it too often happens that if a higher branch,-Geometry, Natural Philosophy, Zoology, Botany,-is to be taught, both Teacher and Class must have text books. At the beginning of these text-books, all the technical names, and definitions are set down. These, before the pupil has any practical idea of their meaning, must be commit- PART 1. ted to memory. The book is then studied chapter by chapter. At the bottom of each page or at the end of the sections, are questions printed at full length. At the recitations the Teacher holds on to these leading strings. He introduces no collateral knowledge. He exhibits no relation between what is contained in the book, and other kindred subjects, or the actual business of men and the affairs of life. At length the day of examination comes. The pupils rehearse from memory with a suspicious fluency; on being asked for some useful application of their knowledge-some practical connexion between that knowledge and the concerns of life,-they are silent or give some ridiculous answer, which at once disparages science, and gratifies the ill-humour of some ignorant satirist. But the Prussian Teacher has no book; he needs none, he teaches from a full mind. He cumbers and darkens the subject with no technical phraseology. He observes what proficiency the child has Thorough teaching. made, and then adapts his instructions both in quality and amount to the necessity of the case." He answers all questions; he solves all doubts. It is one of his objects at every recitation so to present ideas, that they shall start doubts and provoke questions. He connects the subjects of each lesson with all kindred and collateral ones, and shows its relations to the every-day duties and business of life; and should the most ignorant man ask him of what use such knowledge can be, he will prove to him in a word, that some of his own pleasures or means of subsistence are dependent upon it; or have been created or improved by it. "In the mean time the children are delighted. Its effect. Their perceptive powers are exercised; their reflec PART I. tive faculties are developed; their moral sentiments are cultivated. All the attributes of the mind within, find answering qualities in the world without. Instead of any longer regarding the earth as a huge mass of dead matter, without variety and without life, its beautiful and boundless diversities of substance, its latent vitality and energies gradually dawn forth, until at length they illuminate the whole soul, challenging its admiration for their utility, and its homage for the bounty of their Creator."* Practical remarks. Thus the harmonious and proper developement of all the faculties of the mind is involved in the very method of teaching, as well as in the books used, and even irrespective, to a great extent, of the subjects taught. This system of instruction requires of course more thorough culture on the part of the Teacher. He must be able to walk in order to dispense with his "leading strings" in relation to the most simple exercise. It is not difficult to perceive, that although passing over comparatively few books, and indeed with a very subordinate use of books at all, except the voluminous one of the Teacher's mind, a child under such a system of instruction will, in the course of a few years, acquire particularly and thoroughly a large amount of useful and various knowledge, with a corresponding exercise and improvement of the higher intellectual faculties; and thus become fitted for the active duties of life. The mental symmetry is preserved and developed; and the whole intellectual man grows up into masculine maturity and vigour. It cannot be too strongly impressed, that Education consists not in travelling over so much. intellectual ground, or the committing to memory so * Honorable Horace Mann's Seventh Annual Report. (Educa tion in Europe,) pp. 142, 143. Stewart. many books, but in the developement and cultivation PART I. of all our mental, moral, and physical powers. The learned Erasmus has long since said: "At the first it is no great matter how much you learn, but how well you learn it." The philosophic and accomplished Dugald Stewart observes, that "to instruct youth in Dugald the languages and in the sciences is comparatively of little importance, if we are inattentive to the habits they acquire, and are not careful in giving to all their different faculties, and all their different principles of action, a proper degree of employment. The most essential objects of Education are the two following: first, to cultivate all the various principles of our natures, both speculative and active, in such a manner as to bring them to the greatest perfection of which they are susceptible; and, secondly, by watching over the impressions and associations which the mind receives in early life, to secure it against the influence of prevailing errors, and, as far as possible engage its prepossessions on the side of truth." "It has been disputed (says Dr. Potter) whether Dr. Potter. it be the primary object of Education to discipline and develope the powers of the soul, or to communicate knowledge. Were these two objects distinct and independent, it is not to be questioned, that the first is unspeakably more important than the second; but, in truth, they are inseparable. That training which best disciplines and unfolds the faculties will, at the same time, impart the greatest amount of real and effective knowledge; while, on the other hand, that which imparts thoroughly and for permanent use and possession, the greatest amount of knowledge. will best develope, strengthen and refine the powers. In proportion, however, as intellectual vigour and activity are more important than mere rote-learning H |